Hawkins - Tumblr Posts
Hellcheer + Sun & Moon tarot cards;
“ The Sun presents an feeling of optimism and fulfillmen [...] This card represents the dawn which follows the darkest of nights.”
“ The Moon presents a path that leads off into the distance. [...] Everything in this card seems to echo the other, as if to allude to two possibilities.”
-----------------------------------
So....
I`ve been pretty obsessed with both hellcheer and steedie for like A TIME and i`ve been playing with photoshop; until here, nothing really new. BUT when I was doing some of my work, this idea just pop out of a reaaaaaally old memory from when I was younger (the short love story between Sun and Moon e how the stars tried to help them - being the reason why the eclipse exists) and a bit of tarot, which always fascinated me when I discovered about readings/divination and seemed pretty cool to me bring together the best from both of the worlds!
Well, that`s it;
if I got the meaning of the cards wrong, you can correct me (I`m just starting in divination practice, so I`m open to learning from others).
Anyway, thank you for reading until here and hope you have a nice day/evening/night!
Can I also say that there is also not enough Hawkins content like come on guys we see Drew Starkey as an actual football jock and it’s hardly talked about here? We failing miserably.
Knowing what we know now about Vecna, you HAVE to admit that Billy was an absolute badass for looking this thing dead in the eye and going FACE TO FACE with it. He must've been so scared, and Vecna called him weak and fragile. But that's Henry's ego talking. He put down El too when she refused to join him. Billy was powerful in this moment. With a little help from El, he was able to break Vecna's mind control and stand up to him. A measly human, with LITERALLY NO IDEA of what exactly he was facing. (Eddie and Robin were still brought into the fold and had an idea of what was going on.)
And for that, I say rock on Billy Hargrove. You're a hero too. You saved lives too.
Random Stranger things theory
Since Nancy, Steve, Eddie, and Robin all ended up in the past Hawkins, the same year that all the stuff on the show started, would they be able to go and see Barb's body since I am guessing it would be very close to when she died.
Second Choice : Steve Harrington
summary: steve and the reader are lost in their own little world, but find it shattered by one stupid remark and steve might just watch the girl he loves walk off forever- again. or, alternatively, the one in which steve slips up and breaks the reader’s heart with just one word: nancy.
warnings: angst, cursing (if that counts?), Stranger Things 2 spoilers (like barely)
a/n: so this is my first attempt at writing on tumblr, and it was originally an extension to a fanfic i’ve given up on, so it’s been adapted to fit this format, and i might expand it to have a part 2. feedback is very much appreciated! can’t wait to hear what you have to say about this one!
[ | | | ]
Standing in the center of the living room, dancing dumbly to her favorite Journey records, [Y/N] looked like a sight for sore eyes. Her makeup had smudged in odd places and tufts of hair clung to her clammy skin. Steve watched her from the doorway with a fond smile spread across his lips. To him, she looked like a vision of beauty.
As soon as she caught sight of her boyfriend, [Y/N] reached out a canary-yellow fingernail at him and signaled for him to come closer.
The pair danced clumsily like that, her fingers buried in his hair and his hands gripping onto her swaying hips, until the music faded out with the final stroke of a guitar on the record player.
It wasn’t long after that the pair found themselves tangled up in Steve’s bed sheets. [Y/N] sat on his lap with their limbs in a tangled mess and their lips locked in a messy, hungry kiss. She pulled harshly on a chunk of his hair when he’d said it.
“Nancy,” he said, his eyes screwed shut. Just like that, [Y/N]’s cherry lips ripped away from him and the bed shifted as she scurried away. Steve, having realized his mistake, sat up and prepared to pull her back to him. He cooed at her and let a string of apologies fall from his lips. The way she recoiled from his touch sent an all-too-familiar pang to his heart. It was enough to alert him that this wasn’t just some silly spat that they would work out with a good kiss; he’d really hurt her.
“What did you just call me?” Her voice came out soft and pained. [Y/N] turned away from him, smoothing out her dress. Hot, angry tears pooled in her eyes. She felt stupid and naive for allowing herself to think that Steve Harrington might love someone like her.
Steve had been her first real boyfriend. In fact, [Y/N] had just settled on the conclusion that she would start dating in college when one of the kids she babysat convinced her to go out on a date with “this guy he knew.” The last person she would have guessed she might fall in love with was “King” Steve Harrington himself. Yet, here she was- crying over him nonetheless.
“C’mon, now,” he begged. “It was just a stupid mistake-!”
“No,” she said, wiping at her eyes with the back of her hand. “Cut the bullshit, Steve.”
Bullshit. Steve flinched at the word, and for once, found himself unable to speak. The last time a girl he loved had said those words to him had broken his heart, and he had a suspicion that it was about to happen again.
“Yeah, but-“
“But what, Steve? What else could you possibly have to say to me right now?”
When he fell silent, [Y/N] stood up abruptly. She nodded, trampling around his room in search of her shoes. With a heavy sigh, she turned to look at him one last time.
“I love you, Steve Harrington, but I have no interest in being anyone’s second choice.”
With that, she trudged down the stairs and made a break for the front door, Steve right behind her. He called after her, but [Y/N] was just too filled with adrenaline to make out any of what he was telling her.
Her vision now blurred from sobbing, [Y/N] stumbled on home. She refused to turn back for fear of catching Steve’s eye, afraid she might take one look into those pretty boy eyes and forgive him too soon. Eventually, he stopped calling for her, and she’d assumed he retreated back into his house alone. She hugged her arms to her chest, trying to catch her breath. Her heart ached and she was angry. Angry with Steve for toying with her heart, angry at herself for thinking she could ever replace a girl like Nancy Wheeler, and angry at herself for giving up her dream school for something closer to home just to see a boy she was unsure she ever had a real shot with.
Back on his front porch, Steve stood transfixed for a good while after she disappeared from his line of vision. A churning feeling settled in the pit of his stomach, as reality sunk in.
He’d lost her.
requests now open
I’m gonna start taking requests soon for Stranger Things, IT, and Harry Potter!
Also, I have an idea part a part 2 of Second Chances, so let me know if you want it or not :’))
note: i do write smut, but not for the kids in st bc that’s disgusting
characters i write for (maybe even more, just ask!!) ships are just the first that came to mind, but feel free to ask!
STRANGER THINGS
Steve Harrington
Jonathan Byers
Nancy Wheeler
Dustin Henderson
Lucas Sinclair
Mike Wheeler
Will Byers
Max Mayfield
HARRY POTTER
marauders era
Remus Lupin
Sirius Black
James Potter
Peter Pettifrew (maybe?)
ships:
Marlene McKinnon x Sirius Black
golden trio era
Harry Potter
Ron Weasley
Hermione Granger
Neville Longbottom
Seamus Finnegan
Dean Thomas
Oliver Wood
Draco Malfoy
Luna Lovegood
Ginny Weasley
Charlie Weasley
next gen ships
Teddy Lupin x Victoire Weasley
IT
Bill Denbrough
Eddie Kaspbrak
Richie Tozier
Ben Hanscomb
Mike Hanlon
Stanley Uris
Beverly Marsh
Send Her My Love
part 2: Second Choice
inspired by journey’s send her my love
summary: several months later, a still hung-up steve hears that [Y/N] is back in hawkins from a semester at college and dustin has a trick or two up his sleeve
warnings: mentions of death/grief, (vague) spoilers for Stranger Things 2, angst,
a/n: part 3?
