Colemontgomeryx·:

rcbinbvckleys·:

⚢

all robin seemed to be able to do when eddie spoke even louder was laugh. “you are so annoying.” she shook her head fondly, paying no real mind to the loud music coming from the bedroom. this was eddie they were talking about, and if there was one thing besides hellfire that he was known for, it was his love of music. which is why robin wasn’t fazed, and she was pretty used to it by now. it was just something that came with their friendship.

 “i will never forget that mattress in my life. the image is still carved into my eyelids.” robin hoped that somewhere along the line, eddie or at least his uncle had replaced the old thing. but until she received explicit confirmation, it was pretty likely that she would purposely stay well away from sitting on eddie’s bed. 

 taking the joint from eddie’s hand, robin took a long drag from it. “where do i even start?” another drag, just for good measure before passing it back to him. “do you ever feel like, something’s going on but you just can’t be too sure about it?”

+++

the second the joint was taken from his fingers eddie buried his face in his palms, partly to hide the embarrassed flush that rose to his cheeks, a long groan falling from his lips. "buckley, please, i'm begging you - I know it was gross, okay? i have a new mattress now and i - i don't know what those stains were, okay?"

eddie knew absolutely what those stains were but the nature of said stains was a secret he'd take to his grave. he flung his hands about, gestured for robin to move on to a different topic of conversation.

he sat up a little straighter as she spoke, took the joint from her hands, a long inhale. "uh..." brows pulled together, he followed the smoke as it traveled up from his mouth to the ceiling. "just.... like, on a daily basis." a lopsided grin, he huffed. "what's this about, rob?"

Still super jealous as hell, by the way.

thequeenofhawkins·:

𝐖𝐇𝐎: Chrissy Cunningham & @eddiemcnson····

𝐖𝐇𝐀𝐓: Eddie said “Chrissy, wake up” and she did just that!

𝐖𝐇𝐄𝐑𝐄: Forest Hills Trailer Park. The Munson Trailer if u will

Chrissy had been home for a week. One whole miserable week. She felt like she was losing her mind. Hazy memories mixed with confused glances. She had missed out on two years of her life, two years of college, she missed out on senior graduation. Did she even have a diploma? She would have to figure that out later. Right now, her education didn’t matter to her. All she could focus on was the how’s and why’s and where’s that led her to the forest commune that night. Chrissy didn’t think it was uncharacteristic of her and she believed that she went of her own volition, despite what Melissa had theorized.

But that didn’t change that Chrissy couldn’t remember much. She remembered standing in Eddie Munson’s trailer, watching him run off to get Special K, having the worst nightmare ever, and then waking up in the forest two years later. Before that day, she had never had an ounce of anything illegal in her body. She had never even drank more than a sip of beer. That kind of stuff would just ruin your body, Chrissy, her mother would say to her, and Christians are supposed to protect their bodies. 

That’s why she couldn’t tell her parents the events of what happened that night, other than she had merely gone to Eddie’s to study and then left to the commune. Unfortunately, that did nothing but convince them to believe that Eddie Munson had been a part of a cult and dragged their innocent daughter into it. So, Chrissy went to the source. Eddie knew what happened, or at least, whatever he gave her. 

The first time she knocked, no one answered, so Chrissy waited around the trailer park (like an idiot). The second time, Eddie finally opened the door. Then Chrissy mustered up the most accusatory voice she could,

“What the hell did you give me that night?”

+++

jesus h christ, it had been an eventful couple of weeks in hawkins, eddie mused to himself as he lazily strummed a few chords on his guitar, cigarette dangling loosely between his lips. between freak outs about the paranormal making a reappearance in town and making out with steve fucking harrington, eddie had barely had any time to himself, to just... wrap his head around what was happening.

though he'd been back in town since the beginning of summer, eddie still woke up startled every day, and it took him a few deep breaths until he made note of his surroundings. the trailer. hawkins. his room.

