#and then just have steve apologize for things that went wrong and he fucked up about

[findafight]

.

[runraerun]

Steddie Amnesia Fic — 3/3

Part 1 | Part 2 | AO3

wc: 3k | rating: T | cw: head trauma, brain injury talk | a special thank you to @dame-zoom-a-lot for betaing! <3

The days following Steve’s Houdini act are fuckin’ tense, to say the least.

Eddie had messed up. Royally.

He could’ve sworn that when Steve took off, he’d ducked into the Recovery Center, y’know, the place he was supposed to go! If Eddie had known Steve took a detour and missed the building entirely, Eddie would’ve ran a lot fucking faster than he had. Especially after…

Well, no point in shying away from it anymore; after Steve confessed his love for him.

And how did Eddie return the favor? By being a total bone head and losing Steve for the entire goddamn day! Not to mention a good chunk of the night. Jesus… It’s no wonder Robin’s still sore.

Now, in Eddie’s flimsy defense, Steve had thrown him for one hell of a loop. One that Eddie was still seeing double from. He’s still having trouble wrapping his head around what he’d heard; Steve ‘the Hair’ Harrington, King of Hawkins High, being into Eddie ‘the Freak’ Munson, the drug-dealing ne’er do well hailing from the Forest Hills trailer park. Forgive him for finding the threads a little difficult to tie together! He’s not exactly Steve’s usual fare.

But it had happened.

Things have fundamentally, metaphysically, allegorically and subatomically shifted between the two of them—there’s no getting away from that, no matter how long they try and dance around this.

Steve said he loved Eddie. Love.

That isn’t something you just move on from. At least, it isn’t something Eddie can move on from. Especially when he didn’t even get to say his piece!

The trouble is that Robin’s in all-out guard dog mode with Steve, keeping Eddie at arm's length even after a whole goddamn week goes by. Sure, she’d accepted his apology (albeit begrudgingly), but she isn’t exactly keen on letting Steve out of the house without her by his side—much less with Eddie. It would be kind of heartwarming if it weren’t so goddamn annoying.

Steve isn’t some damsel locked away in a tower, and Eddie wasn’t some knight in shining armor, planning to scale the side of a stone tower to avoid the sleeping, fire-breathing dragon…

But as Eddie stares up at the fire escape attached to the side of Steve and Robin’s brick apartment building… he'd be lying if he said he didn’t sort of feel a little shiny.

Part of Eddie can’t believe it’s really come to this, but… he just can’t stand the idea of wasting another goddamn night tossing and turning, going over and over Steve’s words in his mind. Thinking about the way Steve’s hand felt in his, the way his eyes went all soft when he told Eddie he—he loved him…

Jesus H. Christ, this is way beyond his skill set—he’s way out of fucking league here, but there’s nothing for it. Eddie needs to settle this, once and for all.

So, he takes his bandana from the back pocket of his jeans and presses the flat of it to his forehead while his hands make a tight knot in the back. He zips his leather jacket as high as it’ll go and gives his hands a shake to try and get the jitters out.

It’s not exactly a helmet and plates of armor, but it’ll have to do. Eddie takes a breath, steels himself, then climbs on top of a precariously stacked pile of milk crates that he’d crafted and leaps for the steel ladder. As soon as his feet leave the plastic tower, it collapses under him, clattering to the ground. Eddie knows he shouldn’t look back, but he sneaks a peak over his shoulder and… yep. He really shouldn’t’ve looked. He’s not that high up, but it’s enough that if he falls, he’d be feeling it tomorrow. Might even bust an ankle if he landed wrong.

He turns back to the task at hand; getting to Steve.

There’s a terrifying moment where he’s not sure if he can pull himself up, but somehow, he finds the strength to do just that. If only Coach D’Amour could see him now!

He grunts as he pulls himself up onto the platform, belly getting scratched against the grates as he goes. Eddie scrambles to get his legs underneath himself. Then, he stands, dusts himself off and takes the win, graceless as it was.

The fire escape is rickety and fucking loud as he takes the steps two at a time. It’s cold enough that even the quickest touch of the steel railings drains all the heat out of his fingers, so he just keeps them balled up, swinging at his sides. The wind is especially chilly up here too, something he hadn’t noticed on the ground, but now that he’s up a couple of floors there wasn’t anything for the wind to buff off except the side of the building and, well, Eddie.

By the time he reaches the third floor, his nose is running and no doubt red and irritated looking, and he’s woefully out of breath.

Kind of a pathetic knight, he thinks as he sniffs back the worst of it, wipes the underside of his nose on the sleeve of his jacket to get rid of what’s left.

The light in Steve’s room is on, reaching out to him through the lines of Steve’s shut blinds.

His hand is raised, wind-chapped knuckles knocking against the glass of his window before he can plan out what he’s going to say. He just wants to see Steve. Get eyes on him again. Work this out.

It’s a painful few seconds before Eddie can see movement from inside the window. He bounces on the balls of his feet as he impatiently waits for Steve to let him in. His breath fogs the window.

Then finally. Finally! The blinds are pulled up. He smiles and—

Oh Christ on a cross. That’s not Steve.

Eddie’s stomach damn near falls out of his ass as the woman on the other side of the glass screams, as shrill and high as if she were next to him.

And of course she’s in a fucking towel.

Eddie slaps one hand across his eyes and the other up in surrender, “I’m sorry! I’m sorry! Shit, Jesus, I—I’m not a pervert, I swear!”

Debatable, his brain supplies, entirely unhelpful in an emergency situation. But hey, what’s new?

“I was looking for my friend, not—Please stop screaming!” He screams.

“Eddie?” A familiar voice calls from below.

The hand on Eddie’s eyes lift and looks down through the metal grates under his boots. “Steve!”

Steve’s hanging half out his window, peering up at him with a bewildered expression on his face. “What’re you doing?”

Eddie holds his arms out like it should be obvious. “Seeing you!” He snaps.

Eddie’s attention is briefly yanked back to the scandalized looking woman in the window in front of him. “I’m—yeah, I’m gonna—” He backs away, and swings around the escape before thundering down the stairs, shouting another apology up in his shameful retreat.

Steve backs up in order to let Eddie in. He climbs in as gracelessly as ever, all knees and elbows, stiff from the cold. He slides the window shut behind him once he’s in, dropping the blinds for good measure.

He wonders if Hopper is getting a call about a long-haired, wild-eyed, deranged looking peeping Tom at this very moment.

“Smooth.” Steve says from behind him, an edge of playfulness.

When Eddie turns and finally gets a good look at Steve, who looks especially comfortable in his flannel sleep pants and worn sweater, hands on hips. “I was looking for you.”

“Yeah, I got that,” Steve snorts softly, “third floor, remember?”

“I counted! Ground floor, first floor, second floor, third floor.” Eddie says, using his hand to indicate his pattern of thought, moving it up a tick with each floor.

Steve scoffs, shaking his head. And even though Eddie knows Steve’s laughing at him, he can’t help that warm feeling that pours through him, filling him up. All his cracks and edges, sealed up with Steve’s effortless being.

“No.” Steve raises his own hand, mirroring Eddie’s. He begins notching as he explains, “ground floor, second floor, third floor. The ground is the first floor, dude.”

Eddie frowns. “What? Since when?”

Steve levels Eddie with a flat look. “Since like, the civil war, dude.”

Huh. Eddie frowns. Mulling over the new bit of information. That would’ve been nice to know.

“Why were you even doing out there in the first place? We have things called front doors. And, y’know, phones.” Steve crosses his arms across his chest, losing a bit of steam as the words left him. Like he’s realized exactly what Eddie being here, in his rooms, meant.

“I had to see you.” Eddie says, like it’s not the most obvious thing in the world, “Face to face, just me and you.”

“Can’t we just—I don’t know, pretend all of… that never happened? Hell, it might drop out of my head one of these days anyway. Lots of shit does.” Steve’s says, sounding so fucking defeated that it sends a sharp pain through Eddie’s chest.

“Hey,” Eddie makes a face, gets in Steve’s space, “don’t be a jerk to yourself.”

He ducks his head in an attempt to meet Steve’s downturned gaze, which he reluctantly returns. He’s got these big, warm eyes, the color of dark honey—the kind that are hard to look away from, so Eddie rarely does. He’a got a staring problem, he knows, but… damn. Can you really blame a guy?

A nerve in Steve’s jaw jumps when he clenches his teeth together, and salt pools begin forming along the rim of those familiar eyes. When he speaks, it’s stiff. Barely above a whisper. “I’m embarrassed, alright?”

“You don’t gotta be embarrassed, man.” Without thought, Eddie’s hands go to Steve’s arms, fingers hovering around his elbows. Eddie tilts his head again to try and keep eye contact again but Steve seems determined to avoid it.

“Easy for you to say.” Steve huffs, and sits down on the edge of his bed, slipping out of Eddie’s hold, arms still crossed over his chest. “You didn’t totally humiliate yourself in front of your—friend.”

The word, one in which Eddie holds in a most sacred of views, sounds distinctly hollow when Steve says it.

“Steve, listen to me, just for a sec, alright?” Eddie gets down to the floor, one knee buried in the carpet while the others bent out in front of him. “This is my fault.” He confesses, voice full of remorse.

Finally, Steve looks at him. His brows twitch together as he makes a face. “Bullshit.”

“No, it’s true! I—I didn’t mean to, but I’m not exactly big on the whole impulse control thing, as you know, and, thinking back on things I probably… I probably let a few things slip.” Eddie explains, his rings clinking together lightly as he gestures with his hands.

Steve, however, doesn’t look any less confused. He blinks. “What?”

Eddie lets his head fall forward in a moment of defeat as he attempts to gather up his fleeting thoughts. It’s like chasing wet, feral cats up there!

Still, he picks himself back up. For Steve.

“What I’m trying to say is…” Eddie puts his hands on Steve’s knees. Feels the warmth under the soft, worn flannel. The hard muscle. Alive, whole. He tightens his grip. “Steve, I’ve been crazy about you since the first time I ever saw you. Don’t roll your eyes—I’m serious! You sat in front of me in math one year and you forgot your pencil. We were having a test that day, and you asked me if you could borrow one of mine, so I let you have the one I was using. You chewed up the end of it, squashed the eraser to all hell, but then when you gave it back to me, you smiled, thanked me and said, ‘I owe you one.’ It—okay, yeah, so it sounds, like, really small, and probably pretty pathetic, but… I was totally starstruck, man.”

At some point in his little spiel, Steve had uncrossed his arms. So Eddie takes the opportunity to clumsily take Steve’s hands, his insides feeling like a kicked hornets nest. Buzzing. He swallows. “I still am.”

Steve keeps his mouth shut, but there’s a knot in him that’s loosening, Eddie can tell. He’s just gotta keep tugging. He squeezes Steve’s fingers.

“The feeling was cranked up a few hundred clicks because of all the, y’know, near death experiences we went through together. But you get it now, right? You get how this is all my fault?”

“Eddie, you don’t have to—” Steve starts, hands stiffening in Eddie’s hold. Slipping away. But Eddie holds firm, decides to just fucking say it. If Steve could, Eddie could too.

“I’m in love with you too.” He blurts out, and now that he’s said it out loud, it’s like there’s a dam that gets busted inside of him; he can’t stop the rush of words that follows the confession. “That’s what you were seeing. That’s what you were noticing. I thought I was being slick, just keeping it friendly or whatever. Flirting, yeah, but I didn’t think you’d ever actually reciprocate. Because, honestly man, I’m not really used to people taking me all that seriously. ‘Zany, pot-head Eddie, can’t trust anything that comes out of his crooked mouth!’”

Eddie shakes his head, scoffing at his own blind spots, “But… you saw right through that shit—right through me. You didn’t make it up in your head, Steve—you felt it. You were right.”

Steve’s got a funny look on his face, but he nods. A lock of hair falls over his forehead, but he doesn’t remove his hands from Eddie’s to fix it. “You love me?”

That’s like asking if the sun would rise tomorrow morning. Of course. Of course.

Eddie pulls one of Steve’s hands and flattens it onto his chest, over the leather.

“Every time my heart beats, it's your name it calls out, man.” Eddie says, a smile tugging at the corners of his mouth when he sees the red creep up on the apples of Steve’s cheeks. “D’you feel it?”

Steve gives a breathless chuckle, hesitating for a split second before he nods, playing along.

Electricity hums under Eddie’s skin, the resulting static snaps in the air around them. Eddie presses Steve’s hand against the wall of his chest a little harder, so that he can feel the pounding a bit better. Then Eddie whispers in time with the rhythm of his lovesick heart, giving it a voice, “Ste-vie, Ste-vie, Ste-vie…”

He keeps chanting until Steve’s grinning, eyes glued to their joined hands. It’s a fleeting thing, though. Eddie watches as that hard-won smile drops and a pinched look takes its place. “Even now? Eddie, I’m not—I don’t think I’m the same person I was before.”

“Are you kidding me? Especially now. In sickness and in health, right?” Somewhere in his brain an alarm sounds, but he doesn’t pause long enough to acknowledge exactly why, lest he lose momentum, “look, Steve, even if you are a little different from the guy you were in high school, you’re still you.”

A beat passes. “What if I never get better?”

“Steve, you will, the doctors said—”

“But what if I don’t? Jesus, Eddie, what if I get worse?” Steve’s voice had gone progressively more hushed as he spoke, as if he were so afraid of its possibility that even voicing it felt risky. Made it real, even in that small way. It’s something Steve’s thought about, Eddie realizes. Agonized over, even.

“Then I’m the lucky son of a bitch that gets to take care of you.” Eddie says, sure as shit. Truthfully, he can’t think of anything else he’d rather do, even if Steve hadn’t done a completely insane thing like falling in love with Eddie. His love isn’t conditional. “S’long as you’ll let me.” He tacks on.

It’s like a wall crumbling. Brick by brick, Eddie watches Steve’s resolve collapse. The rim of his eyes shine with unshed tears, his brow relaxes and his chin twitches. “You sure you want that?”

He scoffs, eyes wide. “It’s all I want.” He answers, quickly. A reflex. Who wouldn’t want to be with Steve Harrington? Eddie thought he was lucky just to be in the same fucking orbit as the guy, but now…

Now, as he watches a smile slowly spreads across Steve’s face—fucking Adonis incarnate—it feels like he won the goddamn lottery.

“Okay.” Steve utters, so softly that for a second Eddie thinks he’d imagined it.

“Okay?” Eddie asks, trying his damndest to keep from imploding. He’s fucking vibrating in his skin.

Instead of answering Eddie, Steve decides to clarify himself by leaning forward and pressing his mouth against Eddie’s.

Fireworks go off inside of Eddie, every inch of him. All lit up. Feels like he’s shining just as good as any knight.

One of Steve’s hands snake their way behind Eddie’s neck, pulling him closer, while the other remains held over Eddie’s jackrabbiting heart. Their lips part, and their kiss deepens. Eddie tries to keep up.

They eventually end up on Steve’s narrow twin bed laying side by side, legs entangled, kissing until their mouths go dry. Eddie swipes a calloused thumb over Steve’s cheek, savoring the feeling of the barely there stubble, the heat from the blush that never seems to subside.

They don’t speak for the rest of the night. Not even a ‘goodnight’ after Steve crawls over Eddie to flick off his bedside lamp, tugging the comforter up around their shoulders as he settles back into the safe harbor of Eddie’s arms. They don’t need words. Not tonight, anyway. Tonight, all they need to do is to rest.

Whatever comes after, they’ll deal with it together.

—

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[fuctacles]

Just like Cinderella

happy bday to my Prince Charming @blasvemous M | 3.3k | crack treated seriously, meet cuteugly something, idiot4idiot, humiliation kink mentioned | Ao3

"Shit, fuck!" Steve lets himself have one last glance at his wristwatch, and of course, it instantly proves to be a mistake. 

He runs straight into someone's back, and it punches all the air out of his lungs. He's stunned for a second, and can barely hear a rushed apology. He thinks he mutters back 'No, it was my fault', and by the time he blinks back into reality and crouches to pick up his bag, the guy is gone. 

But not all of him. 

On the pavement, right under his bag, he finds a... something.

It's made of metal and intricate, and not his. He picks it up and straightens up quickly, in hopes of seeing the guy he ran into. There are a lot of people rushing about, though.

"Hey!" He picks up his pace again, hoping to spot the person he ran into. He remembers long hair and a mix of citrusy shampoo and cigarette smell. Not much else. Nobody turns their head as he runs through the morning crowd, so he stuffs the item deep into his bag and focuses on the initial goal of rushing to work. He can worry about this all later. 

On his break, he takes the thing out of his bag to take a better look. It looks well-made and could be expensive, but he has no idea what it could be. It reminds him of old egg beaters, but he doubts that's what it is. Maybe a toy? One of these educational puzzles for nerds, like a Rubik's cube? Or! It could be a replica of some sci-fi movie gadget. Like the sonic screwdriver that Dustin made.

He probably should just ask around. 

His usual go-to, the self-titled oracle and part-time scholar Robin Buckley, had no better ideas than him. She turned the thing in her fingers, cradling it delicately like an eggshell, while humming and hemming. 

"Looks like a tiny brace. Maybe for a york's paw? The guy could be a vet," she offers. 

"Maybe," Steve nods, not convinced at all. He doesn't want to think about a little dog with a broken paw somewhere out there, its bones unprotected. "I was thinking it could be a kitchen utensil?"

Robin puts it on the desk between them and stares at it intently. 

"Like what?"

"I don't know," Steve shrugs, embarrassed to share his idea. "Like an egg beater?"

Robin continues her loud thinking but in the end, leaves him with nothing. 

The thing weighs him down on his daily commute, waiting in the bottom of his bag for the day he finds its owner. Steve isn't even sure if he would recognize him. Them? After a week he wasn't even sure it was a guy. 

The workload doesn't give him a break either, and once Friday finally arrives, he makes a detour on his route home to grab a drink or two. After his first drink, he checks for any loose change he could put in the tip jar and his hand finds the Thing. He pulls it out with a sigh and puts on the bartop with a small clunk. As he reaches out to put what he's found in the jar, he hears a very concerning and loud choking sound. 

To his right, a long-haired guy is wheezing his lungs out, fist-punching his own sternum. Steve immediately leans over the empty stool between them and starts smacking his back to help.

"Jesus, you alright? Went down the wrong pipe?" He looks around the man, but all he sees is a glass of beer, so hopefully he didn't get a peanut lodged in his windpipe. 

The man lets out a really gross phlegmy cough, clears his throat, and takes a shuddering breath.

"I'm fine, I'm fine," he wheezes out. "Just, uh, you know. Didn't expect to just turn around and see, uh, that." He spares a tiny glance at the Thing in front of Steve. 

Steve immediately brightens up, hoping to finally get an answer to his predicament. He swiftly moves to the empty seat, drink and Thing sliding along the bar with him. He sees the man wince while he's still facing forward like he's afraid to take a proper look. He takes a drink of his beer, this time slow and cautious, and Steve can see the redness spreading from his cheeks down his throat.

"You know what it is?" Steve asks hopefully, leaning closer to him. 

The man freezes, and maybe it wasn't in his best manners to just sit down next to someone without asking, but it's already happened and Steve is kind of desperate. 

He gulps down the beer, no accidents this time, but his voice is still strained, when he asks incredulously:

"You don't?! No, you know, that actually explains it. Take them damn thing off the bar for the love of Merlin."

Steve, while taken aback by the sudden shift and being ordered around by a stranger, stuffs the Thing away from peering eyes. 

"Why? What is it? Something illegal?" Fuck, why didn't he think about that? 

But the man is shaking his head.

"No, but I'm pretty sure the bartender wouldn't appreciate it."

"What is it?" Steve presses on.

The guy finally turns to him and Steve can see him in all his glory. Black leather, long hair, and a pair of truly soft brown eyes that don't match his overall vibe at all. And they stare right at him like they are trying to look straight into his soul. He's searching for something for a long, drawn-out moment, before he deflates, eyes skirting away, but he keeps facing Steve. 

"Really?" he mutters, mostly to himself. "It's a fucking cock cage, man."

"A fucking cock what?" Steve asks once he gets his voice back.

"You heard me. I'm not repeating myself," he says with a scoff, eyes falling to Steve's bag. His knee starts jumping up and down restlessly. "Where did you find it?"

But Steve had questions of his own.

"Is it like, a medical thing?" he asks. 

The looks he gets back would make him believe an alien just popped out of his forehead and started dancing Macarena. He frowns defensively.

"What? I've never seen something like this!" 

"It's a sex thing," the man responds mercifully, watching him closely. 

Now it's Steve's turn to gauge his eyes at the man. He looks briefly down at his bag like the thing could just grow tentacles and have its way with him. 

"How? Why?" he asks, mouth twisting at the images flashing in his mind. "How do you know that?"

The knee never stops jumping. If anything, it becomes more erratic. 

"Uh, I know guys who are into it." The man looks away again. 

Steve rolls his eyes. Sure. He knows a guy.

