#just metallica being metallica for one minute straight

[steddieas-shegoes]

love confessions in line

Another stupid little thing because I’m in the car and bored. It’s not edited or really anything much beyond just putting these boys in love in situations.

Rated t | tags: love confessions, established relationship, robin being so fed up with them

————————

“Why do we have to be here so early? My dinner hasn’t even digested properly yet,” Robin complained.

And, okay. It was cold and there were a lot of people standing in line outside of the only Walmart carrying the very specific guitar amp Eddie wanted. He’d called every Walmart in Indiana. Multiple times.

But he had to go all out for Christmas this year. Eddie had already said he’d gotten Steve something he’ll never outdo, never even believe. Obviously, that meant Steve had to do better than the Metallica hoodie that was stashed in his closet for the last four months.

“It’ll be worth it. There’s hardly anyone in line ahead of us and if we go straight to the electronics in the back—“

“You mean where everyone is going?” Robin interrupted, folding her arms across her chest.

Steve sighed.

“Yeah, well. I’ll run. It’ll be fine. I doubt anyone else here is interested in a guitar amp.”

As if the words ‘guitar amp’ were magic, someone who looked a lot like Eddie walked up to one of the security officers standing by the front doors.

Robin noticed at the same time as him.

“Is that…?”

“It can’t be. He said he was going fishing with Wayne in the morning and didn’t wanna end up stuck in crowds shopping,” Steve said.

But then the man turned back to the line.

“Steve?” Eddie yelled, eyes going wide when he realized Steve and Robin were there.

“Uh.”

“Um.”

“I thought you guys were going to Indy for this!” Eddie smiled as he walked up to them. “I don’t think this store will have what you’re lookin’ for.”

Steve panicked. There’s only one thing Eddie could be here for. He could go anywhere else. He could have stayed in Hawkins for that matter.

“Uh. Just wanted a change of scenery.”

Eddie’s brows furrowed as his smile fell slightly.

“O…kay. Well, I’ve got an amp to buy so I guess we’re all in this together now.”

Steve ignored Robin’s snort and mumbling.

Eddie glanced over at her with a questioning face.

“You two are unbelievable. Truly.”

“What? Why?” Eddie asked, genuinely curious.

His finger traced along the back of Steve’s hand subtly, out of sight of the people behind them in line.

“I.” Steve sighed.

Oh well. Maybe he could just try to get concert tickets the next time Ozzy came to Chicago.

“I was gonna get the amp for you for Christmas. I’ve been planning it for weeks,” Steve said, looking down at the ground.

Eddie was surprisingly quiet.

Absolutely no response.

After a full minute, Steve made eye contact with him.

He had tears building in his eyes and Steve felt himself start to tear up, too.

“You were?” Eddie choked out. “But this is-“

“The only place selling it on sale in the state, yeah.”

Robin was grumbling to herself again, but neither of them were paying attention anymore.

“How did you even know?” Eddie asked after a deep, calming breath.

“You mentioned it last month after a gig. Said you needed a new one anyways and this was top of the line or something. That a lot of the bands you like were switching to this kind for studio recording or whatever because of the…crisp? Sound? And then when no one else was selling it at all, I had to call around the Walmarts to see who had it on sale because $300 is a lot of money, Eds, and I wish I could afford that, but I don’t really have that lying around after paying for school and rent so when this place finally said they’d have it for $100, I made Robin promise to come with me since you’d be busy. And I guess you’re not that busy, but. I needed to do my best to get it.”

Eddie’s smile grew the longer Steve rambled. Robin was already walking away, probably back to Steve’s car, halfway through his speech.

“I love you.”

Steve’s jaw dropped in shock.

They’d been saying it in every way except this way for months, nearly a year, really.

It started as Steve taking care of Eddie when everyone else was busy taking care of the Upside Down.

It kept going as Steve was the one listening to Eddie slowly pick the guitar back up, working through the crying about his fingers not working right or his arm getting tired too quickly.

And then five months ago, Steve kissed him.

Took the plunge and kissed him.

They’d done everything together since. They’d become boyfriends. They came out to their group, together, always together.

And now, in a Walmart parking lot during the busiest shopping day of the year, Eddie was telling Steve he loved him.

“Because of the amp?” Steve asked, hesitant.

Eddie knew what he was really asking.

Because I’m buying you something nice?

“No, sweetheart. Because you listen to me. You know what makes me happy. You’re doing something for me that no one else would have even bothered to try to do.” Eddie laughed. “I have never wanted to kiss you as much as I want to right now.”

“Not even that time I wore a crop top and your boxers?”

Eddie groaned. “That was an outlier. You know how that affected me.”

“Oh, I sure do,” Steve smirked. “Too bad we’re in public.”

“The doors open in an hour right?” Eddie asked, checking his watch.

“Yep.”

“And then you have to take Robin to her parent’s house?”

“Probably should.”

“And then what?” Eddie asked, already knowing exactly what.

“And then I’ll come to the trailer and I’ll walk right to your room and hopefully-“ Steve cut himself off to whisper the next part. “You’ll be naked.”

Eddie’s brows raised. “You want me naked? What about Wayne being home?”

“Wayne’s been sleeping with ear plugs for months now. Can’t hear a thing,” Steve pats Eddie’s blushing cheek. “Said he didn’t need to hear what his nephew got up to.”

“We really should just move my stuff into your new place,” Eddie suggested for the fifth time in as many days.

Steve wasn’t opposed at all.

In fact, he’d planned on asking him to move in once he got more settled.

But.

“Wayne wanted another Christmas with you at home, baby. He won’t say it, but when I brought up you moving in with me, I thought he was actually gonna cry.”

“Yeah, yeah. With this new amp, he’ll change his mind.”

“What makes you think you get this amp before Christmas?” Steve put his hands on his hips.

“Because now I know you’re getting it!”

“Uh-huh. And it’s getting wrapped with your other gift to be opened on Christmas morning. No early gifts on my watch.”

“Steeeeeeve. Please! I could use it at our show next week!”

Steve shook his head. “Your amp works fine. Christmas is only a month from now.”

“You’re getting revenge on me,” Eddie pouted.

“Revenge for what?” Steve snorted.

“You know what.”

Steve did. He felt his cheeks and neck heat up with a blush.

“Fine. Yes. Maybe it’s a little bit revenge.”

Eddie huffed, but didn’t argue further.

“You know I love you, too, right?” Steve whispered.

And Eddie forgot about everything else except the way Steve was looking at him, like he needed Eddie to understand how much he loved him.

“Yeah, sweetheart. I do.”

———————

Three days later, Steve set the amp up in the second bedroom of his rented house.

When Eddie came over, he pushed him into the room and wrapped his arms around his waist.

“You can play it here, but I’m still wrapping it up for Christmas and you aren’t allowed to bring it to shows until after. Okay?”

Eddie was bouncing on his toes and squeezing Steve’s hands so hard he was losing feeling.

“Okay! Thank you, thank you! I love you! Thank you!”

Eddie smacked a kiss on Steve’s cheek before pulling away and running to the amp.

“You need your guitar, honey,” Steve laughed.

“Right!” Eddie ran from the room to grab his guitar from his van.

Steve shook his head, but couldn’t help his fond smile as the front door banged open.

[munson-blurbs]

Single Dad!Eddie x Fem!ReaderSeries

1 | 2 | 3 | 4

Summary: Eddie's guard is back up after overhearing people gossiping about a secret that only you would know about. When he lets his animosity take over, the damage may be too great to repair.

Warnings: angst, Eddie is really mean to Reader, mentions of CPS, Reader's grandma has Alzheimer's, slowburn, strangers to enemies to lovers, angst, Eddie is 30, Reader is 28, no use of y/n

WC: 3.7k

Chapter 4/20

Scruffy!Eddie edit credit to @eddiemunsons-missingnipple Divider credit to @saradika

Eddie is still fuming when he pulls into the music store’s parking lot. He’s opening today, and his hands tremble as he fumbles with the keys. All of those parents are going to know that he’s a failure of a father.  The Munson reputation clung to him like a bloodsucking leech, regardless of his numerous attempts to shed it. He’s destined to be an outcast at best and a monster at worst. 

Finally managing to unlock the door, Eddie flicks on the lights, blanketing the shop in a hazy glow. The silence is deafening, and he swears that his brain will implode if he doesn’t get some background noise. He walks to the section labeled ‘METAL’ as if on autopilot, grabbing Metallica’s Master of Puppets and shoving the cassette into the player. Ash insists that they play classic rock over the crummy little sound system; something about it being ‘palatable’ for the customers, but she’s not here to scold him. 

He thinks back to when this album was released, towards the end of his third senior year. The good ol’ days, when I only worried about passing O’Donnell’s class and planning Hellfire campaigns, he thinks wryly. But, no; that isn’t quite true. He’d had to worry about the trailer getting repo’d, or whether he and Wayne could stretch their food stamp budget enough to feed two grown men. Concerns that his uncle had tried to hide from him until he no longer could. 

“Ed, you’re eighteen now,” Wayne had said, just one month after Eddie’s birthday, “and I’m gonna need you to start payin’ some bills around here.”

At the time, Eddie thought he was just being a bastard. It wasn’t until a few days later when he’d spotted the envelope marked PAST DUE in bold, red letters that he realized it wasn’t a punishment, but a necessity. 

He’d been selling for Rick ever since. Well, until now. 

“Battery” fades out to “Master of Puppets,” and Eddie flips the CLOSED sign to read OPEN. He glances at the calluses on his hands and smiles sadly, thinking of all the hours he spent learning the chords in his room. After weeks of non-stop practicing—Hetfield’s solo was a bitch—he’d raced down to Gareth’s garage and played all eight minutes straight through. Watched as his friends’ jaws dropped in awe. Gave him a standing ovation. Told him he was a fucking rockstar. 

“You’re a rockstar, all right,” Eddie sarcastically grumbles now, clanging a roll of pennies against the counter before dumping them into the till. “Getting ready to drop your new hit single: Do you want a receipt with that?”

His morning has been nothing short of monotonous: help the customer find what they want, ring them up and make small talk, and then organize (or, in his case, pretend to organize) the store when it’s not busy. 

There’s too much down time for him to be left alone with his thoughts. As soon as he has a moment to himself, he’s ruminating on his regrets of the past. He turns up the music volume in a half-hearted attempt to drown them out, but they manage to worm their way into every nook and cranny of his brain. 

Eight years ago, a twenty-two year old Eddie Munson left his podunk town of Hawkins, Indiana to pursue rock stardom. He’d driven to Chicago with only the pocket change he’d saved up and his guitar on his back. A big city for a man with even bigger dreams. 

It didn’t take him long to realize that being Eddie Munson meant next to nothing in a place that was bursting with musicians desperate for the chance to become famous. He appreciated the anonymity at first; he could blend in without being chased by taunts of Freak or Loser. But after nearly a full year of auditions where he was just another guitarist who could carry a tune, he’d started to lose hope. Prepared to return to Hawkins with his tail between his legs, he’d stopped at the nearby bar for one last drink. 

“We can’t go on without a lead singer and guitarist!”

A frantic voice captured his attention, drawing his gaze from the pint of beer in front of him. 

“Well, Sam bailed. Again,” another man points out, tone heavy with irritation. “So either we go on without him, or we don’t go on at all.”

Eddie finds himself standing up and walking into a conversation where he was never invited. “I, um, play guitar. And sing?” He winces as it comes out like a question. “I can show you, if you want.” What was he doing? He couldn’t line up a gig to save his life, and now he’s offering to play for some band he doesn’t even know?

The two guys, both about his age, exchange a dubious look. “All right,” says one with shaggy dark hair. “Let’s hear what you got, Guitar Boy.” He hands him his own guitar, and Eddie adjusts the strap before diving headfirst into the chorus of the first song that comes to mind:

If you think I'll sit around as the world goes by You're thinkin' like a fool 'cause it's a case of do or die Out there is a fortune waitin' to be had You think I'll let it go you're mad You've got another thing comin'

The other guy cocks his head, a delighted smirk spreading across his face. “Judas Priest. Solid choice.” He paces a bit, twirling a drumstick between his fingers. You got a name, Guitar Boy?” he asks.

Eddie nods. “Eddie Munson.” He sticks out his hand, silently willing it to stop trembling, and shakes theirs.

“I’m Marcus,” the shaggy-haired man says. “This is Bryan. I play backup guitar; he’s on drums. Our bassist should be here soon; his name’s Pete.”

“And Sam was our lead guitarist and singer, but he’s a fucking asshole,” Bryan quips, and Eddie chortles at his brazen attitude. “Anyway, we mostly do covers…check out the setlist and see what you know.” He hands Eddie a crumpled piece of paper, filled with familiar songs and artists.

“I can do any of these,” Eddie says, a satisfied warmth filling his chest as he watches the guys grin even wider.  

“Tell ya what,” Bryan says, plopping behind a drum set plastered with a logo reading Hard Knox. “If you don’t suck tonight, you can play with us permanently.”

“Yeah,” Marcus agrees. “We’re gonna be big, man. We just need someone to help us get there.”

“Let me run back to my place and grab my ax,” Eddie tells them, adrenaline propelling him to his apartment. This was it. This was the break he needed. Just as he was about to give up, God or fate or destiny or whoever was finally giving him a chance to prove himself.

The show went off without a hitch; Eddie’s guitar skills bringing a normally quiet audience to their feet. Bryan clapped him on the back as he looked at Pete and Marcus; the three nodding at each other. “Welcome to Hard Knox!” he announced.

“Sam leaving was the best thing to happen to us,” Pete laughs in agreement. A bartender in a tight skirt and fishnet stockings brings over a round of shots, and the four men clink glasses.

“Fuck Sam!” Eddie shouts before taking the drink. The tequila burns as it coats his throat, but he doesn’t dare reach for the lime. No, he has something to prove.

“Fuck Sam!” the rest of the band echoes enthusiastically. Their choral response reminds Eddie of the way Corroded Coffin used to be before he’d left: when he’d say something, Jeff, Gareth, and Danny would listen. He was born to be a leader.

Things started to fall into place. His one night endeavor with Hard Knox turned into a biweekly gig at the bar, which eventually turned into shows almost every night at various venues across the city. He’d even convinced the guys to play some original work of his, reminding them that cover bands don’t get record deals. 

He had a steady income. A group of friends who appreciated him and his music. Beautiful women who eagerly threw themselves at him at the end of the show. And then it would repeat the following night in a new place. Everything was perfect.

Until it wasn’t.

Last night’s chaos has you all disheveled; it wasn’t until you got to work this morning that you realized you hadn’t even packed your lunch. You try to convince yourself that you can wait until you get home to eat, but about fifteen minutes before your break, your stomach lets out an embarrassingly loud growl.

“I’m gonna run to the deli and grab something,” you tell Will, throwing your jacket over your shoulders and digging out your car keys. “Want me to pick up anything for you?”

“Uh, Tylenol?” he grimaces, rubbing his temples. The kids had music class today, and the sounds of ten preschoolers singing off-key combined with their clashing tambourines served as a recipe for a pounding headache. “And maybe a bag of sour cream and onion chips?”

“You got it.” You shoot him a thumbs-up as you make your way to the parking lot as quickly as possible, determined to get your food before the lunch rush starts.

You manage to just beat out the crowd of hungry nine-to-fivers, grabbing a veggie wrap to-go. Crunching on a cucumber slice as you take a big bite, you start back towards your car, but the music store next door catches your eye.

A check of your watch confirms that you have a few minutes to peruse, maybe grab a copy of the new Toni Braxton cassette you’d been wanting. If there was ever a day to treat yourself to a little gift, it’s today. Your mind is foggy and your body feels like it’s dragging sandbags as you make your way over. You knew that taking care of an ailing relative would be physically demanding, but you weren’t prepared for the emotional toll it would take. Seeing your grandma helplessly laying on the bathroom floor scared drew all of the oxygen from your lungs, filling your body with worry. And just a few hours later, she was furiously swearing at you, claiming to hate you. She’s an ever-swinging pendulum, and you’re downright exhausted.

A small glob of hummus lands on your lower lip, and your tongue licks it off haphazardly as you push open the door to the music store. The jingle of the bell is meant to alert the employees that a customer has entered, but when you look around, there’s no one there to help you.

You walk towards the aisle labeled R&B, starting by thumbing through the “B” section–nothing. Perplexed, you make your way to the “T” section, still with no luck. Was Toni Braxton so popular amongst Hawkins residents that they’d bought out every copy of Secrets?

“You can’t eat in here,” a terse voice calls out. You’re so startled, you nearly drop your sandwich. A piece of tomato flies out of the tortilla when you jump, hitting the linoleum flooring, and the irritated person sighs. “Aaand this is why.”

You pick up the fallen vegetable and turn around to see Eddie Munson standing before you. “You scared me!” you say, but your body visibly relaxes. Twenty-four hours ago, you never would have guessed that he would have a calming effect on you. How quickly things can change, you muse silently. “Can you help me find the new Toni Braxton? The Secrets cassette?”

Eddie scoffs, crossing his arms over his chest. “Can you follow simple instructions? No. Eating. In. The. Store.” He rolls his eyes. “Just because you teach preschoolers doesn’t mean you get to act like one.”

The smile that briefly danced across your lips slips into a frown. What the hell happened in the few hours since he’d dropped Harris off at school? Did you imagine that you two had gotten along?

“Are you okay?” you ask, brows furrowed in confusion. “I-I can put the wrap in my car, just give me a sec…”

He shakes his head. “No, actually, I’m not okay,” he sneers. “But I bet you knew that already.” He shifts his posture so he’s standing a bit taller. “Y’know, you have some fuckin’ nerve, coming in here after what you did.”

“Did I miss something?” Your voice gets smaller with the gnawing feeling of brewing confrontation acting as a brick on your chest. “I thought–”

“Tell me what you thought,” he interrupts, leaning on a box of tapes. “Wait, no; let me guess. You thought that because I rejected you, you could go around blabbing my personal business around the school.” He scrunches up his face, biting his lip as he looks at you. “Did I get it right?”

“Your personal business?” 

“Mhm,” he answers pointedly, spinning a skull ring around his finger. “Is that not it? Was it because you were embarrassed that I heard your grandma say that she hates you? I don’t blame her, by the way.”

Your force your gaze to remain trained on him, staring into his brown eyes that have hardened with fury. “She doesn’t hate me,” you breathe out, “she just can’t remember me anymore. When she knew who I was, she loved me. A lot.”

“Yeah, whatever you say,” Eddie rolls his eyes. “That doesn’t take away from the fact that everyone and their goddamn dog knows about the CPS report.” 

“What CPS report?” you ask, a sinking feeling settling in your stomach. “Is Harris okay?”

He takes one look at your puzzled expression and barks out a harsh, incredulous laugh. “Seriously? You can drop the innocent act.”

“I seriously have no idea what you’re talking about!” you snap, frustrated at his unwillingness to hear you out and your own lack of understanding. “All I know is that this morning, you didn’t hate me–or maybe just hated me a little less–and now you’re back to being the worst human being I’ve ever met.”

Eddie scratches at the shadow of a beard that’s formed on his jawline; an itchy reminder that he didn’t get to shave last night. “You should consider yourself lucky if I’m the worst person you’ve ever met. Tell me, what have I done? Thrown some insults your way?” He claps his palm to his chest exaggeratedly. “How ever did you survive?”

“Mock me and my teaching skills, pretend like you’re going to call when you knew damn well that you weren’t, call me a bitch, and your latest and greatest,” you counter, ticking off the instances on your fingers, “accuse me of something I didn’t do.”

He considers this for a moment, taking a deep breath before speaking again. “So you’re trying to tell me,” he starts, gritting his teeth, “that we were in the same wing of the same hospital at the same time, but you weren’t the one who told people about the CPS case they opened on me?”

“That’s exactly what I’m saying,” you hiss. 

“Then how the fuck did Carol Perkins find out about it?!” His volume raises to a roar, and you wince at the sting it leaves echoing in your eardrums. “Because I fucking heard her talking about it with Steve Harrington! So if you, the person who was there, didn’t open your mouth and tell her, who did? The CPS fairy?”

“I don’t fucking know!” you shout, swallowing thickly in a meager attempt to bide time before the tears inevitably leak from your eyes. “I don’t know, but it wasn’t me.”

Eddie rakes a hand through his frizzy curls, smacking the other on top of the nearby box. “Just…just get out,” he mutters. “I can’t listen to any more of your bullshit.” He starts back towards a door marked EMPLOYEES ONLY before turning back around, eyes narrowed. 

“Y’know, I wouldn’t have hooked up with you that night if I knew that this is how you handle a one-night stand,” he says, pursing his lips as he steps closer to you. “And I never should’ve let Harris step foot in your classroom. I would drive him to a school in goddamn Timbuktu if it meant having you out of my life.” He pauses, scraping his teeth across his lower lip and exhaling a terse laugh. “It’s too bad I can’t forget about you like your grandma did.”

The words knock the wind out of your lungs. Your knees buckle slightly, and you have to steady yourself on the closest shelf. Tears blur your vision as your legs carry you out of the store; you feel yourself walking, but it’s like an external force has control of your body. The words fuck you sit on the tip of your tongue, or maybe you say them—it’s too hazy to tell. The world is covered in a shiny layer of cellophane; you can see everything, but you can’t touch. 

