#Eddie is just jumping around and Steve just looks at him through the camera with the fondest look on his face

[strawberryyyenthusiast]

Eddie is on tour during July, so Steve decides to join him bc why the hell not. The corroded coffin TikTok page has been consistently getting 30,000 views for each video because their social media manager sucks ass and doesn’t know what the people want from their favorite artists.

But a video of the four guys goofing off goes pretty viral and they jump from 50k followers to 2 million in a week. The social media guy quits and Eddie, Gareth, Jeff, and Freak all take turns posting videos, which helps them build a shitload of traction.

It’s eddie’s turn to post a video and Steve is in the background with all of his diabetes stuff spread around him. He’s putting on a new cgm onto the back of his arm.

Everyone starts to freak out because people are super uneducated on what diabetes is and they immediately accuse Steve of doing drugs and other nefarious stuff. It gets so bad that they have to disable to comment section on that video.

Eddie comes out with a video a few days later stating:

“Hey, that’s my boyfriend. He has type one diabetes and was just putting on his new dexcom. Stop being assholes. Thank you!”

It’s very short and succinct and people turn eddie’s millennial pause at the beginning into a meme that haunts him forever.

(A week later, Steve has multiple fan pages dedicated to him, which he never sees because he is a grandpa at heart who is scared by social media.)

[starkidmunson]

glitter & crimson

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7

“Marry.”

“What?”

“Marry. He’s hot, I’m not gonna kill him.”

“Eddie, we’re not playing FMK; you’re supposed to be telling me his name.”

“Oh. That’s…. Joe Jonas.”

“…he’s literally from Hawkins. And he’s holding a hockey stick.”

“Nobody from Hawkins is that hot, man, no way.”

~~~

Gareth posts the clip to his personal TikTok. Before he can get around to reposting it on Corroded Coffin’s band account, it has more than 100k views. Things only spiral from there, because once the band shares it, the video goes more viral and ends up on the screens of the right people.

chiblkhwks: harrington94 is social media challenged, but we’re going to make sure he sees this. Will keep you posted.

The comment is immediately overshadowed by a busy day of PR. A photoshoot to an interview to a radio show to the green room at the Fillmore in Boston, before an intimate pre-album release show for members of their fan club. Eddie has completely forgotten about the video entirely, but Gareth’s phone pings with a text notification.

“A response has been issued!” He declares to the room, still grinning down at the screen of his phone.

The rest of the band shares a collectively confused look, all seeming pleased to find they’re not alone in whatever they’ve missed.

“What?” Jeff asks for the group.

In lieu of an explanation, Gareth just flips the phone in his hand around to show a TikTok, stitched with the clip they’d made earlier that morning.

~~~

“Marry. He’s hot, I’m not gonna kill him.”

#Stitch

“Is… is that supposed to be a compliment?” Steve asks, making a pinched face as he laces up his skates.

“You watched the whole video. He compared you to Joe Jonas.” The girl behind the camera responds, but he levels her with an unimpressed look. She doesn’t respond, and after a beat, he sighs.

“Yeah, alright, I guess Joe Jonas is hot. I’ll take the compliment.” He huffs, standing to his feet and moving from the bench he’d been suiting up on toward the ice. The girl follows him, gliding toward the net once they're in the rink, never falling out of pace with him.

“Do you know who it is talking in the video?” She presses, and Steve looks unimpressed again.

“You mean the other hot guy?” He asks with a grin, then nods. “That was Eddie. I’m surprised you don’t know him, the Party listens to Corroded Coffin all the time.”

The video loops back to the stitched clip from Gareth’s initial TikTok then. Everyone in the room processes what just unfolded.

“The Party? Did… did Steve Harrington just make a reference to DnD? Or is that some sports thing I dont understand?” Jeff asks.

Freak raises his hand, indicating he’s next to speak. “Not only that, but his nerdy DnD friends listen to us all the time?”

“Did King Steve call Joe Jonas hot?” Eddie asks, visibly still trying to connect the wires in his brain that fried at Steve’s agreement. “Did he call me hot?”

All three turn toward Eddie, whose face is still reflecting the long form math equation his brain is trying to work out, and Jeff sighs.

“Well, boys. I think we’ve officially lost him.” He says, bowing his head. Freak and Gareth join him solemnly, making Eddie huff and cross his arms over his chest.

“You’re all so dramatic.”

“Gee, I wonder who encouraged us to be this way,” Freak exaggerates through a grin, before shoving a guitar into Eddie’s chest, just in time for Paige to open the door and summon them.

“We can have a meltdown over Harrington after the gig,” Gareth promises with a pat to Eddie’s back as everyone moves around him, exiting the green room and heading for the stage.

~~~

Riding his post-show high, Eddie makes a bold move in the CC band TikTok, commenting under the video Steve had stitched.

corrodedcoff!n: we’ll be in chicago 1/26 if harrington94 and ‘the party’ are free 🎫

He only gets about 20 minutes of peace before Gareth is jumping around, proclaiming himself the greatest wingman in history.

“It’s an offer for free concert tickets made over social media, and he hasn’t even answered, Gare Bear.” Eddie tries to get him to relax, but he, too, is eager to see how the other reacts to the offer.

He wakes up the next morning to the answer he’d been waiting on, and his stomach flips as he reads it over.

harrington94: only if you guys come to the home game 1/27 🏒

__________

Steve doesn’t even bat an eye when Max shoves her way into the locker room, b-lining straight for him.

“Can I help you?” He asks without looking up, unhooking the padding from his calf and letting it drop to the ground in front of his locker.

“Are you using TikTok to publicly flirt with Eddie Munson?” She asks, voice quieter than he’d typically expect from her, but he just scoffs.

“I’m just being friendly! You’re the one who started this in the first place! What, you didn’t expect me to log on and check if they’d responded?” He asks in response, freeing his foot from the skate, before placing a cover over the blade and letting the boot drop into the lower shelf beside his locker.

“I’m just confused because you’ve been super weird about coming out, and now you’re out here hitting on a rockstar all over social media, that’s all.” Max says, and Steve freezes for a moment.

“Do you…” he trails off, before closing his eyes and rubbing a thumb into his temple. “You really think I just accidentally came out?”

“You called Joe Jonas and Eddie Munson hot, encouraged this rockstar to come to your game when he’s in town and also accepted tickets to see him perform, Steve.” Max was monotone, and held her hands up defensively when he groaned. “I’m not starting anything, I’m just saying that this could get blown out of proportion now.”

They discuss a little further, deciding neither of them will publicly acknowledge anything that’s been posted to the account for now, until they actually come up with a plan.

Once he’s in his car heading home, Steve calls Robin.

“Dingus,” she greets, as always, and he lets out a grumble. “Uh oh. What happened?”

“I think I accidentally came out on the internet, and it’s Eddie Munson’s fault.” He’s met with several seconds of silence as he starts his car on the path to him and Robin’s shared apartment.

“Eddie, the drug dealer from high school?” Robin eventually asks, confused, and Steve groans again.

“Yeah. He uh, also is in a band?” He supplies, and Robin’s quiet for a moment as she processes. Then, he hears the tapping of a keyboard. “What are you doing?”

“Looking Eddie up, obviously.” Steve can practically see her eye roll, even though they’re not FaceTiming. “You’re nothing if not consistent, I guess. Doe-eyed curly brunet.”

Steve scoffs. “You say as though you’re not the one currently waking up beside Nance every morning.”

He’s met again by a short silence, before Robin lets out a little puff of air, in a small laugh. “Thank you again for being so cool about that, by the way.” She says, before he hears clicking on her end. “Apparently, Eddie is out as bi. Corroded Coffin does a charity show for the Trevor Project every year, and he’s been to a lot of Pride events.”

Steve’s stomach twists with each new bit of information she provides, because a part of him wants to be that out, wants to be like Robin or apparently Eddie, freely sharing that part of themselves with the world and having no one give a shit. But that’s not how it works on so many levels for Steve. Beside the shit he’d have to deal with on the ice from certain other players, he had no idea how it would impact the team overall. There’s no way to gauge how fans would react, when there’s never been an openly gay player in the NHL. And that didn't even begin to touch on how his parents would react.

“Hey,” Robin breaks him out of his spiral and he realizes he’s been chewing a hole into his cheek. “I can hear how loud you’re thinking right now. Do you need me to come home?” She asks, gently, and he sighs.

“Please.” He mumbles after a long pause, and is grateful when he hears the jingle of car keys from the other end of the phone.

~~~

Robin scrolls through article after article once she gets to their place, pulling Steve onto the sofa with her and laying his head in her lap. Her fingers twist through his hair, doing her best to keep him calm as she reads up on the situation playing out to try and help gauge how big of a hole he’s dug himself this time.

“I don’t think there’s really anyone who thinks you were flirting with him. Not seriously, at least.” She tries to assure him, but he’d already seen the twitter posts to contradict that before she came over. He sighs and rolls onto his back, so he’s looking up at her, and shrugs.

“I kind of don’t think there’s any avoiding it, at this point.” He mumbles. “I’m not… I’m not ready to come out, not like this. Not on this scale. I think the only thing I can do is carry on and hope it doesn’t get turned into any bigger of a deal.”

Robin hums down at him, and continues to brush his hair back out of his eyes. “Okay. So you don’t come out yet. But don’t overcompensate for it, okay?” He scrunches his face up at her, and she types something into her phone before turning it back into his face. He immediately pales, met with a photo of him out with Heidi last year. With a black eye on full display, he looks miserable behind a fake smile.

“Low blow,” he grumbles, pushing himself away from Robin to sit up beside her, and she raises her eyebrow at him, still holding the photo pointed in his direction.

“‘Maybe they won’t notice or ask why my literal teammate punched me in the face at practice if I take a fucking supermodel out to dinner.’” Robin’s imitation is a little too good, a sure sign of too much time spent together.

“Hey, it worked, didn’t it!” He asks, taking the phone off of her and closing out of the image before locking it. He drops it back into her lap with a sigh. “I just don’t know how many times I can keep getting away with hiding it.”

“Well, it helps that Billy got traded out to LA. He would be insufferable about this, and would absolutely make everything 10 times worse.” Robin muses.

Steve sighs and hesitates for a moment before dropping his head back into her lap, curling into her. “I just want it to be on my terms, when I’m ready.”

“We’ll figure it out, and it’ll all be okay, no matter what. Okay?” She assures quietly, leaning down to press a kiss to his cheek.

His phone dings with a new notification; Max texted him a screenshot from TikTok.

corrodedcoff!n: you’ve got yourself a deal 🤝🏻

[undreaming-fanfiction]

Of claws and waffles

I'm preparing to write the rest of the Steddie Angsty August during my vacation at the end of September, I want to enjoy the rest of the prompts and not be stressed. But in the meantime...have Steve cosplaying as Wolverine, a very judgmental Deadpool Eddie, and maybe a small X-23 too?

"Ugh, can you believe that?" Eddie gestured towards a guy in his mid-thirties dressed as the Wolverine. "Another jock jumping on the bandwagon without knowing anything about the comics. Saw it once in the movie theater, thought the costume would do wonders for his arms, bought it on ebay. I'm gonna be sick in my mask."

Even through the limited visibility of his Deadpool mask, Eddie saw Chrissy roll her eyes at his theatrics. "Go ahead. At least you'll wash it after the convention. By hand, because as you told me, the fabric is sensitive."

He just grumbled. She was right, as usual.

"You are so full of self-righteous fury, Eddie, but even through the mask, I can see you staring at that man's ass. And shoulders. And everything."

He threw his head back, almost howling. "Now you're just being mean."

"Plus," she continued, disregarding her best friend's whining, "You're not exactly being fair. You don't know him."

Now he rolled his eyes, but of course she couldn't see him. "I know his type. He's the high school sweetheart who spent most of his time in the gym or practicing moving his godly body or something."

 Chrissy smiled at him, that overly beaing smile that told him in an instant that he'd said something stupid. "Ah. So like me."

"I..." he gulped, "I think I'm just going to shut up now."

He tried looking around for something, anything to redirect the conversation. Suddenly, a perfect topic changer appeared in his sight. "Okay, but that's the cutest thing I've ever seen," he nudged Chrissy and pointed at the scrawny girl, twelve or so, dressed up as X-23. "Her parents must be amazing."

Chrissy's laughter rang in his ears. "Oh, I agree," she said. As if she knew something he didn't.

He choked on his words when the girl ran back to THAT Wolverine and took his hand. "Oh for fuck's sake."

"You said it," she nudged him. "Amazing parents."

As if that wasn't humiliating enough, before Eddie could find a shovel to dig a hole to disappear into, the girl noticed him and her face split in a wide smile. "Dad! Dad, look! Mr. Pool!" She started leading him to Eddie and Chrissy through the crowd.

Oh cool. If only Eddie could do something dignified to avoid the meeting, like faint or vomit, that would be awesome. But he couldn't disappoint the girl. She had a look of absolute joy in her eyes, and he'd be damned if he was the one to make it disappear.

So instead, he leaned into the character.

"Look at you, aren't you the cutest little clawed thing I've ever seen!" he announced to the whole world. "The deadliest tiny creature, very ferocious! Yes, you are!"

He knelt down to her level and even through the consistent noise of the convention, he could hear her giggling. "I am!"

"Come on, tiny terror. Give me your best Wolverine-y growl!"

To his delight, she crouched, imitated the battle pose of X-23 and roared at him like a dinosaur. Then, in a more quiet tone, "Was that good?"

"Good?! Only good?! Do you hear her, bub?" he addressed the Wolverine who hovered over both of them. "You, little lady, were absolutely amazing! 10/10, no notes, this is your calling in life."

He felt someone move behind his back, and of course it was the traitor, ahem, Chrissy, approaching them with a camera. "I'm sorry to disturb you guys, but you make such an amazing group. Can I take your picture?"

And okay, maybe Eddie misjudged the Jockerine, because the guy ruffled X-23's hair and told her, "OK, just this once, you can say it. Swearing permitted. Ready?"

They pulled Eddie to them, and as he unsheathed his katana replicas, the Wolverine and his daughter crouched, roared at the camera, and said together, "Let's fucking go."

Eddie's traitorous mouth said exactly what he was thinking. "Oh my god. Are you single?" Which was objectively a stupid thing to say even to someone he'd met longer than two minutes ago.

The Wolverine blinked at him.

X-23 giggled and said: "dad is single. Maybe he doesn't have to be now?"

To the guy's credit, he didn't seem offended. He just laughed and ran his hand through his absolutely majestic hair that was perfectly stylized into Wolverine's. Shit. The hair. First the body, the face, and now the hair. "Now, El. Mr. Pool here probably doesn't want to be matched with the first Wolverine he sees."

And maybe it was the costume that made him so brave, but the guy was hot, nice, and his daughter was adorable, so Eddie wasn't to be blamed for what he said next, okay? "Uh, actually," he raised his hands, "you're perhaps my tenth Wolvie or so. And clearly the superior one. Having this absolutely adorable - and terrifying! - young lady by your side is also a plus. So...and feel free to stab me, or maybe just tell me no, but - I saw a really nice waffle stand outside. Let me treat you and...El?" The girl nodded, beaming at him. "...to a waffle? Or coffee, water, your choice."

El tugged at the guy's arm again. "Waffle!" she whispered so loud even Chrissy heard it.

He smiled at Eddie, and fuck. Eddie was a goner. "I think that's a yes."

...

Chrissy had ditched them to go hang out with her girlfriend, so Steve, Eddie and El were on their own.

They were sitting outside, Eddie slurping his bubble tea through a straw, mask still in place except for the bottom of his face, Steve - as the guy had introduced himself - sipping his coffee and diligently watching El chatting with other kids, nibbling on her waffles.

"So, is this your first convention?" Eddie asked. "Your kid is amazing, man. She's so happy to be here and she makes an amazing X-23."

Steve smiled and peeled his eyes from El for a second. "Yeah. I promised to take her this year, but after she saw Logan and the third Deadpool movie, she begged to go in a costume. And I just couldn't say no to her."

"She saw..." Eddie coughed. "Steve, sorry to question your parenting, but isn't she a bit too young for those movies?"

"Oh, she is," Steve snorted. "And she shouldn't have seen them. But we live alone, so I usually watch movies at home when she goes to sleep. If she goes to sleep. As she should."

"Are you telling me-"

Steve nodded. "Yep. She's incredibly sneaky. I found out the hard way when I finished the latest Alien and went to check on her in her bed. She wasn't there. I almost had a heart attack, turned the house upside down. I was about to call the police when she peeked at me from behind a curtain that I checked at least twice, and she was asking me if I was mad at her. So...uh. We discussed quite a lot from those movies afterwards, but there's no stopping her if she wants to do something."

Eddie laughed so hard he almost breathed in a tapioca pearl. "Oh wow. But good parenting! Not that I'm one to judge."

Watching El share waffles with her new friends, Steve pressed his lips together. "Yeah, I don't know about that. I'm just doing my best here, but I'm constantly terrified I'm doing something wrong. I adopted her, you know. From...a very bad situation. She couldn't properly talk or anything. So when she saw X-23 on screen, I think she related to her somehow. I've never seen her so excited about anything, so the costume was a must have. She's looking forward to going next year as well, when her hair finally grows long enough. Wig," he added at Eddie's confused silence.

"I mean, I get that," said Eddie as he set down his empty cup. "Cosplaying can be therapeutic. It's actually what my therapist suggested when I got...uh. Injured. And also how I got into cosplaying Deadpool."

