#i had eddies part written in my head and sort of what I wanted to write for buck but then I forgot bucks

[kaz2y5baby]

Here we have Eddie Diaz, a half-Mexican firefighter who loves his telenovelas. Sadly for him, his life has turned into a telenovela. He terrorizes the women of LA and while doing so comes across his dead wife's doppelganger. Eddie then proceeds to cause his son, Chris leave him due to said dead wife's doppelganger. His son goes to live with Eddie's parents who Eddie doesn't like very much. While dealing with all this he is going through some heavy catholic guilt for several reasons. One being he slept with an (almost) Nun, and two because he is gay for...

...his best friend Evan "Buck" Buckley. Buck is also a firefighter. He will soon help Eddie get through having his (their) son be away by most likely talking to Chris and at least having come to stay with him. He will then Help Eddie overcome his catholic guilt by kissing him straight on the mouth.

[lovebugism]

saw you were looking for shy!reader requests and now I'm having visions of nighttime colorful twinkly lights, snow swirling in the frigid air, frost-bitten noses and tentative glances...

what about reader getting roped into holiday caroling with the gang, including her crush, Eddie? Or some other festive outdoor activity, preferably one which allows them to subtly get closer to each other without giving away their feelings 🤭 I'm feeling those 'will we won't we' vibes tonight hehe

wow. here's me casually writing a wee drabble for someone who's written some of my favorite works on this app lol. hope you like it angel :D !! — eddie keeps shy!you company during a holiday party at the wheeler house (friends to lovers, fluff | 0.9k)

The weirdo has a soft spot for the princess.

The Princess, he calls you, ‘cause Mike once convinced you to sub in on a D&D campaign some months ago now. You were a rebellious fairy from a clan of royal fae sent to guide the rag-tag troop through an enchanted, labyrinthine forest. 

You had dressed the part, too, despite having zero knowledge of the game itself. You waltzed into the Hellfire room in a flouncy pink dress, iridescent fairy wings from last halloween, and a crown of artificial flowers.

Eddie remembers you that way, still. A sweet and timid thing, with a big heart and a pretty laugh. Even now, as you sit all alone in the Wheeler’s backyard, away from all the chaos and the twinkling lights, bathed beneath a glowing pink sky and sparkling snow — you’re still such an ethereal thing. A heavenly being, flung from space.

He weaves through the quaint party and over to you, carrying a steaming cup of cocoa in one hand and his bleeding heart in the other. 

“How’s it going over here?” Eddie asks over the soft holiday music playing closer to the crowd.

You blink up at him with wide, glassy eyes, as though he’s just jolted you out of some sort of daze. “Oh. Yeah. Fine,” you stammer finally, smile wavering when Eddie’s lopsided grin makes you forget how to breathe. 

You tug the blanket tighter around your shoulders with cold and clammy hands. Hiding feels instinctual to you now.

“Freezing to death?” the boy quips and fights to keep his own teeth from chattering.

The sight of him before you, with snowflakes clinging to his curls and his pale skin softly flushed with wintertime, makes you smile more sincerely than you mean to.

“Something like that,” you nod.

Eddie extends a ringed hand towards you then, offering the paper cup of hot chocolate keeping his aching fingers warm. “Want some?”

“Oh, no— It’s okay,” you decline with a polite shake of your head while your chest blazes with misplaced embarrassment. “I— I can get my own.”

“Well, between us, I didn’t really want it in the first place,” Eddie confesses lowly, taking another step closer until you can smell the deep musk of his cologne. You tilt your chin to follow his gaze. “Little Holly offered me a cup, and I didn’t know how to say no.”

The thought of Eddie Munson, in all his daunting black and silver, having a sweet spot for the youngest Wheeler (whom he exclusively refers to as Little Holly) makes your chest go all warm. 

Holly has her own innocent affections for him, too — you know for a fact she’s got an obsession with his bat tattoo that’s driving Ted insane.

You duck your head in a feeble attempt to hide your smile. Eddie sees it anyway, though, and smiles at your smiling, perhaps wider than he realizes. 

You take the cocoa from him with gentle, trembling hands. His heart skips a beat when your fingers brush over the back of his own. Yours stops entirely when he sits down on the bench beside you — not unwelcome, of course, but more wanted next to you than you’d ever be willing to admit out loud.

Eddie hisses through his teeth and tenses beside you through a shiver. You watch him stick his pale hands in the pocket of his thin leather jacket, which he wears in spite of the inclement weather.

“Are you sure you don’t want another jacket?” you wonder sheepishly, peering at the boy through the corner of your eye.

“I’m good, princess,” he insists with a shake of his head, just before his glowing nose sniffles. “I’m a rockstar, remember? Rockstars don’t get cold.”

“Really?” you hum, quiet and sarcastic.

“Yeah. Freezing to death is, like, the least metal thing ever. It’s like, you know, using an umbrella when it’s raining— It just makes you ten times less cool.”

You shift on the creaking bench and smile at your cup of cocoa. “Well, me and the ladybug umbrella I’ve had since I was nine respectfully disagree,” you joke in shy murmurs, still so meek in humor.

Eddie laughs. You feel him trembling with it beside you from where his shoulder’s pressed against yours. You see his teeth chattering just before he lifts his hands over his mouth, breathing hard into his palms in a desperate attempt to warm them.

Your hands ache with the sudden urge to cover him up. They tremble with uncertainty when you drag the borrowed blanket from your left shoulder to drape the excess along his back. Eddie peers at you with a chocolate button-eyed look as you shift closer into him, made warm and alive by your proximity alone. He’s grateful for the act of kindness, still.

“Thanks,” he mumbles, gaze averted and cheeks pink. You’d almost think he was shy.

“Don’t mention it,” you murmur back and mean it.

“You know…” the boy lilts, nicotine-spearmint breath fanning warm across your cheek. You can hear the smile in his voice without ever even looking at him. “If you just wanted to be close to me, you coulda just said.”

You flash him a stern look from beneath your lashes, which still manages to look just as soft as the rest of you. You try not to think about how close he is to you now — close enough to make out every distinct shape of the snowflakes sticking to his wild hair.

“Don’t make it weird,” you plea through a deadpan.

“That’s a lot to ask of the local weirdo,” Eddie scoffs. “I mean, it’s kinda in the name, princess.”

“Sorry for not wanting you to freeze to death.”

Eddie meets your narrowed eyes with a crooked, pink grin dripping with mischief. 

“I like you, too, princess,” he croons quietly.

Your chest pinches. You have to remind yourself to breathe. “I didn’t say that,” you shake your head and turn away, looking back to the crowd mingling beneath falling snow and fairy lights. You don’t know why Eddie would want to be here with you, instead of over there with them. 

Eddie doesn’t know how he could want a single other thing than to be here with you.

“Didn’t have to,” you hear him say as he pulls the blanket tighter over his shoulder and shuffles closer into you. For warmth, you tell yourself. For warmth and not a damn thing else.

[carolperkinsexgirlfriend]

can you see the stars in your dreams (and do they have a lot to say about me) - Part 1

Or: a secret Admirer AU

Less than a month into the school year, and Steve’s already making use of the library. If Mrs. Click could see him now, she’d be proud–until she caught sight of the blank notebook page in front of him and the lack of textbooks on the table. 

He feels stupid; he’s hunched over his notebook, trying to make his thoughts transfer onto the page in any coherent form. But, he’s not like Eddie with his impassioned speeches and clever English papers.

Words flow through Eddie in fully-formed, concrete ideas. For Steve, it’s more of a drip. Each word has to be scaffolded onto the previous one with blood, sweat, and tears. Even then, it’s never quite right. Too abrupt, never what he was actually trying to say.

He’s just never been good with words.

By the time he gives up, there’s more crossed out than left written, so he gets a clean page of paper and transcribes it as best he can. He’s left with:

       Your hair is pretty. Do you use conditioner?

Steve tears it from his notebook and lays it flat atop his table in the library, smoothing out any crinkles in the page. It feels like the start to something, sure, but there’s more blank space on the page than words. By a lot.

He leans back over his work, adds a little wonky heart in his blue pen and signs the whole thing—

       ❤ your secret admirer

—the way all the girls who leave notes in his locker do. Their notes are usually on pretty paper, written in sparkly gel pen that smells like strawberries. The i’s are sometimes dotted with little hearts he’ll never admit to finding cute. And there’s envelopes involved, and usually more than eleven measly words.

His looks like something Eddie’ll toss out before opening, mistaking it for trash.

Steve grimaces. How do girls do this? Do they all take some sort of class on how to write pretty letters on pretty enough paper that boys will fall in love with them? Is that what they teach in Home Ec? He should have never let Tommy mock him into switching to shop class.

Should he ask a girl?

Under no conditions will he ever ask Carol. She’d have far too many uncomfortable questions and tell the whole school all of his embarrassing answers. He’d be run out of town within days, Carol holding the sharpest pitchfork.

Steve leans back in his chair with a groan too loud for the library and fists his hands to rub tired eyes.

“Are you okay?” Steve jerks, sending his pen and paper careening to the ground in his attempt to cover the compromising words upon the page. “Oh, sorry!”

Steve watches, horrified, as Chrissy Cunningham bends down to pick his supplies up off the carpet before he’s had time to scramble out of his chair. She’s in her cheer uniform, white zip-up Hawkins hoodie covering her arms. She looks perfect and preppy and just like all the girls who’ve ever left a note in his locker.

She’d be able to write something that Eddie would want to read.

“Steve?” Chrissy’s hovering over him, lips pursed, eyes big and worried. “Are you okay?”

“Shit, sorry,” he replies. She’s got his note clutched to her chest. He curls his fingers against the urge to reach out for it—that’ll just draw her attention, and that’s the last thing Steve wants right now. “Just got lost in my head.”

“Anything I can help with?”

He knows what she’s going to do before it happens. Chrissy’s sweet—if there’s a way to help, she’ll want to. So, she holds out the paper and begins to read, probably expecting an assignment she can tutor him on, and there they are: Steve’s damning words written in still-wet blue ink.

Her brow furrows as she takes an obscene amount of time mouthing out the words before she looks back up to meet his eyes. “Did someone give this to you?”

Her eyes are still big, but they look sad now, like just the thought of someone receiving the note he’d slaved over is enough to distress her. Unable to help himself, Steve snatches it from her hands and crumples it into a ball, damning words hidden in his fist.

Chrissy gasps at his abrupt movement and takes a halting step away.

“I wrote it,” he mutters, no longer able to meet her eyes.

She’s silent for long enough that he’d think she left, except the library’s quiet, and he hasn’t heard her take a step. He stares at the grains of the wood in the table, empty hand rubbing against the smudged top as he waits for her to do something.

“Are you…” she starts, trailing off for a moment before picking her thought back up, “…picking on someone?”

Steve clenches his fist tighter, note crinkling beyond repair beneath his nails as he mutters, “no.”

Chrissy’s quiet again. Steve doesn’t dare to look up, even as he hears the chair across from him pull out, the sound of her weight settling into the wood. The table’s just so interesting. Nothing has ever been as intriguing as the little chip out of its edge, the ring on the wood where someone had let their drink condensate against all the library’s rules.

“Who’s this for?” Chrissy’s voice is soft now, like he’s some sort of horse, prone to bolting when spooked. “Steve?”

Steve looks up. Her eyes aren’t sad anymore; they’re piercing.

He’s always liked Chrissy. She’s the nicest girl in the school, until someone does something she doesn’t like. Then, it’s all disappointed eyes, and pouty lips. It’s like disappointing his Mom, but worse, because his Mom’s never around to stare balefully at him.

The point is, Chrissy’s nice. She’s not like Carol. If he told her, there would be no lynch mob, or fleeing Hawkins in the dead of the night with nothing but the clothes on his back. Probably. Maybe.

Steve tries to smooth out the page, and scowls down at it when the wrinkles refuse to disappear. It’s even worse now, words made illegible by the deep creases his fingers have pressed into the paper. There’s no way Eddie’d ever want a note like this.

So, he says, “Munson,” looking up to try to watch his meaning land on her face.

It doesn’t. Her foreheads all scrunched up as she looks down at the note. Only then does Steve realize he’s caressing the wonky little heart. He pulls his hand back, curling his fingers in so she can’t see the smudge of blue on his pointer finger.

“And you aren’t making fun of him?”

Steve can feel his shoulders drooping. He wants to disappear into the floor, melt into the carpet and become one with all the other mysterious stains upon it. “No.”

“Oh,” Chrissy replies, drawn out and low as she peers down at the crinkled note with a confused frown. But something must click because she straightens, eyes wide beneath her bangs. “Oh!”

It’s loud enough that they both reflexively flinch. But, when no librarians come skulking around any corners, Chrissy turns back to him, gaze uncomfortably intent. Steve wonders, somewhat horrified by the turn his life has taken, if he’s about to get hate-crimed by a cheerleader half his size.

But Chrissy’s nice—always has been, always will be. So, she bites her lip and looks furtively around like she’s only just realized this is a conversation that shouldn’t have any witnesses. “But you like him?” she whispers.

Steve leans forward, matching her energy and pitch as he replies, “yeah,” quiet enough that it’s barely a breath. Chrissy smiles at him, warm and small, just like her hand as she reaches across the table to put it over his and squeeze comfortingly.

The note sits, damningly soiled beneath their linked hands, wrinkled, and smudged, and barely-legible handwriting. The weight that’d lifted with Chrissy’s smile sinks back into his gut.

“But it doesn’t matter,” Steve says, letting go of her hand so he can pull the note closer to himself. “I’m no good at this stuff.”

Steve crinkles the note back up. It’s unsalvageable—a stupid idea executed badly.

He’s in the middle of stuffing it into the pocket of his jeans to keep his keys company until he can toss it out in the comfort of his home when Chrissy says, “maybe I can help?” voice lilting up, like it’s a question.

Steve meets her eyes, hand still half-shoved in his pocket. She’s all earnest now, the way she usually is when there isn’t a sad boy infecting her with his own ineptitude. Eyes shining with conviction, bangs curling sweetly around her face. She’s no Carol, that’s for sure.

“How?” he asks, and when she smiles, it looks a bit like hope.

***

 “I can help you write a better letter,” Chrissy starts. He perks up like a dog the moment its owner gets home. “If you do something for me.”

She feels like scum when he curls back into himself, gaze forlorn.

When she’d caught sight of the note he’d spent what seemed like a full hour pouring over, this isn’t what she’d been expecting. And when she’d finally made out his chicken scratch scrawl, she’d been sure Steve was picking on someone, no matter how unlike him it would have been. But then his shoulders had curled in, and his ears had turned red, and his voice had gone all soft and squishy when he’d said Eddie Munson’s name.

And she’d just wanted to fix it.

So, even as he asks, “what?” all sad and droopy again, she knows she’s going to help him, no matter what he says.

“Date me,” she asserts. It’s only as Steve blinks stupidly at her that she realizes how that came out of her mouth. “No, wait, not really!”

Her hands are waving around wildly and she can feel the blood rushing to her cheeks. In contrast, Steve seems to come back into himself, shoulders shoring up as he smirks across at her with his signature raised brow. The one he’d used while leaning on Nancy Wheeler’s locker last year, or holding her books as they walked to class, and all the other assortment of stereotypical boyfriend activities.

He’d worn it all the time, like it was part of the uniform. 

“I just meant, we could fake it?” His right eyebrow raises to meet his left, forehead scrunching up with his incredulity. “It’s just, Jason and I broke up? And he won’t leave me alone.”

It takes all her strength to keep meeting his eyes as the seconds tick away. But then Steve nods, swings his letterman jacket off, and tosses it across at her. Unprepared for his sudden movement, it hits her in the face and drops into her lap.

“There you go, sweetheart,” he says with a cheesy wink that somehow manages to feel more genuine than any of his actual flirting techniques. “Gotta sell it somehow.”

“What a romantic,” she replies, deadpan, but she pulls his jacket on anyway, something that feels an awful lot like relief steadying her heart rate as she smooths down the too-long sleeves.

Jason’s going to freak out. But after that, maybe he’ll stop calling her house, and trying to put his arm around her at lunch, and trying to pick her up for school every morning. She’d do almost anything to get it into his thick skull that she’s not interested.