yeah, eddie stayed mostly in his room when inside the trailer - he'd made the mistake of accidentally passing out on the couch around the second night he'd been back, woke up in a cold sweat, eyes widened and glued to that spot on the ceiling where some two years ago, chrissy cunningham had floated to her death. god, how he resented vecna for the fact that even the trailer, the only home he'd ever known, gave him the creeps.

ever since that night, nightmares of chrissy cunningham coming back from the dead, blaming him for what happened to her, haunted him. same as the guilt haunted him, about the fact that he hadn't been able to save her. that he'd chosen the cowards way out - running away, leaving her there.

however, it seemed as if his nightmares slowly seeped into reality. plucking aimlessly at the chords, eyes closed, eddie had overheard the first knock. the second one however was louder, more aggressive, and with a roll of his eyes and a huff he laid the guitar aside, climbed off his bed and made his way to the door.

a loud, annoyed "what?" followed by stunned silence as he opened the door. he was dreaming. hallucinating. maybe he hadn't lit a cigarette, maybe it had been a joint. either this was a dream or he was tripping because there, right in front of him, stood chrissy cunningham - and she looked okay. alive. no broken bones, no garish look in her face.

a shaky inhale, eddie could feel his heart beating in his throat, whole body shaking as he stumbled backwards, away from the door. he quickly grabbed whatever was nearest - the tv remote, as it happened - and pointed it at her. for self defense, of course.

"no, no, no, no, no. go away. you're not real, you hear me? you're not real! leave me alone, go away, please.", eddie yelled between nervous breaths, cautiously stepping backwards. heart beating faster, breath coming out shallow and hitched, eddie felt a few wayward tears run down his cheeks before his back hit the wall.

and with a last slurred "please", dark spots started to appear in his vision and the world faded to black. fuck this.

stevehharringtcns·:

who: steve harrington & open

where: middle of the road

what was he doing? was he really about to go to a barbecue that was being thrown at the wheeler’s house? he had been invited, of course, but something didn’t feel right on just showing up there. how was he going to react when he saw nancy? and worst of all, how was she going to react? all of these thoughts were going through his mind as he drove - he should have been paying the attention to the road, but luckily he snapped out of his own head just in time to spot someone crossing the road right in front of his car. without even thinking, steve hit the brakes as hard as he could, his body leaning forward with the abrupt stop and before he knew it, he was honking the horn in protest, before sticking his head out of the window to get a better look at the person who was standing in front of his car.

“what the hell are you doing, dingus? you can’t just… walk in front of my car like that, you could have damaged it! i mean, you could have gotten hurt.” steve said, shaking his head as he ran a hand through his hair - both of them had been lucky, he thought to himself as he took a deep breath. “you going to the wheeler barbecue or what?” he asked, once it got awkward enough - they couldn’t just be there forever and the person didn’t seem to move, and steve definitely couldn’t run over them.

this was, objectively, awful. eddie was walking along the side of the road - not totally sure where he was - heaving and groaning and overall in a sour mood, dragging his feet like a little kid tired of walking. who'd have thought hawkins got this fucking hot in summer? he'd looked forward to getting away from the vicious chicago sun but had found his former hometown positively scalding, temperatures steadily climbing. he'd gone out to chill at his former favourite spot, that bench in that clearing in the woods behind hawkins high, to get a little piece of mind, have a smoke, be alone with his thoughts for a moment. he'd gone out there at, like, 12 this morning.

now, eddie wasn't sure what time it was, he'd forgotten his watch at home, but it was definitely past 12. he hadn't meant to fall asleep, it just happened. he'd only wanted to close his eyes for a couple minutes, next thing he knew he'd dozed off and awoken to bright piercing sunlight and what was definitely going to be a wicked sunburn on the back of his neck. some punk had stolen his bike so eddie was reduced to finding his way back to the trailer park.

he didn't know how long he'd been walking out there, leathe racket tied around his waist, only wearing a muscle shirt - he'd left the vest at home, which was inherently stupid because that vest was his best feature - pants cuffed, familiar black bandana dangling out of his back pocket. no cars had passed him, until -

- "harrington....?" eddie blinked a couple of times, made sure that this wasn't a heat induced hallucination. no, definitely, without a doubt, that was steve harrington's car. his fave lit up immediately, lips twisting into a big smile as he did the only thing he could think of. which was jumping in front of his car.