"Injured?" Steve didn't sound judgmental, only curious, but Eddie had been in this situation before. Time to rip of the bandaid. He pulled off his mask and forced himself to meet Steve's eyes. "Uh. Yeah. Injured."

He knew he wasn't Deadpool kind of disfigured, but he was well used to the stares in his daily life. He kept the hair, which, hooray, good for him. But he had ugly bite scars on his neck and jawline, some going even to his cheeks. A chunk of his ear was missing too. "It was a dog when I was a kid," he said so that Steve wouldn't have to ask. "Plastic surgery is an option, they say, but it's expensive. And I don't really feel like having my face cut open again, so...yeah." 

"Wow. I'm sorry."

Eddie took a deep breath. "Well, yeah. Not great. Listen, Steve. I'm super confident behind the mask, and thank you for humoring me. But this," he pointed to his face, "is usually a deal-breaker for people. So if it is for you, that's fine."

"It's not."

Eddie blinked. Then again. That wasn't how it had usually gone. "Huh?"

"I mean," said Steve, and shit, he laid his hand on Eddie's knee, when was this his life? What was happening? "I'm sorry it happened to you, but I don't get why it should matter."

"Uuuuh...because you're like, super hot? And you might want someone like that next to you?"

Steve snorted. "Bold of you to assume I don't have my own gnarly scars. I was just more lucky in their placement." When Eddie stared at him, he added: "I'm a paramedic. It happens. I rarely have time for anything, not to mention dating, but when I see a cool and funny guy give my daughter the ultimate Deadpool experience - by the way, waffles are her favorite food - and then he asks me out for a coffee? Hell. I'd be stupid to refuse."

Oh. Eddie suddenly felt a bit like crying. He forced himself to speak up, to have that final confirmation. "So, uh...this," he pointed at his face, "isn't a problem?"

"Nope. And, if you'd like a sort of quote from the first Deadpool movie with that..." Steve laughed, and Eddie knew what was coming even before he said it, "After some talking and getting to know each other...it's a face I'd be happy to sit on."

Eddie grasped at his chest. "Oh wow. You truly know the way to a man's heart."

He laughed and winked at Eddie. "This is the part when you ask for my number."

Eddie had never pulled out his phone faster in his life.

..

Much later, after Eddie showed El around the convention, after many pictures and wonderful memories, Eddie ran into Chrissy again. He was about to introduce her to Steve and El properly, but Chrissy smiled at him - once again that all knowing smile, why?! - and waved at her girlfriend.

"So, Eddie. I see you've met Robin's best friend, Steve."

Robin snickered and pressed a quick kiss against Chrissy's temple. "See? I told you they'd be a great match."

And, before Steve or Eddie could say anything, Chrissy picked up her camera and captured their disbelieving faces. They would keep the picture forever - Steve's mouth hanging comically open, Eddie just staring blankly into the camera, and El happily chewing on the last bite of her waffle.

[werepuppy-steve]

the og post is buried somewhere, but going off of my "rockstar eddie and his husband steve run an onlyfans" post (ik @wormdebut was interested in it):

a twitter account appears, and it’s obvious that it's a burner. on the day of its creation, there's a single tweet with the link to an onlyfans video.

it's a pov, the camera pointed to a head of messy curls between someone's legs as they lick and make pleased hums into someone's cunt. the room is dark but tinted blue from the led lights that line the ceiling.

the poster lets out a soft moan as their partner does something with their tongue to make them roll their hips up.

familiar dark eyes open and look straight at the camera, lips latching onto their cunt and sucking.

a loud moan rings out, "eddie-"

and then suddenly eddie munson, lead guitarist for corroded coffin, is giving the camera a smug grin, his lips swollen and shiny.

"that feel good, baby?" he asks, spreading his partner's lips open with his fingers and flicking his tongue against their swollen clit.

their moans and whines also sound familiar. "so good, daddy," they say, their left hand coming into view to brush through eddie's hair.

the plain black band on their ring finger clocks him as steve munson, husband to eddie munson. whose moans are featured in the background of many of corroded coffin's more explicit songs.

eddie hums again, gently tonguing at steve's hole and making him mewl.

"you're wetter than usual, sweetheart," eddie comments, kissing the insides of steve's thighs. he looks at something past the camera, presumably at steve himself. "you excited to show off for everyone?"

steve must nod, because eddie sits up and takes the camera from him. he keeps steve's face out of frame, but the chest hair and moles dotting his body speak for themselves.

he points the camera between steve's legs. "look at that," eddie whispers, his voice gravelly. he gently runs his fingers over the swollen lips, his middle finger sliding between them. "fucking gorgeous down here, stevie, you know that?" eddie spreads his lips to show his hole before sliding his middle finger inside.

"daddy," steves sighs, gripping the inside of his thigh with one hand.

"so tight and wet and pretty–" eddie slides in his index finer and slowly thrusts them. "whose pussy is this, baby?"

he crooks his fingers and steve's hips jump. "s'your pussy, daddy."

eddie adds his ring finger next, spreading them a little. "that's right, angel. and who gets to fuck this pussy?"

steve whines louder and reaches down to spread himself open, his cunt pulsing around eddie's fingers. "daddy gets to fuck it," he answers. "only daddy."

"good job, princess," eddie praises. "and who gets to make this pussy come?" he presses his fingers deeper and curls them against steve's g-spot. he's rough with it, his wrist shaking and steve's cries getting louder over the slick sound of his pussy.

"daddy!" steve's back arches and the camera jerks with the movement.

steve's face comes into view for a solid three seconds, his head tossing and turning and his face scrunched up in pleasure as his husband aims to make him squirt for millions of people. "daddy makes my pussy come!"

and just like that, corroded coffin fans eighteen years or older watch steve munson come with a keening whine as he's fingered through his orgasm, gushing all over eddie's hand and soaking the bedsheets below.

[thisapplepielife]

Written for @corrodedcoffinfest.

Headlines

Day #16 - Struggling | Word Count: 1000 | Rating: M | CW: Substance Abuse, Addiction, Minor Mention of Pregnancy | POV: Gareth | Pairing: Gareth/Di (OC, Off-Screen), Minor Steddie | Tags: Clawing Your Way Out Of Rock Bottom, Tough Love, But Love

The headlines never stop coming, never relent, and if he dares to step foot out of his house there's a camera shoved in his face. Struggling, apparently, isn't allowed. The fall from grace must always be captured for the masses to gossip about.

His phone rings again, and again, and he lets it. He's not about to answer the phone and listen to anyone that's on the other end. He's heard it all before, and he doesn't have the energy for more of it. Not for Eddie's nagging or Steve's next plan of action. 

He's tried. They've all tried. It's useless.

He's useless.

Now, there's annoying banging on the door. He ignores that, too. 

"Hey, asshole, I know you're in there!" Goodie hollers through the door, and he's sure the next headline will read:

Former Drummer Evicted, Noise Complaints

Goodie can't actually get into the shitty apartment Gareth's been renting, so Gareth just props his feet up on the couch and ignores him. If he wants to yell through the door like an asshole, Gareth will let him. Gareth puts his headphones on, and blocks out the world. 

He's been good at that recently. Has had to be, if he hopes to survive this.

He closes his eyes and leans back.

Goodie lost the right to talk to him when he voted him out. All three of them, turning on him. Steve too, and Di. His own fucking wife. Giving him ultimatums that they all damn well knew he'd never be able to make good on.

Interventions that would never work, that he never wanted to work. He was fine. He was still showing up, drumming, and they thought they deserved more from him than his work. 

He can drum.

He can't stay sober. 

He jumps when the earphones are being plucked off of his head. 

"Jesus Christ, Goodie," Gareth snaps, but it isn't Goodie. At least, not just Goodie. 

It's Eddie, of course it is, who else could have picked the fucking locks? And of course, that means Steve, too, who is already gathering up the mess, shoving it into a trash bag by the handful.

Jeff standing there, holding it open for him.

They all wrote him off, months ago, and now here they are, harassing him further. It's bullshit. They wanted him gone? Great. Then they need to leave him alone, now. 

"Enough," Eddie says, "bender's over."

"Fuck you," Gareth snaps. He'll be done when he's good and ready, and he doesn't see that day coming anytime soon.

"Get up, let's go," Eddie says, and he pulls on Gareth's arms until he's standing, and then he's dragging him to the bathroom, Goodie kicking him on the ass the whole way, shoving him along.

"Stop it!" Gareth snaps, wheeling around on Goodie, only stopping because Eddie's restraining him.

"Goodie," Eddie warns, shutting the bathroom door, locking Goodie out, shaking his head in disapproval.

"Kid," Eddie says, meeting Gareth's eyes in the mirror. 

Gareth hasn't looked in a mirror in, well, a while. It isn't good. His eyes are dark, and purple underneath. This isn't what he should look like, and he knows it.

He's fucked it all up. His job, his band, his friendships, his goddamn marriage. 

His chance to be a dad in anything other than name.

"She had that baby?" Gareth asks, looking down at the floor.

"Not yet," Eddie answers, opening the shower door, "Here, get in."

And Gareth doesn't want to fight with him, so he does. Undresses and showers, and he feels a little better. Still awful. But a degree less, maybe.

"You can still turn this around," Eddie says from outside the shower door, "it's not too late. I'll help you."

It is too late. Di won't take him back. The band won't take him back. It is too late. Has been for a while.

"I can't fix this, I'm too far gone," Gareth mutters back.

"You're fucking not, shut up," Eddie snaps.

His own band kicked him out, replaced him. His wife left him, is having a baby that's he's not sure he'll have any parental rights to, or ability to see, and for good reason. He's a fuck-up. Unreliable. 

"Let me help you. We have all summer off."

Gareth looks at him, "You took the summer off? Why?"

Corroded Coffin never takes the summer off. They go, go, go during the summer. Five shows a week, at a flat run. That's what they're good at. Covering ground, entertaining crowds. 

"Because you're more important. I'm so sorry that we haven't gone about this right."

It's not Eddie's fault. Gareth knows that. Knows he only has himself to blame, even if most of the time he likes to lash out, and pretend otherwise. 

Down deep, he knows.

Down deep, he'd like to crawl out of this hole, but he can't really see daylight.

He's been digging too long.

"I don't think I can," Gareth whispers.

Eddie pulls him to his chest, hugging him tight, and it's been too long, and Gareth hugs back, "That's okay. I know you can."

And Gareth wants that to be true. Wants the trajectory to change. Wants his life back. All of it. Di, Eddie, the band. 

If he's making wishes, he's gonna wish big. 

"What do I do?" Gareth asks, face pressed into Eddie's neck. 

"Want it back," Eddie says, rubbing his back, "Take it back. Work for it."

Gareth lets Eddie hold him, then finally asks, "Have you talked to Di?"

"All the time," Eddie whispers, "she's wants it, too."

And that's when Gareth breaks, "She'll take me back?"

"Yeah, kid, I think she will if you can show her you're serious about turning this shitshow around."

"She's having a baby," Gareth says.

"You both are," Eddie says, "and wouldn't it be nice to be involved in that?"

It would, it really would.

"And Corroded Coffin?"

"Waiting. Always," Eddie says, and Gareth squeezes him, tight. "What do you say, kid? You in?"

Yeah. Gareth's in.

If you want to write your own, or see more entries for this challenge, pop on over to @corrodedcoffinfest and follow along with the fun! 🦇

[urdreamgirls-dreamgirl]

ok I’ve been sucked into The Ultimatum: Queer Love on Netflix and just…

Steve is in a relationship where he clearly wants more than the other person. He and his partner have been together for three years and it’s reached the point where Steve has told him, “marry me or I have to go.” The dude is some kind of wannabe Instagram model, so he jumps at the chance to do reality tv.

Eddie’s on the opposite end of the negotiations. He loves his partner, but he’s not sure he really believes in the institution of marriage.

Both couples decide to try this new reality show.

Steve and Eddie clearly catch each other’s eyes on the first night, the camera catching both of them staring at each other between all the couples introducing themselves. They don’t get much time to speak that first night, but that’s okay. They’ve got plenty of time to say hi during the speed dating round.

Except that once they meet, they don’t want to talk to anyone else. Eddie is practically dragged away by producers so that he’s forced to talk to the others. The camera doesn’t miss the longing looks they send each other, though.

After that second episode, they’re immediately fan favorites. The chemistry between them is palpable even through the screen. Everyone’s just waiting for them to choose each other at the selection dinner.

And of course they do, as both their partners sit next to them rolling their eyes. They go to bed the first night of their trial marriage wrapped around each other, whispering and giggling. The mics can’t exactly pick up what they’re saying, but the cameras catch their smiles and the way their fingers intertwine between them above the comforter.

The audience loves watching the two of them fall in love over the next three weeks of their trial marriage. They’re sweet to each other, clearly thinking about each other’s needs and checking in when things seem hard. They meet each other’s friends. When Eddie meets Steve’s best friend, Robin, it’s like the three of them have known each other for years. When Eddie sneaks off to the bathroom, leaving Steve and Robin alone at the restaurant table, Robin takes the moment alone to give Steve her stamp of approval on Eddie.

After the three weeks are up, they’re supposed to go into a trial marriage with their original partners. The audience doesn’t see this, but Eddie and Steve try to refuse. They know what they want and it’s each other. They’ve made their decisions. But the producers remind them that they’ve signed contracts and they have to see the process through to the end.

They’re both uninterested in their partners. It’s clear that neither original relationship was the right fit now. It’s clear even to their original partners. They’re not even really doing a trial marriage; they’re all just roommates trying to make it through to the end.

When Steve and Eddie are finally reunited at the final selection, to no one’s surprise, they choose each other. There’s no hesitation on either side. They want each other. They’re both sure.

They’re married within the year and their wedding is filmed by Netflix. For the next season of the show, Steve and Eddie host. Ten seasons in, they’re still as in love as ever and, unfortunately for Netflix, the show’s one and only success story.

[mugloversonly]

When I Grow Up

This is for the Steddie Holiday Drabble Popup Event. @steddieholidaydrabbles

Rating: G; WC:726

Steve double checked his pockets while he waited for Eddie and Amelia. It was a big day for the new family. Amelia was graduating kindergarten and she needed to be spectacular. She wanted them all to wear matching outfits, and she wanted to wear her hair the same way her papa did. So, naturally Eddie was a blubbering mess all week.

His disposable cameras were secured and he called up to the two divas. “Time to go or we’ll be late!”

“Coming!” Eddie yelled back wetly. Steve grabbed an extra pack of travel tissues and shoved them in his pocket. He loved his cry baby husband. Speak of the devil, he glanced over his shoulder to watch him come down the steps, and had to suppress a giggle. Eddie was carrying Amelia down with him and both of them were wearing the same thing as Steve: a black button down with dark gray jeans and a pink bow tie. She’d developed a love of dark colors recently, but she still loved her pink. But what got Steve the most, was the hair.