So, here she is, hashing out the details of a secret admirer letter from Steve Harrington to Eddie Munson, of all the unlikely pairings.

“What’s wrong with what I wrote?” Steve whines, running his fingers through his hair until it’s all mussed up and falling into his face.

Chrissy snorts. “It sounds like you’re telling him his hair is frizzy and dry.”

“I said it was pretty!” He throws his hands in the air before crossing them and pouting his lower lip out.

Chrissy can’t help but laugh. She’s always liked Steve. He’s nicer than most of his friends, and he’s easy to talk to. But this is a side she’s never seen of him. She’s not sure anyone has; can’t imagine Carol or Tommy seeing him put his whole heart into something and not tearing it to shreds.

“Do you use conditioner?” she asks, throwing finger quotations around it as she reads it off the crumpled page.

Steve’s blushing again, cheeks all blotchy and red, rather unbecoming for the shoo-in for this year’s prom king. “Well, I thought you said you’d help!” he says, a little too loud for the library.

So, that’s how she ends up spending the next hour painfully turning Steve’s earnest thoughts into words on the pretty baby blue paper she’d carefully removed from the back of her daily planner.

In the end, they’re left with this:

       Eddie –

       I wish I could say this to your face, but I’ve never been good with words, and you’d probably think it was a joke.

       I can’t even get myself to talk to you, you’re so distracting.

       I like how pretty your hair is. How do you get your curls so shiny? I want to run my fingers through them.

       I hope this note brightens up your day. You deserve all the smiles you can get.

       Yours,

       Your Secret Admirer

It’s not what she would write, but still, it’s leagues better than what he’d started with. She slides it across to Steve, and he smiles down at it. He reaches his hand out, fingers almost brushing the page before he pulls his hand back, curling his fingers into a fist.

“What if someone sees me?” he asks, voice so quiet she can barely hear him even in the resounding silence of the library.

They’d managed not to talk about it, the dangers of Steve liking a boy. But it’d been present in the hesitancy by which he shared each of his thoughts, looking up at her like each remark would be the last straw before she recoils in disgust.

If someone finds out that Steve has a crush on a boy, it won’t take long until he’s getting beat up between classes or heckled straight out of school. Heck, even with all the rumors floating around about him, Eddie might be the one to throw the first punch.

“Do you want me to deliver it for you?” she asks.

“You’d do that?” he asks back, because apparently no one ever taught him not to answer a question with a question. “For me?”

“What else are fake girlfriends for?” she asks because they’re all questions now, no answers to be had between the pair of them.

Steve laughs, all tension leaving his shoulders as he throws his head back with amusement, eyes downright twinkling as he beams across at her.

“You’re the best, Chrissy,” Steve says, smiling even brighter as she replies, “I know.”

She leaves school that night after pushing Steve Harrington’s love note through the slats of Eddie’s locker, Steve’s letterman jacket keeping her warm from the cold.

This might be the best relationship she’s ever had, fake or not. Eat your heart out, Jason Carver.

PART 2

Welcome to my new AU! This will be posted in 21 parts. It is complete, so there will be a new update each morning until it's all posted. I've elected not to do a tag list, but it will be added to my pinned post each day as well. If that's not your speed, it will be added to Ao3 once it's all been posted here.

Special shoutout to @queenie-ofthe-void for not only their usual fabulous beta work, but also both the original idea and the writing of some of the secret admirer letters. You not only make me a better writer, but this work literally would not exist without you. <3<3

Title of the fic from the song Eyes in the Sun by Florist

[paceprompting]

give me your hands

written for ‘winter sports’ wc: 961 # | steddie | rated: g | cw: no warnings apply | tags: pre-relationship, fluff, teasing, eddie teaching steve to skate, slice of life

@steddieholidaydrabbles

“Jesus, Harrington, you’re a mess.”

Eddie skated to a smooth stop in front of Steve in the most awkwardly contorted position he’d ever seen someone who was a star athlete the rest of year. His knees bowed inward, arms held out straight to his sides as he wobbled on the thin blades of his rented skates.

Steve shot him a blistering look through the hair hanging over his face. “I’m on ice. What do you want from me?”

Eddie waited until Steve had slowly lifted his torso to stand sort of straight, letting out a slow exhale when he didn’t immediately fall right over.

The kids had heard that the lake in the northernmost part of Hawkins had completely frozen over. And with most parents still working during their winter breaks, it was up to Eddie and Steve to taxi the entire group out for a day of skating, snowball fights and hot chocolate.

The Hawkins skate rink had taken the opportunity to pack up their skates and rent them out beside the lake—as well as poor dude in a red puffy jacket serving as the medical booth.

“Well, you were captain of the melted version of the stuff. I thought you might be better at this,” Eddie answered, skating a slow circle around Steve and returning in front with a backward skate.

Steve tried a step forward.

His foot slid out sharply, and he shot his arms out to steady himself.

“Fuck. This is so embarrassing.” He let out a slow breath and went back to taking awkward steps on his skates.

The rest of the kids had seemed to make a game out of falling over, racing each along up and down the other side of the lake until one or both at a time toppled over. Until there was any blood, Eddie didn’t think he didn’t need to get involved.

Eddie had his hands in his pockets to avoid the cold—which would actually suck if he ended up falling—and he watched the awakward, baby deer-like way Steve attempted ice skating.

He stayed up for at least ten seconds before his skate betrayed him again.

Eddie tried for reassuring.

“You’re doing fine.”

“My butt’s cold,” Steve mumbled.

That did tend to happen when you toppled over about six times in the middle of a frozen lake. Steve wasn’t decked out in snow pants like Max, and the loose snow and ice had stuck to his jeans.

Eddie had kept pace with Steve while he waddled along, sometimes going backwards and other times having to do a figure-eight to backtrack when Steve near-stumbled and Eddie went past him.

Steve glared at Eddie’s feet. “How are you so damn good at this?”

“Free to skate if you have your own. Over the years, Wayne brought me here to try and warm up. Or tire me out so I wouldn’t knock over the Christmas tree in the trailer.”

Steve let out a laugh through his nose, but it distracted him and he did fall over for the first time since Eddie had joined him. It was onto his knees this time, the sharp pain traveling through to a wince on Steve’s face.

Eddie ducked his head as Steve slowly got back onto his feet. It was disheartening to Eddie to see Steve look down at himself and look so nearly disgusted when Steve had usually managed to find a spot for himself in everything he did.

“Give me your hands.”

Steve had his hands ready when he whipped his head to Eddie. “What?”

“You’re so worried about falling back, that’s all you’re going to do.” Eddie held out his hands, shivering as the slight wind forced cold into them. He forced his fingers to bend and urge Steve to him. “Come on.”

Steve eyed the offer.

Whether it was Eddie standing straight up with no wavering, or a last-ditch effort to try before he could officially give up—Steve slowly slid his freezing hands into Eddie’s.

Eddie squeezed Steve’s fingers, raising his brows in a question.

Steve licked his chapped lips and nodded.

With a gentle pull, Eddie started a slow path backwards. Steve glided without moving his feet, letting Eddie guide him across the ice. Eddie let him for a minute or so, letting Steve feel the balance without worry about hitting the ice.

“Try using your feet now,” he urged softly.

Steve blew out a sharp breath, shaking his head. But he followed direction, and began walking forward, barely lifting his skates from the ice.

Again, Eddie waited until Steve’s shoulders relaxed before giving another instruction.

“Don’t shuffle the blades. Lean a bit forward and push off of your feet when you step.”

Steve furrowed his brow, and if Eddie smiled at the cute wrinkle that form in that space between them that was Eddie’s business because Steve couldn’t see him anyway. He slowly repeated Eddie’s words to himself and tried to compel his feet to do as he said.

“If it pushes to the side a little bit, that’s okay. It’ll propel you forward.”

Eddie squeezed Steve’s fingers again for encouragement as he propelled them forward with decently-done steps, rather than Eddie pulling him along. He thought out pulling a move from his uncle, letting go of Steve’s hands without warning to see how he did on his own.

But the second he shifted his hands even a bit, Steve clutched onto him.

“Can’t hold onto me forever,” he teased.

In a surprisingly bold move for someone who had spent half the day flat on the ice, Steve lifted his head and met Eddie’s gaze, sharp and daunting. There was a quirk to the corner of his mouth, the cocky Harrington charm slipping through his nerves.

“You sure about that?”

[ladykailitha]

Share With Me One Love, One Lifetime Part 1

Here we go. The final story in the Boy with a Bat trilogy. It's certainly come a long way from when I first started writing for this fandom. Two years ago on this day, I put out Can Anybody See Me? because there was serious lack of season 2 AUs were Hellfire had taken Steve under their wing. And then it grew from one story into two with Never Hold Back Your Step... and I promised I would get Steddie all the way through season 4 to come out alive on the other side.

The goal is to get all the story out before season 5 premiers. So far of what I've written, we're about 2/3 of the way through season 4. We'll get to the end and then we'll have a short epilogue.

Thank you to everyone who cheered me on to complete this trilogy. But especially @bookworm0690, @kultiras, and @dreamercec.

The title like the previous two stories before it (here and here) comes from a musical. In this case, The Phantom of the Opera. RIP Eddie. You would have loved that musical.

In this we have our boys caught between a rock and hard place, Steve watches Lucas's game, and Eddie gets into some trouble.

~

Steve was going to murder someone. He just hadn’t decided on who yet. Though at the moment it was starting to look like Lucas.

“And you’re sure you can’t move it to another night?” he asked, pinching the bridge of his nose.

“Yeah,” Eddie murmured. “Mike leaves for California in the morning and most of the other guys have plans too. Then once spring break comes back...”

“You can’t use the drama room because the play is starting up,” Steve finished for him. “Shit. And I can’t have it here. My mom somehow found out about the movie nights and threatened to have my dad kick me out if it happened again.”

“Shit.”

“Yeah,” Steve said, nervously chewing on his lip. “And you know I’m gonna want to support Lucas.”

Eddie let out a long sigh. “Yeah I know. Dustin told me. I just wish Lucas had come to me instead of the flying monkeys you know?”

“Me too,” Steve said, closing his eyes. “He just got in with the boys on the basketball team and I’m worried he’s going to alienate himself from his friends if he continues to hang out with them.”

“I’m worried about that too,” Eddie huffed. “And my speech was aimed at Carver by the way. In the heat of the moment I had forgotten Lucas was on it. Got reminded afterwards though.”

Steve opened his eyes and let out answering sigh. The little bell above the door twinkled, heralding the arrival of customers. “Look, I’ve got to go, I have to actually work.”

“Booo,” Eddie hissed. “I’ve got that deal with Chrissy after the game, so I’ll be by after that, okay?”

“Okay, Eds,” Steve said. “Be safe.”

“Yup!”

Steve hung up the phone with another sigh. He straightened up and put on his best customer service smile. “Welcome to Family Video, how can I help you today?”

The rest of the day flew by in a flash and too soon he was picking up Brenda for the game. She had come into the store earlier and was talking about how she really wanted to go to the game because her brother was on the team but her parents didn’t want to go.

So Steve offered to take her. He was pretty sure she thought it was a date, but Steve kept trying to steer here away from that sort of talk. He’s not sure he succeeded.

~

“It’d be funny if we won the championship game the year after you graduated,” Brenda said with a smile.

Oh hell no.

“I wasn’t on the team my senior year,” he said with a bitchy expression. “You would know that if you actually watched us play. I was out with a concussion.”

Brenda smirked. “You know what I mean. I just mean that you were King Steve, we didn’t win the championship once.”

“Yes,” Steve cocking his head forward, “but I’m the one that got us to the championship my junior year. I sunk that last shot with nothing but net that got us into the final game. The other team was better. You can still do everything right and have the other team just be better.”

Then it looked they were going to lose, so they let Lucas play. After all what was the harm of letting him play for the last minute of the game.

And then a miracle happened.

Lucas was at the three-point line and he let go of the ball just as the buzzer went off. Steve rose to his feet as the shot sailed into the air and hit the basket dead on.

Lucas had won the championship game for the Tigers.

Steve was jumping up and down and just screaming. “Yes! Yes! Yes!!!”

~

After the players came back out from the locker rooms, Steve put his arm around Lucas.

“Looks like our hard work paid off,” he said with a teasing grin.

Lucas rolled his eyes. “Yeah, yeah. Thank you, Steve.”

Steve gave him a tight one-armed hug and then whispered in his ear, “If you feel uncomfortable for any reason, just give me a call and I’ll be there in a heartbeat. And don’t let anyone pressure you into something you don’t want to, okay?”

Lucas nodded and then hurried to catch up to Jason and his friends.

Steve shook his head and turned to Brenda. “Hey do you need me to take you home?”

She shook her head. “My brother is going to drop me off before heading the celebration.”

“You got it,” Steve said with a thumbs up. He stopped for a moment. “Which one did you say was your brother again?”

“I didn’t,” Brenda sneered. It’s Andy Snyder, number forty-three.”

Dread pooled in Steve stomach. Andy was the new Tommy H. A bully and a brute, on and off the court.

“He played good tonight,” he said with a fake smile smile firmly in place.

Her returning smile was even less sincere and she walked away. Steve put his hands on his hips and looked up, pressing him lips together.

He was now certain she thought they were on a date, but with Steve paying more attention to Robin then her and rooting for Lucas without even asking who her brother was... yeah. According to her the date was a failure, according to Steve, he dodged that fucking bullet.

~

Steve had barely kicked off his shoes when the walkie talkie he kept next to the door crackled to life.

“Code Red!” Eddie hissed. “I have a fucking Code Red! Is anyone there? Please god, please!”

Steve was on the line faster then from one breath to the next. “Eddie, this is Steve. Repeat, this is Steve. What’s your status?”

“Chrissy is dead, man,” Eddie whined. “She–she rose up into the air, like a puppet on a string and oh god!”

“Shit, shit, shit!” he cursed. “You’ve got to get out of there, now! Stash the van and run for Rick’s. After the game there are going to be too many eyes on my place. You keep your head down, you hear?”

“Yeah,” Eddie breathed. “Yeah. Oh god, it was so bad, Stevie. Why her? She was so nice to me. Why her?”

“We’ll find out,” Steve breathed. “I just don’t know who would be around right now. Everyone is out scattered because of the game, Nancy and Mike are getting ready to take him to the airport for him to fly out to California and everyone is out celebrating the win.”

“What about Dustin?” Eddie murmured. He hated bringing a kid into this, but if that was who they had...”

“I don’t know where he is,” Steve said chewing on his thumb nail. He should have picked up before he did.

“Shit!”

Steve let out a shuddering breath and pinched the bridge of his nose. “I’ve got work tomorrow, but as soon as I can, I’ll bring you clothes and food enough for you hide out there, okay?”

He had a lot of Eddie’s clothes over at his place, it wouldn’t be hard for him to pack a bag.

“Yeah, okay,” Eddie sighed. “You’ve got a handle on this. Just don’t forget about me, okay?”

“I’d never.”

~

“Hey,” Robin said after Steve pretty much blew up at a customer for not know if her boyfriend liked scary movies or not. “Are you okay?”

Steve grimaced. He had tried to get people on the walkies this morning but he couldn’t get anyone on the line and he didn’t have a chance to talk to Robin, because she had been running full steam about Vickie all morning.

But before he could even open his mouth to answer Dustin came storming in, with Max hot on his heels. “Turn on the news now!”

Robin turned over to the news and sure enough the breaking news was of a girl being murdered at the Forest Hills Trailer Park and the investigation was ongoing.

“That’s Eddie’s trailer!” Dustin cried.

“I saw Chrissy go into his trailer last night,” Max admitted, “and then he came running out screaming.”

“Why you didn’t get anyone on the walkies?” Steve growled. “That would have been great to know last night!”

“My mom sold them for more booze,” she snapped back.

Steve pinched the bridge of his nose and sighed heavily.

“We need to find him!” Dustin insisted. “He’s innocent! There is no way he did this! He couldn’t have!”

“Whoa!” Steve said sternly. “You think I don’t know that? I’m the one who introduced him to you do you forget!”

Dustin blinked at him for a moment and then nodded. “Sorry Steve, I freaked out when I found that my walkie talkie had been accidentally been turned to the wrong channel, but I couldn’t get him on it this morning and I was really worried.”