"harrington!", he called out, skillfully ignoring steve's outraged comments. he waved at him eagerly, then made his way around the hood of the car and yanked open the door to the passenger seat. "are my eyes deceiving me? do I truly find myself within the presence of king steve?"

he climbed into the passenger seat, stopped himself short of pulling steve into a hug. pull yourself together, man. the grin never left his face, leg bouncing excitedly because holy hell, that's steve and eddie's been looking forward to seeing him again for ages now.

"the wheelers barbecue? - well, im going now.", he said with an eager nod, pulled the door shut. "wheeler won't mind if you bring a plus one, will she?"

stevehharringtcns·:

dvstybuns·:

“What? No. No one broke into your house. You got mad the last time I did that, so I stopped.” Dustin replied to Steve, frowning at the question. If someone else had, Dustin would have called the cops - and then left. He wasn’t about to try to fight off a burglar at Steve’s house; his parents could afford to replace it all, anyway. And then all hell broke loose when Steve and Eddie realized why he’d used a Code Red. 

In theory, Dustin knew that Code Red meant Code Red and he wasn’t supposed to use it for other shit. He knew that! He didn’t need this lecture right now, damn it. “Okay, but you wouldn’t have gotten here as fast if I’d told you the real reason I needed to see you!” Dustin replied, voice rising to match theirs. Not that he had any real reason to be annoyed at them. “But fine! Whatever! I won’t use Code Red again unless I’m dying, okay?” He grumbled at Eddie, looking at Steve for some sympathy here. Not that he was really expecting to find it, but still. Of the two, Eddie seemed more pissed right now. 

Sitting down on Steve’s couch, he looked to the two older boys for guidance. He had asked them both for help because they were both like big brothers to him, or dads even. Older male figures that he looked up to and respected, even if just thinking that made him want to gag. Dustin loved them, and he trusted that even if their advice was shitty, it came from a good place because neither would actually actively want to ruin his life. 

“No, I know I need to take her on dates!” Dustin shook his head, leaning forward and resting his elbows on his knees. “I can do that. I can be romantic,” He murmured quietly, nodding at Eddie’s advice as he took it in. “Um, actually, we can’t go away somewhere because of the fucking border,” He reminded them, brow screwing up in confusion at the mention of a cabin. That seemed pointed, for some reason, and Dustin had no clue why. 

Was something else going on here? What was happening with them? Was this about a girl or something?

Pausing, Dustin took in the rest of Eddie’s advice. Okay, that was solid. That was something he could do. But that was also mostly what he was already doing. “I guess… I don’t know. It’s like, when we were talking over Cerebro or the phone, it was easy. Now that she’s here, I’m just…” He paused, looking down at the floor. It shouldn’t be embarrassing to admit - they both already knew how dorky he was. It was just hard being vulnerable sometimes, although he knew Steve and Eddie wouldn’t really judge him. Steve had been around for the fiasco that was the Snowball, and Eddie had known him for years too. Talking about this with them would be fine. Easier than talking about it with Mike and Lucas, for sure. 

“…I’m nervous. I really like her, and it’s been a long time since she’s been around me in person. What if she realizes that I’m weird or something and doesn’t like me anymore?” Dustin admitted quietly, avoiding looking at either of them.

When Eddie asked to leave, Dustin looked up at him sharply. “What? No! I asked you both here for your advice! Just because you don’t know much about girls doesn’t excuse you!” 