"So since you know some guys," he plays along. "Maybe they know more guys and they could ask around if anyone has lost one of these?" he suggests. "Now I want it off my hands even more."

The man scoffs, almost amused. 

"Could imagine. I could take it from you and just hand it over to them, make things easier for you," he offers, glances at him, and then shrugs.

Steve recoils at the idea.

"That? No, It's my fault the guy lost it, I wasn't looking and ran into him. I need to make sure it goes back to the right hands."

The man hums, drumming his fingers against the bar. 

"I want to be there when you ask random people if they are missing their cock cage."

Steve presses his lips together. 

"Stop saying that."

"What?" He tilts his head, looking amused. "Cock cage? Like the cock cage you have in your bag?"

"Yes. That."

He raises his hands placatingly. 

"All I'm saying is I would be embarrassed as fuck if I was the idiot who lost it. Would be hard to come forward and admit it," he says, raising his shoulders. 

Steve huffs, slumping against the bar.

"Fuck, you're right."

"I know," the man murmurs back and they quietly sip their drinks. 

"There must be places where it isn't that weird to admit it," Steve thinks out loud. He looks to his bar companion for confirmation but he's frowning at the liquor display in front of him, lost in thoughts. Steve hopes they aren't about him. The guy had a good profile and a cute nose.

"Hey." He nudges him gently with an elbow. 

"Hm?" The man turns, his frown melting away so he can raise his eyebrows curiously.

"Do you know any fetish places where I could leave a poster or something?"

The man only stares at him blankly. 

"You're gonna make posters," he states more than he asks.

"If I have to." Steve shrugs. 

"You sure you don't want me to just take it off you?"

"Nope."

"We could exchange numbers and I'll let you know when I find the owner."

Steve thinks about that. 

"You could lie, though," he points out. 

He huffs, annoyed. 

"I totally absolutely could," he agrees with a resigned nod like using logic pains him. Then, he sighs. "I could buy it off you?" he finally offers. 

Steve's taken aback.

"Why do you want it so badly?" He frowns at him.

"I just want to do you a favor, man!" He rolls his eyes. He's almost angry and 100% done with this conversation, it seems, as he downs the rest of his drink and slides off the barstool. 

"Tomorrow at ten, in front of the bookstore on John Paul. Bring your silly posters and I'll show you some kink shops and bars."

Steve blinks at him.

"That okay?" the man asks, tongue darting out to lick his dry lips. 

Hesitantly, Steve nods. 

"I guess that's my best shot. Thanks, man."

The guy nods.

"Don't mention it."

Then he turns and leaves, hands buried deep into his pockets, and Steve realizes he hasn't even asked for his name. 

He regrets not taking the guy on his offer to take the thing off him when he had the chance. Because he wouldn't be stuttering his way through explanations while his temporary companion revels in his embarrassment like it's the gods' nectar. 

At least now he knows his name is Eddie. 

Eddie pretends to be interested in the little display of nipple rings while Steve tries to convince the shop owner to hang his little poster saying "fetish gear found". The man finally yields, as do two others, thus concluding the number of sex shops in the area. 

"The bars don't open until late but we can try the Hangover before we part."

"What's that?" Steve asks, following Eddie anyway.

"Also a bar, but they serve hangover food around noon. They have the best bacon and won't tell me where they buy it from." He frowns like it's some personal feud. 

"Perfect. I can buy you lunch for helping me." Steve grins at him.

Eddie seems surprised at first but then smiles widely. 

"I won't say no to free food. This way, my good man!"

The place is a hole in the wall but really cozy. It seems like the same guy who took their order is cooking it and there's only one other person, with a coffee refill in front of them and a plate of... something unrecognizable under every possible sweet topping. 

"I gotta show this place to Robin, she'll love it," Steve comments while looking around. The inside looks like It was never fully finished or whatever purpose it served previously didn't require it. The walls are rough bricks, the windows old and probably drafty, and the only part of the floor that isn't rough cement is the dancefloor. 

But the collection of LED signs, mismatched couches, and a sunflower mural softened the rough interior. Steve will definitely come here again.

They get their own jug of coffee and Eddie pours for both of them.

"Girlfriend?" he asks with a raised eyebrow. 

Steve rolls his eyes in a very tired way and Eddie almost chokes on his surprised laugh. 

"Geez okay, not a girlfriend then."

Steve chuckles dryly. 

"Nope, just my best friend. We play for different teams."

Eddie eyes him curiously but he doesn't elaborate on that. He clears his throat. 

"Well, in that case, I should tell you that all the places I've shown you today are queer-friendly."

"This included." The chef must have heard that last sentence. He places their food on the counter. "There you go, little gays, bone apéritif."

"I'm pretty sure that's not how it goes," Eddie murmurs, immediately snatching a piece of bacon off his hash browns. 

"It is how it goes if you want more free coffee," says the chef as he turns around. 

"Your French is immaculate, Benjamine!" 

Steve makes an ugly snort at Eddie's terrible French accent. The man seems to be very proud of his little theatrics.

For a moment it's just the sound of forks against plates and the distant radio playing in the kitchen. Eddie finishes first, almost inhaling his food like he's a human vacuum, and pours himself more coffee. 

"You wanna go to the bars too? Later?"

Steve chews on his bite thoughtfully. 

"I think if you give me the addresses I'll be good to go on my own. You've already done so much, man."

Eddie is stunned into silence. This is not the answer he wanted. He licks his rapidly drying lips, looking for a good excuse to keep tagging along. 

"Uh, are you sure?" 

"Yeah, don't worry about it. You've wasted so much time on me today. I don't want to completely ruin your weekend." Steve smiles at him. 

"It's not a problem, really—"

"No, man, I wouldn't feel okay dragging you around." Steve shakes his head. 

"First of all, I'm dragging you around," Eddie huffs. "Second of all, it's the first time a man this pretty spent so much time with me and hasn't run for the hills. Let me have this."

Steve frowns at that information.

"You must have shit luck with men." 

"Tell me about it," Eddie murmurs into his coffee. 

"So it would be a date?" 

Eddie turns to him, eyes wide. But Steve holds his gaze.

"I mean, it would be nice." Eddie tugs on his hair nervously. "We can do the posters thing and then just have fun for the rest of the night, no?" he offers. 

"Absolutely." Steve smiles reassuringly. 

"Awesome." Eddie grins.

Steve spends hours figuring out his outfit. It's his first official date with a man, he has to look good. He therefore makes the mistake of calling his best friend. He nods along as she tells him what exactly to put on (How she has memorized his wardrobe is a question he doesn't want answered.) and then clears his throat when she takes a breath. 

"What if I don't want to attract women?"

There's a pause and then—

"My my, Steven, finally going for it?"

"You could say that."

"Where are you going? A bar? What's the vibe?"

He sighs. 

'We're kind of bar hopping, he's showing me around the area."

"Back up, back up!" she yells in his ear. "We?! You're not just going out? You have a date?"

"Yeah," Steve more breathes than says. He has a date. It's slowly dawning on him.

"Who is he?" Robin asks impatiently and he can easily imagine her curling up in her armchair for gossip. 

"His name is Eddie—"

"Okay, sounds normal."

"—he has this long, wild hair, and tattoos—"

"Okay, less normal."

"—but he is normal. A bit awkward, kind of dorky, not at all how you'd expect a guy in a leather jacket to be."

"Huh. Okay, maybe I won't find you in a ditch somewhere. I want a call when you get back, no later than tomorrow morning. At noon, I'm calling the police."

Steve rolls his eyes fondly. 

"Of course, Robbie. But can we focus on the matter at hand?"

In the end, he goes the Freddie Mercury route, with a tank top that shows off his chest hair, and tight jeans. He throws a colorful shirt over it to fight off the night chill. Eddie looks pretty much the same as earlier, though his band t-shirt looks a bit tighter. 

"Steve," he sighs instead of a proper greeting and Steve's face falls. He looks down at himself. 

"What? Is it that bad?"

"Darling, you're gonna get eaten alive. How am I supposed to fight off all of the bargoers?"

Steve laughs in surprise, feeling himself blush.

"I guess you'll just have to hold on to me."

Eddie's eyes sparkle under the setting sun. 

"Don't have to tell me twice," he says, pulling Steve inside their first location. "I saved my favorite place for last. But we can stay wherever you feel like."

Eddie stays true to his word, parading Steve around like an arm candy, their elbows hooked together. Only on their second bar does he realize something is amiss. 

"You didn't bring your posters?" he asks curiously, cocking his head. 

Steve hums next to him, sipping on the colorful drink the bartender recommended.

"Do I need them?"

Eddie's visibly taken aback by the question. He frowns at Steve. 

"Didn't you want to find the owner?"

Steve nods, unfazed. 

"Yeah, and I did."

Eddie's face blanches. He opens his mouth before closing it abruptly, his frown deepening. 

"What? When?" he asks, barely containing his panic and immensely confused. 

"Earlier today." Steve shrugs. "Haven't given it back yet, though."

"Oh, thank gods." Eddie visibly deflates. Steve raises his eyebrows at that, so he rushes to add: "It's great that you found him so fast." He forces out a smile. "Who is it? Did he know what it was?" The poster was purposefully vague so the person calling in would have to say what they'd lost. 

Steve shakes his head, raising the drink to his lips to prolong the suspense just a bit more. 

"It's you."

Eddie's brain short circuits. He's stunned for too long for his forced laugh to work. 

"Hahah, what?" 

Steve smiles at him and since he's feeling extra merciless tonight, reaches out for the man's neck. Eddie looks close to fainting but Steve doesn't relent and rubs a thumb across his jugular, observing him shiver before he pulls him in by his nape. He leans in to press his nose to Eddie's skin, fingers digging into the roots of his hair, where lingers the smell of his shampoo. Artificial lemon and cigarettes. He must have taken a shower before going out. 

"You smell just like the guy I ran into that day," Steve explains close to his skin as he traces it with the tip of his nose. Slowly, he moves away. He's a bit worried he moved too fast, but Eddie's cheeks are red and his eyes are fixed on his mouth, so he relaxes back into his seat. "And if I had any doubts, your reaction just now dispelled them all," he finishes with a smirk. 

Eddie groans, hiding in his hands.

"This is the most embarrassing date in my life and once I wore my shirt inside out."

Steve laughs but reaches out to put his hand on Eddie's knee to weaken the blow. 

"Don't worry, it's working on me."

Eddie pushes his fingers apart to peek at him. 

"Really?"

"Surprisingly, yes." Steve nods. "I hope it works out, preferably long enough so I can tell about our first meeting at the engagement party." His smile turns wide and teasing. "We'll put Cinderella to shame."

Eddie groans, but it sounds more pained this time. 

"Careful," he says heatedly. "My humiliation kink is flaring up," he says, aiming for humor, but something new wakes up in Steve and he cocks his head with a fake pout.

"Poor baby. You wanna go hide your shame somewhere more private?"

Eddie presses his lips together, breathing deeply through his nose. 

"Can we?"

Steve finishes quickly his drink and slides off his bar stool. He feels the pleasant buzz of alcohol and Eddie Eddie Eddie. He leans in for a quick, impulsive peck against his pink lips.

"Of course." He grins. "Let's go."

[holylulusworld]

Caught Cold - Alternative Version (2)

Summary: Something goes wrong on your latest mission.

Ship/Main Pairing: Alpha!Bucky Barnes x Omega!Reader

Read the alternative version here: Caught Cold.

Major Tags/Triggers/Warnings: a/b/o, a/b/o dynamics, mentions of sex pollen, fluff, awkwardness

Catch up here: Caught Cold - Alternative version

The flight back to the tower is excruciatingly awkward. No one looks your way, and no one dares to say a word. Usually, you’d celebrate a successful mission, or crack not-funny jokes.

It’s bad enough that Bucky lost control and mated you like a wild animal. Tony and Steve walking in on you was the worst-case scenario.

How can you forget that two of the men you admire the most watched you and their friend mate?

“So—” Steve clears his throat. He tries to find the right words to apologize for not stopping his friend from mating you. “I’m sorry about the problems with the earpieces, Agent. I didn’t hear you called for backup.”

You snort. A broken earpiece is the least of your problems. You just had unprotected sex with your supervisor, and he claimed you. All the while he was under the influence of a strange toxin.

“Sex pollen, a hell of a ride, huh?” Tony cackles watching you and Bucky stare on the ground. Heat creeps into your cheeks remembering the way you were writhing on Bucky’s cock. “So…are we having a Buckethead baby soon?”

“First and final warning, Stark,” Bucky lifts his head to glare at Tony. He’s ashamed of his doings and hates himself for being unable to fight the sex pollen. “She went through enough.”

“You mean she ended up impaled on your—” Tony ends up on the ground, his cheek swollen and bruised. “What the fuck!”

“I told you,” Bucky raises his fist again, a not-so-silent threat, “stop making things worse for Y/N. It’s all my fault. If you want to make fun of someone, look for a better target. Leave my omega alone!”

You whimper when Bucky roughly takes off his jacket to wrap it around your shoulders. He looks you all over, clumsily patting your hair before he sits next to you.

His scent and the warmth of his jacket calm you. You close your eyes and inhale his scent deeply. If only you didn’t drop the vial with the pollen. Everything has changed, and you don’t know what will happen now.

Can you still be an agent? Will Bucky force you into submission? What if he rejects you now? He claimed you while being high on sex pollen. There is nothing you can do if he decides to break the bond.

“Everything is going to be alright,” Bucky suddenly takes your hand to hold it in his hands. “We will talk about everything after we land.”

“Young love,” Tony snickers. His cheek is swollen, but he didn’t lose his sense of humor. “Huh, Capsicle. Why don’t you grab a dose of sex pollen yourself?”

“Tony, that’s not funny,” Steve grunts. “Why would I want to use this devious toxin to force myself on an omega?”

Bucky flinches at Steve’s words. He feels guilt gnawing at his soul. Today, he added another sin to his long list.

“He didn’t force himself on me,” you murmur and lean your head against Bucky’s shoulder. "The sex pollen would’ve killed him. We had sex to help him survive. Live with it.” You glare at Tony. He opens his mouth but snaps it shut.

“We are about to land in fifteen,” Bruce calls from the pilot seat. He didn’t dare to ask what happened in the abandoned building. The sharp man didn’t have to ask. “Please fasten your seatbelt.”

You laugh at Bruce's seriousness. This whole situation feels surreal.

Who would have thought you’d end up with Bucky’s claiming mark?

“Uh—this is the bedroom, and there is the bathroom,” Bucky explains while guiding you around his apartment at the tower. You don’t tell him that his place is similar to yours. “There’s a kitchenette and you already saw the living room.”

“Don’t get me wrong, but why are you showing me your place?” You wrinkle your forehead.

“You’re my omega, and we will move in together.” He nods to himself before placing his on the small of your back to lead you back into the living room. “If we decide to have pups, we can have a bigger home. A house maybe.”

“Whoa, slow down,” you twirl around to place your hands on his chest. For a moment you allow yourself to feel Bucky up. Hands running over his chest you look at Bucky, really look at him. “We—we…”

“We mated,” he ends your line. “You’re my omega, and I will be a good alpha and take care of you. I claimed you.”

“The drugs…the sex pollen,” you sigh when he places his index finger on your lips to silence you.

“It doesn’t matter, Y/N,” Bucky murmurs. “You know that you’re meant to be mine.” He dips his head to steal a kiss. He whispers your name and wraps his arms around you. “Steve will help me get your things. You can get comfortable while we bring everything here.”

“You’re working fast.”

He grins. “I do.” Bucky wiggles his eyebrows. “This way I tamed a cocky omega and made her mine.”

“Dream on,” you giggle, relieved Bucky doesn’t regret his claim.

“Oh, daydreaming is over,” he purrs low in his throat. “I got the real thing now…”

“I’m still unsure this was the right thing to do.” Bruce shakes his head at Steve. “What if he regrets his claim one day?”

“Bucky was pining over her for months. I had to force him to make a move before that new agent got the chance to ask her out,” Steve casually says while deleting the footage of your latest mission. “He wanted to claim her, and Y/N wanted Bucky to become her alpha. We did nothing wrong…”

“You only made her believe she dropped a vial with sex pollen when in truth you rubbed it into Bucky’s tactical suit.”

“The end justifies the means,” Steve says before walking away.

Tags in reblog.

[ronearoundblindly]

ok im feeling the kiss list sm!! im feeling angsty... so steve x reader with #4 or #26?? love u <3333

#4 (a kiss where it hurts) was double requested, so this is #26-- *this* one isn't angsty although technically could be considered a wee tinybit smidgenly dark if you squint real hard. Sorry this is not even remotely edited and all over the place and just *sighs* yeah okay enjoy!

Steve Rogers x reader: a kiss as an apology

I'm So, So...Sorry, a tale for Valentine's 2024

Summary: Grant, a guest at your middle-of-nowhere motel, has needs not covered by the usual turn-down service.

Warnings: *screams and bites pillow* WHY. WHY???? omg, this just...ack...smut. Nomad Steve being needy and touch-starved just ruined my life. 😭😭😭 DUB-CON adjacent b/c Steve loses control. Please send him help. MINORS DNI 18+ ONLY. There's plenty else to read on my Light Masterlist, but this ficlet is for adults! WC 2022

To look at him, you’d think this dude can fuck, but it turns out that the absolutely huge man checking into your family’s small rural motel doesn’t know the first thing about flirting, much less sex.

You have no idea what ‘Grant’ and his friend ‘Tom’ were really whispering about over the breakfast table that one morning weeks ago, but later that night Grant came by the office, restless and unable to sleep.

He just talked to you. It was all superficial conversation about the area, the weather, what activities you liked on your days off. Even that seemed a struggle for him—thinking up casual questions. He could look you in the eye up until he had to respond, and he didn’t give many answers in return.

You laughed--you had to—when Grant asked if he could walk you to your door, which…is ludicrous because it’s a house a whopping fifty meters down the way from strip of rooms.

“I could walk,” he shrugs. “I’ll probably do a lap or two anyway.”

“Well, I have to wait for Clark to show up, but—“ you look him up and down “—okay.”

Twenty minutes later, the craziest thing happened.

An elk walked right in front of you on the path, and you jumped back, slamming into the wall of muscle the was your escort. You were both perfectly still as it moved.

Then that thing squawked and stamped huge hoofs. You threw your weight backward and spun to flee, clambering over Grant’s body.

Why you were so scared, who knows; you should be used to the wildlife.

The most shocking thing, however, is how strongly he tried to hold you still.

The harsh grip on your waist and the way he hissed through his teeth for you to stop should have been your hint, but instead you clung to him harder, asking if the animal was gone.

“Uh…” Grant tenses against you. “It’s…it’s just—“ he shudders when you wriggle closer “—yes, gone,” he bites out, pushing you away by the hips.

He takes a second to breathe, then, “let’s get you home.”

‘Grant’ is now properly called ‘Steve’ in private.

It took a while for him to trust you. He and ‘Tom’—whose real name you still don’t know—have been back and forth to the motel several times. You don’t talk about other guests. You don’t gossip. You don’t pry because that is just the nature of your business.

Steve’s initial five o’clock shadow has come in nicely. The first time he returned with the full beard, you couldn’t help yourself and brushed your fingers through it on your way back from handing him his key over the counter. The way he looked at you…devastating.

Tom made his own, very knowing face, and winked.

“You should do that more. Touch him. He could use it.”

Steve cleared his throat harshly and blushed, accidentally leaving a small bag on the ground when he rushed to the door.

“He was joking. It was a joke,” Steve blurted when he found you standing there to give it back.

You just smiled and said Tom wasn’t wrong.

“So, if you ever just want a hug…” you muttered.

That’s how this started.

A tentative embrace where only the top of his chest touched you led to a lovely full-body hug, and then he held you a touch longer, so your hand went to his hair and…

Steve whined and crashed you two against the wall outside his room, righting himself almost immediately, excusing the behavior, and rushing back inside. You couldn’t let that stand though. You stopped the door before it closed.

“Hey, it’s okay. I can be here, if you want, to hold.”

Steve’s eyes were one of the only things you could see in the dark room.

You took a chance and reached out to scratch at his bearded cheek again. “Not like you’re gonna hurt me, Stevie.”

So he melted into your hand, eye’s rolling as if drunk on the feeling, and you stepped in to hug him.

You can’t count the number of times you’ve had to tell him ‘it’s okay,’ but at least Steve doesn’t stop everything to apologize each time. Convincing him not to be self-conscious of how his body reacts to touch took a while.

He humped your leg like a puppy while you played with his hair. He came in his pants while you gave him a back rub. He cried when you kissed over his arms and chest.

You’ve told him it’s all okay.

He tries so hard not to smile when he checks back in, but he waits until your shift ends to have you fall asleep in his arms.

You’ve told him it’s okay to fall asleep in your arms, too.

Genuinely, the best part of the whole arrangement is that he will let you do anything to him. He’s fine being petted and fawned over, teased for being more ripped than jeans in the ‘90s—except for he didn’t understand that joke, sadly,—and it’s okay because you get it. He doesn’t tell you any personal information. He barely told you his name. He’s probably figured out that you aren’t an idiot and have put two-and-two together, but he keeps quiet, too.