You’re crying too hard to drive, so you sit behind the wheel, seatbelt clicked in place, letting out sobs that leave your whole body shuddering. It’s all too much, and though you logically know that Grandma didn’t want to forget you, his comment hit a raw nerve.

It wasn’t a straight path; Alzheimer’s never is. A few months ago, she could remember you in the morning but forgot you by the afternoon. She would call you by name at 9 AM but ask who you were at 2 PM. One day you were her granddaughter; the next, you were a total stranger. You thought it couldn’t hurt more than it already did, but the repeated reminders that she no longer recognizes you at all is a constant knife through the heart.

You’ll be late if you don’t start driving back to work now, so you turn the key in the ignition and adjust the gear shift to reverse. As you look up to glance in the rearview mirror, you catch sight of him. He’s dumbfounded, and you could laugh at how ridiculous it is that it took him seeing you bawling in your car to realize that he went too far this time.

Unable to stomach the thought of further confrontation, you take a deep breath and drive away, leaving him to mull over what just happened.

He’d assumed you’d left already when he’d walked outside for a smoke break, placing a cigarette between trembling fingers before he’d even left the store. He almost drops the lighter on his scuffed sneaker when he sees you hunched over, resting your arms on the wheel as your body heaves. He’s not sure how long he’s been staring when you lift your head, exposing tear-streaked cheeks and red-rimmed eyes. Your gazes lock for just a millisecond, but it tells him everything he needs to know. 

It wasn’t you.

When Eddie arrives at the school for pick-up, he scours the crowd of impatient parents for Carol. He finds her talking with another mom; no doubt spreading more gossip about him. Maybe he shouldn’t have pretended that their Satanic cult rumors didn’t bother him when they were back in high school. Maybe if they knew, they would understand that he’s just a goddamn person trying his best, just like everyone else.

“Hey,” he starts, pushing the fear from his voice and willing his strength to remain unwavering. “Who told you about the CPS stuff?”

Carol plasters an obviously fake smile on her face as she responds. “I don’t know what you mean,” she says simply. Her carefree tone pushes Eddie to his limit. 

“Cut the bullshit,” Eddie growls, quickly losing his temper. “I heard you talking to Steve Harrington about it. So either you tell me now, or I’ll make sure your husband knows about that guy I saw you with at the Hideout a couple of months ago.”

Her face blanches, color draining from her cheeks. “It was Jason Carver,” she mumbles, biting her thumbnail. “His wife, Chrissy, is a nurse at the hospital and saw the report. She told him, and he’s been telling, well, everyone else.”

Eddie swears that steam is billowing out of his ears. Everything is coated in a red haze, and he finds himself unconsciously clenching and unclenching his fists. “Where is that sonofabitch? I’m gonna punch him in his smug little–”

“Mr. Munson?” you cut through his rant. His head snaps in your direction. You’ve fixed your makeup; if Eddie hadn’t seen you crying earlier, he would’ve been none the wiser. “Can I speak to you for a moment?”

“Y-Yeah,” he stammers, shifting his weight to the balls of his feet. “Actually, I needed to tell you someth–”

“I think you’ve said enough today,” you say, voice calm but firm. “I just wanted to give this to you before Harris comes out.” You hand him a pink piece of paper. “It’s a transfer slip. Starting next week, Harris will be in Ms. Marion’s class. I didn’t tell him anything about it, so you can say whatever you want. I don’t care anymore.” That’s not quite true; the idea of Eddie feeding Harris lies about you makes your stomach curdle, but there’s only so much you can control. 

Eddie’s, usually quick with a retort, is uncharacteristically quiet. “I, um, I thought…the secretary told me that all of the classes were full.” It’s a cop-out, but he can’t push himself to tell you what he knows now. Not when you’re already bruised. 

“They made an exception because I was the one who requested it this time,” you explain, clenching your jaw. “Looks like you got your wish. You can forget about me now.”

He takes the paper and shoves it in his back pocket. The confession is on the tip of his tongue, an apology not far behind. Say it, he berates himself. Just fucking say it. You might be able to fix this if you just—

“I’ll go get Harris,” you tell him, breaking into his thoughts. “Good-bye, Mr. Munson.”

--

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[steveseddie]

with a cold breeze

rating: t | cw: none apply | word count: 4,281

tags: eddie munson lives, didn't know they were dating, getting together, first kiss, fluff and hurt/comfort

for the @steddielovemonth prompt: “love is giving him your sweater even if it makes you cold” by @stevesbipanic

a/n: this is my first time writing a prompt for this event and it was so much fun! also this ended up longer than i thought but. enjoy 🩷

click here to read on ao3

***

In Eddie’s defense, he shouldn’t have been expected to bring a jacket. Not when Steve didn’t tell him where they were going or when he sent Eddie spiraling into a pit of pining by showing up at his doorstep with a white shirt tucked into a pair of tight blue jeans and a black jacket thrown on top, looking like he stepped out of Eddie’s dreams.

Now that he thinks about it, Steve might’ve told him to grab a jacket, but Eddie was too busy picking his jaw off the floor to listen to him.

When he stepped out of the trailer and followed Steve to his car, Eddie felt a light chill in the air, but since he assumed Steve was taking them to the movies or for dinner at that diner he likes, he figured the flannel he was wearing over his Metallica singlet would be enough to withstand it. 

Eddie doesn’t know exactly when this became a thing they did- Steve picking him up and taking him to dinner or a movie or ice cream or roller skating. 

(That last one was Eddie’s least favorite one because he spent half the time they were there falling on his ass. Or maybe it wasn’t, because the other half was spent holding on to Steve’s hand as he guided Eddie around the rink and helped him keep his balance.)

Eddie still can’t help but feel surprised whenever Steve turns up at his door, even if it happens multiple times a week these days. He knows this is what friends do, but maybe it’s still just a little hard to believe that he’s friends with Steve Harrington. 

(“You make it sound like I’m some kind of celebrity, man,” Steve said the first time Eddie voiced his shock about him wanting to spend time with Eddie. 

“Dude, you are the king of Hawkins! You are a celebrity!” Eddie said, dramatically shaking Steve’s shoulders which earned him a mighty eye roll and a playful shove. “And celebrities don’t want to spend time with freaks like me.”

Steve’s face softened at that, he bumped Eddie’s shoulder with his. “Well, this one does.”)

Eddie knows Steve is being genuine every time he says he wants to hang out, but a part of him always expects Steve to get tired of him and ditch Eddie, and start taking a nice pretty girl on these outings instead. 

(“Dates, they’re dates,” Max deadpanned after hearing Eddie ramble about Steve for roughly ten minutes straight. She’d clocked Eddie’s feelings for Steve right away when he came back from the roller rink with his backside bruised, but still with a dopey smile on his face to Max waiting for him at the steps of his trailer. “Steve Harrington is taking you out on dates!” 

“He’s not, they’re not dates,” Eddie said with a firm shake of his head. 

“Dude, Lucas literally took me to the roller rink last week.” 

“Aw, cute. Did he hold your hand?” 

“I held his, I skate, remember? And for a jock, he’s got terrible balance,” she says, lips twitching into a little smile. “Not as bad as yours though.” 

“Hey!”)

Even if Max insists on calling them dates, Eddie won’t. He can’t. He knows Steve doesn’t see them that way so he can’t do it either, not if he wants to protect his heart. 

So he ignores that Steve opens the door to his car for him like he would if this was a real date and he ignores that he lets Eddie pick the music or that he keeps a few of Eddie’s tapes in his car for him to choose from, even if they’re not at all what he likes, and he ignores the way he keeps glancing at Eddie at stop signs or red lights with a sweet little smile that makes his stomach swoop like when he went through the gate to the Upside Down did, only better. 

Or he tries to ignore it, at least.

“Soooo where are we going?” Eddie asks, contorting himself so he can sit cross-legged in Steve’s passenger seat after picking the music for the ride. 

Steve bops his head to the beginning of a Dio song and Eddie can’t help but feel proud. 

“It’s a surprise,” he says. 

Eddie groans. “Is this surprise also going to end up with me not being able to sit properly for a week?” He only realizes how that sounds when Steve’s head snaps to him, eyebrows high on his forehead. God. “You know cause I kept falling on my ass at the roller rink, not because- uh.” 

He doesn’t know how to finish the sentence, but luckily Steve spares him. With a soft laugh, he says, “Don’t worry, you won’t have trouble sitting after tonight.” Then Steve smirks, the little shit. “From falling on your ass- or some other reason.” 

Eddie flushes bright red.

He lowers the window and shivers when the cold air hits his face, but the wind helps cool down his flushed cheeks so he leaves it open. He notices that instead of driving them downtown, Steve is driving them further out. 

“I’m not gonna have trouble sitting ‘cause you’re luring me into the woods to murder me? Is that it?”

“And why would I want to murder you?” Steve asks, pinching the bridge of his nose like entertaining Eddie’s nonsense causes him physical pain. 

The wind blows Eddie’s hair away from his face. “Maybe you’re jealous of my luscious hair.” He hopes the wind makes him look like one of those cover shoots on the magazines that he sees at the store, but realistically, he knows he probably looks like a dog sticking his head out the window. “My naturally beautiful hair that doesn’t need any Farrah Fawcett spray.” 

Steve narrows his eyes at Eddie. “That little shit told you!” 

Eddie grins. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Yes, you do. Dustin told you, didn’t he?” 

“I won’t reveal my sources,” he says, pretending to zip up his lips. 

“You don’t have to, you dork. Dustin is the only one I told.” He pauses, thinking. “Maybe I am committing murder tonight.”

“Mine?”

“Henderson’s. And then yours so the secret dies with you.” He glances at Eddie with a smile. “And maybe because I am a little jealous of your beautiful hair.” His voice is a little too soft to sound like a joke.

Eddie gives him a shy smile and then flicks his hair over his shoulder with a dramatic flare. Steve laughs, head thrown back, as they drive past the Leaving Hawkins sign. 

***

Steve drives them to the top of a hill just outside of Hawkins. 

Eddie’s first thought when Steve parks his car next to a little forest is that maybe he’s actually planning to murder him tonight. 

His second thought comes when Steve opens Eddie’s door and a gust of wind hits Eddie, making him realize that no, his flannel won’t be enough. He’s going to freeze his ass off so even if Steve doesn’t murder him, Eddie will die anyway. 

His third thought comes when Steve takes hold of his wrist and drags him out of the car and towards a cliff overlooking most of Hawkins.

Eddie voices that thought with an appreciative whistle.

“Holy shit, that’s a killer view.”

“Right?” Steve asks with a grin. His fingers are still wrapped around Eddie’s wrist and he can feel the way he’s bouncing excitedly from one foot to the other. 

“Yeah, wow. You wouldn’t think that Hawkins is a shit town from up here,” Eddie says, taking in not only the night lights, but the stars above them too, shining brighter than Eddie has ever seen them.

“Yeah, it almost looks normal, no monsters or alternate dimensions.”

“No hordes of angry town people who want to burn you at the stake.” 

Steve gives Eddie’s wrist a comforting squeeze. He glances at the ground. “No shitty parents calling you a disappointment and an embarrassment,” he says, voice barely above a whisper. 

Eddie frowns. He shakes his hand until Steve loosens his hold, but before he can retreat it into his pocket because he thinks Eddie is trying to get him to let go, he tangles his fingers loosely with Steve’s. “They came back tonight?” 

Steve stares down at their hands, his thumb rubs over one of Eddie’s rings. “Yeah, and they managed to pick a fight within five minutes of walking through the door. Must be some kind of record.”

Eddie squeezes his hand. “I’m sorry, Steve.” 

With a sigh, Steve finally looks up. “It’s not your fault, and besides-” He smiles at Eddie. “I didn’t bring you here to talk about them.” 

Eddie narrows his eyes at him. “What did you bring me here for?” 

Steve’s smile turns into a grin, he drops Eddie’s hand and starts walking backward toward the car. “Wait here.” 

“You better not be abandoning me to die here!” 

He gets no reply. Eddie squints at him as he rummages through the trunk of his car but it’s a little hard to see clearly in the dark. He wraps his arms around himself while he waits, feeling colder by the second, and resists the urge to ask Steve if he has an extra jacket lying around. It’ll send him into Mother Hen mode and he’ll start fussing about Eddie catching something and probably scold him for not bringing his own jacket. 

So he acts as nonchalant as possible about the cold when Steve comes back, hiding something behind his back that Eddie can’t see. 

“I didn’t bring you here to murder you or abandon you. I brought you here to have a picnic with me.” As he says this, he shows Eddie what he was holding behind his back- a checkered blanket and a goddamn picnic basket. 

Eddie blinks dumbly at the two items and then at Steve, mouth gaping like a fish. “A picnic?” 

Steve nods a little shyly. “Um yeah, is that okay?” 

Eddie lets out a disbelieving laugh. A fucking picnic under the stars- oh, Max is going to have a field trip teasing Eddie about this one!

He realizes that Steve might be taking his reaction the wrong way when he starts to fidget so Eddie wipes the surprise from his face and grins at Steve. “Depends on what you packed in there, big boy.” 

A high-pitched laughter tumbles out of Steve’s lips and even with just the moonlight he can see his cheeks tint pink. “Well, do you like grilled cheese?”

***

Eddie makes grabby hands at the basket. Once Steve spreads the blanket on the ground, he flops down and starts digging through the contents.

There’s grilled cheese wrapped in tin foil paper, two bags of chips, two sodas, and a big serving of pie. Eddie’s mouth waters. 

“So,” Steve asks, wrapping his arms around his knees. “What do you think?” 

“I think,” Eddie pauses, thinking. “That I don’t care if you murder me as long as you let me eat this first.” 

“You’re so annoying,” Steve snorts, rolling his eyes.

“If I’m so annoying,” Eddie says, neatly arranging the food between them on the blanket, or as best as he can on the uneven ground. “Then why did you go through all this trouble for little ol’ me?”

Steve bites the inside of his cheek. He looks like he wants to say something, but then changes his mind, only to part his lips again. The look in his eyes betrays nothing, no matter how much Eddie tries to read it. Despite the cold, Eddie’s hands start to sweat a little. 

But then Steve shakes his head and looks down, picking up his grilled cheese. When he looks back at Eddie again, his eyes are soft, crinkling at the corners, but whatever he saw in them before is now gone. “Let’s eat before it gets cold, okay?”

After the first bite, Eddie discovers that Steve must be some kind of grilled cheese genius. When he tells Steve this, he waves it off with a shy smile, but he seems pleased. 

They talk in between bites of food, or in Eddie’s case, through mouthfuls of melted cheese. The whole time, Eddie tries to ignore the chill in the air, but every gust of wind reminds him he’s only wearing a singlet under a very thin flannel and neither does much to protect him from the cold. Still, he does his best to hide his shivering from Steve, but it’s a little hard to do when Steve won’t take his eyes off of him for some reason.

Right now, he’s staring almost unblinkingly at Eddie with his legs crossed at the ankles and his arms wrapped around his knees, a soft smile painted on his lips as Eddie tells him how excited he and the kids are about the next Hellfire meeting. 

“You’re always excited about your nerdy game,” Steve smirks. 

“Fair, but this time it’s different because the kids finally convinced Max to play!” 

Steve’s eyebrows shoot up his forehead. “How did they manage that?”

“Well, they didn’t convince her so much as they tricked her into it.” 

“Yeah, that makes more sense.” 

“But! It doesn’t matter cause she’s going to love it so much she’ll beg to join again! I’ve been working on her character sheet to make it perfect for her and I got her this cool set of dice- red dice, of course, cause her character will be called Ruby. Ruby the Rebel.”

Steve’s smile turns impossibly softer at Eddie’s excited rambling. “That sounds just as cool as her. What kind of- uh like, what’s her-”

“Class?” Eddie asks, stomach swooping a little at Steve trying to remember things about their nerdy game so he can ask Eddie. Steve nods. “Oh, she’s a-” He cuts himself off when a cool breeze stirs beneath his flannel and he shivers with a curse. “Jesus H. Christ!” 

Steve startles and his head whips in different directions, looking out for danger. “What?” 

“Sorry, nothing! It’s just really cold! Sorry!” 

Steve relaxes, then frowns. Narrowed eyes travel over Eddie’s body. “Wait, where’s your jacket?” 

“Uh.”

“Did you leave it in the car?” 

“More like, left it at home?” Steve’s face turns pinched. “You didn’t tell me where we were going, I didn’t know I would need a jacket!” 

“Yes, you did, I told you to bring one!” Steve says, exasperated. 

Oh. So Steve did tell him to bring a jacket. Huh. 

“Here,” Steve says and then starts shrugging off his jacket. 

“What are you doing?” 

“I’m giving you my jacket, obviously.” He removes it completely and Eddie gives himself a second to commit to memory just how tight Steve’s white shirt is. It’s also thin. Eddie shakes his head. 

“But you’ll be cold.” 

“I won’t.” He shrugs. “I run hot.”

“You’re hot,” Eddie says and realizes too late that his brain-to-mouth filter must’ve been damaged by the cold. “I mean you look hot, like you don’t look cold.”

Steve bites down on a grin. “Take the jacket before you catch something, Eds.” 

“O-kay, mom Steve.” He accepts the jacket, and when he puts it on, he can’t help but sigh happily. It’s warm from Steve’s body heat. It also smells just like him. “Thanks.”

“No problem.” Steve smiles. “Now, what were you saying?” He asks and it takes Eddie a minute to remember what they were talking about, distracted as he is by Steve’s warmth and smell surrounding him.

***

“Do you ever think about leaving Hawkins?” 

Eddie jerks his head back, out of the basket where he was looking for the forks that Steve packed for the pie. “Uh, like, every day of my life, man.” 

“Because of Vecna?”

“No, long before that.” Eddie finds the fork. Singular. “You only packed one, Stevie, but I can just use my fingers.” He wiggles them and Steve shakes his head. 

“We can share,” he says. Alarms go off in Eddie’s head at the thought of passing the fork back and forth between them, sharing the slice of pie. He hasn’t been to that many dates in his life, but sharing dessert sounds a lot like a date thing.

“Sure,” he says, shrugging casually. Steve takes the first bite and hands it to Eddie. “Anyway, yeah. I always knew I wanted to leave. Knowing that there’s an alternate dimension at our feet that could pop up the next monster at any second only made the urge stronger, but. Gotta graduate first.”

“Where will you go? When you graduate?” 

“I don’t know. Some big city with a cool music scene, maybe. I can join a band that’s actually going somewhere.” He snorts. “No offense to Corroded Coffin.” 

Steve chuckles. “I’ve always thought you belong in some big city.”

“Yeah?” Eddie asks with an arched eyebrow.

“Yeah, dude, you’ve always seemed- I don’t know, too big for Hawkins,” he says with an awed tone. Eddie’s throat feels dry, he skips the next bite of pie, giving it back to Steve. “Like you should be somewhere with people as loud and talented and great as you.”

Eddie swallows thickly. His eyes haven’t left Steve’s face, but Steve isn’t looking at him, instead he’s staring ahead at Hawkins or maybe like he’s trying to see even further than that. Eddie’s glad he’s not looking at him, he doesn’t even know what his face is doing right now, listening to Steve talk about him like that, there’s probably hearts in his eyes or something.

“I- I’ve always wanted to go to New York,” Eddie says to break the silence. Steve hums like he thinks it’s a good idea. “What about you, Steve? Do you think about leaving?”

“Sometimes. I- I’ve actually been saving up money to go to college. Nothing prestigious like Nance or Robin, just community college maybe.”

“That’s great, Steve,” Eddie says.

“But I don’t think I can leave until I know it’s over, you know? The Upside Down, especially if the kids are still going to be here.”

“Yeah, I’ve thought about that. Kinda makes you want to steal another RV, pack them all up and leave Hawkins for good.”

Steve meets his eyes finally. He smiles. “Yeah, exactly.”

“I think we could do it,” Eddie says, entertaining the thought for a moment. 

“You don’t think we’d end up in jail? For grand theft auto and kidnapping children?”

“Shh, let a guy dream, Harrington.”

“Okay, okay,” Steve says, holding up his hands in defense. “You know I haven’t told anyone about saving up for college. Just you.”

“Not even Buckley?”

Steve shakes his head. “I already failed once trying to get in. I don’t want anyone to know that I’ve failed again. I don’t want to disappoint anyone.”

Eddie thinks about what Steve said when they got here, about the fight with his parents, about them calling Steve a disappointment. “You could never disappoint me. Or Buckley or the kids. We all worship the ground you walk on, King Steve.”

“Shut up,” Steve says with a lighthearted shove to Eddie’s shoulder. “You don’t.”

“We do! Because we know just how good and badass you are, and whoever can’t see that is a butthead.”

“Are you calling my parents buttheads?” Steve asks with a barely concealed snort. 

“That’s exactly what I’m doing!” He puts his hands around his mouth and yells. “The Harringtons are buttheads!”

Steve breaks into giggles, falling back against the blanket, squirming with laughter. “You’re ridiculous.”

“Yeah, but you love it,” Eddie says without thinking, and watches as something flashes across Steve’s face.