—
It's been so long
Since I've seen her face
Rain assaulted the sidewalks and scattered loose gravel across the asphalt of Hawkins. Few dared brave this weather in the setting sun and [Y/N] found herself standing alone on a darkened street as she stepped out of the taxi cab. The last of the autumn leaves fell silently to the ground, swept away with the wind and twirling under the angry raindrops’ direction.
This kind of quiet was hard to come by on a Saturday night in any town other than Hawkins, Indiana, as [Y/N] had learned in just one semester away from her hometown. As she pulled the last of her luggage up the steps to her front door, she swallowed back the urge to stand in the rain, just trying to recapture that raw Hawkins smell.
The house was uncomfortably quiet as [Y/N] stepped into the foyer and shut the door behind her. There were days when she might have expected to be tackled by a pair of giggling pigtails. Those days were long gone, now.
[Y/N] should have been angry. Her Father never showed at the bus station to drive her home, and she used the last of her cash to pay for a cab. No doubt he got caught up in something at work again, an occurrence that became daily two years ago. If she had one guess, her Mother had a wine glass between her lips and no clue what day it was, or when her daughter was due to come home. She knew she should be angry at her parents for just shutting down on her like that. But instead, she just felt numb.
Sighing, she made her way up the staircase to her old bedroom. The movement was automatic, and if she weren’t so drowsy, [Y/N] might have caught a glimpse of the ghostly bedroom beside hers and forgotten how to breathe. She collapsed on her twin bed and let out a heavy sigh. If she thought last Christmas had been hard, she was in for a world of hurt when this year finally came to a close.
Two blocks and one left turn away, Steve Harrington sat on his own bed, staring at the ceiling and feeling very sorry for himself. He twiddled his thumbs over his chest, trying to figure out how he’d ended up in this mess. A year ago, he might have blamed Nancy Wheeler and all her empty promises for holding him back; he knew better now, though.
Time worked in mysterious ways. Sixteen-year-old Steve had the whole world before him; ask anyone in town back then and they’d all tell you that the charming young man was destined for things much bigger than Hawkins. He could see that life laid out for him in his head, even now. Daydream-Steve left high school a local legend: star athlete, the town’s teen heartthrob, Prom King, committed to play basketball at a reputable college, the works. In this life, he might move to a big city for work, meet the love of his life, and settle down somewhere nice. But Steve’s plan didn’t include demogorgons, losing his girlfriend and his popular friends, or befriending thirteen-year-olds. Most of all, he never imagined that he might meet the love of his life right here in Hawkins, or that she would be the one who got out of this godforsaken town. But Steve supposed that was what he had coming to him for being such an arrogant prick.
Now 19 and finally growing up, Steve reckoned he might not like the person he would have become in that daydream of his. He might still be right where he was a year ago, but at least he could look himself in the eye whenever he passed by a mirror.
Growing tired of his pity party, Steve dragged himself up out of bed and fished his keys out of his jeans pocket.
You say she's doin' fine
I still recall
A sad cafe
Jittery and nursing his second cup of coffee for the evening, Steve danced around the elephant in the room. Dustin, who sat across from him, was glaring holes into his forehead. The kid had just dropped a bomb on Steve’s lap and now expected his friend to thank him.
“S-she’s back?”
“Yeah,” he scoffed. “Jeez, Harrington, are you even listening?”
His quip fell onto deaf ears, however; Steve couldn’t focus on anything but the pounding in his chest. [Y/N] was back in Hawkins.
“Hey, Earth to Steve!”
“Yes, what? Chill!”“
“I said,” he scoffed. “She’s doing fine, Steve. Really, I haven’t seen her this happy since-“
Steve nodded slowly, digesting the information about as well as some bad seafood. This was exactly what he’d wanted to hear, so why did he feel so sick?
“You should talk to her.”
“What? Don’t be stupid, Dustin,” he paused. “She doesn’t want to see me, that was made pretty clear.”
“It’s been a long time, Steve. How can you be so sure?”
Tugging on his hair, Steve groaned. He’d never been good at dealing with his emotions. Pretending not to have any was just so easy that for a while he almost forgot they were there. Until [Y/N].
A thick silence fell over the two and Steve was about to suggest he drive Dustin home when he was interrupted. The younger of the two boys leaned forward on the table, smirking with the knowledge that he knew something Steve didn’t. Steve wagged a finger at him, preparing to tell him off.
But he didn’t get a single word in before the door chime sounded and he forgot how to speak. The cafe the two boys sat in was empty this time of night, save for them and a tired-looking waitress wiping the counters. But that stupid door chime rang and Steve caught one look at her. Shaking the rain from her coat and hair, [Y/N] stepped in and looked around for Dustin.
A harsh pink tint bit her nose from the cold and she looked tired, but [Y/N] still glowed with a youthful beauty that was rare in such a small town. She mustn’t have seen Steve until after she reached their booth. Her lips parted to greet the young teen but something stopped her. That something couldn’t seem to speak himself.
She saw him and the smile slipped from her lips just as quickly as Steve was slipping from his grip on reality.
Falling For You
prompt: “You’re just so stupid!”
warnings: sexist comments, underage drinking, swearing (when do i not?)
Steve Harrington x oc; alludes to Billy Hargove x oc
a/n: this was written in response to a larger plot, so there are some references to outside events. it should still be easy enough to follow! requests are open
The last people on earth Beth thought she might publicly agree with were Carol and Tommy. Tonight, as she struggled to keep Steve upright and conscious, she couldn’t help but to concede when Carol suggested they find a way to drag him up the dock and inside before he blacked out or fell in the lake again and turned her rager into a crime scene. His wounds only worsened as he wriggled about in all three of the teenagers’ grips, as if he could somehow overpower them. Steve royally, monumentally, epically screwed up that night.
While Beth commonly slapped a band-aid on his bruised knuckles and kept Tylenol in her purse solely for his use, she was in way over her head this time. Her babysitting training course never covered drunk, injured teenage almost-boyfriends.
She knew things had gone from bad to worse when Carol called the party off, shooing everyone else from her lake house, for Steve’s benefit. By some miracle, the three of them managed to get him inside and relatively conscious. Carol and Tommy were quick to scatter and leave Beth to tend his wounds.
Steve groaned excessively from his makeshift bed on Carol’s pull-out couch. He protruded his bleeding lip in a haughty pout. His wet hair gave him a chill and without a dry shirt to keep him warm, he was left with only a blanket to huddle in. The worried pull in her brow looked an awful lot like anger to him, and Steve only wanted to see her smile.
“You’re mad at me!”
Beth stroked the side of his cheek, sighing:
“I’m not. Some things are just best left alone, Steve.”
“But I just wanted to protect you!”
Steve was a protector. He put himself in harm's way only as a barrier between his loved ones and danger, like he had done with the demogorgon and with the very human monster that is Billy Hargrove.
“I know,” she said.
He pulled at her hands, grasping to keep her close, milking this as much as possible. Beth let him, happy with the surge of energy his touch left her with.
When Beth suggested they go to a party thrown by his former best friends, Steve fully intended to coax her into a night at the drive-in movie theater, instead. After all, he hardly imagined a lake house was much fun in winter. However, when she showed up on his doorstep wearing white sunglasses much too large for her face and using one of his t-shirts as a bikini cover-up, Steve was putty in her hands. She had him wrapped around her finger for everyone to see- everyone, apparently, aside from Beth herself.