He lets you keep touching him because he enjoys it.

Aside from the average hug and a simple spooning hold, Steve only ever touches you when you put his hand somewhere. (Right, except for the leg humping, but that was adorable so who cares! He wasn’t even doing that to touch you; poor thing needed friction, is all.) Anyway, since he’s been so excited about everything you’ve wanted to do to him, you push your luck.

The recent days have been all about Steve completely naked and at your mercy, which is, of course, still focused on making him feel good, but tonight is the very first night you are also naked. It’s meant to be a profound comfort—your weight atop him, maximum skin-to-skin contact—and it is.

He’s warm and stretched out like a cat in the sun beneath you, smiling, resting his eyes as dusk takes over the sky. You fall asleep to the sound of his heartbeat but don’t notice until he’s gently shaking you awake.

“You’re…you were squirming a lot. Thought you might be having a nightmare.”

Steve’s voice is husky. His grip on your arm is deliberately stationary until you shift to slide off of him.

His hand flies down to the back of your knee but not before you feel the hard length of his erection move from its perch at your ass to press flush on the back of your thigh.

“Don’t,” he whispers. “Just ignore it.”

You’re surprised he’s so shy after all you’ve been through for this. How can he doubt?

You stretch up to his face, straddling his abs for stability. “Stevie,” you say with soft fingers carding through his long hair, “you know it really is okay. You know that.”

He hums, his cock jumping against your ass while he squeezes your knee. He exhales shakily when you drag the back of your nails down his arms and sit up. Too dark to see, all you can go by is what you hear and feel.

“As long as you’re okay—“ you press into his pecs to lift yourself over his hips “and this is okay for you, right?”

It’s hard to hide how desperate he’s made you, but the issue is mutual based on how Steve groans when you settle your folds along the length of him. He clenches his ass so hard, it lifts you and sends a surge of heat to your core.

There’s a shuffling noise by his head.

“Is that a ‘yes?’ Are you alright?”

The shuffling repeats, accompanied by a strangled “yes.” He clenches again, and your arousal finally slicks his hot skin beneath you.

You keep your hands braced on his chest as you start to move, tiny pulses at first, and the poor thing is too sensitive.

He’s a panting mess by the time your slick is spread over him.

“No,” he whines, and you stop, thinking it’s too far to push him. “Too soon.”

“Shh, it’s okay to come. Remember, Stevie? That’s good. We can stop but—“

His other hand clamps onto the meat of your thigh. “Don’t. Don’t stop. I just…”

“Then we’ll do this again. Don’t worry,” you coo, rolling your hips from his root to tip.

He sounds tortured with little pleas and whimpers escaping before each guttural moan. He only lasts a few more thorough pumps. The spurts of cum graze your clit as he finishes on his stomach, shot as far as your wrists still above his chest, and for the first time with Steve you’re disappointed you can’t immediately keep going. You were getting very close, too, very fast.

It pains you to peel your sticky pussy off of him to get tissues, but you praise him the whole way.

“Please,” he rasps, taking hold of your arm as the last is wiped up, “more?” He’s breathless. “I can do better.”

You smile in the dark, excited for the possibility but afraid to push him. “Stevie, you did great. Rest for—“

“No, I—I want…I mean, can I touch you this time?”

Oh.

Oh.

“Sure,” you gulp, “that’d be nice.” If by ‘nice’ you mean ‘I’ve just creamed myself at a single question’ then yes, very nice.

He wants you in the same position straddling him, but that’s so he can spread his hands and run his fingertips over the most of you. He’s softened as he starts exploring you, but his lingering fascination with your breasts makes you wetter and wetter. He likes how you purr and gasp as he pinches and kneads. He likes to pull at your thighs until he gets handfuls of your ass.

He gets hard again off of your moans and tucks his cock between you while you instinctively ride him. It’s still only him deliciously fucking your folds until the repeated swipe of his head over your clit tips you to the edge, and your nails dig into his skin to draw down with the coil in your belly.

The angle catches him at your entrance, a shallow thrust that has you crying out lewdly, and suddenly, you’re on your back, Steve’s huge body pinning you to the mattress, one elbow propping himself by your chest, his other hand brutally spreading your ass to accommodate him.

You’re overwhelmed by the power he exerts over you. He suckles and nips at your breasts, cock so deep it pushes your insides to make way, and what starts as an average orgasm just wipes you out in a cascade of sharp pleasure.

Your hand grip blindly at his hair and back, choking on screams of profanities he wouldn’t appreciate, and he wraps his arms under you, bending you in an arch, chest to chest, while his hot breath rolls over your sweat-cooled throat.

You feel his lips open wide, but Steve goes silent until spent.

Finally, his last slow pistons calmed in halted combustion, he nuzzles his head to the crook of your neck.

Your fingers are frozen where buried in his hair.

In the dim moonlight you can see his ass twitch, jolting in over-stimulation while he gently pulls out of you. He props himself up, posture small and timid for such broad shoulders.

He hovers above you while you try to read each other’s expressions.

“I…I…” he starts quietly, looking over and over your features.

His chin ticks closer, hesitates, and then descends so his lips can capture yours. It’s so quick and chaste, like any other first kiss, but all out of order.

“I’m sorry,” he says, the words cracking in his guilt. “I couldn’t help it. I couldn’t stop.”

You pull him down to you, properly melding your mouth to his, beginning your next lesson already, then let him come up for air.

“It’s okay, Stevie. You can still walk me home.”

A/N: *drops bath bomb to froth in the pool of Tumblr* *runs away* Don't ask me wtf just happened because I don't know. It just consumed my whole day.

[psst. This became a whole series. 'Hideout' Masterlist]

Bucky Barnes and a kiss as encouragement ⬅️ ➡️ Jake Jensen and a kiss where it doesn't hurt

[Main Masterlist; Ko-Fi]

Tags: I'm also adding the people who showed interest in this concept earlier. You will not be tagged beyond this unless you ask! @mrs-barnes-rogers-writes @bstorn @rogersbarber @cevansbaby-dove @nowandajenn @jesevans @justherebecausesafarisucks @supraveng @1950schick @patzammit @whiskeytangofoxtrot555 @yiiiikesmish @ashesofblackroses @spectre-posts @jaqui-has-a-conspiracy-theory @brandycranby @buckysprettybaby @ellethespaceunicorn @bucky-fricking-barnes-reads @fallinallinmendes @deandreamernp

[harmonictechnicality]

*my humble offering to @steddie-week (and the s4 anniversary!) | ao3 link here*

Like most bad ideas, it starts with a question. Eddie is sitting on the ground, messing with the laces on his sneakers. Tying, untying. Mindless shit.

Steve is taking up the whole damn park bench, practically laying on it. Hasn’t said a word in the last ten minutes. 

And Eddie sort of hates the silence. Would like Silence to get decapitated with a chainsaw or something equally gruesome. Needs that particular volume to die the loudest death possible. For the sake of irony, of course.

So Eddie kills it - the silence, that is. The lull taking up all this air between him and Steve Harrington.

He kills it with a question:

“What’s the stupidest thing you’ve ever done?”

Steve’s head snaps in Eddie’s direction. “What did you say?”

“You heard me.”

“Fuck, I don’t know, man.” Steve sort of twitches, right between his eyebrows. Shoulders going lopsided, unnaturally angled. Uncomfortable.

Eddie shouldn’t be feeding off this tension so much. Judging by Steve’s body language though, the answer must be a good one. 

He leans forward, almost singing the words. “You sure about that?”

Pushing is fun, darkly playful. Eddie enjoys getting under people’s skin, crawling around till they shrivel up. Is it wrong? Morally unethical? Well… the verdict is still out on that.

Besides, he’s been around Harrington enough lately to know that it doesn’t take much to make him surrender. 

“Fine.” Steve huffs. He lifts himself to a sitting position, knees bobbing up and down. It takes all of Eddie’s leftover energy to not gloat about how easy that was - how quickly Steve caved. Teasing can (will) come later - right now, he wants answers. 

Secrets.

“So, Robin and I went to this party in the city… got pretty shitfaced.”

Eddie throws his head back. “Lame.” 

“Story’s not over.”

Oh? Interesting. Eddie places his hand over his heart, then waves it back at Steve. “My sincere apologies. Continue.”

Steve rolls his eyes, clears his throat (not that he needed to but whatever). “Anyways, she somehow convinced me to go to this tattoo parlor with her. Said her friend worked there and she wanted to visit them, so-”

“Wait wait wait. Don’t tell me this story ends with you getting a butterfly tattoo on your lower back.”

“Will you stop interrupting?”

There’s this serious expression in Steve’s eyes. A combination of dark colors and pure annoyance. Eddie is sane enough to know that annoyance isn’t something he should find endearing, but he does. On Steve.

Just a little.

He shrugs, and Steve continues. “Well, it turns out her friend wasn’t working that night. But the piercing lady was working and was like… superpersuasive.”

“Look, Munson, I don’t remember many details after that. Like I said, totally shitfaced. I just know when Robin and I woke up the next morning, we were so fucking sore. And not like, hangover sore either. We were sore in the same exact place. Right here.”

Steve’s pointer finger is gesturing at his stomach. Right in the center.

No. Absolutely not. Either Steve had severe stomach pains that night, or he’s suggesting that…

No.

“Yeah. There you have it.”  Steve says. Blankly nodding into space. “Stupidest thing I’ve ever done is get a matching belly button piercing with my best friend. Jesus christ, that’s freaky to say out loud.”

The Silence sneaks up on him. Stabs Eddie in the back when he isn’t looking because he’s too busy trying to imagine Steve Harrington with a piercing of any kind. Let alone the most famously slutty kind.

Wrong, so very wrong. He should never let the words slutty and piercing clutter up his imagination while thinking about Steve. The silence has been too long now. Gotta say something, anything.

“Bullshit.” His tone is harsh. Doesn’t mean for it to be. “There’s no fucking way.”

Steve pouts, crinkles his forehead. “I swear on my car - I’m not making this up.”

And see, here’s where the bad idea comes in. This stormcloud of pouting and piercings and chest hair, it’s all becoming dangerous. That urge to provoke is in Eddie’s bloodstream. He has to tip the scale, twist the knife of chaos as far as he can. Self control is out the fucking window.

“Prove it then.”

“Fuck off, Munson.” Steve laughs, maybe scoffs. Either reaction is a little confusing. “Seriously, this isn’t truth or dare.”

The truth is already out though. It’s the dare that Eddie is hungry for. “You can’t just drop a nuclear statement like that and expect me not to ask to see it.”

“Technically, you didn’t ask.”

Eddie clamors over to Steve, all theatrics and fake agony. “Please, Lord Harrington.” He clasps both hands together, rests his cheek on Steve’s knee. Batting his eyelashes till Steve cracks a smile. “Let me see the metal that has punctured thy skin. I beg of thee.”

Steve shoves him off. “You’re such a dork.” It’s lighthearted, barely qualifies as shoving. He’s become way too decent for actual aggression these days. 

A fact Eddie tirelessly clings to when Steve stands up. Lifts the bottom of his shirt and puts it in his fucking mouth.

“Holy shit.” Eddie mutters. No time to consider how pathetic it comes across.

In theory, this should all be stupidly unattractive. The way Steve holds his shirt between his teeth. The way he mumbles incoherent shit between the fabric in his mouth. The way he keeps pointing at it, poking it.

That shiny, teardrop-shaped metal. Just… hanging from Steve’s belly button, swinging slightly with every small movement. Eddie’s eyes start to swing with it, back and forth. Back and forth. Maybe those roadside hypnotists are onto something, because the dumbest piece of jewelry has Eddie captivated.

He could just be captivated by the guy attached to the dumbest piece of jewelry. Piercing.

Jesus Christ. Eddie really didn’t think his life could get any weirder. But here he is. Staring at Steve Harrington’s belly button piercing. Fucking mouth-breathing at the sight of it. Probably seconds away from salivating. 

He really should consider seeing a licensed psychologist. Fix his terminally horned-up brain once and for all.

“It’s…” Eddie swallows, his eyelids feel heavier than his stare. “Not what I expected.”

The fabric drops from Steve’s mouth. Unevenly falls around his waist... hips. “What were you expecting?”

To laugh. To mock. Threaten blackmail for six lifetimes, maybe more.

Instead, Eddie gazing at it the way people gaze through telescopes. He peers lower, tries to see if it’s silver or gold. Hard to tell at sunset. None of Eddie’s typical instincts are sinking in. All he wants is to feel the metal rolling over his tongue or get it trapped between his teeth. See how it tastes mixed up with Steve’s skin.

“Fuck.” Yikes. Eddie didn’t mean to say that out loud. Straightens up from his questionable position, does it so fast that his spine sounds like bubble wrap. “Sorry, sorry.”

What the hell is he apologizing for? Cussing? Having a skeletal structure? Christ almighty, he’s a mess.

Steve’s lips spread into a grin, doesn’t look like his own. Looks more like the kind Eddie might give after pulling off a successful decoy in one of his campaigns. “What’s wrong with your face, man?”

“My face?”

“It’s all…” Steve trails off. Sighs and sits back down on the bench. “Nevermind.”

Eddie reaches up to his cheek, understands exactly what Steve is referring to. He feels feverish to the touch, must be a shade of red that is so deep, it’s noticeable in the darkening sky. 

“Sorry… sorry.” Steve hangs his head. Seems troubled even though Eddie is nailing that particular routine all on his own.

“Think that’s my line.” Eddie jokes. 

“Right.”

Silence is lurking around them yet again. Eddie hates it, but he’s running out of steam here. The embarrassment is on display, his cheeks and neck covered in splotchy red patches. His voice is higher, somehow, as if his vocal chords are shrinking. He’s undergoing a crisis and crush simultaneously and it is not an attractive look for him.

“Just go ahead and get it over with.” Steve says. Interrupts whatever cynicism that’s currently brewing in Eddie's head. 

“Get what over with?”

“The teasing.”

“Oh that’s not… it’s um… you don’t…” Eddie can’t pick an appropriate response. They’re way beyond politeness and niceties. And any bullshit he tries to pull isn't gonna be convincing. So it’s best to stay honest. Embarrassing, but honest. “I think it looks pretty good.”

“You do?” Steve looks softer. 

“Yeah. I mean… Bowie probably has one, and he’s a fucking superstar so. Uh. Yeah.”

“Bowie, huh?”

“I like Bowie.” I like Bowie? What a beefhead answer. Eddie joins Steve on the bench, hopes it distracts from that very un-cool line. 

“I like Bowie too.” Steve messes with his hair a bit. Elbows Eddie in the side and chuckles. “You should get one.”

“A piercing?”

“Yeah.”

“Don’t hold your breath, man. I’m not letting that nightmare creator you described anywhere near my lower abdomen. Not gonna happen.”

Steve reaches out, runs his knuckles down the bridge of Eddie’s nose. Stops at the crease of his nostril. “What about one right here?” His voice is even, calm. Too calm for what he’s asking.

His hand is warm, slightly calloused. The only two thoughts Eddie can process without going fully catatonic. Steve’s hand is on his face and it’s warm.

Slightly calloused. 

“Uh. Dunno.” Eddie says. A hoarse whisper in reply. “Probably not.”

Steve scoots in closer, never taking his hand off Eddie’s face. Just moving it around. Exploring. He brushes along to Eddie’s ear this time. Holds the edge of it between his thumb and index finger, looking straight at it. 

“What about right here?” Steve’s eyes stay fixed on Eddie’s ear. Every touch seems natural, just questions that involve connection or something.

Internally, Eddie is dousing flames. Fanning them left and right. Running in circles, fucking clueless on how to properly calm down. Be civil. Be Dude Civil. His breathing is so rapid, he knows it. Can hear it between them, collecting space. Decides it would be best to mimic Steve. Fix his eyes only on him, borrow the stability as much as possible.

“Mmm… maybe.”  Eddie gets stuck on the ‘mmm’ sound. That’s how good it feels having someone touch him like this. Careful, yet heavy in curiosity. Rolling the tip of his earlobe between two fingers, just enough pressure to create heat. 

It warrants that sound.

Steve’s glance drifts before his fingers do. Eyes landing on Eddie’s lips, slight hesitancy before his hand follows. Eddie has to hold his breath now. Minimal oxygen is the only way he’ll survive this moment, which makes no fucking sense, but it does all the same.

“Here would look really good.” Steve slowly traces the curve of Eddie’s bottom lip with the pad of his thumb. The back and forth pattern is disarming. Makes Eddie’s lips part, mouth slightly open.

Just enough to speak. “Yeah?”

“Yeah.”

If Eddie passes out from lack of oxygen, he’ll regret it. He’ll regret not taking the risk, finishing what Steve has started. Because this surpasses friendly touching. 

This is charged in electric shockwaves.

Eddie dips in, kisses Steve before he can move his hand out of the way. Steve makes a sound, not even a surprised one. It’s sweeter, laced in relief. Eddie pushes in, wants more, whatever he can get. Has his fingers wrapped around Steve’s wrist, the same hand that’s dragging down his face, his neck. Stopping at his chest. 

Every rumor is true, that kissing Steve Harrington is like the gates of heaven opening up. That his tongue could work miracles on amateur lips with a few licks and curls. But no one ever told him about the noises he makes - and those are the best fucking part. Heaving breaths, pleased whines, each one captured with Eddie’s mouth before they get any louder.

Maybe that’s it. Maybe those are just for Eddie. Reserved for kissing him.

Goddamn, he’s delusional. Completely delirious from kissing a dude with a belly button piercing.

There’s a light getting brighter, almost approaching them. Eddie opens his eyes, quickly backs off while Steve does the same. Has to literally detachhimself from wherever his hand was busy wandering all over Steve’s body. 

Headlights pull into the nearby parking lot. Eddie squints to get a better look at the car. It’s Robin and Vickie, showing up fashionably late as always. Sure, he’s grateful that it’s just them, the queerest people in his circle of weirdos. And while they’re reasonable people with shit like this, even they’dbe shocked to know that Eddie and Steve just sucked face for a solid three minutes. Probably best to not mention the gory details, not tonight. Eddie hopes Steve is thinking the same thing.

Both of them stand up, rearrange themselves to look presentable. Less tousled and kiss-bitten. Steve spends a few extra seconds with his hair before turning to Eddie, eyebrows high. Likely a non-verbal ask if his hair is looking as godly as ever.

Of course it does. Looks even better knowing Eddie’s nails were just digging into it.

Steve is a few steps ahead of Eddie, heading for the girls, when Eddie does it again. Kills the silence with a question. 

“Can we… do this again?” It’s edging on desperate, he’s so fucking aware of that. Self control really proving to be a major downfall with him tonight. Should definitely consider taking classes, train his willpower or some shit.

Steve stops walking. He doesn’t turn around, doesn’t even look at Eddie as he speaks. “My place.”

Oh. That’s… wow. Unexpected. Eddie jogs up to Steve, beside him. Way too eager now, sort of buzzing for more information. Hints of excitement or maybe a smile. Anything, really. He’s at that level of weak for this guy.

Steve just keeps walking, but leans in, right next to Eddie’s ear. The same one he messed with earlier. His voice is quiet, but Eddie hears every damn syllable:

“I’ll leave the window unlatched for you.”

For him. 

Maybe Eddie isn’t completely delusional after all.

[ladykailitha]

Steve's Rewind

Just an idea I had stewing in my brain, buckle up this is going to get angsty as fuck. Thanks to my discord for helping me with some of the fiddlier details.

Here we go.

The Harrington family were once a clan a powerful magic users, though their bloodline is diluted now they barely have the smallest spark of it left in their blood. It allows them to use the device left to them by their ancestor. Althenea’s Life Spool, or the Spool most of the time.

It allows the user to go back and do over one event at the cost of one year of their life. In addition they remember the previous timeline. It is handed to the eldest child on their 16th birthday.

Usually only members of the Harrington clan remember previous timelines, but when Steve meets El, he finds out that the experiments done to her and the other children make it so she can see the previous timelines, too.

She commends him for the two times he’s used it so far.

The first time was on Nov. 12th, 1983. The night he went to Jonathan’s to apologize about the camera. The first time, he ran. Their screams ringing in his ears as he flees. Only now all the Byers family is dead, along with Nancy and the Mind Flayer breaks through to the surface world, screaming like a banshee.

He doesn’t know what will happen if he runs back into that house, but he knows at least he’ll have tried.

And while it doesn’t work out perfect, he’s pretty satisfied with the results.

On Oct. 31st, 1984 he thinks about using it again, but doesn’t. He doesn’t know what event started the relationship with Nancy to go south. So he leaves it be and silently deals with the broken heart.

On July 5th, 1985. Steve learns that El can see the previous timelines too and asks him to rewind so Hopper lives. Steve tells her about the cost and she turns pale. He asks her if she still wants that and she shakes her head. No. That would not be fair.

