#eddie munson love

[ultralightpoe]

hi ultra:D can I please request a song for an Eddie Munson imagine? I was thinking maybe ‘Time’ by NF? if it’s not a song you are comfortable with or if you don’t write for his character - disregard this with no worries!:) glad to have you back and posting!! I hope you are well darling

Time - Eddie Munson

Authors Note: AN EDDIE REQUEST! YES! I HAVE NEVER HAD AN EDDIE REQUEST

Warnings: Angst, trauma, depression Eddie is a massive dickkkkkkkkkkk

Word Count: 2436

Description: Eddie can't ever seem to open up to you.

Enjoy!

Even if we both break down tonight

And you say you hate me, and we go to bed angry

I know everything will be alright

I'll be here waiting, I promise I'm changing

I just need

Eddie woke up on the rug of the apartment living room floor, eyes stinging from the crying and throat dry from the night of yelling that had taken place. It took him a moment to regain himself, picking himself up to look around the apartment, a hopeful feeling in his chest that you would be in the room and you hadn’t actually left. 

No such luck, you were nowhere in sight. 

A dull ache in his chest to match the one in his head caused by a hangover, the chest was due to heartbreak. He was sure of it. 

Trudging through the hall to get to the kitchen and find the bottle of Advil you always restocked. A harsh curse escaped him when he stepped on a piece of glass, pulling his foot up to hop away from the shattered bottles on the tile of the floor. 

“Jesus fuc-”

“Eddie?” Linda, your neighbor, calls before knocking on the door. 

“Yeah! Just um- one sec!”

A little time to show you I'm worth it

I know that I can be a difficult person

I'm a stress case, drive you up the wall when I'm workin'

Actually, I'm probably worse when I'm not, you don't deserve it

Make you nervous 'cause you know I'ma break soon

Every time I do, I say somethin' that hurts you

Actin' like I'm gone, but we both in the same room

I don't like to be wrong, which I know you relate to

And I know I make you feel like you're at the end of your rope

—-------------------------

He had come home drunk, four hours after telling you he was going out for spaghetti noodles, and you were waiting by the front door with your arms crossed and lips sneered. There were frown lines forming on your face and your hair was all out of place. 

“Please don’t star-” Eddie whines, using the wall to walk to the couch, woozy and halfway gone. “Always with the nagging.”

“Nagging?” You laugh dryly, following him to the living room. Watching as he lays on the couch and you stay standing. “Enough. Enough of this.”

“Enough of what?” He laughs, acting incredulous. 

“Eds, you said you were going out to get spaghetti noodles for our dinner and you stumbled in four hours later drunk as a skunk.” You seethe, reaching a hand to snap at him back awake. “This is a problem-”

“You don’t understand-”

“And here we go with the ‘you don’t understand’ bullshit. ‘Y/n I’ve seen things you wouldn’t believe. I nearly lost my life. I can’t talk about it but it was so traumatic-’ I’m so sic”

“Are you mocking me right now?” He snaps, sitting up on the couch to glare at you. “Fuck you Y/n.”

“No FUCK YOU!” The first yell of the night, and you were expecting it to be the last as you stormed off down the hall. Normally he would give up and stay on the couch, but tonight seemed to be a good night to fight. 

“HEY! GET BACK HERE!” He shouts, following you down the hall just in time to see you snatch a bag from the closet and start filling it with clothes. “What the fuck are you doing?”

“I’m leaving.”

“Leaving?” 

“LEAVING. Packing.” You reiterate, sparing him a side eye right as he lunges forward to try and snatch the bag. You keep a firm grasp on it and for a moment you both are wrestling over the bag. “I am tired. Eddie, I am so tired of this.”

“Tired of what?!” He snaps, finally pulling the bag from your grasp. 

“I am wasting my life on you!” You sob, the tears you had been fighting all night finally releasing. “I get it, you went through something terrible, and I am sorry I mocked it tonight because that is completely fucked up. But Eds you can’t do this. You can’t do this to me.”

“Do what to you?” He sneers. “I’m sorry Y/n, is my pain hurting you?!”

“IT IS! YOU!  THE SECRETS AND THE DRINKING!”

“WHAT FUCKING SECRETS?!”

“EDS I NEVER MEET YOUR FRIENDS! YOU NEVER LET ME MEET THEM AND YOU NEVER SPEAK ABOUT WHAT HAPPENED!”

“BECAUSE IT’S NONE. OF. YOUR. FUCKING. BUSINESS!” His face is beet red now, hair swinging wildly as you stare at him in shock. The silence of the room makes his heart start racing rapidly. 

“Then why am I here?” You ask softly, shoulders slumping.  He stares for a moment before walking out of the room, your bag still in hand. 