“Okay...” Robin said, raising an eyebrow, “and why are you here, specifically?”

“Oh, I was going to hack your system to find out where Eddie might have gone aground?” Dustin said with a grimace.

Steve buried his head in his hands. “Oh I am so getting fired.”

Max scoffed. “As if your peon bosses would be able to tell Dustin even touched it.”

Steve put his hands on his hips and rolled his eyes skyward. “No, that’s not why I’m getting fired.”

Everyone else looked at each other in confusion.

“Then why are you getting fired?” Dustin asked with one raised eyebrow.

“I’m guessing you’re going to want to hasten to Eddie’s rescue, yes?” he asked licking his bottom lip slowly.

Dustin rolled his eyes again. “Yes!”

“And how would you get there?” Steve pressed. “You bikes? Because that won’t draw attention to where Eddie might be hiding.”

“Well, no,” Max said, “we’d make you take us.”

“Which means I would be abandoning the job to go look for Eddie if we left now, yes?”

Dustin and Max eyes went wide and then they said together, “Oh.”

“Yeah,” Steve huffed, shaking his head. “You either wait until two when I’m off or I’m going to get fired.”

“Two, you said?” Max said with a wince.

“Mhmm.”

“That’s not too bad,” Dustin hedged. “After all it might take me that long to crack the system and find Eddie.”

He went to go leap over the counter when Steve grabbed him by the scruff of his neck.

“Oh hell no,” Steve snapped. “One I just sorted those tapes and I’m not doing it again, and two you don’t need to hack shit, because I know where he is without all the techno bullshit.”

“Techno is a genre a music,” Max supplied unhelpfully.

“And it’s not bullshit if it helps us find him!” Dustin growled.

“Did you even listen to the rest of Steve said?” Robin asked, knocking his hat off his head. “He knows where Eddie is.”

Dustin blinked at Steve for a moment. “How would you know that?”

Steve rolled his head and tilted his head back. “Because I was on the actual fucking walkie talkies you make us carry around everywhere we go and Eddie radioed the party last night. AND I was the only one who answered!”

Dustin and Max blinked at Steve’s outburst, shocked that he would yell at them. But with Eddie missing and a girl dead, it was forgivable.

“So where is he,” Dustin groused, picking up his hat and slamming it down on his head, “if you’re so smart?”

“Reefer Rick’s boathouse on Lover’s Lake?” Steve suggested with a half shrug.

Max folded her arms and glared at Steve. “And how would you know where that is?”

Steve threw his arms in the air with a huff of frustration. “We’d go there sometimes when my dad was being an ass, okay?” He looked down at his shoes and scuffed his shoe on the carpet. “It was a place no knew but us. Sometimes Rick would be there and we’d watch TV sometimes.”

Dustin looked at him disbelieving. “Yeah, sure...that’s all you did.”

“I hate to break it to you kid,” Steve said dryly, “but drug lords actually prefer that their dealers aren’t doing the drugs they’re selling. It’s bad for business.”

“Oh.”

~

Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 Part 5 Part 6 Part 7 Part 8

Tag List: 10 SLOTS REMAINING

1- @itsall-taken @estrellami-1 @zerokrox-blog @sadisticaltarts @dolphincliffs

2- @gregre369 ​@a-little-unsteddie @irregular-child @cryptid-system @kultiras

3- @maya-custodios-dionach @goodolefashionedloverboi @val-from-lawrence @carlyv @wonderland-girl143-blog

4- @bookbinderbitch @bookworm0690 @forgottenkanji @dreamercec @blondie1006

5- @yikes-a-bee @awkwardgravity1 @genderless-spoon @fearieshadow @thesecondfate

6- @dragonmama76 @ellietheasexylibrarian @thedragonsaunt @useless-nb-bisexual @disrespectedgoatman

7- @counting-dollars-counting-stars @tinyplanet95 @ravenfrog @swimmingbirdrunningrock @lingeringmirth

8- @gutterflower77 @a-lovely-craziness @just-a-tiny-void @w1ll0wtr33 @beelze-the-bubkiss

[katstarry]

no one noticed | call me

eddie munson x reader

part iii

masterlist ☆

part i part ii

summary: eddie finally asks you on a date!

warnings: fluff, reader tends to overthink a little, a bit of self-doubt, but overall this is happy!!! she/her for reader, not much of robin in this one :(

a/n: this is probably the last part and it’s kinda long!! i sort of winged this whole small series :D but i enjoyed writing it sm it’s the first time i’ve written multiple parts for a story, thank you for all the love!!! 💝 i think this is my favorite part.

feedback + reblogs are appreciated! ☆

a few weeks had gone by and your friendship with eddie had only gotten stronger. the project for history had gone great, and it’s only a matter of time until the grades are passed out.

though eddie and you have spent lots of time together after school at various locations, such as your house or his, diners, local shops, or visiting robin at family video—there’s one thing that neither of you have gotten the courage to ask for.

each others number.

many days spent seeing each other, the thought of continuing to keep conversations going after you both go your separate ways, has been something you’ve wanted to do since the start.

it’s a simple thing really, but for some reason you don’t find the perfect time to ask for his number, or bring it up. feeling as though that would be too awkward. he hasn’t brought it up either, which only fuels your reluctance.

which brings you to now.

it’s a friday and you’re both spending the evening at a local diner, waiting for your food to arrive, well, specifically eddie's.

"are you sure that you don't want anything else?" he looks at you as he drinks from his cup, he had ordered a burger along with some fries. while you had only gotten a vanilla milkshake with fries.

"yup, i ate some lunch at school earlier. remember?"

he nods his head, "right. just don't steal my food when it gets here." narrowing his eyes at you.

"pfft, what? i would never do that." you say, grabbing one of your fries and taking a bite.

eddie rolls his eyes and smiles, "uh huh, just like you didn't steal my chicken nugget during lunch, or yesterday at the movies and i got some m&m's , or the other time when you said you didn't want anything but then asked for my chi-"

"alriiight! okay! i have no idea what you're talking about. that wasn't me." hiding your smile by taking a sip from your milkshake, he leans onto the table crossing his arms in front of him. "sure it wasn't, she looked a lot like you though. weird."

he steals one of your fries.

"hey! now who's the thief?" smacking his hand away, but you were too late, he had already grabbed it and ate it, smiling innocently back at you.

he shrugs, "don't know what you're talking about."

"i hate you." you say shaking your head and laughing.

he laughs, "oh please, you love me, sweetheart."

you blush. because first of all yes, you do, and second of all because of the nickname he's gotten used to calling you.

"you wish." you roll your eyes, acting as if his words didn't cause your heart to race and cheeks to burn. you hope he doesn't notice. but of course, he does, though he doesn't bring it up.

"i'm wounded, you don't love me." he puts his face in his hands as if he's crying. that's when the waitress comes over with his food.

"okay, here's your burger and your fries, sir," she smiles and puts the food down in front of him, causing eddie to look up and rub his hands together at the sight of food, "enjoy your meal! you both make a lovely couple." she smiles as she looks at you both.

you both freeze and look at each other, you see eddie smile. oh no.

"thank you so much, she doesn't love me." he deadpans with a fake sad smile as he looks at her.

an awkward look appears on her face. "oh! i'm, uh, sorry about that." she looks over at you.

"that's- no! i never said that, he's just kidding. ha ha." you look at eddie who's trying not to laugh at the look on your face. you kick him under the table.

he yelps and the waitress leaves after awkwardly laughing.

"uh, ouch?!" he rubs his leg under the table.

"oh c'mon it wasn't that hard!" you laugh. your face feels warm once again, "what'd you have to say that for? the poor lady, she was just doing her job." you shake your head with a fake disappointed sigh.

"just having some fun, sweety pie."

"ugh, don't ever say that again."

"we gotta keep up the act now! right, sweetums?" he bats his eyelashes at you and takes a bite of his burger.

"stop!" you laugh.

"why, sweetcheeks? apple of my eye? buttercheeks?"

"buttercheeks?" you ask, still laughing.

"i don't know where that came from, kinda started pulling some outta my ass." he laughs, taking another bite.

"it's okay, honey, you're trying your best." deciding to play along, patting his free hand that lays atop the table.

though, unbeknownst to you, his brain kind of short circuited for a moment once he heard you. you called him honey and you don't even realize the effect you have on him. usually, he's the one calling you pet names, loving the way you react to them, it's sweet. though he only thinks it's because you're a naturally shy person, but he's questioned in his mind if there was another reason as to why.

and he hopes he's the reason why you get all flustered when he says them.

taking another bite to keep himself occupied, nearly finished with the burger, he smiles at you once he finishes.

"i really am, you cutie patootie." he wipes his hands on a napkin before, leaning over and booping you on the nose.

"seriously? cute patootie? out of all the options?" you finish your milkshake, putting the rest of your fries to the middle of the table in between eddie and you so you can share.

"it suits you! but all right then, uh.." he looks up in thought, eating one of your fries, "...snookums."

"i really do hate you." you take the final fry.

"hey, we're supposed to be keeping up an act here, boo boo bear." he points an accusatory finger at you, you stare at each other for a moment before you both end up bursting out laughing.

"we should head home, love bug." you say, getting out your wallet.

"uh uh uh! no. i'll pay." he stops you.

"eddie you paid last time. i'll pay."

he sighs, knowing he won't be able to stop you. he hasn't been able to stop you all the other times before.

you smile, knowing that you won.

now you're both in his van and he's driving you home.

it's become a routine for you both, he started picking you up for school and driving you home. if he kept this up you'll end up not remembering how to drive.

he turns up the radio, one of his metallica cassettes is playing. looking over at him, you smile at the sight. he's looking straight ahead, hands drumming on the steering wheel to the music, head moving to the beat. you believe he does it subconsciously, as if he doesn't realize he's doing it unless someone points it out.

you look away once he glances at you.

"staring it rude, sweetheart." he says sternly, though you can hear his smile.

"wasn't staring."

"sure you weren't."

"just was admiring the view."

"you flatter me, y/n." he twirls one of the strands of his hair playfully with his free hand, while the other is on the wheel with his elbow resting on the window that's down.

you shove him gently, "don't let it get to your head. it's big enough as it is."

he laughs, "who knew you'd be so mean, what happened to the shy girl from a few months ago?"

"i wasn't that shy."

he looks over at you with his eyebrows raised.

"okay maybe i was."

he laughs, "couldn't even keep eye contact with me."

"i was just nervous!"

"i make you nervous, sweetheart?"

"no."

"sure." he smiles.

the rest of the drive was comfortable, music playing in the background, you like that about being with eddie. it doesn't feel awkward having periods of silence, he makes you feel safe, welcome, you can just be you.

he lowers the volume of the radio once he stops in front of your house, putting the van on park.

"well, home sweet home." he says, turning to look at you.

"home sweet home." you repeat, unbuckling your seatbelt. "thanks for the ride, eds."

"of course. you know i don't mind." he smiles.

you smile at him and get out, waving back at him once your in your house as he waits for you to get in safely, and shut the door.

once you're safely inside, eddie glances down at where you were sat, and finds napkin with scribbles on it.

he grabs it and looks at it properly, about to throw it to the back to throw away later (he always forgets), but stops once he reads what's on it.

it's a telephone number, it's your number. and beside it is written 'call me!' with a smiley face and a messy heart.

you had called robin as soon as you got home, gushing once again about your time with eddie, while she talked to you about her encounters with vickie.

and now here you were a few hours later, anxiously laying on your bed and flipping through magazines, waiting for eddie's call. will he even call?

did he even see the napkin? oh no, what if he threw it away? or what if he doesn't care?

that's when a ring begins to sound.

you jump up from the bed, fixing your hair, but then realizing he won't even be able to see you.

you pick up the phone, "hello?"

"well hellooo, y/n. i can't believe this is our first time calling each other."

you immediatley begin to smile, "i know right! we're so stupid."

"i didn't know how to bring it up."

"neither did i."

you both laugh.

"we really are so stupid." he says.

you picture him by the phone, is he standing? or is he sitting? is he smiling as much as you are?

"so..."

"so... what'd you do today?" he asks, and you know now that he's definitely smiling, and you can picture it so easily. maybe he's even toying with the phone cord, maybe not.

"hm... well i went to school obviously," "obviously." he interrupts, sounding as if he's holding back laughter.

"okay. and then just hung out with this guy after school."

"aah.. a guy you say? should i be worried?"

IS HE FLIRTING? you swear your heart skips a beat. breathe!

you laugh, "oh no, no. nothing to worry about."

"you sure?"

"totally, he wouldn't even hurt a fly."

"sounds like a pussy." he laughs.

"definitely."

"heeey! you weren't supposed to agree." he pouts, though you can't see him.

"you're the one who said it!"

"well, i don't know the guy, so i can say it."

"eddie you literally are the guy."

"i am?"

"idiot."

your laughs quiet down and you hear quiet breaths over the receiver, something about it makes it feel so intimate, it makes you blush. it's like he's so close, but he's so far away. only a couple of minute's drive away, but still, too far for your liking.

"still awake over there?" you whisper.

you hear a loud exaggerated snore in return, causing you to pull the phone away for a moment.

"well you must be in very deep slumber, i guess i'll hang up.."

"no! i'm awake. sorry, must've fallen asleep a bit there. oops. my bad, i'm up. don't hang up."

"nearly ruptured my eardrum." you laugh.

"myyy bad." he snickers.

"i am getting a bit tired though," a yawn escapes you in the middle of your sentence.

you hear him sigh, "guess we gotta sleep then."

"guess so."

a moment of quiet.

"you doing anything tomorrow?" he asks.

"um, no i don't think so. you?"

"nope."

"cool." you smile, knowing he'll ask to hang out.

"can i ask you something?" he sounds nervous.

"of course."

"we should hang out tomorrow."

"...okay, i'm down. was that the question?" you laugh softly, opting to lay down on your bed again.

"sorry- no that's not the question," you hear him move around, "uh, i was thinking."

"oh no." "shut up," he laughs, "i was uh, wondering, if you- do you want to go on a date with me?"

quiet.

WHAT. oh. oh this is real.

"uh it's okay if not, can just forget i ever said that-" "i'd love to."

he swears he stops breathing for a moment, "yeah?" he smiles once he hears your answer.

"yeah." you giggle.

"cool.. nice. i'll pick you up, uh is like 3pm cool?" "yeah, that's cool."

"awesome. well... i'll see you tomorrow, sweetheart." he whispers.

"see you tomorrow eds. goodnight."

"don't let the bed bugs bite." he says, did he really just say that? he rubs his face, but he feels calmer once he hears it made you laugh.

"alright, bye eddie."

he can't wait for tomorrow.

excitedly going to sleep, the next day comes quick.

calling robin and immediately telling her you have a date with eddie.

you wake up, have some breakfast and tell your mom, take a shower, and spend time looking for an outfit.

he didn’t tell you what the plans were, so you decide on something a bit casual but also a bit dressy. you put on a nice babydoll shirt and some jeans along with your docs.

sitting at your desk, where you have a small mirror and your make-up products, you get started on getting ready. you take your time getting your hair to look nice and not going too over the top with the make-up just some simple concealer, mascara, and lip gloss.

by the time you finish it’s about 2:30pm. okay, 30 minutes left. cool. now it’s really sinking in that you’re about to go on a date.

you get up and put on some jewelry, some earrings and a necklace, and just a few bracelets.

okay, now you’re ready.

wait! some perfume too. can’t forget that.

looking at the mirror you fix a few things—and you hear a knock at the door.

your mom went out to do some groceries—so you rush to the door and take a breath, not wanting to seem too eager. but you are.

you open the door and see eddie, he looks good. really good, which you’ve always thought but you can see he put effort in for this. his hair seems softer somehow? he’s wearing a black button down that fits loosely and some jeans, he’s still wearing his rings, you take notice that one his arms is hidden behind his back.

“you look great.” you both say at the same time.

“uh thanks.” you feel your face heat. “you look nice.”

“thank you, swetheart.” he pulls his arm from behind his back and he gives you flowers. you almost sigh dreamily, almost. you take it, unable to stop the smile that comes to your face.

“you remembered my favorite flowers?” you say as you look down at them.

“i remember everything you tell me, beautiful.”

his pet names aren’t new, but knowing this is a date makes hearing them a lot more difficult to not love the way it sounds.