Then on Mar. 29th, 1986, she comes to him again. This time it’s all of Hawkins that swings in the balance and he agrees. He was just waiting for her to return so that they could plan out what needed to be changed.

So they hatch out a plan: Give everyone an extra twenty minutes to get into place. Towels in the vents of the trailer. Time for Hopper et al to kill the demogorgon, time for Jason and his cronies to find the Creel House, come up empty and leave, time for El to get into a better place to protect Max. Steve stocks up on flares and torches to bring as much heat as possible to the Vecna fight.

They win, Eddie and Max escape unharmed, Vecna and Upside Down falls. Everything is good for awhile.

Eddie and Steve start dating and they’re really happy. Until Steve arrives to their favorite gay bar a little late because of work and finds Eddie in a corner with another guy and just leaves.

When Eddie stumbles home that night Steve tears into him and threatens to break up with him.

Only Eddie starts crying.

Like full on sobs and the truth comes out, that guy had roofied Eddie and was assaulting him.

Now Steve is devastated and cleans Eddie up, putting him to bed. Then he calls El. Tells her he’s going to rewind the events of that night. And at first she argues against using the device for something so trivial especially one that didn’t end in someone’s death. If he wouldn’t do it for Hopper, what’s so different about this moment.

He reminds her that Hopper is alive, that his being in the Russian prison camp is part of the reason they were able to defeat Vecna and she concedes. Asks again why this is worth a year of his life and he explains that it’s not about his relationship with Eddie. They talked and Eddie already forgave him and said that he would have done the same thing. It might take a bit, but they’ll be fine.

No, the reason Steve wants to do this is because Eddie has suffered so much. Because none of the other Party members got introduced to this shit by watching a nice girl who had done nothing wrong, twisted and torn apart before their eyes.

That the witch hunt and getting off the murder charges had put a dent in Eddie’s confidence. This would destroy it entirely.

This is about a person who deserves a boyfriend who would give up everything for him to show him how loved he is, even at the cost of one year of his life.

El eventually agrees.

Steve goes to the back of the closet and pulls it out. But Eddie finds him, tells him he overheard him talking to El and he won’t let Steve do that. He’s not worth a year of his life.

Steve kisses him gently and explains what it is and what it’s done. Sometimes things work out for the better, sometimes they don’t. But always, always, always the change is worth it to the user. It’s why after nearly five hundred years the Spool has not been used up, because the string is finite, it will run out one day. But each person that has been gifted it knows the change is always worth it.

Once his father rewound cheating on his mother. The demogorgon that killed Barb, killed her instead and the world ended. He hated having to go back rewind that moment, but he knew the consequences of that moment needed an empty house that day.

Eddie sighs in relief. The moment can be rewound. So he puts his trust in Steve. That his boyfriend whose family has had this device for literal centuries knows the cost better than anyone, understands what hes’ doing.

Steve rewinds the moment and they are stronger together for it.

Steve will use it only use it one more time, when the birth of their daughter kills Robin who was their surrogate. They wait a year and everything turns out fine the second time.

Then on Julie Barbara Munson’s 16th birthday, her papa gives her his most precious item. A small spool of red thread.

[berenwrites]

Through Your Eyes - Steddie - PG13

for @steddie-week Day 4

Prompt: Trade / body swap / Wouldn't It Be Good by Nik Kershaw

rated pg-13 | 943 wds | cw: choking | tags: eddie lives, pre-steddie

Summary: Steve wakes up and something is definitely not right.

A/N: Apologies for being late with this and for not writing day 3 - everything I tried to put to paper over the last 2 days refused to play ball until this morning.

(Also on AO3) ( My Other fic on Tumblr)

Through Your Eyes: A Living Nightmare

Steve woke up choking and desperately trying to pull something out of his throat. His lungs were screaming at him. He couldn’t breathe. When the obstruction finally cleared his airway, he threw it to the side, coughing up slime and sucking in precious oxygen.

For what felt like an age, all he could hear, all he could feel, were his lungs franticly trying to get enough air.

His whole body ached, and his chest felt like it had been pounded. It was, unfortunately, not an unprecedented feeling. Not that that made it any easier to deal with.

Only as he finally managed one long deep breath did he realise something was wrong. Looking up, he saw a red sky. Ice flashed through his veins as he took in the Upside Down. Turning his head from one side to the other, be looked for any explanation. Next to him was a pile of vines that looked like they had been in some kind of shape like the pots they had made from snakes of clay in kindergarten. The ‘pot’ was open right next to where he was kneeling. It dawned on him the thing he had pulled from his throat had also been a vine.

He had gone to sleep in his own bed, waking up here made no sense. He hadn’t been anywhere near the Upside Down.

It was so hard not to panic.

How had he got here? What had happened to him?

So many questions flashed through his head. None of which he could answer.

He forced himself to take another deep breath. He needed to get up and get out. He’d done it before, he could do it again. Only when he tried to stand, his limbs refused to support him, and he ended up back on his hands and knees. Slime-covered hair flopped in his face, wrapping across and under his chin. He froze.

That wasn’t right.

Staring down at his hands, he let the fight or flight need lower as his confused mind sorted through what was going on. Rings glinted from his fingers in the red light. He didn’t have rings. Sitting up and back, he lifted his hands, looking at them and down at his body. Only it wasn’t his body. He recognised the ripped jeans, even more ripped now, and the devastated Hellfire shirt. This wasn’t his body because it was Eddie’s.

For a second he felt the ridiculous desire to laugh.

This made no sense. Nothing made any sense. Was he having some bizarre nightmare? It felt so real.

Just when he thought he might go mad, he felt a weird kind of pulling. It felt like someone was standing behind him and pulling on his insides. Something ripped, like Velcro. His surroundings went hazy, swirling and making his stomach churn. He felt like he was falling, only it wasn’t air rushing past him, it was something else, something that made his nerves tingle. He still landed with a thud though, body shuddering from head to foot like he’s just been thrown to the floor.

It was so overwhelming it took him a few seconds to adjust. When he opened his eyes, he saw his bedroom, only he wasn’t in his bed, he was sitting at his desk, and in his left hand was a screwed-up piece of paper. In his right was a pen. If he had been in bed, he could have put everything down to the weirdest nightmare he had had yet, but he wasn’t.

He swallowed, remembering the taste of slime in his mouth and the rawness of his abused throat. Not sure what he was going to see, he flattened out the piece of paper, taking in the scrawling handwriting that was not his own.

Steve, I don’t know why this is happening, but I need you to believe it is. Maybe it’s the bats, fuck if I know. He brought me back. Restarted my heart, cocooned me in his vines, and healed me. He wants an avatar to cause chaos and terror. He wanted you, but couldn’t get into your head, so whatever you’re doing, keep doing it. So, he’s making do with me, only when he tried to take over something happened. It felt like a door slamming shut in my head, and I found myself in your body. I can feel myself being pulled back, so I’m writing this as fast as I can. I don’t know if I’ll be able to fight him off when I’m me again, so I need you to know what I know, what I saw when he was in my head. He’s weak. We nearly did it. But he’s getting stronger because of the rifts. Act fast. I’m sorry I broke my promise. I had to save Dustin. Did what I thought you would have done. I need to tell you

The writing just stopped, as if Eddie had been in the middle of it when they swapped back.

Steve read it a second time, then a third. Gripping it tightly, he stood and pulled the box from under his bed, taking out the walkie he had hidden there.

“Anyone listening, this is Steve, we have a code red, repeat code red. Over.”

“Dustin here,” came back almost instantly, not really surprising as the kid was paranoid since their encounter with Vecna, “what’s the situation? Over.”

“Eddie’s alive in the Upside Down, we need to move. Over.”

He didn’t know how they were going to do it, but he did know two things: one they had to get Eddie back, and two Vecna was going down, for good this time.

( My Other fic on Tumblr)

[mugloversonly]

Staying in the past Moving Forward

So, I read this by @steddiecameraroll and disappeared into the void and woke up with this fully completed... I'm tagging @steddieangstyaugust but I'm not 100% sure it counts. If it does though, it fits well into today's prompt:

Prompt: Future | rating: T |

Summary: A look into the next year and a half for the boys (after refers to the breakup)

STEVE Morning after:

"Go to hell." That was the last thing Eddie said to Steve before he went with Robin to Indy the next morning as planned and told her what happened on the way.

She was pissed at him. She originally thought that Steve asked Eddie to come and he said no, which would have sucked, but she figured they could make long distance work. Steve was her best friend, but he fucked up and broke two hearts that didn't need breaking. When they got to their shared apartment, Robin called Eddie.

"Hey, it's Robin." She said once he answered. "I just called to say that Steve is an idiot. You were the best thing to happen to him and he threw it away carelessly." Eddie sniffled.

"I'm not going to take him back Rob." He said strongly. And he meant it. He knew one day he could forgive Steve, but his trust in the man would be forever damaged.

"I know. I'm not asking you to, just thought you should know that I'm not going to choose sides between you two. You're both my friends and he did you wrong." She promised to call him weekly and agreed that he wasn't going to call her as long as she lived with Steve. She could respect that.

Steve on the other hand, was angry. Not at Eddie or Robin, although a little at Robin. He was angry with himself. He assumed Eddie thought it was a fling. He knew they were planning on leaving but he figured it wouldn't be that big a deal. He was wrong.

"Did you know I was in love with you?" The words rang in Steve's ears. He didn't know but if he had, he's not sure what he would have done. He made Eddie think he was unimportant as if it wasn't breaking Steve's heart to leave him behind. He fucked everything up and a few minutes later he found out he could have had everything. God he's an idiot.

A week after:

"Robin I need to talk to him. Please." Steve begged. Robin took the phone into her room so she could talk to Eddie privately.

"He doesn't want to talk to you, dingus. I'm not going to let your fuck up, ruin my friendship." She shut the door in his face. That last part hit him hard. She was right of course. If she broke Eddie's trust by letting Steve talk to him it would ruin them too. He didn't want to do that.

A month after:

Steve tried to call the trailer a few times a week, but he never got an answer. He left voicemail after voicemail until he called and instead of ringing he heard, "The number you are trying to reach is no longer in service."

"What the hell?" He whispered. "Hey Robin?" He shouted to his roommate. At her affirmative noise he asked, "why is Eddie's phone disconnected?" He heard her stand and make her way to the kitchen. She took the phone from him and hung it up.

"You kept calling even after he asked you to stop. He called me at work today to give me his new number." She admitted. She was doing her best to help Steve get through the break up, but Eddie was her friend too and she felt partially responsible for what happened since she's the one who got into college. Steve sighed. He did this to himself. Tears welled up and began to fall. He'd cried every day for the past month but he didn't feel like he deserved to feel sad. He was the reason he felt this way, him alone. Eddie did nothing wrong, he was perfect. It's why Steve dragged it out so long. He made a mistake, if he could just talk to him and apologize, he knew this would all work out. It had to work out.

A year after:

"Go to Hell." The last words Eddie ever said to Steve. But not the last time he heard Eddie's voice.

Steve was at a bar. He was trying to find someone to hook up with, man, woman, it didn't matter. He was too thin, drinking too much, not doing well. He was staring at the bottom of a bottle nursing his still broken heart, when he heard it. Over the bar's radio a new single by a local Indiana group, Corroded Coffin: Death to the King. Eddie's voice poured through the speakers, shattering Steve's heart with each word.

The King rules with an iron fist Doesn't know what love is Uses his subjects like pawns in his game leaves them broken and in pain Death to the King who killed me first Death to the King it's what he deserves I saw us grow old through a crystal ball I saw the happy ending our kids growing tall The king saw nothing, nothing at all He took my heart When he left his throne Buried it in the forest And left me alone Death to the King who killed me first Death to the King it's what he deserves

Steve couldn't hear this anymore. He stumbled out of the bar and practically ran to his apartment. He no longer shared with Robin since she moved in with her girlfriend. Steve was happy for her, at least one of them should get love, and she deserved it for putting up with his shit.

He dialed her number and prayed she'd answer. "Hello?" Came a half asleep voice.

"Robbie?" Steve whispered. She grunted in response. "Eddie's band is on the radio! I just heard them." He said shocked, sure it would surprise her.

"I know." She said calmly.

"Oh, have you heard it already?" Steve asked.

"Yeah. He played me the demo last time I saw him." She said with a yawn. The last time she saw him?

"You visited him?" He asked.

"No, he came to see me." She said as if that didn't destroy Steve. He made the drive to see Robin who was just a few miles away from him. He could have visited. He would have visited if Steve wasn't so stupid.

"Steve? You still there?" She asked.

"I think I ruined my life, Robbie." Steve said.

"I think you did too." That statement hung in the air until Steve went to sleep.

The next day, Steve bought the whole album.

A Year and Six months after:

Steve sat down with Robin and the kids in his apartment. It was a bit strained with them after the break up since everyone thought Steve was in the wrong…not that Steve could blame them, he was the one who told them everything. Eddie had requested that their friends not take sides and Steve had done the same. He hoped this would smooth things over. He agreed to host a get together for everyone to celebrate being Upside Down free. And everyone would be here, even Eddie. Steve needed to stay strong and he would. He hadn't seen him since the night he blew up his life, but if he could explain Eddie was the right person, but the wrong time for Steve. Then everything would be okay. He hasn't gotten over Eddie and he hoped the same was true for Eddie as shitty as that sounded.

The doorbell rang and Dustin jumped up to grab it knowing who it would be. "Henderson!" Eddie's voice boomed through the apartment. The kids got up to greet him and they all came into the living room as a giant group. Robin hugged him next and asked how everything was going and then he turned to finally look at Steve a year and a half after he confessed his love. Steve met his eyes and couldn't stop himself from letting his gaze roam. He looked good. His lanky form had filled out to a more muscular build, he had quite a few more tattoos, and his long curly hair was longer and more well maintained than Steve had ever seen it. He had to say something.

"Hey, Eddie." He waved awkwardly. "You look good." He tried not to hide as everyone's eyes turned to them.

"Thanks, Steve." He replied. "And thanks for hosting." He smiled. It didn't look strained at all…maybe Steve was right and they could fix this.

"No problem. Do you want a beer?" Steve asked.

"No thanks, I don't really drink anymore." Eddie replied. Steve was shocked but he listed his available drinks and Eddie settled on a coke. Steve snagged a beer for himself on the way back. The group seemed to settle and everyone acted like it was perfectly normal for all of them to be together again. And maybe it was for everyone else. After all, the kids had been all spread out for college for months now. Eddie seemed perfectly content to chat with everyone even Hopper and Joyce when they showed up.

Steve was the one with the issue. But he did his best to not show how off he felt and he thought he was successful. He was 4 beers in when he was brave enough to ask Eddie to talk. Shockingly, he agreed and they went out for a smoke. Steve took his pack out and offered one to Eddie who shook his head. "Don't like my brand or something?" He scoffed.

"Actually no. Wayne had a cancer scare a few months back so we both promised to quit." Eddie said quietly. Steve felt like a dick.

"Jesus Eddie. I'm sorry." Eddie dismissed it with a wave of his hand.

"So, what did you want to talk about?" Eddie asked calmly. Steve meanwhile was freaking out. Here goes nothing.

"I wanted to start by saying I'm sorry for how I ended things back then." Eddie opened his mouth but Steve rushed forward. "Please let me finish." Eddie nodded. "It was a shitty thing to do. I shouldn't have ended things like that or blindsided you with it. I never should have done it in the first place because I've been miserable without you." Eddie went to speak again before shaking his head and gesturing for Steve to continue. "I loved you back then and I didn't think you loved me back. I still love you." This time, Eddie couldn't keep quiet.

"Steve," he sighed. His face was unreadable but the beer gave Steve courage.

"You're my right person Eddie. It was the wrong time a year and a half ago, but it's the right time now." He took both of Eddie's hands in his. "Please, give me another chance?" He asked hope bleeding into his voice. Eddie smiled softly but it wasn't a happy smile.

"Steve, I listened to you, so can you promise to listen to me?" He asked keeping their hands together.

"I promise. I'd do anything you asked." Steve vowed. Eddie ducked his head and began.

"First off, thank you for the apology. It was really shitty what you did back then. We had only been dating a few months so I understand you not asking me to come with you, but not telling me at all? That was the worst pain I have ever felt, including the bats." Steve sagged, he hated that he put Eddie through that. "And I forgive you."

"You do?" Steve lit up. Eddie held his palm up to indicate he wasn't done.

"I forgive you, Steve. But this isn't fair. You broke up with me. I can't… I won't trust you with my heart again." He whispered softly but with certainty. "You broke it into smithereens. Crushed it into pieces and then ground it to dust under your shoe as if it was a trinket from the arcade." Steve winced and felt tears begin to stream down his face. "I'm sorry, you're miserable Steve. I really am. I can try to be your friend again. Slowly. If that's something you can be okay with. But I'm not willing to be more than that." He pulled his hands from Steve's. "You were my first love Steve and a part of me will always love you. But I moved on. I'm moving forward. It's time that you did too." With that he turned and went back into the apartment.

Steve's vision blurred but he still looked at Eddie through the window. He didn't look affected at all by Steve's confession and his rejection of it. Was Steve so delusional to think that just because he couldn't let go, that Eddie wouldn't either?

He spent another half hour out there wishing things were different, when Robin came out. "Hey. Did you get closure?" Robin asked. Steve nodded slowly. "And?"

"I didn't want closure." At Robin's questioning noise he admitted, "I wanted a second chance." Robin gasped. "He said no. I don't blame him."

"So, what now?" She asked.

"I move on I guess. He said he'd be willing to try being friends again but made it very clear that's all we'd ever be." Steve hung his head and cried.

Two weeks later Steve saw a headline that stopped his heart: Corroded Coffin's front man engaged to mystery man!

EDDIE morning after:

"Go to Hell" the last thing he said to Steve as he stormed back to his van. He sped back to the trailer, the raw pain tearing him apart piece by piece. Luckily Wayne wasn't working tonight. Eddie needed him. He slid into the driveway and barely remembered to lock the car door behind him before he sprinted into the house. Wayne was sitting in his rocking chair but one look at the state Eddie was in had him jumping to his feet.

"What's wrong, son?" Wayne asked. The tears that were starting to fall became a river down Eddie's face as he told Wayne what happened. Wayne pulled him onto the couch and into his side. He held his boy and rocked him softly as he cried.

"What am I gonna do without him Wayne?" He whispered.

"You want to feel your feelings or want to fix it?" Wayne asked. This was a system they came up with when Eddie was little. Sometimes Eddie just needed to vent without Wayne trying to solve the problem.

"Fix it, Wayne. Please. It hurts so bad." He sobbed. Wayne held him tighter.

"It'll probably hurt for a while." He said sadly. "Here's what we're going to do. You are going to go rest. When you wake up I'll go pick us up some of your favorite foods from the diner while you shower. Then we're gonna comb through the house and get every reminder of that boy out of the house and in the trash where it belongs. We're going to get rid of everything that makes you look behind you. And finally! We are going to get drunk on the good beer and watch one of those horror movies you like so much. How does that sound?" Eddie smiled even through the tears.

"That sounds like a great idea dad."

"Only look forward from now on Ed."

A week after:

"Ed! Phone for you." Wayne called. Eddie wiped his eyes and moved to answer it. He checked the clock and realized exactly who would be calling.

"Hey, Rob." He said. He was happy to hear from the girl, glad that their friendship wasn't destroyed by Steve's actions.

When she called a week ago he thought about hanging up but she didn't sound like she was going to yell at him. He was right. It was the same with the kids. When he didn't go to see Steve off, Dustin called him. Eddie expected to be torn into but the boy was calling to see if he was okay.

"Steve told us what happened and I just want to say, that was shitty of him. I don't know if I think he's a good guy anymore." He admitted. Eddie's heart hurt, not just for himself but for Steve and the party.

"Listen, I can't tell you how to feel. But don't pick sides on my account. Robin and I are still friends even though she's rooming with him. Don't let our falling out destroy your friendship. If you decide on your own that's one thing, but don't do it for me." Eddie said. Dustin agreed and passed it on to the rest of the party. As soon as he hung up, the phone rang again and it was Robin. She expressed similar sentiments as Dustin. They agreed to call weekly. Which brought them to now.

"Hey, Eddie. Let me go into my bedroom." She apparently called from the kitchen in case he didn't answer. She began walking and he could hear Steve in the background.

"Let me talk to him, please." He heard Robin tell Steve no and shut her door.

"Sorry about that."

"No problem…thanks for that." He said earnestly.

"I'm not going to let him hurt you more by breaking your trust in other people." She said sternly. The two talked about their week before Robin asked the dreaded question. "How are you doing by the way?"

"I'm alright. I mean…I've been better but I'm not drowning myself in booze." Robin chuckled. "I don't blame you Robin. He made the choices he made, not you." He said again. He said it their first call too but he got the feeling she didn't believe him. Hopefully this time it would stick.