Before he can backtrack or brush it off as a joke, Steve sits up again, his jaw set with determination. 

“The fight with my parents was because of you,” he says. And okay, that’s not what Eddie was expecting. 

“Me?”

“They came home just as I was packing this up.” He gestures at the picnic basket. “I didn’t hear them come in until they came into the kitchen. They thought I was doing all of this for a girl so they started going off about me wasting my life and everything that they worked so hard to give me just to go on dates and work at a goddamn video store. They told me that it didn’t matter how much I tried, this girl was going to realize I was a failure and leave me. I don’t know what made me more angry- what they were saying about me or that they were talking about you like they knew you.” Steve pauses and takes a deep breath. “So I snapped and I told them I wasn’t packing all of that for a girl, that I was doing it for you. A guy. And that you would never leave me because I work at a video store or because our dates consist of grilled cheese sandwiches and roller skating and babysitting kids. And I guess that was a little presumptuous of me since we never really agreed that these were dates and I don’t even know if you-”

“Yes,” Eddie says when he finally finds his voice. He lost it somewhere around Steve calling this, and all the things they’ve been doing together for weeks, dates.

Steve blinks, his lips press together like he’s trying to stop himself from smiling, from getting ahead of himself. “You don’t know what I was going to say.”

Eddie rolls his eyes. “What were you going to say?”

“That I don’t even know if you feel the same way I feel for you.”

“Yes.” Eddie repeats. “Holy fuck, Steve, yes I do.”

Steve stops trying to hide his smile. He beams at Eddie. “Yeah? You’re crazy about me too?”

Eddie whines low in his throat. “Steve.”

Steve pushes himself to his knees and then he closes the distance between them by crawling towards Eddie. “Are you?”

“Yes.”

“You can’t stop thinking about me and you want to listen to me talk all day about nerdy shit too?” Steve asks, crowding against Eddie until he has no choice but to lean back until he’s lying down on the blanket and Steve is hovering over him. 

“Sports shit but yeah, yes.”

Steve leans down until his lips are right next to Eddie’s ear. “You want to kiss me too?” Eddie shivers, and this time, it’s not because of the cold. He’s never felt warmer in his entire life. 

“Yes,” he says. “Please, Steve.”

Steve closes the distance between them and crashes his lips against Eddie’s, kissing him hard and desperately, drawing a whimper out of him. Eddie kisses back with just as much enthusiasm, his hands coming up to grip Steve’s waist, his shoulders, his arms. 

His freezing arms. 

“Christ, Steve!”

“What? What?” Steve asks, pulling back just enough so that Eddie can see his face- flushed with parted, swollen lips and blown pupils. 

And oh. Yeah. Eddie needs to see Steve looking like this again soon. Preferably when he’s not freezing to death. 

“You’re freezing, man. Why didn’t you say anything?”

“I was a little busy,” Steve smirks. 

Eddie shakes his head. “I’m giving you your jacket back,” he says, squirming as he tries to shrug off the jacket with Steve still on top of him. 

“No, Eds-” 

“Then we’re going to the car.”

“But I can’t kiss you like this in the car,” Steve pouts and the sight of a pouty Steve because he wants to straddle Eddie and kiss him stupid shouldn’t make him consider staying out here in the cold, but it does. Just for a moment. 

“You can, if we climb in the backseat, baby,” Eddie says with a sly grin. 

Steve’s eyes widen, his eyes flick to the car and then to Eddie’s lips and Eddie sees the moment he makes a decision. “Yeah, okay. Maybe I am a little cold. Let’s go.”

They pick up the trash and the blanket in record time, even while stealing short, giggly kisses. 

“I can’t believe we’ve been on so many dates and you haven’t even asked me out once!” Eddie says, balling up the tin foil paper and throwing it at Steve’s face. He throws his head back with a groan. “I can’t believe Max was right!” 

Steve raises an eyebrow. “You talk to Max about me? Your fifteen-year-old neighbor?” 

Eddie arches an eyebrow right back. “Oh, so you don’t talk to Dustin, your fifteen-year-old best friend about me?” 

“Of course I do,” Steve sniggers. “He’s the one who told me you can’t roller skate to save your life.”

“Then why did you take me to the roller rink?” Eddie asks with an undignified squeak, feeling the phantom pain of his many falls.

“So I could do this-” Steve takes hold of Eddie’s hands, tangling their fingers together, “-all night.” 

Eddie flushes, looking down at their hands with a smile. “That was a good plan, I’ll give you that.” 

He rubs his thumb over Eddie’s knuckles. “I have more where that came from.” 

The touch makes Eddie’s insides flutter, he pulls a strand of hair across his face with his free hand, but Steve can probably still see his red cheeks. “Yeah?” 

“Mhm,” Steve hums. He crowds against Eddie until his back hits the car, pinning him against it. “And I can show you. If you agree to go on a date with me.” Steve’s free hand plays with the lapel of his jacket on Eddie. “Officially, I mean.” 

Eddie grins. “I thought you’d never ask,” he says, pressing a quick kiss to the corner of Steve’s mouth. 

Then he’s dragging him into the backseat, and for the rest of the night, neither of them feels cold again.

[in-hav3n]

 ✮ 𝓘𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐭𝐡 𝐩𝐚𝐫𝐭 - 𝐋𝐨𝐯𝐞 𝐦𝐞 𝐚𝐠𝐚𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐨𝐧𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭

❘❘ NSFW - sex scene - unprotected sex - age gap

Here's finally the 4th part! Took me ages to finalize this but seriously I wanted to write a good smut, and wrote something I haven't done before so I hope you'll like it as much as I do. Thanks for all the kind and lovely words I receive everyday from many of you and for all the positive comments about this serie. Love you all and enjoy <3

Previous parts

Standing on one of the VIP platforms, with a shoulder leaned against one of the metallic poles, you were enjoying your 5th Metallica show since the beginning of M72 Tour. The staff only needed help before and after the show, offering to roadies free time in between to do whatever they wanted to do. No matter how many times you'd watch it, each time was different. It wasn't the same setlist, neither the same atmosphere or energy coming from the crowd but tonight, the show was different and for another reason. 

Each time your eyes landed on James, butterflies were tickling your lower belly and your lips couldn't stop forming a smile. The way he was moving around the stage, playing his riffs or just interacting with the fans, everything was absolutely captivating. You couldn't stop admiring him, still not believing you both shared something last night. You were probably looking silly, smiling like an idiot, but you didn't care. You were in your own bubble, enjoying these amazing feelings you didn't experienced for a long time now. 

After being alone for a while, you had to admit it was truly pleasant to have someone being attracted by you. Of course, you didn’t forget you had to be careful and shouldn’t put on too much hopes in that little adventure. You were just a roadie, he was a rockstar. Nothing else would come up out of these two nights you'll spend with him. Was it bad to enjoy it then? Absolutely not, and you decided to take your chance. 

But what to expect tonight? That was a million-dollar question. You had absolutely no idea. He said he wanted to spend more time with you and he was the one that came back in the first place. You didn't run after him like a crazy groupie. He did the first step and asked to see you again. A little voice inside you dared to say this may be positive...but still, better be careful.

Your phone buzzed in your back pocket and get your attention off from the show. Another smile crossed your lips as you read the message coming from your best friend. "Go on girl! Take care and carpe diem! Love ya <3". Of course, you had to tell her what happened earlier in the backstage and seeing she was as excited as you were made you feel more confident about all this. 

The show went on and a few minutes before the last part of "Enter Sandman", which was the last song they'd play, you left your point of view to run into the backstage area. You didn't really know where to meet James - even if you assumed he meant at his hotel room for more discretion - but you wanted to tell him you couldn't join him now. You had some tasks to do before you were allowed to leave the stadium. You waited maybe ten minutes or more, pacing around near his door. You knew the band was spending a bit of time around the stage for the fans and you didn’t mind waiting. 

Suddenly you heard some heavy steps and voices echoing. You got up, recognizing the voices, and saw a sweaty James coming over you. He was drying his forehead with a towel. Your heart beat fast when he was getting close and you didn't have the time to say anything that he opened the door with a fast move, pushing you inside to not be seen by the staff who was going to be very busy in this area in a minute or so.

"James, I-...", you started but he shut you off with a rough kiss. A mixture of sweat and deodorant hit your nose. Your lips tasted once again his salty sweated lips and you couldn't resist to place your palm on his cheek while his hands rested on your lower back. "James, I can't join you straight away. I have work to do", you explained with a sorry tone, looking deep into his eyes. He looked back at you, like if he was searching for a solution. "They'd be suspicious if I leave now and even more if I leave with you". You added to show him you cared about your both private lifes as well.

He simply answered to your idea with a nod and leaned to kiss you again, deeper this time. Your heart was pounding so fast and those butterflies in your stomach seemed to have turned into a whole colony now. His two hands pushed your pelvis against his, making you moan against his lips. 

"Do what you have to do and meet me as soon as possible", he groaned, adding another peck. You nodded frantically at him, gasping of pleasure as his pelvis hit yours once again.

✦ 𝟑𝟎 𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐬 𝐋𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐫 ✮

You've never finished your tasks that fast before but you really wanted to leave as soon as possible. Luckily, the guys did most of the job and were kind enough to say you could go, since you did a lot in the afternoon to prepare the gig. You thanked them and ran over the mini vans ready to drove the staff back to the hotel. At 1am, there was absolutely no traffic in the city and it was for best. Before joining James, you got the idea of grabbing a few things from your room since he asked you to stay over.

Ten minutes later, you were knocking softly on his door, hoping he didn't fall asleep but some voices coming from the TV told you he was still awake. You looked around, in the corridor, hoping no one would show up so late at night but soon, you heard his reassuring heavy steps behind the door. 

"There you are", he smiled, opening the door and leaning on it.

"I'm sorry I did as fast as I could", you apologized, blushing slightly with a little smile. You came inside as he gently gestured you to come in. James was already wearing a bathrobe and you supposed he showered already.

"Luckily, they had enough support and didn't need me....OH!", you couldn’t finish your sentence that he jumped on you to attack your lips for a hungry kiss. Your bag fell on the carpet in a thud as you wrapped up your arms around his neck, standing on your tiptoes. 

"Oh I-...I think I don't smell good. I need a shower first", you giggled. James had left your lips in a hurry to attack your neck’s skin now. His mustache tickled the hollow of your neck but this answer didn't satisfy him. He groaned and pulled away, looking deep into your eyes. 

"Then this a good reason to join me", he whispered, his fingers caressing your cheek. You blushed again under his touch, playing with the opening of his bathrobe.

"And where to?". 

"To a place...", he said with a smirk and a playful tone before grabbing the edge of your black tank top. He slowly lifted it up, exposing your belly, “"...where this…”, he threw it away and when he finally took it off, he said, “…won't be necessary". 

A shiver crossed your spine as you helped him to get rid of the rest of your clothes. You quickly kicked off your shoes and stood in underwear in front of him. Last night, you'd have been quite shy to expose yourself to him but curiously he was able to help you having this confidence. Maybe it was the fact he was older or more experienced than you? You didn't know but you appreciated it.

"Then show me this place", you whispered, leaning against his lips, teasing him with a kiss. James chuckled with interest as he slowly pushed you over the bathroom, closing the door behind him. He wanted to keep the room warm. You realized he intended to share a shower with you making a smile curved on your lips. You adored the idea. 

"Make yourself comfortable", he told when he walked over the shower. He turned the water on and checked on the heat with his hand until it was on the right temperature. You nodded at his ask and proceeded to unclasp your bra, remove your thong before you grabbed two towels you placed near the shower. James opened his bathrobe, exposing his naked body and you bit your lower lip at the sight of his gorgeous body, wondering how come you could be so lucky. 

"Come", he went into the shower first, offering his hand to make you join him inside, just in case the ground would be slippery. You accepted it and closed the shower's door behind your back, smiling up at him. He went underneath the hot water first, letting it run on his head and body. You chuckled softly when you saw him shaking his head like a dog to remove the water drops running over his eyes. 

With eyes closed, he ran his hands over his face to refresh it before he declared, "Don't be shy...come closer".

He wasn't looking at you but you guessed he noticed you were staying in the corner. You were more confident to show your body but still, you weren't feeling that confident to make the first steps already. You didn't really know what was on his mind – after all, you thought he just wanted to have fun last night and nothing else - and honestly, it rattled you a little sometimes. So, you really preferred him to take the lead.  

You stepped closer and immediately your chest hit his in a shiver. You giggled of surprise when you felt the water landing on your head and embraced the heat brought by the hot water. It felt so good to finally get washed after a long day running around.  

"God bless this shower...", you whispered in ecstasy as you closed your eyes, enjoying the sensation that embraced you. You didn't see James pressing the soap bottle on the wall to get some and you realized what he was doing only when you felt his hands on your shoulders. 

"Oh...", you whispered, your eyes opening quickly to look up at him. He gave you a smile back and put foam on your body to wash it. "That smells good". 

"And feels good, I hope?", he wondered and made you turn over to have an access to your back. He washed this new skin given to him and whispered a "good" to your hummed "hum hum". 

For a couple of minutes, no words were shared. You both only enjoyed each other's company and James' magical touch on your skin. You never imagined he’d have done such thing with a stranger like you. Sharing a shower was something so intimate that this envy surprised you a lot. But you felt good, you felt comfortable. It was like living a dream and you intended to enjoy it till the end. 

"Oh yes, there", you moaned of pleasure when he reached a painful place over your neck. Pain caused by repetitive days of lifting up some heavy boxes. He insisted on this area, in a very kindly way, when his hand ran along your body. They stopped on your bare breasts that he gently massaged with the same softness. You smiled, eyes closed, appreciating the gesture - as well as your nipples who hardened straight away - when you felt something hard bumping on your lower back. You bit your lower lip, opening your eyes. James couldn't see it but your cheeks flushed red as you realized you probably caused this erection. 

You decided to show a slight of bravery and moved your hand up your body. Once at the right level, you moved it backwards and wrapped your hand around his hard length. James’ chin was resting against your head and you heard his groan behind you. He was okay with it even if the contrary would have surprised you, but you wanted his agreement. 

Slowly, but with precise moves, you started to stroke him back and forth, hearing his groans and feeling his short breath on the hollow of your neck. You keep going, your thumb sometimes rubbing his tip but you felt the water wasn't a good help. So, you turned over again to face him, forcing him to move his head. He looked down with a curious glance as you collected some foam on your body before cupping his hard member again. 

This time, the soap helped you to provide perfect strokes and you increased your pace, stroking it a bit faster. You decided to tease him, leaving his hard cock for a while to wash his tough chest and arms. The air in the cabin was getting thicker and the temperature was increasing faster. There was something very sensual with your two wet bodies stuck to one another. You looked up at him with desire and made an eye contact with his lustful gaze. You smiled to see he was pleased and decided to move on the next step. You were burning of desire to do that and nothing could have stopped you now. 

Now that the foam disappeared with the water, you slowly went down on your knees, your eyes still locked with his, and when you arrived at the right level, you opened your mouth teasingly. Your hands rested around his member and your tongue went out to just suck his tip. 

“Mmh…”, he groaned while his hand went down to caress your wet hair, slowly. You could tell James was enjoying this pleasant surprise very much. 

You let out a moan for the first time as your mouth wrapped around his tip only, sucking it in a sensual way. Feeling you wouldn’t be able to stay too long on your knees, you changed your position to stand on your heels. With your legs wide open now, you felt some water drops running along your wet hair on your body and on your wet folds, making you shiver and moan. Your mouth kept sucking his glans and your right hand went back around his member, gripping it but it wasn’t enough for you. You wanted more and to hear his groans, you understood he probably wanted the same thing. 

Then you held James’ cock and placed it horizontally, letting your tongue licking from the base to the top. You took advantage of this move to lick his balls, even sucking one between your lips.

“Oh yes baby…”, James moaned more, his hand pushing your head slowly. This encourages you to take him fully now, bobbing your head up and down on his venous cock. “This way…yes”.

You followed his instructions and moved further and faster, your hands following your mouth’s moves. 

“It feels good, uh?”, you pulled away to tease him with words for the first time, twirling your tongue over his tip before your lips enveloped his length again for another ride. 

“God…fuck yes”, he mumbled between moans and whines, gripping your hair tighter as he pushed your mouth deeper on his dick. You went as deep as you could and pulled away when you couldn’t take it anymore. With enough saliva on it now, you could pump it faster with your two hands as you looked up at James.

His eyes were closed now and you could tell he was focusing on his pleasure. A proud smile appeared on your lips, proud to provide him such pleasure. You weren’t a blowjob expert but you did it a few times before, memorizing the moves your partners liked.   

You stopped pumping him with your hands to suck him off again, already addict to his perfect cock. You sucked harder, placing one of your palms on his upper thighs for a better support. Your other hand couldn’t resist to reach your already throbbing pussy that needed a bit of attention. James’ groans and whines were more and more precise as he looked down at what you were doing.

You wouldn’t be surprise if he’d cum soon but surprisingly, he pulled you away with a firm grip on your hair, making you shiver. With a sexy look and attitude, you opened your lips, his dick letting out from your mouth and hit his pubes. 

Without a word, he made you get up by grasping you by the shoulders and quickly, his rough lips met yours for a passionate and hungry dance. His hands started to explore your body making you shivering hard.  Even more when his fingertips draw a path along your spine before his both hands cupped your ass cheeks, groping them.

“Oh…”, you moaned of surprise and pleasure at the same time, feeling a pressure into your core. You knew you were completely wet and you wondered what he had in store for you. 

You were both totally rinsed now and when he shut down the shower, you understood he was ready for the next step. But did he got enough energy for a love making session now? After all, he just spent two hours on a stage, rocking hard. But when you stepped out of the shower and dried yourself, you could see his erection didn’t disappear and you guessed you got your answer. He was ready for anything. You quickly dried your wait hair with another towel as James finished to dry his own body, leaving the towel on the floor. He walked into the bedroom and you heard his body landing on the mattress. You smiled and chuckled silently. 

You walked out of the bathroom, leaning against the door frame. James was shutting the TV with the remote when he caught you with his peripheral vision. He smiled at you and extended his hand. 

“Come here pretty girl”. You took his hand with a shy smile and followed his moves. He made you climbed on the bed, passing by on top of his body to make you roll on your side. When your body hit the mattress, he captured your lips again for a sensual dance, his tongue quickly searching for yours.

Naturally your arms wrapped around his neck and each other's legs intermingled. His body was hot against your shivering skin. It felt good and those butterflies came back into your core. 

James’ hand soon found the place between your thighs and when he gently pushed them open, you pulled away your mouth with a slight moan.

“Mh…can I-..”, there your shyness came back, your cheeks flushing red again but you gulped to give you courage to ask him what you really wanted tonight. “Can I be on top?”, you finally dared to suggest.

James answered first with a loud groan of satisfaction. He quickly rolled on his back again, griping his hard cock to get it ready for you. “Come baby, it is yours”.

Those words aroused more than anything and you felt your pussy squeezed at the thought of what you were about to do. You carefully got up and moved one of your legs to straddle him. You did that position for maybe twice and you hoped he wouldn’t be disappointed. But James was the best when it comes to make you feel comfortable and confident, that’s why you decided to take your chance to do it tonight with him. 

Before sinking on him, you checked first with your fingers if you were wet enough and with no surprise, you were. James gave you a help as he spat in his hand, spreading the saliva on his tip. When you felt ready, you moved backwards a little, lining up your entrance with his hard cock. 

“Wait…hold on me”, James suddenly said when he saw you unsure of your moves. He sat up on the bed, lining up his dick better and guided it between your wet folds. The touch made you whine of surprise and when you felt his tip at the right place, you slowly push yourself on him with heavy breaths mixed with moans. His shoulders were a good support as you slowly sunk on his length, going inch by inch, your tight pussy being stretched out. 

“Oh fuck…”, you whispered in a gasp, when he was completely inside you. 

“That’s it, baby. Go at your pace now”, James groaned and massaged your ass to make you feel relaxed before he laid down on the bed again.

Your hands didn’t leave his shoulders and when you felt ready and wet enough, you started to move your hips, up and down. Moans and groans escape your mouth as you leaned further on his shoulder, feeling his tip hitting your walls. 

“You love it, don’t you?”, James whispered to you, forcing you to look down at him. You nodded with a shy moan as his hands spanked you hard. "You love riding that old man's cock, I know you do". You moaned louder this time and allowed yourself to move a bit faster on his hard cock. 

“Feels good”, you breathed between your whines, your hands finding a comfortable place on James’ chest. He couldn’t leave his eyes off of you, watching you taking pleasure, your breasts jiggling as you were bouncing on his cock. It was arousing him more than ever. He decided to give you a little help, knowing you’d enjoy what he had in mind. 

“Lean a bit more sweetheart”, he suggested as he gripped your both hands with his. You listened to his advice and leaned as he asked you to, arching your butt. “Great, now bounce on my cock. C’mon”, he encouraged you with another spank and you realized this position was far better to make you bounce easily on his hard member. 

“Oh! Fuck yes James”, you cried of pleasure, feeling new sensations arousing you. You could tell your pussy was getting wetter each time it was sinking on James’ cock, your wet folds enveloping it with ease. Your ass cheeks were hitting one another at each moves making you feel sexy. And when you felt his dick hitting your spot, you whine of surprise, opening your eyes before they rolled back in your head. 