“thank you, eds. i’ll just go put them in some water and i’ll be right out.” he nods and waits for you.

you’re out really quickly, excited.

he opens the door for you as he always does, but this time he even buckled the seatbelt for you, before going to the drivers seat. gentleman.

“so, where are you taking us today eddie?” you look over at him seeing him smile and starting the van.

“guess you’ll have to wait to find out.”

he hums along to the music that’s playing, opting to turn on the radio and put on one of his favorite stations. you hum along to the songs you do know, the ones you’ve listened together with him and some you’re just now hearing.

the trees on the side of the road pass you by, shades of green and brown since it’s almost fall, but still warm enough to be outside.

“i think i know where we’re headed.” you say, your gaze still outside the window.

“sh! sh! i still want it to be a surprise. even if you know where we’re going.” he chuckles.

you smile lazily over at him, your head resting on the headrest. “alright.”

the drive to the location is peaceful, as it always is. it’s filled with silly banter, teasing, and causal conversation.

once he parks the van, he rushes out and opens your door before you even get the chance to reach for the handle.

you hop out, “thank you.” you pat his chest.

“of course, your majesty.” he puts out his hand and your grab it.

he leads you to the back of the van and he opens it with his free hand, grabbing a blanket and a basket.

“a picnic?”

“a picnic.” he blushes and looks away, feeling a bit flustered by the way you look at him in adoration.

he leads you a bit further into the trees until you reach a good place; with a beautiful view of lovers lake.

letting go of your hand with a soft squeeze, he opens up the blanket and places it on the ground, putting the basket on it and sitting down. he look up at you and reaches for your hand.

“you gonna join me? or are you just gonna stand there and look pretty? i wouldn’t mind either one.”

you sit down across from him. “oh shut up.” you mumble.

he nudges your foot with his own, “don’t get shy on me now, sweetheart. let’s dig in.”

“alright, let’s see what you brought.”

opening up the basket he pulls out sandwiches, drinks, a container with cupcakes, and some fruit.

he looks up at you once he finished laying everything out. “i know it’s not much.. but i hope you enjoy it. i know you’ve mentioned before how badly you wanted to go on a picnic before.” he looks back down and counties setting everything.

you grab his hand and squeeze it. “it’s perfect, eddie. thank you. anything we would’ve done today i would enjoy regardless, you make things fun ed’s.”

letting go of his hand, he sits up and smiles.

“likewise, cutie patootie.”

“ooookay. well then, this has been fun—” you move to stand.

“no! alright, alright. i’ll behave.” he laughs, putting his hands on your shoulders.

“thanks, buttercheeks.” this causes you both laugh.

he hands you a sandwich, you take it and eat. the time is spent eating the snacks he had brought, goofing around, and shy glances when the other thought they weren’t looking.

the food was eaten and now you were snacking on some grapes, now sitting side by side, looking out at the lake, the sunset making the trees surrounding it to have more color and the water to glimmer.

“it’s so beautiful.” you say, looking at the scenery.

“yeah. it is.” he says softly, but he’s looking at you. he’s leaning on his elbows, his legs stretched out and crossed.

looking over at him, you lock eyes. only this time neither of you look away. you move to mirror his position, now at eye level.

“hey.” he says in a low voice.

“hey.” you say.

you eat another grape.

“can i have one?” he glances down at the fruit in the container.

“if you can catch it.” you smirk, sitting up as he remains how he is. he furrows his eyebrows in confusion, but understands once he sees you raises your arm, about to throw the grape.

he opens his mouth in attempt to catch it, but it hits his eye, causing you to burst out laughing.

“laughing at my pain, i see how it is.” he picks up the grape that fell onto the blanket and throws it back at you, which hits your shoulder.

“you missed.”

“you hit my eye!”

“it was close!”

“that was not close.”

you throw another one, catching him off guard. it hits his nose.

“now that was close.” you say, eating one yourself.

he shakes his head and sits up, reaching for the container. you pull it away playfully.

“oh? is that what we’re doing now?” he says.

you shrug.

he moves to grab it again, you pull it away.

neither of you move, until you stand and run with the container. he gets up and tries to reach you, but unfortunately you trip on a tree root and fall onto the grass, eddie falls as well by trying to reach for you.

he falls atop you, the container of fruit now forgotten.

“y’know if you wanted to be on top of me, i think that could’ve been after a couple more dates, eddie.” you joke.

eddie leans over you, not wanting to put his full weight on you. “ha ha.” he rolls his eyes.

“so what i’m hearing is.. you’ll go on more dates with me?” he brushes a loose strand of hair that fell in front of your face.

“mmm… maybe.” you smile.

“cool.”

“cool.”

he glances down at your lips, looking back to find you doing the same. “can i kiss you, sweetheart?” he whispers.

you nod, and that’s all he needs before leaning down to connect your lips. he feels your soft lips and he can’t help but sigh against the kiss. this is real. he’s kissing you. moving your hands to wrap around his neck, you feel his lips love against yours, tasting the cupcakes from earlier and a hint of mint. smiling against his lips, he pulls back for breath.

smiling down at you, he looks at you, a gleeful look on your face.

he moves to move off you, but you pull him back down for one last kiss.

he laughs against your kiss, helping you up.

“can’t get enough of me already?”

you shove his shoulder gently, “what, don’t want me to kiss you then?”

“now, now let’s not get crazy. i didn’t say that.” he pulls you closer, both of you now standing. he leans down and pecks your lips, pulling away and humming contently.

“nice?” you say.

“more than nice. amazing. awesome. beautiful. spectacular. though i think i know what would make it even better.”

“yeah? and what’s that?” you play with the ends of his hair.

“if you would be my girlfriend.” he says, blushing.

you hide your smile by hiding your face in his neck.

“i’d love to be your girlfriend, eddie.” you kiss his cheek.

he embraces you. “thank you.”

“for what?” you laugh, feeling him shrug.

“being you.” he kissed the top of your head, “…i’m your boyfriend now.” he smiles, pulling away and holding your hand.

and that next monday, in history class, where it all first started, he looks at his grade, an A written at the top.

he looks over at you, leaning over to give his girlfriend a dramatic sloppy kiss on the cheek.

[andforyouevan]

Tidbit Tuesday

Hey hey!I haven't worked on my 'Tommy-Maddie-Karen shenanigans' fic in a couple of days but I have 3500-ish words written for it and I thought I would post a snippet. I really don't know how long it will be, but I might have it up this weekend.

It's kinda long but I really like this part.

“This is my husband, Tommy,” Evan says, tossing an arm over Tommy’s shoulders and pressing a mayo filled kiss to Tommy’s cheek. Tommy rolls his eyes with a smile and wipes it off.

“Nice to meet you,” Lance says with a laugh. “He talks about you so much, I feel like I know you already.”

Tommy looks at Evan, who’s been drawn into an argument with Eddie about something or other, Tommy’s not really following. What he does see is Evan’s left hand on the table, the black silicone ring on his finger and it makes his heart flutter every time he sees either wedding ring on Evan's finger.

“He’s my biggest fan,” Tommy jokes but Lance looks entirely serious when he says,

“He really is.”

Dinner is just what Tommy needed and when Evan walks him to his truck later, he wraps his arms around Tommy’s waist. “So, not that I’m complaining, but what’s up with dinner?”

Tommy tries to look innocent. “I missed you?”

Evan laughs. “I believe that. But I don’t think that’s all there is to it.”

“You know me too well,” Tommy laments. “I just had a weird interaction that threw me off.”

Evan frowns. “What kind of interaction?”

Tommy tells him what happened with Shirley Barnes and Evan’s frown deepens.

“She sounds like a homophobic busy-body,” Evan says, making Tommy laugh.

“Yeah,” Tommy says. “But it was like a quiet homophobia, the kind when someone doesn’t even realize they’re doing it. Plus, I think she is going to cause trouble with my whole deck idea.”

Evan tilts his head. “I can do some research during downtimes? Maybe there’s some sort of policy or something against house additions? I’ve heard that’s a thing.”

“It is,” Tommy admits. “It’s just never been an issue before. You’re better with research than I am so, yeah, if you want to do some looking into it, that’d be great.”

Evan considers him carefully. “This deck is important to you, I know. Why?”

Tommy feels himself fidget under his husband’s attention, which he knows is only going to confirm Evan’s suspicions. “Maddie went with me to Home Depot today. I told her that I couldn’t stop thinking about what happened.”

“Me neither,” Evan says quietly. “I almost lost you.”

“I know,” Tommy says with a slow exhale. “And I just...yes, I want the distraction from that, but I also want to continue living my life. We’ve been talking about putting a deck on the house for forever and we just haven’t had time to do anything about it.”

“Hmm,” Evan says. “You don’t want to waste time.”

Tommy kisses him gently. “Not with you and our life together.”

“So,” Evan says slowly. “You building a deck onto our house is also a metaphor for living life at it’s fullest after a near death experience?”

Tommy thinks about that. “That...sounds about right actually,” Tommy confirms. “Yeah.”

Evan laughs. “And people think I’m the dramatic one.”

np pressure tags: @desert--moonchild, @cjlouwho, @mmso-notlikethat, @tiltingheartand @harmless-variety-of-garden-snake

[scoops-aboy86]

wc: 647 | Rating: T | CW: mentions of infidelity, technically hurt no comfort because I haven’t written the part where they make up | Additional Tags: future fic, famous Eddie Munson, past Steddie

Okay, look. The tv was on in the background, and Ross and Rachel were breaking up, and this happened in my head. I’m posting it for Fuck It Friday because fuck it. The only thing getting me through life right now is cough drops.

part 2

Hell of a Time at the Wake

“Yeah, haven’t had a drink or touched any drugs in five years, as of last month.”

“Oh wow, so that’s from before Corroded Coffin made it big.” The interviewer chuckles. “Usually it’s the fame and rehab that come first.”

“I prefer to think of myself more as regionally notorious, but sure. Never did the rehab thing, though.”

“Well, what’s the story there?”

Behind their frontman, the rest of the band shares a look. “Oh, we don't need to—” 

“Nah, Jeff, it’s okay man.” Eddie waves them off, then turns back to the interviewer. “Back before we hit the road to make a name for ourselves, I was seeing someone back home. I mean, the someone. The one. But we kept having this same… not really a fight, just this thing: I wanted to leave town, they didn’t. And then finally we had this huge blowout about it that started as something else and somehow turned into that again, which turned into both of us storming off. They went home, and I went out and got completely shitfaced, and in the morning I woke up with someone whose name I didn’t even know in bed with me.”

The interviewer winces. 

“Yeah. And when you do something shitty like that, it’s going to come out sooner or later. Or pretty much immediately, in this case, which.” Eddie grimaces and shrugs. “Well, it gave us something else to fight about, that’s for sure. I knew I’d fucked up bad, but it took hours of back and forth before I realized that we were done done. Trust completely obliterated, no way to come back or move on from that, just… over.”

There’s a pause where he stares off into space for a moment, stuck on a memory. Then he shakes himself and refocuses. 

“Anyway, at some point during my doomed attempt to salvage things, I swore I’d never have another drink ever again. Which, the being drunk of it all wasn’t really the problem, so saying that didn’t buy me anything, but… even after it ended, I didn’t. I’d been so fucked up that night, and it wasn’t the booze so much as the fear of it being over that made me a one man self-fulfilling prophecy—but I hurt someone I loved more than anything, and I never wanted let myself get that fucking stupid again, so. I haven’t. And honestly, I sleep better knowing that.”

“Wow.” The interviewer is staring at him, stunned. Probably doesn’t get a lot of this sort of thing, not just because of all the wild rockstars and other celebrities that come on the show with stories about trashed hotel rooms and wild parties, but because Eddie is being honest. 

It’s not something he talks about… ever, really. Not even with the guys. But, after five years, it doesn’t hurt the same. It’s not even for St—

It’s not for his ex anymore, if it ever was. 

“Why would it be weird?” Gareth is saying. “We have a built in DD, that’s always great. And Eddie doesn’t give us shit for anything, he’s just honest when we ask if anything was too out of hand. It’s a good reality check.”

“And like,” Doug adds, “he’ll still come out with us to clubs and shit to hang out. But if he says he doesn’t want to drive us to a bar it’s not some passive aggressive or superiority thing because we drink and he doesn’t; he’d really just rather fuck off and do something else.”

“Gee, thanks,” Eddie says dryly, but he’s smirking. 

Doug flashes him finger guns, the fucking dork. “You’re welcome, asshole.”

And the interview moves on. These guys have been Eddie’s friends even longer than they’ve been his bandmates, and the four of them are solid. If the gossip vultures out there want something to pick at, they’ll have to find a different target. 

part 2

Permanent tag list (ask to be added/removed):

@hotluncheddie @hiei-harringtonmunson @sofadofax @hickeysgodcomplex @oatmilk-vampire

@wheneverfeasible @hamiltonswiftie @grtwdsmwhr @yesdangerpls @theseaofdespair

And then someone shows Steve the interview and he asks Robin for Eddie’s number, and they talk for the first time in years and end up falling back in love, but that’s the hard to write part so this is what you get. Xoxo

[radioactiveparker]

The Breakfast Club - Eddie Munson X F!Cheerleader!Reader

Part Three - Hallway Vision

Chapter Summary - During an adventure through the maze of school hallways, we see the Criminal become the hero, and the King become the villain. (A retelling of The Breakfast Club, written and directed by John Hughes.)

Chapter Warnings - Characters are all 18+ / Strong Language / Illusions to Emotional Abuse/ Abusive Relationship / Vandalism / Strong Sexual References / Drug References / Angst

Word Count - 5k

(Series Masterlist) (Masterlist)

(Part One) (Part Two) (Part Three) (Part Four) (Part Five)

~~~~~

Saturday.

October 25th, 1986.

Hawkins High Library.

1:00pm

~~~~~

"Let's take off. Dick's gone cruising." Eddie poked his head back into the library.

"Is that a euphemism?"

"No, Buckley. It means Higgins has just left his office."

You looked at the others as if this was an easy yes; you wanted to leave this library. Steve and Nancy didn't look too fond of the idea. Robin was torn between not wanting to leave, and not wanting to be the only one left behind. 

"How do you know where he went?" Nancy asked, as if his answer would determine hers.

"I don't. But he's gone. He wouldn't've come to check on us first if he wasn't going somewhere for a while. Jesus, I've never seen so much chicken shit in one place in my life."

She didn't find that answer very reassuring, but if Nancy was anything, it certainly wasn't chicken shit.

Robin looks at her, then back at Eddie. "I'll go out in the hall for a minute, but I don't wanna leave." As if that was proof enough that she wasn't chicken shit.

You really wanted to get out of that library. It had felt a lot bigger when you had first got there, but now, five hours later, it was starting to get suffocating. You didn't want to see another book for the rest of your life. 

"Do you mean take off for good?" You asked hopefully.

Eddie shook his head. "For good? No, just down to my locker."

"Okay." You agreed simply, taking your place beside him.

He smiled at you. "Being bad feels pretty god, huh?" 

You rolled your eyes at him and gave him a playful shove. The others looked like they were starting to consider it. Eddie's locker wasn't that far away. They would be gone for five minutes tops. If things went well, that was.

"What's the point of going to a locker?" Steve questioned.

"Why don't we just stand in the hall for a minute? That'd be fun, huh? If we get away with it." Robin attempted to persuade.

You and Eddie ignored them, taking the chance to slip out the door. The longer you all spent debating it, the less time you would have to get back.

Steve, Robin, and Nancy looked at each other.

"I'm not chicken." Nancy disclosed boldly, shifting on her feet and crossing her arms.

"I am." Robin gulped. At least she was honest.

"You two gonna stay?" Nancy flicked her eyes between the two of them.

"Not if you don't." Steve leaned against the door frame, like his answer showed her some sort of compassion, that he was thinking of her. 

"What do I have to do with making up your mind?"

Steve gulped. Not the reaction he was hoping. He cleared his throat and accepted defeat. "I don't know. I guess if you're not scared, I shouldn't be... not that I am. I'm not scared. Not of Principal Higgins."