A month after:

"Hey, Eddie. It's Steve. Listen I know you haven't been answering me but I just…I want to talk to you. Apologize properly. I miss you." The machine told him. Eddie rolled his eyes. He asked Robin to tell Steve to stop calling. He didn't get to dump Eddie like a broken toy and then beg to talk to him. That's not fair. It's so selfish. Eddie thought Steve wasn't like that anymore but…he was wrong.

"Hey Wayne?" Eddie said as he stepped out onto the porch. At his grunt of affirmation, Eddie continued. "How much hassle would it be to get a new phone line?" After explaining to Wayne that he asked Steve to quit calling but he wouldn't, he agreed to get another phone line. Thankfully, it wasn't that hard to tell everyone they spoke to about the change. Eddie made sure to call Robin's work number to give her the new one though. He didn't want to risk Steve answering.

Six months after:

The band was actually making waves. They veered from the death metal scene and went into hard rock. It wasn't too much different if Eddie was being honest, but it was getting attention. They were preforming at actual bars and getting a crowd. They had groupies and agents were scouting them.

Eddie had indulged in the casual sex of it all but made sure to stay away from drugs, he knew what that shit could do. On some nights, he wasn't looking for a hook up, just someone to talk to.

It was one such night when Eddie met Zeke.

Zeke was everything Eddie never knew he wanted. Tall with dark hair, dark eyes, and mocha skin. He radiated confidence but he spoke shyly. "You guys are good." He said as he slid into the seat next to Eddie.

"Thanks. We've been playing together a long time." Zeke seemed interested and the two of them chatted. Not once did he think of Steve, a first when it came to chatting up men. So far every man was compared to Steve whether Eddie wanted to or not. But, Zeke was so different and Eddie felt ready to move on. The night ended with Zeke walking Eddie to his car and Eddie brushing a kiss to his cheek with a request to come to the next show.

Zeke kept his promise and showed up again and again. Eventually, he asked Eddie on a date to which he agreed. The only time he thought about Steve that night was when Zeke asked if he'd ever been in love. "Once. It didn't end well." At Zeke's sad and confused eyes, Eddie told him what happened. He couldn't help the way his eyes welled up, but it didn't hurt as much to tell this story. "Just, promise me one thing?" Eddie asked.

"Anything."

"If you decide you don't want to be with me, for whatever reason, don't do it like that." The pain was still in his voice and Zeke looked heartbroken for him.

"I won't."

Nine months after:

Wayne came out of the doctor's office with tears in his eyes. Eddie expected the worst. He had gone in for a routine checkup last week and they were worried they saw something. "It's okay, boy. It was benign." Wayne reassured as Eddie threw himself into his uncle's arms. "We gotta quit smoking though. It might be too late for me, but you're young." Eddie met his uncle's eyes.

"Whatever you want, dad." He promised. On the way home, they stopped at the drug store to get nicotine patches and gum. The next few weeks were going to suck, but it would be worth it to put Wayne's mind at ease. He silently promised to quit drinking too.

After Steve left, Eddie drank a lot that first month. But now, he wasn't as torn up. He was still hurt, of course he was, but he knew he didn't do anything wrong. It was all Steve and the only thing Eddie could do was forgive him.

Eleven months after:

"Robin, are you going to be in town next week?" Eddie asked.

"Yeah. Why what's up?" Robin situated herself at the dining table. She recently moved into an apartment with her girlfriend. This meant she could talk to Eddie freely. At first she didn't want to leave Steve alone, but he promised he'd be okay, and they hung out nearly every day anyway.

"My band is coming there to record an album. We'll be there for about two weeks." He said as nonchalant as he could. That didn't stop Robin from screaming her excitement and nearly bursting his eardrum. "Jesus woman! With pipes like that you could blow the windows out of Notre Dame."

"Sorry, sorry. That's so exciting!" She congratulated him. He shared the details of when he would be in town and where they were staying.

"I also wanted to show you a demo before we put it on the album. It's a different kind of personal than some of the other things I've written and I want your opinion."

"Sure!"

The next week saw Eddie playing his "heartbreak anthem", as the boys called it, "Death to the King". It was the song they were singing when they were noticed by this label so they wanted to put it out there, Eddie just wanted to make sure it wasn't obvious who it was about by those that didn't know him.

He drove his sword through my heart His court jester lost his spark He wasn't cool, he didn't shine And the king screamed, you're no longer mine I gave him my loyalty I gave him my love I gave him everything wanted nothing in return He took it all from me and left me to burn Death to the King who killed me first Death to the King it's what he deserves

The song played through and Eddie felt raw. "So?" He asked.

"It's about Steve obviously. But you wouldn't be able to tell really if you didn't know the two of you dated. Especially when you consider all the other songs about anti-establishment on the album." Robin was right. it would blend in.

A Year after:

"Death to the King" was playing on radio stations all over the country. It was being requested in call ins and the buzz for the album was booming. It was set to come out that night and the band was celebrating tonight! The band flew into Indy from Chicago so they could all be together with their friends and family. Robin came in with her girlfriend Libby and made the rounds.

"I'm so proud of you Eddie!" She said and hugged him tightly. The kids of the party and other young adults (minus Steve) were all there and it was sweet.

"Thanks, Buck. Oh! This is my boyfriend Zeke." He said introducing them.

"Finally I have a face to the name." She said and shook his hand. She didn't let go and yanked him down to her level. "Listen to me closely. If you hurt him, I will end you. He's been hurt enough by idiot boys, alright?" Zeke nodded and leaned back eyes wide.

"Wayne gave me a shovel talk earlier too. But I don't plan on hurting Eddie and if I ever do, I will find you and let you do what must be done." Zeke promised.

"That's all I ask." She said before she began milling around.

"She's terrifying." He said. Eddie laughed at his boyfriend.

"She is isn't she?"

As the album wrap party wound down, the band all stood at the front of the room to thank everyone for coming.

"There's one more thing though" Gareth said. "Eddie, this album is filled with your pain and heartbreak from a year ago." He was touched by their recognition.

"We hate that you were hurting but we all saw how cathartic this album was for you." Jeff spoke next. He tilted his head in confusion, it seemed like they were leading up to something.

Bear closed out with "and while we don't want you hurting, we hope that this doesn't turn our music into sappy shit." He grabbed Eddie by the shoulders and spun him around to face Zeke who lowered himself to one knee.

"Oh, holy shit!" Eddie screamed uneloquently and covered his mouth with his hands. Zeke laughed softly.

"Eddie, when we met you were just starting out. I got to see, not all of it, but a lot of hard work, dedication, and sleepless nights that led you here. I have never been as happy as I am with you. And I know it's a little soon, we've only been together for six months. But I love you Eddie. You're it for me baby. I asked Wayne for his blessing and he gave me this." He pulled out a ring box from his pocket and opened it to reveal Eddie's mom's ring. Tears ran down Eddie's face. "I got it resized to fit you, I think. Wayne mentioned it was your mother's and her mother's, you know all the way up the chain. And since you don't have any sisters, we figured it could be yours. So, will you marry me?" Zeke finally asked. Eddie was nearly sobbing now but he was determined to speak. But first…he full body tackled Zeke to the ground.

"Yes! Yes! A thousand times yes!" His friends cheered and in a heap on the ground his fiance slid his ring onto his finger as their lips met. The flash of a camera reminded him everyone else was in the room. They broke the kiss and he smiled at the group. His eyes caught Robin's and he saw the joy in them for him but also the tinge of sadness she must feel for Steve. He shook his head, he was over Steve and had been for a while, but they were friends once. Maybe they could be again.

A Year and Six months after:

Eddie stood outside Steve's apartment. He was glad Zeke understood when he explained it was a night for the survivors of the "Earthquake" only. He flew in with Eddie and was hanging out at the hotel waiting for him to get back. They were planning on Seeing Wayne tomorrow. He knocked and was relieved that Dustin answered the door. He stepped in and caught up with everyone he'd seen recently before finally turning to see Steve for the first time in a year and a half.

He didn't look good. Bags under his eyes, five o'clock shadow, too skinny, and most telling of all, his hair wasn't done. They went through the awkward stage of catching up with an ex, before Steve asked to speak to him outside. Eddie didn't really have anything to say to him, but closure would be nice.

Except, the more Steve spoke, the less Eddie wanted to be out here. "This isn't fair. You broke up with me." Eddie wanted to tell him he was engaged but now wasn't the time. He wanted Steve to understand that this was how Eddie felt, regardless of another person in his life. He didn't want to get back together with Steve because of Zeke, but because the pain Steve caused him was too great. He would always love Steve, you never forget your first love. But Eddie didn't want to look to the past, only the future. As he left Steve outside, a weight lifted off Eddie's chest. He finally felt free to fly.

The next morning he called his PR team and gave the okay to announce the engagement.

Two weeks later when the article came in, Zeke and Eddie cuddled on the couch and read it together.

"Corroded Coffin's front man Eddie Munson is engaged to accountant Zeke Forester". Eddie had never been happier and was moving forward.

[gerrystamour]

here i have found some peace of mind [chapter four]

Rated E | Steddie

[ FIRST ] [ PREVIOUS ]

The boys figure their nonsense out. I meant to say this in the last update, but I have bandcasted the band Green Lung as "Corroded Coffin" re: their sound and vibe? I have actually made a "setlist" as well! Also!! The transphobia introduced in chapter two is resolved in this chapter ;p CW: There is smut in this chapter! Phone sex to be specific!

[ READ ON AO3 ]

soon as the summer comes, i will step out of time

“Just call him,” Robin groaned, dragging her hands down her face dramatically.

“I can’t,” Steve insisted, picking at the muffin Robin gave him the moment he stepped into Dustin’s office.

It had been three days since Steve had watched the YouTube videos, and he was admittedly miserable.

That night, when it sunk in how Eddie felt for him, Steve had texted Robin, not wanting to interrupt her if she was busy with Nancy.

Steve [sent at 05:02]: u busy? Robbie [sent at 05:03]: dude, we’re getting ready for work. did u even sleep?

Steve hadn’t even realized how long he’d been on Corroded Coffin’s channel, and sure enough his alarm went off a few seconds later. Getting up, he shuffled out into the apartment and found Robin in the kitchen making a coffee.

“Robs,” Steve said, his voice a bit rough with lack of sleep.

Robin turned around and frowned worriedly. “Seriously, Dingus, did you even sleep?”

“Robs, I fucked up,” he said sadly, dropping onto one of the stools at the island and holding his head in his hands.

“Well, yeah, you didn’t sleep,” Robin said nervously, coming around the island to sit next to him.

“No, this,” Steve said, unlocking his phone to play the end of the video he last watched.

Robin blinked down at the phone when the video ended. “Oof,” Robin started slowly before looking at Steve. “I don’t think you fucked up.”

“Robin, did you watch the same video? He was so—and I was so mean!” Steve groaned, crossing his arms on the counter and dropping his head on top of them.

“Okay, listen, yeah you were a bitch, let’s just get that out there. That doesn’t mean you’ve fucked up. You just need to call him and listen to his apology, and then you can decide how you want to move forward,” Robin said, as if it was the easiest thing in the world to do.

And theoretically, it was. The ball was in his court when it came to making contact with Eddie again, Steve knew that much. Steve was still the hurt party, even if he had been wrong about Eddie’s intentions, and he told Eddie to lose his number.

If anyone was going to reach out, it would come down to Steve.

Except Steve had been mean, stubbornly mean, even. It was hard to come back from being that way, to admit he had been cruel and that he was wrong for it. It didn’t help matters that he was watching that video repeatedly to punish himself either.

So Steve was at a stalemate of his own creation, and he had finally worn Robin’s sympathy out.

Dustin groaned. “Can we please stop talking about this? You keep talking around in circles, you won’t tell me all the details for some stupid reason—”

“It’s confidential,” Steve said, smirking when Dustin gestured at Robin, offended.

“You told her!” he said.

“And she’s an adult. And also my roommate,” Steve replied and Dustin turned red.

“I’m an adult, too—”

“Okay! I’ve gotta get back to work,” Steve interrupted with a loud clap. “See you around, Dusty-buns—”

“Stop calling me that, man,” Dustin whined, and Steve just laughed as he left the storage room.

“Hey, Dingus, wait up,” Robin said as she hurried after him, grabbing the sleeve of Steve’s cardigan as they walked. “I’m serious, Steve, call him. If he’s even half as in love with you as he seems in that video, he’ll forgive you instantly. If he even held what you said against you.”

“It’s worse if he didn’t,” Steve grumbled and shrugged Robin off, waving as they went their separate ways in the lobby.

It was shaping up to be another long day of self-pity and Steve was resigned to it as he returned to his desk. It was just his luck that his phone would ring the second he settled into a proper sulk.

“Thank you for calling Chicago In-Terminal Events, this is Steve,” Steve greeted in the happiest voice he could muster as he glanced at his phone. He froze when he saw the phone number and realized he recognized it, even if he only saw it once.

“Hey, Steve,” Eddie said, his voice tentative and unsure.

“Mr. Munson,” Steve replied, his mind reeling with relief, even if he was defaulting to professionalism.

There was a silent pause before Eddie chuckled a bit. “Honestly didn’t think you’d pick up,” he confessed.

“I didn’t realize it was you calling,” Steve said, and he grimaced at how bitchy he was still sounding.

This is what he wanted. Steve wanted Eddie to call again, to reach back out, to try and apologize again so that Steve could actually listen and maybe even accept it. And what, he was just going to screw that up because he had committed to being mad about it?

“Okay, I deserve that—”

“No—”

“Steve, I get that I’ve got literally zero right to ask you for anything, but please just listen?” Eddie asked in a rush, and Steve closed his mouth.

“Go ahead,” Steve said after a moment, realizing belatedly that Eddie was waiting for him to give him the okay.

Eddie took a deep breath. “It wasn’t fair to you, and I should’ve come clean a hell of a lot sooner. I just… really liked talking to you, and I was afraid you’d stop talking to me if you knew,” he said, and Steve’s heart ached at how sad Eddie sounded. “But doing what I did took away your choice, and it was really selfish of me because I got to hide behind this extra fuckin’ layer of armor or whatever while you were being real.”

Steve couldn’t even argue that Eddie’s fear was unfounded. Had Eddie come clean at the beginning, he would’ve put an immediate stop to their conversations. He wasn’t really forbidden from speaking to the performers, but it wasn’t encouraged either. Also, Steve would have had no interest in talking to Eddie; he was the frontman of a metal band, and Steve almost exclusively listened to what was most popular at the moment. But that was before he had gotten to know Eddie, even if he hadn’t been truthful about who he was exactly.

As he was mulling those thoughts over, he realized that had Eddie cleared up the misunderstanding immediately, they wouldn’t have talked at all. Steve would never have known that Eddie even existed, really. It was a bit annoying to consider that Eddie had ultimately done the best thing by hiding behind a fake identity.

“I really like you Steve, and I really want to keep talking to you,” Eddie continued after a few moments of silence and Steve let a slow breath out through his nose.

“The only reason I was able to chat with you on company time was because I thought you were my client,” Steve said slowly as he picked up his pencil and jotted down Eddie’s number from the screen on his phone. “I can’t really justify talking to you that much now.”

“Then give me your number? Like your personal one and we’ll keep it off the clock,” Eddie said quickly, and Steve raised his eyebrow at that, even if his stomach fluttered at the request. Eddie seemed to realize what he did and quickly added, “please?”

“Hm,” Steve hummed thoughtfully, and he hoped it sounded as playful as he had intended it. “I’ll consider it. I have to go now.”

“Steve, I really am sorry,” Eddie said quickly, and Steve chuckled a bit.

“I know, and thanks. For apologizing, I mean,” Steve replied, and finally he was apparently able to drop the bitchy tone, as if the mean, hurt part of him was waiting for those two words to finally drop its guard. Eddie seemed to hear the change in his tone, sighing out a small laugh.

“I will apologize as much as you want,” Eddie breathed, and Steve chuckled.

“Goodbye, Eddie,” Steve said, his voice soft and quiet, and he hung the receiver up before Eddie could respond.

Steve smiled down at his phone as he typed out a quick text, but he didn’t send it immediately. It wasn’t entirely intentional, as he was called away from his desk because Tammy needed assistance with one of her clients up in the meeting rooms. When he finally had a chance to sit back down and unlock his phone, it was roughly an hour and a half later.

‘Hey it’s Steve,’ his text read, and Steve got back to his work. When his phone almost immediately vibrated, lighting up with the notification from Eddie, Steve’s stomach filled with butterflies.

His good mood was interrupted when his computer pinged, reminding him that he was at work. Putting away his phone, he saw an email in his inbox from the sales manager he hated. Steve didn’t want to open the email, not wanting to be misgendered for the first time in weeks, but the woman had marked the email as “urgent” so he couldn’t reasonably ignore it.

“What the fuck?!”

Steve jumped and looked over at Joyce’s office, eyes wide as she continued to rant with a truly creative use of expletives. It wasn’t uncommon for Joyce to cuss, far from it even, but she wasn’t known to go on a tirade for that long.

Suddenly, she appeared in the doorway of her office with her kindest smile on her face as she looked at Steve. “Steve, can I speak with you for a minute?” she asked, and dread settled in his gut.

‘Oh fuck, she knows about Eddie,’ he thought as he nodded and locked his computer.

When he sat down across from Joyce’s desk, she glanced at her monitor and made a disgusted sound before meeting his gaze. “Why is Carol calling you by that name, Steve?” she asked calmly, and Steve just blinked at her, his mouth dropping open.

“What?” he asked, brow furrowed.

“The email she just sent, she referred to you as your birth name and then your real name in parentheses to the client. Do you know why she’s doing that?” Joyce asked again, and when he just blinked at her, still confused. “Did you look at the email, Steve? She copied me in it, so that’s why I saw it.”

Steve grimaced. “I was… stalling opening it. I was feeling good and didn’t want to be misgendered. I know it’s marked urgent, so I wasn’t going to ignore it forever, I promise, just—”

“Steve, honey, slow down! I’m not mad at you, you’re not in trouble, I promise! Are you telling me this has been going on for a while?” Joyce asked, horrified.

Steve shrugged and looked away, his face hot with embarrassment. “A couple months, I think? She didn’t always do that, so I dunno,” he said quietly, shrugging again.

“Why didn’t you say anything? No, don’t answer that, that was worded terribly. Let me start over,” Joyce said, waving him off when he tried to interrupt. Taking a deep breath, Joyce started again, “I want you to feel like you can come to me when you’re having problems, Steve, and this is a huge problem.”

Steve swallowed thickly, a bit emotional at how fired up Joyce was about this without him bringing it up to her first. Realizing she was waiting for some kind of response, Steve nodded quickly and looked at his knees.

“Carol’s behaviour must be addressed, Steve. If you don’t want to talk to me about this, I can absolutely bring HR in on this. Just let me know what would make you most comfortable moving forward,” Joyce said gently before she quietly added, “And I’m sorry, Steve, for anything I’ve done that made you feel like you had to deal with this on your own.”

“You didn’t do anything, Joyce,” Steve said quickly, looking up to meet her eyes. “I just—I don’t think I can really explain how it feels, but I just—standing up for myself about this is scary. It’s—yeah, so far I’ve had a ton of support, but that’s all been because it’s been easy. What Carol’s doing…”

Steve trailed off, rubbing the back of his neck to stop himself from shrugging again.

“Is there anyone on the team you worry about siding with her if this becomes a problem?” Joyce asked and Steve quickly shook his head.

“It’s not like I think anyone’s secretly hating my guts, just… in my experience, people show where they actually stand the second I get firm about my name and pronouns,” Steve said carefully, staring at the ceiling. “I’d rather deal with the dysphoria than find out who only respects me when I’m not making a fuss.”

Joyce let out a slow breath and when Steve looked at her she had tears in her eyes. “I’m so sorry you’ve been dealing with this, and I’m even more sorry that you feel that way. Unfortunately, I still have to deal with this now that I know she’s doing this. It’s up to you how involved you are.”

“What do you mean?” Steve asked, chewing the inside of his cheek.

“You can either file a formal complaint against her with HR, or I can take it to HR and file the complaint myself as your manager,” Joyce said, holding her hands out on the desk between them. “I can make it about how I feel about my employee being discriminated against like this.”

Steve considered the options, and he was tempted to let Joyce file the complaint. At the same time, he knew Joyce had his back, even without him asking, and that alone felt like enough to deal with whatever fall-out came of this.

Shaking his head, Steve said, “I’ll file the complaint.”

Joyce tilted her head with a soft smile. “Only if you want to, Steve. I don’t expect you to, and this isn’t a test,” she insisted, and Steve laughed a bit at that.

“I know, Joyce. Just—I’ll file the complaint,” Steve replied. “How do we actually do this?”

“We’ll take this to HR, and they’ll help us with the next step. Since this is a sensitive subject regarding discrimination in the workplace, they will likely take over completely and work with Carol’s HR department to do an investigation,” Joyce answered, taking a deep breath. “Can you forward me every email you’ve received from her that you still have?”

“Yeah, of course,” Steve agreed.

“And can you also forward me any emails you’ve sent to her with your signature attached?” Joyce asked, pulling up a blank email on her screen, starting the message to HR.