That's when I look at you and tell you I'd be better alone

Just the pride talkin', isn't it? 'Cause both of us know

I'm the definition of "wreck" if you look into my soul

Comes out the most when I feel I'm in a vulnerable place

Made a lot of mistakes I wish I knew how to erase

When I'm afraid, might get distant and I push you away

But no matter the case, I'ma do whatever it takes even if

The older woman is smiling softly when he opens the door, the overly blushed cheeks round and puffy as her teeth flash. “Oh hello Edward dear.”

“Morning.” He nods, clearing his throat as he tries to stand straighter and seem normal. “What can I do for you?”

“Oh well, I- uhm, well while you usually…..sleep in in the mornings Y/n comes over and makes some breakfast with me and last night I heard some yelling and she didn’t come by this morning-”

“I have no clue where she is.” Eddie interrupts, a harsh wave of panic filling his body as he realizes he had no clue where you were. “But I will send her over when she comes back.”

“Oh….okay.” She nods, walking away before he can say anything else, leaving him standing there, finally coming to terms with it. 

How long had you been going to breakfast with the neighbor when he slept in hungover? How had he not known you were that close with your neighbor? How much was he missing? How much did he not know about you? How much had he hurt you?

Even if we both break down tonight

And you say you hate me, and we go to bed angry

I know everything will be alright

I'll be here waiting, I promise I'm changing

I just need

—-----------

Although everything in you screams to just fall into bed and forget it you follow him down the hall anyways, watching as he throws your bag on the living room floor before marching into the kitchen and swinging the fridge door open. 

Some of the magnets fall, a glass one snapping when it hits the floor, and you watch as Eddie reaches a ringed hand to snatch the pack of beer he had in the fridge. 

“What are you doin-” You’re cut off, a scream tearing through you when he lifts his hand up and slams the bottle into the floor. Glass goes flying and beer spraying everywhere, and you cover your face so you don’t get hit. 

“THIS WHAT YOU WANT? HUH?!” He shouts, snatching another bottle from the pack and repeating the action. This time you were not so lucky and a piece of the glass catches your arm, and then everything breaks. 

Your world shatters to bits when the blood starts leaking from the wound, it wasn’t enough to actually hurt, but the idea of it hurt more. The illusion that broke finally left you broken. 

This was not the Eddie you knew. And this was not the Eddie you would stay with. 

Leaving him to have his fun breaking bottles you go and snatch your bag from where he threw it and watch from a safe distance as he breaks the last bottle. 

When he is done he looks at you and your face is hot from the tears. “I hate you.”

“I hate you too.” He laughs. 

“I HATE YOU! I HATE YOU I HATE YOU I HATE YOU!” You scream, a cracking feeling in your chest as you make your way to the door. “You’re better off alone-”

“I AM BETTER OFF ALONE! WITHOUT YOUR ANNOYING FUCKING SELF ALWAYS NEAR ME!” He screams, and you don’t waste your breath on a reply, slamming the door behind you. 

Yeah, way before I bought you the ring

We were fighting back and forth like you were wearin' the thing

Two passionate people not afraid to say what they think

Lead to passionate conversation when it's hard to agree

You know me well, sittin' on the edge of my seat

Lookin' at life, overanalyzin' everything

Always depressed, tryna find a better version of me

Searching for somethin' I know's prolly right in front of my feet

The sickening feeling was not from the hangover, that he was sure, and throwing up would do nothing to fix it for you would still be gone and he would still be alone on the living room floor. 

He had proposed, almost 4 months ago, and he doesn’t remember the last time you both talked about the wedding. Had you even talked about it at all? Or had you known not to waste time on him? 

The phone rings around noon and Eddie launches up to answer, panting a bit as he puts the receiver against his ears. “Y/n?”

“No, Eddie, it’s Dustin.” The voice on the end answers, disappointment filling him at the sound, though he had never been disappointed by Dustin calling before. “Everything good?”

“Oh yeah….yeah man-”

“Are you sure because last we talked you sounded pretty bad.”

“I…. just need time-”

“You say that a lot Eddie. Look, I know I’m just a freshman at Harvard…..one of the best schools EVER, but I think you really need help. Not that my opinion matters, just a straight A HARVARD student and all……”

“I don’t want to talk about-”

“How about therapy?”

“Dustin I really-”

“Steve is in therapy. And Nancy and robin, max, lucas, will,-”

“Got it. I got it. Thanks.” Before his friend could respond he hung up and lay back down, closing his eyes to stop the tears. Jesus, he had really messed things up. 

Stubborn as me? Maybe not, but you're close to it

Got a lot of issues, I'm tryin' to work through 'em

Going to therapy for you's somethin' that's worth doin'

When I know you been there for me through all of my worst moments

And I know it hurts knowing that I carry this weight on my chest

Making it difficult for me to open up and connect

Lot of regrets, I apologize for all of the stress

That's not what I meant to do, you know I love you to death even if-

You didn’t come back for a few days, but Eddie was hopeful that you would considering you needed the rest of your things. 