Not long after they arrived, Steve lost Beth in the crowd. He merely smiled and insisted she go have some fun when her two best friends cornered them. For a while, he watched contentedly with a solo cup in one hand and Beth on his mind. She danced along to every song as if it were her last. The smile she wore with every lyric she shouted alongside Amy, pulling playfully at Tiffany’s hands as the three of them danced drunkenly by the bonfire, tightened his chest.
He no longer cared much for parties. Nancy Wheeler spoiled the whole scene for Steve in a similar fashion to the way he forever stained her white blouse. House parties now equated heartbreak for Steve. Though he tried to avoid the thought, he couldn’t help but to wonder how Beth could break his heart tonight, if he wasn’t even hers. As if on cue, Steve’s train of thought received a rude interruption.
“Harrington,” the voice boomed.
Steve exhaled sharply, trying to remember the promise he made to Beth. Nothing stupid tonight. So, he kept his voice detached and prayed the message might be received:
“Hargrove.”
The Californian clasped a hand over Steve’s shoulder with more force than necessary.
He wetted his lips in an animalistic aggression. It seemed he had yet to leave well enough alone; Billy wanted revenge for the chance with the cute head cheerleader that was stolen from him. Stolen, he assumed, from Steve Harrington.
He knew Hawkins was a far cry from the golden coast before he ever set foot in the town. Still, he hardly expected to ever find himself fighting for women’s attention against a boy who couldn’t throw a punch to save his life. It was pathetic; Hawkins was pathetic. It had a saving grace, though. A glimmer of hope for Hawkins came from the smile of the girl whose hair reminded Billy of the beaches he missed so much and in her laugh, that never failed to melt the bars around Steve’s heart. If Billy had a heart, he might think about giving it to her. Instead, he took out the unchecked rage that filled that void on the boy who unmistakably captured her attention.
“I believe you have somethin’ of mine,” he paused. “I want it back.”
“What? Are you drunk? Get lost, Bill-”
The taller boy erupted into a humorless rumble of a laugh. Steve was playing with fire, though he was made of ice.
“Cut the bullshit, Harrington.”
Subconsciously, Steve flinched at that all-too-familiar word. He wished new curse words existed so he never needed to hear the words that triggered his first heartbreak again. He much preferred a sarcastic King or a straightforward asshole than any form of that word. Billy didn’t need to know this, of course, so Steve tightened his jaw and decided to play along.
“What do you want? ‘M not in the mood”
He watched with wide eyes as his foe’s lips rolled inward like an engine revving up for a drag race. Steve said the wrong thing. His eyes merely followed as the blonde curls forming his mullet nodded in the direction of the short, oblivious girl who captured Steve’s- and apparently Billy’s, as well- full attention.
“No, no way.”
“Wrong answer”
Steve sucked his gums inwards, wishing Billy would fall off the dock and into the lake. Tonight was an escape for him and Beth. Billy fit nowhere in that equation. As much as Steve’s rational mind told him otherwise, his insecurities whispered to him that Beth agreed to go on a date with Billy for more reasons than a petulant promise to Dustin. Could she possibly fall for his looks? Steve hardly considered himself insecure in that right, but he found himself wondering if he could hold a candle to boys like that in Beth’s mind.
“She’s not an object! No one owns her”
Steve gaped incredulously up at him. Eyes wide, innocent, and begging to be destroyed, Steve was Bambi and Billy was the forest fire ready to devour everything he loved.
“Well, shit,” he said. “You really don’t know, do you?”
“Man, what are you even talking about?”
Billy’s fingers traced over the healing scars he put on Steve’s otherwise smooth skin, a devilish smirk on his lips. He pulled it away just as smoothly, now booming with laughter. A cigarette breath coated Steve’s face as he exhaled like a snarky dragon. Steve took an involuntary step away from him, closer to the the edge of the dock. His insecurities manifested themselves in the form of a harsh reality check from his least favorite person.
“If it weren’t for you and my bitch of a step-sister-”
“Watch it!”
“I would have been elbow-deep in that pretty little skirt of hers. Maybe we might have actually watched some of the movie we were supposed to see,” he sighed.
“You’re delusional!”
“Don’t believe me? Why don’t you ask her yourself, then.”
He chanced a glance back over at Beth, who danced freely and blissfully unaware of the unfolding conflict between the two boys. Licking his cold, nicotine lips, he flickered his gaze between the two of them.
“It’s a shame, Harrington”
Steve disdained the sinful glint in his eyes. If he didn’t know any better, he might have half a mind to punch that smirk right off his lips. Against his better judgement, he decided to humor him:
“What is?”
“Plenty of bitches in the sea certainly did not mean I was giving you free reign of the hottest piece of ass in this cow shit town-“
Like the last bit of a heavy rain season on an overflowing lake, it was the burst that snapped the dam holding back Steve’s rage. He reached his arm back with every intention of clocking Billy in the nose, even remembered to plant his feet, too, only to realize that he miscalculated his balance and stepped a little too close to the edge of the dock. All it took was the seizure and twist of his cocked wrist by Billy, and Steve’s New Balances gave way to the slippery wood and he fell down into the water below, knocking his head against the wood pretty hard in the process.
“Steve,” she called out to him.
Beth glanced warily at the weak, tired boy with her hands planted firmly on her hips. She exhaled slowly like a deflating balloon before gingerly placing herself on the edge of the coffee table.
“You said something, uh, when we got you out of the water-“
He hummed in acknowledgement. Steve’s heart skipped a beat. His mind was still hazy, either from the alcohol or the concussion that was most likely forming. He hoped she would let him play dumb a little longer.
“Did you mean it?”
“What? What did I say?”
He wasn’t a very good liar.
“C’mon Steve, don’t play dumb with me! I want to hear you say it.”
He caved, locking eyes with her. If this turned out badly, at least he had a plethora of excuses to back him up.
“I just thought, y’know, maybe you liked him. It’s just that he’s the first boy you were willing to go out with in years and, well, I want you to be happy, even if it is with… him.”
Much to his horror, she burst into a hysterical fit of laughter. Steve rubbed nervously at the back of his neck.
“What- what, uh, what’s wrong?”
“You’re just so… stupid, Steve!”
She had him there. On a scale of confused to competent, Steve was well past clueless.
“Well, yes, but-“
“Billy Hargrove is a racist, self-serving, narcissistic douchebag and I would rather die than be his girlfriend. As far as I’m concerned, he and his right hand should get very well acquainted at the rate he’s going, because that's the only thing that will even get close to him when I’m done with him. And that’s exactly what I told him”
Steve sat up a little, shocked and admittedly excited, only to shrink back from the pain in his head. Beth, who was honestly one of the most angelic girls he ever laid eyes on, had declared war on the new popular kid, which could jeopardize her own reputation in the process, and he couldn’t help but to hope it was loosely tied back to him. Either way, Steve was twitterpated with her.
“I think I love you.”
His brash comment flushed Steve’s cheek a scarlet as deep as Carol’s fingertips. As if falling in the lake weren’t mortifying enough, he’d gone and said one of the dumbest possible things to Beth. His stomach only began to plummet to the ground when she spoke back, its descent turning from a freefall into somersaults of butterflies.
“I like you, too, Steve. A whole lot. But there’s plenty of time to talk about this later- when you’re sober and a little less concussed. Right now, let’s just get some sleep, okay?”