@stevehharringtcns··

.

these stupid walkies had only given steve headaches. he could have easily had a talk with eddie at his cabin, but of course they were interrupted by dustin. and since it was a code red (or so they thought so), they couldn’t exactly ignore it. “eddie’s right about this, you can’t just go on and about saying code red when you feel like it! you know that my dad would kill me if something happened to the house while he was out. just don’t do it again.” he said, feeling like he was done lecturing dustin. sometimes he did feel like a babysitter. he shared a look with eddie, nodding his head slowly. he thought that he didn’t need to say anything as they made their way inside of the house, watching as dustin took a seat on his couch.

as much as he wanted to focus on dustin, steve couldn’t help but to feel bad that he was there with eddie like everything was okay. he decided that it was for the best to not bring it up to dustin. he liked to believe that dustin looked at steve for some comfort, and the way he had talked about eddie before, he definitely saw him the same way. he wasn’t going to bring him into their mess. but then again, it was kind of hard to do when he felt eddie’s stares burn into his head and the occasional jabs, even if subtle, that the other threw his way.

“a cabin is a really good place for a romance, if two people are alone. that much is true, dustin…” he said, giving eddie a look for a couple of moments, wanting for him to stop. what had happened at the cabin wasn’t his proudest moment and he felt sick every time he thought about it, but this wasn’t the best time to fight about it. although that he thought he would never hear the end of it from eddie. if he had been given a chance to talk to him before getting interrupted, maybe they wouldn’t be like this now. but it didn’t matter, steve wanted to focus on dustin. “look, this isn’t about me and the dates that i’ve gone to, ed- dustin.” he said, correcting himself at the end and clearing his throat. “clearly we’re different because i was popular back then and dustin is… well, dustin.” he said with a shrug of his shoulders.

steve listened carefully to dustin’s concerns about suzie. in all honesty, dustin made it seem like suzie was going to leave at any moment, but steve doubted that. after meeting her, she seemed way too nice to do something like that and she cared about dustin. steve pursed his lips as he nodded his head, thinking about on what to say next. “have you… you know, tried talking to her about it? maybe asking her?” he asked, raising an eyebrow before shaking his head.

“you’re not… okay, you’re definitely weird, but that’s past the point! she fell for you during that… camp or whatever it was. and even after that, she still wanted to talk to you through those stupid walkies. if she does all of that for a guy that’s miles away, then i definitely don’t think she’ll think you’re weird. or maybe…” he said, looking over at eddie for a couple of moments, a glint in his eyes as he pursed his lips and looked at dustin. “maybe she likes you because you’re weird.” he said, nodding his head. he thought if he was actually talking about himself. he let out a sigh as he sat down next to dustin and patted the other on the shoulder with a smile on his face. 

“i don’t think you have to worry about suzie thinking you’re weird. right, eddie?” he asked, feeling his heart pounding as he looked at eddie for a few moments, giving him a look. he wanted the other to agree with him and forget about what was going on between them for a couple of moments. this was about cheering up dustin and giving him some advice as he asked. they could fight later.

“how about this? you’ll go home tonight and ask suzie what are some of her favorite movies and tomorrow you can stop by the video store and rent them out, okay?” he asked, smiling at dustin. “it’ll be on the house.” he assured, patting the other on the shoulder again. he wasn’t the best at advice, he thought, but a movie always seemed to help whenever he had a date. even if he didn’t pay that much attention to the movie.

@eddiemcnson··

+++

eddie threw steve a sharp look, then sighed heavily. it was better to leave his own resentment out of this - for dustin's sake. and he was instantly reminded of a line he'd heard countless times in his childhood, over the sound muffled shouting and breaking glass - "not in front of the kid!"

besides, he didn't stand a chance when dustin looked at him like that so, slightly disgruntled, he plopped down on the couch. steves comment about popularity drew an eye roll from eddie. "ah, great, stevie ,amazing, real nicely done. makes him feel real special i bet." though eddie knew what he meant. he himself hadn't been exactly popular in high school, either, especially after the whole town had accused him of satanic ritualistic murders. still, that hadn't exactly gotten in the way of his dating life, seeing as it had been nonexistent in hawkins. a lack of options, if anything. perhaps a lack of adequate social skills, too.