So he busied himself, cleaning and cleaning and more cleaning. Anytime he wanted a drink he went and laid down, or stared at the picture of you on his nightstand. 

By the time you did come back he had the place completely spotless, and you stopped short when you saw it, and blinked at him where he sat on the couch. 

He was terrified to move, terrified that if he moved you would leave and he would never see you again. So he sat still, muscles tense, as he blinked at you while you blink at him. “I…….”

Just as he expected, the peace broke. Within moments you were walking away, heading to the room and he was doomed to follow. 

He stands in the doorway of the room, watching as you unpack the bag which he took as a really good sign. “I….. I don’t even know where to start.”

“Neither do I.” You mutter, rubbing your face as you move to sit on the bed. “I was way out of line for mocking you and-”

“You’re not the one that apologizes here. That’s me. You did nothing wrong-”

“I did-”

“No. I…… I have wasted so much of your time and…….I would like to tell you…..about- I want to talk about it.” 

“About what?”

He takes three easy steps across the floor and sits on the bed with you, pulling his sleeve up to show some of the scars. You knew they were worse on his stomach and he seemed just fine with showing you the arm at the moment. “This is gonna sound absolutely insane……”

Even if we both break down tonight

And you say you hate me, and we go to bed angry

I know everything will be alright

I'll be here waiting, I promise I'm changing

I just need

Time (oh)

I, I need time (oh, oh)

I just need time (oh)

I, I need time (oh)

Time (oh), time (oh)

I just need time (oh)

I, I need time (oh, oh)

I just need time (oh)

I, I need time (oh)

Time (oh), time (oh)

You were waiting outside the therapist office, smacking your gum harshly in a slight attempt to amuse yourself as you waited for Eddie in his session. 

You had packed a book and snacks, but the book ended up boring you and the snacks were long gone so you had taken to hanging your feet out the window to catch them in the sunlight as the radio played some crappy tune. 

You hum, terribly since you had never heard the song, and closed your eyes. This was the new normal, once a week you would hang out in Eddie's van as he spent time with a therapist and after that you would go get dinner together. And you loved it. 

A scream rips from you when something touches the bottom of your foot and you sit up quickly to reveal the face of Eddie. He laughs, leaning through the window to kiss you before slapping your calf lightly. 

“Okay, let’s go.” He smiles, rushing around to his side and hopping in. You smile, lifting your head until he is comfortable then laying it on his lap. “Anyone ever told you how gorgeous you are?”

“Be serious.” You blush, reaching a hand up to flick him. 

“I am serious, baby. Dead serious. Dead sober.”

“It just takes time.”

[stervrucht]

[imfinereallyy]

you can pry happy endings from my cold-dead hands. It can be the most heart stopping, gut wrenching fic that has every existed and I will read every drop of it if I get my happy ending. I have had enough painful endings in real life, give me happy in my fantasy world. It can be at the last second, it can be a single sentence, even a single word. Give me all the angst and hurt in the world for 500,000 words, but please give me the comfort I need in the ending. please and thank you.

[morganbritton132]

Steve gets really into birdwatching after patrolling the woods around Hawkins for upside down creepy-crawlies and then accidentally joins the Hawkins Community Birdwatching Society, and rightfully doesn’t tell anybody about it because he still wants the party to think he’s cool.

However. Eddie brings his uncle around the party for the first time and before he can introduce him, Wayne’s like, “Hey, Steve. Diana tell ya that she saw a pileated woodpecker outside of Melvards last week?”

When Steve doesn’t respond with confusion, a record scratches inside Robin and Eddie’s brains at the same time because

“This is Wayne? Your friend Wayne??” Robin asks at the same time that Eddie exclaims, “Steve from bird club is Steve Harrington?!”

[moonpascal]

self insert x canon will always hold a special place in my heart

[ohohorla]

[artrealla]

golden hour cuddles

[plistommy]

One of the reasons why I love Steddie is how sweet Eddie was with Steve in the forest scene. That’s what got me into this ship. It was nice to see someone being patient and kind to Steve like that and it coming from someone like Eddie who viewed Steve so differently means a lot.

I loved how he told him how much Dustin looks up to him, making Steve smile and even after that wanting to joke around a little to make Steve laugh as well.

It was such a nice change, because all the other scenes we just see him bickering with someone or people making him seem stupid when he asks questions. Eddie didn’t make fun of him for not knowing Ozzy like he probably would have prior to things and instead let it be and called Steve cool. I love them.

[hairmetal666]

Steve wins the bat plush at a fair when he's seven. He doesn't care about bats, but it's the prize for making all five baskets in the basketball game, so he gets the little bat. Its eyes are a little crooked and one wing is slightly smaller than the other, but it being lopsided sort of makes it cuter.