The two of them were sporting matching double dutch braids with plastic roses weaved in. There was an absurd amount of glitter in both their hair and a crazy amount of hair clips. It was obvious that they worked as a team, with Eddie doing the braids and Amelia the accessories. “Dad! You need glitter too!” Amelia shouted. He sighed and knelt down for her to sprinkle his hair with the glitter. “Now we all match!” She jumped out of Eddie’s arms and ran through the garage door and into the car. Steve and Eddie shared a kiss before they followed her.

~~~

They were sitting with the other parents of the kindergartners as they sang their end of year song. They even did a bit of sign language to go along with it. Next was the section where all the kids said what they wanted to be when they grew up.

There were Astronauts, fire fighters, singers, and one very ambitious kid who wanted to be a mermaid scientist. Whether that was studying mermaids or inventing them, Eddie couldn’t tell. But finally it was Amelia’s turn. Eddie took a deep breath, trying his best to stay dry eyed. Steve already handed him a bundle of tissues but he was determined not to use them. That all went out the window the second his little girl spoke.

“Amelia Munson, what do you want to be when you grow up?” Her teacher asked. She smiled and looked at her dads.

“I want to grow up to be a tattoo artist like my papa.” She said. Eddie’s hands flew to his mouth as he gasped. He looked at Steve out of the corner of his eye and saw him pulling out some more tissues before handing them over without a word. He grabbed them gratefully and dabbed at his eyes.

Steve smiled fondly and wrapped his arm around Eddie as he blubbered. The parents around them awed and a few of their parent friends glanced at the pair. Funnily enough, even though Eddie looked like a scary dog, all the parents knew he was a big cry baby when it came to Amelia.

Thinking back to her first day, Eddie remembered how he had cried harder than any of the moms that were there with their kids as the class made their way inside. Steve had to practically drag him away and he made him park across the street for over an hour until they left, “just in case she gets too sad and wants to come home, Steve.” Eddie explained.

If Amelia was sick, he was the one to come pick her up. Not because Steve didn’t care, but it was a lot easier for Eddie to drop everything since he owned the studio he tattooed in. A high school guidance counselor couldn’t exactly drop everything at a moment’s notice.

He knew they had a special bond, the two had a similar background and early childhood. But he never expected their bond to be so special she’d want to grow up to be just like him. The thought filled his heart to bursting.

He looked at Steve and whispered “we really need to get her a cat.” Steve rolled his eyes fondly.

“The puppy wasn’t enough?”

https://archiveofourown.org/works/56184907

[klausinamarink]

I Reach For You On Faith Alone

rating: G | cw: none | wc: 1.6k | tags: post S4, getting together, fireflies | prompt: Love is having hope for the future together

written for @steddielovemonth

-

“Mind if I join you?”

Steve’s voice broke Eddie out of his wandering thoughts. He lifted his head up to see Steve was already on the roof, dangerously crouching by the edge. Steve was still in his work uniform so either he had just left the video store or was too tired to change. Eddie betted it was the latter if the deep bags under his eyes indicated anything.

Eddie hummed and patted the empty space on his right.

“Sweet.” Steve said, scooting over until he was next to Eddie. Then he suddenly sat up, “Shit, sorry, I didn’t bring anything with me. You want anything? Food? Drinks? Your cigarettes? It’s cold as hell too, do you need a blanket?”

His concern was adorable but understandable. Eddie just shook his head and returned his gaze back to the sky.

Night had fallen moments ago but Eddie was too content to get back inside yet. The stars were bright, a galaxy belt spanning from one corner to somewhere that it hurt to crane his neck back. It was also quiet, save for the crickets. Benefits of a new government-says-sorry house being located on the country roadside forty minutes from Hawkins.

“It’s really nice.” Steve said quietly.

Eddie grinned, “You haven’t seen the best part yet.”

He could feel Steve staring at him with a raised eyebrow. If they were standing, Steve would definitely have his hands on his hips.

“You have a galaxy beaming down at you and this isn’t the best part?” Steve made a tsk-tsk noise. “And yet you defile me as the one with shit taste.”

Eddie chuckled and propped himself up by an arm. He looked to his left where the grassy fields were at. Almost on cue, a small green light blinked in and out of existence. It wasn’t until a few more appeared that Eddie finally reached over to Steve and pointed towards the field. “Look over there.”

Steve sat up again and squinted his eyes. Then he blinked, rubbed them with his fingers, and blinked again. He said, “What am I looking at?”

A scandalous gasp erupted out of Eddie’s mouth. He lurched backwards with his hands planted on his chest as if he were stabbed. “Steve Harrington has never seen fireflies? Oh, the humanity!”

Steve did a double take, “Wait, those are fireflies?”

Eddie paused, “You… never did that thing as a kid where you go outside and try to catch them?”

Slowly shaking his head, Steve replied, “Not really, no.”

This time, Eddie made a tsk-tsk with the click of his tongue. He reached over to grab Steve’s hand. “Then allow me to show you the missing joys of childhood.”

After a careful jump from the roof, Eddie ran to the field, Steve’s hand still in his grasp. The other man gave out a startled laugh with every urgent pull from Eddie. “Hey, man, slow down-!”

“You seriously need to do this!” Eddie said over his shoulder as they entered the field. The grass was as high as their thighs, tickling Eddie’s arm. As they dashed through, more fireflies flew up and around them.

“Woah.” Steve whispered after Eddie finally stopped. He watched as the other man stared wordlessly at the fireflies, his eyes full in wonder as each insect flickered its glow. A few landed on Steve’s hair and shirt. It would’ve been hilarious for Eddie to laugh at if it hadn’t illuminated him in a way that brought the perfect highlights to his face like the slope of his nose and growing softness of his cheeks.

It was such a perfect portrait that it made Eddie wish he had gotten into photography. He would have a camera ready in his hands and used up the entire film roll to snap the same shot over and over.

Eddie cleared his throat, shaking himself out of the stupor. The other man slowly looked back at him, his eyes covered with a thin layer of unshed tears.

“Cup your hands like this.” He instructed, showing Steve the correct position. Steve furrowed his eyes but copied him. Eddie took a second to glance around himself before his eyes landed on the closest firefly. With careful precision, Eddie grabbed at the firefly, keeping his palms closed but far apart so as not to squish the bug. He slightly opened his thumbs apart, allowing the light of the firefly to shine out.

“Can you do that?” Eddie asked. Steve lightly scoffed, already shaking his head. “C’mon, don’t quit already!”

“You’re like a better expert than me.” Steve said, pausing when a firefly landed on his wrist. They both watched as it crawled up to his fingers and then entered Steve’s cupped hands.

Eddie smirked, finally releasing his captured lighting bug. “Looks like you already are. You just took the patient route.”

They stand together far longer than either of them would like, but neither of them complained. They eventually sat down on the ground and watched the fireflies flew right above their heads as if the stars in the sky were chasing each other.

“Beautiful.” Steve said in a soft voice as he stared upwards.

Eddie nodded, his eyes stuck on Steve’s face. “Sure is.”

They both fall into silence. Until Steve speaks again, “Eddie?”

His heart was already breaking his ribs with how rapid it was going. He swallowed quickly, “Yeah?”

“What-” Steve stops himself, a conflicted expression on his face. “Sorry, it was gonna sound dumb and sensitive. Ignore that-”

“Steve.” Eddie said, bumping the toe of his shoe against Steve’s leg. “No dumb questions. I won’t be offended. Promise.” He added when Steve looked over at him with mild disbelief.

Steve sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose, “I was going to ask if.. you had any idea what your future was like.”

Eddie gave out a dramatically weary sigh like he was an old man returning from an odyssey. He spoke like one as he responded, “Ah yes, the future. Let me spin you a yarn-” He broke down into cackles when Steve playfully punched him at the shoulder with an exaggerated eyeroll and a smile of his own. It pinched Eddie’s scarred cheek but it was a small cost to make Steve look happy.

After he settled down, Eddie answered a little more seriously, “To be honest, I’m just focusing on making it, you know? Like sure, I survived literal hell and got my diploma, but I just wanna take my time with the recuperation and just-” he spread his arms out, his hands brushing against the non-flattened grass around hum, “-make it.”

“And after that?” Steve was staring at him. Vulnerability shone in his eyes, hunched his body little forward so that Steve was almost curled into himself.

Eddie shrugged, “Find a trade that doesn’t care about my past or my name. Maybe mechanics or electric. Move out of Indiana. Maybe I’ll turn Canadian.”

Steve snickered, “That’s it?”

“Yep.”

“Oh.” Steve looked away. He started tearing at some of the smaller grass. Sniffed loudly and quickly brushed a hand over his eyes. Eddie wanted to say something but if he did, it might just startle Steve away. And he doesn’t want Steve to leave.

His silence eventually paid off because Steve spoke again, “I- I thought I had a good one. Before I graduated, I thought that I was going to university to study the same boring degree my dad did just to take over his chair when he drops dead. Then I didn’t get into any of the colleges so-”

“Six little nuggets in a Winnebago.” Eddie had eavesdropped on that conversation. He had remembered thinking oh shit, Steve is actually going back to Nancy until he had suddenly hated himself so much that he wanted to rip out his guts and eat them. The usual reaction of having a crush on Steve Harrington.

“Yeah, I still see that happening.” Steve smiled again. His body became less withdrawn into a shell and more open.

“With someone in particular orrrr..?” Eddie drawled out, not willing to say any name aloud.

Steve stretched his arms out and leaned back until he was laying on the ground. Like a magnet, Eddie felt compelled to do the same. Steve’s eyes were on him again. There was something else behind them that Eddie couldn’t decipher even under the billions of dotted lights shining on them.

“I thought I would have that future alone.” Steve said as Eddie laid down. Their shoulders were pressed together, sending goosebumps up Eddie’s arm.

“I’m sensing a ‘but’ there.” He said casually. Then he just barely held back a gasp when he felt Steve’s pinky finger resting on top of his.

He dared to turn his head. Steve was already looking back at him.

There was no telling who leaned in first. Or who laid his hand on his bicep. Or who fluttered their eyes shut to savor the other’s taste even though neither of them showered in the morning and smelled of unwashed carpets and countryside musk.

All Eddie knew was that his lips were now touching Steve’s. And they felt so soft and plump.

Eddie refused to pull away. He pressed closer, rolling on his side. Steve’s hand slithered onto his chest, spaying his fingers across his shirt right on Eddie’s heart before gripping the fabric. Then he pulled Eddie up, just enough so his torso was nearly aligned on top of Steve’s.

They broke apart, catching their breaths together in their new proximity. Eddie peeked through his eyelashes, almost taken aback by the great tenderness on Steve’s face.

“But it was with you.” Eddie nearly swallowed the words from how Steve’s lips still touched his.

“Hm?”

“That future I still want?” Steve smiled despite a tear that trailed from the corner of his eye. “It was with you too. Even if you don’t even want it at all.”

What other way was there for Eddie to prove otherwise except to cup Steve’s cheek and kiss him again with the stars and fireflies as their witnesses?

[apomaro-mellow]

Whatever Stevie Wants 11

Part 10

“-The castle has many defenses. But those unknown by the dragons may have a chance to cast a charm. I urge you to make off with the treasure first. The princess has her own wings.”

Eddie had watched the video over and over again. He’d even saved it, just in case the post got deleted. His leg bounced where he sat on the couch. His hands ached to hold his mate, to embrace his pup, to know that they were safe in his arms again.

Jeff was pacing back and forth, just as agitated. “He’s sending us a hidden message. ‘The castle has many defenses’.”

“These folks are rich, they’ve probably got cameras around the place”, Gareth said.

“‘Those unknown by the dragons’...”, Grant echoed from the video. “The dragons are probably his parents. What does he mean by being unknown and able to cast a charm?”

Eddie suddenly stood and snapped his fingers. “His parents only met me and Jeff. They probably won’t recognize you and Gare.”

Jeff stopped his pacing. “You guys might have a chance to sneak in and get the girls.”

“And then Steve can get away on his own”, Gareth said.

Eddie suddenly felt lighter. “That means we’ve got one chance. If they realize too soon what’s going on, they’re going to make it tighter than Fort Knox.” ----------------------

“I don’t even know if I should let you out of the house after that stunt with Findlay”, Margaret said. “Do you know what Betty Rockville said to me today? She asked if I preferred potato salad or macaroni salad. A Rockville! The shame of it all.”

“Isn’t she in the middle of planning a wedding?”, Steve asked, knowing that wasn’t the point.

“It was a slight at my offense and you know that. I’ve raised you to at least recognize that much. A Rockville, Steven! Our family has stood shoulder to shoulder with great families in this country. Kennedys and Reagans. And Betty Rockville thinks she can say that to me.”

Steve looked at his father imploringly. He didn’t regret what he did, but there was only so much of his mother that he could take like this. Layton took pity on him and cleared his throat.

“Why don’t you give Steve the good news, Margaret?”

Steve raised a brow. “Good news?”

His mother settled a little at that. “I’ve narrowed it down to three venues and you’ll never guess what’s available.”

“Available for what?”

“Your wedding, of course. You have to plan these things in advance, you know.”

“I know. I’m already married.” And it had been a beautiful ceremony. Steve had cried at least three times. 

Margaret waved a hand at that. “Annulled before you know it. We’ll get rid of that bite as well.”

Steve just sighed, ready to walk off and sulk in his room when the doorbell rang. His father continued to read the paper while his mother sorted through correspondences from the mail, knowing the doorman would answer it. And just as they expected, he did. And moments later, Chesley came to them with a man in a gray jumpsuit carrying a large duffle bag. It took absolutely everything in Steve to keep himself sitting and not jump into Gareth’s arms.

He wasn’t even looking at Steve, instead simply tipping his hat to his mother and father. Chesley cleared his throat.

“Exterminator, sir and ma’am.”

“I don’t remember hiring an exterminator”, Layton said.

“Do we have vermin in our home?”, Margaret nearly hissed.

“It won’t be a problem miss”, Gareth said. “I just need to inspect the problem areas of the house and then I can set up traps.”

“Layton, we’re having guests next week, we can’t have mice running around the place”, Margaret said, panic pitching her voice. “Chesley, have Tabitha show him around.”

“Oh, don’t bother Tabitha”, Steve finally spoke up and got to his feet. “I can show him around.”

The idea of little critters running around the house had her so frazzled, Margaret didn’t even fight him on it. It was only when they were nearly out of the room that she called out after them.

“Remember your virtue Steven!”

Steve would have groaned in embarrassment if he’d been with an actual stranger. As if he’d just fuck anyone who came through the door!

“She’s lovely”, Gareth said the moment they were deep enough in the hallway.

Steve couldn’t hold back anymore and he pushed Gareth against the wall as he kissed him. He had missed this. His actual family, genuine love, real affection. He would have scented Gareth if he didn’t know his mother would sniff it out immediately and make another comment about his virtue and tighten the leash even more.

“Are you okay?”, Gareth panted after the kiss. “They haven’t been hurting you?”

Steve shook his head and then grabbed his wrist to pull him into one of the guest rooms and locked the door.

“What’s the plan?”, he asked, voice hushed.

“You’re probably not gonna like it”, Gareth said as he set the duffle bag down and unzipped it.

---------------------------

“I realize I’ve yet to take Steve’s measurements”, Margaret said.

“He doesn’t appear to have grown much since college”, Layton commented.

“He’s had children, my dear. Plural. He’s put on weight, I just don’t know how much. It would be nice if he could fit into my wedding dress but we might need other options.”

Layton smiled. “You’ve always wanted to take him bridal shopping, ever since he presented.”

“Well what mother doesn’t dream of it?” She set down the letters in her hand, already thinking of the guest list. “I have measuring tape, maybe I should do it now.”

“He’s escorting the exterminator”, Layton reminded her.

“Don’t use the word ‘escorting’, it sounds indecent.”

While his folks were having that conversation, Steve was struggling to keep his scent calm. He couldn’t believe that this was the best plan they could come up with. But then again, it was pretty short notice, so he couldn’t blame them entirely. They had no idea what his parents would do to him or the pups while they were locked away in this dungeon. 

But still…

He could never tell the twins that he’d let this happen when they were older. He could just hear it now. ‘You’ll let us get kidnapped but we can’t go to a party?’

When they got to the nursery, he told Eleanor that she could take her break now. Steve wasn’t entirely sure what he’d tell her when she returned and there were no babies but that wasn’t important right now.

Violet was sound asleep in her crib. That was good. Vanessa was up and active, playing with a book but her attention was immediately grabbed by Gareth and Steve. She smiled big, arms going in the air and Gareth scooped her up. 

“You ready to get back home, kid?”

Vanessa’s reply was to grab for his hair and pull it towards her mouth. Gareth pulled it out of her grasp and then checked in on Violet, soundly asleep.

“Okay, Operation Cabbage Patch is a go.”

“Of course you guys would call it that”, Steve sighed as he carefully lifted Violet up. 

“Steven? Where did you go? I want to measure you for your dress”, his mother’s voice sounded from the hallway, causing both men to freeze. 

Steve kissed Gareth’s cheek, three times for his other three loves and then set Violet back down. He would have to put all his faith and trust into them while he kept his mother distracted. He walked out, closing the door behind him and calling out to his mother to keep her away from the nursery while Gareth continued the plan.

He set Vanessa down and then opened the bag he had brought along. Inside was soft and cushiony as well as strapping. He placed Violet inside and strapped her in just like it was a carseat. She only shifted slightly, rubbing her eye before settling again. Gareth kissed her forehead, then zipped the bag back up.

He put Vanessa in, and they were secured, foot to foot. Vanessa cooed a bit, but mostly just appeared curious. He just hoped she didn’t make too much noise as they moved.