“Yep, absolutely,” Steve said, nodding quickly. At that, Joyce turned in her chair to face him fully.

“Steve, I really want you to know that I’m in your corner, no matter what. I will deal with anyone—and I mean anyone—who treats you poorly,” she said, her voice deathly serious before she turned back to the computer. Then her face scrunched up as she asked, “You know what’s stupid?”

“What?” Steve asked with a startled laugh.

“She has her goddamned pronouns in her signature, and she can’t get yours right?” Joyce said and Steve laughed.

“Right? I thought I was having a stroke when she first deadnamed me and I noticed those,” Steve joked, and Joyce made a disgusted sound.

“And right at the start of Pride Month, too? The CEO just sent out an email about inclusion, especially around trans rights, and she sends this?” Joyce ranted before shaking her head and then shaking out her hands. “Okay, I need to calm down before I send this email. You want a coffee, Steve? Let’s go grab a coffee.”

Just like that, Joyce was jumping up and grabbing her blazer and wallet. Steve barely had time to react before she gestured impatiently.

“C’mon, Steve, let’s go,” she insisted, and Steve jumped up with a laugh, following her out of the office.

❖

When Steve got home, he forced himself to get changed and make himself dinner before he picked up his phone and responded to literally any of the texts Eddie had sent. Yes, there had been multiple over the day, though Steve could tell from the previews he saw when he glanced at his phone that they were largely just stream-of-thought type messages. None of them were demanding his attention immediately.

It was cute, surprising even.

Finally, Steve settled on his bed and opened the texts from Eddie.

Munson [sent at 13:41]: hi❗❗❗ ur off at 5, right? 😁😁😁 Munson [sent at 14:01]: u have to see this ✨✨ugly✨✨ ass bug i just found❗❗❗ Munson [sent at 14:01]: wait r bug pics okay 😬 i'll wait til u tell me before i send it😋😋😋🐜🐜 Munson [sent at 15:46]: gonna be playing tonight 🎸🎸🕺🏻 but w timezones and shit we should still be at the hotel when u get home 😋 Munson [sent at 17:00]: lmk if i can call u 👉🏻👈🏻 txting is fine too tho❗❗❗ just like hearing u 😚

Steve grinned at the messages, especially the liberal usage of emojis. It was honestly adorable, especially imagining a man who looked like Eddie Munson punctuating every sentence with at least one emoji. The last message made his heart give a fluttery little squeeze, especially when he noticed it was sent around the time Steve was clocking out.

Steve [sent at 18:21]: hey, home now, u can call whenever. I’ll be up for a few more hours probably Steve [sent at 18:22]: bug pics are fine, btw

It took about five minutes for Steve’s phone to start vibrating with the incoming call.

“Hey,” Steve greeted, just to be met with raucous laughter and the wailing of his name from the other band members. There was even a voice that sounded suspiciously like Chrissy in the mix.

“You’re a bunch of embarrassing fucking animals!” Eddie was barking at them, and by the way their laughter got suddenly quieter with a click, Steve could guess they had been hanging out in one hotel room. “Sorry about that,” Eddie said into the phone, his voice quiet and nervous.

“It’s all good,” Steve said, blushing deeply at actually hearing that dumb bit live.

“They’re so dumb. I swear, the moment they start dating anyone outside the band I’m gonna be ruthless,” Eddie promised grumpily, but it was punctuated with a chuckle. “Anyway, how was work?”

Steve’s heart squeezed again, overwhelmed by the question in a way that was beyond stupid. It was small talk at best and taking it as what, domesticity? Just setting himself up for heartbreak later.

“Work was work. Getting into the summer here, so tours and entertainment groups are picking back up and it’s getting pretty busy,” Steve responded, shrugging a shoulder despite Eddie not being able to see him. Then he said, “Can I ask you something?”

“Anything,” Eddie immediately replied, and Steve could hear the sound of a door shutting. Steve assumed that meant Eddie was now in his own hotel room.

“Why did you actually lie? Like, assuming I would stop talking to you aside like… why was it so important that I kept talking to you?” he asked, frowning a bit. “You didn’t really know me for the first few calls, so I just… don’t think it started with your feelings about me.”

Eddie let out a huff of laughter followed by a small oof as the phone was jostled a bit. “You’re so fuckin’ smart, Stevie, it’s scary sometimes,” Eddie muttered, and Steve blushed.

“Not a whole lot of people would agree with that,” Steve teased, and Eddie made a disgusted noise.

“Those people are just lying to themselves,” he said firmly before sighing. “I haven’t had like… a real conversation with someone in, like, forever. Since we started proper touring as openers and stuff. The only people I could talk to about things were the boys, Chrissy, and my uncle.”

Steve frowned at that but didn’t interrupt, even when Eddie paused for several seconds.

“When you called it was nice to not be Eddie Munson Of Corroded Coffin, and when I flirted with you, you—it was just nice. The way you reacted when I flirted,” Eddie said, his voice quiet. “It made me feel like I was a normal guy.”

“What—I don’t even remember how I reacted the first time,” Steve said, trying to recall that conversation two months ago.

“It wasn’t just the first time; it was every time. Like you would get shy and then give it back as good as you got, y’know? I’m used to flirting with people and them just…” Eddie trailed off, groaning. “I hate how this sounds out loud, but people normally just… throw themselves at me. Like, if I’m giving them attention, they need to get in my pants immediately, as if getting to know them at all is off the table. Like they think I won’t want to spend time with them if I actually knew them.���

“Sounds really lonely,” Steve confessed, his heart aching for Eddie and a new wave of guilt washed over Steve about the ‘groupie’ comment.

“I’ve got the boys and Chrissy, plus my uncle back home,” Eddie deflected, and Steve let him have that space.

“I’m sorry, too. For the groupie thing,” Steve said instead of pushing it, and Eddie laughed.

“Hey, it’s fine—”

“No, it’s not. That was—I was hurt, and sometimes when I’m hurt I get mean,” Steve insisted firmly, talking over Eddie. “It’s something I’ve been working on, and you can’t let me get away with it, even if you think you deserved it, got it?”

There was a pause. “Got it, Stevie,” Eddie replied, laughing softly before he hummed. “I just want you to know I’m really happy you’re giving me a second chance.”

“Honestly, Eddie, I regretted telling you off pretty much immediately,” Steve admitted, chewing on his bottom lip.

“You still sounded pretty angry when you answered the phone earlier…” Eddie pointed out and Steve grimaced.

“Like I said, when I’m hurt I can be an asshole, and I was still a bit hurt because you did lie and it was kind of embarrassing as a professional fumbling like that in front of Chrissy,” Steve pointed out. “I’m lucky Chrissy isn’t super uptight, because that alone could’ve cost me my job, Eddie.”

“Yikes, sorry, again,” Eddie replied sheepishly. “What changed your mind?”

“I, uh, looked you up,” Steve admitted, and Eddie went very silent on the other line.

When Steve didn’t elaborate further, Eddie let out a strangled little, “Oh?”

“Yeah, kinda just figured out what band you’re in first and stuff, saw some of your promo stuff for your newest album, read an article about your disability,” Steve explained, clearing his throat nervously. “Then while I was reading another article, I clicked a link to your YouTube—”

“Oh, fuck me,” Eddie groaned, his voice muffled as if he had buried his face into a pillow. Then, with his voice a bit clearer, he added, “Please tell me you haven’t watched the Tour Diaries, I’m begging you, Stevie, even if you have to lie.”

“I don’t like to lie, Eddie,” Steve said with a grin, blushing as he thought about videos again. “They were sweet—”

“It’s so embarrassing, and I swear I was only letting Gareth keep the stupid Steve Spotting segment in there because Steve is a super common name and you said you didn’t know or care about who we were, but I can absolutely get Gareth to remove the segments—” Eddie rambled, sounding a bit panicked.

“Eddie, the segment is fine! It’s great, I don’t—Gareth can keep the segment in the videos. It was that segment that got my bitchy head out of my ass,” Steve interrupted, and Eddie sputtered, and Steve liked to imagine that he was blushing.

“But… can you pretend to have a problem with it so the boys will leave me alone?” Eddie asked in a dramatically pouty voice.

“Absolutely not,” Steve replied with a grin.

“Ugh,” Eddie groaned before sighing, and letting the conversation lapse into silence that was not awkward or uncomfortable.

“Tell me something about yourself that you haven’t told me before,” Steve said quietly after a minute, smiling at Eddie’s soft hum.

“I can tell you about how I got burned,” Eddie replied and Steve frowned.

“You don’t have to. I know you don’t like answering questions about that—”

“I only dodge that question with strangers, especially strangers who are reporters. You, Stevie, are neither of those things,” Eddie said flippantly, taking a deep breath. “In twelfth grade I, uh, set myself on fire.”

“Oh shit,” Steve said, eyebrows shooting high on his forehead.

“Yeah, but it wasn’t just like… oops, dropped a lit match on myself. I had the bright idea to do the whole… flamethrower thing with a can of hairspray and a lighter,” Eddie continued and Steve grimaced. “Before you ask, there was next to zero thought process behind that decision, it was almost entirely impulse.”

“How’d you end up on fire though? I thought the hairspray flamethrower made the flames pretty directional,” Steve asked, though he was definitely not completely positive on that either.

“Yeah, well, the wind changed direction and suddenly my pants, my shirt, and my hair was on fire,” Eddie replied with a put-upon sigh and Steve couldn’t help but laugh. “The worst part was the hair. Not only did that shit stink, but man, my hair was glorious.”

“I don’t know, your hair is pretty glorious now, too,” Steve said appreciatively, thinking back to the black and white photo and the way his long curls spread across the vanity and fell over his shoulders.

There was a slight pause before Eddie let out a soft, almost shy giggle. “Stevie, I don’t know how to handle compliments from you now that I know you’ve actually seen me,” he admitted and Steve grinned.

“Good to know,” Steve hummed cheekily, laughing when Eddie groaned a bit.

In the background at Eddie’s end, Steve could hear a knock and a muffled voice. “Yeah! Heard you loud and—shut the fuck up, we’re only talking!” Eddie yelled, before saying to Steve, “Duty calls, Stevie. Can I call you after the show?”

“If I’m still up,” Steve replied instantly, still grinning up at the ceiling of his room.

“Awesome, I’ll text you! Later, babe,” Eddie said in a rush and hung-up before Steve could properly respond.

Steve held the silent phone to his ear for a while, repeating the term of endearment in his head over and over again while blushing up at the ceiling. His phone vibrated and startled Steve out of his thoughts.

Looking at the screen, it was a picture from Eddie, and for a second Steve was excited about potentially receiving a selfie from the man. When he opened it, he was confused to be faced with an image of a truly hideous bug.

Munson [sent at 18:57]: look at this ✨✨ugly✨✨ ass mf❗❗❗❗❗ he's so ✨✨uuuuuuuglyyyyy✨✨  Munson [sent at 18:58]: 😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭

Steve laughed, grinning at the image and the truly comical number of crying emojis that followed the message.

❖

Steve and Eddie spent the next couple of weeks talking daily. During his breaks at work, Steve would text Eddie, and when he would get home for the day, they would call each other. Most of their conversations were Eddie retelling a few stories about himself without the lens of Chris talking about the “frontman”. Even though Steve had heard the stories before, they were so much richer being retold in first person and had more details that Eddie had to previously omit.

They also made a few video calls, usually when production brought the boys to a local landmark to film them “seeing the sights” and Eddie wanted to show Steve something cool. Steve was pretty set on limiting how much time they spent on video calls, knowing it would just make him even more obsessed with Eddie.

Though, that ship had definitely already sailed, and Steve knew it deep in his heart. Even on days when he was too busy at work to spare a few moments to check his texts, he would look at his phone every time it vibrated and grinned when he saw Eddie’s name in his notifications.

When there was only two weeks before the band arrived, Steve went upstairs to meet with one of the front office supervisors, Will.

He was largely responsible for doing room assignments and communicating about groups to the rest of the team. Will was a great kid, super polite, charming, and great with guests to the point that literally every guest that dealt with him and left a review mentioned him by name. So many guests seemed to actually fall in love with the kid, and most of the time that seemed to go over the kid’s head.

Regardless, when Steve left the front desk to join events, he put Will’s name in to replace him.

“Hey Will, you got a minute?” Steve said as he poked his head around the corner to look in on Will’s workstation.

Will looked up at him with wide eyes before smiling and reaching over to his phone to pause his music. The song that had been playing was familiar to Steve, even if it was heavier than the music he typically listened to. After a moment, it clicked that he knew exactly what, or more whose song that was and grinned.

“Yeah, Steve, what’s up?” Will asked, turning to face Steve expectantly. He paused when he saw the gleeful expression on Steve’s face, raising an eyebrow.

Grabbing one of the other chairs in the back office, Steve sat down and handed Will the group summary for Eddie’s band. There was nothing identifying on the page, as it only contained the information that had been turned over to him and then elaborated on by Eddie and Chrissy over the past couple of months.

“We’ve got an entertainment group arriving in a couple weeks. I wanted to go over this with you personally, along with the riders,” Steve said as Will began reading the summary. “It’s a band and film crew. They arrive on the thirteenth, depart on the sixteenth. Their concert is on the Fri—”

“Who is it?” Will interrupted, a bit uncharacteristically, and Steve smirked just a bit when Will’s eyes shot up to meet his.

“They’re a metal band,” Steve responded airily, his smirk fighting to become a grin when Will seemed to vibrate for a second.

“Who is it, Steve?” he asked again, leaning forward.

“Corroded Coffin,” Steve finally said, grinning properly when Will actually stomped his feet excitedly. The kid tended to be pretty reserved, except when he was passionate about something like Dungeons & Dragons, or apparently metal bands.

“This is so cool. I love that band,” Will said, turning his music back on.

“You going to the concert?” Steve asked, and his smile fell a bit when Will frowned.

“The show sold out before I could afford a ticket. They went on sale right after rent and my student loans got pulled,” Will complained, shrugging slightly, but his expression was still excited. “This is so cool though. If I promise not to be weird about it, would it be possible to meet them?”

Steve laughed and nodded. “I think I could make that happen for you,” he said with a wink before standing up.

As Will exploded into a full rant about Corroded Coffin and their music, Steve took that moment to unlock his phone and read the steady flood of texts he had received from Eddie over the day.

Eddie [sent at 10:03]: holy shit i saw another ✨✨fucked up bug✨✨ wth 🤮 Eddie [sent at 11:17]: garebear thinks these candies taste good 🤮🤮🤮 pls tell me ur normal and agree theyre the nastiest shit on the planet 🤢🤢🤢🤢 Eddie [sent at 11:21]: ik ur busy but i'm taking ur silence as agreement and saying u agree w me to garebear 😤 Eddie [sent at 12:02]: wtf 😤 the pigs pulled us over for no gd reason❗❗❗ searched the whole gd bus and now we’re gonna be fuckn late for soundcheck❗❗❗ wtffffffffff 🤬 Eddie [sent at 12:37]: yo baby isnt it lunchtime there?????? u better be taking ur break soon❗❗❗ gotta eat food and stay big and 💪🏻strong💪🏻 and 🥵hot🥵❗❗❗ Eddie [sent at 13:07]:  srsly stevie u better be eating 😠 even if ur not texting me back❗❗❗ 😘

Steve smiled fondly, his heart squeezing at the concern about his eating habits while he was at work. Turning his attention back to Will, he decided to keep what he had with Eddie a bit of a secret as it wasn’t something he wanted getting into the gossip pool. Anyway, Will didn’t need to know that Steve had some extra privileges with the band, or at least the frontman.

❖

The bus was noisily driving down the highway as Eddie lay on his stomach, propped on his elbows in his bunk and talking quietly on the phone with Steve. The curtains of his bunk were drawn closed for as much privacy as he could manage, and he was using earbuds so that his hands were free to fidget with all of his pent-up energy.

They were only a few days away from arriving in Chicago and Eddie was practically vibrating out of his skin about it. Currently he was in the middle of picking his nail polish off, which was making an absolute mess of his bunk that he would be super annoyed about when he finally hung-up with Steve and went to bed, but whatever. 

Eddie would deal with that when he had to.

“Have you listened to any of our music, Stevie?” Eddie asked and he hoped he didn’t sound as nervous as he felt asking. He’d been avoiding bringing up their music with Steve, worried that he wouldn’t like it at all.

“I’ve listened to a couple songs, yeah,” Steve responded with a chuckle.

Eddie waited a couple moments for Steve to say more on his own before asking, “What did you think?”

“I don’t really listen to metal, but your stuff is good,” Steve elaborated, and Eddie couldn’t help the way he wiggled happily at that. “There’s this kid at my work, at front desk, he loves your band. I told him about a week ago that you’re coming to the hotel, and he nearly vibrated through the floor.”

“Oh shit, that’s awesome,” Eddie said, his grin huge.

“He asked if he’d be able to meet you guys while you’re on-property,” Steve added, his voice full of mirth. “I said I would see what I could do.”

“Oh, Stevie, are you trying to exploit our little thing to get your coworker an exclusive meet and greet?” Eddie teased and Steve snorted.

“Nah, I was just gonna ask if it would be possible with your schedule. You can let me know when you do or whatever. No pressure,” Steve replied, and Eddie could tell he meant it.

“Well, he’s going to the show, right? I’ll see if I can upgrade his tickets,” Eddie said easily as he picked another chunk of nail polish off, but Steve sighed a bit sadly.

“Your show sold out before he could buy tickets,” he said at Eddie’s questioning hum, and Eddie frowned.

Well, that wouldn’t do. He’d have to talk to Chrissy about that.

Then Steve let out a little moan that Eddie knew was the noise reserved for stretching. He’d come to learn that Steve made a lot of little noises, when he stretched or was thinking particularly hard about something, or even the few times he fell asleep while they were on the phone. Each little noise was precious and drove Eddie insane with thoughts about the many other ways he could make Steve make such sweet little sounds.

So he cracked the same joke he did every time Steve stretched and moaned directly into his ear.

“Touching yourself over there, baby?” he asked, tone teasing and ready for Steve to scoff, tell him to keep it in his pants, and then go back to the conversation they were having before.

But Steve just hummed thoughtfully before asking, “And what if I was?”

Eddie’s thoughts came to a screeching halt as he tried to come up with a response to that. “What?” he asked stupidly, grimacing at himself.

Steve laughed. “What if I started touching myself?” he asked, his voice turning downright sultry.

“A-are you?” Eddie asked in a whisper. See, the rest of the boys could tolerate his late-night chats with Steve, but they wouldn’t for a second put up with Eddie saying filthy shit into the phone.

“Maybe… was considering it,” Steve replied, and Eddie could hear him shifting, maybe even undressing. That had Eddie’s attention and he shifted his hips as he felt his cock filling out against his bed. “Been thinking about our date a lot lately.”

“Steve, I can’t—I’m on the bus,” Eddie hissed into the phone and Steve made a small sound.

“Alright, I’ll hang up then—”

“No, please don’t hang up,” Eddie quickly interrupted, and if he wasn’t so hot and bothered already, he would’ve been embarrassed at just how desperate he sounded. “I just can’t, like, say anything right now.”

“Don’t have to,” Steve breathed down the line and Eddie shuddered. “Just have to listen, yeah?”

“Yeah,” Eddie replied, quiet and strangled. “Video call?”

“Hmm, no, I don’t think so,” Steve sighed, even if the thoughtful hum sounded interested. Eddie would file that away for later.

“Then tell me what you’re doing,” Eddie whispered, biting his bottom lip roughly as he reached down to reposition his cock between himself and the shitty mattress of his bunk.

On the other end of the line, Steve let out a sound that was breathy and sweet, and Eddie wanted to taste that sound so desperately.

“Just touching my dick, thinking about getting your mouth on it,” Steve moaned, letting another sound tumble out that was much deeper, more guttural, a sound that Eddie felt all the way to the tip of his own cock. “Bet you—oh, fuck, bet your pretty mouth was made for eating cunt.”

Eddie shivered, staring down at the mess of nail polish on the bed, eyes wide as he tried to understand what was happening. Obviously, he was listening to Steve jerk off, listening to him openly fantasize about him, but that didn’t make sense to Eddie. He wasn’t going to complain at all, except for the fact that he couldn’t actually respond. Eddie knew that if he tried, if he opened his mouth and tried to speak right then, he would just moan and alert the three assholes plus Chrissy to their activities.

“Jesus, Eds, I’m so fucking wet thinking about it,” Steve sighed, letting another deep sound of pleasure loose.

Eddie let out a strangled, breathy sound and rocked against the mattress, a furious blush overcoming his face, ears, and throat as he literally humped his bed like a fucking teenager.

“Shit, Eds, gonna—fuck, can’t concentrate anymore. Gonna get myself off, just listen,” Steve eventually said around a thick, desperate groan.

“Got it, Stevie,” Eddie managed to say, his tone shockingly even and quiet.