He and his dad, they're supposed to be going on rides now, but his dad's pager keeps going off. He puts Steve next to a funnel cake stand, tells him not to move, and goes in search of a pay phone. Fifteen minutes pass, and Steve is bored under the flashing lights and tinkling music. He wants to play not sit and wait.

Eventually, he drifts back towards the midway, watches the people rushing by, searches for a sign of his dad's return. His attention is caught by another boy at the basketball booth. He has to be about Steve's age, with a mop of dark curls on top of his head and a jean jacket that's slightly too big, sleeves flopping over his hands as he lines up his shots.

This boy, he's terrible at basketball. Every shot is too high or too short or goes wide, but he's trying. Even from this distance, Steve can see how hard he's trying. He uses up his five balls, fishes into his jacket pocket for more money, and gets five more.

He misses every shot. This time, when he goes back for more money, he comes up empty. Steve thinks he sees his lip shaking.

A man, one in a leather jacket and boots that Steve thinks look mean, comes up to the boy, drops a heavy hand on his shoulder. He's too far away to hear the conversation, assumes the boy asks to play again and the man's response is a shaken head and a tight smile. They walk away from the games, right towards Steve, who slinks back to the side of the midway, not wanting to be caught staring.

"What was it you wanted? That stupid bat? Just another piece of trash you wanna bring in my house." Steve hears as they pass.

The boy nods, but keeps his eyes down and to the side.

He feels bad then. Felt bad before, but now he looks at his own bat, at its funny eyes and poorly attached wings, and wishes he could hand it over to the boy who really wants it. Steve almost does, then, makes to go after them, but his dad appears, dropping a hand to Steve's shoulder and saying, "ready to hit those rides?" And he knows the opportunity is gone, knows his dad will say it's too soft, not what men do.

Steve manages to lose himself for a while in the swirling lights and funhouse music and carnival rides, forget about the little bat in his back pocket and the boy who wanted one so desperately. But then his dad's pager goes off some more, he goes back to the pay phone, and Steve ducks into the low brick building that houses the bathrooms.

His eyes immediately land on the same boy from the basketball game. His eyes are red, face damp, obviously from tears, and Steve just--

"Here." He shoves the bat into the boy's chest.

For a second, the brownest eyes Steve's ever seen widen at him, before narrowing in a harsh glare, the boy's teeth barred.

"Why?" He snarls.

Steve thinks he may regret every choice that led him to this but he says, he says, "Because I want you to have it."

The boy blinks a few times, hand reaching out to gently pinch the bat's smallest wing. "You sure?"

Steve nods and the bat is slowly withdrawn from his grasp.

"No takesies-backsies?"

"It's yours."

The boy looks at the bat in awe, and Steve says, "see? It already looks happier with you."

The boy's beaming smile is cut-off by a voice calling from the door, "you in there,? I ain't got time to be waiting for your boohooing."

"Coming!" The boy carefully tucks the bat into an inner pocket of his jacket. "Thank you," he whispers, eyes big and glistening and happy, before he disappears out the door.

---

13 years later, give or take a few months, and Steve stands in the cracked shell of a bisected trailer, rummaging through what remains of a life well-lived, searching for anything whole. He's already found a few undamaged mugs and clean hats, but this room--it took a lot of damage. The brunt of it, really. Some sick sort of joke, after everything.

It's mostly rubble in here, scraps of fabric; slivers of notebook paper, magazine, poster; crumbled shards of vinyl and cassette plastic. A few times he comes across the disembodied limb of one of those dnd figures, and something weird happens to his throat.

In the far corner there's half of a dresser collapsed into itself, and he shuffles through the debris to see what he can find. There's something, soft and black, just the edge of it, peaking out from under half of a drawer face. He pulls it out, careful as can be and it's--it's a plush bat. It's a little dirty, but unharmed, though its eyes are a little wonky, and one wing is smaller than the other.

He holds it and he stares and he has to brace himself against the wall. It can't be--it's not the same one--but he remembers those big brown eyes and the curls and--

"Harrington," a warm, rich voice calls from what's left of the hallway. "You get lost in there?"

Eddie shuffles in, slow, careful with his crutches. And it--it took so long, months and months of convalesce and physical therapy, still physical therapy, but he's here. He's alive. He's perfect. And the something blooming between them, it's not spoken yet, but it's there, growing, and now, now--

"Oh my god, you found Lilith! I thought she was toast."

"Lilith?" He's still cradling the little lopsided bat in his hands, but moves closer to hand it over to Eddie.

"Yes, Lilith." Eddie takes the bat, presses it to his chest. "The first boy I ever loved gave her to me."