Nancy stared at him like she didn't believe him, then left before he could dig the hole any deeper for himself. Steve was crushed as he watched Nancy walk away. He felt like he had just blown a chance at impressing Nancy. His shoulders slumped, and Robin patted him on the back.

"Maybe you should think for yourself for once. It's healthy." 

She hadn't said it in a bad way, but it had still injured his dignity. He brushed her hand off him and left without a word. Robin turned to the empty library. She debated sitting back down, but she had visions of Higgins storming through the doors and hounding her with questions. At least if she got caught in the halls, she'd have the others with her. She quickly followed after Steve.

Nancy and Steve caught up with you and Eddie, with Robin running behind, trying to catch up. You all hurried up the steps as quietly as possible. You made it to the teacher's lounge and paused, hearing noise coming from inside.

"For cryin' out loud!" Principal Higgins hit the vending machine. His soda can was stuck inside. 

You and Eddie ran across the open doorway while he was distracted. You tried not to think about the way Eddie had grabbed your hand to pull you along. Higgins rattled the coin return and started banging on the buttons. Steve and Nancy went next, taking a big lunge across and landing on their feet silently. Higgins let out a defeated sigh and started rummaging his pockets for more change. Finally, Robin made it across, just in time before the Principal turned around after having no luck. Eddie turned to make sure that everyone had made it across. He hadn't realised that he was still holding your hand until you wiggled it out of his grip. Your face flushed, and you awkwardly wiped your hand on your skirt, suddenly feeling the perspiration on your palm. You took a step away from each other at the same time. Eddie cleared his throat, and the others eyed him, wondering why his demeanour had suddenly changed.

They all turned when they saw his eyes staring behind them, paralysed in panic. Principal Higgins had walked out of the teacher's lounge. 

Everyone froze.

The Principal paused, looked down at his watch, turned the other way, and walked down the hall. Everyone released a breath when he was out of sight. Eddie led you down another hall until you reached his locker.

His locker was so ugly it hurt your eyes. The white paint on his locker was non-existent. It was a horrific amalgamation of stickers from bands you've never heard of, spray paint graffiti, and lettering scratched into the metal with handwriting so bad you couldn't even read it. When he opened it, the inside wasn't much better. The stickers and writing wrapped around the inside of the locker door. It was a stunning mess of clothes, bags, papers, books, cassette tapes, and auto parts. You'd hate to see what his bedroom looked like. 

Not that you were thinking of being in his bedroom.

Eddie started fishing through his locker. Nancy was revolted by it. 

"You're such a slob. Your maid take the week off or something?"

"This is on purpose, Princess. Don't worry." Nobody believed him. "It discourages nosey people from going in it. Like cops."

Eddie smiled when he located what he was looking for. He pulled out a greasy, stained shopping bag. Out of the shopping bag, he took a smaller brown paper bag, and out of that, an even smaller paper bag. Then, with great drama and a huge, proud smile, he reached his hand into the final bag.

"You ready for this action?"

He slowly took out a baggie bulging with marijuana. Your mouth hung open in shock. Nancy looked at it like it was infectious.

"No way, man. Put it back." Steve insisted, making a reach for it.

Eddie stuffed the baggie down the from of his pants with a smirk. Steve pulled a disgusted face; there was no way he was going to take it from him now. 

"Let's go."

You all turned and quietly crept back down the hall. You were about to turn the corner when Eddie stopped you. Professor Higgins was standing outside of the teacher's lounge again, holding two cans of Coca Cola after finding some spare change in his office draw. He was only five yards away. You all scooted backwards to hide behind the corner. You bravely peeked a head around. Higgins turned and made his way down the hall. He was on his way back to the library. You told the others.

"We're screwed!" Robin cried

"You asshole!" Steve seethed. "I knew this was a lost idea!"

Nancy shook her head in disbelief. "We're finished. This is just great." 

You had a bit more optimism than that. You turned to Eddie. He got himself out of shit all the time. What's one more? You had faith in him, and he had felt it in how you spoke your words. "What're we gonna do?"

Eddie thought hard. Higgins' leisurely footsteps echoed down the hall, each one diminishing your chances of getting back to the library undetected. 

"We'll go around, cut through the lab, and double back. C'mon."

Eddie urged everyone to start running. You all swerved around corners and scrambled downstairs, sacrificing volume for speed. You narrowly escaped Higgins' sight when you turned and corner and seen he was walking head on towards you all. He was too busy sipping on his Cola to notice the group of students at the end of the hall. At least he had decided to take the scenic route back to the library. He was unintentionally buying you all some time. You all ran in the opposite direction again.

"Cut through the cafeteria." Eddie directed, starting to run down the hall to the right.

"The gym will be faster." Steve countered.

"What? No, you don't know what you're talking about."

"No, you don't know what you're talking about. I'm through listening to you. You'll just end up getting us into more trouble. We're going this way." Steve had managed to persuade the others into following him. 

Eddie hardly spent time in school, and he certainly never used the gym. He couldn't remember if it was quicker or not. He didn't like not being in control. He felt like he was running off a cliff head first with a blindfold on. He watched as the others followed Steve down the hall to the left. It was just you and him left. You stared at him fearfully, listening to Principal Higgins' footsteps grow closer. You started backwards slowly, encouraging Eddie to follow. He did with a scoff of annoyance. The two of you quickly caught up with the others, falling behind while Steve led the way. After a couple of twists and turns and another almost run in with the Principal, you reached the gym doors. Steve pulled on the handles.

They were locked.

Sheer panic set in.

"Great idea, shitbag." Eddie spat at Steve.

"Fuck you." He tried the doors again to double check that they were locked. 

They were. He kicked them bitterly.

"Fuck you, why didn't you listen to Eddie?" You defended. 

You crashed back on some lockers and folded your arms in frustration.

"We're dead." Robin whimpered.

Eddie looked at you. You had probably given him more credit that what he was worth before when you had asked him for help, but now, as you stared back, he wanted to prove himself to you. You seeing the clogs working in his brain and the change in his eyes.

He didn't take his eyes off you. "No, just me." He said heroically.

"What do you mean?" Steve's voice finally drew his eyes away from you.

"I'm gonna take the rap." He pulls his baggie of marijuana out and shoves it down Steve's pants. "Keep your unit out of it."

The girls giggled. Steve was horrified that a group of girls were laughing about his genitals.

"I mean, what if the bag broke and the dope seeped into his thing and it got high?" Robin laughed.

"Can you imagine this airhead running around with his little weenie stoned?" You cracked up.

"Little?" Steve looked wounded. "It's not that funny." 

The girls just cracked up more. Eddie smirked.

"I don't want this, Eddie!" Steve begged.

"C'mon King Steve, I'm gonna save your buns! It's your fault we're in this mess, the least you could do is hold on to that until Dick leaves." 

The girls were still laughing. You meet Eddie's eye and he starts laughing too.

Steve turned back to the group of girls snickering behind him. "Excuse me, but I don't want to do this. Eddie's making me, so I'd appreciate it if you guys would stop with the jokes. Okay?"

Eddie turned and started running back down the hall. "Just get back to the library!"

There was a pause as the girls calmed down. No use in trying to be sneaky when you can't stop laughing. 

"Eddie, wait." He paused, eyebrows raised in interest at your voice. "Be careful."

Eddie beamed and shot you a wink before sprinting down the hall.

"That stuff couldn't really happen, right?" Steve's voice quivered with concern for his unit.

With a roll of your eyes, you urged the group to start towards the library. You lead the way, taking Eddie's route through the cafeteria. As you ran through the halls, you could hear his loud singing, but he was too distant for you to understand any of the words. If you could hear him from all the way over here, Principal Higgins would most definitely already be on his way to catch him. 

You managed to get them all back to the library safely. Everyone was huffing for breath, and Steve kept adjusting his pants. Everyone took their seats, except for Nancy, who was peering out of the doors to keep an eye out for Higgins or Eddie. 

Nancy gasped. "Higgins' got him! He's gonna get reamed."

Steve recoiled at the name. "I do not want these drugs in my underwear anymore."

"Shhh!"

Nancy rushed from the door to her desk. No sooner was she seated than the door opened up, and Principal Higgins shoved Eddie in. He was red-faced from running around, and he had managed to tie his hair back into a low bun that you thought suited him. His red paid shirt was half hanging off, and he was carrying one shoe in his hand, but he still had a big shit-eating grin on his face. You wondered what on earth had happened. He made his way towards his seat next to you, hopping on one leg as he tried to walk and put his shoe back on at the same time. 

Higgins crossed his arms impatiently. "Mr. Munson has taken it upon himself to visit the gymnasium. So, I'm sorry to inform you that you'll be losing his company for the remainder of the day." 

Eddie chuckled to himself as he sat back in his seat next to you.

"Everything's a joke, huh, Munson? The false alarm you pulled on Friday? Are false fire alarms real funny? What if your home was on fire and the fire department was over here answering a false alarm?"

"I'm not that lucky, Sir."

Everyone suppressed the urge to laugh at Eddie's wisecrack. 

"Fine, what if it was your dope on fire?"

"That's impossible, Sir. It's in Harrington's underwear."

Everyone cracks up again. Steve turned red, adjusting himself in his jeans not-so subtly.

The Principal turned his attention on everyone else. "You like this? You think Munson's funny? Do you think he's cute?"

He got no reaction from anyone. Eddie glared at Higgins as he made his little speech, trying to hide his embarrassment at the fact that the Principal had managed to one-up him. 

"I bet Y/N thinks I'm cute." He mumbled under his breath. Eddie had spoken your actual name for the first time. It sounded like honey running off his lips. Your eyes widened, but you pretended not to hear. 

Higgins continued. "Go visit Big Eddie Munson in five years and see how goddamn funny he is." He smiled and leaned in close to Eddie. "You look like you're gonna cry, Munson."

Eddie was struggling to keep himself from striking Principal Higgins across his smug fucking face. How dare he humiliate him in front of everyone. How dare he humiliate him in front of you.

"You're not tough, Munson. You're pathetic." He reached out and grabbed Eddie by the front. "Let's go."

Eddie smacked his hand away. "Get your fucking hands off me! I'd expect better manners from you, Dick."

Eddie shuffled around the table, planting a big kiss on your cheek as he left. You almost gasped in surprise. As he walked away, he reached into his pocket and pulled out a pair of sunglasses. Why he was carrying sunglasses in October, you had no idea. You had learned it was probably better not to question him. He lay them on the desk in front of Steve. 

"For better hallway vision." He sniped.

Principal Higgins walked out, holding the door open for Eddie as he shuffled languidly behind him. He turned his head and looked at the others. 

He held up a peace sign in farewell. "It's been a slice, ladies."

The door closed behind them.

The room was silent once more. 

You reached a hand to your cheek where Eddie had kissed you. The skin was tingling under your touch. You couldn't help but smile at the memory of his surprisingly soft lips. Billy flashed through your mind again. Your heart dropped into your gut. How could you have let Eddie have that effect on you when Billy was waiting for you at home? The thought had your body tingling again. But not the good kind. 

Everyone awkwardly glanced at each other. You realised now that somehow Eddie had been the glue that was holding you all together. You had all bonded over your inadequacy to tolerate Eddie that, now he wasn't here, you had absolutely nothing in common.  You were unable to prevent the disappointment swarming in your chest.

"Principal Higgins is a total meat head." You broke the silence and everyone turned to you.

They all had the same sort of sorrow in their eyes. The girls agreed with you, but Steve shook his head like he didn't have any regrets.

"The freak asked for it."

The insult upset you more than it probably would have upset Eddie. "Hey! It isn't fair that Eddie gets treated like that. We all left. He saved our asses."

"Oh, get a life, Y/N."

You thought Steve was starting to come around to you after your talk on the way to the teachers lounge. You guessed not. "He sacrificed himself so we could get back here. I didn't see you volunteering."

You had wounded Steve's dignity. "I didn't want to leave in the first place. He got us into it, it's only right that he take the shit for getting us out of it." He bit back.

"You weren't forced to go!"

"Munson is a troublemaker."

"Yeah? So what does that make you?"

"Meaning what?"

"Wimp."

CCRRAASSHH!!!

Everyone turned in the direction of one of the seclusion rooms. There is a gaping hole in the ceiling where the tiles had crashed through, and Eddie splayed, stunned, on his back on the table. After catching his breath, he sat up and shook the dry plaster out of his hair. He sauntered out into the main library like nothing had happened.

"Miss me?"

"How did you do that?" You bewildered.

"Smoke and mirrors." He winked, taking his rightful seat beside you.

"Goddammit!" Footsteps came hurtling towards the library doors.

"Shit!" Eddie ducked underneath the table. 

His tall, lanky body hardly fit underneath. He shuffled upwards until his upper half was tucked between your legs. You cringed, trying so desperately to close your legs so Eddie didn't look straight up your skirt, but your legs were trapped on either side of his shoulders. 

Principal Higgins stood at the door, red-faced and puffing. "What was that ruckus?" 

"What ruckus?" You played dumb, jumping in before Steve could open his mouth and rat on Eddie. 

Higgins eyed them all up. You all sat like little angles, up straight and arms folded innocently in front of you.

"Could you describe it, Sir?" Robin asked.

"Watch your tongue, Missy."

Eddie shifted in discomfort, adjusting himself so his back didn't ache as much. He eyed your white keds. Only a slight discolouration in the laces and few specs of mud from when you had crossed the school field, but otherwise clean. He moved back slightly so he didn't get any dirt on himself. He followed his eyes up your white socks, tracing the green trim at the top of your knee. He was glad to be under the table when he flushed at the sight of your bare skin. The soft flesh of your thighs enticing him to follow higher.

There was a sudden knock from under the table from Eddie accidentally banging his head. You jolted in surprise, hitting your hands on the table to disguise the sound. The others copied, tapping their own little beats.

"What was that noise?"

"What noise?"

Eddie hoped that the sight he saw would never leave his mind. It was enough to send anyone into a cardiac arrest. His mouth hung open as he ogled straight up your skirt. You hadn't worn your spandex briefs since you weren't actually doing any cheerleading, and instead had opted for a pair of baby blue cotton panties. Eddie's mouth was watering at the excruciatingly tender bulge. In his entire life, Eddie would not be able to duplicate the raw power of this moment. Eddie's eyes were locked in a stare, hand trembling and eager to touch.

"Really, Sir, there wasn't any noise, just ---"

You shot up straight with a gasp, hands reaching underneath the table and into Eddie's hair. You could feel it tickling the skin of your thigh as his head moved further between your legs. The others looked at you with alarm. You pulled gently on his hair to urge him to stop, but couldn't find yourself putting in any effort to resist him. Your hand stayed weaved into his curled as he continued to delve in deeper. Your legs had started trembling when you felt his lips graze your inner thighs before placing a soft kiss there. Your mouth hung open in shock before you came to your senses. You quickly covered your gasp with a cough.

The others joined in and you couldn't be more grateful. The four of you sat in a coughing fit with Higgins eyeing you all suspiciously.

"What that the noise? The noise I just made. Was that it?" You thought fast.

Eddie's nose prodded at your mound. You suppressed another gasp and slammed your thighs closed around his head to stop him from moving any further. Eddie snapped out of his trance at the sudden pain on either side of his head. He slapped your leg to tap out, and you relaxed your thighs. He moved away from you, rubbing his ringing ears. When you felt him leave, you gave him a deserved kick to the arm. He hissed in pain, but Higgins hadn't heard it.

The Principal scowled. "I didn't catch you this time, but you can bet I will." He pointed a finger at you. "You!"

You tensed.

"I will not be made a fool of."

And with those final words, he stormed from the library.

Everybody held their angelic expressions for a couple beats and then, assured that Higgins was out of earshot, Steve, Nancy, and Robin break into laughter. You shoved your seat back and kicked your legs at Eddie as he scrambled out from under the front of the table. 

"You're such an asshole." 

Eddie tried to keep as serious as he could, but struggled to contain his laughter at your anger. "What?" He asked innocently.

"You know what."

"It was dark under there, it was an accident."

The others seemed to take interest in your spat. They wondered what had Eddie laughing and felt inclined to join in.

"What?" Steve asked.

"None of your business." You slumped back into your chair and crossed your arms, angry and embarrassed.

Eddie saw your wet eyes and soft pouting lips. He started to feel bad. He hadn't meant to upset you.