Gareth carefully lifted the duffle bag by its straps. He wanted to cradle it, but knew that would look unnatural. He left the nursery and thankfully remembered his way back to the front door. A nondescript white van was waiting outside. Grant was at the wheel. As bad as it felt to only have the job half done, they figured it would have to be this way.

The Harringtons had let Steve go once and he went and became the pack omega to a band of musicians. Just as the group had expected, even if they were able to lay eyes on Steve, he wasn’t left alone for long enough to make a real escape. At least not when the girls’ wellbeing was on the line.

Gareth opened the back of the van just as Vanessa began to whine. He shut the doors and opened the bag. In preparation for the plan, car seats had been secured. The moment Gareth had the girls safe in their seats, he told Grant to go. 

----------------------

Eddie and Jeff both wished they could have been home while Gareth and Grant went through with the plan, but they had their own part to play. Steve’s video had been picked up both by news outlets and the gossip rags and Corroded Coffin needed to give their official statement. A police report had been filed, just to cover their bases.

And soon it would be out in the world that the Harringtons were under investigation. Jeff and Eddie went on a radio show, first apologizing to the fans for cutting their promotions short but hoping they’d understand the severity of the situation. By the time the interview was over, they both received a text from Grant simply stating ‘They’re home’.

For once, Jeff didn’t chastise Eddie’s reckless driving. Fuck anyone else on the road, they had to get back. Once they were home, the door was all but torn off its hinges.

And there they were. Vanessa, holding herself up with her hands on the couch. Violet, on her back, trying to eat her own foot. Jeff saw the moment Vanessa saw him, her lips spreading wide and bouncing on her feet in glee as he rushed to hold her. Her giggles were punctuated by the kisses he put all over her face.

Violet didn’t realize Eddie was in the room until she was already in his arms. He could tell by the scrunch in her face that she wanted to be mad at having her foot eating activity interrupted but once she saw who had interrupted it, all was forgiven. Eddie rubbed their cheeks together, feeling more like himself than he had in days. 

“They barely smell like him”, Jeff noted sadly. 

Before, Violet and Vanessa smelled like a combination of their parents. They sometimes carried notes of other pack members too, but Eddie, Steve, and Jeff were the most prevalent. The fact that they hardly carried any of Steve’s scent spoke volumes. 

“They’re home now”, Eddie said, reassuring himself just as much as Jeff. 

----------------------

Steve somehow survived the impromptu fitting without much of a beating to his self esteem. He hadn’t been good enough when he was playing three sports in high school, he definitely wasn’t going to be good enough after having twins. He foresaw plenty of lean meals in his future.

Gareth had wanted to leave a scent token with Steve, something to hold him over and soothe him now that he would be completely alone. As much as Steve yearned for it, he resisted. It was too risky to have around. Gareth ended up leaving him with something even better instead.

A phone.

Part 12

We're doin another socmed chapter! So just like before, comment or reblog with how you'd react in universe to the events so far, be it Steve's video, CC's abrupt schedule change or whatever and it'll show up in the next chapter :)

[fascinatedscrawls]

Heel to Face

"Alright, let's get one more picture and then you're good to go."

Tired after a long evening in the ring, Eddie pulls his persona on for the final time. Bloodied, defeated, but not at all deterred, The Freak gives the camera a smile that's a little too wide, eyes a little too wild as he shows off the bruises he earned tonight through his loose, torn shirt.

A couple of snaps later and Gareth gives him a thumbs up. Eddie drops back into his chair with a noisy sigh, wincing a little as he does. For all that the fights and the drama are designed to look real, his opponents do pull their punches just like he does. That doesn't mean the hits don't hurt though.

Reaching up he pulls on the not-quite mouth guard, tugging it out to make his teeth a little less vampiric. The bottom set joins the top in their container, but he doesn't quite have the energy to get up and clean them off just yet. Maybe in a few minutes. He doesn't need to catch his breath, not after years of going out and putting on shows like this, but after hours of playing the Heel, Eddie is happy to just be himself for a little while. And let's be honest, 'himself' is a little bit of a slob, so he doesn't even think twice before going to wipe his fingers off on his tattered shirt.

A hand towel hits him in the face before he can follow through with that.

"Come on, man," Steve 'The Hero' (or 'The Hair-o', as his enemies like to taunt) Harrington, on screen nemesis of The Freak and the source of most of tonight's bruises, tuts as he drops a bottle of water on Eddie's lap. "You've already got blood and sweat on that thing, do you really need to add anything else?"

Leaning forward, Eddie lets the towel fall onto the water bottle so he can give Steve a teasing leer. "Oh, sweetheart, we can add so much more if you're offering."

"Gross." Steve returns flatly without actually looking in any way disgusted. "Let's try a shower first."

Eddie's heart rate jumps up again, blood pumping as he lets his smile turn a bit predatory. Just like in the ring, Steve meets it with a steely smile of his own.

It's so clear even now why they were picked to face off time and time again. It's not just how Eddie's darker style contrast against Steve's more classically handsome looks or even the way his sharp, speedy moves and tricks play against Steve's strength and reversals. It's the way they both rise to meet the challenge. It's how both Heel and Face meet in the ring over and over, neither one coming out the true victor, neither losing enough to truly throw in the towel.

God, Eddie wants to kiss Steve when he gets like this.

"Keep it PG," Nancy, Steve's PR manager chimes in from where she's finalizing the social media posting schedule with Gareth, clearly done with them as usual.

Steve rolls his eyes, but relents as Eddie slouches into a pout. Sure they're just behind the scenes at an event where fans are still exiting the venue, but Eddie just got thrown around a ring by his long-term, 'secret' (to the fans) boyfriend and it's made him all hot and bothered! No, he doesn't care if that happens more often than not, he should be allowed to indulge every once in a while!

Lips brush his cheek for a breath, there and gone before Eddie can try to turn to meet them. Steve straightens and wipes the sweat and makeup off his lips. "Drink your water."

"Yes, dear." Eddie flashes him a smile, tongue in teeth, before doing as instructed. He's got to re-hydrate if they're going to have any fun later.

─────────────────────────

Thanks to everyone who voted in the prompt poll!

I don't know enough about wrestling to do as much as this AU deserves, but I do love the idea of them being professional rivals while still being like super good boyfriends outside the ring.

Next poll will likely go up in the next day or two! Work's hectic, but these ficlets are super fun!

[novacorpsrecruit]

Hold Me Like a Panasonic

Read full fic on ao3 | E | wc 5,098 (on ao3)

This is the NYE excerpt of the fic, which is just a bunch of Steddie sex tapes lmao

X - 12/31/92 - 1/1/93 - New Year’s

The video panned over a crowd of people — their friends crowded between the living room and the kitchen. Eddie carried the camera through the house, dodging between his friends before finding his first victim.

His hand came into framed grabbing Gareth and pulling him into frame.

“What the fuck, Eddie?” Gareth laughed.

“Favorite part of 92,” Eddie said. “Go.”

“Shit, the tour, hands down,” Gareth grinned. “When we were in sold out in Tacoma of all places. I nailed that drum solo.” He mimicked playing the drums, sticking his tongue out and headbanged. “Fucking sick, man.”

Eddie turned around and grabbed Will, pulling him into frame. “Same for you, Little Byers. Best part of ‘92. Go.”

“Uh — Gareth,” he laughed, pulling Gareth back into frame. Gareth wrapped his arm around Will’s waist, sticking his tongue out at Eddie’s behind the camera protest. “Always. And when he visited me at college when you guys were on tour.”

“We visited you, too,” Eddie said, annoyance in his voice. “Fucking —“

The video jumps to Robin and Nancy, clearly several drinks in. “Fuck you, Bush!” They both shouted, laughing.

The tape jumps to Dustin. “Batman Begins,” Dustin said. “Hands down. Michael Keaton is Batman.”

“Didn’t you and Suzie get engaged?” Eddie asked from behind the camera.

“Ask her,” Dustin shrugged. “She’ll say the same thing.”

The tape jumps to Suzie. “Oh, the Landers Earthquake.”

“Your favorite part of 92 was a huge earthquake?”

“Not just huge,” Suzie said. “7.3 magnitude. The largest earthquake in the United States history. My geology professor was able to get us to the site and study the fault for like three weeks. It was amazing.”

“And you got engaged?”

“That too.”

The video cut to Mike, with a devilish grin. “Hellfire Reunion.”

The video cut to Lucas. “I’m a starter for Indiana this year,” he grinned. “Gonna make sure we bring home the Division I title.”

“Fuck yeah,” Eddie said, bringing the camera in as he hugged Lucas. “Sports.”

“Sports,” Lucas agreed with a laugh.

The video clipped to El and Max. El gave a soft grin and smiled, “My garden.”

“We didn’t die this year,” Max added. El nodded.

The video jumped to Jeff and Grant. “One, two, three,” Jeff lead into the video before they both shouted. “Headliners!”

The tape cut to Steve outside, fireworks going off in the distance.

“Favorite part of 92,” Eddie said, his voice low. “Go.”

“You took me to see Springsteen in Indianapolis,” Steve offered.

“Anything else?” Eddie asked. Steve hummed a response, looking onward to the fireworks. A playful grin appeared on his face.

“I got to see Corroded Coffin open their first headlining tour here in Chicago,” Steve said. “Their lead guitarist fucked me in the green room —“

“Jesus, Stevie,” Eddie laughed, dropping the palmcorder down and away from Steve’s face. The fireworks in full frame. “This was gonna be a tape to share.”

“What if it’s … not for sharing?” Steve asked. “What if we put an X on this one?”

“You know how many people we have in the house?” Eddie’s tone was light, flirtatious.

Steve’s tone was low, full of hunger. “Good thing we have a big house.”

The tape clipped to Steve and Eddie in the back of Steve’s old beemer. They’re in the garage, only the dome light illuminating their bodies. The palmcorder was balanced on the dash. Their details hard to make out in the dark. Eddie leaned back from turning on the camera, bouncing on Steve’s cock. Eddie threw his head back in a moan, balancing himself using the headrest of the seats.

“Jesus Christ, Eddie,” Steve moaned, running his hands down Eddie. He dug his fingers into the meat of Eddie’s thighs. He slapped the side of Eddie’s thigh, Eddie stuttering on his cock. “Baby, you feel so good. Bringing in the new year on my cock.”

“93 baby,” Eddie moaned. “Gonna be our year.”

“You say that every year,” Steve laughed. His hands looked gentler on Eddie’s skin, traveling up his legs to his waist, holding gently. The dome light barely catches the scar coloration under Steve’s fingertips. “For five years.”

“And I mean it, every year,” Eddie said, slowing his bounce. “I mean it. Truly do.”

Steve held Eddie still as he adjusted himself underneath him, sitting up to meet him in a gentle kiss. Steve brought his lips down Eddie’s neck, Eddie leaning back, giving Steve more room to work, like offering a new canvas to an artist. Steve pressed kisses, biting every other kiss before he finds the perfect spot in the crook of Eddie’s neck. He held Eddie tight as he took control, fucking up and into Eddie.

Eddie wrapped one arm around Steve’s back, the other holding onto the headset for dear life.

“Ah — ah — ah!” Eddie moaned, throwing his head back further. Steve nipped at his skin, pounding into Eddie. The car gently rocked underneath them. “Fuck, Stevie baby, right — right there — fuck!”

Steve pounded harder, surely leaving marks on his skin as he brought Eddie closer to the edge. “What do you need baby?” Steve’s voice was strained, as if he was holding back his own control.

“I need — I need —“ Eddie moaned. “Fuck! Cum. I need to cum.”

“Let go, baby,” Steve’s voice was hardly louder than a whisper, barely caught on the camera’s audio. He kept pounding into Eddie. “Cum.”

Eddie’s body shook as he came with a shout, his cum visibly shooting on frame, landing somewhere between Eddie’s hair and the beemer’s roof. Steve’s thrusts stuttered as he worked through his own orgasm, muffling his moan against Eddie’s skin.

There was a moment where nobody said anything. Nobody moved. Just heavy breathing and the small shakes of their body from overstimulation.

“Fuck,” Eddie breathed, breaking the silence.

Steve leaned back, looking up at Eddie. Even under the dim dome light, Steve’s dopy smile shined through. He ran the pad of his thumb over Eddie’s cheekbone. “Happy anniversary.”

Eddie leaned in, closing the space between them. “Happy anniversary.”

Read the other parts on Ao3

[griefabyss69]

FOR YOUR REQUESTS! ( @steddieas-shegoes )

I need your version of Steddie joining the mile high club. Like maybe Eddie is traveling with his band on a private plane for the first time and Steve is with him so they take advantage of the opportunity 😈

This was really fun!! They rented out the plane for this tour, I'm assuming they just had some wild back-to-back bookings and they were all tired of flying with the public recognizing them. There's a lot of benefits, including getting in some quality time ((( : <

[Drabble request series on ao3]

---

2K words - Steddie - Rated: E

Contains: Hot sex on a plane, fingering, anal, romantic love for once... (established relationship and everything!)

There's something about being high up in the air that makes Steve feel like anything's possible.

Maybe it's the whole flying thing, his grounded human body cradled in the small plane that Corroded Coffin had rented out for this tour. The magic of science, the feeling that he used to chase while jumping off of the porch from the top step with an open umbrella in his hand.

It's also got to be Eddie, his engagement ring shining black over his skin as he squeezes Steve's thigh.

"You'll be alright babe," Steve says, pressing his lips to his cheek as he puts an arm around Eddie's shoulders. "Just two more hours to go."

Eddie's teeth sink into his bottom lip and he sighs through his nose, like he's trying to calm a wave of anxiety instead of keeping his hand clenched around Steve's thigh so he doesn't touch himself with it.

"Can I convince you to make that ten minutes?" He asks, looking at Steve through his eyelashes, a move that sometimes still works on him.

Steve laughs, looking at Eddie's other hand, the one he tied to the armrest. It still looks good, like nothing's shifted to cut off his circulation.

"You can try," he tells him, staring at his mouth so he doesn't get caught up in his big brown eyes.

Eddie knows all of his weaknesses by now.

"Well okay, first of all. We know you love to show me off," Eddie says, keeping his voice down despite the fact that the rest of the band has been present for said showing off many times. "And what better way to show me off than to fuck me in front of an airplane window?"

Steve pulls back to look around the plane, a smirk growing over his face. He does like the sound of that.

"Secondsies, we're not going to have time once we land, unless you want to fuck me in the cab."

Shaking his head, Steve looks back at Eddie, remembering the one time they'd attempted to paw at each other in the back of a taxi.

"What's the third thing?" He asks, already convinced but committed to not making this easy for him.

"I'll let you kiss me on stage," he says, and Steve makes the fatal mistake of catching his eyes.

He's always wanted to do that, once they'd properly come out. Eddie never wanted to share that part of Steve, though. He agrees to interviews and letting Steve talk to the audience for a bit and even had him in one of the band's photo shoots one time – Steve had gotten him hard on purpose before they had to start posing in front of the camera and Eddie swore he'd get back at him for it, but it's been a year since then and every time he brings it up, Eddie's eyes go dark and his cheeks start to get pink.

"Deal. I get to decide when and how sexy it is," he says, reaching over to untie Eddie's hand. "Put the table away and pull the blind up."

Eddie beams at him, like he hadn't expected this to work, and starts to get the space around their seats in order.

Steve watches him against the backdrop of endless clouds and his cock gets thicker in his pants.

"Strip," he says, already pulling his own shirt off. "All of it."

Eddie is dexterous and efficient with his outfit, something ridiculous and complicated compared to Steve's lazy outfit of soft gray pants and a plain t-shirt, but he's had years of practice with all of the buttons and the buckles and the bells and the whistles by now. Steve has too, though if something takes too long he either makes Eddie do it or just cuts the rest of his clothes off. It depends on how mean he's feeling.

Naked and stretched out in front of him, Eddie looks as good as ever, piercings and tattoos and scars and hair all like brushstrokes across his skin to create an intimate painting, one of the classical ones from whatever era Steve can't remember the name of.

While he has the impulse to be mean for this, he knows that it'll be better if he saves that, gives into all of the feelings that lead to their engagement to begin with, the ones folding into his heart as his eyes linger over Eddie's smile.

"Like what you see?" Eddie asks, and at this point in their relationship it's more of a joke than a flirtation, but Steve just nods, answers honestly like always.

"God, yes," he says, getting his ass in gear to finish stripping down. "Get the lube."

Eddie bends down to dig through their carry-on, packed by Steve and added to by Eddie, turning a chaotic mess of necessities into a chaotic mess of like, half of their belongings.

The lube is easy enough to find, though. Eddie holds it out like it's a prize, a gold trophy for getting naked, and Steve takes it, pretends to cheer as Eddie buries his face in his hand. The edge of his grin peaks out and Steve's heart feels like a roaring crowd.

"Think you're still stretched out enough? Or should I take my time with you?"

Eddie looks up at him, through his eyelashes again, and Steve lets the look beguile him this time, the blush working it's way down his neck already tearing little pieces off of his controlled demeanor like flower petals.

"It's up to you," he says, and turns around to bend over, presenting his ass to Steve.

It's not his favorite way of fucking him, but it's the best angle for getting his fingers in him, the ability to keep his wrist straight making it worth not really being able to see his face. With Eddie's arms and forehead leaning against the window, the view must be insane, just clouds all around them and glimpses of the ground way below them.

He gets him spread open and wet, his first finger sinking in easily. He doesn't bother asking how it was, given how quiet Eddie was about it. The second finger is where he starts to draw out a reaction, the gentle stretch of it cause-and-affecting it's way up Eddie's spine as Steve watches his muscles shift under his skin.

"Gorgeous," he murmurs, pushing in slowly as Eddie starts to go pliant, the arch in his back giving Steve even better access to him. "You always take me so well."

Eddie huffs, clenching around him.

"You say that, but you're fingering me like we're stuck in traffic," he says around the groan Steve's pulling from deep in his chest.