His heart turns over in his chest and when he swallows his throat clicks. Eddie doesn't notice, he's smiling softly at the bat, at Lilith, but then, "why are you looking at me like that?"

"First boy you ever loved?" He says. He thinks he sounds normal.

Somehow, Eddie's smile grows even softer. "Yeah. Roan County Fair, years ago. Tried to win her, but--" he clicks his tongue--"never had great hand-eye coordination. And then this kid just gave her to me out of nowhere. I used to think I was going to marry him."

"And now?"

Eddie laughs. "I grew up, Steve."

And for a second, he doesn't know what to say, but then, "I was right then, huh? That she'd be happier with you."

He stares at Steve, those same big brown eyes, wide and glistening. "Steve that was--Steve?" Eddie presses a hand over his mouth, overcome, before launching himself into Steve's arms. The crutches clatter to the floor, but Steve has him, will always have him, no matter what.

"I can't believe you kept her," Steve whispers.

"God, I carry her everywhere. She's Corroded Coffin's mascot, and you--Steve, I can't believe that was you."

"Surprise," he bumps Eddie's forehead with his.

They hold each other in the center of the destruction, but none of that matters right now, not when it feels like every moment since they very first met as children was leading them to this.

From the other half of the trailer, they hear footsteps, chattering, Wayne and Robin and Dustin, but Steve wants this to last a little longer.

"So, marriage...that still off the table?"

Eddie laughs softly, nuzzles his face against Steve's neck. "Are you kidding, sweetheart? No way I'm letting you go."

[karies-art]

„You’re like… really hot, dude. Wanna make out?“

„?!?!“

FratBoy!Steve just being his very bisexual self 💖

[cheer-nympho]

Imagine Eddie and Chrissy accidentally running into each other while spying on scoops,

Eddie sat on a bench behind a shrubbery looking through but he spots Chrissy doing the same across the court- they stare at each other for what feels like the longest few seconds of all time, shocked and baffled, before Eddie ducks and stealth runs to her bench,

Just sitting next to her and loudly whispering “What are you doing?!”

“What am I doing? What are you doing!”

“Well, I was just..-“ They hear a giggle from scoops and both duck under the plant and look through the gaps again. Immediately they turn back on each other with their fingers raised “You’re spying!” They both whisper at the same time before looking around to check no one heard,

Eddie puts his arm around her to duck her down away from the stores view and from anyone looking over- because their duo is bound to turn heads even without the whole hiding in foliage thing.

“Okay okay, we’re both spying on scoops. Now I’m sure neither of us are here for the overpriced sundaes, so what are you looking at PomPom?”

“PomPom?”

“Codename, keep up.”

“I’ll tell you if you tell me.”

“Well I’ll tell you if you tell me…”

“Well I’ll…Eddie this is silly!”

“Okay fine! So we’re both spying on scoops. Neither of us are here with our friends…we’re being secretive instead of just going in…we’re both 𝘩𝘪𝘥𝘪𝘯𝘨 why we’re here. Chrissy, U think we’re here for similar reasons, I think there’s a reason we don’t wanna tell each other.”

“But what if- What if it not the same reason? What if you…freak out or get spooked?”

“How about this, if I promise not to be annoyed by what you say- you promise the same back?” She looks around the food court a few times before looking back at him determined and nodding.

“Okay, 3, 2, 1”

Then at the same time…

“I was spying on Robin!” / “I was checking out Steve!”

Followed by

“The hair Harrington?!” / “From band?!”

Chrissy levels him with an unimpressed look, to which Eddie sheepishly removes his arm from hers. “Okay fair, mine is weirder.”

Cut to Eddie having a clever (read: incredibly dumb) plan of going in together so they can talk to Robin and Steve without ‘arousing suspicion’ Chrissy finds herself full of new confidence so doesn’t feel like pointing out that it was more subtle if they just went in alone.

[stervrucht]

[morganbritton132]

Eddie, loudly during a live-stream where he and Gareth are just jamming: STEVIE! STEVE!!! STEVIE!!!!

Steve, from somewhere else: YEAH?

Eddie: WHAT DO YOU MISS ABOUT DATING GIRLS?

Steve, yelling back: BOOBIES

Eddie: I knew that’d be his answer. He’s a tit man,

Gareth: Was any of that necessary?

*five minutes later*

Steve, sticking his head in the room: Hey, we have a very fulfilling relationship. Everything I ever wanted, I found in you and there’s nothing I’m missing…

Steve: …I’d ask what you looked for in other guys but you were a virgin when we m-

Eddie: No, I wasn’t. Stop telling people that!

[runraerun]

Steddie Amnesia Fic: 1/3

-> Part 2 | Part 3 | AO3

cw: lots of head trauma/brain injury/recovery stuff.

Steve wakes up in the hospital with someone snoring loudly on his leg, mouth open, drool getting soaked up into the scratchy hospital blanket over him.