"I couldn't help it, okay? I'm sorry." 

You refused to look at him. He placed a gentle hand under your chin and guided your eyes to meet. His voice was much softer. "I'm sorry."

You hadn't said it out loud, but Eddie could see the forgiveness in your eyes. You relaxed under his touch, feeling the truth in his words. He smiled tenderly.

"What did you do?" Steve asked again, still hoping for a laugh. 

Eddie had clearly embarrassed you somehow. Steve thought it was only fair to get a few jokes out on you after you and the other girls had made fun at him in the hallway.

"Shut up." Eddie snapped, and the moment was over. 

He held out a hand to Steve who just looked at it in confusion. He reached like he was going to shake Eddie's hand but he slapped it away just before they clasped hands. Eddie looked at him like he was as thick as pig shit. 

"You smoke all my reefer or something? The dope, waistoid. Give it to me."

Steve's eyes lit up at the disclosure, wondering how he had managed to forget. He reached into his pants and tossed the baggie to Eddie, murmuring a 'good riddance' to it under his breath. Eddie sat back next to you and opened the bag on the table. You stared at it in curiosity.

You had never smoked weed before. You had never smoked period. But Billy did. He always tried to force you to smoke it with him, but you refused. It wasn't that you hadn't wanted to do it, it was because Billy wanted you to. It was kind of like when your parents ask you to do something and it immediately puts you off wanting to do it. He'd call you a killjoy, or Miss Priss, which always got under your skin. But what made it worse was that Billy always got horny when he was high. He struggled to contain himself around you, even when you told him no. Luckily, he had never done anything, but you knew it was only a matter of time before he would. 

You knew Eddie wouldn't be like that though. You had never seen him stoned, but there was something about him that told you smoking with Eddie would be okay. He wouldn't pressure you into trying it if you didn't want to, and if you did, that was okay too. Eddie sold weed to people all the time, heavy hitters and noobs alike. He had taught plenty of people how to smoke before. You could try it for yourself, without Billy's untoward provocation. 

He patted his pockets then looks troubled. "Do you have any papers." He asked no one in particular. 

Then with a shake of his head, he answered his own question. "Why would you dinks have papers?"

"You're not smoking in here." Nancy looked fearful.

"Yeah? Watch me."

"If you want to smoke, go back to where you were before. Before you fell through the fucking ceiling." Steve ordered on Nancy's behalf.

Eddie reached over and pretended to click a switch to turn Steve off.

"What can I use for papers?"

"A book?" You suggested.

"What about the smell?" Nancy quizzed.

Eddie regarded her off-handedly. "Take your shoes off, that'll mask the smell."

Nancy's mouth hung open in offence, She knew her feet didn't smell so the insult hadn't wounded her pride too much. But it was still embarrassing none the less. Especially in front of Steve.

Eddie ignored her and turned to you. "Book pages are too thick."

"How about dictionary pages? That paper's real thin."

Eddie looked at you impressed, eyebrows raised and a slight twitch in the corner of his mouth. The look of pride made your stomach flip. You took a great deal of pleasure at his silent praise. He walked over to the dictionary stand. 

"You can't tear up a dictionary." Robin protested. "What if somebody needs a word and you smoked it?"

Eddie ignored her, opened a dictionary and ripped out a random page. He couldn't care less if he had caused someone a minor inconvenience. There was more than one dictionary in the world.

He pointed at Nancy. "Hey Princess, watch that door. This is a police matter if we get caught."

Nancy tensed. She didn't like that idea very much. She swallowed hard. Eddie walked to the back of the library where the comfy chairs were and plonked himself down on one of the bean bags, making himself right at home.

You got up to follow. Steve looked at you completely pissed off at you for encouraging Eddie's behaviour.

"Loosen up." You scoffed.

"I'm not getting my paper written." Nancy sighed to herself.

"You know," you continued, "he's not all that bad. I'm kind of getting used to him."

"You're just bored."

"Why are you acting like this towards me, Steve?" You'd had enough of the way he was talking to you. "I thought we were fine after I apologised."

It was like when you were alone together you were fine, but in front of the others he hated your guts. You thought he had some nerve calling Eddie out at lunch for trying to keep up with his image. He was being such a hypocrite right now.

He scoffed. "It was hardly an apology."

"It was hardly an apology because I had nothing to be sorry for. I told you already what Billy did wasn't my fault."

"I know!" His voice softened. "I know."

Nancy gave him a gentle look, as if urging him to apologise. He sighed in defeat, tracing a finger along the split in his lip. Suddenly it didn't hurt as much anymore. Like holding this grudge over you was a constant reminder of the pain Billy had given him. He knew apologising was the right thing to do. He opened his mouth, but his time was up.

You shook your head in disappointment. You didn't know what you were expecting from him. Perhaps Steve wasn't as nice as you once thought. It was crazy how things had turned out. In the beginning, you thought for sure that this experience would have given you a chance to make amends with Steve, maybe even become friends of some sort. Turned out that you grew apart from Steve and found yourself feeling closer to Eddie. A notion you had never entertained in all your years at Hawkins High.

You walked away before Steve could say another word to you. 

~~~~~

<<<Previous // Next>>>

~~~~~

Taglist: @cruwushes @the-ch0sen-on3 @namelesshumanperson @ali-r3n @cadence73 @munsonssweets @ahoyyharrington @mewchiili @yourdailymemedelivery @httpsunflowers @b-irock @coolglittercornbae @sav12321 @cumslutforaemond @siriuslysmoking @learninglinesintherainn @peaches-roses-sins @lodeddiperrodrick @catherinnn @lilocapoca @minniedreamers @melaninjhs @chaosfrogsonfire @levylovegood @bowsforsienna @rcailleachcola

[leandra-kinard]

Love, Actually

„So… which of love stories do you like best?” Evan asks, his chin resting on his palm which is lying on Tommy’s chest.

They’ve slid down on Tommy’s big couch as the credits started rolling. During the film, they’ve sat side by side, with Tommy having one arm slung around Evan’s shoulders most of the time, kissing occasionally.

“Hm,” Tommy hums, “I have an answer, but… you go first, if you don’t mind.”

Evan lets out a soft laugh, scrunching up his face a little as he ponders. “Uh— I can tell you which one I don’t like.”

“Yeah?”

“Yeah,” Evan replies, lifting his head a little higher. “The one with… Uh, what was her name? Keira Knightley.”

“Juliet and Peter.”

“And… Mark, was it?”

Tommy nods, shifting just ever so slightly to the side so Evan can rest most of his weight on the leg that’s not wedged between Tommy’s. Not that Tommy minds, per se, but they’re trying to have a conversation here.

“Yeah, so I didn’t really like that one.”

“Why not?” Tommy asks, wondering if Evan’s opinion is similar to his own.

“Well, she— I wouldn’t say she cheated, per se, but she kissed another guy, even if just as a sort of thank you. And he? He broke every— Every ‘bro-code’ there is. That was just… That’s like if— uh, if we got married and Eddie came by to tell you you’re perfect to him, and then you’d kiss him and—”

“Oh, so I’m Keira Knightley in this scenario?” Tommy asks, amused but also cringing ever so slightly at the mental image of Eddie in front of his house, holding up hand-written signs with a declaration of unrequited love. He deliberately doesn’t let his thoughts dwell on the premise of the hypothetical scenario, even if a part of him wants to. It’s much too early for that.

“I mean… well, yeah. I mean you and Eddie are friends too, so it doesn’t exactly fit. But Mark was supposed to be Peter’s best friend. So yeah, that’s just… it’s kinda—”

“Icky?”

Evan huffs out a chuckle. “Yeah.”

~*~

(Read the rest on AO3)

Spontaneously had the idea for this ficlet after my chat with OP in the comments on this post @dovrianaftlalini

[bingebuddie]

Here... We... Go...

Hi all,

Well, so far, 2024 has sucked for me... but anyway...

I've been feeling pretty out of sorts mentally, and depending on where my head is at, I've been bouncing back and forth between Fics and my Wes and Cole novel.

I am going on a writing retreat May 4-12th... so... expect some major movement...

I wanted to provide a few updates on where I am with my Fics and other works.

Sideways:

Published updates here have been slower than I wanted or anticipated. This has nothing to do with the story, as I have this outlined for Arcs 6-10... Yes, up to Arc 10.

My personal life has gotten in the way a lot over the last few months and has just eaten up my time to write.

Now, Arc 6 will lead right into Arc 7 and 7 into 8. You will want to throw some stuff at me for some of the wtf moments and having to wait between arcs... but it's all coming. Anyone new to the series has had the benefit of reading five fully finished-out arcs that took me about a year to write. Have some patience with me. It will be worth it.

Arc 6, Into The Unknown, has multiple chapters drafted. I just need to clean up some edits from my beta, and they will be posted. May is going to be a big month for this arc.

This is a pivotal point in the series. It spans Chapters 37-48, making it the longest arc so far. This installment will delve into the Seals' backstory, their connection with Buck and Eddie, and much more. It’s a substantial piece of the puzzle that you won't want to miss.

This one does have some heavy moments...

This does end with a cliffhanger... But I promise, it's not our boys directly you are left wondering about...

Arc 7—Strong—Eddie will need his friends and family like never before. This is a heavy Diaz family arc. The outline is eight Chapters.

This also ends in a cliffhanger and that promise I made above... does not apply here.... insert evil laugh...

Arc 8 Genesis—This is the big one. It all comes together here, and it is the part I am most excited to write. It is also the longest, with an outline of 16 chapters. You will find out more about Genesis in Arc 6.

This arc will change all of their lives and the status quo as we know it. Grab your seats and tissues. The previous title for this was Unleashed...

Arc 9 - Experience/Circles - Tentative Title - No tease, as it will spoil what's to come...

Arc 10 - My All - googles Mariah Carey ...

Sideways isn't going anywhere...

Shifted:

Volume 1: Nevermore

This was originally planned to be 30 chapters. I have 20 published right now. The rest of this is outlined, and chapters 21-25 are written and ready to be published. I haven't posted these because Chapter 25 ends on a massive cliffhanger, and I don't want to leave you all hanging. I will be finishing this... after Arc 6 of Sideways ...

I have a plan for the second arc... but that's all the way behind everything else on my docket...

Impossible:

If you have read this one, I have yet to post the last chapter...

This has an MCD, and while I was writing this, I lost a friend. It was hard to finish. I have finished the outline, and this will be completed soon.

Run:

This is on hold. I have too much else to focus on. Consider this on hiatus until I say otherwise. It might even be scrapped... will see...

Would You Mind:

This one was a lot of fun... The wrap-up/epilogue is done; it's with my beta...

Lap Dancing Eddie will return... in Sideways...

I Don't Want To Be Your Freind:

As of today, 7 of 11 chapters are posted. This is all outlined. I have drafts of chapters 8-11 done. Going to beta and will be posting soon...

I started this leading up to Season 7; it was my mind dealing with all the rumors and leaks... In my mind and my group chat, I was calling this my Anti Tommy and Marisol fic...

This got way out of hand and became a monster of a fic...

Now... on to what else I have brewing...

Future Shock - 3 Part Series - Magic/BAMF/Mayhem/Found Family/Soul Mates/Redux/Ryan Throw's The Timeline Into A Blender and Tada...

As It Is - 2030 and the 118 have been a fractured team since the lawsuit. When members of the team start to be picked off one by one, Hen, Chim, and Bobby, have no one to turn to until friends and family return in their most desperate hour.

As It Was - Details what led to the fracturing of the 118. A retelling of Season 2 and part of season 3...

As It Was Always Meant To Be - Now reunited, will the 118 be able to rally around each other, or will their painful past be too much to overcome.

This has a loose outline and it's very large ...

Depressed, Devasted, and Destroyed aka Something To Hold On To:

I keep calling this Triple D or DDD... This is a pure angst fest... major whump... like I'm mad at myself for the whump here ... seriously...

This has an outline...

Relationship Goals—In an effort to rebuild their friendship after their recent relationships crash and burn, Buck and Eddie join a local hockey team along with some of Buck's old seal friends. This was pure fan service to myself and a way to get Buck, Eddie, Wes, and Cole to play hockey and not have to do it on Sideways. This currently sits around 60 pages.

Stolen - A stolen kiss changes everything between Buck and Eddie... This angst fest is somehow incredibly soft... This is about 35 pages right now...

The Ties That Bind - Buck breakdown fic... This might get scrapped and merged into DDD from above...

All I Want for Christmas - Think Scrooged Vs. It's A Wonderful Life Vs 911... This won't be posted until holiday time...

The Wes and Cole novel is still moving along... it's my refuge when the show does something stupid...

I should probably get to writing... it's not like I have nothing to do....

[mugloversonly]

Bedtime Story

Written for @steddieholidaydrabbles prompt: FAIRY-TALE @steddiemas prompt: FIRST set in the same universe as The Revenant of You WC: 999 Rating: G CW: vomit mention Summary: Dustin’s wedding led to Abigail and Lilith becoming the best of friends. Tonight is their first sleepover. AO3

After Dustin’s wedding, Steve and Eddie started a tentative friendship, mostly through play dates for their girls. The two became the best of friends after that night, forcing Steve and Eddie to be in each other’s orbit a lot more.

Tonight was their first sleepover, but Lilith was still little. She was afraid to sleep without her dad there, so Eddie was spending the night too. In Steve’s guest room. He could do this, it was next to Abby’s room, so Lily could find him. And find him she did, when her little fist knocked on his door.

“Daddy, can we have a bedtime story?” She asked. He glanced up to see Abby and Steve with her.

“She said your stories are better than Dad’s.” Abby added. Steve shrugged behind her in agreement.

“Okay, my little demon. Let’s get you two to bed and I’ll tell a story.” He walked with Steve to Abby’s room, tucked the girls in, and reached for a book.

“NO! Tell her the bard story.” Lilith exclaimed. Eddie sighed and glanced at Steve. He pulled up a chair and motioned for him to continue.

“Okay, Once upon a time…

there was a lonely bard. He traveled the kingdom, singing his woes, hoping the people would tip him enough to buy a place to lay his head.

On one such night, he had one gold piece, enough for one night. But as he walked into the tavern, he saw a lone woman, sitting hidden in the corner. The bard sat beside her and asked her what she was doing here.

“Hoping to sleep here for the night. But I’m low on coins.” She admitted. The bard looked at the beautiful woman and slid her his last gold piece.

“It would be a shame for a lovely thing like you to sleep in the mud.” He stood but she grabbed his wrist.

“You shouldn’t sleep in the mud either. Let’s share the room.” She whispered. The bard stared at the lady, looking for some sort of deception but finding none. With a nod, they paid the barkeep and went to bed.

He lay next to the woman and knew, he’d write a dozen songs about her eyes alone.

In the morning, the lady awoke and asked the bard to escort her home, she promised to pay him back the gold coin.

“No repayment necessary, my lady. But I will walk with you.” As the bard and the woman made their way to her home, he found she was funny. Smart, pretty. He did not want to leave her once he arrived...at the Queen’s castle. The bard’s eyes widened and he bowed deeply, apologies leaving his mouth at a rapid pace.

“No apologies. Be my family’s bard.” She ordered. He would be an idiot to argue. He followed her inside, as she held his hand. The Queen was lonely, but with the lonely bard filling her hall with music, she was alone no longer, the bard a constant presence at her side.

The end.” Eddie whispered as the girls’ eyes slipped shut. The two adults quietly exited the room and Eddie moved to head to the guest room when Steve stopped him.

“Come have a beer?” He asked. Eddie smiled and nodded, following him to the kitchen. He handed him a bottle and used his own to gesture into the living room. Steve plucked at the label before he spoke. “Good story.” He said.

“Thanks.” Eddie replied awkwardly. This was the hard part of their friendship. Not knowing what to say, when to say it, or what to share. Eddie was trying, but he was exhausted relearning how to read Steve.

“What’s it about?” He knew...Eddie knew he knew, but if he wanted him to say it.

“It’s the fairy tale version of how I met Lyla. In real life, she was drunk off her ass and accidentally stumbled into a hotel I was staying at. She didn’t have enough for a room so I offered to let her stay in mine. After that I walked her home, met her roommate, got her number. I never called her. Then I saw her at another show and, well you know.” Eddie rushed out. He gulped his beer and stared straight ahead.