Beth tucked him in on the couch and set aside some pain killers for when he woke up with a hangover and healing wounds. Steve refused to stay put until she cuddled up against him on the pull-out. He sighed out in a happy relief.
Steve may have gotten his ego bruised beyond recognition that night, but all he cared about was the girl who stayed to nurse his wounds. He didn’t think he deserved Beth. Beth could have gone home with Billy and let his faint-hearted attempt to let her go work, but there was one thing far more important than any of that:
She loved her stupid boy.
psa
for those of you who have been keeping up with my writing, i’ve been working on the next chapter of hypochondriac. i also have a new series coming out sometime this month, which will feature the oc from falling for you. requests are also open, so don’t be shy!
i really missed writing and i’m so pumped to have my muse back
Kings and Queens
Summary: Bethany Sullivan might uphold her nice girl status pretty well, but also she can’t keep that queen bee crown with just sugar. Billy Hargrove learns this the hard way. Or, alternatively, the one where Beth puts Billy back in his place.
Steve Harrington x oc, Billy Hargrove x oc (one-
sided)
warnings: not smut but there are a lot of sexual innuendos and overtones
a/n: this one's for you, Fiona.
The first thing Billy Hargrove noticed when he moved to Hawkins, Indiana was the utter lack of excitement in the tiny town. There wasn’t a beach in sight and the town had only one mall. He thought he might die of sheer boredom. Hell, that sounded better than suffering another second in this Cow Shit Town.
His opinion shifted only with the second thing to catch his eye in Hawkins. That thing had the prettiest pair of legs he had ever seen, a voice like smooth honey, bubblegum lips, and a banging body small enough that he didn’t doubt for one second that he could lift her right over his shoulder with little to no effort. He could already feel her soft golden hair between his calloused fingers, her smooth legs around his waist. Billy shivered with delight at the dirty thoughts already racing through his mind. He’d always had a thing for blondes, and this Indiana Babe put the Golden Coast Girls to shame. He had to have her. Billy Hargrove always got what he wanted; she wouldn’t even know what hit her.
It didn’t take long at all for Billy to learn as much as possible about his mystery blonde. The dumb, freckled, and eager-to-please kid in his history class named Tommy almost snorted the moment Billy showed an interest in her, but spewed information nonetheless.
Bethany Sullivan, as he soon learned her name was, was just the kind of girl Billy wanted to have on his arm and under him in the back of his Camaro. As if her stellar looks weren’t enough, Beth sat atop the social ladder. If Billy was going to mingle with some Midwest bitch, he figured the head cheerleader and homecoming queen wasn’t a bad place to start. Only, Tommy had warned, Beth didn’t date. Maybe a college guy here or there, but there wasn’t a single guy in Hawkins she had accepted a date with. Billy laughed at this. He wasn’t a Hawkins boy, and he didn’t take no for an answer.
Billy put his plan into fruition at Tina’s Halloween Party. Like something straight out of Billy’s fantasies, Beth strolled into the party with her equally gorgeous girl friends. His mouth dried at the sight of her, dressed fittingly as a pristine white angel accompanied by sultry redhead and promiscuous brunette red devils at each shoulder. The costume was just a little too short for an actual angel, but Beth could still easily have been one. God, Halloween was a beautiful holiday. As Billy downed the rest of his beer, he decided then and there that tonight was the night. Their little cat and mouse game, fun as it was, needed to end before Billy died from the need to touch her. He wasn’t leaving this party until he either had her under his arm or a night at the drive-in theater scheduled. Nothing could stop him now, not even that Bambi-eyed fucker Steve Harrington everyone seemed so fond of. In Billy’s eyes, Steve was not an equal opponent. He saw Steve as a pretty boy with his daddy’s money in his pockets and very little to actually show for himself. Tommy Hanson had a big mouth and was a little slow, but he did know Steve just about as well as anyone in Hawkins. So, when he reported that Beth was the one thing Steve had once wanted but never got, Billy knew he was doing something right. Apparently, if Tommy wasn’t confusing a real house party with a wet dream, even he had once swapped spit with the blonde beauty- and Harrington hadn’t. Billy gobbled up Tommy’s gossip with glee, happy to know that Beth really was uncharted territory. He was more than ready to conquer her.
He caught her on the dancefloor. Billy turned the charm up and tried as casually as he could to boast about his new title.
“I saw you taunting Steve earlier. You should be nicer to him,” she drawled, frowning.
Billy chuckled lowly. He didn’t quite understand why Beth gave two shits how he spoke to Harrington, but he was willing to play along if it got him into her skirt any faster. If Billy wasn’t so self-absorbed, he might have noticed she was sweet on him.
“Okay,” he said. “I’m really only here for you, anyways.” Beth swirled her cup of unidentified alcohol around and cocked an eyebrow at him. “Oh, really?” “Mhmm. How ‘bout that movie, sweetheart?” Beth took one last glance over at Steve and Nancy in their matching costumes, swallowed hard, and forced a coy smile. “All right, Hargrove,” she said. “You can pick me up Friday at 7.” With a soft, ghost of a touch to his exposed chest, she disappeared into the crowd once more. Billy allowed himself to celebrate with even more beer, with no way of knowing that he would be incapacitated on the floor of Joyce Byers’ kitchen come Friday at seven o’clock.
Still reeling from his non-date with Beth, Billy strolled into the Harrington backyard on New Year’s Eve with a bone to pick. He heard Steve had shacked up with the one girl he’d made it pretty clear he wanted.
If either Beth or Steve received any warning that their party had been crashed, they likely would have left the hot tub much earlier than they did. Their smitten, lovestruck bliss instead left them too absorbed in one another to notice the sudden parting of the crowds like the Red Sea to Moses. “Steve,” she insisted, trying not to smile. “C'mon, you’re gonna catch a cold out here. Let’s go inside” “Just a little longer?”
“Fine,” she said, shaking her head. “You can, but I’m going to go get changed, all right? I want to be warm by midnight” Steve glanced down at her skin, where his thumb circled absently, and thought how little he wanted to see her in anything else but that yellow bikini. She slipped from his grip, though, with the promise of a fresh drink when she returned- fully dressed this time- and a sweet peck to his lips. He watched her disappear with a smile on his lips and a semi hard-on in his swim shorts. Beth had no sooner returned to the back patio in dry clothing than she noticed a very unwelcome figure standing next to her boyfriend on the grass by the hot tub. Fuming, she stormed over to the two boys. Beth was the first to speak.
“Who the hell invited you?” She looked disgusted enough to chill even Billy’s spine. He wasn’t going to back down easy, though. “Hey there, princess,” he cooed. “Lookin’ good.”
Beth ignored Billy’s affections, instead handing Steve his beer, as promised.
“What do you want, Hargrove?”
The healed scars littering Steve’s brow and chin from his last encounter with Billy were enough to keep his temper in check. Despite his brutal defeat, the animosity between the two teens had yet to fade out entirely. Steve didn’t care what Billy thought of him, but he would have died to protect the people he loved. Even if they begged him not to.
The only thing Billy wanted to destroy was Steve and Beth’s relationship. He was surprised it took as much as effort as it had; girls tended to fall into his lap, no matter who they were seeing beforehand. Beth was different.
“Just wonderin’ when you were gonna cut the shit. I mean- look at him! What’s he got that I don’t? Just let me-“
If Billy had meant to get a reaction out of her, he’d just struck gold. Beth turned abruptly away from Steve to face him head-on. She sauntered over to him, hands placed firmly at her hips.
