The Tolya Asexual Erasure In The Fandom Is Depressing

The Tolya asexual erasure in the fandom is depressing

These are my favourite unhinged screenshots from S4. Eddie looks away to hit the wires together after he makes the big boy comment. So when it cuts back to them after he starts the van (in the bottom pic) it implies that Eddie looked back at Steve again afterwards just to be like :D

s2 steddie cause why tf not

Something is off. Jeff can see it in the nervous quiver of ring clad fingers and in the way those owlish eyes wander his way before snapping forward. They're at the cleaning aisle of the supermarket, and if Jeff has to watch Eddie feign interest in one more tissue roll, he'll lose his damn mind.

"Dude. Just spit it out."

Eddie flinches like he's been caught, grip tightening around a spray bottle before tossing it into their cart. Jeff glances at the list in his hand, then again at the pathetic stash they've gathered. The essentials seem to have been covered, but in place of all the greens Steve had so thoughtfully highlighted (and starred), there are packs upon packs of snacks and pastries.

"What do you mean?" Eddie asks just as Jeff starts debating his chances of switching out the junk without his friend noticing.

"I mean, something is bothering you and you clearly want to talk about it. So spit it out."

Its as good as an invitation for conversation, and since Jeff is always right about these things, Eddie takes it. He's fiddling with his rings again, a common sign of anxiousness. Jeff lets his eyes flicker momentarily to the silver glint of the new addition, it stands out amongst the other bulkier accessories but somehow still fits him.

"Okay." Eddie starts. "So..Steve and I are engaged right? and you've know me for forever." A small frown settles between his eyebrows and Jeff finds fimself mirroring the expression. It's a look Eddie only gets when he's struggling to find the right words, a rarity in itself. The expression is enough to make Jeff bristle uncomfortably, because he's seen it before, in the past when he'd had to assure his friend that he was good enough, that he deserved to be happy. Those days were so far behind them that seeing the frown again was unnerving.

"Eds." He says carefully, falling easily into the role he's always ready to take for this man. "You're not having second thoughts are you?"

He knows its fair to doubt, that the fear of this kind of committment is inevitable. But Eddie's always been the type to jump into action spurred by the worst of his thoughts. To get defensive first before choosing reason. He's gotten a lot better over the years, but he's still Eddie. He'd seemed so sure before doing this, hadn't shown a single sign of hesitation when he'd layed out a proposal plan those nights ago. Not to mention his pure adoration for the man he so clearly loved.

God, Steve. If this Wedding didn't go through it'd crush him.

"Second thoughts? about wh- oh" A look of understanding pushes away the frown on Eddie's face, and Jeff feels instantly relieved to see the expression go.

"Dude no I'm definitely still marrying that little shit." Eddie assures, and the amusement at the edge of his voice is enough to tease out Jeff's defensiveness.

"Then why are you being all-" He gestures at his friend, arms flailing haphazardly in a way he's likely picked up from the same guy.

"I'm not being all anything." Eddie defends, grabbing one more tissue roll off the shelves before spinning around determinedly. Jeff scoffs but pushes the cart after him, making sure to pull out a large pack of sour gummies he knows Steve wouldn't appreciate replacing his artichokes. He's about to leaves it at the end cap of the cleaning aisle when Eddie stops.

The action is so sudden that Jeff freezes midway of the incriminating action, just as Eddie spins around.

"Will you be my best man?"

Theres a long stretch of silence where they both just stare at each other with varying degrees of nervousness; Jeff for his spectacular failure with subtlety and Eddie for loudly blurting perhaps the most important questions to grace their friendship in the middle of a supermarket.

Then Eddie's eyes trail to the gummies and he deadpans.

"What are you doing?" He asks at the same time Jeff says "What did you just say?"

All his previous weirdness seems to dissipate as Eddie snatches the candy pack, it's all to easy with how slack Jeff's grip goes.

"I said" He hisses, chucking the pack back into their cart. "Will. you. be. my. best. man?"

Jeff blinks, unable to contain the surprise that settles over his face when he says "Why me?"

And the look of complete confusion that Eddie gives him isn't the response he's expecting. His next words certainly isn't expected either.

"Cause you're my best friend?"

And listen, Jeff's known Eddie since his freshman year of highschool, back when Eddie was still a junior. They'd formed hellfire together, had kept it going for the 4 years that followed. He knows they're close, Eddie is definitely his best friend. But somewhere back in Hawkins, between the earthquakes, murder claims, and scars he'll never hear the story of, Eddie had gotten other best friends. Others who likely know why he still sleeps with his lights on, or why he sometimes goes quiet and withdrawn, not speaking for a day or two at times. Friends like Henderson and the other hellfire kids. Hell friends like Jonathan.

"Oh." Jeff says lamely, and Eddie blinks away his confusion, seeming more surprised than anything now.

"What do you mean oh? Since when did we stop being best friends?"