he leaned in, gave dustin a shrug and a comforting smile. "as much as I hate to say this but i agree with king steve over here. and anyway, the hell's wrong with being weird, anyway? i'm weird. you're weird. i wouldn't like you if you weren't weird, henderson. you see...", he trailed off, pursed his lips, fingers drumming against his thigh as he thought of how to phrase it. "freaks and weirdos, yeah, they, like, attract each other. we're like magnets. when I first saw you, i mean, you definitely looked odd with your fucking weird al shirt." he chuckled slightly at the memory, feeling a little more comfortable now despite the lingering tension between him and steve." but wheeler, he looked, like, disgustingly, boringly normal. "and he made a fake gagging sound to accentuate his words. " but i still came up to you two and asked you to sit at the hellfire table. because i could just tell you two were freaks. hey, think of it like this - weird is just like another word for special."

a reassuring smile he gave dustin a comforting pat on the back, freezing as his fingers lightly brushed steve's from where the other's hand rested on dustin's shoulder. he pulled it back, perhaps a couple of seconds too late. "yeah, go... go with what harrington here says. dinner and a movie, yada yada. take her to the arcade - you said she digs computers and that shit, right?"

@dvstybuns

backtowheeler·:

— ✎ —

“Thad,” Nancy confirmed, glancing over at Eddie. “Laugh all you want, but he’s a good guy,” meaning he’s really not, but it’s not like they had to get into that tonight, and for the most part? Nancy did like her boyfriend, he could just be a bit… much at times. “He’s into cars, so he doesn’t understand what it means to drive something just because it gets you from one place to another.”

Matching scars are metal as hell, though. “Are you saying I’m metal?” She asked, her face turning up into a grin. Nancy Wheeler was not metal, she wouldn’t even consider herself a badass, but hey maybe scars were metal. “No, no, this is my first rodeo with committing arson against the best diner in town,” she glanced down at her hands. “Jonathan. First time we ever dealt with… anything like this and Demogorgons? They like blood,” then she looked back at Eddie, and said, “remember that,” just in case this was what they were dealing with. “So we had the bright idea to cut our hands to lure it to his house. God, that feels like forever ago.” Probably because it was five years ago.

It wasn’t often that she was able to tell people about her memories of dealing with the Upside Down. Either they were there or she just couldn’t say anything. “And Steve. Oh my god, he was such an asshole back then,” then a laugh. “Get this, I held a gun at him. Like, ready to shoot him and all. I would have never shot him but…” realizing she was rambling, she settled back in the seat. “Anyways, that’s how I got the scar.”

+++

eddie nodded to himself, steered the car onto through hawkins residential area onto the main roads leading up to the trailer park. "think i mightve run into him a couple days ago.",he mused with a shrug. deciding it was better not to go into much detail about that particular encounter. "he seemed alright." meaning he really did not but who was eddie to judge, at the end of the day.

he broke into a grin at her question, nodded eagerly. "yeah, man. wheeler, you're like, one of the most metal people alive. ozzy's gnawing at another bat as we speak, just so he can keep up with you.", eddie laughed, fingers drumming against the steering wheel to the melody of black sabbath's 'paranoid'.

remember that. he shifted uncomfortably in his shit, oh, yeah, he definitely would. there was that queasy feeling spreading in the pit of his stomach again as the night's events started replaying in his head. "noted.", he muttered, more to himself.

the mention of steve, however, had a grin tugging at eddie's his lips, he glanced at her from the corner of his eye, a low chuckle bubbling up in his chest. "king steve? an asshole? why, that is shocking news to me!"

backtowheeler·:

— ✎ —

“I thought you would enjoy it, okay?” Nancy defended herself, even though she knew Eddie wasn’t being serious with any of his theatrics. A laugh emitted from her lips, somehow being able to find the humor in what they had just discovered and ultimately, destroyed. That was a crap shoot though, wasn’t it? The evil in Hawkins would never be defeated, no matter how many monsters or people they got rid of. It would come back like a plague until Hawkins burned to the ground, taking its hell with it.

Nancy chortled. “That’s not saying much,” she teased, opening the passenger door. “Mike wouldn’t know good driving if it hit him in the face and…” she clicked her tongue. “It’s probably best if Max never gets behind a wheel. I’ve been trying to teach her how to drive and, Jesus Christ, I don’t think she knows where the brakes are,” it was unfortunate, considering Nancy was attempting to teach her so she’d be able to leave Hawkins one day, but that didn’t seem to be anytime soon. 