“I’m glad you asked,” she said, smiling. “Steve has me, and you- well, you showed up here alone, am I wrong?”
He clicked his tongue to his teeth as if amused, but inside Billy was churning. No girl was worth this sort of humiliation. Leaving now, though, showed defeat and Billy wanted to win.
“Why so uptight, babe? Is Harrington here not enough for ya-? You just need a real man. Maybe that’s why you’ve been such a bitch-“
She’d had enough. Beth’s bemused smile melted into an unreadable line. A soft giggle escaped her, and she stepped as close to Billy as possible. Her voice came out soft:
“See, what I think you’re forgetting, babe,” Beth was touching his face, lingering so close with a voice so sickeningly sweet that Billy thought for a fleeting moment that she might kiss him. Instead, the hand that had been absently combing his hair yanked back sharply so that his throat bared and he had no choice but to look her dead in the eyes. Her honey eyes were swimming in a dark swarm of calm anger. The sight sent Billy’s blood cold. “Is that this is my town. You hear me, you piece of shit? I gave you a free pass on Halloween because you were new, but now you’re going to answer to me.” His eyes widened in a lethal force of anger and raw arousal at her brazen attitude. Beth was out for the blood, and there wasn’t a soul- not even Tommy- dumb enough to step in and save him now. She was the town’s wet dream, an endless supply of spank-bank material, a sort of taboo daydream that left you aroused and ashamed for even thinking such a thing about such a nice girl. It was times like these, though, that squashed any doubt as to her social monarchy.
“But,” he wriggled in her grip. Billy could clearly see the crowd of interested party-goers that had gathered to watch his social execution, but none of them made any moves. “Harrington- keg- I-“ A laugh so unexpected and harsh passed her lips that Billy thought he might have jumped in fright if she hadn’t been holding his head still.
“Oh, my god,” she hissed. “You really are dumb, aren’t you?” Billy blinked up at her. Social hierarchy was perhaps one of the few things he thought he really understood. In Hawkins, it seemed, he was dead wrong. “That doesn’t mean a goddamn thing, Hargrove. What, you think because you can guzzle beer faster than a certified alcoholic would even dream to that you’re suddenly hot shit? Please! “Stay the fuck away from me and my boyfriend. I don’t think I even need to remind you what would happen if you bothered those kids either, no? Your little stint was amusing while it lasted, but it’s over now. If I so much as see your face around here again, you won’t even be able to find a gas station willing to sell you a pack of cigarettes. Understood? He swallowed harshly. Under normal circumstances, Billy would have laughed at her, maybe even spat in her pretty little face. Now, he could see the murder in her eyes. He nodded eagerly, solemnly, as if signing his own death certificate. “Good,” she said, grinning devilishly. Beth set him upright, pat her palm against his chest, and sent him merrily on his way. Over his shoulder, with her arms crossed triumphantly over her black sparkly dress, she called out to him one final time: “Hawkins is a matriarchy, and don’t you forget it!” The dust from their verbal brawl settled fairly quickly once his demise was set in stone- or rather, in the hardness of her scowl. Beth melted easily back into Steve’s waiting arms. “Damn, that’s my girl,” he said, fully awestruck. He was sure he was in love now, if he hadn’t been before. Giggling, she planted a wet kiss to his plump lips. Steve pulled her in for another hungry kiss, grinning. Sweet Beth melted his heart, but that side of her was probably the sexiest thing he had ever seen. His girlfriend sure knew how to start the new year off right.
Cheerleader
Summary: Steve’s feeling neglected by his parents, but his girlfriend’s always right there to cheer him up.
Steve Harrington x female OC pairing
warnings: angst, allusions to sexual activity, mushy fluff
a/n: requested by the lovely @casaharrington . This took me forever and a day to finish, but I hope it was worth the wait!
Steve didn’t know why he expected anything from his father or where that tiny sliver of faith he had in him came from. His father had never given Steve much. Any small promise Mr. Harrington tossed at his son fell empty. In hindsight, Steve should have known that his father couldn’t be bothered to get involved in his life a long time before he actually did learn. Probably should have learned his lesson the day his Dad shirked his third grade Career Day and left Steve feeling embarrassed and unimportant. Then, his eight-year-old mind couldn’t fathom that, maybe, he really was unimportant in his father’s mind.
Now, although on the cusp of adulthood, Steve clung still onto that little shard of ignorance like a stubborn child might refuse to sleep without their safety blanket. Not once- not even when he outplayed several upperclassman for his spot on the varsity team as a freshman- had either of his parents bothered to actually watch their son in action. It had only ever mildly disappointed him before, so why did he care so much now? Why had he allowed himself to think that tonight would be any different?
Steve was used to Dad disappointing him. He eventually came to the bitter conclusion that until he no longer served as a disappointment to him, he would be disappointed in return.
Half-heartedly tossing a ball back and forth with Todd Ackerman, Steve tried his best to keep his pregame spirits high. The surrounding bleachers slowly filled with his peers and people from across Hawkins who came to cheer on one player or another. Although surrounded by people, Steve had never felt lonelier as he realized that his parents were nowhere in sight.
Steve only partly listened to Todd’s attempts at small talk. His mangled mind mistook the concern in his friend’s brow as an echo of the disappointed scowl he received from across the dinner table the night before. For someone who he saw so little of, his father sure took up some prime real estate in Steve’s insecurities.
He thought over the previous night’s dinner conversation. Steve replayed the scene in his mind while going through the motions of warmup.
“So, Dad. We’re playing Northern tomorrow,” he had said casually.
Steve forked absently at his peas, craving some form of praise. With Billy Hargrove benched after an altercation on the court, he finally felt like he was back at the top of something.
Between his lackluster transcript and last year’s fall from social grace after his falling out with Tommy and Carol, Steve Harrington felt like an entirely different person from the King Steve he once was. The new Steve didn’t command attention from those around him, and often didn’t get any in turn. Secretly, though, he had hoped that generalization excluded what he did on the court.
After all, Steve didn’t think he was good at much. He accepted that his essays were subpar at best and that his jealousy often interfered with his relationships, but he counted on sports as the one thing that he was really good at.
From across the mahogany table, his Father merely huffed in acknowledgement. Nervous, Steve pressed the matter further.
“Are you coming, uh, to the game? It’s tomorrow”
His father paused momentarily, cocked an eyebrow, and promptly returned to his dinner plate:
“We’ll see, Steven.”
The words rang around Steve’s head like a prayer. It wasn’t much, but it wasn’t a no. He just really wanted to prove himself. What better way than to score the winning shot against Hawkins’ biggest rival?
“Harrington!”
“Hm, yeah?”
“C’mon! Let’s get out there and kick some Titan ass!”
As the cheerleaders assembled on the sidelines, tossing around green and white pom-poms, Bethany found herself distracted by the sullen demeanor of her boyfriend. She frowned. Steve always seemed in his element at games. Something was off today, though.
He scanned the crowd as a last ditch effort to find his father. Instead, Beth, standing in the center of it all, caught his eye and broke into a grin sweet enough to warm Steve’s cold spirits, if only a little. She looked adorable in her cheerleading uniform; he liked her in green. Her blonde locks were curled and pulled half-up into a dark jade bow. Altogether, that pretty little skirt and that smile he loved so much which always tasted like strawberry, it sent a spark of white heat up Steve’s spine with the notion of what he wanted to do to her- with her- later, when he got her alone.