“That’s it, baby. Fuck yourself on my cock. Make yourself cum hard on it”. You whined at every praise he told you and squirmed faster on his dick, feeling this familiar and powerful sensation growing up inside your lower belly. But this time, it felt like it was growing stronger and faster than ever. You panted hard, thrusting hard up and down to reach this amazing feeling you wanted to feel. It was a strong need, a strong desire. 

James could feel you were about to cum, he could tell by your moves. He noticed you were going deeper and faster, trying different paces in search of your release. He even hesitated to take the lead cause he could have grabbed your ass and pounded hard into you but he finally decided to let you move the way you wanted. And honestly, it was better this way. James couldn’t stop watching how sexy you were in that position, bouncing on him. 

“Oh James…I’m gonna-…God…I’m gonna cum”, you begged and whined, your breath increasing as well as your moves.

“Let it go baby…let it go…breathe”, James whispered as he didn’t stop watching you from beneath. His glance going up at you then glancing down at your pussy enveloping his hard dick. He would cum soon too if you kept going on this pace but he was holding it, wanting you to reach your climax first. His hands gripped tighter your wrists and when he saw your face contracting, your teeth biting your lower lips and your pussy squeezing around his cock, he knew you were cumming.

“OH FUCK!”, you almost screamed of pleasure when you finally reached the object of your desires. “Holy fuck, yes. It feels good”. Your pussy contracted around his member as you freed one of your hands to rub your clit. 

“Yeah baby…C’mon, fuck yourself. That feels good. Yes!". You heard James’ praises but it was like he was talking from afar. Your legs started to shake and you struggled a little to hold on to the position. Your fingers shook frantically your clit as you keep bouncing on his cock to ride your orgasm till the end. It was completely overwhelming you and nothing could compare these amazing sensations.

Your whine soon calmed down, the pleasure and pressure going down slowly but you breathed loudly, leaving your used clit and pussy recovering from this orgasm. 

“Oh my god”, you panted in a whisper as you came back to your senses. James smiled, looking at you and let you enjoy this pure moment of ecstasy after the orgasm, when the sensations are going through your whole body, making you feel complete and happy.

Meanwhile, he grabbed his dick and stroked it slowly, waiting patiently for you. When you opened your eyes again and met his, you both smiled at each other. Then he pulled you down to kiss his lips in a tender way. It surprised you how relaxed and how easy you were showing yourself to him but you guess he was helping you a lot. 

“Can you take it for another ride baby?”, he requested with a grin and you don’t hesitate a second. 

“Oh yes”, you sighed of pleasure as you positioned yourself again. 

“There you go. Sit on that cock again”, James helped you line up with his dick again and this time, you sunk on him faster. When all his length thrusted into you, you bounced up and down. James' right hand rested on your lower back for a while as your moves started to be more sloppier and easier now that you had cum hard on him. “Oh fuck baby, keep going”.

You smiled proudly at him and leaned on him to take back the position that made you cum. You adored it so much that you wanted to do it once again. Maybe it would be the last time trying this with him so why not enjoy it till the end? James understood what you were doing and held your hands again with his, gripping them firmly on his chest. 

“Go on, sweetheart”, he commanded as he looked at you arching your back and butt.

Very quickly, you bounced again on his cock, your wet lips squeezing, making you moan like crazy again. James closed his eyes, enjoying these sensations as he felt his core burning. But he wanted to look at you, looking at how your body were moving and reacting. He looked down again and spanked you harder, admiring how his dick was disappearing inside your pussy with so ease.

“You’re so fucking tight. Jesus, it feels so good”, he growled with his hoarse voice as he groped your ass hard, opening wide your two tight holes. This made you squirm again with a loud whine and when he felt your pussy contracting around his cock, James felt it was the right time to cum.

“Oh yes baby, don’t stop moving this way…I’m gonna cum”, he warned you in a groan, his face contracting under the pleasure coming. 

“Fuck me James…please…cum on me”, you bounced a little more on his tip and when you realized with his screams he was about to released his load, you thrusted out your pussy, leaving him space so he could stroke his dick against your ass. He stroked it so his cum could land on your ass cheeks and ran over your folds before dripping on his stomach. 

“Oh fuck…yes!”, he groaned like a beast, arching his pelvis a little, his head hitting the pillow as he jerked off his dick with pace, his orgasm making him tremble a little.

He had closed his eyes and you smiled, watching over your shoulder all the mess. He panted hard when he stopped growling and you looked down at him, still straddling his hips. You smiled and hesitated a moment before you allowed yourself to run a fingertip along his sweaty chest. He giggled at the tickle, his eyes closed as he was just enjoying his post orgasm feelings and you smiled. 

Leaving him recovering, you got up to go to the bathroom, searching for a towel to clean you. You picked another one for him before you came on the bed. But first, you couldn't resist to suck his dick one last time to clean him. Surprised by your gesture, James opened his eyes in a moan and looked down at you with a grin.

“Sorry, I couldn’t resist”, you said with a tease, wiping a drop that left on your lips. 

" I won't complain", he chuckled softly and grabbed the towel you were handing to him. "Thanks for the towel".

"You're welcome", you replied with a warm smile and while he was cleaning his stomach, you walked in the other side of the room, picking up your bag to peeped inside. James frowned at your attitude as he placed the towel on his bedside table.

"I hope you don't intend to leave me alone again tonight...", he asked as he sat down on the bed. You looked up at him and your gaze met his piercing blue eyes...

[ladykailitha]

Royal Pain Part 23

Hey, guys! This story is back, baby! And is the start of the four chapters that are all one run on chapter basically. You'll see why at the end of this chapter I held off until I got the resolution written.

I still have some room on the tag list but not much, only six slots. So once it fills up, that's it, I will take no more requests for the list once it hits fifty.

Pt 1 Pt 2 Pt 3 Pt 4 Pt 5 Pt 6 Pt 7 Pt 8 Pt 9 Pt 10 Pt 11 Pt 12 Pt 13 Pt 14 Pt 15 Pt 16 Pt 17 Pt 18 Pt 19 Pt 20 Pt 21 Meta Pt 22

****

There wasn’t time for Eddie to see Steve and Wayne before the show, well for any of them to see their loved ones before the show, really.

Eddie’s knee was bouncing as hard as it was when he played in front of Steve for the first time.

They had all met Metallica at the sound check and had hit off, much to everyone’s surprise. But they had their own pre-show rituals and Corroded Coffin had theirs.

“Fuck,” Jeff said, coming back from the bathroom. “I think I’ve thrown up more times tonight than I did that time we all thought it would fun to main line tequila shots for two hours straight.”

Everyone winced in sympathy. That was a bad time for everyone all around.

“Who would have thought that after years of hard work,” Brian said, “that we would be opening for Metallica? Holy shit, this is our lives!”

Jeff smiled, looking a little less green around the gills. “Mandy said that if I waited for us to be ready, we would never take that chance,” he said, rubbing his hands on his pants. “And she’s right. We’ll never get a chance like this ever again.”

Gareth chewed on his thumb, gnawing at it worryingly. Eddie got up and put his arm around their youngest member. “Hey, this isn’t us selling out. This isn’t us giving up our dedicated following. This is us testing the waters to see if this is something we would enjoy doing.” He kissed the top of Gareth’s head. “We won’t know if we prefer smalls gigs at the Nightmare Hole over stadiums, if we haven’t played stadiums, okay?”

Gareth nodded. “I’m just being ridiculous.”

Jeff came over sat down on the other side of him. “No you’re not. It’s a valid concern. But Eddie’s right, too. How do you know you prefer intimate sessions over roaring crowds if you’ve never played to those roaring crowds?”

Gareth sighed. “Yeah, I guess.”

Brian tilted his head. “It’s the sound, isn’t it?”

All three other members turned to him. Gareth’s jaw dropped. He opened and closed his mouth several times trying to refute Brian’s claim, but found he couldn’t.

Jeff twisted in his seat to look at Gareth a little better. “Loud noises bother you?”

“Gare-bear...” Eddie said softly. “Why didn’t you say something?”

Gareth blushed and looked at his hands, picking at the skin around his nails. He shrugged. “I never thought about it. Until Bri said something, I didn’t even realize that might be why.”

Brian had been digging in his bag while they talked and chose that moment to brandish his find. “Tada!” He waved the noise canceling headphones around like a flag. “Wear these!”

Gareth stood up and gingerly took them from Brian and help them tenderly. He looked up Brian like he was a god damned hero.

Brian tapped on them. “Just plug them into little sound device they gave us and bam! No more sound. Or at least very little.”

Gareth fell on his friend giving him the biggest hug. Brian hugged him back fiercely.

“I just want to make sure you have fun out there, okay?” he whispered.

Gareth nodded.

There was a knock on the door and a stage manager poked his head in.

“Five minutes guys.”

Gareth straightened up and composed himself as his friends strapped on their instruments.

They all filed out but Gareth hung back for a moment. Eddie turned and smiled at him.

“Come on,” he said fondly, holding out his hand. “Let’s go make some noise.”

Gareth laughed. “Hell yeah!”

*

Steve was showed to the VIP box where a lot of people were already there. Some of them he knew like Gethin and Miranda. Wayne, too. Most of them were complete strangers and suddenly he felt like he didn’t belong here.

Everyone else here was family. Steve wasn’t even a boyfriend. Not yet anyway. They had barely kissed the once before this landed on their laps. Eddie even had to cancel his tattoo appointment for today. That’s how new this all was.

He took a step back. Then two. He was about to turn and run when Miranda spotted him.

“Steve!” she called out, making every head turn his direction.

Which did not help his feelings inadequacy in the slightest.

She leapt to her feet and dragged him over to sit between her and Wayne.

“I’ll introduce you all after,” she said. “So glad you could make it. Jeff was saying he was worried you wouldn’t be able to because of work.”

Steve blushed. Which meant Eddie had been terrified. “I wouldn’t have missed this for anything.”

She raised an eyebrow and twisted around to look him in the eye. “You sure? Because it looked like you were going to bolt to me.”

Steve shook his head. “I would have found somewhere else to watch them. But I don’t belong here with family and the significant others. I’m just...me.”

Miranda slumped down in her seat with a sigh. “Steve, of course you belong here. Eddie only had two people in the whole world he wanted to see him open for one of the biggest metal bands in the world. And you’re sitting next to other one.”

Steve looked over at Wayne who chuckled.

“Do we have to tie you down, Steve?” he asked fondly.

Steve shook his head. “No, sir. I’ll be good.”

Wayne hummed. “Glad to hear it. Now quiet down. My boy is about to play.”

Steve smiled for the first time since arriving at the arena.

The house lights went down and the stage lights went up. Steve leaned forward, elbows on his knees, chin propped up on his fists. Eddie was always beautiful to behold, but fuck. Like this, under the spotlights? He was incandescent.

Eddie leaned into the microphone and introduced his band to the audience.

“We don’t usually play other people’s music, but we got permission to do this one,” Eddie said. He nodded to Brian, who grinned.

Corroded Coffin’s bassist began to play, the first few notes in and the crowd went apeshit. Completely crazy. Steve turned to Miranda. “Shit. I think I know this one. It’s Master of Puppets, right? From Metallica?”

Miranda nodded. “Damn straight it is.”

Steve was on his feet screaming in an instant. Everyone was cheering and having a good time. Maybe he shouldn’t be here, but until someone said something, he was going to cheer Eddie on the loudest. He loved his metal boyfriend with all his heart.

*

Eddie stumbled off the stage covered in sweat and higher then he’d ever been on weed. The rest of the band was jumping and screaming too. There was no greater feeling in the world.

They got better than front row seats to Metallica as they watched from backstage.

Even after thirty-five years they still knew how to bring the house to their knees.

They celebrated with the band for a bit before their families were ushered in. Eddie had even cleared it with the band for Dustin and his friends to come meet them but only for five minutes.

Dustin and Mike were freaking out, but Will hung back, still shy. But Lars came over and talked to him for a minute and that really made Will’s day. Hell, his entire year if he was being honest.

They all filed out leaving the ten family members alone with the boys of Corroded Coffin. Gareth’s parents and twin were fawning over him calling him brave and saying how proud they were of him breaking out of his comfort zone.

Jeff’s dad and Mandy’s mom were huddled over in the corner with the couple, just hugging each other tight. No words needed.

Brian had his sister and Cecil and his sister chatting excitedly, hands waving about as they broke down their favorite moments of the concert.

Eddie picked Steve up and whirled him around kissing him soundly on the lips. “Baby, did you see us out there?”

Wayne chuckled. “Oh just him and about thirty thousand other people.”

Eddie kissed him on the cheek fiercely. “I’ve never felt anything like it! It was so amazing.”

“You were amazing, Eds,” Steve said. “All of you were. It’s you guys were made for that stage.”

Eddie kissed him again. “I’m so glad you were able to make it! I was worried that you wouldn’t be able to come.”

Steve kissed the side of Eddie’s mouth tenderly. “Well you see I had a cancellation this afternoon, so I was able to shift my schedule to accommodate my boyfriend opening for Metallica.”

Eddie blushed. “I’m sorry I had to cancel, baby.”

“I’m not mad, sunshine,” Steve assured him. “I’m happy for you.”

They kissed again.

Wayne waved Steve off so that he could hug Eddie. “I’m proud of you. Now don’t be getting too famous to see me, you hear?”

Eddie’s eyes welled up and his pressed his lips together. “I would never. I promise. I’ll always come to you, I swear it.”

Soon it was time to pack it all up and hit the road for home.

Everyone said their goodbyes and they all parted ways. With Eddie promising to stop by the shop tomorrow to reschedule his appointment.

Steve was beaming. High off the euphoria of watching Eddie live out his dream. He had never felt like this about anyone before and he couldn’t wait to tell everyone about how awesome Eddie did and how the crowd went wild for their music.

*

He really should have seen it coming. He should have been prepared. But he wasn’t.

Eddie didn’t come into the shop that day, because he called instead. Metallica had offered to let them opening for them for the rest of their tour. For the next two weeks, Corroded Coffin would be going on the road with one the world’s biggest metal bands.

And leaving Steve behind.

He fought hard to be happy for his boyfriend. But everything between them was too new. Too tender.

They didn’t even get to say goodbye in person and Steve was left with that feeling of not being good enough.

For anyone.

****

Part 24 Part 25 Part 26 Part 27 Part 28 Epilogue

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[st4rgrl4l1f3]

There was literally no excuse for the way Simon and Soap were the stupidest fucking people together. And only together. They are skillful soldiers, they always complete their mission. But holy fuck, take them out? Put them on a damn leash. It’s like two dogs trying to look at everything whilst on a walk.

Nothing could prepare Gaz for the way Price genuinely says shit like “whoopsies” “We’re in a bit of a jam, huh?” “Uh oh”. Kinda like if he was talking to a little kid. Gaz didn’t know why he used those kinds of words, here’s this special forces captain whom he thought was stone cold; apparently that only applies on the battlefield.

Alejandro’s mind was completely empty, watching Ghost, Soap and Gaz attempt to learn more Spanish. Soap couldn’t roll his R’s, Gaz sounded American whilst attempting to say a word that had been troubling him. It was Ferrocarril. Railroad. Ghost thought that turning Spanish subtitles on his show would help. It didn’t. “Joder, sois estúpidos de cojones..” (Holy shit, you guys are stupid as fuck..).

If Soap is mad, he won’t hesitate to scream. Yell. Only if it’s in the comfort of his home. Captain Price once came over and thought Soap was being attacked. No. He burned his breakfast. Running into the kitchen, gun in hand, he watches Soap pop more toast into the toaster. “Hope my eggs won’t get cold.” “Fuckin hell, Soap. I thought you were dying.” “No, I burned my toast.” “Fucks sake.”

Ghost genuinely cannot go a week without wreaking havoc. Scaring the shit out of people. He likes scaring the new young soldiers, ones who think they’re all that because they got into the military. That is, until Ghost comes up behind them, a heavy hand on their shoulder. “You ever been on the battlefield?” Said in a voice deeper than he’d normally go, but it was funny as shit to him, watching the soldiers jump and then looking straight into their eyes, watching as they attempt to politely disengage in the conversation.

Alejandro frequently plays video games, hard ones that he gets up on his high horse talking about “How hard can a Videojuego be?” (How hard can a video game be?” …Until he is red with rage, veins popping out of his forehead, hands shaking and squeezing the controller so tight that Rudy thought it was going to break. “No es tan grave, Alejandro ..” (It’s not that serious, Alejandro..” he says, getting more and more quiet as he spoke. Alejandro looked back at him, throwing the controller into the wall (denting it.) “You try then, Pendejo.” He says in a dark, creepy ass voice.

The teams genuine reaction when Gaz pulls out a book on the helicopter and starts reading is fucking insane. “Reading?” Ghost comments, wide eyed and sounding astonished. “I mean, the flight will be long. Might as well” He says, shrugging. “You’ve gotta be kiddin’, Gaz.” Soap scans Gaz’s eyes, looking for any humor in them. None. He was completely serious?? “Well, nothin wrong with a bit of reading, yeah boys?” Captain Price reads the room—“..You guys seriously don’t read? Ever?” “Why the fuck would we read-“ they both chirp in unison.

Captain Price is either over dressed or under dressed for the occasion. Why are you wearing a suit at Christmas dinner…And why are you wearing shorts and a Metallica shirt to church…Sometimes Gaz helps him dress so that he won’t look out of place. Has to take him out shopping since he’s rarely in normal clothes, I mean he’s got his gear and a civilian outfit (STRICTLY a civilian outfit.), maybe four shirts, a few pairs of shorts, three pairs of jeans, and a pair of sweatpants. Which wasn’t exactly bad, but for church that just will not do, Captain!!!

Soap has no social anxiety. He’s loud when he laughs, talking with random men at the bar, telling his story to some guy named Daniel who he just met 13 minutes ago. Which for the record, Daniel thinks Soap is fucking awesome. Holy shit dude, you’re a special op? Yeah that’s not something you see everyday. Him and Daniel now meet at the bar a few times per week when Soap is given the green light to do so.

[peacesells-imbuying]

OMGGG HI I SAW U WERE LOOKING FOR ANGST ASKS SOO

can u write an angst where reader is pregnant with dave mustaines kid but when she tells him he goes off at her and then leaves her and the child but then ends up regretting it and begging the reader to come home to him and stuff but the reader is very stubborn and it takes a longg time to convince her

sorry if its a lot its just i love this ideaa <3

you’re fine! There’s a extra/bonus at the end Love Dave sm man 😍 | masterlist for more fics

Was never ready for a baby until now. It already happened, there was no backing out. Nothing scared me except for telling Dave, my boyfriend. Megadeth stressed him out already, but I couldn’t keep it a secret any longer. That’s what couple do though right? No secrets from one another. 

“I’m home.” Dave grumbled and sat down on the couch. He smiled happily as I sat next to him. “Hey,” we gave each other a sweet kiss. “How you been?” Dave sighed deeply in thought. “Stressed as fuck. Missed you though.” He grinned at me while I laughed. 

Now or never. “Dave. I got something to tell you.” My stomach started to turn upside down. “Alright.” Dave focus was on me now. “I’m..pregnant.” His worried face turned into confusion then anger. “What the fuck! Get rid of it.” I scoffed. “I’m not getting rid of it, im sorry okay. Maybe I shouldn’t have told you.” Dave stood up pissed. “This whole relationship was a fucking mistake. If you won’t get rid of it then we’re done.” I stood up with tears pouring down my face. “Fuck you Dave! You’re right this was a mistake and im glad.” My confidence began to weaken. 

“Yeah! Fuck you too!” Dave slammed the table as I started to pack my things. Everything ended just like that. It had been 2 years since I had seen him. Megadeth popularity was now the same as Metallica.

I never got rid of Mary, our daughter. She had Dave hair, smile and eyes. She was my happiness. See I thought I would never see him again but at Thursday 8pm there was sudden knock on my door. 

“Dave? What the fuck are you doing here? How did you even find my place!” Yelled quietly not wanting to wake up Mary. His face softened at the sight of his daughter. “Um, your friend told me. I just wanted to visit..” I sighed. “Fine. Come in. I’m going to set Mary down.” I walked to the nursery room and I heard Dave whisper to himself. “Mary?” 

“I’m so sorry..I was being a bitch. It wasn’t my intention for us to break up the way we did.” I deeply sighed sitting down on my couch. “Dave. Have a seat, want anything to drink or eat?” He did as I said and rejected my offer. It was quiet for two minutes straight.

“So Mary?-“My well our daughter.” Dave eyebrows furrowed together. “Our daughter? You never got rid of it well her. Why didn’t you tell me?” I scoffed. “I wonder why Dave! Can’t believe you waited two whole years to apologize. What the fuck, do you actually want.” That made him a bit angry but he held his composure. “I want you back. Hell, I want to be a father for my daughter! Please give me a chance. Please?” I shaked my head standing up. “Help yourself, but stay away from the rooms.” With that the night ended. 

EXTRA ☕️

with each passing month I finally gave in and allowed Dave to be the father he deserved to be. Eventually  building our relationship all over again which lead us to being closer than ever.