She buckled herself in and turned to Eddie. “Yeah? She gets me around and that’s good enough to me. Thad always tells me that I need to get something better than the station wagon,” she explained. It was a car, a vehicle to drive, and that’s all she cared about. “He calls it an abomination to vehicles everywhere,” she held her fingers up in quotation marks and lowered her voice. 

“Oh, this?” She glanced down at her hand, inspecting the damage somewhat. It was nasty. “I’ll be fine. Nothing some Neosporin and a bandage won’t fix. I’ll even have a cool matching scar,” she pointed out, holding up her left hand, a faded mark still etched in her skin from when her and Jonathan had lured the Demogorgon to his house years ago.

+++

"fucking hell, you've got some balls, wheeler, taking it upon yourself to teach that heathen how to drive. I'd fear for my fucking life.", he muttered with a frown, one that turned into a bit of a grimace as he remembered the time he'd allowed max to drive the van. out of the driveway, that was, eddie had very nearly seen his life flash in front of his eyes.

he started the car, carefully and skillfully maneuvering them out from her parking spot onto the road. eddie frowned again. "well it's sure as hell not a limousine but i wouldn't go as far as calling it an abomination.", he said, then, with a quirked brow, added: "thad?"

chewing on his bottom lip, eddie glanced down at nancy's hands before focusing his attention back on the road. "well, if you say so. matching scars are metal as hell, though.", he says with a little grin, an attempt to lighten the mood. "where'd you get the other one? this ain't your first time burning down a beloved family owned diner?"

stevehharringtcns·:

.

steve wouldn’t have been able to forgive himself if something had happened to eddie at the carnival. he had been arrested and steve felt his heart sink when he had been told that. the worst part was that he was unable to help, but he was glad to see that the other was okay. he had been unharmed in the explosion. he wouldn’t have been able to handle it if eddie had been in the bed right next to him, in a different room or worse, if he had died. steve didn’t like thinking about that. not after everything that had happened two years prior, where steve had been the one to visit at the hospital after he had been attacked by the demo-bats and almost died. of course, at that point he hadn’t been this close to eddie, but he was still concerned of course. especially since dustin had become so close to eddie and he didn’t know how the kid would handle that loss. now the roles had switched.

he let his eyes be closed for a little longer, opening them to look at eddie. he hadn’t noticed he had been cold this entire time until eddie pointed it out. “a blanket… would be nice.” he said as he tried to adjust himself on the bed, but he was far too weak and far too bruised to even attempt to move. he would have to try again later, he thought. “but… just stay here for now.” he said, squeezing eddie’s hand so that he wouldn’t get up just now. he wanted for the other to stay beside him. it’s all he asked for at that moment. he looked over at him, a small and weak smile forming on his lips as he felt eddie’s hand on his. he was glad he was there with him. they both had survived and they both would be okay. they had to be. steve couldn’t imagine a future where the two of them wouldn’t be okay anymore. he had pushed away the thought of everything going wrong between them.

he enjoyed the silence for a couple of moments, heavy breathing as he did. he looked over at eddie when the other started sobbing, but he didn’t say anything. he couldn’t stop the other from feeling that way. he lied there, as he started feeling his own tears streaming from his eyes down his cheeks. he didn’t sob, he knew that it would hurt if he did, but he was crying. he hated seeing eddie like this, breaking down in front of him and he just couldn’t wrap his arms around him and bring him close. he squeezed his hand once again. “eddie…” he said, his voice weak as he sniffed, hoping that the tears would stop eventually. for both of them. the two were alive, yet they found themselves crying like one of them had died. it didn’t make any sense, but the two had been through enough for this to be allowed. “i’m not going anywhere. i promise…” he said weakly, nodding his head slowly. he wanted to keep that promise. he couldn’t leave eddie, he didn’t want to leave him. he couldn’t hurt him again. and seeing him like this made him feel stupid that he hadn’t seen the signs sooner, when they were fighting vecna and eddie was flirting with him. steve was too busy chasing something that he didn’t want. he wanted to be with eddie, and he was sure of it. “and when… when i leave the hospital, we’re going to…” he said, stopping to cough a little more, wincing as he felt the pain of his broken ribs spreading through, stopping to take a breath. once he recovered, he continued. “we’re going to watch… dirty dancing. and we’ll learn that… lift move. i promise.” he said with a nod.

