(Not a Battinson post but) Brucie Wayne is such a solid cover story. I’m convinced that even if Batman was unmasked in public, Gotham would just be like “Oh no! Poor Brucie Wayne thought he could be his favorite hero for a day! Now, the Joker is going to hurt him D: Where is the real Batman so he can save the day?!” The JL would have a laughing fit in the watchtower, but deep down, they’d respect the fuck out of Bruce for developing such a good cover story.
after dealing with the tunnels, steve takes all the kids back to the byers house to wait for any news about will or el or the lab. he's finally crashing from the adrenaline rush, and the concussion is making itself known now full force.
he's pretty much dead to the world and collapsed on the couch. dustin and lucas are sticking close by, worried he's gonna just up and die on them when hopper finally makes it back.
steve is only hearing every other word when he finally gets jostled to sit up, and he feels rough hands on his face, trying to open his eyelid.
"look alive, harrington. you know where you are?"
steve grumbles, annoyed that he's being woken up like this, "yeah, yeah. i'm at the byers."
his head was gently placed back on the couch, "heard you got your bell rung by that hargrove prick."
steve sighed, deep and heavy, already feeling himself slipping away to dreamland, "better me than the kids. take a plate to the dome, any day. "
there was a snort somewhere in front of him and he felt a hand ruffle his hair, firm yet careful, "good boy, don't do it again."
it took a moment for the words to settle in his rattled brain, but as soon as hopper was walking away, steve was suddenly feeling very awake. a heat crept up his neck as a mortifying wave of arousal swam in his gut.
"good boy."
oh no.
--
years later, after starcourt and russians and dual confessions of being not-so-heterosexual, steve and robin became friends.
months after, when they sat around steve's empty mansion, drinking his dad's expensive liquor, robin had to ask, "how did you find out?"
"hmm?"
"how did you find out you were, y'know...whatever you are. swing for both teams and such?"
steve snorted, " 'and such' she says. i think we both need to be drunker for that conversation."
robin poked steve's side, "come oon, i told you my crush. throw me a bone here, steve-o."
he relented because, of course he would. he may have only known robin for less than a year, but it was scary just how much he was willing to show his true self to her so quickly.
"this stays in the room. you tell absolutely no one, or you'll wish you were sucked up by the giant flesh monster when you had the chance. "
she does some complicated hand sign to convey her loyalty and waits.
".........hopper said i was a good boy for protecting the kids, and i got a boner."
silence.
steve kept his eyes shut as the moment grew longer when he flinched at the slightest intake of breath from his best friend and prepared for the worst.
"man, the daddy issues run deep, huh?"
steve choked on saliva and hit her with a pillow, "THAT'S all you have to say!?"
robin was in tears, weakly defending herself against the pillow assault, "i'm sorry! mercy! it's just that it makes soooo much sense!"
steve didn't stop hitting her until they were both out of breath, laying next to each other and panting.
"i'm sorry your first man crush died."
steve hit her face with a pillow.
".......joyce is actually kind of hot so i get it--"
"SHUT UP!"
--
the very next year, after the murder of innocent teens, a manhunt, and the final battle won against the upside down, found steve sitting in eddie's lap.
after weeks of dancing around each other, cautiously flirting and yearning from afar, steve and eddie got their act together.
eddie dragged a hand up steve's neck and into his hair, his fingernails scraping softly against his scalp. it sent shivers down steve's spine, causing him to moan and let eddie slip through and suck on his tongue. steve bucked his hips up against eddie's in pleasure.
they separated, a string of saliva still attached to their lips that only broke when steve leaned forward and let his body sag completely onto eddie's. they stayed like that for a while, just listening to the other breathe, not wanting their little bubble to pop, and for reality to reach them.
eddie adjusted steve a bit, so he sat properly in his lap. steve, pliant and malleable, let it happen. it made eddie huff in amusement, nosing steve's temple and kissing his cheek, "you're such a good boy for me, aren't you."
steve immediately tensed and then let out a bark of laughter, "oh, thank god!"
eddie, rightfully confused, just blinked, "uhhh. mind sharing with the class what the fuck that was, harrington?"
steve just beamed, "i don't have daddy issues!"
"........WHAT?"
--
(after steve forced himself to explain his queer awakening, now embarrassed for speaking with no impulse control, eddie snickered uncontrollably into steve's chest. much to his chagrin.
once he calmed down, his smile turned devious and asked, "does this mean i'm gonna have to fight the chief for your affection? not sure i'm strong enough to do it, princess, i might have to forfeit."
steve struggled to suffocate him with a pillow, mostly because they were both laughing so hard.)
Eddie is used to getting recognized in public, but it doesn’t mean he likes it.
And Gareth knows how much he doesn’t like it, so Eddie’s not really sure why his best friend has completely abandoned him like this. Well, maybe abandon is a little dramatic. He said he’d be right back, but that was half an hour ago, and there’s only so many times he can circle the park and dive into bushes anytime someone gets too close. Which is why Eddie left the park altogether and is now sitting at a bus station. No one would expect notorious Corroded Coffin frontman Eddie Munson to be at a bus station, right?
Except he’s not sure the hat and sunglasses and incongruous location are quite doing their job. A group of kids across the road have stopped and they’re all whispering amongst themselves as they look at him. Eddie really wishes he had something to conceal himself with, but his hand over his face would definitely look way too suspicious. He’s thinking he might just have to cut and run and take his chances back in the park bushes.
That is, until the most beautiful man he’s ever seen in his life sits in the seat next to him, unfurling a giant map that easily shields both of them. Eddie’s fucking savior.
“Hey, you wouldn’t happen to know how to get to Japantown, would you?” the guy asks.