Jeff feels sheepish all of a sudden, can't seem to face his friend as he busies himself organizing the content of their cart. A woman and her kid stroll past them and he focuses on the back of their retreating figures.

"I mean you're still my best friend. I just thought, yknow."

Eddie frowns and it's clear he doesn't know. So jeff sighs.

"Fuck, you have other best friends now which is great and all. But something as big as best man? I figured you'd ask someone who knows- well.." His voice lowers to a cautious whisper as he finally faces Eddie. "..everything."

Eddie blinks again.

"Dude. What?"

It's so genuinely baffled that Jeff has to muffle a groan behind his hands. How this guy can manage to be so thickheaded is so beyond him. Except Eddie walks over, swatting his hands away with a look thats bordering on amused. His voice is a whisper as he speaks

"Jeff. Jeffie. Jeffmeister." Jeff momentarily thinks he might slap him. "You were my first friend in that shithole of a highschool. You started CC and hellfire with me, the two things keeping me alive back then. I came out to you first man. You've spent like the last 10+ years of your life dealing with all my shit, sitting through all my fuckups, relationship drama and frankly over excessive self sabotaging tendencies." The genuiety in his tone is hard to miss, and Jeff has to look away cause tearing up beside a row of Mr.Clean products. Eddie pats him on the back and his resolve weakens a little more.

"There's literally nothing that can replace that." Eddie actually sounds bashful, and since he can feel the first signs of tears at the corners of his eyes, Jeff shoves him away.

"Shut up." He says weakly, and Eddie beams.

"So that's a yes then." He chirps, all signs of bashfulness vanishing into thin air while Jeff still feels shaken to his core.

So shaken that he doesn't remember to switch out the junk food before they reach the cash register.

...................................

Steve glances between them, first at Eddie's bouncy deamor then at Jeff's barely contained smile. He has an eyebrow perked up in a way that looks judgemental, though it's just part of his resting face.

"I take it he finally asked you then?" He says as he grabs one of the grocery bags from his fiancé's hand. Eddie's grin widens and again Jeff feels that pool of warmth that kind of makes him want to scream. But like, out of joy.

"Good." Steve says. "I'd lose my shit if I have to listen to him whine about it any longer."

He remembers how weird Eddie had been at the start of the grocery run, and the thought of Eddie being nervous somehow makes he feeling worse. Or better really.

"I wasn't whining." Eddie defends as Jeff closes the door behind them. There's a savory smell wafting from the kitchen, and considering he'd been bullied into grocery shopping, Jeff knows he's staying for dinner.

He follows the two into the small space they've made their home and feels that warmth again when Steve, mid intense bickering session with the man he's about to marry, pulls out another plate and utensils like it's routine. Like it's normal.

Maybe he's still reeling from the emotions of being deemed best man, but he'll do anything to protect this. To protect the safe space his best friend has created for himself.

Because hell, it might as well be his home too.

(He realizes it is in fact another home when Steve kicks them out of the house later with a receipt and a small pack of junk food. The sour gummies stare mockingly at the top of the return pile and Jeff swears to never join Eddie at the store again.)

I’m never gonna shut up about this episode am I? I’m also never gonna stop defending Janine since people clearly don’t like the fact that she’s choosing herself right now. It may be frustrating as a viewer and a shipper because there’s nothing holding them back but there is. She’s holding herself back because she’s doubtful of herself that she’s grown or that she’s ready for a serious relationship and she’s right she’s not. She may have dated Maurice for a bit but she literally dated one man for most of her life and wasn’t happy or received love and affection.

Look at this confession to me it says a lot:

It says “I love you so much that I can’t bear to hurt you and I can’t lose what we have because it’s the most important thing to me. It’s you it’s always been you but because I’m scared and unsure of myself I don’t know if I can do this. If this becomes real I don’t know how I would act, how to be a girlfriend how to respond to affection that I haven’t received. I think I’m a screw up so I might ruin this. There’s so much I need to experience as an adult that I haven’t yet and I want to do that with you as my friend first because I’m not ready for you yet. I want to be ready for you though I want to be your girlfriend I just don’t know how. If I lose this incredible man in front of me it might just break me so please give me time to date myself before you.”

Long paragraph but I’ve had all day to sit on this. I know it’s frustrating you guys but that’s the beauty of a slow burn and this one hasn’t even sizzled yet. I just had to defend and interpret the scene because I love her and I loved this scene

You know, for all the show’s flaws i’ll give them props for getting Wylan so well. Because as you can see by the extremes “baby uwu Wylan team” and the “yandere bloodthirsty Wylan” team, he is way hard to characterize correctly. We are talking about a gay character on a netflix show where he is not the lead, you have to realize how easy it is to screw Wylan up. But, other than the reading reveal (he wouldn’t be that sloppy) he is surprisingly accurate, any difference is more due to circumstance (ex: sure he doesn’t snap at Jesper as much, but 1-Jesper’s approach is different, 2-is not the same interacting with your annoying crush than a guy that already saw you naked)

He really had no right of being this accurate.