Momentarily, Steve forgot all about the new promise his father had broken. He started the game with a smile, comforted in part by the knowledge that Beth would cheer him on just a little bit louder than the other cheerleaders.
Despite the heavy pump of adrenaline dispersing through his veins, Steve fell from his excitement pretty soon after sinking the final, victorious shot of the game. It took one glance over the bleachers to confirm his fears. His heart sank. Dad never showed. Wiping sweat from his brow, Steve wanted little more than to retreat to the locker room for a pity party in the showers.
The warm reception he received from his teammates and friends, instead of fulfilling that gap of loneliness he felt like it usually did, only made him feel even more miserable. The Pope himself could congratulate Steve on yet another win and it wouldn’t mean a damn thing unless it was coming from his old man, too.
He made his way through the wave of gratitude with only half a heart. Part of him knew he should have been just as excited as the rest of the team, - maybe even more so- and yet Steve wasn’t looking any more forward to the Playoffs he had just guaranteed them a spot in than he might like one of his mother’s stuffy dinner parties.
Steve dragged his feet to the locker room, stalling before the inevitability cold return home. He could already picture his father perched on his living chair, unphased by his entrance, not caring or not knowing how his son felt, or perhaps swept away from Hawkins on another last-minute business trip. His bruised ego tempted him with the half-used bottle of tequila he kept under his bed and a night in with his sorrow.
No sooner had Steve revamped his beeline for the showers than Todd flagged him down in the hall. Amy, the redhead he recognized as one of Beth’s girl friends hung off of him, giggling softly.
“Hey, man. Reed is throwing a party to celebrate. You in?”
“Maybe I’ll drop by later.”
“Oh, all right. Great game, Harrington!”
“Thanks. You too”
He watched his friend disappear down the hallway with a sigh. A party sounded like the last thing he needed. Steve didn’t feel much like celebrating tonight. He’d rather just drink alone in his room. No matter how many winning shots or passes Steve pulled off, it was never enough. He didn’t feel good enough for his own father. How pathetic was that?
“Steve!”
The familiar voice lifted his spirits some. Steve turned his head to find Beth, her golden hair reflecting off the cheap fluorescent lighting like an angel’s halo, standing with her arms wrapped around herself. She exhaled slowly.
“What’s wrong? Is it your Dad again?”
She hadn't needed an answer. One of the many things Beth loved so much about Steve was his deep sense of loyalty, of faith. His father and, in her complacency, his mother, too, were the anomaly that made Steve’s greatest asset also his Achilles heel. Beth already knew the answer.
“I just,” he exhaled. Steve tugged at his sticky-sweat hair, kicking his feet against the wall for good measure. He knew he likely looked like a toddler midway through a temper tantrum, but Steve couldn’t be bothered to care.
Hell, he thought bitterly. Maybe I really should just start breaking shit. That’ll get his attention!
Steve, however, had already tried acting out to grab his Dad’s attention. It failed when he punched Johnny Cross right in the nose for no real reason, when a five-person party turned his backyard into a possible crime scene, and again when he took the blame for Tommy H and Carol’s obscene spray paint job on the Hawk.
When the police started asking questions about Barbara Holland a year ago, most of Steve felt a deep fear of his father’s punishment. The vulnerable parts of him, on the other hand, felt a demented delight in the attention it earned him- even if it was for all the wrong reasons.
“‘My father is-“
“An asshole. I know. So you’ve said.”
Beth approached him slowly. She glanced up at him, her eyes soft with concern. Despite the height difference, Steve slouched easily into her touch.
“What did he do now, Steve?”
She grabbed at his hands, squeezing them in reassurance. Just her presence made Steve feel touched by angel. Bits of heaven dripped from her fingertips, her lips, and in her embrace Steve finally felt worthy of something ethereal. In the simple shine of love in her eyes, he finally saw a boy worthy of something as holy as her golden heart. She might not have been perfect, either, but Steve really thought she was an angel sent for him. It didn’t matter what his father, or anyone else for that matter, thought of Steve Harrington as long as Bethany Sullivan looked at him in that way that made him feel invincible. Steve swore that was why Beth was his saving grace.
“He promised… um, I thought he was coming to the game. He lied to me. Jesus, I mean, I bet he doesn’t even remember there is a game tonight! Am I really so unloveable that my even my own Father doesn’t want to be seen with me? I wasn’t good enough for Nancy-“
“How can you say that?”
Beth’s heart dropped down to the floor, beaten and deflated by the sight of her goofy boy so downtrodden. She always understood that Steve and his parents had a cold, complicated relationship, but she never imagined that it hurt him so badly.
“Come on, Beth. It has to be me, right? Everyone’s always leaving me. Nancy, Mom and Dad, my old friends… This feels like one hell of a coincidence”
Steve tried to swallow past the gumball lump in his throat. He didn’t want to cry in front of Beth. Not because he saw it as a sign of weakness, but in compliance with the tiny voice in the back of his mind- his Father’s voice- that told him that she would only find it pathetic and leave him, too.
Rubbing stray tears into the pad of her thumbs, Beth cupped her hands to his cheeks and held his gaze firmly on her. She had to lift up on the balls of her feet to reach his eye level, but Beth didn’t waver one bit.
“That’s not true, Steve. Nancy just didn’t know what she wanted. I do think she should have handled it a little differently, but I know she didn’t intend for any of that to happen. You did the right thing by telling Tommy and Carol to shove it. I never liked them. Not since 1972, when Carol ruined my favorite dress and Tommy told the whole class I kissed him behind the swing sets-“
“I remember that,” he says. Steve’s eyes lit up slightly at the memory.
If being abandoned was a series of coincidences in Steve's life, then his run-ins with Beth as kids was another. The pair were friends in preschool; Beth was pretty sure her Mother still had that framed photo of them squished cheek-to-cheek hanging in the hallway. Steve remembered perhaps more than Beth did. Years later, when asked, he might cheekily remark that he gave her his heart as a gap toothed six-year-old and he never truly needed it back.
“Ms. Gardner gave me a time out for cutting off Carol’s ponytail. And I swear Tommy was sneezing sand for weeks after you pushed him-!”
She calmed her laughter, rolling her lips nervously inward. Beth stroked his cheek in soothing circles. Her emotions teetered somewhere between a cry and a laugh.
“You’ve always wanted your Dad to be someone he isn’t, Steve. Even back then, as kids…
She sighed.
In his mind's eye, Steve saw Beth again as the bright-eyed girl who, back in grade school, silently wiped his tears and offered up her last cookie just to see him smile. His heart swelled with undeniable love for her just as it had then.
“Look, I’m not defending him. In fact, I think he needs a reality check himself, but I just want you to look at this in a different way. Your father, his actions- they don’t reflect on you. You are a good person, Steve. The fact that your Father didn’t want to be here tonight doesn’t mean that you’ve done something wrong or that you aren’t enough. It means that he doesn’t even realize what an amazing son he’s got. And I feel sorry for him.
“Your Dad being gone doesn’t have anything to do with you. It says a whole lot more about him than it does about you. You know that, don’t you?”
He hadn't considered the possibility, but Beth made it sound clear as day. Thinking, he rested his chin atop her head, arms scooping her closer. His bottom lip trembled. He didn’t deserve her.
“Do you really mean all that?”