[leasstories]

I’m coming home

Eddie Munson x GN reader

WC: ≈750

No trigger warnings, just fluff and Eddie missing you

Based on Timezone by Måneskin

Image credit : Fidzyo

October 30th, 1988

Eddie and his band Corroded Coffin left for their first world tour, they had the chance to be chosen to be Metallica’s opening act in their Damaged Justice tour.

Eddie is alone in his hotel room in Brussels. It’s currently 8 am and he didn’t sleep well that night. He got you over the phone for only 5 minutes as you called when he was about to leave for the show. You told Eddie how you accepted to work overtime tonight. Apparently the Hideout attracts more customers since Eddie (and corroded coffin) became more famous and revealed in a interview that it’s where they started playing music. And tonight he hated that fact because those overtime hours didn’t allow him to call you after his show, as he always does. Your daily post-concert call is Eddie’s favorite part of the day. He really loves when you tell him what happens back in Hawkins, he loves telling you about his shows and about the cities he gets to visit.

Yesterday night was lonely, and without your usual call, Eddie started missing you even more. That’s also what kept him awake that night.

Later today Corroded Coffin and Metallica are supposed to head to Paris for the show tomorrow. But Eddie isn’t even excited about the next show, he can’t stop thinking about you, about the ocean and time zones that keep the two of you apart. He is thinking about the almost 4500 miles (7240 km) keeping you apart. Eddie’s been pacing in his room, thinking about you, all alone in your shared apartment in Hawkins. He is already imagining you, wearing one of his homemade Corroded Coffin hoodie. A hoodie that, according to him, you wear better than him.

Of course Eddie’s dream was to go on tour, and it’s even more amazing and meaningful for him to go on tour with Metallica! But he can’t enjoy it, it has no meaning without you by his side. Fame has no meaning either.

Eddie tried to convince you to come with him, to discover Europe by his side, but you have to work… and even though Eddie said he could support financially the two of you, you declined. You’re the kind of person who love being financially independent. Since you’ve been with Eddie, you’ve been more than clear on the fact that you wanted to support yourself financially no matter how much he’d end up earning. Eddie always respected you for it, until this morning. And what’s even more frustrating is that he can’t take the phone and call you… it’s currently 2am in Hawkins and even though your shift probably ended 30 minutes ago, Eddie can’t disturb your sleep or keep you from sleeping after the shift you must have had.

Eddie just realized how much he hates being apart from you. He knew it would be hard for him but he didn’t think it would be that hard. He imagines you sleeping with his pillow, alone in your bed. Where he’s supposed to be in. Eddie just wants to come back home. To come back to you. He wants to hold you, smell your perfume. He wish he could have stayed, now more than ever. He wants a cozy night, watching a horror movie with you, in your shared apartment.

Thinking about horror movies, Eddie just realized that tomorrow is Halloween. Since you’ve met, you’ve never spent a Halloween apart as it’s your favorite holiday to the both of you. Eddie thinks about you, tomorrow night, in the apartment spending your favorite holiday on your own. He imagines you, in his sweater, watching your favorite horror movie all alone. Eddie can’t stand this idea.

Later today, Eddie’s got another plane to go to Paris. But he just took the decision that he weren’t gonna take it. He doesn’t care about the goddamn contracts that he signed. Eddie’s gonna come home, he’s gonna fly straight to you. He knows taking a plane ticket on the same day will cost him a lot of money. But Eddie doesn’t care, today, he’s coming home.

Eddie’s already thinking of how he will make up for lost time. Tonight Eddie’s not gonna fuck you, no. He’s gonna make love to you. He’s going to show you how much he missed you, he’s gonna show you how much he loves you. Nothing makes sense without you, and you’ll always come first. You’re always gonna come before anything including Eddie’s music and career and tonight that’s what he’s going to prove.

[ellezem]

1. Hope

2. prefer not to answer :) (minor)

3. August 15th

4. Leo

5. Yellow or purple idk

6. 12

7. 4 (2 cats 2 dogs used to have a frog)

8. The U.S. (too specific)

9. 5’1

10. 7-8

11. A lot lmao

12. I got an award for being a fat pig

13. I act and sing and draw

14. Idk I like to think I’m empathetic

15. Stand by me by Ben E. King or any David Bowie, Black Sabbath, or Metallica

16. But I’m a Cheerleader or Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe

17. I don’t really have one, I just fall in love?

18. Probably not

19. Nope and my extended family can suck it up

20. I’m not sure, i say I’m agnostic so I’m kinda open to everything

21. Yes but my brain blocks out traumatic memories

22. Not that I can remember

23. I went to the tommyinnit “how to be a millionaire tour” (I didn’t meet him but it’s the closest thing I’ve got)

24. Showers, I don’t like sitting in water

25. I’m not wearing socks but the socks I was wearing earlier didn’t match. One was white with a rainbow and one was fnaf

26. Locally and I’ve been in the news but I’ve never been famous

27. Yeah I just want to be remembered

28. Depends on my mood but literally everything (as long at they’re not problematic)

29. No

30. 4 but a LOT of stuffies and blankets and my cat

31. Side/sprawl/ball

32. 3 bath, 3 bed, living, kitchen, garage, basement.

33. Nothing or half a muffin

34. No

35. Nerf archery lmao

36. Vanilla

37. Slut or whore

38. 20 hrs

39. Skin picking/eczema scars, sh, scraped knees.

40. Yeah

41. No

42. No

43. Yeah

44. Not too strong but it’s kinda a mix of a bunch of things

45. English/British

46. Infp-a

47. My bubbline jacket or my rainbow platforms

48. Yeah

49. Weird question but innie

50. Right

51. Yes

52. Popcorn or cherries

53. Pizzelles

54. Depression room (messy)

55. That’s so real or I’m gonna kms

56. Ya’ll

57. 30-45 mins

58. Not really

59. Bite, I don’t like keeping things in my mouth

60. Yes, it’s creepy

61. Yes I’m a theatre kid

62. I would say I’m pretty okay

63. That I’ll be forgotten or unlovable

64. I don’t mean to be but I think I am

65. Literally any marvel movie <3

66. Idc but I have short

67. I know where each one goes but I can’t name them off the top of my head

68. Writing or reading (as long as I’m writing/reading about something I like)

69. I’m a loud introvert

70. No

71. Everything

72. I used to be but I’ve stopped caring for my saftey

73.I’m afraid to but I will sometimes

74. Yes, literally everywhere

75. No, I’m not like that

76. I guess

77. 👀

78. I’ve taking unprescribed and random pills but no, not unless I’m in pain and someone gave me something.

79. Real? Or straight agenda? Because straight agenda me liked this guy cody I think was his name but real was this girl Dolly

80. Regular Ears but I want more

81. Yes

82. Like 38 characters per minute

83. Mile in 14 mins (I hate running)

84. REALLY dark brown (I’ve dyed it a million times)

85. Same as hair

86. I have a low acidic tolerance meaning my mouth swells when I eat pineapple and kiwi (I do it anyways no one can stop me)

87. It’s helpful to but I usually forget so sometimes I’ll just write down something in my notes

88. My mom teaches permanent hair removal (electrolysis) and has been doing it since she was 16. My dad works for her.

89. No I’m the youngest in my grade and it sucks

90. The world, the U.S., bigots, abuse, attention seeking

91. Nope that’s why I go by my middle name (my first name is pretty it’s just not ME)

92. Yes but I don’t want kids. I like zeffir, Asher, David.

93. I wouldn’t care, I don’t want kids.

94. Volume, fake confidence, talking.

95. People, stage fright, crowds, vomit, bugs.

96. My mom like the name Elizabeth but didn’t like the nickname Lizzie so she went with the Italian alternative.

97. 🤷🤷🤷

98. Didn’t you ask this question?

99. Grey

100. I paint murals on my walls but underneath it’s white.

Get To Know Me Uncomfortably Well

PLEASE DON’T LET THIS FLOP AHHHH

1. What is you middle name? 2. How old are you? 3. When is your birthday? 4. What is your zodiac sign? 5. What is your favorite color? 6. What’s your lucky number? 7. Do you have any pets? 8. Where are you from? 9. How tall are you? 10. What shoe size are you? 11. How many pairs of shoes do you own? 12. What was your last dream about? 13. What talents do you have? 14. Are you psychic in any way? 15. Favorite song? 16. Favorite movie? 17. Who would be your ideal partner? 18. Do you want children? 19. Do you want a church wedding? 20. Are you religious? 21. Have you ever been to the hospital? 22. Have you ever got in trouble with the law? 23. Have you ever met any celebrities? 24. Baths or showers? 25. What color socks are you wearing? 26. Have you ever been famous? 27. Would you like to be a big celebrity? 28. What type of music do you like? 29. Have you ever been skinny dipping? 30. How many pillows do you sleep with? 31. What position do you usually sleep in? 32. How big is your house? 33. What do you typically have for breakfast? 34. Have you ever fired a gun? 35. Have you ever tried archery? 36. Favorite clean word? 37. Favorite swear word? 38. What’s the longest you’ve ever gone without sleep? 39. Do you have any scars? 40. Have you ever had a secret admirer? 41. Are you a good liar? 42. Are you a good judge of character? 43. Can you do any other accents other than your own? 44. Do you have a strong accent? 45. What is your favorite accent? 46. What is your personality type? 47. What is your most expensive piece of clothing? 48. Can you curl your tongue? 49. Are you an innie or an outie? 50. Left or right handed? 51. Are you scared of spiders? 52. Favorite food? 53. Favorite foreign food? 54. Are you a clean or messy person? 55. Most used phrased? 56. Most used word? 57. How long does it take for you to get ready? 58. Do you have much of an ego? 59. Do you suck or bite lollipops? 60. Do you talk to yourself? 61. Do you sing to yourself? 62. Are you a good singer? 63. Biggest Fear? 64. Are you a gossip? 65. Best dramatic movie you’ve seen? 66. Do you like long or short hair? 67. Can you name all 50 states of America? 68. Favorite school subject? 69. Extrovert or Introvert? 70. Have you ever been scuba diving? 71. What makes you nervous? 72. Are you scared of the dark? 73. Do you correct people when they make mistakes? 74. Are you ticklish? 75. Have you ever started a rumor? 76. Have you ever been in a position of authority? 77. Have you ever drank underage? 78. Have you ever done drugs? 79. Who was your first real crush? 80. How many piercings do you have? 81. Can you roll your Rs?“ 82. How fast can you type? 83. How fast can you run? 84. What color is your hair? 85. What color is your eyes? 86. What are you allergic to? 87. Do you keep a journal? 88. What do your parents do? 89. Do you like your age? 90. What makes you angry? 91. Do you like your own name? 92. Have you already thought of baby names, and if so what are they? 93. Do you want a boy a girl for a child? 94. What are you strengths? 95. What are your weaknesses? 96. How did you get your name? 97. Were your ancestors royalty? 98. Do you have any scars? 99. Color of your bedspread? 100. Color of your room?

[vestastories]

Meeting Lars from Metallica

July 10th 2019. Copenhagen, Denmark.

One day before Metallica's concert in the heart of the city.

It was a warm day of summer. Sunny. Clean sky. The bluest of all.

I was chilling out at home on my day off from work. I woke up quite late since I had been working the night before. I was checking Messenger when out of the blue some of my colleagues started sending me messages saying "The Metallica guy is here!"

I jumped out of the bed and my chest felt a sort of pressure from the excitement.

I didn't know how to proceed. My only thought was "I have to be there before he leaves". I got ready. Took my bike. Went straight to the train station near my place. Got in the first train I saw and I was at the Cafe in 20 minutes when it usually took me much longer.

Previously that week I had been imagining, daydreaming what it would be like to have the chance to encounter Metallica's members. I had never bought meet and greet tickets for a gig due to their insanely expensive prices. I pictured in my mind the whole sequence. All the time. Metallica coming to eat to where I was working as a kitchen assistant. Everyone being emotional. Delusional with their presence. 

Once I arrived I left the bike parked outside. Locked it. The Cafe was empty. Lars and his wife were having lunch inside. No one else.

I entered the place. I was trembling. I pretended to act normal but I was nervous as hell. Lars was sitting there. Eating.

I have always had the belief that it is discourteous to interrupt people while they are trying to enjoy a moment on their own. Especially the most famous ones.

They are always surrounded by those claiming a photograph, a signature and so on. I perceive it must be exhausting to live constantly in that situation. Not being able to have a small normal moment for yourself.

Anyway. I approached them in the kindest of manners. I talked to him just a bit. I told him I felt I was bothering so I was going to leave but he kept chatting for a while and said it was okay. That my behaviour did not irk. I guess he is used to strangers talking to him. 

At the end he signed the ticket order and now that is my treasure. 

Who would have thought I was going to meet the member of one of my favorites metal bands at my workplace?

Buy a coffee: Vesta Stories.-

[amatchinwater]

Red String / Eddie Munson x fem!Reader (soulmate AU)

Summary: At nineteen, everyone's red string that ties them to their soulmate appears on their pinkies. You find out in the middle of a Hellfire campaign that it's attached to Eddie, your childhood best friend. Nervous that he might not want you, you lie about it. Being able to see your soulmates string, Eddie confronts you later at your place.

Warnings: 18+(seriously, I will block you), explicit sexual content (fingering, oral m and f receiving, deep throating, p in v sex), unprotected sex (reader on pill, but seriously, wrap it before you tap it people), light angst with a happy ending, slight dom!Eddie, choking, what could be seen as subspace, aftercare

Words: 4033

a/n: I've been having so much fun with these ideas. Working on a part 2 for Collecting Strays! And have a song fic coming too. Send a request if you'd like to my loves 💚 (Master list)

Not my gif, credit to creator!!

You knew.

Right down to the fucking minute you turned nineteen years old, you knew. Eddie Munson was your soul mate. You watched that night during the group’s latest Hellfire campaign. They were willing to postpone it because it was your birthday, but there wasn’t anything better you could think to do spend your night doing. To be perfectly honest, the only reason you were paying so close attention was because everyone kept pestering you about it showing up. 

Dustin was all too excited about it. Saying that he’d remembered the day Steve saw his string show up. That he wanted nothing more than another one of his best friends to be one step closer to happiness. It’s almost like he’d expected you to drop everything and run blindly until you find the source of it or something. 

What you weren’t prepared for was it to show up and be quite possibly the shortest string in existence. Because from where you sat beside Eddie, your pinkies were not even two inches apart from one another. You noticed it before anyone else, seeing as they were thankfully preoccupied from a dragon guarding its keep. Your eyes widened when Eddie just so happened to move his hand to his face and you could see the string grow. 

Eddie’s twenty. He’s had to have known of his string’s existence prior to now. Which leads you to believe that he knows that it’s attached to you. And has said nothing about it. Not even a peep. That doesn’t really sit right with you. Because that translates to Eddie doesn’t want you. To be frank, why would he? 

You two practically grew up together. Your trailers are all of three lots away from one another. There’s literally pictures of you two in the bathtub together when you were still in diapers. There isn’t a single person in the room, probably not even yourself, that knows you better than he does. And you’re far from the cheerleader type that Eddie seems to be attracted to. Like Chrissy Cunningham, his latest conquest. Whereas she’s all ponytails and cheer uniforms, if you wear a skirt, much like tonight, it’s with torn fishnets and combat boots. 

So when Dustin noticed the way your eyes widened at your pinky finger, he lit up with excitement. And you lied through your teeth, saying that it headed towards the door before fading. Trying to make it seem like it couldn’t be anyone in the room at the very least. But Dustin only shook it off, saying that the same thing happened to Steve. You could feel Eddie’s eyes burning into the side of your face the whole time. 

It put you on edge for the remainder of the night. 

He only seemed more ruthless in his duty as Dungeon Master. 

Only Erica made it out alive.

You didn’t know what to think about any of it. So when it was time to leave, you all but bolted out the door and drove straight home. Barely even saying goodbye to the troup calling after you in your haste.

Sitting in silence wasn’t ever something you were really capable of doing. So you shoved your favorite Metallica tape in your cassette player and hoped to every god that it would drown your thoughts out. You’ve rewound the tape to listen to For Whom the Bell Tolls about four times already before you decide to grab a drink from the kitchen. Yanking open the fridge, the fluorescent light illuminates the string around your pinky as you grab a can of mountain dew. 

Glaring at the thread angrily, you slam the fridge closed. Popping the tab on the can, you bring the drink to your lips only to be startled by your front door being shoved open. You only barely manage to not spill it on yourself as Eddie storms into your house, not even looking at you as he stalks down the hallway. 

“What the fuck, Eds? Are you trying to give me a heart attack?” You call after him, trying to yell over the music. Which he promptly turns off. “What the fuck?” You repeat, putting your drink on the counter to follow him. It’s not like he’s unwelcome in your place, but what the fuck kind of entrance was that? “What’s your deal?”

“Why’d you lie?” Eddie asks where you find him pacing around your room, biting his nail, leather jacket and vest discarded on your bean bag chair. 

You bite away the knee jerk ‘hello to you too,’ as confusion pulls your eyebrows together. You don’t recall lying to him about anything. At least not directly. “What?” 

“Henderson,” Eddie pulls his thumb out of his mouth, stopping in his tracks to look at you wildly. “Why did you lie to Henderson?” Shock stills your features and all you can do is stare at him like a deer in the headlights. “Your string,” he doesn’t point to your finger, rather wiggles his own, “you know exactly where it goes. Did you think I couldn’t see it after it appeared on your hand? Did you think I wouldn’t care? Do you not want me?” 

His words sound accusatory and you can’t for the life of you imagine why. Being with Eddie would be the best thing you could possibly ask for. You’ve been in love with the guy ever since fourth grade and he punched Jason in the face for pulling your braid. But not once in the entire time you’ve known Eddie has he ever once looked at you that way. If there weren’t pom poms involved, he wasn’t either. 

“What does it matter if you don’t want me?” 

“What?” He snaps, but his surprise is crystal clear in his bulged eyes. “I don’t want you? You? What kind of bullshit is that? Are you fucking kidding me?” 

Rolling your eyes, casting them to your ceiling, you let out a huff, “no, Eds, I’m not kidding.” When you look back at him, you see his gaze is fixated on your connecting thread, moving his own back and forth as it elongates and shortens with his movements. “Pretty sure the last we all heard, you and Chrissy were fucking in the woods like rabbits, so…” you trail off, not even sure where your train of thought was going to begin with. 

Quit while you’re ahead, right?

Simply knowing that this isn’t a conversation you want to be having right now, you clamp your mouth closed. You don’t want to listen to Eddie tell you that because your string showed up that he’s going to stop whatever he has going with the head cheerleader to be with you. Or even worse, that he doesn’t care that it’s there and is going to continue to be with Chrissy regardless. Either option hurts and cracks your heart inside your chest. You won’t be someone’s second choice. You won’t. 

“I’m fucking- Chrissy and I- what the actual fuck are you talking about?” Eddie’s face contorts further with confusion, the slightest trickle of anger seeping through the cracks. “I’m not fucking Chrissy. Nor do I plan to.” He scoffs, “I’m here because you saw your thread and didn’t bother saying that it was attached to me. You’re the one who doesn’t want this.” 

“I never said-” your words are silenced by Eddie suddenly being an inch away from your face, ring clad hand pinning you to the wall by your throat. Not constricting your air, but enough of a squeeze to indicate that whatever you were planning on saying, Eddie doesn’t want to hear it. “Eds,” his name comes out a mere whimper, your body falling pliant to him, core aching with a need that’s only gotten worse in the years you’ve known him. Your fingers white knuckle the denim of his vest, silently begging for him to not back away.

Eddie halfheartedly sneers at you, “I don’t want to hear another lie, princess.” The nickname he’s always had for you sends a shiver down your spine. His free hand brushes a few strands from your forehead. “I want the truth, do you understand?” He points at you, fingers gently squeezing your throat in warning. “Is the thought of being with me really that abhorrent to you?” 

“No!”

He squeezes again, “why lie then?” 

“Because I thought you wanted Chrissy. I- I thought that there’s no way you’d want the girl you grew up with. The one who you watched get braces and taught how to drive. Every girl you’ve ever drooled after has been different versions of Little Miss Perfect. That’s not me, Eds,” tears well in your eyes, one spilling down your cheek that he stares at. “It’s not like you ever said anything about yours either.” 

Eddie scoffs lightly through his nose, wiping the cascading tear before it can reach your chin. “That’s because mine was black when it appeared,” he explains and your eyes widen. “I thought my soulmate was dead. Turns out it was just because yours hadn’t shown up yet. Can’t have a proper tether if the other half doesn’t exist yet. I saw yours wrap around your pinky and bleed color into mine, I almost choked. You can’t see anyone’s string but yours and your soulmate’s.” Eddie looks down, shaking his head, “but then you told Henderson it went out the door and I thought it could only mean that you didn’t want it to be me.” 

“Far from it, Eddie,” you whisper, one of your hands trailing up to the one still holding your throat. You grab his wrist, fingers twitching around his skin, “it was just my own way of trying to not deal with rejection. I can take anyone turning me down- not that I want anyone else,” you break off on a sigh. “I couldn’t handle the look in your eyes if you told me you wanted someone like Chrissy over me. I couldn’t. So I lied to save myself,” more tears fall from your eyes, blurring your vision as more well up. “Eddie, I’m in love with you.” 

