mayalaen: (Default)
Ugh I can't get this out of my head.

An everybody lives AU(ish) where Eddie has left Hawkins to be a famous musician and Steve, disappointed by his life choices and wanting more and wondering about what might have been if he just worked up the courage to ask, leaves Hawkins to find Eddie.

He's so fucking confused by the world outside Hawkins. Like almost Tarzan-in-Manhattan-level confused. He's lost and bewildered but he can't give up and go back now.

Especially when he sees a big billboard announcing the tour dates for Corroded Coffin and Eddie looks even better than Steve remembered.

Steve can't get into the venue because everything was so expensive that he's blown all his cash just getting there.

He goes around to the back before the concert, hoping Eddie's there getting ready, but it's just roadies. He asks a few if Eddie's around, but they assume he's a fanboy and tell him to leave.

As he's walking away, he hears a familiar voice. Eddie's thrilled to see him. He hugs him so hard Steve can barely breathe.

Steve closes his eyes and holds Eddie not only because he missed him so fucking badly, but the world outside Hawkins has freaked him the fuck out and he doesn't know what's going on.

Eddie invites him back to his bus, and Steve doesn't think twice about it. Nobody else is on the bus. Eddie Gives him a bottled water.

Before Steve can even ask, Eddie tells him it's okay. That Eddie had been through it all -- the overwhelming  shock of stepping out of Hawkins and into a world that seemed to have left them behind.

Hawkins never moved beyond the 1980s, and Eddie thinks it has something to do with the Upside Down or the lab, but he's never been able to explain why it's 2023 for the rest of the world and Hawkins still doesn't have cell phones or flat screen TVs and for Eddie and Steve three years ago was 1986.

He's felt like an outside even though he's learned to live with it, and seeing Steve again has felt like going home.

They just talk and reminisce, and Steve feels like everything might be okay.

Eddie lets him come backstage for the concert, and Steve can't believe how fucking hot Eddie is when he's on stage, doing what he loves.

They fall asleep on the bus after eating messy burgers and drinking too much soda.

Steve wakes with the sunrise feeling more content than he has over the last couple years. Eddie's next to him, watching him sleep. He smiles and says good morning, and Steve thinks his heart is going to explode.

Their first kiss is moments later.

Hours later when it's time to get on the road, they're still in the back, sweaty and too tired to get it up anymore, and the rest of the band members are sick of waiting, so they just pack everything up, yell at Eddie to take a fucking shower dude it stinks in here seriously?! and then they're on the road.

Steve doesn't regret it. The world is so much different than he could've imagined, but it doesn't matter because he has Eddie.
mayalaen: (Default)

There's a Stephen King-ish feeling that washes over me when I think of the Stranger Things 'verse actually being set in modern day but this stupid little town is stuck in the 80s for some reason and everybody just lets them be.

Like people pass through and there's no cell service and when the dude in the brand new Tesla asks where he can charge his car and why are there no bars in this town the residents are like

"but... we have... a bar? right there. go ahead and get a drink they've got great sandwiches too"

Somebody asks Eddie if he's into grunge or nu metal and he's like dirt doesn't bother me but like I'm not INTO it and sure I like a dude with piercings.

The lack of kid car seats freaks out EVERYBODY.

Billy gets into an argument with some random woman over smoking inside public places because wtf that's not a law!

Hop's having trouble finding replacements for the crank mechanisms on his truck windows and somebody's like have you checked eBay? And he just stares at them like they've grown another head.

Everybody in the surrounding towns like yeah just let them be they're not hurting anybody.

That's why the lab is in the town. Not because they're interested in the giant gaping hole between our world and the Upside Down but because wtf is wrong why are all these people under this mass delusion

yeahyeah mindflayers are so last year get over it and tell me why these people think nothing new has been invented since 1986.

mayalaen: (Default)

Thank you for making Eddie's tattoos more realistic than 99.999% of the tattoos I see in movies/TV.



They aren't fresh and dark with super crispy edges like the stick-on fake tattoos they usually use.

The person who did his tattoos made them a little opaque and they're not perfect. Look at those lines.

And they're not done in prison tat style, but more like a home artist from the 80s who knows what they're doing.

His tattoos look like they were done with a homemade tattoo machine and homemade needles, as was done in the 80s by people who knew how to make those tools and use them well.

There are still old-school artists out there who used to make all their own needles by hand, and I've learned SO MUCH from them.

Eddie's tattoos also look like they're done with ink that was available in the 80s. Black ink (in the US) done in this style ended up looking just like this once healed, and the brighter or stronger colors that stay in the skin weren't available back then.

Seriously, some colors would just fall right out during the healing process. Premixed tattoo ink colors didn't become widely adopted until the 1970s, and the shades available were very basic until even 20 years ago.

Starbrite Brite White ink
(a white that really stays well and stays bright) didn't come out until 15 years ago.

Another fun thing that I'm pretty sure was done on purpose is that these tattoos aren't in the typical spots a guy in the 80s would've placed them.

Tattoos weren't nearly as mainstream as they are now, but men who got them tended to place them on their upper outer arms and outer forearms unless they got tons of tattoos. Some would do chest tattoos, but not quite where Eddie got his.

Same with the wyvern -- it's not QUITE where guys would get a tattoo on the outer upper arm. Men tended to get them on areas with major muscle groups underneath.

This attention to detail helps to communicate wordlessly that Eddie wasn't even mainstream for alternative 80s guys. He has tattoos that are placed in a more personal way. Like they mean something to him, and if anybody else happens to see them, well that's fine, but that wasn't his main goal.

Even if some of them were gotten on an impulse without much thought, they're still all very personal to him, but I have a feeling his character would think about them a lot and maybe doodle them a bunch before getting them.

Profile

mayalaen: (Default)
mayalaen

January 2025

S M T W T F S
    1234
567891011
12131415161718
19202122232425
262728293031 

Most Popular Tags

Syndicate

RSS Atom