“Of course I do, Steve”
She flattened her chin against his chest and held his gaze with doe eyes full of sincerity and raw love. He looked hopeful, enamored with her. Steve ran his fingers through her silky hair, a sad smile on his lips.
“I don’t deserve you, Bethany Sullivan.”
“I love you, Steve Harrington, so that’s just too bad. You’re stuck with me now. I can be your own personal cheerleader”
He hummed from deep within his chest, smiling devilishly, and pulled her into into a kiss that said everything Steve didn’t know how to. The kiss was mostly soft whimpers and gnashing teeth, hands much too grabby for a public place. Steve pulled away, hands balling up the hem of her skirt.
Beth pulled from his embrace and sauntered down the corridor towards the showers before he even registered the loss of touch. Grinning, he called out to her:
“So, does that mean you’ll keep the uniform on tonight?”
“Oh, shut up!”
He jogged to keep up, his parents the last thing on his mind.
“That’s not a no!”
Steve quipped in return. She thrust her middle finger upwards, but offered a cheeky wink as she led him into the nearly abandoned locker room.
“C’mon, lover boy. Let’s get you cleaned up.”
Steve scrambled to follow her. For the first time all night, he finally felt like a winner. His father might not have believed in him, but Beth sure did.
Masterlist
STRANGER THINGS
✧ - contains smut
❧ - my personal favorites
EDDIE MUNSON
blurbs
show me (x AFAB!reader) ✧ ❧
the one where you find out why eddie munson keeps handcuffs in his bedroom and what those stains on his mattress really are.
STEVE HARRINGTON
chaptered fics
send her my love 2 (x AFAB!reader)
the one where steve breaks the reader’s heart with one word: nancy, and everything that comes after
tidal waves (x AFAB!reader)
the one where steve and y/n are forced to spend a summer together in a beach house
blurbs
falling for you (x AFAB!oc)
the one where steve makes a big splash at carol’s lake party in an attempt to defend beth’s honor
kings and queens (x AFAB!oc)
the one where beth puts billy back in his place after he tries to weasel his way into her relationship
cheerleader (x AFAB!oc) ❧
the one where steve feels unloved by his parents but his girlfriend is always there to cheer him up.
back to risky business (x AFAB!oc)
the one where steve’s plans for halloween sound a little too familiar for bethany’s liking
for old time’s sake (xAFAB!reader) or (x AFAB!oc) ✧ ❧
the one where steve and heather’s high school reunion becomes much more than that (female!oc version)
double trouble (x hagan twin!reader) ✧ ❧
the one where all of steve’s wildest dreams come true
IT
Stanley Uris:
chaptered fics
hypochondriac 2 (x AFAB!oc, reddie)
the one where the losers return to derry to find themselves one member short, and peggy loses a whole lot more than that. eddie slowly remembers why he wanted to stop thinking about richie tozier.
Tidal Waves
Part 01: Low Tide
Steve Harrington x reader
summary: Steve wants to use the summer as an escape from his problems back home. Y/N doesn’t want to be on that beach. Anything can happen when teenage angst, summer heat, and a lot of free time combine for a month stuck with your worst enemy or, alternatively, the one where Y/N finds herself weirdly attracted to her Dad’s best friend’s asshole son. It’s the recipe for a summer they should probably forget.
Summer, 1985 : Hawkins, IN
Steve putzed around his bedroom, carrying handfuls of t-shirts and swim trunks. Hastily, he shoved the clothing between hair care products and extra pairs of sandals. Cursing himself for procrastinating, he squished the top of his suitcase down to close it, groaning. That would have to do.
He should have left by now. Getting out of Hawkins sounded like heaven; an entire month by the ocean to drown out his screaming nightmares, surrounded by nothing and no one that could possibly bring him back to this horrific place, resembled Elysian Fields. Steve said his goodbyes to friends last night, but something kept him grounded to his parents’ house, some gravitational force keeping him in Hawkins.
Squinting out his bedroom window in an attempt to squash whatever had him so hesitant, Steve’s eye caught a glimpse of the ghostly, drained swimming pool in his backyard and his stomach dropped. He frowned. Steve yanked his suitcase from the bed and made a beeline for the safety of his BMW.
A long car ride would do him good. Steve craved time to think about something other than what he had seen. He had 700 miles between him and that sweet escape. Only 700 miles until he could distract himself with sun, sand, and ocean. As far as he remembered, the resort swimming pools were easily avoidable. Steve liked avoidable, easy, relaxing. It made up for the thinly veiled last-minute invite from his father.
He had half a mind to turn him down and sulk around Hawkins. Steve gave up on ever winning his father’s approval the day neither of his parents attended his high school graduation. Pretending to be the model family for his parents and their college friends sounded like Hell to Steve, even if it would get him out of that godforsaken town. He changed his mind only after being tempted with the knowledge that the L/Ns had a child his age- a fact he knew his father threw in just to jab at Steve for spending too much time around a group of middle schoolers.
Steve caved in to his father’s wishes with the firm declaration that he deserved a summer to have fun, to make stupid, normal teenager mistakes. No. Normal teenage things don’t end well for Steve, apparently. The knuckles of his left hand bled white against the steering wheel under the force of his grip, his free hand turning the radio up so that HTS 92.5 drowned out his train of thought.
Get it together, Steve! Summer of your life, remember?
He could almost feel the sun on his skin, sand beneath his feet, and hear the giggles of the pretty strangers he planned on kissing that summer. This seemed to satisfy Steve for the moment. He even visualized the L/N kid as his partner in crime for the month.
What was their name again?
Steve couldn’t remember, but it didn’t dull his mood. He was confident that this would be the summer he would never forget. After all, his life lacked male companions his own age after he dropped Tommy as a friend.
However, down in Atlanta, Y/N pouted in the backseat of her mother’s SUV as they drove away from the safety of her pastel pink bedroom and her friends. She had little to look forward to that summer. Even her sister ditched her for her new boyfriend. Her only companions would be her Mom, Dad, and Steve Harrington, who she clearly remembered as the self-righteous eleven-year-old boy who ruined her favorite sweater, just to see her squirm.
7 hours later : Destin, FL
Beaches never could hold Y/N’s attention for long. Sticky swimsuits and sand granules, glued with a saltwater adhesive to her skin, never relaxed Y/N the way it did her father, who always returned to Georgia marked by the sun yet insisting that he was not, in fact, sunburned. Even as a toddler, she writhed at the unfamiliar sensation of sand and began to cry when her sister sprinkled her chubby toes with an icky mixture of soppy sand from the moated castle she and their eldest sister built nearby.
When she agreed to this trip, Y/N cushioned her trepidations with the comfort of the middle L/N child by her side. Now, sitting alone and pumping Journey through her Walkman, her mood was at a new low. She treasured her Dad’s youthful glee at the thought of time with his old friends; still, Y/N nearly wished she were sandwiched between her sisters and their boyfriends on their couples’ road trip instead.
Beach wind blowing through her hair, Y/N squinted up at the Harrington’s beach cottage. Nervousness bubbled up in her stomach. Mrs. Harrington was a sweet woman, if not a bit detached, but the boys in her life were little like that. Her husband rarely spoke to Y/N, instead ushering the children outside and likely bragging to Y/N’s parents about his financial success. Their beaten up, aging minivan stuck out like a sore thumb parked aside Mr. Harrington’s shiny red Cadillac. Her stomach soured. Dad lost his money and that was seemingly all Bradley Harrington cared for- frat brothers or not.