The corner of his mouth begins to curl in a smile but he schools himself. “Prove it,” Eddie says, dropping his hand and taking a few steps back. You look at him perplexed, his emotions almost giving you whiplash, but you consider how his own emotions and your lie must have made him feel. “You can say all kinds of things, but those are just words.” Eddie crosses his arms to his chest, “so prove it.” 

Shaky legs carry you across your room to him as he squares his shoulders. Slow, tentative hands reach out, one uncrossing his arms, the other brushing along his cheekbone to cup his jaw. You take a nervous breath, wrapping an arm around his back, stepping closer. 

“You could just admit you don’t want this, princess,” Eddie says. But his voice is thick and you can see the hope glistening in those brown eyes that he doesn’t want you to stop. 

“Fuck off,” you whisper, inching closer, “I’m just nervous.” 

The stoic mask on his face cracks only just, “would you like me to help you?” Eddie’s fingers grip the waistband of your skirt tightly. 

You want to have the courage to just dive in and kiss him, but you don’t. There’s still some small part of you that’s scared that this is a trick. Some way to get back at you for lying to him. For denying him. For making Eddie think that there’s some world where you don’t want him. As if a world like that exists. You almost think you’d deserve it too. Staring into his eyes, parting your lips as you pant your breath, you nod, “please.” 

Eddie yanks your chest flush, making you gasp. The sound swallowed by his mouth colliding with yours. It’s dizzying and makes your heart palpitate beautifully in your chest. The red string on your pinky tingling warmly when his tongue slips into your mouth, deepening the kiss as your back meets the wall again. His hand finds home around your throat again, cold rings flaring goosebumps on your skin. 

Hiking your skirt up with his free hand, his fingers ghost the band on your panties and your legs spread on their own. You whine into his mouth, pussy throbbing in anticipation, arousal soaking through the material. He chuckles at your needy noises, “not yet. On your knees, princess.” You drop to the floor without a second thought, looking up with wide eyes. Eddie cups your chin, a grin curling the corner of his mouth, “you mean it, don’t you? You’re so sorry that you’d let me do anything, wouldn’t you?” 

“Apology or not,” you swallow thickly, “I would.” 

For the first time of the night, Eddie genuinely smiles at you, stroking your cheek. “Good girl,” his thumb drags along your bottom lip, pulling it down until you open your mouth. “Just a little more and I’ll give you what you want, okay?” His voice is deep, husky, yet so sweet in its sincerity. Like there’s a small part of Eddie that does want to punish you for your transgressions but the other part, perhaps the bigger one, that would never hurt you wants you to know that you’re everything to him. No matter what. 

An assurance in his kind eyes despite the hardened features. You cling to that. Your heart clings to that. To Eddie. Your soulmate. The one you’ve loved longer than you’ve known what love is. So you nod, keeping your eyes locked on him while he unbuckles his belt and tosses in on the floor. Without thinking, you reach out for the button of his jeans, but you freeze, arms falling back to your thighs and you drop your gaze. 

“That eager you want to do it yourself?” Eddie asks, mildly teasing, but you’re too turned on to care. 

Batting your eyelashes, you look up at him again, “can I?” 

Eddie holds his arms out, “I’m all yours, princess. Take what you want.” 

With his affirmation, you hastily unbutton his jeans, yanking the denim down to his ankles, fighting off a growl at the shoes still on his feet. Eddie chuckles cheekily at you, petting your hair as he toes out of them, kicking his pants to the side as well. Face to face with the bulge in his boxers you salivate, fingers curling in the waistband you look up again to find dilated brown eyes hungrily watching you. 

Steeling your nerves, you pull them down, eyes widening at the detailed upside down bat on his thigh. One of the few tattoos of his you’d never seen before. Dreaming of Eddie naked and seeing Eddie naked are two totally different things. His cock is beautiful. Hard and at attention, the vein and dribbles of precum having you ready to drool. Gripping at the base, you flatten your tongue out and lick up his shaft, moaning as the salty, sweet substance coats your taste buds. 

“Fuck,” Eddie hisses, running his fingers through your hair. Swirling your tongue around the angry cockhead, you take him into your mouth slowly. Savoring the taste of him, gently bobbing your head to get him slick. “Just like that, princess,” his grip tightens once you suck with fervor, taking him as deep as you can go. 

With a newfound sense of courage and his moans egging you on, you relax yourself and take him to the back of your throat. Careful of your breathing so you don’t gag. 

“Fuck!” Eddie holds you harder, keeping you in place. Your brain goes nice and fuzzy, the rest of your air escaping your nose. Unable to hold your breath any longer, you pat his thigh and he pulls you off. While you gasp for air, he crouches to meet you, “shit, I’m sorry, are you okay?” 

Your eyes are unfocused when they find his face. Drool dripping from your bottom lip, you grin, “I wasn’t done yet.” Eddie pulls back, shocked and you push him to sit on your floor, bending down to take his dick back in your mouth. Moaning, sucking with a goddamn purpose, loving the way his thighs twitch every time he hits the back of your throat again. 

“Jesus Christ,” he whispers, reaching behind you to pull your skirt up to your waist, grabbing your ass. “Fuck, you’re perfect,” Eddie groans, hips bucking on their own and you moan again. “Ah, okay, fuck, princess,” he growls as you go faster, lost in the feeling of him in your mouth. “Keep going like that and I’m gonna be done embarrassingly quickly.”

“Sorry,” you rasp out, wiping the residual drool from your lips. 

“Don’t apologize,” he cups your jaw, “I’m just not done with you yet.” Eddie crashes his mouth to yours, taking nearly the last of your brain cells away with his tongue asserting dominance over yours. 

Without further ado, Eddie rushes up, pulling you along with him. Before you can even stumble to find your footing, he’s lifting you by your waist and depositing you on your bed. You watch with glassy, hooded eyes as he does the stupidly sexy back pull to get his shirt off. You nearly choke, it’s been years since you’ve seen Eddie without a shirt on. He’s stunning and your thoughts go right out the window. Leaving only lust and hunger in their wake. 

You’re not even allowed a moment to feel weird about still being fully clothed either. Your skirt being dragged off your legs, ring clad fingers running up your thighs, squeezing as they go. Kneading the flesh, flaring goosebumps and little gasped moans from your lips. In your own haste to get naked, you manage to yank your shirt off. Having already been home for a bit, your bra and fishnets have long since been discarded. 

Left in only your panties, Eddie’s eyes rake over you hungrily, “so beautiful,” he whispers. Trailing kisses and love bites up your legs, stopping when he reaches your underwear. His warm breath ghosting over the wet fabric, you slump to your back, opening your legs in offering for whatever he may be willing to do to you. One finger crooks, pulling the material aside to reveal your glistening pussy, gently toying your folds as you sigh. The finger dips inside, your walls clenching around the intrusion, begging for more. 

Eddie chuckles at you, “so needy, princess,” he coos, adding another finger. Hooking them, he hits that spongy part inside of you and you keen, eyes rolling back. Dropping his head, his hair tickles your thighs. But the giggle dies in your throat, breaking off into a loud moan, his tongue swirling around your clit. Eddie thrusts his fingers faster, every breath of yours coming out a moan or a whine for more. “You taste fucking amazing,” he groans, lapping at you until your thighs shake and your stomach tightens. 

Your orgams smacks you right in the face, your head throwing back into your pillow as you cry out for him. “E-Eddie,” you whine, trying to pull his face back, too sensitive from having just come while his tongue and fingers effortlessly work you towards another. The second is no less intense than the first and you breathe out a silent scream, fingers fisting in the sheets and his curls. 

Eddie groans against you, vibrating you straight to your core. Placing a gentle, teasing kiss to your throbbing, swollen clit, he pulls his fingers out. No chance to beg for more because he’s in your face, shoving his tongue down your throat and swallowing every needy moan you let loose. His cock rubs against your pussy, slicking you up with your own release before sinking into you fully. “Oh, princess,” he moans against your mouth, pulling back to just the tip and slamming back in, “you feel perfect.” 

A guttural moan breaks past your lips as he keeps the same pace, your nails digging into his shoulders. You try to spread your legs more for him, but with his cock inside you, the lace of your panties restricts you. Whining, you paw at them to try and get some movement to no avail. 

Something Eddie notices and he leans back, effortlessly tearing the fabric off and tossing it to the ground. You let out an indignant squeak. Those were your favorite pair. “I’ll buy you new ones, princess,” he grins at you, gripping your hips and thrusting faster. You watch in awe as Eddie lifts your hand to his mouth, kissing the pinky with your thread, making it glow. 

Your eyes roll back, his cock hitting that sweet spot with a force that slams your headboard against the wall and your legs spasm. Your orgasm ripples through before you’d even processed that it had started to swell inside you. 

“Good fucking girl,” he growls, working you through the waves before pulling out of you and flipping you over. The moment your knees settle into the mattress, Eddie’s back inside you. Gripping your hips enough to leave bruises, he pounds into you. Thrusting into you with abandon and all you can do is scream through your moans and hold on for the ride. “I’m gonna come inside you, princess,” Eddie sounds breathless, voice strained at the thought alone. 

Turning your head enough to see him over your shoulder, “please, please, Eddie,” you beg. Wanting nothing more than to feel him spill inside of you. You didn’t press about him wearing a condom and you’re on the pill, so it’s not like it matters. You want it so bad that it hurts, so you push back, meeting every powerful slam of his hips. The thought of it alone is enough to make you come again, Eddie’s cock inside you practically demands it.

“That’s my girl,” he coos, bringing his hands up to your shoulders to drive himself as deep as possible. “God, I fucking love you,” Eddie groans, hips stuttering as he comes, but he doesn’t stop. Rather lets the heat of his seed and his continued jabs at your bundle of nerves fly you over the edge of another orgasm. 

You tremble through it, your cries being silenced by your sheets while you claw at them. Eddie gently pulls out of you, laying down and pulling you half on top of him, his erratic breaths beginning to calm. You feel dazed out of your mind in the best way possible, the thought of opening your eyes sounds stupid. So you keep them closed, not caring that your light is still on or that you can feel his come leaking out of you onto your bed. You’re too busy trying to remember what it’s like to breathe properly again.

“You still with me?” He asks and you nod, humming softly at the hand lovingly stroking your back. A shiver wracks your frame. “Are you okay?” Eddie asks while you pant against his chest and he strokes your hair soothingly. “Was it too much?” 

You shake your head no, hoping it’s like that all the time. It was perfect, but words are not something your brain can properly handle forming right now. “Loved it. ‘S just cold,” you mutter, trying to cling to every inch of his warm skin touching you. 

He kisses your temple, “here, princess,” Eddie reaches off the edge of the bed, grabbing a shirt and helping you into it. Looking down, you see it’s his own Hellfire shirt he’s given you to warm up with before his arms lock around you again and pull you to his chest. Eddie wiggles you both for a moment until your blanket covers you both. “Better?” He asks, his heartbeat echoing in your ears like the softest bass drum. 

“Much,” you sigh contentedly, nuzzling into him. 

“Do you need anything?” Eddie murmurs into your hair, tracing shapeless designs on your arm. “Water? Something to eat?” You shake your head no. “Tell me if that changes,” he sighs peacefully, holding you close.

“This isn’t a dream, right?” You mumble, half awake. “You’re here? You’re actually mine?” 

Eddie squeezes you tighter, kissing your head again, “not a dream. I’m yours, princess.” 

[bratshaws]

goodness gracious 3. brb x oc

a/n: god i love this chapter already. Btw, this might be... a long fic? Maybe? WHO knows i have so much planned for it. s o many ideas....... so little time. btw, Bea has a fc and body claim : its Tara Lynn

pairing: plus size!oc x rooster

chapters:

1/2/

taglist: @mirandastuckinthe80s @roosterschanelslut @wiipes @lcahwriter

She woke up at five in the morning, her eyes snapping open with so much force she felt a headache the moment her vision cleared. She stood up, had breakfast then sat on the couch for fifteen minutes staring at nothing while Jolene licked what was left of her yogurt inside the bowl since her owner didn’t seem to notice.

 Beatrice then thought she should do her morning yoga, since it always helped. So she did, but she stuck in downward dog with her eyes glazed over, looking at nothing as she remembered yet again he was coming over. 

Then she decided to clean her already clean house. Trying to fight Jolene once she tried to end her mortal enemy: the vacuum. Then she decided to wash her dishes only to remember she already did. Looking at her phone she just groaned when it just turned into six a.m.

 So then she decided to check her fridge, what if they got hungry? What sort of diet were they following? Should she get something gluten free? What if one of them was vegan? She didn’t have anything vegan, oh my god why doesn’t she have anything vegan???? 

So she went to the only grocery store open at this time, trying to get a bit of everything she thought they’d appreciate? Lemons too, she’d make lemonade. She tried to appear casual and not like she ran out of her house wearing her yoga pants with a large hoodie and hair up in a messy bun looking like a crackhead  trying to find her next hit. 

Done with grocery shopping she got back home and checked everything, even fluffing her pillows even more, putting the striped one on the left of the couch and the mustard one to the right…only to replace positions three more times before giving up. She returned to the couch,sitting down with her back straight, letting Jolene climb on her lap and stay there while her owner tried to calm the hell down.

She sent a message to Shells, at seven in the morning on a Sunday asking her when she’d be over with more than five question marks. Bea tried her best to relax, following the breathing techniques her therapist taught her to control her anxiety, slipping her eyes shut.

Smell the flowers, blow the candle.

She repeated the motion for a few more seconds, until she felt her heartbeat go back to normal. Then her body relaxed and she enjoyed the sounds of the ocean, the wind and cars passing by her house. Good, this was good.

Once she calmed enough, she decided to take a shower, but then came another dilemma: what could she wear? Nothing too fancy but nothing too casual either. Shorts? Out of the question. She might just wear ripped jeans and one of her t-shirts. Right, okay, that was good, yes.

She ran up the staircase, Jolene following her close by, while she opened one of the boxes her clothes were being kept. Tugging her dark ripped jeans out alongside fresh underwear, digging deeper while checking which shirt she could use, furrowing her eyebrows before pulling out a Metallica Master of Puppets shirt, placing the clothes on the cook of her elbow rushing to her bathroom where she stood probably too long trying to make sure she looked presentable.

It was too warm to keep her hair down so, hair bun it was. She wondered about putting on make up - the most she wore at the bar was eyeliner,light foundation and lip gloss - then chose against it when she felt how stuffy it was getting already, choosing to just use some moisturizer and hydrating lip gloss instead.

So, she was decent. Tugging her Metallica shirt for a bit too long, frowning when it seemed tighter than it once was, but shook it off. No time for that now! She just smiled at her reflection the best she should, walking out of her bathroom with Jolene in tow. 

Checking on her phone she saw Shells sent her a message, with even more question marks, saying she’d be over around ten o’clock and to please not send her messages so early in the morning. It didn’t take long for her phone to ring, a number she didn’t know calling…but there was only one person who it could be.

“Oh Jesus…” she clenched her eyes, “Please don’t let me mess this up.” her hand shook with nerves before she accepted the call, lifting it to her ear, “Hello?”

“Beatrice?”

She covered her face with a hand, cheeks flaming at the sound of his voice “Hmhm, i-it’s me.”

“Hey, good morning. Did I wake you up? I know it’s early.”

“G-Good morning and no, no I was awake already.” she replied, sinking lower on the couch, feeling like a teenager. “So um…what time is good for you guys?”

“Well I– hey man cut it out!” She heard a chorus of ‘ooohs’ and mixed voices coming from behind him, “Sorry, you are on speaker, let me just–okay, there, finally. So, is ten thirty good for you?”

“Oh, yes, sounds good!” she licked her lips, then furrowed her eyebrows “Listen, if…I mean if you guys think it’ll take too long you guys can just leave it! I don’t want to bother your day off or anything–”

“No, no, you won’t, really. We don’t mind.” there was something in his voice, something soft, but then she heard the not so subtle sound of a slap being followed by an ‘ow! the fuck Rooster???’ “So…see you in a few then.”

“Yeah.” god her voice came out breathy , take a hold of yourself woman, “I-I’ll see you then.”

“Okay… Bye.”

“Bye.” she hung up the call and tossed the phone to the couch, covering her face with her hands only to squeal against her palms. God he sounded so hot, GOD he was so hot! What was a girl to do with that?? The reverie disappeared only for the anxiety to take over…this was really happening.

Beatrice wrung her hands nervously while still partially on the couch, then stood up to  pace around the living room with Jolene following her movements with her eyes, her sock monkey toy lodged between her maws as she lay on the floor, “Okay, okay I can do this. It 's fine! It’s totally fine, it’s nothing serious!It’s just something to help with. Nothing more! They’ll come over, take the armoire upstairs and go! Right?” she turned to face her dog, who just chewed on the toy lazily “Right! Yes. It’s fine!” 

She had to prepare. God she had to prepare!!

By the time Shells came over, using her own spare key for Bea’s house, she greeted Jolene who was already whining. Closing the door to crouch near the dog, scratching her behind the ears, Shells blinked behind her sunglasses when she smelled something, “Bea?”

“In the kitchen!”

“In the kitchen–why are you in the kitchen?” Shells tossed her bag on the couch much like the day before, running a hand through her shoulder length blonde hair to pull it up on a ponytail, her sneakers squeaking on the wooden floor until she reached the kitchen. “Woah.” Bea stood by the counter, finger foods trays, some salad, lemonade - was that ice cream?? “Is there a birthday party coming up?”

Beatrice wrung her hands, looking from the food to her friend, “Is it too much?”

“I mean, pfft, no but…I wasn’t expecting you to cook them stuff.”

“I just– I just thought if they didn’t have lunch, they could snack on something!” Shells approached the tray with tiny sandwiches, swiping her finger on some of the beige colored paste that spilt on it to lick it up, humming to herself, “It’s hummus.”

“It tastes fucking great.” she said, picking up one of the sandwiches to snatch a bite, lifting the bread to check the insides, “Chicken, hummus, julienne carrots, some tomatoes…”

“There’s also the vegan version but it’s in the fridge, I didn’t know if any of them are vegan– and the bread is gluten free.” Shells stopped her chewing to tilt her head with a small smile to Beatrice. “What?”

“Bea, you are absolutely adorable.” her friend’s cheeks turned red, “If this doesn’t snag Rooster, I’ll gladly take over his place.” she took another bite, humming in delight, “Cause this is fucking good, you are a great cook.”

Beatrice chuckled, crossing her arms, “Oh really, you’d date me for my food?”

“Babes, just let me paint on a mustache and wear Hawaiian shirts, you won’t see a difference.” that made the brunette laugh, turning to place the food inside the fridge for safety, “What time are they coming?” 

Beatrice sucked in a breath, pulling her phone out of her pocket to check once she closed the fridge’s door, “Ten thirty…so…in ten minutes.” all the calming exercises she had done earlier went down the drain, she leaned her lower back on the kitchen counter, clenching the black marble countertop with her phone clenched in her other hand, “I’m nervous.” 

“Hm,” Shells lifted her index finger, her cheek bulging out as she chewed, “Don’t be, it’ll be fine.”

“What if I mess something up? What if I say something weird?” but her friend made a non-committal noise, too busy shoving the rest of the fresh sandwich inside her mouth, clapping her hands to get rid of the crumbs. Once she swallowed the mass that the sandwich became, she wiped her mouth with a napkin.

“You won’t, now,” she held her friend’s shoulder, “Relax,” she shook them up a little bit for emphasis, “Relaaaax, and breathe. Everything will be fine.”

“Yeah…yeah, okay.”

“Now, step aside, I'm gonna get another sandwich.”

With the two women in the kitchen Jolene was the one responsible to announce sudden visitors. She chewed her little monkey severely, until she heard the sound of a car parking right in front of her house. Her ears perked up, being followed by her head, the monkey still in her mouth as she slowly rose to her paws. She nudged her pink nose through the curtains, pulling herself upwards to stand up on the window sill.

“Oh my god! Look at the dog! Hi!!” a voice said, she didn’t know who said it, but she was already wagging her tail, whining happily at the attention. The sound was enough for Beatrice to walk out of the kitchen, seeing the silhouettes on the outside, quickly marching over to where Jolene was, mentally preparing herself before opening the door.

Shells came right behind her picking Jolene up with a quiet ‘oof!’, holding her away enough for the door to be unlocked. Beatrice stood with her hand clenched on the door handle, squeezing her eyes shut ‘you can do it,Beatrice. Open the door.’  she repeated in her mind. Then she opened the door, face to chest because God sure is humorous with her isn't He, with Rooster. She blinked, gulping quietly, then turned her head upwards to meet his sunglasses, “Hey.”

“Hey.” he replied, removing his shades to slip them inside his tank top. She stepped aside once the shock passed, allowing him and the rest of his team to wander inside. Jesus, her house was way too small for so much muscle power, “Shells, you are here too?”

“I’m just here for mental support.” she chuckles, having a hard time keeping Jolene still, “Okay, okay, fine, you go.”

The pitbull straggled to her feet, her hind legs slipping with excitement as she greeted every single one of the officers by sniffing their shoes, butt and tail wagging excitedly to the new friends that just got in, running to pick up her little monkey toy to show them, “Oh my god, you are so cute!”