"We kind of are, if you think about it," Steve says, leaning forward to press a gentle kiss to his shoulder. "And we have the time."

Eddie groans in frustration this time, trying to grind back on his hand, and Steve just pulls his fingers out, laughing. This part never gets old, the part where Eddie loses his patience and Steve finds his own, drawing things out for as long as he wants to.

"You're cruel," Eddie mutters, his breath fogging up the window a bit.

Steve knows.

He makes sure his fingers are all nice and wet, and just for fun squeezes some fresh lube right onto Eddie's asshole, watching him clench around nothing as he sucks in a sharp breath at the cold sensation of it.

"Can you see any of the ground?" He asks, waiting for Eddie to relax as he gets distracted, starting to tell him about all of the green he keeps getting flashes of, and shoves three fingers into him, all at once.

Eddie presents him with a ragged grunt, like Steve winded him, and Steve bends to smirk against his neck.

"I'm giving you what you want, since I love you so much," he says, and Eddie's scoff is ruined by the brutal pace of Steve's fingers. "Even if I think you'll regret it when this is over too quickly."

Shaking his head, Eddie presses back into him, shameless as he gets a hand on his cock.

"If you cum, I'm not stopping," Steve says, the warning bracketed with the removal of his fingers, and then his cock pressed against the rim of his ass.

"Please," Eddie gasps, trying to rub against him. "I don't care, fuck me forever, just get inside."

"Would be kind of difficult to get things done if I was always fucking you," he says as he pushes in, the tight ring of him unforgiving as he sinks, his mouth dropping open on a silent moan.

Eddie must be kind of tense, and if his brain wasn't getting squeezed out of his cock right now, he'd try to get him to relax.

"S'good," Eddie slurs, melting under him as he gets fully seated. "Who cares about-"

He cuts himself off with a groan, and Steve can tell by the way his head tilts back and his eyelashes flutter against his cheeks that he's gone, a creature made of sensation and images and physicality and not much else.

"Fuck, you're tight today," he whispers in his ear, fucking him as slowly as he can. "Is that on purpose?"

He knows Eddie can't really answer right now, just gives a quiet grunt that lets him know he's listening, clenching even tighter around him for a moment. Everything's so hot and Steve leans forward to brace his hands at the sides of the window, starting to feel a little fuzzy at the edges.

"Love you," he says, the slow rolling thrust of his hips making Eddie drag over his cock in a way that edges towards torture. "Can't wait to marry you, fuck you every single hour on our honeymoon, no interruptions."

Eddie moans, his hand slowing down on his cock like he doesn't actually want to cum yet, and that makes whatever contrary thing that lives inside of Steve's chest change his plans.

He pulls most of the way out, gets his hands on Eddie's hips for leverage, and then shoves back in, tip to base in a heartbeat, punching Eddie's breath out of him. He watches the part of his face that he can see as he starts fucking him fast, hard and nasty and everything Eddie's always trying to goad him into.

"Yes-s-sss…" Eddie hisses, the sound broken up every time Steve's hips slam into his ass.

Steve isn't going to last, but he doesn't really care, knows he gets Eddie again tonight in their hotel room, knows the way they're fucking now means Eddie will feel him for ages afterwards.

He knocks Eddie's hand away from his cock so he can wrap his fingers around him, firm and a little rough as he starts jerking him off, hand hitting the base as he thrusts in, pinning him in place for a split second before he pulls out and off.

Eddie's moaning gets high and tight as Steve feels him get harder than ever in his hand, solid and hot and pulsing as he starts to cum, his body snapping up and back to meet him as he paints the window with his orgasm.

It doesn't take more than a moment for Steve after that, burying his face in his neck as he grinds up hard, the lava in his gut peaking into fizzy pleasure that washes through him, shaking him apart as he cums inside of Eddie.

Coming down is slow, with Steve breathing in deep through his nose, taking in the smell of Eddie's sweat and his conditioner, watching the clouds with his chin hooked on his shoulder with heavy eyelids. Eddie's easy, his head tilted to lean against Steve's, body curving to lock into place right against his.

"Good?" Steve asks in a mumble, getting his mouth under his ear to kiss the sweat off of his skin.

"Higher than ever, baby," Eddie half slurs, one of his hands finding Steve's hair.

Steve groans and bites him.

"Should've gagged you," he says, and sighs as he starts to stand up properly, figuring it's time to clean them up.

Eddie laughs.

[strangeswift]

okay i promise this is not a pro-st4ncy post by any means but hear me out. i understand that we would all like steve to be over nancy, but here's why he's not... (this got super long sorry i never see anyone talk about steve and i wanted to)

ok so beginning of s2 steve has essentially no direction in life and it's clear that he's having a lot of self doubt as a result, which makes sense. it's clear that he feels pressure to Do Something with his life, but he doesn't know what that something is. now. it's established that he is sort of making nancy his purpose. this is seen seen through their convo in the car s2 when he says maybe he should just stay in hawkins and work for his dad so that he can be around for nancy's senior year. (then again he demonstrates this in s4 with the... ahem... six little nuggets talk. his only ambitions are to have a family with nancy.) but let's go back to s2 for now.

(disclaimer that i do not fault nancy for any of what i am about to say, because she at no point had any mal intent. she is just a traumatized teenage girl doing her best)

so steve is essentially all in on nancy. she is his purpose. and she tells him she loves him... when she doesn't. or at least she doesn't actually want to be with him at this point. then, after telling him she loves him (we see it once but it's said casually so we can assume she probably said it more than once) it is revealed to steve through their fight that she doesn't actually love him. AND THEN she goes on to date jonathan (i am a j4ncy stan for life don't come for me) and jonathan is essentially The Guy She Told Him Not To Worry About. right!? like. with everything that happened s1 with nancy insisting jonathan was just a friend, and by the end of s1 steve came to accept this, not standing in the way of nancy and jonathan's friendship and even buying jonathan a new camera for nancy to give to jonathan on his behalf. BUT it's clear that steve still felt in the back of his mind that something was up, demonstrated by his comment in s2 about jonathan being nancy's "other boyfriend." now idk how many of you have been left for The Guy You Weren't Supposed To Worry About... but it sucks. it makes you feel stupid and it makes you feel inferior.

okay now fast forward to s3. he finds a potential rebound: robin buckley. he's not consciously looking for her to be a rebound, but that's essentially what she would have been. he says he's not in love with nancy anymore because he "found someone a little better for him" (robin.) on top of that, robin literally told steve she was obsessed with him in high school and held his hand on the roof, so he's definitely picking up Vibes, plus dustin is encouraging him to pursue robin. he's not expecting a rejection. then he gets rejected! and no matter how cool he was about the rejection, it was still a rejection, and rejections hurt! ouchie! rebound failed spectacularly due to lesbianism 👍

AND THEN nancy comes back into his life in s4, and i don't think i need to break down the steve/nancy events of s4 other than to say nancy was definitely not Discouraging him in any way. plus eddie tells him nancy is still in love with him because she jumped in the water, and i don't care if steve respects eddie's opinion or not, if a stranger tells me the person i'm in love with is in love with me, my hopes are going up, even against my better judgment. and even robin is picking up on vibes that things between nancy and jonathan are weird, so obviously steve would pick up on that too!

all of this to say: if i were steve, i wouldn't be over it either so stop being mean to him.

[loudsnapdragon]

hello, i'm writing a very silly stobin and steddie fic set in a sex shop. it is silly. have a look?

BUY LOCAL: STEVE HARRINGTON'S GUIDE TO MODERN SEXUALITY 3/4 chapters. Rated Mature.

Amid the crotchless lingerie and silicone dildoes that litter the floor of Hawkins’ worst and best and only Adult Store, Steve undergoes a very short, and not very stressful sexuality crisis; Robin fails to lose her virginity; and Eddie refuses to admit why he doesn’t use Grindr.

It’s not what Steve expected out of life, definitely not what Steve's dad expected out of his life either, but Steve’s not complaining, well, not until he ends up locked in the stockroom, with nothing more than a bag of genitalia-shaped candy, and a prudish Eddie Munson to keep him entertained, with their least favourite gun-carrying regular tearing apart the merchandise outside.

excerpt below the cut

‘Co-captain’s log, the time is…’ Steve checks his watch. ‘4:47pm, the date is 06/10/23, we are currently locked-’

‘You cannot be serious.’

Steve snaps his head away from the security camera positioned in the high corner of the stock room, scowling at Eddie, who sits jaw-dropped, eyebrows set in a furious line, legs sprawled out on the floor, his elbows wresting on a cardboard box marked Penis-Enhancer 2000.

‘What else am I going to do? Dude, we just have to wait this out. I pressed the panic button. The police will be here soon. Might as well be productive.’

Outside the stock room, there’s a loud thump, a swooping noise, followed by the quiet woosh of air escaping an inflatable. Steve winces. Unlucky Doris.

Eddie pulls at his hair with both hands, his feet bouncing faster. ‘How is that being productive?’

‘It’s how me and Robin pass on notes, don’t be a dick. Just calm down and shut up.’ He turns back round to the camera. ‘It’s the sixth of October, and we are currently locked inside the stock room…’

There’s another bang from outside the stock room, the sound of Rodney’s muffled cursing, then a shelf falling over, a clattering of small boxes hitting the floor. Steve silently mourns his beautifully organised DVD displays.

Eddie clumsily jumps up onto his long legs, belt chains clanking on the cement floor, knocking over a box of skin rags in the process, starting to pace manically around Steve. ‘We’ve gotta do something! He has a gun.’

Steve shrugs from the floor. ‘It’s just Rodney.’

‘It’s just Rodney? How can you be so chill? He’s tearing your store apart!’

Steve rolls his eyes, giving up on his captain’s log. ‘Dude, this is like the third time this has happened to me. I don’t really care anymore. Ms. Scarlet has insurance, she’ll be fine.’

From the sounds of it, Doris will be the only casualty, which is a shame, Steve had grown quite fond of the inflatable sex doll.

Eddie stops his frantic circling around the six-foot square space. ‘This store has been robbed two times already?’

‘Oh, I dunno, probably, Ms. Scarlet seems prepared, but the other robberies weren’t here.’ Steve yanks Eddie down by the shins, because he just can’t deal with the unnecessary panic right now. ‘That was at Scoops.’

‘Who the fuck does a stick-up at an ice cream parlour?’ Eddie says, confused, which is good, maybe if he’s distracted, he’ll give up with the fretting. He settles beside Steve, leather trousers tacky as he wraps his arms around his knees, feet still bouncing.

‘Two guys who massively overestimated the value of vanilla milkshakes.’ Steve says, planting a hand on Eddie’s thigh to stop it shaking, only resulting in Eddie striking it off with a scowl.

Steve laughs, ‘Oh, I forgot there was a robbery at Family Video too, but I wasn’t working that day. And there was this car chase at the drive through, same day that me and Robin got locked in overnight, but that was just the kids messing with us.’

Eddie skews his eyes. ‘Dustin?’

‘Nah, not him. Will and Mike.’

‘Will?’ Eddie asks, tilting his head, surprised. ‘I mean Mike, sure. But Will? I did not expect that for him.’

‘He’s a schemer when he wants to be. He got pissy when I refused to give them free milkshakes on their big date. He pickpocketed the building keys off Robin when she wasn’t paying attention.’

Eddie smiles, feet slowly stilling. ‘Good for him. The boy deserves some mischief.’

‘Easy for you to say.’ Steve scoffs. ‘We’d just finished a ten-hour shift. I was exhausted. Have you ever been forced to make an emergency bed out of hamburger buns? Have you?’

Eddie’s eyes glint in the stock room’s dim light, and he laughs as he fiddles with his hair, curled round his finger, long line of his neck white and gleaming; and Steve considers, not for the first time, there’s danger here, in this trapped box. They’re locked here; inside the stock room, their phones lying dead and smashed behind the door, waiting until the police arrive as Steve’s least favourite regular throws a weaponised hissy fit outside.

‘Be honest, was that the worst place you’ve ever fallen asleep?’ Eddie asks, with a knowing lilt.

Steve sighs, smiles despite it. ‘Obviously not. The worst place was last night.’

‘Last night?’

‘Yeah. I swear, my Grindr date’s bed was stuffed full of rocks.’

Eddie laughs, throwing his head back, opens his mouth to speak, stops at the sound of a bullet pinging off the stock room door.

Steve turns to it, bolted from the inside. There’s another bang, a loud crash, then presumably what must be Rodney chuckling to himself.

Steve glances over at the screen with the different security camera views by the light switch, where all the store’s cameras are still very much covered in the silly string Rodney brought along, pink and orange lines dripping over the three of the four views, the fourth one just a grey-scale square in the corner, showing Steve and Eddie hauled up in the stockroom, looking like off-duty actors caught behind the scenes. 

Eddie starts biting his lip so hard it’s going bright red. ‘Fuck. Fuck. He has a gun! Steve, he has a gun!’

Steve pats his shoulder. ‘The door is like, titanium, or something. Ms. Scarlet says it’s bulletproof.’

‘Thank God.’ Eddie exhales, raises his hand to cover Steve’s, skin on skin, then a second later, blushes, and shakes it away. Steve can’t help but smirk.

‘This never happened upstairs, we’ve never had a robbery.’ 

‘Huh. I woulda’ thought a vape store would get tonnes of this shit.’

‘No.’ Eddie says, his legs practically hovering off the floor. ‘Not once. Never had it at the record store either.’

‘Was the record store your only other job?’ Steve asks, trying to find a conversation that will take Eddie’s mind of the madman outside. Probably rude to call Rodney a madman, like he’s an asshole, obviously, but it’s not his fault he has a couple screws loose.

‘Yeah, yeah. Only other legal job.’ Eddie says, unravelling his legs, almost relaxing. ‘Started working there at sixteen, stayed there four years. Then it closed, and… well… you know how my move to the city went after that. But shit man, I can still remember how bummed I was when Andy said he was going to sell the place.’

‘I get it, fucking pain in my ass when Family Video closed.’ Steve says, ‘And Scoops, and Benny’s, and Holloway Press, and Merrill’s farm, and the library, and…’

‘Christ.’ Eddie interrupts. He does that all the time. ‘How many jobs have you had? How did ya’ even get all them?’

Steve doesn’t try counting, he’d need his resume to know for sure. ‘Robin’s good at applications.’

Eddie snorts. ‘You get Robin to apply for all your jobs?’

‘Yeah. We’re a package team, she’s not going anywhere I can’t follow.’

‘Cute.’ Eddie rests his chin in his hand, elbow on his only-slightly shaky knee. ‘Soo how did you end up here? At this wonderful, titanium protected, sex emporium? She sent in an application for you both?’

Steve kicks out his legs and raises his eyebrows. The door remains shut, the barrage of Rodney’s destruction filtering through the cracks.

‘Actually, that was all me.’

[nothingkillsyoulikeyourmind105]

Betrayal

Chapter 9

Warning: Mentions of Death, Violence,Depression, Suicide, Breaking Up, Torture, Blood, Explicit Language.

Master List Betrayal Series

Part 2

Audrey left Bucky coughing in the alleyway. While on his hands and knees he looked up watching Audrey walk away from him. This wasn’t the woman he knew before? She changed.

She wasn’t the timid person he once knew. The way she transformed before him shocked him. The way her eyes glowed red the black lines that spread from her eyes. Her fangs stuck out most to him.

But most of all her strength. Was this his doing?

Bucky got himself off the ground dusting himself off. He thought about everything that has happened.

Bucky wanted to follow her but he decided against it. He walked back to the tower defeated.

All he could think about was her?

Audrey continued walking to the cafe but something was making dizzy. The more she fought against it it made her vision fuzzy.

Everything went black.

Sam and Wanda, Natasha waited for Audrey. They tried to call her but no answer. They became concerned that she was responding to any calls or texts. Sam immediately called Tony about the situation. They waited for awhile before they decided to look into the matter.

Concerned for her safety Sam immediately began to search the city for her. But first he stopped by her place to see if there were any clues.

He knew that Bucky maybe had done something or said something to her.

No luck at her apartment he left back to the tower to confront Bucky.

5+ Hours Gone By.

Sam concern about Audrey he paced the meeting room. Steve working with Natasha looking through camera footage in hopes they could find a clue of where she went.

Tony and Peter searched around the city in hopes they would find her.

Wanda contacted Eddie.

Eddie and Venom frantically searched the outskirts of the city in hopes they would find her.

Bucky rode his motorcycle through the city. In hopes he would find her first. He went to all their spots where they use to go to when they were together.

Pepper and Happy stayed behind at the tower in hopes she would show up.

Hours had gone by but no trace of Audrey.

The sun had set and everyone continued their search but no success.

Eddie and Venom looked around downtown near where the homeless shelter was located.

Eddie started to get worried about Audrey. Who would kidnap her. He thought back when some of the homeless people around the area were going missing. No one was looking into the situation with the homeless people missing.

Just as he was about to leave he noticed a white van parked outside a abandoned building. He decided to investigate when he crawled into the building skylight he noticed the cryogenic chamber that was open. People walked around and he saw Audrey strapped down to a gurney.

Venom acted quickly taking over he immediately jumped down attacking anyone that intervened with his rescue mission.

Venom ripped the straps off the gurney. Audrey didn’t move her lifeless body laid before him. He scooped her up holding her close to him Venom ran out of the building looking for a safe spot to assess the situation.

Venom had a feeling that the worse had happened, Eddie could feel how Venom felt about the situation. But he held out hope that she would wake up.

Venom climbed an abandoned church where he laid Audrey down on the dusty floor. Eddie emerged from Venom kneeling beside her trying to feel for a pulse. He felt a pulse but it was faint.

He quickly picked her up. Venom immediately took over running with Audrey to the Avengers Tower. Venom and Eddie didn’t want to admit but this situation had turned for the worse.

Venom jumping across buildings holding Audrey in his arms he cradled her closely.