Then he was treated to the sounds of Steve getting himself off, the way he gasped and moaned, the guttural noises as the pleasure mounted and strangled whines as he seemed to back off a bit. Like he was edging himself, just a bit, dragging it out to torture Eddie.

And fuck, if Steve didn’t moan like a goddamn porn star, like he was being paid to sound so fucking hot. There was a delirious moment where Eddie thought about recording these sounds to sample in a song somehow while he grabbed his body pillow and shoved it between his legs for better friction. Grabbing another pillow, he bit it to better muffle his own noises as he got closer to his own release.

Eddie Munson was about to come in his own boxers while humping a pillow. The thought of it was so humiliating, it looped right back around to being the hottest fucking thing to ever happen to him.

“Shit, Eds, gonna come,” Steve whined, and Eddie shivered, imagining Steve arching in his bed, fingers working his dick and cunt furiously. Then Steve gasped, his voice wavering just before he shouted, “Fuck, Eddie!”

That was it for Eddie. Grinding his teeth around his mouthful of pillow, Eddie rocked his hips hard and fast, breathing heavily through his nose as the front of his boxers became sticky and warm against his skin. With gasping, panting breaths, Eddie quickly rolled onto his hip to avoid too much cum seeping through the layers and defiling his body pillow more than he already had.

“Holy fuck, that was way hotter than I expected,” Steve gasped through is own post-coital panting. “Fuck, Eds, you sounded so hot trying to be quiet.”

Eddie laughed breathlessly. “Wish I didn’t have to be, but hey, as long as it worked for you,” he teased, pushing his sweaty, curly hair up off his forehead.

“It definitely worked,” Steve confirmed with a tired hum, then he audibly yawned and sighed. “Okay, I’ve gotta get to bed, okay?”

“Same. I’ve gotta also change real quick,” Eddie replied in a whisper, grinning at the groan that got out of Steve.

“Shut up, you’re gonna get me going again,” Steve laughed. “I’ll talk to you tomorrow?”

“Absolutely,” Eddie agreed. “Night, Stevie.”

“Night, Eds,” Steve yawned just before hanging up.

Before Eddie could even really think to move from his spot, the curtain of his bunk parted just enough for Gareth’s upside-down face to poke inside with an unimpressed glare.

“If you ever keep me up with freaky phone sex again, I’m putting Nair in your conditioner. Do not test me, Munson,” he bit out.

Eddie just narrowed his eyes. “You’re just jealous I’m getting freaky phone sex and you’re not,” he replied with a haughty sniff. He knew better than to call Gareth’s bluff.

“Of course, I fucking am,” Gareth snapped back before wrinkling his nose. “God, now the whole bus is gonna stink like jizz. Chrissy’s gonna strangle you and I’m gonna let her.”

“Don’t threaten me with a good time, Garebear,” Eddie cooed as he began stripping out of his wet pajama pants and boxers, not even waiting for Gareth to look away. Honestly, it worked better to threaten his childhood best friend with his nudity to get him to look away faster.

“You’re fucking gross, man,” Gareth groused as he disappeared from view, and Eddie just grinned.

[ NEXT ]

[ READ ON AO3 ]

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[things-arent-what-they-seem66]

Entrapped au

Vaggie came into the kitchen to find mostly everyone in there, sans for Nifty and Husk. They all turned their heads then with a very quick dark look turned back to their food. Even Charlie looked upset with her. Vaggie sighed, some time had passed since the incident with Ada, she knew she was the mother of humanity, as she liked to remind her soldiers as if she wore it like a badge of honor, but she didn’t know she had suffered this badly on Earth. With an awkward smile she went up to them.

Vaggie: Morning Miel you look very beautiful today, WAY more than usual

Charlie: hm, thanks you too

Vaggie winced at the cold tone and nodded a greeting towards Alastor

Vaggie: Good morning Alastor

Alastor who had heard what happened when he caught Ada running out the door when he came home narrowed his eyes at her

Alastor: you know it’s funny for someone who claims to be a feminist you sure don’t have much respect for the women who is the reason for our existence

With that he returned back to his news paper. Vaggie was left shock at the unusually serious tone he gave. When she looked in Angel’s direction he was already staring daggers at her. Daring her to make any move at all

Vaggie: Hey! Angel how’s it going?

Angel: get bent you omega hating bitch!

Vaggie gasped: I do not hate omegas! Just because I got into a nasty argument with Ada doesn't mean I hate all of them. Okay fine, I crossed a line but don't fucking sit there and act like you've never said the wrong thing without knowing the full story.

Charlie: Are you going to apologize?

Vaggie: I will....... Once she's closed off enough that she'll be willing to even hear it. How was I supposed to know Steve treated her like shit? She never spoke poorly of him.

[dwobbitfromtheshire]

TOW Eddie wakes the fuck up

Summary: I love Eddie being Steve’s bisexual awakening, but there's not enough where it's the other way around. Here's Eddie waking the fuck up in middle of the spring break from hell. Long fic.

Eddie couldn't keep his eyes off of Steve Harrington since he slammed him against the wall of the boathouse. There was this feeling of guilt that he felt in his stomach, and he didn't know to apologize. He never knew how to apologize. That was the one thing his father taught him not to do. Apologizing was always a sign of weakness. Being sorry could never cut it. It wasn't enough for his father. This is why he was choking on his tongue now, why he always choked when he needed to apologize. He knew he needed to do that with Lucas because it was the kind of petty bullshit that his father would have done, and he would have done it without apologizing for it. He wasn't his father.

That was the reason why he couldn't keep his eyes off Steve, right? To apologize for nearly stabbing him in the throat? Eddie was also wrong about what he had originally thought about Steve Harrington, what he had thought about all jocks. To be honest, they never interacted. Steve had never even interacted with people like him the way jocks like Jason Carver did. Guys like Jason always needed to prove that he was better than others. Steve had just didn't care enough to harass others, or maybe he just didn't want to be like that. He watched him before, and he always believed the rumors about Steve, that he was a jerk because it was easier to believe, which made him like everyone else who believed the rumors about Eddie himself.

Now, here they were in the same boat. Literally. Steve was preparing to jump into the lake to find a gate into another world. Mr. Swim team, Mr. Lifeguard. . . Yeah, you couldn't pay Eddie enough to go down there. He couldn't stop watching Steve as he stripped, his eyes trailing over him. Steve took off his sweater and looked in his direction. Eddie could have sworn he saw a twinkle of mischief in his eyes before he threw the sweater at him. Wait. . .did he wink, or was that his imagination? Eddie couldn't stop staring at him at the moles on his back and at the muscles he had. Eddie wondered how far they went down, the moles, and he had a sudden urge to trace patterns into Steve’s skin. Wait, what? Eddie cleared his throat.

"Hey."

"Yeah?" Steve asked, turning to him and looking at Eddie with those damn eyes of his.

"Good luck."

"Thanks."

Eddie whipped out his cigarettes and popped one into his mouth. He didn't get to enjoy it before Robin had snatched it out of his mouth and threw it in the water. She's Steve’s best friend. She is Steve’s best friend. Of course, Eddie had to bite his tongue when Nancy had to say something to Steve, too. Really? Oh. . .was that jealousy? Then Steve jumped into the lake, leaving Eddie to his thoughts. He had wanted to touch Steve. Was he attracted to him? No, he always liked girls, right? He was particularly fond of cheerleaders and their skirts. He had been fond of Chrissy, and it wasn't just sexual attraction. Their little moment in the woods, there was something there. He remembered that balloon feeling in his chest that had expanded the more he talked with her. He had wanted to make her laugh forever. And now she. . .how quick he had forgotten her. This was about Chrissy, and he was having a goddamn sexuality crisis in the middle of a shitstorm. Nope. Nope! He nearly shrieked when Steve finally popped up.

"It's pretty wild. It's more a snack size gate than the mama gate, but still, it's pretty damn big," Steve said.

Eddie focused on what he was saying, trying to ignore the fact that he was all wet and beautiful. Suddenly, Steve was being dragged under the water by a force that they couldn't see. Fuck! Nancy immediately jumped in, and then Robin and Eddie had been left behind on the boat. He cursed before stumbling into the water after them, and then he was in another world. All the adventures he had imagined over the years, the lives he had yearned to live, and he wanted nothing more than to go back to that. . .to it just being imagination.

Eddie grabbed an oar and started to beat the bat like creatures off of Steve, feeling much like a knight saving a princess. Like all princesses that he imagined, they could also save themselves. They didn't always need a knight or a prince to save them. Steve pulled himself off the ground, furious. With his feet, he held the bat down and proceeded to rip the creature in half. Steve gasped, blood dripping from his mouth. Eddie gaped at him. Oh, yep. He wanted to fuck this guy. He wanted to tie him up and rail him into next year. Or let Steve tie him up. Either way, it was the hottest thing he had ever witnessed. Oh, no. . .now was NOT the time to get hard. Think other thoughts. Oh, no, Robin was staring at him. Does she know? She knows! He placed the oar in front of him and turned his hips away. She scoffed. Yeah, she knows.

Of course, getting back through the gate wouldn't be easy. Those fuckers had the gate surrounded and more were coming. They needed to get to Skull Rock. It was closet. Steve had stumbled, and Eddie caught him around the waist before he could collapse. Eddie felt a little victorious that he had caught him before Nancy could. Eddie half carried him to a rock and set him down, kneeling in front of him to check his wounds. He immediately began ripping his shirt to make bandages for Steve, effectively turning his Hellfire shirt into a crop top.

"Sorry, you had to do that," Steve winced.

"Nah, it's fine. I've been wanting to turn it into a crop top for a while now," Eddie grinned as he began to wrap the makeshift bandage around his middle. "I have been dying to show off my sexy belly button."

"Are belly buttons sexy?" Steve asked with a snort.

"Well, I know mine is," Eddie grinned. "And any part of the body is sexy if you try hard enough."

"What about elbows? Can you make elbows sexy?" Steve grinned.

"Oh, definitely, and I must say you've got some really sexy elbows there, Steve," Eddie replied and Steve giggled.

Wow, Eddie was really just swinging right into this.

"Oh. I get Steve because he lost blood. What's your excuse, Eddie?" Robin asked as she hovered over them. "Because that was really lame. Sexy belly buttons? Sexy elbows? Dinguses. Both of you."

Eddie winked at him before helping him up. They hadn't stood very long before the ground was shaking, and Eddie had fallen on his butt, catching Steve in his arms. Eddie's hands landed on Steve’s hips, gripping them tightly. Eventually, the ground stopped shaking, but Eddie didn't let him go. Steve looked up at him from between his legs. Their faces were pretty close together, Eddie realized. He sucked in a breath.

"Uh, the ground stopped shaking," Steve said.

"Right. Right!" Eddie cleared his throat and let him go.

They started walking towards Nancy's house to get her guns, which was still such a surprise to Eddie. Nancy Wheeler had guns? More than one? It was quiet for a minute until Steve awkwardly cleared his throat.

"I just want to think you for saving me back there," Steve said.

"Oh, you saved yourself, man. I just tended to your wounds like a dutiful nurse. What you did was very . . . " Don't say hot. Whatever you do, Munson, don't say hot. Say metal! " . . . hot. It was very hot. I mean, metal. Very metal of you, like when Ozzy bit the head off that bat."

"Ozzy?" Steve asked.

"You know. . . Ozzy Osbourne from Black Sabbath?" Eddie asked.

"I have no idea," Steve blushed. "Sorry. I really only know this one metal band. . . kind of."

"You know one, that's more than I thought you would have," Eddie grinned. "You're just full of surprises. So, tell me about this band that you know of."

"I don't know, have you heard of Metallica?" Steve asked.

"Have I heard of Metallica? I don't know. . . it sounds vaguely familiar," he said thoughtfully, trying not to laugh.

"Stop being an asshole. You know exactly what I'm talking about," Steve told him and shoved him.

"It's only like one of my favorite bands ever," Eddie said, leaning into his space. "So, how does Steve Harrington come to know about Metallica?"

"I was hanging with a friend and their cousin was around, watching a tape of one of their music videos," Steve said and shrugged. "It caught my attention."

"A friend, huh? You're telling me that your girlfriend has a cousin who's a metalhead?" Eddie asked.

"Well, actually, that's over," Steve blushed. "And it wasn't a girl."

"Oh. . .so, you're . . . gay?" Eddie asked. "I was not expecting that. I'm cool with it. I have a friend who's gay and for his sake, I'm not saying who it is."

"Bisexual, actually," Steve shrugged.

"Oh, right. . . that exists. See, I knew that. You know, because of Bowie but I never thought that it could apply to . . . you know. . . ," Eddie replied.

"Me?" Steve asked.

"No! Me!" Eddie said. "I swear, I'm so slow."

"Wait, I thought you just said you were gay," Steve said.

"No, I literally have a friend who's gay," Eddie laughed.

"Oh, so, how new are you to this?" Steve asked. "Because I swear that I thought with the hanky. . . "

"What? Oh, does that mean something? Because I just wore it because of James Hetfield," Eddie said. "What does it mean?"

Steve grinned and proceeded to tell him exactly what it meant. Eddie slapped a hand over his face. Sure, he thought about doing that sort of stuff. . . of being handcuffed and spanked. It was usually a beautiful woman who did it. Now, he was sure that it would Steve in her place or alongside Steve. Shit, both of them at the same time. . . okay, stop thinking dirty thoughts about Steve Harrington.

"Eddie, how new are you? Wait. . . you didn't realize in the middle of all this? Did you? . . . Shit, you did. What woke you up?" Steve said, and Eddie peaked through his hands, breathing heavily. "Oh. Boy, you're really going through it, huh?"

"Shut up, Steve," Eddie sighed. "I'm panicking just a little bit. Jesus H. Christ, have you always known?"

"Yeah, pretty much. I didn't know there was a name for it until a few years ago, but I've liked both for a long time," Steve said and placed his hands on Eddie's shoulders. "It's alright. Just breath with me, okay. We're going to get you out of this and then you can have a nice, long freak out if you need it."

"I don't think that's what's freaking me out, honestly. I am okay with that," Eddie said. "I just don't see how catching this guy might clear my name. It's all about proof, man, and it's hunting season for a freak like me. Even if you managed to clear my name, it's the court of public opinion that's the problem."

Steve pulled him into his arms, holding onto him tightly. Eddie's eyes flickered and he sighed when Steve began stroking his back.

"We're going to figure this, Eddie," Steve said. "Even if we have to leave town to Bonnie and Clyde our way up the Coast."

"I call dibs on being Bonnie," Eddie said and Steve laughed. "I think that I deserve this."

"What does that mean?" Steve asked.

"I'm such a screw up. I sell drugs -," Eddie said.

"So do pharmaceutical salesmen," Steve said.

"I am a third time senior," he replied.

"Everyone learns at their own pace, and everyone really needs to stop comparing each other," Steve said.

"Okay, I just left Chrissy there. I didn't do anything. . . I didn't even try to stop it," Eddie said, as he continued to cling to Steve.

"Can you think of anything that you could have done?" he asked.

"Well. . . no," he frowned.

"Then there's nothing that you could have done," Steve replied.

"I was such an asshole to Lucas," Eddie said.

"Well, I'm not even going to argue with that one because it's true," Steve said. "But you still don't deserve this. You're not responsible for all of this. This is happening because a few years ago, some asshole scientist decided to play God."

"When we get out of this, the first thing that I'm going to do is apologize to Lucas," Eddie sighed.

"I'll be there to see it," Steve said.

"I'm sorry for almost slitting your throat with a beer bottle," Eddie mumbled into his shoulder.

"Nothing to forgive there," Steve laughed.

"I think maybe I am freaking out about the whole being bisexual thing but like in a good way," Eddie said and sighed into his shoulder, moving his face to Steve's neck. "What are we doing again?"

"Well, it looks like you're molesting my best friend for one thing," Robin's broke them up. "It's okay, we'll wait if you guys need to take a minute to fuck."

"Really?" Eddie asked gleefully. "Well, you heard her, Stevie!"

"Okay, now I'm worried that you don't know that I was joking," Robin said.

"Literally another time and place," Steve grinned.

Eddie's arms were burning from being in Steve's arms and he had the sudden urge to fall into them again. There was a deep ache in his chest as he continued to walk towards Nancy's house with Steve. He looked over to see Steve's arm swinging loosely by his side. Eddie swallowed his fear and reached over, taking Steve's hand in his.

"You know, just in case we get lost," Eddie said.

"Good idea," Steve said and threaded his fingers through his.

"You know, Henderson really looks up to you. He said that you're a really good guy, and it just went against my entire Munson Doctrine. No way is Steve Harrington, not an asshole, but you are a good guy. A great guy," Eddie said. "I don't even care about what the shrimp thinks, but I guess I did get a little jealous."

"Henderson really said all of that?" Steve asked.

"Yeah, he also said you were a badass and you were like a brother to him," Eddie said. "I believe it now though. I never would have jumped in there to save your ass. I'm no hero. I'm a coward. I turn and run."

"Give yourself a break," Steve said. "I think there's more to you than you think there is. The first time I went through this, I turned and ran. I came back. When it's truly important, you'll be surprised at what you can do for the people you care about."

"You really think that I have it in me?" Eddie asked.

"Yes," Steve replied.

"Well, there's one thing that I know for sure," Eddie said. "You look really hot in my vest."

After they got to Nancy's, they discovered that the Upside Down was stuck on the day that Will Byers went missing meaning that the guns weren't there. They did discover a way to communicate with Dustin and in his very Dustin way, explained that there was a gate at each murder sites.

"Jesus Christ," Steve said when Dustin snapped at them. "This kid's got to get his ego in cheek."

"It's his tone. Right?" Eddie agreed.

"Jesus, sound more like his dads," Robin said.

"Well, we were going to make you godmother but since you have an attitude about it," Eddie said. "Nevermind."

"I'm sorry! Wait. . .Do I want to be Dustin Henderson's godmother?" Robin asked herself. "No, thanks, I'm just going to have to drop him off at the orphanage when you guys bite the dust."

"Nice, Buckley," Eddie grinned while Steve scoffed.

After they biked to Eddie's trailer, everything seemed to happen so fast. Vecna cursed Nancy and told her his plan for bringing the Upside Down into Hawkins. Nancy had to calm down in the bathroom before their plan to head to the War Zone to get guns to take down Vecna. Everyone was chilling in the living room, going over the plan. Eddie made eye contact with Steve and nodded his head towards the kitchen. He walked into the other room, smiling when Steve followed him.

"So," Eddie said, leaning against the sink. "I'm twenty years old and I've kissed someone only a handful of times. I've never kissed a guy though and I'm kind of scared that I'm going to die without ever knowing what it's like. Knowing my luck, it's going to be me."

"Don't talk like that, it's not going to be you," Steve said.

"You don't know that, Steve," Eddie replied. "If you don't want to kiss me. . . "

"I like you, Eddie, and I do want to kiss you," Steve said and paused. "I'm kind of scared myself."

He moved closer to Eddie, pressing himself up against him. He placed his hands on either side of his neck and slid them up to cup his cheeks. They moved together at the same time, pressing their lips together in a soft kiss. It was nice and it definitely made Eddie feel all warm inside. Steve deepened the kiss for a moment before breaking it.

"Well?" Steve asked.

"Hm, I definitely felt something but just to be sure. . .maybe we should do it again," Eddie said. "You know, for science purposes."

"Hmm, yes, for science."

Eddie kissed him hungrily, bring him in by yanking on his hair. Steve wrapped his arms completely around his waist, bringing him as close as possible. Eddie slipped his tongue inside of Steve's mouth, moaning. In one quick swift movement, Steve lifted him and set him on the counter beside the sink. Eddie wrapped his legs around his waist, trying to get even closer. If they got any closer, they'd exist in the same exact space, Eddie thought in amusement. They broke the kiss again, leaning their foreheads together as they breathed heavily. Eddie glanced over Steve's shoulder and yelped. Steve turned to find Max sitting on the other end of the counter, swinging her legs and drinking a glass of water.

"How long were you there for?" Eddie asked.

"Long enough to know you use a lot of tongue," Max said casually.

"Uh, does it not bother you that I was kissing Steve?" Eddie asked.

Of course, Dustin decided to enter the kitchen at that moment.

"You were kissing Steve?!" Dustin shrieked with a grin.

"Jesus," Steve and Eddie sighed.

"Did I just hear right?" Lucas asked, coming in behind Dustin. "Eddie was kissing Steve?"

"Oh my God!" Eddie exclaimed.

Nancy had chosen at that moment to enter as well.

"You were kissing Steve?" Nancy asked.

"YES! I was kissing Steve! Does anyone have a problem with that?" Eddie said grumpily.

"No!" Everyone said quickly.

"While I don't have a problem with you mouth fucking our babysitter," Max said. "I do have a problem with you doing it on the counter where I make the sandwiches that I eat. So, thanks for that."

"Did you really have to say it like that?" Dustin asked. "Really?"