“That’s a rom-com meet cute if I’ve ever heard one.” Steve laughed and Eddie joined in.

“It’s more of a meet-ugly. She puked on my shoes.” Eddie smiled when Steve snorted so hard beer shot out his nose.

“That was my last sip, fucker!” He laughed. Then he sobered a bit. “You really loved her, didn’t you?” Steve asked. But for once, there was no tiny vein of bitterness or jealousy. Just genuine curiosity.

“Yeah, I did.” It was getting easier to admit to Steve. The pain of losing Lyla would never go away, but the burden of carrying it got lighter and lighter the more he shared her memory.

“Thanks for staying the night. Abby has been asking for months.” Steve said, changing the subject.

“So has Lily. Thanks for letting me crash here. She still wakes up scared, looks for her mom before she remembers. She usually climbs in the bed and sits on my chest to make sure I’m still breathing.” Eddie paused. That was the hardest part for him. His own grief he could handle, but Lily holds so much in her too. “If you see her doing it, just let it happen. It’s better for both of us.”

“Whatever she needs. Whatever either of you need.” Steve promised as he placed his hand on top of Eddie’s. Eddie watched Steve for a moment, with a soft smile.

“You’re a great friend, Steve.” Eddie watched the happiness fade just a little from his eyes. “I should, go to bed.” Eddie whispered and pulled his hand away.

“I love you.” Steve whispered, so quietly like he hoped Eddie didn’t hear it. He pretended not to. He wasn’t ready yet; but, he was getting closer.

tags

@katyawriteswhump

buy me a coffee

[ladykailitha]

Soft 2 of 2

And finally part 2! I haven't written more on Grief because guess who got an ear infection over the weekend? If you guessed me, you'd be correct! Who knew that symptoms included neck pain, headaches and sore throat...yeah...

Also I should probably warn for smut. Under 18 you've been officially warned.

Part 1

***

Eddie was vibrating out of his skin when his present was finally ready. It had taken a week and his excitement bubbled out all of the place.

He had already preformed his bet pay out. Jeff was positively gleeful about the whole thing.

Jeff and the rest of his band were even more gleeful about Eddie’s surprise for Steve. More than once one or more of them expressed their desire to see the look on Steve’s face when he realized what Eddie had done for them.

They only stopped when Eddie told them that if everything went to plan then they’d probably would be having sex right after.

And since none of them wanted to see that part, they stopped teasing him about seeing the first part.

He walked into the apartment that afternoon like he always did, jaunty and carefree. Jeff had whined several times that Eddie spent more time at Steve and Robin’s place then he did their own.

Robin was bopping to her music in the kitchen and Steve was on the sofa watching a game show of some sort.

“Eddie!” Steve greeted.

Eddie grinned. “Looking good, Stevie. I’m glad you head is feeling better now.”

Steve blushed. “Thanks for stopping by so that Robin wouldn’t worry about me.”

“It was no trouble,” he said. “You needed looking after and I was more than happy to be of service.”

He pulled something out of inner pocket of his leather jacket and handed it to Steve.

“I wanted to get you a little something as thank you for the chain and picks you got me.”

Steve frowned. “You didn’t have to do that, Eds. I like buying things for you.”

He said it so easily, as if that didn’t make Eddie’s heart speed up faster then anything caused by his nervousness.

He opened the box and pulled out a pair of light blue sunglasses, so clear that you could see in and out with a relative ease.

“Oh, Eddie...” Steve murmured. “They’re gorgeous.”

“They’re your prescription,” Eddie explained. “Which means you can’t wear you contacts when you have them on.” He tapped the space between Steve’s eyes.

“Wait, really?” Steve murmured. “What? How?”

Eddie tapped the side of his nose. “That’s my secret. But I remembered that your senior year of high school you were wearing sunglasses all the time. Everyone thought you were being too cool. But none of the teachers said anything. So it got me thinking...you wore them because you needed to, didn’t you? Too many concussions made you sensitive to light.”

Steve’s jaw dropped. “Holy shit! I didn’t realize anyone noticed.”

“And I bet I know why you stopped wearing them,” Eddie continued. “It’s because Scoops wouldn’t let you and then you would just forget to put them on the rest of the time.”

Robin tapped Steve’s shoulder and pressed something into his hand. He opened it to find his contact case.

“But I–” he protested and she handed him the bottle of solution. He smiled at her. “Thanks.”

He took out his contacts and carefully put them away. He handed them back to Robin.

He pulled the glasses out their case and put them on. They fit perfectly.

“The frames are the same style as your regular glasses,” Eddie said. “You can wear them all the time or just when you know you’re going to be in a situation where there are a lot of lights. Say...a certain band’s metal concert.” He winked at Steve.

Steve let out a giggle. “They’re amazing, Eds. I love them.”

“Looking good, dingus,” Robin said affectionately. She kissed his cheek. “I’m heading out. Please no sex on the sofa. I have to sit there too.”

She waved by to Eddie and then slammed the door behind her.

Steve blushed furiously. “We aren’t even dating…” he pouted.

“Yet.”

Steve’s head shot up. “Wha’?”

“We aren’t dating yet, sweetheart,” Eddie murmured. “Robin and my band both think this little trinket,” he plucked at the necklace around his neck, “is a declaration of true love. Are they right?”

Steve ducked his head again, pursing his lips. “Yeah, Eds. Of course it is.”

Eddie tapped the glasses. “Back atcha, big boy.”

Steve raised his head again, this time much slower. “You really mean that?”

Eddie gently pulled Steve closer and placed a soft kiss on his lips. Steve’s eyes fluttered shut, melting into the kiss. Eddie leaned backward onto the sofa, Steve following to keep pressing their lips together in kiss after kiss.

Eddie tenderly removed the glasses and set them on the table before he resumed kissing Steve. The pace slow and languid. Just the two of them exploring each other’s mouths and bodies. Not really heading toward sex, just feeling the euphoria of finally getting together.

Soon they drifted off to sleep in each others arms.

They woke a couple hours later, to an alarm on Eddie’s watch going off.

Steve looked up at Eddie blearily and still soft from sleep. “Wha’?”

“Hey beautiful,” he cooed. “We have a dinner reservation at seven, it’s now five. Go get yourself a shower and change so we can go, okay?”

Steve smiled. “Okay, baby.” He kissed Eddie and then deftly rolled off the couch onto the floor.

Eddie smacked his ass as he passed. “Show off.”

“For you?” Steve said. “Always.”

Eddie blushed.

*

“Hey, Eddie!” Steve called from his room. “Can you come here a moment?”

Eddie hopped to his feet and was at Steve’s door to his bedroom in a flash. “What’s up, dar–” he stopped when he saw Steve standing in the middle of his room, dripping wet with only a towel wrapped around his waist.

Eddie gulped.

Steve must have realized his state of undress, because he blushed furiously. “I, um... couldn’t remember what you were wearing and didn’t want to be too overdressed for dinner.”

Eddie grinned. “You sure, sweetheart? Because this looks like a ploy to get me into that bed of yours.”

Steve looked up through his eyelashes, coy. “Well...if you’re interested, I could make it about that if you prefer.”

He removed the towel and dried himself off. The towel just barely covered his modesty as he dragged it over his body.

Eddie’s mouth dried with it.

And then towel dropped and Eddie was faced with the reality of a naked Steve Harrington.

He drank in his fill, eyes darting across every line, every plain, every freckle.

“You like what you see, babe?” Steve purred. He took a couple steps back and threw himself on the bed. He propped himself up on his elbows and looked over at Eddie through half-lidded eyes.

Eddie licked his lips. “I’ll be right back, sweetheart. I just have to do two things and then I will happily join you in the bed.”

Steve grinned. “Hurry back.”

Eddie nodded and ran out to the front room. He locked the front door, and then quickly called the restaurant to cancel their reservation. Screw dinner, Eddie was going straight for dessert.

He walked back into Steve’s room to find him with hands tucked behind his head, pulling his already taut body longer.

He kicked off his sneakers first and then pulled off his shirt. Steve watched him strip with eyes blown wide and lips slick from licking them.

Eddie grinned. He dragged out pulling down his zipper, nice and slow. He saw Steve’s Adam’s apple bob. He took off his pants and was standing in front of the bed with just his underwear on.

“Babe,” Steve moaned. “Let me see. Please.”

And who was Eddie to deny Steve anything. He pulled off his boxers, dropping them to floor.

Steve reached out and Eddie went willingly into his boyfriend’s arms.

Like with their languid kissing on the couch, this too was slow and tender. Mapping each other’s bodies with their hands, their lips, their tongues.

Soon they were coming and they laid next to each other, covered in cum and giggling like children.

“I can now confirm that the rumors about your prowess in bed is absolutely not a myth but a god damn fucking legend,” Eddie breathed, his hands draped over his belly as his willed his heart rate back to normal.

Steve laughed. “Well, you’re certainly no slouch in the bedroom either, sunshine.”

Eddie sat up and started scanning the room for the towel.

“Where are you going?” Steve whined. “I want to cuddle with my boyfriend.”

Eddie chuckled. “Just grabbing the towel to clean us up, princess.”

Steve hummed and he took that as permission to get the towel. He grabbed it and cleaned himself off first before using it on Steve. He tossed it into the laundry basket.

Steve curled up into his side. “Hey, I thought throwing things into laundry baskets was my job.”

Eddie chuckled. “Oh it is.”

“Let’s make a deal,” Steve said sleepily. “You stick to the guitar playing rocker, and I stick to the throwing things in laundry baskets.”

Eddie laugh out loud. “Yeah, baby. We can do that.”

Steve snuggled closer. “Good.”

Later they would get up and dressed. They would order pizza and watch trash movies on late night TV.

And when Robin came home that night, she found the two of them curled up on the couch, asleep again in each other’s arms.

She grabbed a blanket off the back of the armchair and draped over them.

“I’m happy for you dinguses,” she said softly into the still room and then went to bed, content her soulmate had found his person at last.

***

Permanent tag list: @spectrum-spectre @estrellami-1 @zerokrox-blog @artiststarme @swimmingbirdrunningrock @gregre369 @pyrohonk ​@a-little-unsteddie @chaosgremlinmunson @chaoticlovingdreamer @goodolefashionedloverboi @messrs-weasley @maya-custodios-dionach @val-from-lawrence @i-must-potato @danili666 @carlyv @rozzieroos @wonderland-girl143-blog @justforthedead89 @emly03 @bookworm0690 @itsall-taken-blog @bookbinderbitch @redfreckledwolf @littlewildflowerkitten @vecnuthy @scheodingers-muppet @mira-jadeamethyst @cinnamon-mushroomabomination @genderless-spoon @yikes-a-bee @anne-bennett-cosplayer

[magicalhideoutengineer]

Newt & Theseus

Crimes of Grindelwald:

Callum Turner: I play Theseus, who is Newt's older brother, even though I'm younger than Eddie, which is interesting! He's kind of the opposite of Newt. He's gone through the same schooling obviously, but once he got out he decided that the establishment was the way to fight the good fight. Theseus is or may be quite more rigid or just part of the establishment. You know, he's the head Auror at the Ministry.

Yeah, I mean, he's the opposite to Newt. I guess he's more rigid, and he's conformed to the way that people want you to … he's become one of them I guess, and he went to Hogwarts. He was taught by Dumbledore. He’s from that school, and he became this, which you can take...

- Collider

What are Theseus’s thoughts about the creatures? What are his relationships with them?

Callum Turner: Yeah, I think he has bigger fish to fry and it’s his little brother’s thing. That’s his sort of looking down on his brother.

- Collider

Callum Turner: He'd been educated at Hogwarts underneath Dumbledore the same way Newt had, but for some reason he'd separated and it always felt unnatural that Theseus had become part of the establishment when his natural instinct would probably not to be that, but like Newt, you know, they are brothers. There's a similarity. But he's somehow like closed that bit off and he's gone that way and he's gone really high up into the Ministry of Magic and pretty much runs it and that's how he decides to fight the good fight. As Newt is part of the rebellion so I look at it, and Theseus is part of the establishment, and that's the kind of main difference between two brothers. Apart from that, very similar.

- ChicagoSciFi

Eddie Redmayne: I'll never forget. I don't know if you ever saw it. I saw an early version of the script in which the young guys were...

Callum Turner: The flashback.

Eddie Redmayne: Yeah, flashback when they were at Hogwarts together. He [Theseus] came like flying past the window on a Quidditch team, on his broomstick. He was clearly like a schoolboy sporting hero.

Callum Turner: Like a jock.

Eddie Redmayne: Definitely. The antithesis of Newt.

- Movie'n'co UK

Eddie Redmayne: Thank you. He's kind of the opposite of Newt. He is like the schoolboy hero. He was great. I'm sure he's like a brilliant Quidditch player, so they have a bit of tension and animosity, and yet they also have great love for each other, and that's kind of what you see through the film, is they start kind of not on the same side, but they progress through, and that thing that family does, like however much your brother irritates you, there's still some－I have three brothers who I love dearly. They never irritate me－They feel great sort of affection for.

- Dingo Movie

Eddie Redmayne: But also she [ J.K. Rowling] watches and she even says the way Callum’s character, Theseus, was written in the script was quite like, he was quite a bit mean to Newt, but the way Callum played him made him so human in trying to do the right thing and ‘I’ve got my own struggles’ and when Jo saw that and said to me that … when she then sees that footage she then responds to that in how she writes the characters going forward so it is kind of a lovely dance in some way.

- Knockturnal

Eddie Redmayne: It is really complicated. [Theseus] is an Auror, he’s very establishment, and Newt is kind of the antithesis of that. But what I loved, actually, was the way Jo had written their relationship. It was quite antagonistic to begin with, and it certainly is filled with complexities. I mean, his brother is engaged to this girl who he had a huge affection for growing up, so there’s obviously a real tension there. But one of the things I loved is, actually, Jo said to me seeing what Callum [Turner] was doing and how David was directing – there was a lot of love there – that she progressed the relationship as a consequence of that.

- Buzzfeed

Callum Turner: Theseus is the polar opposite of Newt. In a sense they're both fighting the good fight, but Newt is part of the rebellion movement and Theseus is the establishment.  

- MTV News

Callum Turner: The focus was very much about the brother relationship. I don't have a younger brother. I have a younger half-brother, but we didn't grow up with each other and I got these stories and it's very much the older brother shouts at the younger brother a lot and so bullies him in a certain way because there's a responsibility. It's all about two people just playing at the same patterns they had for years.

- Evanna Lynch Interview

Callum Turner: Theseus is head Auror at the British Ministry Of Magic - it's a tongue-twister! - and is really straight-laced. And Newt's not. He's the complete opposite, and he actually wants him to get in line and try to save the world. Because he knows he's special, but he won't do that. And that's the tension. That's what's going on between the two brothers. A brother trying to boss his other brother around, basically!

- Total Film

Callum Turner: He's an establishment man. He's worked really hard and rose to the top incredibly quickly. His brother won't conform. Newt sort of sits on the fence, and Theseus is a man of action.

- Entertainment Weekly: The Ultimate Guide to Fantastic Beasts

Callum Turner: He [Theseus] decided to fight the good fight by joining the Ministry, whereas Newt is part of the rebellion. They're both on the same side, but fighting in very different ways. Other than that key detail, the brothers clearly care for one another. While Theseus may be a bit more self-assured and confident than Newt, they share a deep sense of humanity.

- The Archive of Magic: The Film Wizardry of Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald

Callum Turner: What was important was not to focus on that friction but to try and understand maybe why. You look at the facts: [Theseus] is very successful through the establishment, and wants Newt to join and fight the good fight in the way that he knows how and the way that he thinks best. Newt doesn’t want to do that.

- Fandom Interview

Callum Turner: He is on the promise to fight the good fight in the ways he knows how, which means that he has to conform to the rules and the regulations of which the wizarding society is deemed acceptable within the establishment. He doesn't think that Newt's doing the right thing. Spiritually, I think probably Newt is the one that has figured it out. Yeah. He's doing what he wants. 

- HBO Asia

Callum Turner: He’s risen to the top of the ranks at the Ministry, he’s the Head Auror, and is fighting the good fight in the way he knows how. He’s incredibly stubborn and wants his brother, who he understands to be a more powerful, special wizard, to join the fight on his side, through the establishment, which obviously Newt is repelled by and I think that's the journey he goes on. Maybe he's making mistakes or had made mistakes.