Bucky was headed back to the tower when he noticed a large shadow jumping from building to building headed to the tower. He quickly radioed Natasha and Steve of the situation.

Venom noticed he was being followed.

“Eddie I’m getting close to the tower you’re gonna have to take over soon. That little shit is following us too. I should’ve bit his head off when we met.”

“Venom not now but you’ll have your chance but not now this is about Audrey. I love her, this can’t be how things end.”

Venom landed in front of the building. Eddie emerged from Venom holding Audrey as the rain poured down on them. Bucky stood behind Eddie watching him hold Audrey.

“What are you?”

“What did you do to her?!”

Everyone came running outside in the rain. Eddie looked up to Tony holding Audrey

“Please help her?”

“I couldn’t take her to the hospital and I thought of you guys. I know you can help her.”

“I know you have questions about me but help her. I love her please save her.”

Bucky stood behind Eddie but hearing him say that he loved Audrey broke his heart all over again. Audrey was his girl. Her smile, laugh’s echoed in his memories.

Not wanting to face the fact that another man had taken his place. He pushed everything aside only to focus Audrey.

Worried for her Bucky quickly ran up the steps following everyone.

The medical team taken Audrey to the medical wing. Assessing the condition of Audrey they learned that she’s in a coma. An unknown serum was injected into her blood stream made her weak. As time passed they needed to find out what was in the serum and how they could counteract the drug.

Audrey state of health quickly declined. Eddie paced the halls while Venom asked him questions about the situation.

Bucky paced the halls as well but suspicious about Eddie he confronted him.

“What are you?”

“I promised Audrey I wouldn’t fight with you. I’m not in the mood to explain myself to you.”

Bucky walked away from Eddie. He found Steve with Tony and Natasha talking about where Eddie found Audrey.

Sam and Wanda with a few agents went to search the place where Eddie found Audrey.

Racing against time they had to find a way to stop Audrey’s health from deteriorating.

Steve and Tony looked at each other then Bucky.

Tony walked towards the medical wing Steve followed him. A few armed agents followed as well.

Natasha chased the guys down.

“Tony whats going on?”

“We can’t trust him”

Tony quicken his pace.

“You saw what he was outside when he brought Audrey back”

Steve followed Tony to the medical wing.

In Audrey’s coma she dreamed of her father.

Audrey awaken in a flower bed she sat up looking around the sunlight blinded her but she saw a figure in a distance.

“Dad?”

“Honey Bee?”

“Dad, its me?”

“Hi Dad”

Audrey jumped up running to her dad. Tears streaming down her cheeks.

“Dad, I missed you so much. You were all I had. Please don’t leave me again. I want to stay with you. Don’t leave me again”

“Aww honey bee. I’m happy to see you but what are you doing here. You shouldn’t be here. You need to go back home.”

“Dad don’t send me away. I want to stay here with you.”

“Honey Bee I’m happy to see you. I missed you too but it isn’t your time. If you stay here you’ll be stuck here with me.”

“You need to go home.”

“But Dad-“

“No buts Honey Bee”

“I know what James did and I don’t agree with his decision but you have to forgive him too. But there’s someone out there that needs you.”

“What? Who?”

“Eddie”

“You know about him dad?”

“Yes honey bee”

“I’m with you everyday. You were never alone. I sat with you when you were mourning your loss. You were never alone my bee. I know there’s bad men after you but you’re stronger then you know and I’m proud of you my bee.” “Its time to go home my bee”

“Dad I love you”

“I love you too honey bee”

“Bye Dad”

“Bye Honey Bee”

The sounds of machine beeping. And a warm hand on hers. The bright blinding lights blind her, her arms feel heavy. She gently moves her fingers. But someone hand gently squeezes her hands.

She manages to open her eyes.

“Bucky”

“Audrey”

“Where’s Eddie?”

With fear in her voice. She sat up quickly.

“Audrey you were in a coma for 4 days”

“Where’s Eddie!?”

Her voice cracked. Tears running down her face she pulled her hand away from him.

Buckys heart broke.

[swiss-mrs]

Chapter 1: Things Will Never Be the Same

Life Eternal Series

Eddie Munson x Rockstar!POC

(Word Count: 10.3k, a big boi)

All writing is in second POV, but No Use of Y/N.

Eddie runs off stage, adrenaline high. He gets a couple ‘good job’s from different people as he walks passed and is then ushered to the side. The lady from earlier comes up to take his guitar. “She’ll be waiting for you in the room you and your friend were in earlier. Go enjoy the rest of the concert, kiddo.” She gave him a smile with warmth only a mother could give. Eddie’s eyes light up as he jumps up and down trying to rid some of the adrenaline from his body.

“Yes, ma’am!” He begins running away, “Thanks.” He shouts behind him, narrowly missing a stage tech.

As soon as he makes it to the pit, he passes by the band, all of them giving him pats on the back and congrats. Dustin spots him and starts screaming at the top of his lungs, jumping, his excitement passing along to Eddie, causing him to mimic Dustin’s actions. They hold onto each other as they scream and jump. “Sooo Epic!!!!” Dustin yells over the crowd.

“Yah!!!” The only response Eddie can muster. The band next to him laughs and smiles at their reactions. The last half of Metallica’s set was equally as energized. The entire group all rocked out together, headbanging. Hair flew in all directions as they 'played' instruments along with the legends on stage. After the set, the group was corralled and pushed backstage, the band greeting and taking photos with fans as they passed.

Once backstage, Eddie, Dustin, and the band caught up with the guys. They all talked over each other, insisting that the older rockstars' performance was the best of the night, causing the guys to chuckle and laugh at the group's reactions. “This never gets old.” Kirk says with a chuckle.

“Group photo!” A random staff member shouts, a photographer. Everyone calms enough to look over to the guy then huddle together. The large group takes a few photos together.

“Wait, Can we get one to take home?!” Dustin shouts over everyone, handing his film camera over to the photographer. He swings his camera to his back and kneels to take a couple more photos of the group for Dustin.

After they all talk a bit longer with each other, the guys get ushered off, leaving the band with Eddie and Dustin. “What are you guys doing after this?” The drummer asks. Eddie and Dustin look at each other and shrug.

“Don’t know.” Eddie replies.

“Honestly, I’m too hyped up to just go to the hotel and go to bed.” Dustin says.

The keyboardist, Marley, pipes up. “Well, if you guys don’t have any plans, we’re going to an arcade further in town. Wanna tag along?” Dustin and Eddie look at each other again, before nodding and looking back to the group.

“Hell Yeah.” Dustin responds for the both of them.

》》》

As soon as they walk in, Dustin and Eddie look around in amazement. The room seemed to go on forever, rows and endless rows of flashing screens and beeps. “Ho-ly shit.” Dustin mutters.

“Uh-huh.” Eddie replies, dazed in wonder.

“Alright, boys,” A loud clap jumps Eddie and Dustin out of their trance. They both turn to face the imposing drummer whose hands are clasped and rubbing together. “Adam, Stacy, and our almighty leader are the lame ones that secure a booth for us.” He places one hand on each of the boys’ shoulders before turning them back to face the rows of games. He leans in, draping his arms over their shoulders. He leans down to bring his head closer to theirs, “You two are joining me and Charlie boy on the floor.”

“What did I tell you about personal space, Richard.” A dark haired guy with glasses walks up behind the drummer, grabbing the back of his collar and pulls him away from the two. Eddie turns to look at him as they all start walking side by side through the arcade floor. This guy had a 90s heartthrob look. His fluffy hair was pushed back. It reminded Eddie a bit of Steve’s but darker and a tad shorter. He had thick dark brows and dark brown eyes to match. This was the guy he saw in the crowd earlier.

“That it is meant to be infiltrated.” The tall man replied, causing the other’s eyes to roll. “You know you love me in your personal space, Charles.” He teases, now throwing his lanky arm around the glasses wearer.

“I will rip that arm out of its socket.” He shoots daggers up at his friend.

“Will you boys calm down? You’re going to scare the kids.” Another girl walked up from behind the bickering two. “Charlie, stop threatening murder. Rick, stop making out with Charlie.” Two two boys scoff.

“I was not making out with four eyes.” “I was only going to maim.” They said simultaneously, causing the blonde to roll her steel blue eyes. She had a sweet face, contrasted with dark makeup. Eddie recognizes her as another band member, the other guitarist. She glared at Charlie and Rick with crossed arms.

“Sorry, mom.” “Sorry, Stacy.” The two apologized with their heads down. She smacks Rick's arm.

“I am no one’s mother.” Rick snickers, holding onto his stinging arm.

“Stace!” A guy yells, the bassist from earlier. They all turn their heads to see him on the platform that held some tables and booths. He waves to make sure he’s seen then points down to a corner booth with a rounded table. Stacy lifts an arm, giving him a thumbs up.

“Whenever you guys are ready for a break, we got a table over where Adam is.”

“Oh really.” Rick responds sarcastically, earning another glare from Stacy. “Come on, when have you known us to need a break.” He says.

“I was more so referring to them.” She says, gesturing to Eddie and Dustin. “Food and drinks are on us, and here.” She hands them two heavy bags of coins. Rick gasps, placing a hand on his heart as he watches Stacy give Eddie and Dustin tokens.

“What about us?!” He asks dramatically.

“You can get your own.” She turns on her heels, flipping her hair in Charlie and Rick’s faces, causing them to flinch.

“You guys are hilarious.” Dustin laughs.

》》》

It’s been two hours, and Eddie is starting to feel the aches of standing on his feet all day, his adrenaline well worn off by now. As soon as he dies in the game, he announces, “I’m gonna grab some food.” He ruffles Dustin’s curls.

“Tired already, Old Man?” Rick teases. Charlie takes this opportunity to push Rick, causing him to trip up and start losing in the game the three of them are still playing. “No, no, no, no, no! You, dick!” His focus was brought back. Eddie laughs. Charlie gives him a nod as to say ‘I got your back.’

Eddie makes his way around the huge arcade floor, heading towards the front where the concessions were. He waited in the short line for a minute before ordering, “Can I get, uh, some mozzarella sticks, a hot dog, and a pepsi?”

“Make that two orders of mozzarella sticks and some chili cheese fries. Oh and a medium Dr. Pepper.” Eddie turns to find none other than the metal angel themselves standing beside him.

“16.87, please.” You hand over a twenty dollar bill, and tell the clerk to keep the change.

“You didn’t need to pay for that. I could’ve gotten it.” Eddie says as you both walk over to the ‘pick-up’ counter to wait.

“It’s all good. We invited you guys. What kind of person would I be to make you pay for anything?” you dismiss, hushing Eddie. Jeez, did you know how to make him at a loss for words. Not two minutes go by before the silence is interrupted.

“2 Mozzarella Sticks, 1 Hot Dog, Chilli Fries, and Two Drinks?” Another worker comes up to the counter, dropping off a tray full of items, before disappearing back into the kitchen.

“Well, that was fast.” You reach to grab the tray, but Eddie beats you to it.

“I got the tray. Grab the drinks?” You raise your brows at him with a barely there smile, nodding in response.

You grab the two drinks and lead Eddie to the booth where Adam and Stacy are seated. Stacy squeals, “Chilli Fries!!” Eddie places the tray down on the table, and Stacy immediately goes in with a fork to the smothered fries.

“Where’d Marley go?” You ask as you slip into the booth.

“She went to go play.” Adam piped up. His arm was draped over the back of the booth behind Stacy. He sat smiling at his girlfriend scarfing down fries. Eddie, still standing, tries to contemplate where to sit. Should he pull up a chair in case you’re saving the seat for Marley? You catch his attention by patting the empty space next to you.

“Sit down. Unless, you’re planning on standing while you eat.” Eddie quickly scoots into the seat next to you. You smile over to him and grab a mozzarella stick with your right hand, throwing your left arm over the back of the seat behind Eddie, leaning back, munching on the cheese stick.

Just feeling the presence of your arm behind him heats his entire body. “This brings back memories, huh?” Stacy says once she’s swallowed her bite of fries, wiggling her brows at you. Eddie looks at her confused. Out of the corner of his eye, he could see you roll your eyes, annoyed. You reach to grab another cheese stick.

“So, Eddie, right?” Adam pipes up, breaking the tension before it starts. “Where you from, man?”

“Indiana.” Eddie replies before taking a sip of his soda, washing down his food. “Hawkins, Indiana.”

“Hawkins, huh. Is it a small town? I don’t think I’ve heard of it.”

“Well, yeah. You could say that. It’s small enough to be stuck two decades in the past. Not too many open minded people there. I was labeled the goddamn antichrist, because I wore a Black Sabbath shirt to school one day.”

“I get that.” Adam chuckled. “We all came from a town called Haven up in Washington. It’s a pretty small valley town. When we were all growing up, we were the town’s source of satanic panic.”

“We almost named the band that, actually.” You add.

Eddie looks over with raised brows. “Really? Not gonna lie, that’d be a pretty sick name.”

You chuckle, “Yeah, in the end we landed on Cydonia. ‘Satanic Panic’ didn’t give us the right image. A little too ‘hometown rebel band’, you know. Plus, Cydonia rolls off the tongue nicer.” you shrug, Eddie staring at your profile as you speak, looking down, playing with the paper cup on the table in front of you. You lift the cup and take a sip from the straw. Eddie’s jaw goes a bit slack, watching. After a few seconds, you set the cup back down, and Eddie is knocked back to reality, picking the conversation back up.

“So,” he starts, trying to busy himself with his food, “you all grew up together?”

“Kind of.” you start before Stacy takes over.

“We all met around 10 years ago as teenagers.” She started, “We formed our band almost immediately.”

“Marley was just a baby back then.” You reminisce, a pouty smile dancing on your lips.

“I’d been taking guitar lessons since I was a kid. Adam here played bass guitar in Jazz Band at our highschool.”

“That’s where I learned.”

“Rick was in the marching band, and Marley came from a musical family, teaching herself piano. Charlie was a choir boy and played sax in band. And our little musical genius over here,” Stacy gestures to you, “Picked up a guitar one day and turned into Mozart overnight.” You scoff at her comment, “Oh, come on now. Don’t be modest.” She says in response to your eyeroll before turning back to Eddie. “Can you believe that before meeting me, this little freak of nature had never picked up a single instrument? Now they write and compose nearly every song we have! I practically have to be taught all my parts as the lead guitar. I was surpassed long ago when it comes to skill and musicality.” She turns to you, “If it wasn’t for their angelic pipes keeping them in check, I’d be on tambourine.” She jokes, yet praising and boasting in all seriousness. You look down, trying to hide behind your hair. 

“That’s crazy.” Eddie states looking at you, your eyes still focused down. “You know, your music really resonated with me. Genuinely struck a chord with me.” He places a hand over his heart. “Like I said earlier, I went in blind and came out a huge fan.” He says grinning, leaning down to try and catch your gaze. “Trust me, it’s not easy to leave such a lasting impression on me or Dustin.” You look up, wide, innocent eyes staring back at him. Eddie’s knees would’ve buckled on the spot if he wasn’t already sitting down. You offer him a small smile in return, his grin widening to a toothy smile.

Stacy and Adam share a look. “You know, we’re actually going to be in Indianapolis in a couple weeks for one of our tour stops. You should come see us! We each get tickets saved in case we want to invite people. That gives us six free spots if you wanna invite some of your friends back in Indiana.” Adam speaks up. Both you and Eddie look away from each other to face Adam as he talks.

“Yeah, It’d be awesome! You’d get to experience a lot more songs since it’s just us playing. We can mail some VIP passes to you, and you can choose who you want to join!” Stacy adds. Eddie nods with a bright smile, looking from the two seated across from him then over to your leaned back form. Man, the way you look at him really makes him lose all thoughts he once held.

“I wouldn’t miss it for the world.” He replies, mainly saying it to you. The way his words roll off his tongue causes your body heat, and you bite back a smile, avoiding his intense gaze. Eddie smirked to himself. He was already growing a crush on you without you even knowing or trying, so it made him feel extra special to know he was starting to have some sort of effect on you too.

》》》

Two weeks had gone by since Eddie and Dustin arrived back in Hawkins. After Steve and Robin met them at the airport, they immediately caught up with the Hellfire crew and updated everyone on all the juicy details. “Eddie even made buddy buddy with one of the biggest headliners there.” Dustin would say, wiggling his brows and nudging Eddie’s arm. The first week back, Eddie and Dustin were still on cloud nine the whole time. The high of their trip takes its time to wear down.

In the second week, things began to wind down a little bit. Eddie brought up the idea of going to the Cydonia concert with him and Dustin to everyone, but so far, only Steve and Robin confirmed their attendance.

The concert was now 4 days out, and Eddie was in town now, shopping of all things. He decided to make a drive further into the city in hopes of not having to run into anyone he knew. He would rather be caught dead than shopping at Starcourt.

He stopped by Testament Records, the store he and Dustin usually go to when they’re in need of anything band related, and invested in some Cydonia tapes to play in his old van. He had a very different feeling when seeing the band’s display at the front of the store this time. He had a huge smile as soon as he walked through the door and was greeted by cardboard standees of the band, specifically yours. He chuckled to himself cause the standee made you look so small and a little too perfect. Eddie felt it didn’t compare to the real life you. He liked the wildness of your hair sticking up in all directions. He liked the rich color and texture of your skin. He liked the way you looked at him and saw him. The two dimensional version of you didn’t compare. Not at all. Not by a long shot.

While he was at the register, he couldn’t help himself but grab a magazine that had you front and center, the rest of the band standing in a V shape behind you. He was looking through it as he opened the door to walk out. As soon as he swings the door open, it stops a little short, hitting something. “Motherfucker!” A voice catches his attention. Eddie shuts the magazine closed and throws it in his plastic bag, realizing he just hit someone.

“Holy shit! Sorry! Fuck, I’m so sorry.” He reaches for the stumbling person. Eddie catches their arm, holding them up as the writhe and rub their aching head. Their head was covered with a baseball cap, shielding their face from view. “Are you okay?” Eddie ducks down to try and get a good look at them. His eyes widen in realization and he shouts your name, shocked.

“Shhhhh!!” You hush. He repeats your name in a softer tone. You look up at him finally, still holding your head. “Eddie?”