he let the two of them calm down for a bit before he asked what he wanted to ask. he had been thinking about it for quite some time now. he just didn’t know that he needed a near death experience to actually say it. “life’s too short.” he started by saying, taking a deep breath after that. “i could have died… and-and…” he said as he started rambling, trying to find the right words. “i want you… to be… my boyfriend, eddie.” he said. it felt weird to say that out loud, he wasn’t used to it, but he knew that it was right. he knew that eddie was right for him. “no more… pretending that we’re just seeing each other and going out. i want… to be your boyfriend.” he said, giving the other a small nod. “okay?” he asked. 

+++

eddie nodded so fast and eagerly that he nearly strained his neck. “yeah, of course, blanket, blanket....”, he trailed off, anxious, strained eyes darting around, briefly landing on the bed cole montgomery currently occupied. but - no, eddie frowned, shook his head to himself softly, no, he couldn’t steal cole’s blanket. the man needed it to himself, probably. despite steve’s wishes to simply stay put, eddie reluctantly let go of his hand for a moment to shrug off his signature leather jacket and denim vest, carefully draping it over steve’s chest. “to tide you over ‘till you’re letting me leave to get you that blanket, hot shot.”

words followed by a weak, disingenuous smile, he squeezed steve hand again, tight, until the tears came spilling out on their own accord, body rocked by heavy sobs. eddie hated it, how easy he began to cry. in front of others, too. ever since he’d been a little kid, once the tears came there was no stopping them, which had obviously made eddie the subject of ridicule. over the years he had learned to ‘suck it up’, develop thicker skin, bottle up his feelings. not let people in on what was truly going on inside him. but steve was ...  different. 

and steve was crying, too. eddie’s head snapped up as he heard him sniffle, his own sobs ceasing instantly. his chest heavy with the guilt that his display of emotion had caused the tears he was now softly wiping away with his thumb, caressing steve’s cheek as he did so. “hey, shh. i’m sorry, sorry, sweetheart. i didn’t mean - sorry.” he shook his head, shaking the last couple of tears out of the corners of his eyes as he did so. they’d have plenty of time to cry once steve got out of there. besides, crying was exhausting, and steve was here to get better, to rest and relax. and eddie could get up and finally get him that blanket once they had both calmed down. steve’s hands really were cold.

the cough made steve wince and eddie tear up again. he bit down on his lip, hard, winced and mirrored steve’s grimace, wishing he could mirror the pain, too. if he couldn’t take it from him then they could at least be together in their suffering . teeth moving over his bottom lip, he waited patiently as steve recovered enough to continue talking. an incredulous chuckle drawn from his lips, brows raised, eddie softly shook his head in disbelief, raised their joined hands to his lips again. “yeah. yeah, alright, we’ll learn the lift. whatever you want.”

life’s too short, i could’ve died. feeling the lump in his throat grow bigger, eddie blinked and averted his gaze to their hands, thumb softly tracing over his knuckles. his whispers of “no” and “don’t say that”, quickly ceased as steve finally popped the dreaded question. come to think of it - not dreaded at all, actually. eddie lifted his head very slowly until he met steve’s eyes, a puzzled look on his face as steve’s words kept repeating in his head. boyfriend, boyfriend, boyfriend. i want to be your boyfriend. he blinked, confused, squeezed steve’s hand - yeah, no, this was real. this was definitely real.