As it happens, Eddie does know how to get to Japantown. He hasn’t actually ridden the bus in years, but he still remembers the route. “Yeah,” he says, pointing it out on the map. “You just get on line five headed east and ride it like nine or ten stops until you get to McAllister and Fillmore. From there you just have to walk a few blocks to get into the area.”
The guy looks at him with big eyes, brown and a little droopy. “McAllister and Fillmore,” he repeats, like he’s trying to memorize it. He has pretty pink lips, glistening a little like he’s wearing lipgloss.
Fuck, he’s adorable. And looks a bit prone to getting lost. And Eddie’s still kind of mad at Gareth for leaving him high and dry out here. So as the bus pulls up to the stop, Eddie figures what the hell?
“I’m actually headed that way,” Eddie says, standing. “I can show you.”
The guy’s whole face brightens and fuck, he really is gorgeous. “You don’t mind?”
“Not at all, big boy.”
The bus is blessedly empty other than one shriveled up lady sitting towards the front with her groceries and a teenager in the middle with giant headphones and their nose in a book. Eddie heads to the back with the guy, who now has a faint blush dusting his nose and cheeks.
“I’m Steve, by the way,” he says as he sits in the seat next to Eddie. “What’s your name?”
So that confirms that Steve doesn’t know who he is. It didn’t seem like he did from how he was reacting, but it’s a bit of relief to know for sure. “Eddie,” he says, bumping his shoulder into Steve’s. “Nice to meet you.”
Steve gives him a smile that’s about as radiant as the sun as he nudges Eddie’s shoulder back. “You too.”
“So what do you have going on in Japantown?” Eddie asks.
“I’m headed to a baby shower for some friends who live near there,” he says, “Well, it’s not a real baby shower.”
“No?”
“‘Cause it’s not a real baby. That is, it’s not a human baby.”
Eddie lifts his eyebrows. “I think you lost me.”
Steve twists in his seat and starts gesturing with his hands. “Well, it all started when they found out that one of their cats wasn’t actually spayed and had gotten knocked up by a stray,” he says, “And Robin was like, ‘Hey, more cats, that’s a good thing,’ and Nancy was like, ‘No, our neighbors already think we’re crazy cat ladies.’”
“Uh huh.”
“So they compromised and decided they would keep one kitten and give the rest away,” Steve says, “So it’s less of a come give us presents for our baby shower and more of a please take our babies away shower. You know?”
“Oh yeah, one of those,” Eddie says, and Steve laughs.
“Hey, are you in the market for a kitten?” he asks. “Cause if you are, I totally know where you can get one.”
It’s Eddie’s turn to laugh. “Honestly?” he says, “I’ve got nothing else going on. Why the hell not?”
Steve gives him another one of those radiant smiles and Eddie can’t help but hope he gets more than a kitten by the end of this.
literally no dermatologist on earth says acne is caused by bad hygeine/lack of a skincare routine btw. its genetic. every single piece of research ever done on acne says its genetic. feel like i need to restate this every time i see a post about skincare
Finnish menstrual product campaign to raise trans awareness.
Vuokkoset and Dakota Robin on Instagram.
professors who have only interacted with other academics for years: “what do you MEAN you don’t know multi-variable calculus yet??”
professors with small kids: “thank you for not putting the lab equipment in your mouths when I turn my back”
just because alicent isn't complex in your understanding of her doesn't mean she isn't complex. all the claims i see of missing her one note, evil stepmother characterization from fire & blood are so fascinating to me, especially when the showrunners, actors, writers and directors have been so clear about the choices they've made for her in order to better expand her depth and worldview. despite that, we still have people claiming that the lack of portrayal of alicent as a clear cut villain is one that removes her "agency". do you really mean agency, or just your ability to simply hate her as a knee jerk reaction to your own bias and favorite characters in the narrative?
i really do find it so interesting when people claim they can only understand a female character's layers if she makes choices with clear intentions: purely villainous or purely good choices which then conveniently force her into one of the archetype boxes of madonna, mother, whore, bitch, etc, which are not particularly "complex" and in fact a very outdated form of storytelling most female characters suffer from. its the same shallow interpretation of a complex narrative that causes people to reduce a deeply tragic civil war between a family that results in the end of the dragons, mass death and war crimes on both sides into a narrative as simple and boring as "team green" or "team black" - rather than a commentary on the flaws of monarchy, patriarchy, etc.
just because a female character isn't making the clean cut narrative choices you want her to make to support your personal interpretations of "good" and "bad", does not mean she has had her agency or personality surrendered - but rather that you can only understand and process her as a caricature that fits into the judgements you already made about her.
Robin: Eddie, you have not had the full Steve experience until he makes the swan napkins for you
Lucas: or he just cooks for you in general
Nancy: orrrrrrrr when he starts driving really fast and there's like 8 people in the car + you and him and you have like 4 people making out, 1 is drinking, and the other is sitting on the edge of the window with their entire torso out the car. Bonus points if there's pop rock music in the background
Steve: Nancy-
Nancy: or when you're at his party and some drunk girl begins to strip on his table
Steve: Nance-
Nancy: OR whn you, Carol, Valkyrie, him, and Tommy are just chilling and you and Carol are talking and then all of a sudden him and Tommy are making out, fully sober then say "it's not gay if we have girlfriends"
Eddie: Steve, wtf
Steve: me and Tommy had a running gag where we would kiss and at the time it was funny because gay people but in reality we just wanted to kiss a guy
Dustin: I'm sorry excuse me?
Steve: the joke was that I was prettier than Carol and Tommy wanted to fuck me
microdosing on catharsis by watching a fictional character or persona i relate to have an emotional breakdown until my chest starts to ache from the amount i've repressed