“Oh, fuck.Shit.Fuck.Shit.Iamsosorry.JesusChrist.Sorry. Are you okay?” He rushes to aid your head.

“I’m okay. The bill of my hat is what actually hit the door. It just hurt my head a little.” You wince, an amused ghost of a smile growing on your lips. Eddie’s worry doesn’t cease.

“Jesus, I’m so sorry.”

“Honestly, it’s okay. You didn’t do it on purpose, and I probably shouldn’t have been walking so close to the buildings. Anyone could’ve swung open a door.” You laugh a little, looking at the ground beside you, “I’m more so sad about my wasted coffee.” Eddie follows your eyes and sees a paper cup with what looks like spilled coffee all on the sidewalk. Eddie looks back up to you with a guilty face.

“I’m so sorry.”

“Stop apologizing. I told you it’s okay. I can always get another.” You shrug it off.

“My treat.” He says standing upright.

“No, no. You’re running errands.” You point to the plastic bag in his hand. “I was already halfway done with it, and I was mainly using it to keep my hands warm.” He moves his hand from your upper arm to your cold hand.

“Oh, come on. I’m just having a day about the town, and I want you to join. Don’t turn me down.” He pouts, giving you his best puppy eyed look. It doesn’t take long for you to give in, rolling your eyes with a smile.

“Fine.” You sigh, looking at him. His pouty lips grow into a big smile.

“Okay, let’s start by getting you a new coffee.”

》》》

You both have been walking around and exploring the town for hours. By now, both you and Eddie have a couple bags for things you’ve bought, you’ve shared a snack, and now are about to grab a proper meal as 5:00PM rolls around.

Eddie opens the door to the dinner and bows, exposing the top of his curls to you, “M’lady.”

You chuckle at his antics, returning the same energy, “Why, thank you, kind sir.” You reply in a dramatic accent. He looks up with a cheesy grin as you walk passed and into the restaurant, asking for a table for two. The young waiter seats you both at a booth, handing you menus, and takes your drink orders. You and Eddie place your bags on the inside of the booth, sitting across from each other.

“Now that we have a chance to sit and talk a bit more, can I ask, do you usually wander around cities alone?” Eddie asks with a smirk and a raised brow, leaning forward, resting his forearms on the table and clasping his hands. You shrug and lean back into the leather seat.

“Sometimes. Usually, when we arrive in a town and have a couple days to spare.”

“Yeah, you’re here quite ahead of schedule.” You nod.

“We have some press things tomorrow and Thursday, then a sound check on Friday. I was getting bored sitting up in a hotel all alone and it wasn’t inspiring much, so I thought I’d take a walk around, maybe find a muse.” You shrug again, “At least keep my brain from rotting while watching TV all day.” Eddie nods with a bright look on his face.

He lifts a hand to rest his chin on before speaking up, “Well, luckily you ran into the local cult leader to keep you company.” He wiggles his brow, bringing a laugh out of you. You shake your head.

“Oh yeah? What’s the name of your cult, oh holy one?” You raise a brow and lean in, resting your forearms on the table, now mimicking his similar posture.

“Hellfire.” He says without missing a beat. You raise both brows.

“Hellfire…okay,” you nod, “And how many followers have you collected so far?”

“A modest eight members thus far, including myself as the almighty leader.” He starts,”But, we are always on the search for more willing to join our cause.”

“Is that so?” You smirk, “Well, you’re going to have to do a bit more pitching, cause I’m not too convinced right now.” You say, testing him. He returns the smirk, opening his mouth to start-

“Are we ready to order?” The teenage waiter asks with a smile, placing down your drinks before taking out a notepad and pen.

The two of you lean back in your seats and grab your menus simultaneously, sharing a mischievous gaze. You break the stare first, looking up at the waiter and quickly ordering something. Eddie is soon to follow your lead. “I’ll go put this in for you. Thank you.” The waiter takes your menus and walks off, both you and Eddie giving him a quick ‘thanks’.

You lean forward to take a sip out of your drink straw, “I see you were doing your homework.” You say, pointing to the magazine poking out of one of his bags. Eddie looks at you confused, but as soon as his eyes catch what you’re pointing at, his eyes go wide and his face heats up. He quickly shoves the magazine further into the bag. You chuckle, “Hey, don’t worry about it. If I randomly met a musician I’ve never heard of, I'd pick up the magazine too.” You shrug. “Let me see.” You say reaching out for him to hand you the waxy paperback. Eddie is slow to take it out, embarrassed.

“Look, I stopped by the record store to pick up some of your tapes in preparation for the concert and couldn’t help myself when I saw this at the register.” He states truthfully.

“Like I said, don’t worry about it. It’s all good. Hell, I’m curious about what they say about me.” You start nonchalantly flipping through the pages, not really reading anything, just looking through. You see one page of ‘Fun Facts About The Band’. You couldn’t help but stop to read it. “What the fuck. They got my favorite color wrong.” You say dramatically. Eddie laughs.

“What is it?” He asks.

“Isn’t it obvious?” You say pointing to your matching hat, jewelry, and shoes.

“Dearly noted.” He nods.

“‘The small town garage band turn international rock stars give us the inside scoop about their future music and projects.’” You look up at Eddie with a fake impressed frown, him watching you intently with admiration, “‘This next album will be reportedly ‘heavier’, ‘darker’, and more experimental than their past two albums, according to the band. How will fans react?’” Eddie’s brows raise.

“‘Heavy and Dark’, huh?” You close the magazine and set it on the table.

“Apparently,” you chuckle, “the damn thing isn’t even done yet, but good to know I now have a certain expectation to reach.” You fall back into your seat. Eddie keeps a relaxed smile.

“Not to put you in interview mode, but if I may, you said you were looking for a muse earlier. You having trouble writing?” You close your eyes and sigh at his question.

“Maybe.” you pout. “I’m probably about halfway through. I still have like 4 months till I need to present anything, but I’m just not quite in the same headspace as I was when I started writing this album, and I’m starting to feel like I want to scrap some of the songs we’ve done so far.” you start fiddling with the cup in front of you and sigh.

“Maybe I can help?” Eddie offers, you halt your movements and look up with a cocked brow.

“Help?” You ask.

“I mean I don’t want to impose,” he raises his hands in surrender, leaning back in his seat, “but I have a pretty creative mind.” He taps his temple, “and I’m a bit of a musician myself, obviously.” He crosses his arms, “I don’t like this look of stress you have.” He waves a hand toward you, “It troubles me.” He places the same hand over his heart and looks at you with dramatically sad eyes. You scoff and roll your eyes at his pitiful expression.

“I don’t know…” You look down, contemplating, “I’ve never really co-written anything before.” You look at him skeptically. He leans forward with his hands in his lap, his chest pressing against the table. There are those pleading puppy eyes again.

“Pleeaassee? I promise I can help. If you don’t like it, no hard feelings. You can always scrap them later.” You have a brief staredown, glaring into his puppy eyes, before you give in.

“Okay. Fine…” You point a stern finger at him, “I’m trusting you.” He smiles brightly and does a little happy shimmy.

“Oh yeaaaahhh.” He says in a sing-songy tone, causing you to giggle. Your little giggle catches Eddie off guard for a second, but it only spurred him full force into his goofy antics. He didn’t know what he was missing out on until you erupted into a fit of giggles, and suddenly the overcast skies cleared to beam rays of delightful sunshine. He stops shimmying and starts laughing along with you.

“Alright, here we are.” The waiter comes up with two plates on a big tray. He places your respective meals down, ensures you’re all set, then disappears again.

You two smile at each other as your giggling fit ceases, looking deeply into each other's eyes. As you begin scarfing down your food, you could've sworn you saw a flash of light out of the corner of your eye.

》》》

“Showtime!” The mountainous drummer shouts, third in line behind Charlie, the dark haired glasses wearer flinching at the booming voice behind him, rolling his eyes. First out is Adam to his bass on the far side of the stage, next Charlie to his platform, then follows Rick to his drum set, Stacy to her guitar, and Marley to her platform. You are the last one to walk out, guitar already strapped over your shoulder. As soon as you walk out the cheers go even wilder. The dim lighting allows you to see the packed venue. You can’t really see because even the dim spot light blinds you, but you can tell the place is sold out. It makes your heart flutter, knowing so many people support and believe in your dreams. You walk up, front and center, smirking at the crowd before turning your back and facing your band, everyone standing at attention, waiting for your call. Your eyes dance to each member. Rick could be seen on the edge of his seat, leg bouncing, twirling around a drumstick between his fingers, anxiously waiting to let loose his pent up energy. Charlie has a power stance behind his mic, Marley mimicking his posture behind her mic. Adam and Stacy are staring deep into eachothers eyes from across the stage, competitive smiles on their faces.  For a second, the world goes silent. Closing your eyes, you breathe in deeply then breathe out. You open your eyes and look to Rick, giving him a small nod.

As soon as you give him permission, he releases all his energy out on his set, having a mini solo before Stacy is brought in, you and Adam joining shortly after. You all head bang, whipping your hair around to the fast paced beat before you turn to your mic last minute.

“Driving through this world unknown, I've built my life on broken bones” You lean back to focus your eyes on your fast moving fingers.

“Not living for this anymore, you want a fight I'll bring a war” You lean around your mic, pointing your guitar’s neck to the crowd, still focusing your eyes down, bringing in the pre-chorus.

“I feel alive inside,

I won't be terrorized,

I'll take all the blame.

This heart of fire is burning proud

I am every dream you lost and never found

This heart of fire is stronger now

Build your walls but you can't keep me out

I'll burn 'em down.” You and Stacy swap quick solos, mirroring each other’s tunes.

“I am every vow you broke, they left for dead and turned to smoke.” You keep the melody while she continues to add her flares.

“Arm yourself with words of hate, I'm ripping through the souls you take.” She walks up next to and lightly behind you. You lean back a little, careful not to disturb her playing, but enough to acknowledge her presence.You both rock out next to each other through the pre chorus and chorus.

“This heart of fire is burning proud

I am every dream you lost and never found

This heart of fire is stronger now

Build your walls but you can't keep me out.” You and Charlie harmonize metal screams at the end before you and Stacy step back together, facing each other to harmonize your guitar solos. You kneel down, eye-level with the body of her midnight black guitar. You lean your head back, shaking your head side-by-side, closing your eyes and getting lost in the music. You open your eyes to make eye contact with her, the crowd going wild at the naughty implications. You slowly stand back up, closing the gap between you two and leaning your foreheads together before you give her a big smile and twist away, heading back to your mic.

“This heart of fire is burning proud

I am every dream you lost and never found

This heart of fire is stronger now

Build your walls but you can't keep me out.” You stop strumming for a short few seconds to point ahead blindly to the crowd, before returning to your rhythm. Though Charlie and Marley are echoing you in the last few lines of the song, they are nearly drowned out by the crowd singing their parts. You all headbang for the last few measures, the crowd doing the same. You all end the song together, symbols and strings ringing out until silenced.

The crowd roars as you all stand in your finishing poses. You held your guitar with one and and the other was raised into the air. You all let exactly 16 measures go by, just enough time for the crowd to slow its cheers, just like you’ve practiced a million times. Adam, Charlie, and Rick all begin the devilish chant of the next song. The crowd’s screams pick back up in realization. You and Stacy maneuver to either side of the stage, starting your guitar rhythm in time with Marley’s keys, Adam’s thumps, and Rick’s beat. This time away from the center allows you to get a better look into the crowd.

You see a few fan-made signs littered around the crowd, some making you smile with their clever ways to ask you on a date, a few making you laugh and shake your head at the naughty words.

You begin a slow trek back to your mic as the chants start back up. As you start walking, you hear a group in front call your name in sync. You squint to try and get a better look at the crew. You notice a shorter, curly-haired boy with a big toothy grin. Man, his smile was contagious. Next to him was none other than Eddie Munson. His concert attire made your heart flutter. He wore one of your band t-shirts, a blood red bandana, and the patched up jean vest you first met him in. One of his toned, bare arms waved up to you, Dustin waving next to him to say ‘hi’ as they got your attention. You stopped strumming for a quick second to give a small wave back.

You get back to your mic in time to harmonize with Marley and Charlie. You stop strumming your guitar and lift your hands to your mic as Stacy takes over. As you sing, you notice a cute girl with short hair and a bright smile next to the two boys. This girl was jumping up and down and dancing with Dustin to the beat. The girl looks up to the stage and catches your gaze. You lock eyes with her, and she calms her dancing to a shy shimmy as she looks up to you with wide, innocent eyes, realizing you’ve noticed her.

“Count down together now and say the words that you learn.” You raise your brows and widen your eyes in a slight, teasing way, breaking eye contact with her, just as you get into the chorus.

“Hell Satan,

Archangelo.” The crowd chants accordingly, in sync with you, the band behind you harmonizing like a dark choir. You pick up your guitar and join Stacy in strumming as the chorus builds, before calming and starting your opening riffs again. The remainder of the song is spent eyeing the short haired girl, singling her out every chance you could, closing in on her when you had your hands around your mic in the verses and when you got a chance to step away from the mic during the guitar solos. It was easy to spot someone who was new to your sound, your type of music, especially during your more satanic sounding songs. You played this part of currupter, edging her to the dark from the light. She was entranced by you. To you, this feeling was thrilling, familiar, nostalgic. As the song ended, you immediately went into the next.

This next song was an old one of yours, having written it at the very start of your band’s formation, back when you guys were still performing at hidden locations around the outskirts of your old town.

This song never made it to an album. Being a female lead singer, a sexy song about a girl didn’t make the cut when you first debuted, but every time you performed it, the crowd would erupt with high-pitched screams. You smirked as you began the first few measures. You loved your little gays.

“Last night a little dancer,” You looked to your right, making eye contact with the cute short haired girl.

“she came dancing to my door.” You winked at her.

“Last night, that little angel,” You shifted your squinted gaze to another girl to your left with platinum dyed hair and a crop top.

“she came pumping on my floor.” You looked her up and down, flirting with your eyes.

“She said, ‘Come on, baby, you got a license for love,’” You sway, bouncing side to side with the beat.

“‘And if it expires, I pray help from above.’

Because

In the midnight hour she cried more, more, more, more

With a rebel yell she cried more, more, more

In the midnight hour, babe, more, more, more

With a rebel yell more, more, more

More, more, more!” You wind your hips around, grinding against your guitar, seductively dancing through the chorus best as you could from behind your mic.

During the second verse, you ramp up the sexuality with your words and movements. Every gentle, suggestive caress of your guitar or mic stand makes the bodies in the crowd hot with lust. During Stacy’s guitar solo, you make your way away from your mic and go to stand behind her as she stands at the edge of the stage. You keep rhythm with your guitar strums as she goes off. Still mindful of both guitars, you get as close to her as possible. You lean down to the shorter girl's height, burying your face in her neck and hair from behind. She leans her head back to rest on your shoulder, exposing the skin of her neck. You run your nose up her jaw and side of her face, planting a sweet kiss on the side of her temple before backing away, denying the crowd of a further show. She turns to share a smirk with you, loving the little games you play with the crowd.

You make your way back to your mic, controlled, hot breaths falling into the mic as you caress the metal head with your lips. You lower your guitar and start working your fingertips up the stand slowly.

“I walked the world with you, babe

A thousand miles with you

I dried your tears of pain, babe.

A million times for you.” You hold your hands up next to the mic as if holding an invisible face, looking down.

“I'd sell my soul for you, babe.” You look up, making eye contact with invisible eyes in front of you.

“For money to burn with you,” You reach a hand out  to the crowd, your guitar pick still held between your index finger and thumb.

“I'd give you all, and have none, babe

Justa, justa to have you here by me

Because” You bring your hands down in time to strum through the remainder of the song. You add a git more growl and rasp in your voice for the last lines, ad libbing at the end. When the song comes to a close, the wild cheers of the crowd start back up to overpower your senses.

Your heavy breathing could be heard faintly through the speakers. You chuckle into the mic, trying to calm yourself down by taking a few deep breaths. “How are we doin’ so far?” you ask the crowd with a small smirk. You look over to Stacy, and she shrugs, lifts a hand and tilts it side to side as if to say so-so. You laugh at her actions. “Apparently, we’re just ‘okay.’” The crowd gives a disapproving mixed chorus of ‘i love you’, ‘you guys are awesome’, ‘fuck me’ and every variation in between. “Thank you for the love, Indiana.” The crowd melds back into one huge cheer. “We have a sold out show tonight. Thank you.” The people in the front row are packed in, almost moving the metal fencing separating the stage from the crowd. “I need you guys down there to be safe, now. Don’t hurt yourselves.” You point to the first couple of rows. “I have a few friends up here, so look after them for me.” You look over to Dustin and Eddie, they both hold up rock and roll signs with their hands and give a nice ‘woo’, causing you to laugh at the two boys.

“Now, this is our first time in Indiana, and you’ve all given us such a warm welcome, so it’s only right that we give you the night of your lives.” You motion to the crowd. “I hope you enjoy these next few songs. Let’s go.”

》》》