Steve just stares.

It’s… Freddie? No, that’s not right... Eddie! Eddie ‘the freak’ Munson, known delinquent and drug dealer… resting his head on Steve’s lap.

What the hell…?

Steve reaches up with a wobbly, IV-ridden hand to clumsily pat along his head, but instead of meeting messy hair, he meets a thick wad of bandages. He flinches when he hits an especially tender spot.

It’s not much but it’s enough to wake Eddie Munson up with a jolt, and a random jumble of words that sounded something like, “the dice have spoken!”, but Steve can’t be sure. Not with the sharp ringing still going off inside his skull.

“Steve? Steve! Oh thank fuck, Jesus H. Christ, you scared the ever loving shit out of me.” Eddie stood and grabbed at one of Steve’s shoulders, shaking him enough to elicit another wince.

“Oh, damn, sorry. I’m like a fucking bull in a china shop here, man. There’s way too much expensive, breakable shit here. I’m not used to it. I accidentally ripped your IV out the other day... Fuck. The nurses hate my guts.” Eddie chuckles, eyes wide and solely on Steve, talking like they were old friends or something.

But that can’t be right. Steve doesn’t remember saying more than two words to Eddie Munson during the entire time he knew he even existed, and even then it was just to discuss weed prices.

“For real though, talk to me Harrington, how you feelin’, hm? Loopy? Gonna yak again? Apparently they got you on the good stuff,” Eddie flicks a liquid filled bag hanging above Steve and shakes his head, “but they keep cutting you back. Dicks.”

Steve’s eyes try and follow Eddie’s erratic movements but his eyes ache the more he moves them. He blinks against the harsh fluorescents and tries to open his mouth. And thank God, Eddie Munson seems to take this as a sign and shut up.

“What happened?” Steve finally croaks.

One of Eddie’s brows jumps. “You don’t remember?”

Steve gives his head a small shake. Did Eddie hit him with his car or something? Is that why he’s sleeping at his bedside and talking to him like they’re buddies?

“You fell, Stevie.” Eddie makes a whistling noise and mimicks something falling with his hands, then makes a crashing sound when his hand lands on Steve’s bandaged head. “Like a coconut out of a tree. Landed right on that big ol’ melon of yours. There was blood everywhere. It scared the shit out of me and the kids. Especially when you wouldn’t wake up.”

Steve’s throat feels like sandpaper, but he manages to swallow, his throat clicking as he did, and gets out, “The kids?”

Eddie seems to notice, even before Steve can ask, and reaches for a water bottle with a straw already in it, and half chewed. Eddie’s own, no doubt. Against his better judgment, Steve accepts it when Eddie offers it to him. He was just so goddamn thirsty.

“Don’t worry, they’re all fine. They were just shaken up. I’ll radio the little gremlins and give ‘em the good news in a sec.” Eddie’s smile falters a little, seeming lost for words. Like he wants to say something, but can’t quite get it out.

Steve finishes swallowing his few, meager gulps of water before he asks, “What is it?”

“Don’t freak out—“ Eddie begins.

And, okay, that’s exactly the thing you tell someone before they freak the fuck out. Steve’s stomach is subject to a growing, sluggish panic. “What? Dude, tell me—“

“It’s your hair.” Eddie seems genuinely pained at having to deliver this crushing of a blow to Steve ‘The Hair’ Harrington.

Steve can hear the beeping from the monitors he’s hooked up to begin to pick up speed as his heart begins racing. “My hair?”

“It’s okay! It’s okay, it’ll grow back! They just had to take a little bit off where the stitches went, you can hardest notice it—well, that’s a fucking lie, you could spot that landing strip from space—but I think if you part it to the other side it won’t look so… y’know.”

“No, dude, I don’t know.” Steve says, eyes wide, brows pinched.

“Like a drunk toddler took a pair of rusty kitchen shears to your mop.” Eddie says, huffing out a nervous sort of laugh.

Steve groans, half due to the bastardization that’s happened to his favorite feature, and half due to the migraine that’s looming on his horizon.

“You’re still pretty, Stevie, don’t worry.” Eddie grins, eyebrows raised, like he’s trying to be cute or something.

That weirdest part is, it’s kind of working.

Steve must have hit his head really, really hard.

The doctors eventually come in and perform all sorts of tests, and he tries his best to comply with them and jump through whatever hoops they make him jump through. He just wants to get the hell out of this hospital bed.

Unfortunately for him, Steve hadn’t exactly aced any of the tests.

In fact, he had failed most of them pretty fucking dismally. He couldn’t remember the date, who the president was, where he lived, couldn’t say the alphabet backwards… although, who the fuck can do that? He stands by that failing grade.