- Futurepreviewsllc

Turner wracked his brain trying to figure out why Theseus would be so desperate to get everyone close to him to join the Ministry, and found a simple answer: Protection. “[Theseus] wants to protect his brother, he wants him alongside him, he wants to [know] that his brother will be OK.”

- Fandom Interview

Callum Turner: I think Theseus and Newt are complete opposites. He's worried about his brother and he wants his brother to basically do what he wants and to fight the good fight in the way that he know how, which is through the establishment. He does it through love. It's like an overbearing thing and that's obviously the worst thing possible for Newt.

- Crimes of Grindelwald UK Premiere

What does your character think of Newt’s newfound success? Does he resent him at all for it?

Callum Turner: I think there’s a sort of a relief. Theseus is really successful. He’s a very determined man to reach the top, and I think having his younger brother sort of float around in this obscurity, in a sense, was quite worrying for him.

- Collider

Callum Turner: And with Newt, the thing that drives Theseus actually is love. It’s very important to him, the brotherly thing. It’s not that he’s the older brother and, ‘You’re going to do what I say.’ There is that element to it, too, but I think the friction really is in Theseus suffocating Newt. Theseus is overprotective of Newt and doesn’t allow him space. But really that comes out of love.

- No More Work Horse

Callum Turner: As brothers separate at times, this is the moment that they have. We refind them. He's risen to the top of the Ministry of Magic and he's quite successful, quite stubborn, but this is a man that loves and this is a man that cares deeply about humanity in the wizarding world and his fiancee and also his brother, and I think that's where the stress comes between the two is that he wants to protect Newt and he wants to look after Newt, but Newt doesn't need it, but Theseus can't see that. And that's the dynamic. That's why older brother telling younger brother what to do, younger brother saying, "See you later."

- Sensacine

Callum Turner: I didn't grow up with a younger brother -- I have a half-brother but we didn't grow up with each other -- and my research was to understand what that's like, and to get into why Newt doesn't like him and why they don't connect. The communication has gone bad. Theseus is very head-in-the-sand in a sense. He's blind to what Newt needs, and, objectively, there's a selfishness to that and an arrogance to that and a brute force-ness to that. But subjectively, it's about protection and it's about love and it's about caring. Theseus is a carer. He's described as a hugger, and I think he's trying to hug the whole world. Newt, in particular. When you aren't able to give what someone needs, to facilitate what they need, you then either push them away -- which he does -- or suffocate. I think the friction between them is Theseus doesn't understand what Newt wants, and he is overbearing. It's almost like he's got him in a big, old bear hug and Newt doesn't want that at all.

- Etonline

The actor [Callum Turner] also found that it was easy to find similarities between the two characters, both from a character standpoint (they’re both “stubborn in their ideologies”)

- Fandom Interview

Callum Turner: I had obviously seen the first film, and then I looked at Newt and thought I’d do the complete opposite – because Theseus is the complete opposite.  Even though they’re very similar – and the similarities are through their stubbornness, and being successful, driven and powerful – it wouldn’t make sense if they were the same. There were little things, like having ankle swingers, I call them, in the costume; that was a nod to being brothers. But then, the writing’s so brilliant and layered and textured that it was awfully free, really.

No More Work Horse

Callum Turner: We tried to find loads of little touches that would draw the brothers together, like little details in the pocket square, or the tie pin, or having the trousers a little shorter at the bottom, that would link the two together. There’s a panache to Newt, and to Theseus, too — but it’s subtle. He’s engaged to Zoë Kravitz, so he’s got to have some style.

- Fandom Interview

Eight years Newt's senior ( although Turner is nine years younger than Eddie Redmaync), Theseus is less eccentric to the eye. 'Generally, he is part of the world, dressed in a fine suit,' says Turner. 'But there are tiny similarities between his and Newt's look: ankle swingers, a pocket square, these wizard-ish touches in the shapes of the lapel and the collar.'

- Lights, Camera, Magic!: The Making of Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald

Hair and makeup designer Fae Hammond didn't have to do much with Callum Turner's hair in order to make it look like he and Eddie Redmayne were brothers, just lighten it. Her challenge, however, was that Callum has no freckles. and Eddie has a well-known smattering across his face. 'So one of my team ... Carefully freckled him up,' says Fae. 'But its a work of art and really necessary,' she confirms. Freckling took about fifty minutes each day.

- Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald: Movie Magic

Rebuffed, she comes to a halt. NEWT walks away toward THESEUS, who is very like NEWT, but more outgoing, easier in manner. THESEUS winks at LETA before turning to NEWT.

- Secrets of Dumbledore: The Original Screenplay

Callum Turner: He’s my younger brother. They love each other. It’s a lot of fun playing an older brother as well, someone who’s very sturdy, a war hero and we’re doing a scene today and Eddie gets slapped by Grindelwald with a spell and I was like my instinct in this kept saying, “Get up." You know. "Get up.” Not like, "Are you OK?” “Get up.” Like looking after him. I have a half-brother and a half-sister, but they grow up in Australia, so I didn’t grow up with them. So I didn’t know what it was really like being an older brother, feeding into that “get up” thing. Normally I’d be like, “Are you OK?” I actually did a lot of research for that. That was an important thing for me, to find the essence of being an older brother, and someone... I mean Newt is a worry for Theseus.

- Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald - Makers, Mysteries and Magic: Chapter 7

Callum Turner: And with Newt, it was very important not to play the hardened brother because that's not what he is. And I think the relationship between Newt and Theseus is that Newt is running away. Theseus is worried about Newt. He thinks he's slightly odd, he's not part of the same society or the system that he's in, and Theseus is actually trying to drag him into line, into what Theseus thinks Newt should be. And I think that's the mistake. But actually, it's born out of love. It's not born out of authority or anything. He's worried and he realizes the world around them is crumbling. He says it to him at the beginning of the film. "You have to pick a side. You have to make a choice." And that's the theme of the film, for me. And actually, what he's doing is suffocating him. He's not allowing him to breathe, instead of that "Easy, easy." I'm sure Newt, then, would be like, "Hey, Theseus, what's going on?" But he's not. He's like, "Do this. Do that. Because I know best." And that's the similarity between the two. They're so stubborn. Theseus says, "Do this," and Newt just goes, "No," straight away. He doesn't even think about... and that's the beauty; by the end of the film they're in line and they take force of the situation that they're in. But their ideologies combine, in a sense.

- Mugglenet

David Heyman: Family is a big part of it, and, you know, it's both the family you're born with and the family you make. That's a big part of, I think, of the themes of Jo's work. So family is a part of it, including the relationship between Newt and Theseus. Seeing Eddie and Callum next to each other, they really do feel like brothers, and you know, Theseus is a Ministry man, but Newt is still his brother, and that relationship is really beautiful and strong. So to answer your question, yes, family is very much a part of it, where you come from, who you are.

- Collider

David Heyman:  Callum brings such an authority and an authenticity to the part. I mean, you really believe that he’s Eddie’s brother and, as he so rightly said, they are opposites and yet are very clearly brothers. And what he did so brilliantly in his audition – and it’s in Jo’s [J.K. Rowling’s] writing, as well – was that you had a sense that these two people have a history. So, there is both an affection, but also a little bit of that brotherly or fraternal thing, which I think really comes across. And, you know, Theseus is a Ministry man. Newt is not a Ministry man. That brotherly love, I think, is one of the heartbeats of the film.

- No More Work Horse

THESEUS: This isn't going to be like the other times. This is . . . Just try and keep an open mind, will you? And maybe a little less— A wordless gesture indicates Pickett, NEWT'S blue coat, and his messy hair.

NEWT —like me?

THESEUS (not without affection): Well, it can't hurt. Come on, let's go.

- Crimes of Grindelwald: The Original Screenplay

David Heyman: But what I love about brothers in this film is that ultimately, brotherhood is more important than anything and that the two of them begin on opposite sides of it. Theseus is a Ministry man and Newt is anti-establishment. And yet, even while that is going on, Theseus whispers in his ear, "They're following you," which is a betrayal of the Ministry, but it is his brother and he's trying to get his brother to go to him. He's trying to help him, I think, not because he wants him to be on the Ministry's side. He knows what's true for Newt. And he wants to help. So the way these people both move, Newt comes through realizing he's going to have to join the battle, and Theseus realizes he might have to do it outside of the traditional Ministry platform. They're doing it as brothers, stronger together.

- Mugglenet

Callum Turner: I hope they are friends. I hope they they are best buds. I think they deserve to be friends, right? There’s been a lot of bad press in the press about their relationship. I’m sick of it. 

Eddie Redmayne: I feel like by the end, they really bond in this film. It’s an amazing thing in family, isn’ it? Where you have difficult times and dynamics, moments when there’s friction and then something happens and you kind of lean into each other a bit. I’m excited for the prospect of the Scamander brothers taking on the world together.

- IGN España

NEWT shuffles over awkwardly to the bereft THESEUS. NEWT hesitates, struggling to find words of comfort. Then, for the first time in his life, he puts his arms around his brother. They hug.

- Crimes of Grindelwald: The Original Screenplay

Secrets of Dumbledore:

Eddie Redmayne: One of the key themes is siblings really. It's there with my brother Theseus played by Callum Turner who I adore, and the complexity of those relationships in families when you're all of the same blood, but you've got completely different personality traits, and you have great love even though you are entirely different people.

- ChicagoSciFi

Eddie Redmayne: Newt is not a social animal. He is much more at ease with his creatures. He' s not inherently someone that' s good at being part of the system and he didn' t really fit in at school. In fact, he ended up being thrown out! Whereas Theseus is very much the schoolboy hero who' s gone into a life within the Ministry, was a war hero himself and has a physical authority and a facility with people that Newt just doesn' t have. So they' re sort of chalk and cheese and yet because in this movie they have to work together they begin to realise that actually they complement each other quite well.

- Secrets of Dumbledore: The Original Screenplay

Callum Turner: Between the brothers, they're re-entering a stage in their relationship that they haven't been there for a long time probably since they were kids, both of them trying to be more open with the other, I'd say that Theseus maybe a little bit more than Newt, and they're developing an understanding, a respect for the way that the other person thinks and using that for the greater good.

- ChicagoSciFi

Callum Turner: Well, I think what's so brilliant about the way that Steve and J.K. wrote this relationship is that it's complex. It's like two brothers that have a fractured relationship of growing apart, unfortunately, for every reason, and I think the reason is that they both think they are right. With this one, they align themselves. They both allow themselves to be slightly more flexible and see the way the other fuses the world a little bit more, and that allows them to come together to fight the good fight together.

- Secrets of Dumbledore Interview

[weresilver]

The thing in front of them was unlike anything else he'd ever seen. And Steve had seen some shit since... Always, actually.

But for all this monster looked like an overgrown, overfed demogorgon, it also certainly wasn't just that.

Vines covered its body, looking almost like they were trying to make up for something; its torso was entirely covered, as well as its left shoulder and right leg. Its face looked like some type of wooden helmet that opened like a normal jaw should, hiding some very sharp teeth.

Every other part of its body looked like it was covered in the black goo that made these monsters' blood, with something stuck to its skin that Steve could not identify.

And it wasn't alone. There were a few demogorgons around, as well as copies of this thing made entirely of vines.

The big not-demogorgon was barely fighting, only tossing away the soldiers that dared approach it and the gate it was guarding. It moved with a sort of detachment that didn't match with what Owens had told them.

Steve was brought back to the present by a demogorgon rushing at him. He swung his bat, hitting its face and getting his arm clawed for his troubles. The howl of pain the demogorgon let out nearly deafened him.

Some of the other monsters let out noises of pain as well, but his attention was drawn by the low growl the big monster let out. It wasn't pain, Steve knew that much.

The creature stood on two legs, standing just a little taller than most demogorgons. The howl it let out was inhuman, but it also... wasn't.

Steve could hear the voice under the monster all the same.

Monster.

He wasn't a monster. Never had been. Under whatever Vecna had turned him into, Steve could hear Eddie. He was still there somewhere.

Holding himself back.

Owens said not one of the soldiers had died because of their injuries. They were maimed, sure, but they hadn't died.

Eddie was still there, under vines, and monster blood, and the Mindflayer.

It made sense, he thought as he batted one of the vine copies away, more weakly than he'd like to. Eddie was the most experienced of the four of them, even if he weren't the strongest. His senses alone would have made him more of an interesting target.

They should have known Vecna wouldn't kill a werewolf.

---

This is just something I couldn't get out of my head. This is gonna be set during the post season 4 era of a werewolf series rewrite, called The Horror and The Wild.

It's still in the planning stages, unfortunately. Trust me, no one wants to see this written more than myself. But I'm just painfully busy.

This was read through by @stobin-cryptid and @xocowilde because they are awesome like that, and I am the type of person unable to post anything unbetad.

[withacapitalp]

Fic authors self rec! When you get this, reply with your favorite five fics that you've written, then pass on to at least five other writers. Let’s spread the self-love!

Daisies (Steddie)

Summary: He hacked out a few more harsh sounding noises, before he spat into his open palm, taking a relieved breath as whatever was lodged in his throat came out. Eddie would’ve been relieved too, confused, but okay now that Steve was safe. And then he saw what was in Steve’s hand. A daisy. Steve had just coughed up a fucking daisy. And, judging by the completely blasé expression he had on his face as he looked down at it, this wasn’t the first time. When Steve wakes up choking on flowers, Eddie thinks that it might be the end. It turns out to be just the beginning.

I love Daisies so much and the response it got was wayyyy more than I ever could have expected!!! A hanahaki AU that it's a little non-traditional and one of my all time faves I've written!!!

2. Princess (Steddie, Steve and Chrissy)

Summary: “You knew Chrissy” Eddie managed to force out, feeling like he was about to vomit. Steve nodded, still looking at the picture. Chrissy’s little face was overtaken by an absolutely enormous grin, and her right hand was tightly grabbing onto Steve’s free left one.  “Who do you think gave her her title?” He asked rhetorically, side-eyeing Eddie to gauge his reaction. When Eddie didn’t give one, Steve sighed, stepping away, “People always get that story wrong though,” Eddie wakes up alone, goes downstairs, and finds out things he wasn't ready to know.

Princesssssssss. Augh this one hurts me every time I read it and it's one of my top favorite head canons. I think Steve and Chrissy being cousins hits a chord that is just so perfect? This little detail that doesn't actually exist to anyone but me is so canon to me now haha!

3. Let Me Just Hold You Now (Stolen)

Summary: Steve has a routine for nights like this. A routine for the times when his world gets flipped on its axis. Just four simple steps to keep his body alive while his mind tries to sort through whatever fucked up thing he just went through.  Steve has a Routine.  Robin breaks that Routine.

THIS FIC MAN. I really hit a stride with Stolen fics that just felt soooooo yeah I really loved writing this one and that's not something I can usually say!!

4. The Day After (Stoncy)

Summary: The morning after Steve helps to destroy a demon who had been trying to kill Jonathan Byers and Nancy Wheeler, he goes to school. He didn't want to go. He didn't know why he did it. He just went. It was startling to see how the rest of the world didn't change.

Agh! So I have a mixed relationship with this series but I had to include a stoncy fic in this list and this one was the one that really started it all. The first long fic I finished, the first one I felt really proud of, and the fic that really started my love for stranger things. Yeah I'm proud of this one.

5. How to Rehabilitate a Jock (Eventual Steddie WIP)

Summary: After their breakup, Steve found that being around Nancy and Jonathan was pretty much unbearable. His old friends wouldn't even look at him, and there was only so much time he could spend with the kids before he started feeling kind of pathetic. All in all, he was a pretty lonely person now. But was he really lonely enough to consider joining Hellfire club? And were they really willing to accept having a dethroned king in their party? A post season two AU where Steve becomes a part of hellfire club

This one is probably my baby and will be for at least the rest of the year. She gives me so much trouble but I love her so gosh darn much!!!!! Anyways it's my most popular story, it feels like a lot of pressure, but I love it.

TY MORGAN THIS WAS SO MUCH FUN AND IM SO GRATEFUL YOU SENT THISSSS