Shells and Bea could only watch the usually tough officers suddenly melt into goopy puddles of joy, their voices high as they pet the dog. Jolene however ran to each one, ending up showing her toy to them all, finalizing with Rooster.Standing on her hind legs so he too would show her attention. Which he did, crouching to the floor and cupping the giant puppy’s head, flopping her ears playfully while complimenting her toy as if it was the most important thing in this room.

Bea’s chest clenched, her cheeks flushed “oh no.” she thought, “oh no, he likes dogs too?? I’m doomed.” Shells not so subtle jab to the ribs snapped Bea out of her thoughts, giving the brunette a knowing smirk, then nodding in the direction of the backyard, “Right! Okay, Jolene, down!” The dog ran away from Rooster’s arms to settle herself onto the couch, chewing her monkey toy happily. 

Bea cleared her throat, “Well, hi guys.” mixed voices replied back, “Um…follow me. It’s right here.” she turned on her heel to the sliding glass door, opening them up all the way so Rooster and the others could see it.

The sandy haire pilot whistled low, placing his hands on his hips, “Yeah there was no way you girls could do it alone.”

“It’s really big,” Payback added, standing beside the other officer before running his fingers on the surface. Below the armoire was a bunch of newspapers and ripped magazine pages, dripped with dark mahogany varnish, “You painted this?”

“Yeah, two coats of varnish. Sanded it too.” she added, tucking the hair that slipped the bun behind her ear “I got it from an online store selling vintage furniture.”

Rooster walked around the armoire, the top of his hair peeking from behind it. The armoire tipped backwards just enough to be put back on the same spot, “Whew, yeah, this will need three of us at least.” he walked back to the front, looking back at the two other guys who stepped out in her tiny backyard, tilting his head when he noticed Bea practically squeezing herself behind Jake, “Hangman.” 

“What?” Rooster nodded his head to Bea, who blinked in surprise, “Oh, sorry sweetheart, didn’t see you there.” Hangman however winks, giving her a brilliant smile “I know you want the best view, I don’t mind showing it to you.”

“Um…I…”

“He’s all bark and no bite, Bea. Don’t worry about it,” Rooster’s voice came quickly, being followed by a grunt, “Okay, me, Fanboy ,Hangman and Payback will carry it up the stairs. I think we all fit there.”

Bea nods, stepping back inside to see Shells already holding Jolene still again. She couldn’t hear what he was telling them once she got inside the living room, but it sounded…dangerously attractive. Phoenix and Bob were on either sides of the door, waiting until four distinct grunts were heard from the outside, the sunlight being blocked by her armoire. 

She stepped back, giving them enough space to pass. They looked…way more relaxed than she expected, while they were being careful, it didn’t seem the armoire weighed so much for them. Once they reached the stairs, she couldn’t help herself “Please be careful!”

“aw sweetheart, I’ll make sure you kiss my bruises later, what do you say?” Hangman was on the fifth step alongside Payback, while Rooster and Fanboy held the opposite side. She blushed deep red and he laughed even more, his chuckling being cut short when Rooster pushed the armoire up a bit more “I’m going! I’m going!”

She watched the four of them climb up, trying very hard to not look at how nice Rooster’s ass looked when he went up the stairs. She slowly went up once they disappeared on the top of the loft area. The space for the armoire was quite obvious since she only had her bed in the center of the area, some boxes on the corner and her bathroom right on her bed’s left side. 

They talked amongst each other, Rooster questioning the direction where they should put it and she pointed to the space they were currently standing at, so they quickly set the armoire down. Her lips parted in wonder, watching her oak 1965 armoire stand in it’s full glory where she planned it to, a soft gasp leaving her lips.

Rooster leaned his elbow on the armoire, “What I said? Best moving business you’d ever get.” cue to Hangman flexing his arms for emphasis, smiling at her yet again. She dipped her head with a small smile, nearing the armoire to press her hand to it, “Is there anything else you want us to do?”

She blinked,”Huh?Oh! No no! You guys don’t have to! Really,” but Payback looked behind himself to see the shelves neatly stacked to the wall with the baggie of screws and toolbox next to it, “Oh, no, no that’s okay, I’ll do that later–”

“We are here already.” Rooster smiled, giving her a shrug, “We can help.”

She hoped her heart eyes weren’t obvious, but she nodded her head, whispering a gentle ‘okay’ with a smile. 

–

What would’ve taken her weeks, they did in a matter of hours. Her sleek brown shelves stood beautifully on the corner of her room and in the living room, Bob made sure they’d stay straight there alongside Payback. Phoenix joined the boys later, when Hangman denied needing help building her computer desk. Meanwhile, Rooster carried her box of books down the stairs - her two fully stacked boxes mind you - once she told him what it was. They opened the boxes and Rooster arched his eyebrows at the book that hit him first “ You like Dune?”

She blinked, looking inside to see the premium collection she got months before the movie launched, “Yeah,” she licked her lips, picking her copy from the box, “Do you?”

“I never really even saw the movie.” he chuckles, “Is it any good?”

“Oh the new movie? It’s great, probably the best adaptation of Dune I’ve seen. I know they tried to be as loyal to the book as they could.” She held the set up to place it in the middle of the shelf, the gold illustrations shining against the black of the books’ thick spines. “Of course there are things you can’t add, but they made references and it was good enough for me.”

Rooster continued rummaging through the box, holding up the books for her to place however she wanted while asking questions about them. Bram Stoker’s Dracula, Frankenstein, Lord of the Rings, comic books…she had a bit of everything. It was when giving her another book that he noticed the tattoos on the arm grabbing the books from him.

He could see a tiny heart close to the inside of her elbow, a little snake near her wrist, the quote ‘In a hole in the ground lived a hobbit…’ on the underside of her lower arm, with the tiny version of what he assumed to be a Hobbit house right next to it. He watched Lord of the Rings, he could identify that. He knew she had more, but the shirt she wore hid most of her upper arms for him to see anything else.

Rooster’s eyes met hers, seeing a confused look on her face as she tried to curl her arm close, “I was just checking your tattoos.” 

“Oh.” she looked down at her arm, trying to not focus on how fat it was, turning it to herself but smiling at him for a short while before moving it forward again to grab the next book, “Sorry, I’m not used to people looking at my...arms” she bit her lower lip “You got any?”

“No. Want to though.” he grabbed three more books, handing them over to her so his hand was free “Never know what to get. There’s so many options, I can’t choose. But for the place…” she hums, flitting her gaze quickly to his bicep once he lifts his arm up to roll his sleeve up to his shoulder, rubbing the golden skin with his fingertips, “Maybe here?”

She almost choked on her spit when the muscle flexed  ‘Um…um, the arm is nice! I-It has a lot of space.” Jesus Christ his bicep was huge. Bea blinked hard, moving her gaze away to focus on arranging her books “You can do something big there.” really big. 

“Like?”

“Hm?”

He shrugs, smiling at her, “Like what? What’s your suggestion?” he nods to her tattooed arms, “You have more experience than I do.”

Beatrice slowed her movements, the Carrie book almost slipping out of her fingers as she translated his words “Oh!” she cleared her throat, “Um…I dunno? It could be something meaningful first? Like…I don’t know, something to do with the Navy. Or something you really like. I don’t know the options are endless. It’s all up to you.”

Rooster’s eyes somber for a second, his gaze leaving hers before returning with a bit of a strained smile, “Right,” oh no, what did she do? “I’ll think about it.”

“O-Okay.” she frowned to herself, chastising herself for whatever was it she said that bothered him. They continued filling the shelf in silence, once they were finished she took her phone out of her pocket “Oh! Um…” she bit her lower lip, looking up at him, “You hungry? I mean– you guys hungry?”

“Why? Is it noon?”

“It’s almost two in the afternoon.”

“Oh shit.” he ran his hand through his hair “Didn’t even notice how time flew by.”

She chewed her lower lip harder, tapping her fingernails against her Michelangelo phone case, “I um… I prepared some things… in case you guys got hungry.” she walks past him to the kitchen, opening the fridge to grab the snacks she prepared earlier. Setting them all on the counter, including the vegan ones, she jumped to see Rooster standing right next to her, with his eyes wide.

“You made all this?”

“...I…yeah?” Was it too much? God it was too much wasn’t it? He’d be freaked out and just think why the hell would she do that to them when they weren’t even—

“Oooohhh, snacks!” it was Phoenix’s voice that broke her turmoil, stepping between the two to grab a sandwich herself, humming happily when she bit into it, “Oh this is good! Is that lemonade?” Beatrice nods, opening her cabinets to grab a glass so Phoenix could fill it herself “I wouldn’t wait too long, Roos.” she jabs him on the ribs playfully, “It’s delicious.”

In a matter of seconds, whoever wasn’t in the kitchen suddenly showed up. She didn’t have a table, yet, so they all helped her take the food to the living room, setting on the round coffee table. It was a tight fit, but it worked. Beatrice couldn’t help but smile shyly at the compliments thrown her way, nor the way everyone seemed to enjoy her quick cooking. Rooster especially was on his third sandwich already, sitting on the edge of the couch while Shells was on the other end. 

Shells, who once she saw her friend standing up like a tree, offered her seat to her while she slid to the floor herself. Bea hesitated, but sat down, tucking one of her legs under herself before grabbing a glass of lemonade. She didn’t say much, choosing to listen to the officers chat amongst themselves. Something about Hangman almost losing a finger as he tried to nudge pieces of her table together, much to the blonde officer’s annoyance.

They ate everything. Nothing a crumb was left. and at the right time too, since it was getting closer and closer to the sunset. They helped her set the things on the sink, to which she said she’d wash it and to not to worry, before walking them to the door.

Jolene licked them all goodbye, not only did she get new friends the new friends also fed her scraps of their food! Sitting cutely on the couch as Beatrice led them to the door, “Thank you guys again for helping me.” she smiled, keeping the door open for them.

“Not a worry, if you need anything else you can give us a call,” Payback said, being the first one out, giving her a goodbye, being followed by Fanboy and Bob. Phoenix however stood in the doorway, holding Hangman  and Rooster back as she pulled out her phone.

“You got instagram?” Bea nodded, “Cool, I’m going to follow you, is that okay?”

“Yeah! Sure, it’s um, it’s bumblebea, no capital letters.” she heard the notification ping coming from her phone from her back pocket. She waved Phoenix goodbye, dipping her head when Hangman winked at her again,wiggling his own phone in her direction before she heard another ping.

Once Rooster was on the doorway, she parted her lips, “Thank you.” he looked down at her, “For…for helping me.”

He gives her a small grin, pulling his sunglasses out of his tank top, “It wasn’t a problem. You can call if you need any more help and if we are around, okay?” she nods with a shy smile, her cheeks turning red before he slips on his sunglasses, “See you at the bar?”

“...sure. See you. Bye.”

“Bye.”

She holds onto the door with her eyes following him once he reaches the bronco, Bob and Phoenix sitting inside already while Hangman had Payback and Fanboy in his car. She rolls her lower lip into her mouth when Rooster adjusts himself on the seat, one of his hands on the steering wheel already. He looks up back at her, the corner of his mouth lifting in a smirk, two of his fingers around the wheel loosen up so he could give her a partial wave. One she reciprocated quickly.

After that the cars left her driveway, one after the other. She slid the door shut, trying to bite back a smile until a figure stood to her side, so she tilted her head to see a very smug Shells…who pulled her own sleeve up, exposing her bicep, “Should I get it…here?” she made a weird face by squinting her eyes and biting her lower lip, “Damn, Bea, do you wanna feel my muscles? My big muscles? I’m so stroooongg.”

Beatrice laughed, pushing her friend’s chest when she figured out who she was playing, “Shut up and help me with the dishes.”

“Oh fine,” she sighs playfully, “If I must.”

“You must.” Shells walks past her to the kitchen, Bea following before stopping when she heard another ping from her phone. She pulled it out, pressing the power button to see the notifications. Her cheeks warmed up again.

b.bradshaw started following you.

[in-hav3n]

So I have a request. I saw the post you did of Y/N taking Care of James after he got his arm burned. I was wondering if you could reverse the rolls? Like Y/N is a part of Metallica (like a second bassist of guitarist), is James’s girlfriend, and instead of James not being able to live away from the fire in time Y/N is the one who can’t. So in other words what it would be like if the burn happened to Y/N instead and how James would react.

𝐒𝐀𝐕𝐈𝐍𝐆 𝐇𝐄𝐑

WARNINGS : mentions of pyro accident

Sat on the waiting room of the Montreal hospital, head into his hands, James tried to recover from the previous hours events. In just a few seconds, the worst happened. Something they could never ever imagined happened, making his own world falling apart.

"Do you want a coffee, man?", Lars asked, placing a gentle and comfort hand on his friend's shoulder. James slowly moved his body to face the drummer and simply nodded. He wasn't thirsty but a hot coffee would maybe help him to relax a little. Lars nodded back and disappeared into the double doors, going straight to the cafeteria.

Since two hours now James was waiting in this depressing corridor for some news of you and he slowly started to go crazy. He was waiting to see this damn white door getting opened on a doc or nurse to tell him you were safe...

or not...

He sighed at this idea and rested his head against the wall behind him, his palms nervously rubbing his thighs. They were sweaty and he didn't like it. He closed his eyes and tried to take deep breaths but it was impossible to relax. Pictures of the accident immediately crossed his mind and made him shivered.

He could still pictured you on the stage, him on a side, you on the other. You were both rocking hard, playing "Holier than thou" and performing probably one of the best show of your career and life until you stood at the wrong place at the wrong time...

James realized too late where you were and when the fire started, he could just heard your screams throughout the riffs, saw your body stepping back and falling on the stage. He didn't think twice. His instinct told him to react quickly.

James pulled off his guitar that fell on the ground and ran over you. Kirk and Lars didn’t see what happened and wondered why their friend stopped playing until they noticed you. They joined James and some staff members who came to see what's going on. But soon enough they decided to talk to the audience who was wondering too what was happening.

James fell on his knees next to you, not caring about the pain he could fell, and grabbed your face. You were pale, big drops of sweat were running along your forehead as you were whining off pain. Your arm was completely burned and James could see your arm's flesh burned and red. He tried to not look frightened or scare cause it wasn't the time to falter. But it was so difficult...

"Stay with me baby...", he kept whispering, your eyes watered by your tears of pain and your mouth tensed up by the pain. He saw you moving your eyes to look up at him but you were like paralyzed by the pain and the fear, you couldn't even speak.

"Everything will be alright...". He heard his own voice cracking under the emotions and tried to remain calm. But he knew how much a burn could be serious...

Suddenly, two medics arrived and proceeded to take you to the nearest hospital. James heard them babbling about how serious this was and tried to keep a cool head. He saw the panic in your eyes when they grabbed you by your head and feet to place you on the stretcher.

"It's okay love, they're gonna save you. I won't leave you I promise", he grabbed your hand and held it until they walked out of the stage to put you in the ambulance. He didn't leave you a single minute, hearing the audience and his band mates voice vanishing slowly...

This image would be stuck in his mind forever. No doubt. He sighed again and started to shake his leg nervously. Damn, we arrived 2 hours ago, how many hours do they need to save her? . He felt a urge to smoke or to drink, he couldn't tell but right now, he needed anything that would make him forget the fact he was waiting desperately for a single new of you. But it wasn't the time to leave the place. He was ready to stay here forever if he had to...

The door opened again but not the one he had hoped. It was Lars coming back with two coffee cups. He thanked him and grabbed the cup he was handing to him. The hot liquid comfort him a little, as he expected but not for long...

"Still nothing?", the drummer asked his friend, blowing out over his coffee cup. James shook his head and leaned his elbows on his thighs.

"Nothing...and it's been 2 fucking hours".

"Easy James...I'm sure they do the best they can. She'll be there soon", Lars said to comfort his friend, knowing his temper. He was surprised James didn't make a scene or didn't break everything in the hospital yet.

James sighed loudly and ran a hand into his long hair. "I'm going fucking crazy. My mind is showing me horrible images of tonight, I-...", he shut himself and though carefully of the words he was using. "I wouldn't survive if she...", he couldn't say it loud and heard his own voice cracked.

"Hey....", Lars said with a soft voice, grabbing his friend's shoulder to squeeze it. "She's a strong girl. She won't leave you that easily man. You know her. She will overcome this, she'll be alright". James nodded and hoped his friend was alright...He had lost his best friend and brother a few years ago, he could't face another loss.

Like if Lars' words had been magical, the double white doors brusquely opened on a doctor. He walked over them, taking off his surgery's gloves. James quickly got up and gulped when he saw the blood on those gloves he was pulling it off. He tried to read the doctor's face to have an answer. Was he mad? Was he sad? Was he content? He couldn't tell.

"Mr Hetfield?", he asked with his serious voice as he stopped in front of the frontman.

"How is she doc ? Is she alright ? Can I see her?", James immediately asked.

"Easy James...", Lars repeated as he grabbed his friend's arm to make him stop harassing the doc with questions.

"Yes she's alright. Your girlfriend is safe now. We could treated her burns but she'd need to stay here for a while. She needs a specific medication", he started to explain but James was only hearing "she is safe".

He nodded at everything the doc said and sighed loud of relief when he left, telling them they were preparing you to go to a private room where James could meet you.

"See, I told you she was a strong girl!", Lars said as he happily hugged James, wearing a big smile on his face. James hugged his friend back, his smile hurting his cheeks. His heart could beat at a normal pace now.

"Wow...what a relief! I can't wait to see her", he said as clapped his hands together, feeling more than ready to see you. He had so many things to say but he already knew that the first thing he'd say to you was how much he loved you...cause with these 2 hours of waiting, he realized even more how much you meant to him.

A/N : OMG this idea is absolutely perfect ! James and girlfriend being in the same band, that's exactly what I wanted to hear. Hope you'll like it <3

[warmaidensrevenge]

Let's be rockstars.

Eddie Munson x Plus size reader

If you want to read my other work you can find it HERE

Ok hear me out. Modern day Eddie Munson.

Warning: fluff , angst, sexual implications, and cursing. Not proof read and no word count

Summary: basically Eddies character from stranger things grown up. Eddie never died and he graduated. He now travels from music festival to music festival with his band. Its 2024 and Eddie meets a new girl. So I'm taking Eddie's character and putting him into the now-ish. I don't know whatever.

Part 1

🖤☠️🤘🎸

You were so nervous stand side stage watching the band that was performing. You always had stage fright, but the self talked you would have before any and all performances would help just a bit. Your hands were clammy and your heart raced a mile a minute. This was always so nerve wrecking. But you had to do it, for your brother. He was the lead singer of the band and he begged you to cover the spot that was now empty due to an illness. You haven't played much since you were in highschool. But to be fair the guitar felt really good when you practiced with your brother and his band. Growing up with musicians wanna be's and constant force to learn an instrument. You and your brother grew up learning the ins and out of what it took to run a band. It wasn't what you wanted to do, but your brother needed you. So you agreed to travel with them for the year.

This year you guys were traveling the Midwest. Now in Wisconsin at Rockfest. Not on the main stage but none the less on a stage. As you stood on the stage called The Top Of The Hill, you watched as a tall thin man with ridiculous frizzy hair strutting the stage. He looked as if he was pulled straight out of the 80s. The bands that preformed on these side stages were mostly cover bands that had a mix of originals in their set. This band mostly covered a lot of aged songs. You listened intently to see if any of the songs that Corroded Coffin played had copied one in your bands list. It was about the 8th song when your heart broke. The intro to One by Metallica filled your ears. Crap they were playing one of your songs.

" oh man we can't play that now." Your brother said making his way next to you.

You froze because you guys had a backup plan in case this happened. That being you. You really hated being behind the mic up front. You just liked playing the guitar and sing back up vocals just off to the side. Anything that kept you from the center of attention. Why you agreed to do it, you had no clue and now you were forced to. As the song came to an end the band played there last 2 songs. Originals you thought. As they finished they started breaking down. You stood looking the mic stand that was left.

" Good luck" the front man of Corroded Coffin said as he past you holding his guitar.

You didn't looked at him to register who actually said it. The nervousness had set in. Crap you're gonna have to sing...alone.

Finally ready to start you stood off to the right just behind your brother. Your knees were weak. And you were already sweating from the hot stage lights.

Opening song was This fire by Killswitch Engage. You were lead guitarist so it was super important that you didn't mess this up.

You sang along with the chorus while your brother screaming the rest. You closed your eyes the whole time. It was the only way you could do this. As your hand moved from fret to fret and strummed you started to feel comfortable.

The song came to an end and your brother started speaking to the audience.

" Thanks for coming out. If your new here we are The Passion Inside. Let's give a round of applause for my sister y/n. She's cover for us while our guitarists recuperates."

The crowd gave a halfhearted cheer. Which only brought back your doubt that you were actually good enough to be up there. You went to the area where the the drummer sat to get a drink of water. Turning back to your spot on the stage you caught a glimpse of the singer of Corroded Coffin watching you guys play.

You guys played a mixture of Killswitch Engage songs. Your brother absolutely loved them. He said they had it all. The vocals and the instruments, the perfect balance of screamo. The 8th song was coming up fast. You hand no idea how the crowd would act when you it was your turn.