A couple of CAT scans later and it’s clear that Steve’s brain got smacked around a little more than they had originally thought.

Among a pile of other stuff, the thing that sticks out the most to Steve is his diagnosis of something called short term amnesia. They explain it like the past 2 to 3 years has just been wiped from his brain. The last clear thing he really remembers is getting the shit beat out of him by Billy, and then it all sort of gets jumbled. Fragmented. The doctors explain that this is pretty typical for head trauma patients.

He’s a head trauma patient, now.

It’s normal for memories of trauma to link, creating spiderwebs throughout your brain.

Which, that’s great. So when he gets beat up again, there’s always a chance his brain will try and erase his easy, happy years and revert back to a trauma default. Really helpful brain, thank you.

And the thing that sucks the most is that his years after the Billy beat down sound pretty great. Traumatizing, sure, but great. Once the Upside Down shit was locked up, with every scary nightmare fuel monster inside of it, life in Hawkins didn’t sound all that terrible.

He lived with Robin, who’s his best friend, (his ‘platonic soulmate’ even, as she explains it), he’s working a retail job, (also with Robin), and coaches the high school basketball team during the evenings. He’d even been talking with Hopper about joining the force.

Well, he was. Now he’s more or less useless, working full time at re-learning his life, along with a couple of fine motor skills that got glitchy after the fall.

And then there’s Eddie.

Eddie, who’s apparently also his best friend, only their soulmate link isn’t platonic at all.

The strange and weirdly exciting reality was that Steve Harrington had woken up from his 3-day medically induced coma with not only a full fledged relationship, but a boyfriend.

It’s a lot to digest, and part of him still doesn’t even know how to process it, but hearing the stories being told around him, seeing how Eddie is practically living in his and Robin’s two-bedroom apartment, and just… the way Eddie looks at him?

It’s with love—Steve can see it. Feel it. Eddie’s practically vibrating with it.

What’s even crazier is that when Steve looks at Eddie, he feels the exact same way.

It’s like looking at the stars. Steve’s heart skips a beat when those dark eyes of hit him, and Steve wants nothing more than to make Eddie smile—no, better than that, to make him laugh, just so he can watch Eddie’s adam’s apple bob up and down and hear that manic, unhinged cackle. It’s downright delightful. Steve loves being in relationships like this, where it’s all consuming.

Steve may not have the memories of falling in love with Eddie, but he has all the feelings.

No one talks about it with Steve, of course. Maybe they think it’s going to be too heavy for him to process that he’s into dudes now, but Steve isn’t a big dumb baby. Sure, he’s got a pretty severe brain injury, and yeah, alright, it takes him a minute to remember people’s names sometimes, and he has a harder time controlling his emotions, but he isn’t a complete invalid. Only a little bit of one. He’s working on it, dammit.

And Eddie is so painfully, frustratingly patient with him. He never pushes. He’s clearly letting Steve retrieve his memories before he makes a move, because despite his whole outward appearance, Eddie Munson is a goddamn gentleman. He never so much as reaches for Steve’s hands, but Steve can tell by the way their pinkies graze when they watch movies late at night that he wants to.

Steve can tell by the way Eddie teases him, the way he’s there with him through his recovery, that he doesn’t ever make Steve feel stupid when he asks the same questions over and over again, when he cries at the drop of a hat or when he gets sort of confused about the lay out of his apartment—he doesn’t care about that of that.

Because he’s in love with Steve. It’s so painfully romantic, it brings a painful lump to Steve’s throat every time he thinks too much about it.

The two of them are driving to one of Steve’s therapy sessions, Eddie in the driver's seat, Steve in the passengers, listening to a low racket of some kind of heavy metal music. Eddie always keeps the volume low now, for Steve.

He’s just been so intensely good about everything that Steve needs to try and do something good for Eddie in return. He needs Eddie to know that there’s a light at the end of this tunnel that they’re both currently lost in.

“I’m sorry about this, y’know.” Steve says when they finally pull up the building that has ‘Brain Injury Recover Center’ written on the front. So all the boys and girls with scrambled eggs for brains know where to converge.

“Don’t worry about it, man. I work the evening shifts, remember? My days are free.” Eddie explains, and Steve wonders if he’s had to be told this bit of information a couple of times now. Sometimes it takes a few times before something sticks to his brain now. His short term memory is still majorly flighty. But no, Steve remembers that Eddie bartends at a local bowling alley most evenings. He’s gone a few times. Not to bowl, of course—too much hand eye coordination involved—but just to hang out with Eddie. He’s pretty decent at Ms. Pac-Man though.

Steve shakes his head. He knows his mind must have wandered because there’s been a lull where no one’s spoken. Eddie never seems to care about that though. “I don’t mean about the drive. I was talking about… y’know.”

“Wha’dy’mean?” Eddie mumbles as he backs into his parking space, hand on the back of Steve’s headrest.