“i - i’m sorry?” a couple of beats passed before the meaning of steve’s words had apparently sunk in, eddie’s bemused expression suddenly fading, making way for a wide, toothy grin. he nodded slowly, his grin spreading wider and wider before eddie surged forward, to connect their lips in a short and soft kiss, careful not to hurt steve in any way. “yeah. yeah, of course, dumbass. duh. “ and eddie laughed, genuinely and loudly, quickly pressed his lips together, giving steve a sheepish smile. “i mean - you’re, like, a hundred percent sure about this?  because .. cause i’d hate for you to wake up, like, tomorrow or whenever the painkillers have worn off and regret the whole thing.”

stevehharringtcns·:

.

standing by the door as he looked at eddie, steve felt a little too naked for his liking. sure, he was used to walking shirtless around his place, but of course he was alone, and now, having eddie standing in front of him and staring at his bare chest made him feel… something. he didn’t feel uncomfortable, it was eddie after all, but he definitely felt something once he felt his eyes on him. he was almost sure that his face had turned into another shade of pink, but he was hoping that eddie wouldn’t realize it.

it was getting a little bit too awkward just standing there, but he didn’t know what to say. he was just waiting for eddie to finally say something and that’s when eddie finally spoke about eggs. eggs? steve wasn’t sure if he had heard that correctly, but he didn’t say anything until the other was done with his sentence.”why don’t you… come inside? it’s probably for the best if you just don’t stand there talking about… eggs.” he said as he moved away so the other could make his way inside. once the two were both inside, steve closed the door behind him as he started making his way to the living room - something that wouldn’t happen if his parents were home, but luckily for him, he was alone.

“make yourself at home.” steve offered, as he motioned towards the couch, before looking at the other and crossing his arms over his chest.. what was this about? why was eddie in such a hurry to see him and why did he seem so nervous? “what… what’s this conversation about the eggs… and fire? did you eat some bad eggs at benny’s? because that wouldn’t be that surprising.” he said with a small shrug of his shoulders.

steve couldn’t help but to notice that eddie really seemed nervous about whatever was going on, but he didn’t know what to do. “just take a seat, eddie and… breathe or something. what’s going on?” he asked yet again, waiting for an answer. everyone seemed to had gone through something lately and steve wasn’t even in town to see it. had he really missed that much just by being gone?

+++

eddie nodded, still unable to form a coherent sentence because holy fuck, steve harrington had opened his door shirtless, wearing only shorts, and eddie would save that image and treasure it forever, lest he might never see it again. “yeah. yeah, inside. inside is good.”, he muttered and pushed past steve, thinking to himself that his pattern of speech oddly represented that of hopper’s kid and -

- yeah, that was another thing to unpack. because eddie could’ve sworn he’d seen her open the door to the diner with... well, what exactly, that was the question. not her hands, no, it seemed like it had been her... mind? perhaps eddie was losing his mind here.

he let his gaze wander around the entry way, the living room, couldn’t help that his eyes widened at the sight of steve’s home. because damn, he’d known that steve’s family was loaded or whatever. but he’d never been in a house as big as this. it was ridiculous. he plopped dowon on the couch, hands shaking, fidgeting with his rings. “i ... fuck. i don’t know.”, he muttered, nervously chewed on his bottom lip. foot tapping restlessly. eddie buried his face in his hands for a moment, trying to calm himself.

“i was hanging out with wheeler - nancy.”, he clarified, squeezing his eyes shut for a moment as he tried to recall that night’s events. “and, like, a bunch of other people and she took us to benny’s. which was shut down, there was this fight and...well, we went into investigate, or whatever, and there..then the flashlights, and they...”

eddie trailed off, restless, he couldn’t sti still anymore. he jumped up, began pacing around the room. leaned his back against the wall for comfort.”you know the freaky shit that happened two years ago?”, eddie said and gulped, feeling the phantom burning of his scars hot under the material of his shirt. “it’s back, harrington. it’s back. we saw some shit in there, man, like some...some fucking alien...monster...upside down eggs. they had tears in ‘em, steve, and... i don’t know. the diner burned down. “

eddie looked up at him, felt the prickling of hot tears in his eyes, brows pulled up, face twisted into a grimace. “it’s happening again. i can’t...are you ok? someone said you were at the cemetary and that...people got pushed into graves and all, i just...wanted to check on you.” he averted his gaze to the ground. “didn’t want to be alone.”