It was all downhill from there. Well, after they gathered in a clearing to prepare for battle, it was nice. For a moment, Eddie sat in Steve's lap in front of the RV and openly flirted with him. For a moment, Eddie felt confident that everything was going to be okay. It felt so final when he had to part ways with Steve, and he didn't want to leave him. Robin and Dustin literally had to pry him off of Steve. Could they blame him? He just got himself an amazing boyfriend. Wait, was Steve his boyfriend?

He didn't have time to freak out over that because once they got the trailer ready, it was time for the most metal concert in the history of concerts. As he played, he thought of Chrissy, and he thought of Steve, who was out there, taking down Vecna. After he celebrated with Dustin, they successfully kept the bats out. Then he was pushing Dustin through the gate. As Eddie was climbing up the rope, he thought of Chrissy again, and he thought of Steve. He couldn't let Steve become like Chrissy. The next thing he knew, he was dying in Dustin's arms. I'm sorry, kid.

Beep. Beep. Beep. Holy shit. Eddie opened his eyes, blinking rapidly. Was he alive? He was fucking alive. How in the hell did that happen? Eddie groaned. Oh, everything hurt. What the fuck? Oh, yeah, the bats chowed down on him like he was a buffet.

"Eddie?" he heard Steve ask.

Eddie grinned and looked over at the angel standing beside his bed. He looked cleaner than when he last saw him, in a fresh polo and jeans. Steve was holding his vest in his arms.

"You'd look hotter if you were wearing my vest, big boy," Eddie said.

"Boy," he heard his uncle's voice and he looked over to find him sitting on the other side of his bed.

"Oh, hey, Uncle Wayne," Eddie said cheerfully. "I like boys now."

"Yeah, I figured. Steve here wouldn't leave you for anything," Wayne said. "I had to threaten to shoot your boyfriend to get himself checked out."

"Boyfriend?" Eddie asked. "Are you my boyfriend?"

"Son, you better say yes," Wayne said, staring at him.

"Okay, even if your uncle wasn't here trying to scare me. . . unsuccessfully, I might add. . . I would still say yes," Steve chuckled.

"Oh, my boyfriend found out your secret, Uncle Wayne! You're not actually scary," Eddie laughed.

"Neither are you, son," Wayne said.

"What? Stevie, defend my honor!" Eddie exclaimed. "Tell him how scary I am."

"You're very scary, baby," Steve said.

"You lying ass," Wayne scoffed.

"By the way, I told you that it wouldn't be you. Also, the real reason that Metallica caught my eye was Kirk Hammett," Steve said, and Eddie laughed.

"You know, I was told by someone that I kind of remind them of Kirk," Eddie said, wiggling his eyebrows.

"Oh, don't you know, Eds?" Wayne asked. "Kirk is your biological daddy."

"What?! Really?!" Eddie shrieked.

"No."

"Fuck you, old man!"

Once Eddie was checked out by the doctors, Eddie made sure the first thing that happened was that Lucas was his first official visitor and apologized for not postponing Hellfire, for implying that he was going to the Darkside. He also made sure that the others apologized as well for not supporting Lucas either and told them that they were more than welcome to tell him to shove it when he was being an ass. As he drifted off to sleep, he felt secure in the knowledge that he would never be his father. . . that he had done more than his father has ever done or ever will do.

[asbealthgn]

cackling at this dumb cursed thought I just had and I greatly apologize in advance

- basically Steve has this habit of just eat anything even things that ARE NOT EDIBLE but he can like puke those right out like an owl or shit. Robin finds this out by accident when she dangles a worm to his face for funsies one day and he,, just slurps it like spaghetti and then easily retches it out alive. she is both disgusted but fascinated and it’s become something like their thing for Robin to see if Steve can devour anything else without either of them getting sick

This is also my set up for how Eddie gets his crush amplified when he shows off his new die set and Steve instinctively eats them off his hand like a fucking horse (Steve realizes a second too late what he just did, throws them up, and cleans them as nicely as possible. Eddie is both mortified and horny)

PLEASE this is so funny

it’s a nice day, so steve, eddie, and robin are lazing around in steve’s backyard. they’re drinking lemonade while eddie shows them all the new stuff he got at that game store he went to with jeff. for the grand finale, he whips out the gorgeous dice set he got, all glossy and opalescent.

“they look like they’d taste like smarties,” steve says and before eddie can even react steve is swooping in and sucking the eight-sided and six-sided dice off his fingers. robin immediately starts cackling while eddie watches in mesmerized horror as steve swallows his brand new dice.

“uh.” he doesn’t even know what to do in this situation. what’s the protocol for when the guy you have a massive crush on eats your dice?

realization registers on steve’s face. “oh, shit, you probably want those back, huh?”

“oh, uh, no,” eddie says as robin laughs even harder. “i think those are yours for good, man.”

“no, i can still feel them in my throat,” steve says, “let me get ‘em for you.”

then he’s on all fours, retching. what the actual fuck? and what’s wrong with eddie that the sight of steve on his hands and knees hacking like a goddamn cat with a hairball is doing so much for him?

steve gives a final heave and the dice are landing on the grass on front of him along with what eddie hopes is just lemonade. steve gives eddie a triumphant grin and scoops up the dice. “let me just clean these for you,” he says.

still in stunned silence, eddie can’t say anything as steve gets up and jogs into the house. as soon as he’s out of sight, eddie turns to robin.

“what the hell?” he asks, “did you know he could do that?”

she nods, eyes twinkling. “jarring, right?”

“that’s a word for it.” eddie drops his head into his heads. “i wanna fuck him so bad.”

that just makes robin cackle again as the sliding door opens and steve comes back outside.

“here,” he says, dropping the dice in front of eddie. “good as new.”

eddie peeks through his fingers to inspect the dice. they do look as good as the other ones, no ill effects from the time they spent in steve’s esophagus (no, eddie’s not jealous of dice).

“alright?” steve asks, looking concerned for the first time at eddie’s lack of response.

eddie drops his hands and smiles at steve. “alright.”

[afewproblems]

sorry i’m still stuck on cheater eddie, just wondering how you think things would play out after that? like you said, I can’t see steve forgiving eddie after that but personally would love to see eddie realize how much he messed up

(Based on this post)

Oh, I think Eddie would know immediately that he screwed up. He did call the next day with some semblance of a plan to talk to Steve, to try and explain himself, apologize as best as he could.

Unfortunately the internet works just a bit faster than Eddie realized. It's a minor story on the entertainment channels, Corroded Coffin only recently became public figures again for the first time in ten years, but it's still looping every hour on the hour.

The band is upset, obviously; Gareth won't talk to him and Jeff follows Eddie with the stink eye wherever he goes. Grant lectures him for an hour before shaking his head and leaving the room, but he hasn't brought it up since.

Robin calls Eddie almost immediately and tears him a new one, he has to hold the phone away from his ear for most of it. It's harsh, she spews her vitriol and calls him a coward, that he couldn't have loved Steve as much as he claimed to if he went and stuck his dick in someone else.

He wants to argue the latter, but she hangs up on him before he can get the chance.

The home phone in Eddie and Steve's Chicago apartment rings and rings the first three times he calls before finally going directly to voicemail on the fourth.

The worst is Wayne though.

It's a day after Robin's call, he asks about the papers -there's a laugh in his voice as he does. Eddie had been no stranger to tabloid claims before, in fact Eddie kept the National Enquierer Bat Boy clipping and framed it, but there are quite a few articles this time.

All about the same photo.

So Wayne calls, with that gentle, confident, laugh in his voice because they've really done it this time.

"You see The Star Ed? Absolutely ridiculous. Have you kids talked to your agent about all these stories yet?"

"Wayne--"

"I mean this is just silly, I bet your boy found it hilarious!" The words crackle with static as Wayne laughs into the receiver, "is he there? It's spring break for him now right?"

Eddie clutches the phone in sweaty shaking fingers, his heart climbs up his throat as he tries to find his voice.

"Wayne, I," he swallows harshly and scrubs a ringed hand over his face, "I messed up".

There's a pause on the other end of the line, as though the call cut out, but Eddie can still hear his uncle breathing.

"Eddie, you didn't..." Wayne says softly, almost in a whisper, "tell me you didn't..."

"I don't know what to do," Eddie blurts out, his breathing picks up, "he won't talk to me, my band won't talk to me, I fucked up, I just don't know how to fix this".

Wayne sighs, Eddie can hear him pace around the kitchen, "son," he murmurs softly into the receiver, "just take a deep breath, and listen for a second".

Eddie nods, not caring that his uncle can't see him through the phone, he feels like he's sixteen again and waiting for the other shoe to drop when Wayne collects him from the police station for the very first time.

"I'm going to say this once, because I know I raised you better than this and you're probably feeling pretty lousy already," Wayne says slowly before clearing his throat, "if fixing this is just to make you feel better, then it ain't really fixing anything".

"Steve probably doesn't want to hear a thing you have to say right now and you have to give that to him--"

"Wayne--"

"I mean it Eddie, you and Steve went through so much together that I didn't think there was anything that could ruin it, and there you go proving me wrong".

The words are a punch to the gut that immediately bring tears to Eddies eyes. He holds his breath and bites his lip to stop the sob that threatens to wrench itself from his chest.

"I hope you had the decency to come clean," Wayne continues tiredly, he grunts as he sits down, most likely at their old mismatched kitchen table.

"I called him but..."

Wayne hums in understanding before blowing out the words, "well-shit-son," in a single breath.

They talk for a bit longer before Eddie asks Wayne to check on Steve for him, to make sure he's okay.

"If I know my son in-law he's the farthest thing from okay right now Ed, but I'll do my best," Wayne grumbles and Eddie winces, because he's right.

He hangs up with a soft goodbye, closes his eyes and crawls into the hotel room bed.

The thread count is high in the sheets, the fabric soft and rich between his fingers, but it's nothing compared to the well-worn cotton sheets at home. Sleepwarmed and bathed in gold morning light, he can almost feel Steve in his arms.

Eddie opens his eyes.

But he's alone and the bed is cold.

Eddie lays there, allowing himself to finally cry for the first time in days, staring at the empty spot beside him.

[scooburst]

Ima rant about the Minecraft movie cuz I’m bored

First off, I never liked the idea in the first place. I saw it was going to happen and knew immediately it wouldn’t be great. You can’t please the whole fandom. Everyone wants different things, especially with a “story less” game. (MC story mode Ik and the whole ender dragon I know but whatever besides the point)

Then the trailer comes out.

THAT PIECE OF SHIT-

I laughed through it. And not in “haha funny joke” no in “holy shit this is bad” the fucking borderlands trailer was better then this. That movie flopped so hard too.

First off, why is it live action? Animate it.

And if you INSIST on doing live action, at least fucking try. Worst green screen ever. Looked like a green screen kid on YouTube that filmed in his room wiht his brightness up at 11 pm.

Secondly, the outfits are sooo bad. I know Minecraft skins are supposed to be like a free representation or something but WHAT THE FUCK? That just looked horrible. I don’t even have a comparison. Besides didn’t they do the whole “wake up in a video game”? Who the hell wears that in real life, BE HONEST. I’m not one for outfit shaming or anything but seriously.

Adding to that, you ddint even make Steve recognizable. You had to make him SAY HES STEVE. I like Jack Black and all, but wrong choice.

Third. The plot.

They really went for the whole “wake up in a video game” trope. It’s literally jumangi. Again. I don’t even have to say more. There’s no coherent plot at all anyway! What’s the goal! What’s happening that makes this difficult?? WHATS THE HOOK? I could write a better Gacha story than that.

Fourth. The hell was that scenery. Didn’t look like Minecraft. At least try, okay?

And we aren’t discussing the sheep. That was.. bad.

Overall it just looked so unprofessional, like some teens all decided to make a Minecraft movie but worse than that.

And the obligatory apology to Minecraft story mode… I’m sorry for calling you dry and unpredictable, and your better then this. still don’t like the game tho-

I’m done. Might add to this. Idk.

[ladykailitha]

Well Met By Moonlight Part 8

And we're back! Are you guys getting my tags, the engagement dropped again. I know that in America there was the holiday but it kinda dropped off before that and I saw other blogs that didn't have their tags work at all. So let me know if you aren't seeing all my posts.

Steve talks to Keith, learns some unsettling news and Robin is awesome.

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

****

Billy Hargrove was a racist, chauvinistic asshole with a savior complex longer than his dick, but he was also one hundred times the better man than Dr. Martin Brenner. Granted Brenner was scraping the bottom of the ocean, but Steve was grateful for not having had to deal with him when he was around.

He also knew that he wasn’t going to speak to the Dominus today. He was going to speak to his second in command, Keith Prince.

He didn’t like Steve, and Steve didn’t know why. But considering that despite the last name, he looked more like a toad than a prince, Steve had a pretty good idea the dude was just jealous of Steve’s good looks.

He walked up to the coven, bare ass on display, having just shifted.

“The fuck do you want, Harrington?” Keith snarled. “And why can’t you come dressed like decent folk?”

“Because I’m a werewolf, Keith,” Steve sighed. “The fastest way for me to travel is to wolf out.”

Keith rolled his eyes. “You could always send Carol or Robin to do your dirty work. That is what keepers are for, aren’t they?”

“That’s isn’t happening in this or any life time,” Steve growled. “Not after you propositioned Robin the last time I sent her here on pack business.”

Keith just sneered. “What. Do. You. Want? I’m busy!”

Steve sighed. “Tell your Dominus that we may have the public school system to blame for the raise in hunters and to ask his thralls what they’ve heard.”

Keith scoffed. “He already knows about that shit and they don’t know nothin’.”

Steve’s spine stiffened at the tone and the fact that Billy already knew about the thing with Josh.

So either he had Lucy in his pocket, or there was a spy in his pack. Neither was an option he wanted to entertain.

Steve showed his teeth, forcing Keith to back down.

“You shouldn’t lie to an alpha, dumbass,” he snarled. “I can smell the stench of the lie coming off you like stale weed. You tell your Dominus that if he thinks he can push me around, remind him what happened to the last asshole who crossed me.”

Keith straightened up and bowed his head. “My apologies, alpha.”

Steve snapped his jaw at Keith before shifting back into a wolf. A wolf that could look Keith in the eye. He showed his teeth again and was gratified when he smelled the scent of urine wafting from the vampire.

He leapt through the door, leaving the scent of urine, lies, and fear far behind him.

*

Steve came back in time to see Josh off to his parents. He watched as Josh chatted happily with them over everything he did.

“…Did you know that a single werewolf could eat up to thirty pounds of meat a day? But not raw, that’s a myth...” Josh prattled on, his parents giving each other amused glances behind his back.

Steve turned to Tommy, the keeper that was hiding in the crow’s nest near the entrance.

“It sounded like he had fun,” he said, as Tommy leapt down in front him.

“Carol wanted to straight up adopt him,” Tommy said with a sneer.

“She always did have a soft spot for strays,” Steve murmured as Tommy fell instep next to him. “Especially strays that love shopping.”

Tommy nose twitched. “You went to that vampire mongrel’s again, didn’t you? I can smell him from here.”

Steve smacked Tommy’s head. “He’s not a mongrel just because he was made instead of born. Where are you kids getting these ideas? Jesus Christ.”

He snorted. “Whatever, I can still smell him.”

“I saw the mayor and visited the coven too,” Steve said dryly. “I was doing my duties as an alpha. There is something wrong in this town and I am going to figure out what.”

Tommy sniffed again. “Yeah, I get it. I don’t want Hopper back as the alpha anymore then most of this pack, so you better figure it out, before you get yourself killed.”

Steve pushed him playfully. “Shut it, Tommy!”

Tommy laughed. “I bet I can beat you to the center, no shifting.”

“You’re on!”

*

Steve was in his hut? Cottage? Living structure? He was never sure what to call all the little houses that was in the compound. Hell, he didn’t even like the word compound, really. It felt cult-ish. Which they weren’t.

Werewolves had tried living in towns for millennia and it never worked out well for the werewolves. They would get blamed for everything from failed crops, high infant mortality rates, and plagues.

So they started forming their own communities inside towns. Much like the Vatican and Italy.

Well whatever anyone called them, it was home.

Steve was at home, playing cards with Robin.

“So what did you think of Josh today?” he asked, drawing a card.

“I bet Tommy whined about it all the way back to the center of camp,” Robin said with a scoff.

“It’s actually fucking ridiculous how much the pack is so...so...” he threw his hands in the air frustration. “Fuck I don’t know the right word for it. But click-ee?”

“Clicky?” Robin asked. “What the hell does that mean?”

“You know, a click,” Steve said. “The jocks, the cowboys, the goths, the freaks. A click.”

“Ohhh...” she said. “A clique.”

Steve frowned. “Isn’t that what I just said?”

Robin half shrugged. “Sort of. But yeah, I’ll agree to the pack becoming more and more cliquey. It’s become very insular since...” she paused to think. “Actually I don’t when it started, but it’s recent. I just can’t tell you how recent.”

Steve hummed. “It’s becoming a problem and one I don’t know how to fix. I mean Josh and Chance here will help not only them realize that we aren’t monsters, but that regular humans aren’t monsters either.”

Robin nodded. “It’s certainly a step in the right direction. You need to get out more in the community. Do Q&As at the town hall and middle school.”

Steve scratched his cheek thoughtfully. He placed all his cards down. “Out.”

“Skunked again!” Robin shrieked. “How are you so good at this game?”

Steve just shrugged. “Why not elementary schools?” She stared at him blankly. “For the whole Q&A thing.”

“Oh, that,” she said, waving her hand. “Because despite there being an actual werewolf in the school no teacher or parent would agree to you speaking to kids that young.”

Steve sighed. She was probably right. “’K, so middle schools and town halls help with the community at large but what about the pack?”

She just shrugged. “That’s something you should really talk to your alpha female about, you know.” She scooped up the cards and began shuffling them.

Steve sighed. He did know. But he also knew that Nancy was still very much a conservative when it came to pack dynamics. She had actually turned him down twice because she felt that the alphas should be mated.

It wasn’t until Steve asked her and she couldn’t come up with a logical, non-sexist reason why that should be the case that she accepted the role.

“I love her dearly,” he said instead. “But I just kinda want to spit ball some ideas with you that I can take to her. So I don’t look stupid.”

Robin shoved his shoulder playfully. “She doesn’t think you’re stupid.”

Steve scoffed. She really, really did.

“Okay,” Robin conceded. “Maybe a little.”

“There is also the little matter of the spy,” Steve grumbled.

Robin grimaced and chewed her bottom lip. “You know it’s Tommy, right? Please tell me you know it’s Tommy.”

Steve frowned. “No. Why would it be Tommy?”

She sighed and scooted close to him. “Steve, he’s been hanging on Billy’s coattails at school. He’s always talking about how great Billy is on and off the court. Hell, if I thought Billy liked boys I wouldn’t be surprised to learn Tommy was sucking his dick.”

Steve ran his fingers through his hair. “But I need to make sure. I just can’t go accusing people without proof.”

“I don’t think you should accuse him at all.”

Steve reared back in confusion. “What do you mean?”

“I mean, dingus,” Robin said slyly. “You make sure to tell Tommy things you know you want Billy to know. Because a spy you know is better than one you don’t.”

Steve gave her a big hug. “I wish you were my alpha female.”

She hugged him back. “I know.”

“Have you thought about asking for the bite when you turn eighteen?”

She shuffled back a bit and put her hands on her knees and then nodded. “Yeah. I’ve talked to my parents about it. They’re uneasy about having a werewolf for a daughter.”

Steve sighed. “I’m sorry. Maybe the town hall meetings and the Q&As with kids will help.”

She nodded.

“Thanks, Steve.”

He kissed her cheek. “Between you and I we are going to change the world.”

She looked at him shyly. “You really think so?”

“I know so.”

Robin pushed his shoulder again. “You are such a sap.”

Steve laughed. “Yes, but you knew that.”

She looked at the scar on his neck and then reached out to touch it. “I’m sorry they did that to you.”

He shivered at her touch. “I don’t mind it.”

“I do, Steve,” she said fiercely. “They hurt you because they were afraid of you.”

He sighed. “When my parents died, the Franklins were the only ones in town willing to take me in. The only people who knew about the silver collar they made me wear was just the three of us until I turned eighteen.”

“How did no one else know?” Robin asked gently.

“I only wore it when they were home at home,” Steve murmured. “I wasn’t forced to wear it at school. Just at home where I ‘might’ hurt them.”

“It’s still cruel.”

Steve just shrugged.

“Whatever happened to them?” she asked after a moment or two of awkward silence.

“Officially or unofficially?” Steve asked with a smirk.

“There’s an official story?” Robin said eagerly.

He laughed. “Sure is. They are currently on a business trip to...” he looked at his watch, “Tokyo, Japan.”

“What the hell?” she gasped excitedly. “What’s the real story?”

“Only Wayne and I know where their bodies are buried.”

Robin giggled and kicked her feet. “That’s amazing!”

Steve smiled at her fondly. She really was his platonic soulmate.

****

Part 9 Part 10 Part 11 Part 12 Part 13 Part 14 Part 15 Part 16 Part 17 Part 18 Part 19 Part 20

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