Steve sighs and decides to just come out and say it: “I mean having your boyfriend forget everything about you and your relationship. I just… that must be really tough.”

Everything in Eddie Munson comes to a jarring halt, hand frozen over where he’s turned to ignition off.

It’s sort of unnerving—Eddie is always moving, fidgeting. Damn near bouncing off the walls. But now it’s like someone hit the poor guy with a freeze ray gun.

Steve chuckles softly as he reaches out and touches Eddie’s arm, giving him a playful jostle, to loosen him up a little, “it’s okay, Eddie. I know. You don’t have to keep going easy on me. I’m gay! Or, bi-sexual. Whatever.” Steve shrugs, “see? Not falling apart. I can handle being in love with another dude. You don’t need to keep babying me.”

The side of Eddie’s mouth twitches into a downturned smile that he seems to be trying to hide.

“I know, I know. Not just any dude.” Steve rolls his eyes, a smile still firmly on his face. He takes Eddie’s hand from the steering wheel, and Eddie seems to watch it go in a detached sort of awe. Steve wonders if Eddie’s proud of him for being so cool with it all. “In love with you.”

“Steve, I don’t think—

“Wait, just let me finish.” Steve asks, and Eddie blinks and works on closing his mouth. Knows it’s important to let Steve get his thoughts out quickly, lest they be lost to the giant black hole inside of his beat-up brain now. “I know that I don’t remember any of the important stuff with us. Our first date, or our first kiss or, y’know, any of our other first firsts. So maybe it feels like you’re cheating on the old Steve with me? But… Eddie, I know it’s crazy but even though my brain forgot all of the specifics; my heart didn’t. I look at you, and it’s all there. I’m still so into you, dude. I can feel it, even though I don’t remember how I got here. I’m in l—“

“Steve! Stevestevesteve wait, holy shit—!” Eddie’s eyes snap up from his intense stare at the place where their hands are linked. “Steve—”

“Yeah?” Steve prompts when Eddie doesn’t seem to be able to find the words. He runs his thumb gently over Eddie’s knuckles. It feels so nice to finally be able to hold his hand again. They fit together so well, and Steve wonders briefly if it’s some kind of muscle memory.

Eddie opens his mouth a few more times before he remembers how to make the words come out.

“Steve. Buddy. We’re… we’re not dating.”

Steve’s face falls, and he can feel a lump form in his throat, but he keeps a firm hold of Eddie’s warm hand in his own. “Yeah, I know, I know. We haven’t had any time to be a couple. And it’s probably been torture for you, man. You’re so busy taking care of me and making sure I don’t freak out over everything that you’ve clearly been neglecting your own hierarchy of needs.”

Eddie raises a brow.

Steve chuckles, “Shut up. It’s a therapy term.”

Eddie laughs in his throat. “Steve, you gotta slow down and listen to me.”

He turns his shoulders so that he’s fully facing Steve while he reaches his free hand over and tugs at one of his earlobes. “Got your hearing ears on?”

Steve rolls his eyes, but he nods just the same.

“We… we weren’t dating before your accident,” Eddie speaks slowly, his voice warm, gentle. “Hell, I didn’t even know you were, y’know, into dudes like that. Much less me.”

Something throbs dully behind Steve’s eyes. It’s the start of a migraine—the one that makes it hard to process much of anything. Steve squints, trying to make sense of what Eddie’s saying. “…you’re not my boyfriend?”

Eddie shakes his head very, very slowly. “No.”

Steve snatches his hand back like he’s only just now noticed how burning hot Eddie’s hand is.

He settles back in his seat, staring out the front window. The sounds from the outside world are muffled, and everything feels far away and sort of… Made up. Just like everything he’d imagined was going on between him and Eddie. Not real.

He feels painfully detached from reality. Unmoored. Maybe this was the disassociation thing the doctor mentioned might happen…

“Are you sure?” Steve asks, risking another glance over to Eddie, who hasn’t taken his eyes off him for a second.

“Pretty fuckin’ sure.” Eddie snorts.

“Oh, God. This is… I’m—sorry. I’m so stupid. Fuck, I gotta—“ Steve suddenly attacks the door handle with a clumsy fury that has his hand fumbling with the handle for way too long. Fucking busted up, bruised as fuck fucking brain-!

“Steve, it’s okay, dude,” Eddie says from behind Steve, but that’s easy for him to say; he didn’t just humiliate himself in front of his not-boyfriend, definitely-crush, possibly ex-friend—“Steve, wait!”

Steve flees the van on unsteady feet, not daring to look back.

[theveryfruityfour]

Neither of these photos are very casual…they’re in love

[2jihiir0]

(inspired by *that* shirt 🖤)

Corroded Coffin lead bassist meets a very cute fan ~