Eddie and Dustin turn to each other once the house lights come up and scream at each other, something that’s becoming an “after concert” ritual for them. Their two friends next them watch on in amusement. The crowd started to disperse by now. The black haired girl Robin made silent acquaintance with during the concert turns to Robin as she’s walking out, “I would kill to get eye contact like that.” She wiggles her brows. “You are so lucky, girl.” She gives Robin a wave good-bye and walks off.

Eddie catches this small interaction and starts to feel a fiery bubble fill his chest. He gives a barely noticeable glare to the stranger as she walks away. Robin turns back around to face the group, looking at no one in particular, with a shocked expression on her face. Eddie’s face quickly switches to a wide grin that doesn’t meet his eyes.

“Munson?” A deep voice calls from behind him. He turns and sees a rather large man on the other side of the fence.

“That’s me.” He replies. The big security guard cracks open the fence at one of its connection points gesturing for him to walk through. “They’re with me too.” Eddie says as he scoots through, pointing behind him to his friends. The guard nods and waves for them to come through as well. Robin looks back at Steve with a bright, in awe expression.

“Special treatment.” she half-whispers to Steve.

“We’re officially groupies, now.” He offers a big grin and wiggles his brows.

The security guard leads them all backstage. They follow behind like ducklings all the way to the empty green room. “Wait here. They’ll join you in a second.” The burly man says before exiting, closing the door behind him. Dustin goes to plop himself down on one of the bean bags next to the nice couch.

“Ahhh, I could get used to this.” He says, clasping his hands behind his head and relaxing like he’s a mega

star, already getting too comfortable with the ‘more than a fan’ treatment. Steve shakes his head, putting his hands on his hip like a scolding mother.

“This is only the second time you're meeting these guys. At least pretend like you're not a spoiled little shit.” Steve says half teasing, half mothering. Dustin rolls his eyes and puts his hands down, resting them on the sides of the beanbag instead.

“You must have really flattered someone behind the scenes to get treatment like this, weirdo.” Robin cuts in, making her way passed Eddie and Steve and to a beanbag next to Dustin, plopping down in a similar manner to Dustin. She wiggles her brows at Eddie with a slanted grin. Steve shrugs and makes his way over to the couch, taking into it. Eddie walks over to a table in the corner, picking up what he assumes is a complimentary water bottle. 

“Of course, I'm as charming and handsome as they come. You shouldn't be surprised, Bowie.” Eddie responds to Robin, holding his hands out as if to say ‘look at me’. “Plus, I saw you dancing with Dustin and the goth chick next to you. You're officially just as weird as me, now.” He takes a sip from his water. 

“I'm sure getting eyed by the lead singer helped, too.“ Steve interjects in a singing tone as he leans further into the couch, throwing his arms across the back of it, crossing one leg over the other, resting an ankle on the opposite knee. Robin blushes. Eddie chokes on the water he sipped. They all look to him with varying looks, but before anyone could speak up the door bursts open as a noisy crew comes in.

“Yoooo!! What's up, my dudes!” Rick barges in, holding his lengthy arms up high. The rest of the band filling in behind him with various greetings.

“You alright?” You ask Eddie with a concerned and confused expression.

“Yep,” cough, “Yeah,” couch, “all good.” He struggles to get out, beating his chest a few times with his first, trying to get himself together.

“You guys were totally rad. A good 2 for 2!” Dustin interrupts, thankfully taking most of the attention off of a wheezing Eddie.

“Thanks, kid. Glad you made it!” Rick says as he struts over to give Dustin an exploding first bump. “Who'd you bring with you?” Rick motions to Steve and Robin.

“This is Steve ‘The Hair’ Harrington and Robin ‘Bowie’ Buckley.”

“Was that part really necessary?” Steve rolls his eyes  exasperated.

“Don't worry about it. If he didn't already have ‘Ray Charles’, ‘The Hair’ would be a close second for his nickname.” Rick says, pointing at Charlie who crosses his arms and rolls his eyes.

“Bowie, huh?” Stacy asks, catching Robin's wide eyed attention.”You a musical genius, too?” Robin scoffs.

“No, no, no, not even. I- I'm just a Bowie fan.” She stammers, sitting up to the best of her ability in the awkward beanbag, fidgeting a little more that the attention is on her. 

“No shame in that. He's a legend for a reason.” Stacy replies, trying to put the awkward girl at ease.

“It's nice to meet you two. I'm Adam. This is Charlie.” He ruffles the shorter guy's hair, much to his dismay. “This is Marley. That dickhead over there is Rick-”

“Rude!”

“- This is my girl, Stacy.” He throws an arm around her. “And I'm sure you may already be familiar with our lord and savior, Judas Christ herself,” You roll your eyes as Adam motions to you, telling them all your name in introduction. The band shares a short laugh at Adam's teasing.

“It's nice to meet some more of Eddie's friends. Good to know he actually does have more than one.” you tease, nudging his arm with shoulder now that he's composed himself. He gives you a goofy smile.

“Rude.” He mimics Rick, sassy.

“We've got a car that'll be picking us up in about an hour, so I hope you guys don't mind hanging out here until then.” Stacy smiles, her and Adam making their way to share the sofa chair next to the couch. Rick makes his way to sit in the middle of the couch, next to Steve, Charlie sitting on the far left, next to Rick. Rick throws his arm around the back of the couch behind Charlie, Charlie leaning as far left as he comfortably could, resting on the arm rest. Marley pulls up another beanbag and sits it next to Adam and Stacy on their sofa chair. This leaves the plush loveseat for you and Eddie to share. You walk in first, sitting across from Steve and next to Robin. Eddie then slid in next to you, throwing his right arm on the couch behind you, smiling like the dork he is.

“We were planning on hopping over to this bar Charlie and I scouted out earlier this week, The Hideout, I think?” He looks over to Charlie for confirmation, getting a wordless nod in response. Eddie had whips around and his face falls. Before he could get the attention of the others, Dustin pipes up.

“No way! That's crazy! You guys are going to The Hideout?” Rick and Charlie look to Dustin with a confused look.

“Aren't you a bit young to know about local bars?” Charlie responds.

“They allow minors in during certain hours, but that's irrelevant. You hear that Eddie?” Dustin turns the attention to Eddie who was pleading with wide eyes for Dustin to drop it, but to late now.

“What's up with The Hideout?” You ask him gently with a curious smile.

“You a karaoke champ or somethin’?” Rick asks, half teasing.

“Before they started doing karaoke nights, they used to have an open mic night, which eventually turned into Corroded Coffin ni-”

“Thank you, Steve!” Eddie interjects.

“Corroded Coffin nights…?” Marley asks innocently, you still looking at Eddie with a curious expression.

“Eddie's, used to be, band.” Steve completes. Eddie leans forward, hiding his face behind his left hand, resting his elbow on his knee. You lean down a little, trying to look at his face through his hair.

“You have a band?”

“Had.” He corrected, sighing before lifting his head and shaking his hair out of his face, still avoiding your gaze. He leans back into the couch again.

“They were absolutely metal.” Dustin adds, smiling with a look of admiration.

“Let me guess, Lead guitar?” Adam asks knowingly, pointing at Eddie. 

“And lead singer.” Robin adds. Your brows close together, a slanted smile playing on your lips.

“You sing, too?” you ask. Eddie sighs, leaning his head back on the couch, staring up at the ceiling.

“Don't be so ashamed about it, man. Not every band works out. Doesn't mean you're any less talented or worthy.” Adam speaks up, offering a supportive smile.

“I mean you had a regular gig at a town bar. I wouldn't say that's an easy feat.” Stacy backs up.

Eddie chuckles, humorlessly, “Thanks.” He grumbles.

“Well, we were trying to wind down the night with a couple drinks and some karaoke, if you guys wanna join.” Rick changes subjects, saving Eddie from the unwanted spotlight.

“Shit yeah!” Dustin says.

“Uh-Uh, you got a curfew, child.” Steve buts in, wagging a finger at Dustin, getting an eye roll in response.

“Come on, momma Steve. It's just a couple extra hours, and it's not even a school night.” Robin states, pleading Dustin's case. Steve rolls his eyes.

“Whatever,” He's quick to give in with a dismissive wave of his hand.

You all continue to chit chat, exchanging old stories while waiting for your ride. Soon enough there's a knock on the door and a staff member pokes their head in to let you know the van is out front. Everyone stands, “Well, I'm assuming you don't need directions?” Rick asks Steve.

“Nah, it's been a while, but we'll meet you guys there.” Rick pats Steve's shoulder before heading out, following behind Adam, Stacy,  and Charlie.

“Karaoke time!” Marley exclaims, dancing or the door, turning to wave art the second group.

You pat Dustin on his curly head, give Eddie a warm smile. “See you there.” You say, looking at Robin for a second too long before waving to Steve and exiting out the door.

Steve and Robin make eye contact, sharing a look. Eddie squints suspiciously, that burning sensation in his chest returning.

“You guys comin’?” Dustin asks already halfway out the door. Steve is next to follow out the door, then Robin, Eddie glaring holes into the back of her head as he walks out behind her.

》》》

“Ah, Ah, Ah, Ah Stayin’ Aliiii~hhiiiii~hiiiiiiiiivvee!” A drunk Rick, a dancing Dustin, and a very tipsy Charlie sing into the mic, somehow doing an amazingly terrible impression of every Bee-Gee at the same time. The bar is pretty sparse for it being a Saturday night, but it just so happened to be the perfect place for the crew to be able to wind down and have some dumb fun at the same time. Besides them, there were maybe 10 other people there, including the bartender, and the old man passed out at the end of the bar.

Eddie was say at the in a circle both with Steve, Steve flirting it up with Marley. Adam and Stacy were over at the bar, cuddling up and talking sweet nothings to each other. All Eddie could focus on was the way Robin was giggling at something you said. You are leaning back against the bar with a drink in your hand, standing next to Robin who was sat on a stool. You two were talking, and from the looks of it, cracking jokes. Eddie was mindlessly twirling the bottle in front of him, glaring daggers at Robin.

“Excuse me.” He vaguely heard, seeing Marley get up and walk off or off the corner of his eye. Eddie's burning gaze was interrupted by Steve.

“Are you going to go up to her or are you gonna pussy out?” Eddie's eyes are ripped off of you and Robin and are now focused on Steve. 

“Excuse me?” Eddie asks, slightly offended.

“You heard me, Munson. You giving up so soon, no balls?” Steve smirks. Eddie scoffs and rolls his eyes.

“I have no clue what you're talking about.” He states. It's now Steve's turn to roll his eyes.

“Oh, please. You're painfully obvious. Painfully. It hurts me to see you drop the ball on this one. Just go fucking talk to her. You obviously didn't before. Why now?” Steve interrogates. Eddie's eyes sadden as he looks down at his now lukewarm beer bottle, still twirling it around. He shrugs.

“I don't think she's… interested.” He says, defeated. Steve scoffs, rolling his eyes again.

“Are you kidding? Did you not see the way she looks at you? This is what? Your second encounter, and she already looks at you with all the care and attention in the world. You seriously don't think she's interested?” Steve says in disbelief. Eddie looks over at Steve, confused.

“What the fuck are you talking about?” He shakes his head and looks back over to you and Robin at the bar, “Plus, it doesn't even matter. Just look at her. Robin is obviously smitten about something.” Steve looks over to you two, studying you. He takes a deep breath in before taking a big swig of his beer. He gets out of the booth and grabs Eddie, dragging him along despite his protests.

“Yo, yo!” Steve says enthusiastically, getting yours, Robin's, Adam's, and Stacy's attention.

“Yo, yo!” Adam greats, repeating Steve with a big smile.

Steve starts up a random conversation like the master of charisma he is, sneakily shoving Eddie out of the group huddle he's made and to the other side of you, successfully cutting you two off from him, Robin, Stacy and Adam. At first you try to listen in on whatever Steve was talking about, but when you notice Eddie awkwardly shying away, you switch your focus to him.

“Being here bringing up memories?” You ask him, turning around to face him, leaning your elbows on the bar top. He chuckles, letting his head drop forward, his hair falling into his face.

“Yeah, kinda.” He turns to face the bar, leaning down and mimicking your posture. “It's been ages since I've been back here, but it's like a time capsule.” His eyes wander around. “Nothing's changed.” His features hold a small, bittersweet smile. You nod.

“I get that. Last time I was in, what I guess you can call, my ‘hometown’,” you lift your fingers to do air quotes, “It was like I was my teenage self again. I don't necessarily know if that was a good or bad thing I was feeling, but it was definitely emotional.” You share a wordless pause, the obnoxious singing of the three boys on stage filling the silence. You look over at him, contemplating your next sentence before just letting it fly. “You don't have to share if you don't want to, but what happened to your band? Corroded Coffin, was it?” He nods. “The whole time we were together a couple days ago, you didn't mention it at all. I mean, not that you had to, but with reverting we talked about, music, writing songs, musical inspirations,” you trail off, “You didn't mention it.” Eddie sighs and shrugs, playing with the bottle in his hands.

“Things with the band just never…panned out how we planned, you know…” He lifts his eyes to meet yours briefly, finding he has captured your full attention. He shys away, looking back down at the bartop. “As the years went by without any ‘big break’, things just kind of died off. The guys started losing hope and started to pursue different avenues, while I… I was just stuck in the past.” His brows drew together as a frown forms. “I couldn't just give up, you know? It didn't sit right with me.” He shrugs, “I don't blame the guys. I mean, I did at first. I was bitter. How could they just give up like that? I couldn't see it from their eyes… but I've grown. I know that we couldn't realistically perform here,” he gestures to the old building, “for our entire careers, if you could even call them careers. As we aged, it became less of a career option and more of an expensive and time consuming hobby.” He sighs and closes his eyes for a long blink, dejected. He turns to you and puts on a brave smile to hide behind though it doesn’t quite reach his eyes. “So, you know, being here is just kind of a mixed bag, but not all bad.” He turns around to lean back on the bar like you were doing earlier. He lazily points to the boys on stage, “Plus, I think these are some pretty good, new memories to make here.” He chuckles. You look over your shoulder towards the stage.

“Sha-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na kneesss kneeeeess.” You shake your head, turning back to the bar and laughing to yourself. Eddie looks over to you and smiles, a gentle but genuine one.

You and Eddie end up talking for the whole night, lost in deep conversation. Some others come and go, having their turns up on stage. Now that the clock was hitting 1:30AM, things were winding down for the most part, and it was now only your crew and one or two other patrons.

“I’ve seen a lot of blabbin’ and not enough drinkin’. It’s your turrrnn to kara*burp*okeee!” Rick stumbles up, his shimmy knocking him off balance.

“Really sorry to interrupt you two, but Rick is plastered and I already called the car.” Adam says, struggling to keep Rick off his ass.

“Plus, Dustin is drunk off Shirley Temples and is now passed out in the booth.” Steve adds, pointing over his shoulder at the sneakered feet poking out from the circle booth Eddie and Steve one sat in earlier, Marley, Stacy, and Robin sitting on the other end of that same booth chatting.

“Okay, I guess it’s a good time to call it a night.” Eddie says a bit sad. Steven nods and goes to collect Dustin while Adam is chasing a stumbling Rick around trying to herd him out the door.

“Let go!” He calls out, finally managing to coral the lengthy drummer out the door. Everyone starts to make their way out. You and Eddie continue to sit at the bar for a little longer, not really wanting to leave. You’re first to get up, slapping your hand in the corner of the bar and pushing yourself up.

“Alrighty, Rockstar, let’s get a move on.” You bring your hand down to pat his back, stepping back and giving him room to follow suit.

“I don’t wanna.” He pouts like a child on the verge of a tantrum. You smile and roll your eyes.

“Yeah, yeah. Let’s go, baby.” You say, lightly grabbing his jacket collar and pulling him towards the door. Though it was clearly meant to be derogatory and teasing, Eddie couldn’t help the flips his heart did when you called him ‘baby’, a dopey grin playing on his lips.

As soon as you guys make it outside, you are immediately met with Adam now trying to herd Rick into the side doors of the black van you all came in. The girls were all chatting on the curb. Steve was dragging Dustin into the backseat of his car. Charlie was leaning against the van with his head in his hands, most likely trying to get ahold of his tipsy dizziness. You and Eddie stop not far outside the door.

“What a show.” You comment watching the mess that was the boys. Eddie chuckles.

“You know, you are really easy to talk to.” He says, shoving his hands in his jean pockets, turning to you. You look up to him out of the corner of your eyes, giving him a little smile.

“Oh yeah?” You turn to him, “And why do you think that is?” You tilt your head. His eyes fall from yours and he reaches out, grabbing the two front sides of your leather jacket, busying himself with zipping it up.

“Don’t want you to get sick in this crisp Indiana air, Superstar.” He says lowly, dodging your question. Your smile widens at his actions. You eyes meet again as soon as he takes his gaze off of your jacket zipper. Justas you were both going to speak up, you’re interrupted by a high pitched whistle. You whip your heads towards the sound and see Adam standing on the edge of the van, ducked down and waving you over, everyone now in their respective cars.

“Come on.” He says.

“We gotta go, lovebirds!” Stacy can be heard calling out from inside the van. You look everywhere but at Eddie, awkwardly, blushing. Eddie smiles at your flustered expression.

“See you around?” You ask timidly. Eddie nods.

“You know where to find me.” He raises a brow with a grin. “Give me a call some time?”  He asks with, what you’ve now known as, his signature puppy eyes. You let out a short breathy laugh through your nose at this internal realization. You nod.

“Let’s Go!” Robin shouts from the backseat of Steve’s car.

“I’m Coming!” He yells back at her, before softening his voice again to give you a good-bye. “I’m expecting a call. Don’t forget.” He jogs off. You begin walking to the open van doors.

“Hurry up. It’s fucking freezing.” Charlie mutters from the back. Before you get in fully, you turn to get one last look at Eddie. He does that same as he’s halfway into Steve’s car. He waves at you with a big smile. You wave back with a small smile, disappearing into the van, Adam sliding the door closed behind you.

The band heads out to their next tour stop tomorrow, or rather later today. There’s no telling when you’ll see Eddie next, but you know something for a fact. You feel like you're tethered to him. You’ll definitely be staying in touch.

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