Y/N heaved her luggage out of the hatch, puffing at the stray hairs that fell in her line of vision. Her sunglasses did little to hide the obvious disinterest she displayed in being there. Atlanta never looked so interesting to her as it did when she couldn’t have it.
An hour later, Y/N lay stretched out on the porch swing with her left arm propped lazily under her chin and her right hand holding Dracula open. She had escaped the nightmare that was a stroll down the boardwalk and dinner at an overpriced, mediocre restaurant. All she needed to stay happy were her books and a bit of sunshine. Luckily, she had plenty of time for just that.
She thumbed at the pages, her tongue poking past her lips, as Y/N lost herself in fiction. Briefly, she wondered what it might be like to love another person as deeply as Jonathan Harker loved Mina and vice versa, or to experience the giddiness Lord Godalming’s promise of a future brought Lucy- bloodsucking monsters aside. As a little girl, Y/N picked up bridal magazines while waiting in hair salons for her mother. She daydreamed secretly about a boy with big eyes and a bigger heart that made her feel the way Johnny Cash did about June Carter; a big love was the one thing Y/N had always wanted but never allowed herself to have. Denying herself a true connection was something Y/N insisted she did for her own protection, and while that might have been true, it didn’t mask the fact that the idea of giving herself to someone else terrified her. She had a big heart and wanted to give it to a boy who really deserved it. The problem, she thought, had to be genetic.
Her parents met in college, fell in love, settled down not too far from her Mom’s hometown, and had three kids together. They were 22. On paper, it sounded like a fairy tale sort of love, and Y/N supposed maybe it had been, but no marriage was easy. She spent many nights pretending not to hear her parents arguing even though the walls were a tad too thin not to have. They were still married, though, and that said it all loud and clear. Complain as they might, neither could imagine a life without the other in it.
It wasn’t her parents that turned Y/N off from her hopeless romantic streak, but rather her grandparents. Grandma was Y/N’s favorite person. She loved her more than life itself, and it had ripped her hopeful little heart to shreds when she learned that Papa had been less than the ideal husband- or father. A woman as phenomenal as that deserved the world, but instead she got a narcissist who paid his mistresses more attention than his own children. The day he died, Y/N swore to herself that she would never, ever love a man enough to let him rule her life and dull her spirits as much as it had to her beloved Grandma. She was eight years old when she learned that sometimes love and marriage aren’t the same thing. Sometimes the latter lasted longer.
Steve loitered in his car after pulling up to the parking lot. He was nervous; this time not for interdimensional monsters or government conspiracy, but for the sheer possibility the summer brought him. With not all that much going for him back in Hawkins, Steve put all his faith into this trip. He craved love, attention. Steve had a big heart and so much love to give. After Nancy, he had a hole in his heart and affection flowing freely from the wound, with no one to give it away to.
Alone as usual, Steve dragged his things up to the house. With his duffel bag hanging loosely off his shoulder, Steve stalled as he caught sight of the kind of pretty stranger he’d prayed for sitting on the swing porch. His heart constricted. She was focused on the book in her hands, and Steve swore the furrow in her brow and peek of her tongue through her lips was the prettiest thing he had seen in a long time. He found himself wanting to know as much as he could about the mystery girl.
Y/N lifted her gaze away from Bram Stoker’s thriller at the screech of Steve’s tires. She exhaled sharply at the sight of him. While he was certainly not the same scrawny boy he had been when they last saw each other, his striking looks couldn’t make up for the sour impression he left on her. She wasn’t about to make a fool of herself over some pretty boy.
Steve was ready to fall in love with his pretty stranger. Y/N wanted little more than to spend as little time with Steve Harrington as she could.
a concept
I’ve been thinking about this a lot lately, and i miss these kiddos, so here’s a Steve Harrington x oc! head canon for y’all:
beth has this poster up in her room- right between one of johnny depp and like 20 of michael j fox, mind you
as seen in s1 especially, steve’s insecurities often play out in the form of jealousy and rash conclusions that interfere with his relationships, and after overhearing two girls comparing billy hargrove to the guy from st. elmo’s fire, he never wanted to see that stupid thing again
he pulls away from her sweet strawberry lips, pouting and glaring daggers at her lilac walls
“hey beth? who’s that” ‘...rob... you mean rob lowe?’ does that earring look familiar?” etc
she’s not about to let him feed into that side of himself bc it’s only a poster of freaking rob lowe, not a polaroid of some guy she met at the hawk. it’s bc she understands the real reason he doesn’t like it
she ends up taking it down, folding it in half, and stuffing it into her whiny boyfriend’s fists.
she’d never admit it, but beth thought it was kinda cute that steve was jealous. besides, she’d always been more into back to the future than the outsiders, anyways
Send asks
hey guys!! i’m currently cranking out three pieces for y’all, but my writing is a little slow at the moment. send me things to spark inspiration!
Steve’s first Christmas with you headcanons.
Christmas! Steve headcanons:
- look...,. this soft boi is starved of affection, so if he’s in a relationship during Christmas time, you bet your ass he’s gonna go pure mush
- ugly Christmas sweaters! I’ll bet he has a whole collection and is more than happy to share with his girlfriend
- soft kisses under conveniently-placed mistletoe
- lazy morning sex
- his girlfriend having to wear scarves to cover up all those hickies
- smeared lipstick on both their faces
- slow dancing at midnight in a dark bedroom with the music down low
- lots of candy canes and homemade cookies
- making a huge mess of the kitchen while attempting to bake Christmas cookies
- the two of them ending up making out, equally covered in inedible batter
- Steve leaving little gifts around their apartment, almost like a romantic advent calendar
- taking bubble baths together while the mixed tape he’s made her plays softly from the next room
- Christmas might the time for giving, but she’s the best gift Steve could have asked for
- this is probably the time of year steve would propose during, and I’m so here for this cuddly bean sobbing into an ugly ass reindeer sweater with a ring he bought all on his own
a sneak peek
since it’s taking me forever and a day to finish the first chapter of Mr. Brightside, here’s an excerpt to make up for it:
Steve Harrington x Henderson! oc, Billy Hargrove x oc love triangle
She never wanted to hurt Steve, but Delaney knew she would. Kissing Billy would completely shred his little heart, and she had only wanted to show him that she didn’t need him. If Steve was in her bed, and ultimately in her life, it would only be because she wanted him there.
Her mind betrayed her with blurred memories of a tiny New York City apartment, whispering lullabies to her crying baby brother, and her parents screaming holy hell through walls thinner than paper. She could see little else than the handsome image of her father, and her young, sweet, foolish mother following him across the country with her heart where her head should have been- see her world crashing fifteen years later when he inevitably left her jobless and heartbroken with a 7-year-old and a 2-year-old to care for. As much as she loved her mother, Delaney's worst fear was to love someone as much and as blindly as her mother had with her deadbeat father.
Instead, Steve pleaded after her with the shiny eyes of a lovestruck schoolboy and she didn’t doubt for one minute that he would give her the earth if she only asked.
Billy was the type of boy you dedicated a night to; he was a smooth talking casanova with a backseat well-versed in the language of love and a smirk that melted inhibitions. He would ruin Delaney, and for once she wanted to feel something thrilling. She wanted him to absolutely wreck her- anything to get that sickly sweet butterfly feeling out of her system. Billy was no Steve, but that was Delaney’s favorite thing about him.