And before you knew it, it was time.

"you guys having a good time?" Your brother said out to the crowd. Cheers filled the stage. "Awesome! Now I have a treat for you tonight. We don't normally due this but because of unseen circumstances I'm gonna have my sister do a song for you."

Your brother moved from the mic nudging you forwarded. You let out a long breath and went.

"Hope you enjoy it" you said to the crowd.

The intro played but the other band member with a guitar had to play it again since you weren't ready. Closing your eyes you started to sing.

🎵"Am I brave enough?

Am I strong enough?

To follow the desire

That burns from within

To push away my fear

To stand where I'm afraid

I am through with this

'Cause I am more than this

I promise to myself

Alone, and no one else

My flame is rising higher"🎵

Just before the chorus you started to play your guitar. Doing a cover of I Am The Fire by Halestorm.

🎵"I am the fire

I am burning brighter

Roaring like a storm

And I am the one

I've been waiting for

Screaming like a siren

Alive, and burning brighter

I am the fire"

You took a second to catch your breath before continuing.

"I've been sacrificed

My heart's been cauterized

Hanging on to hope

Shackled by the ghost

Of what I once believed

That I could never be

What's right in front of me

I am the fire"🎵

You finished the song with "I am the fire"

The amount of cheers you got was overwhelming. You smiled thanking the crowd. You went back to get another drink. Your throat hurt from screaming. But it was instantly relieved. You made your way back to your spot behind your brother. Looking over and seeing the the lanky guy from the band still there. This time he had a smirk across his face and his arms were crossed.

The set was finished and your brother thanked the crowd. And you guys broke down your instruments getting the stage ready for the next band. You didn't see they guy with frizz after.

"I'm gonna go find something to eat" you told your brother.

You left to one of the food stands. Settling for a foot long hot dog with the works and a diet coke. You had gained so much weight since traveling. You were already big but all the fair type food you consumed these past few months were wreaking havoc on your already tight clothing.

You had just taken the biggest bite of the hot dog when someone approached you. Your eyes widened at the sight of him.

"sup" he said

You gave a thin lip smile and nodded. It was all you could do with the mouth full of food.

" Great set up there....I'm Eddie Munson."

You chewed vigorously. And held up your finger to him so you could introduce yourself. You swallowed hard and wiped your mouth on the napkin that was around your food. You held out your hand to shake his.

" Sorry I was starving. I'm y/n l/n."

He took your hand and shook. But he held onto it a little longer than normal. Almost awkward long.

" I've seen your band preform before but I never saw you play with them." Eddie said

You studied him for a second. You need the time to adjust to the anxiety that had made it's way through you.

" Uh yeah I'm just here for the year." You responded

" Oh...Why's that?" He asked

" Uhh the guy who normally plays had some complications from Covid."

" Oh shit that sucks. I heard about what it could do if it got really bad."

" Yeah it was bad" you frowned

" Well you were crazy good. You definitely did Halestorm justice." Eddie grinned

" Uh thanks." You gave him a heart half smile " you guys were great too. Stuck in the 80s huh?"

Eddie chuckled and rubbed the back of his neck. He seemed nervous. " Yeah as you can see I'm all about that." He twirled to show off his outfit.

" Yeah it looks like time stopped for you there. But hey I heard somewhere the 80s look is coming back" you smiled at him drinking him in.

" But did it ever really go out of style?" Eddie said finally stopped circling and set his gaze back to you.

He was honestly the most handsome man you have ever seen.

" no I guess not."

Eddie walked with you to the back of the stage to your tour van. You guys sat on a bench. You listened to Eddie talk about how great the 80s were. The music being the best part of it.

" You were definitely born in the wrong decade huh?" You said while finishing your hot dog.

Eddie laughed with a boyish grin. "Most definitely."

"Hey ready to go?" Your brother asked coming from the other end of the van.

"Yeah" you replied. But you didn't want to leave the conversation you were having with Eddie. As you stood up to toss your trash while Eddie and your brother exchange pleasantries.

Your brother got in the van as started it up as you went to say your goodbyes.

" Where you guys headin'?" Eddie sounded sad that you were leaving.

" uhh to motel for the night."

" Which one? The one in town?"

You nodded

" I'm staying there too. Uhh want to get a drink or something?"

" umm sorry I don't drink." You said nervously. Noticing Eddie's mood shift. You asked "Do you swim?"

" uh yeah."

" then maybe that 'something' can be that? The pool should still be open" you suggested.

Eddie perked up". "Yeah sure....meet you there in what? About 30 minutes."

You nodded and went to the van. Watching Eddie in the side mirror as your brother drove away.

...

Man you didn't bring a bathing suit. You fumbled around your suitcase looking for something resembling swim ware. But to no avail. You settled for a tank top and some short shorts. You looked at yourself in bathroom mirror. You hated the way you looked. The thickness of your arms. The stretch marks that covered your body. Your gut suffocating under the waistband of your shorts. You thighs full of cellulite. And scars that covered your arms from past trauma. You decide that you were going to the pool but you weren't gonna swim. Pulling on a baggy shirt and sweats you headed to the pool. Hoping beyond hope that Eddie wouldn't be actually swimming. It was the conversation you were after. He was very interesting to say the least. His natural charm had you right away.

Of course he was already swimming. There were a few people there with their kids but they were far off in the corner. You made your way towards the edge of the pool watching Eddie stroke toward you.

" I thought you wanted to swim." Eddie said

" Uh yeah. I did." You kicked of your flops and rolled your sweats up so you could put your feet in the pool. " just gonna wait a bit. I don't want to cramp up after eating." You said which wasn't entirely the truth. You were ashamed of your body and you didn't want the pretty man with chocolate brown eyes to see how repulsive you were under all these clothes.

Eddie gave you a smile while swimming close to the edge where you were sitting.

" so what do you do besides being a rockstar."

You hesitate for a moment. Only because you didn't want Eddie to think your were just some simple blue collar worker. While he was an up and coming musician. " I'm an e.m.t."

" Really? So if I drown right now.."

" uh yeah. I would save you" you smirked

" ahh my knight in shiny armor." Eddie joked

You nodded. More like the horse the shiny armored knight rode in on. You thought.

The conversation you had with Eddie was delightful. You started to realize that you were liking him more and more.

The pool was closing and you never did get in. You watched as Eddie emerged from the pool. Water falling off his bare tattooed chest, hair damped making it look much longer that originally thought. You saw a little bit of hair running down from his navel to his nether regions. His rings glisten from the water. He was beautifully attractive in the rugged sense. His hair was dark like his eyes and his skin had a soft tan. His crows feet around his eyes and his laugh lines around his mouth made him look like he live quite a life. You learned that it took him 3 years to graduate from high school. How he was such a sucker for D&D and music was his life. Also, how people bullied him for being "different". It was the same for you. The bullying part. Harsh words that made fun of your weight were imbedded in your brain. This causing your lack of confidence.

"Hey you ok?" Eddie concerned voice brought you attention back to the present.

"I uhh-yeah"

Eddie came close to you just about an arms length apart.

" you sure pretty lady?"

You met his eyes and gave him a halfhearted smile. "Yeah I'm good."

Eddie held quiet for a minute. You could feel the tension build. You didn't want to leave just yet. You wanted just a few more seconds with him before parting ways forever.

" Do you uhh want to come up?" Eddie asked then tugged at his bottom lip with his teeth.

" It's getting kinda late. I umm. I should probably get some sleep for tomorrow."

" You guys performing again tomorrow?" Eddie asked

"Yeah. We are filling in for a spot at the Dell's."

"Oh cool!" Eddie's excitement made you giggle. " We're gonna be there too. Maybe you can ride with me?"

"I don't-" you paused to look at the pool. For some stupid reason you were rejected his advances. You weren't naive or anything. You can tell when guys were into you. Even though the attraction felt mutual you weren't the type to just sleep around.

" you don't what? Like finishing sentences?" Eddies joke brought your eyes back to him.

"I don't think it's a good idea Eddie. I umm do one night stands."

" presumptuous are we?" Eddie retorted.

" Oh crap i-i thought..."

" No you thought right. I like you and sure sex is great and all but I'm not into meaning less sex either."

Eddie's confession eased your suspicion. He gave you a hug and you guys walked to the elevator and then proceeded to parting ways. Just as you got off on your floor you looked back at Eddie.

" Good night."

" ahh parting is such sweet sorrow." Eddie smirked. " Night. Don't let the bed bugs bite."

You smiled and went to your room.

...

Finally all set up ready for your set. You stood there waiting for your brother to signal so the band could open. It was just a minute after he nodded. You closed your eyes and started to play My Curse.

Your solo vocal part was coming up and you opened your eyes to find your mic. You did and then your eyes immediately found Eddie off to the side in the crowd. You had never seen such an amazing smile. You were so taken back by it you almost missed your part.

🎵"Still I want and still I ache

But still I wait to see you againnnnnnnn"🎵

You sung out until you had nothing left.

The next three song went back to back without a break. Finally on the 5th song your brother signaled to stop so he could speak to the audience.

" so looks like we have a change of plans." Your brother said. You went for something to drink. You looked at Eddie who was watching your brother.

"Since we had such a good time yesterday. I want to let my baby sister take the stage once again"

You averted your gaze from Eddie to your brother. You could feel Eddie's eyes on you. But you didn't look back. You were pissed. That was suppose to be a back up plan. What the hell was he thinking? He knows how much it takes for you to get up here in the first place. That son of-

"Get out there." Your brother said while pushing you to the front mic.

You ran your tongue over your top teeth. " You so owe me." You whispered and went to the mic to address the crowd

" Hey. Umm my butthead of a brother didn't tell me I was gonna do this. So if you can bare with me while I talk it over. Thank you." You were only gone long enough to to say the song and switch guitars. The part you were gonna play didn't need much. You walked back to the mic and took a deep breath to calm yourself. You looked over to catch Eddie's eye again. He was smiling waiting intently for you to start.

" Sing along if you know this one."

You started the intro playing a cover of Witches Burn. You shut your eyes as tightly as you could then began to play.

🎵"Welcome back to the days of old

Where the men are men and the women are sold

Unwilling sacrifice, I'll fuck you for a price

They kill 'em young so they never get old

They lock the doors and pull down the shades

After the dark they are always afraid

But I go out at night, I won't apologize

There's a price I'll pay

For this I'll burn

For this I'll burn

One thing I've learned, you'll get your turn

All witches burn

All witches burn

All witches burn"🎵

As the song ended you heard the crowd being louder than you've ever heard. Opening your eyes you scanned the crowd holding up your horns. You found Eddie again and he was doing the same thing grinning from ear to ear. You bit your lip to hold back the giddiness. You went back to your spot on stage and finished out the rest of the set list.

The final song was coming up. And this one was a hard one. Sure you knew that you could do it. It's just hurt your fingers so bad afterwards. But at least you can show off to Eddie.

The band paused for a minute to let you get ready. You switched to your Ibanez S series guitar. You popped your knuckles and stretched just a bit. This was gonna hurt.

You nodded that you were ready and stood next to your brother. You gave Eddie a side smile and started.

You closed your eyes like you always did. The first 40 seconds were honestly the hardest to do. You guys did a cover of Through The Fire And Flames.

After the first 40 second your eyes found Eddie. His jaw was dropped. Eye brows disappeared under his bangs with his hands were in his pockets. Yes you thought. You closed your eyes again.

It was about 3 minutes in when you felt the sudden pain in your fingers. You looked down and you had cut them open. You look over to the other guitarists so that he could take over so you could switch the guitar around. And when you could you went side stage. Eddie was right there. Holding a first aid kit. How the hell did he get there so fast?

"Shit you're bleeding alot" he said worriedly.

"It's ok just help me." You said while pulling your strap.

Eddie was about to set the guitar on the ground when you pulled his arm grabbing the strap.

" you're not going back out there are you?" Eddie said helping you with your guitar while you used your shirt to wipe away as much blood as you could. Eddie ripped off one of his sleeves to wrap around your fingers.

" I have to." Was all you said before returning to the stage to hit the solo. 5 minutes into the song you jump back in. You gave your brother a small smiled to let him know you were ok before returning your eyes to the guitar.

Using your right hand on the fretboard was extremely hard. But you kept up until the song was finished. You hurried off stage and your brother said goodbye to the audience. Eddie was still there waiting. You gave him a thin lip smile.

" That....was...so.....metal....Stupid...but hardcore." Eddie was astonished. He was completely smitten with you.

He helped you pull of your guitar.

"Y/n you okay?" Your brother finally joined you and Eddie." Sup man"

" Hey. You got a badass sister here bud." Eddie said.

" Yeah and stubborn as hell too." Your brother shoved you a little.

" I'm good. Just got to clean them up and will be good as new."

" Let's go find somewhere to sit and I'll help." Eddie said while handing your guitar to your brother and grabbed your uninjured hand leading you down the steps off the stage. You guys found a picnic table and sat across from each other.

Eddie flipped open the first aid kit and started pulling out items.

" I uhh I guess that I didn't build up enough calluses." Eddie didn't acknowledged your attempt to ease his concern." You remember that I'm an E.M.T right. I can do this myself."

Eddie didn't look up from the kit. " When was the last time you let someone take care of you?"

You sat up straight at his question. It was a deep one. And you were not at that point in your new found..... friendship? Yeah friendship.

" I uhh. It's been a while." You answered.

"can I asked you something?" Eddie finally looked at you.

His eyes bothered you to your core. In a good way. You nodded.

" Why the hell did you go back up there? Couldn't the other guy handle it?"

It could have been a bunch of things. Maybe it was the words 'Don't stop playing' that were drilled in your head when you were small, or it could be your obsessive need to finish things, oh for your brother. He really need this after his wife die. He's been putting everything into his music. So you did it for him.

" I uhhh yeah he could have. But like my brother said ...I'm stubborn."

"Well we are gonna have to fix that aren't we?"Eddie said while starting to rub your finges with alcohol wipes.

"We?"

Eddie just smirked.

You didn't wince once when Eddie cleaned and applied bandages. Eddie saying how metal you were. But to tell the truth. It was watching him work that was the distraction.

After all was said and done. You two sat there staring a few seconds.

"You gotta teach me how you did that."

" Teach you what?"

"How to play the other way. I don't know how you did it but holy fuck it was something."

You gave Eddie a cheeky smile. " Its way harder than it looks."

" Well I couldn't tell that it was difficult for you. You are crazy good. You should really consider doing this for real."

" Ah no. I uhh I have terrible stage fright."

Eddie let out a throaty laugh. " Are you kidding me? How can you get up there?"

" I -I close my eyes."

" ohhh that makes sense."

"Huh?" You were confused.

" You were already bleeding after like a minute. I wonder why the hell you didn't see it."

" That's why you were there so fast."

Eddie nodded

" oh I guess it was the adrenaline."

"Well maybe from now on you play with your eyes open."

You looked down at the table. You couldn't do that. Or you would never be able to get back up on stage.

"So uhh you gonna stay to watch us."

" I would like to but I'm kinda beat now." You really didn't want to go. You just wanted to be around him. He had a firm grip on you. With no signs of letting up.

Eddie face fell with your words. He didn't want you to leave. He wanted to spend as much time with you before you left.

"Hey give me your phone."

Eddie pulled his cell out from his back pocket handing it to you. You swiped it open and was surprised he didn't have a passcode. You punched in your number and saved it.

" Here now you can call or text me after. Maybe we can get something to eat while you tell me about your show."

Just like that. Almost at the snap of a finger Eddie had that smile that made your heart race. Making you feel like a giddy school girl.

"Yeah most definitely."

You bit your lip to hold back your nerves. You got up when the guys were done packing up. Eddie walked with you smiling and talking about how he has never seen someone do what you did. He opened the van door for you.

"M'lady"

" Such a gentleman"

Smiling had become a habit now that you met Eddie. It's been 24 hours and he has made you smile more in that time than anyone has in the 27 years of your life. That you could remember of course. You knew it was gonna hurt to probably never seeing Eddie again. And if anything was gonna happen. It had to happen tonight. He said he liked you. So maybe he wouldn't be put off by what's under these clothes. Then again. You don't do hook ups.

...

You got a text about 2 hours later. The lightsaber notification sound always made you jump like the little boy Anakin was about to kill. Eddie had decided to get a pizza. Which was fine with you. You loved pizza. You ran to the bathroom to take a quick shower and shave. Just in case. Your hand hurt but your adrenaline had kick in. You put on something comfort but yet something that showed off your asset's. (Basically boobs and butt) black leggings with black mesh line on either side of your thigh. And a long sleeve black shirt that was a medium cut neck line. That didn't reveal too much. But just enough to show the edge of your tattoo. You let your hair down shaking it. Making sure you weren't as frizzy as Eddie. His look was actually great. You didn't wear much makeup. So you just added a little mascara. As you waited for Eddie the silence was deafening. So you turned on the hotels TV and search for something. When you found Return of the King. You sat watching one of your favorite trilogies. About 15 minutes in there was a knock on the door. You got up and shook your hands. You were so nervous. Your hands became clammy and you had labored breathing. How can one guy make you feel like you were back in highschool? You open the door and Eddie was there. You couldn't explain how he looked stand there with that smile that made the skin around his eyes crease. You let him in and you guys sat on the floor eating. You listened to how his show went. Somewhere during the conversation Eddie brought your injured hand to his lips kissing your knuckles then rested it on his thigh while he continued.

"You did not?"

" No I totally did. Here look." Eddie said turning his back and lifting his shirt to show you a large bruise he got from crowd surfing.

" Jesus Eddie." Your hand ghosted over the purple and green bruise.

" No it was so fun. Totally worth it."

You shook your head at him.

" So what do you plan on doing after the year?"

" Well I would like to move. I want a house out somewhere not too big. Find a job in my field. What about you? What are your big plans for the future?" You asked Eddie.

" Well I plan on making it big. Then move out the country. Have a family"

" That sounds nice." You said while getting up to wash your hands. You wanted a family too. But it was hard when you had no one who was actually serious about that kind of stuff.

You came back out and Eddie was sitting on the bed. He cleaned up so fast. He patted the spot next to him for you to sit. It was not the best idea. So you didn't sit next to him, instead you grabbed the desk chair and rolled it so that it was right in front of him. You sat down and crossed your legs so that the top one barely touching the outside of his leg.

" You are stubborn."

You looked at him and tilted your head slightly. " Maybe. Or maybe I don't want you to get the wrong idea of me."

Eddie lifted a brow that got lost somewhere in his bangs. " I think your amazing." He leaned forward and put his hands on the arm rest of the chair. Pushing you just a little so he could put your legs between his then pulled you closer. Your foot was so close to his crotch that if you moved an inch you would have kicked him.

"you're quiet."

You looked at Eddie not knowing what to say. You wanted him but your moral compass was keeping you from doing anything you might regret later.

"Do you want me to go?"

"No." You response way to fast for your liking.

" what is it then?"

"it's just. I like you. But this scene. It's not me. I don't do this kind of stuff."

" What are we doing other than talking?"

" Well maybe not doing but definitely thinking about it."

Now Eddie grinned and that's when you had enough. You pushed your chair back and stood up moving away from him.

"See how is anyone able to keep their clothes on around you when you look like that?"

Eddie's grin got even bigger. All his beautiful wrinkles showing now. He knows exactly what he's doing. And it's not cool. You were getting irritated with the whole situation. But Eddie's face softened after he saw your frustration. He stood up and came close to you.

" You know I'm not here to sleep with you....I mean yes I like you...and I wouldn't reject you if you did want to. You're very beautiful. But I would never do anything that you wouldn't want to do."

"Seriously?! Could you possibly get anymore perfect?"

"I'm no where near being perfect." Eddie chuckled.

" well no one's perfect but you're pretty damn close."

There was a comfortable silence for a minute.

"Can we try something?" Eddie asked while stepping closer

You nodded.

" I just need to know...." He let out a sharp sigh. " I want to know what I'm feeling is right."

" uhh Ok?" You said taking a step closer to him.

" I want to kiss you." Eddie was now pressed against you. " I just gotta see. Is it ok if I do?"

"No funny business?"

Eddie shook his head. " Just one kiss." He lifted his hand and caressed your cheek with the back of his hand. His hands where rough but you liked it.

Your breath picked up as you pushed his hair behind his shoulder. " Just one."

Eddie smiled and grabbed your waist and cupped your cheek. You rested your hands on his hips. He leaned in and you closed your eyes. Just before your lips touch you felt a jolt of static electricity leave your lips to Eddies. The pain made Eddie gasp. You tried to pull away but he kept you firm in his arms.

" already taking my breath away." Eddie whispered.

The corners of your lips started making their way upwards but stopped when Eddies lips met yours. It was soft at first. Innocent. It felt like a friendly type of kiss. you pulled away unsatisfied and upset that it wasn't it. You pressed your lips together and hung your head. Eddie lifted your chin to look you in the eyes.

"No I'm sorry. I need to try that again."

This time was the complete opposite. He pulled you in, hand behind your head one on your love handle, grabbing it hard that you let out a small whimper into Eddie's mouth. Lips and teeth clashing. The slight hint of tongue that was just right for the first time. He sucked on your bottom lip for a second then return his mouth to yours. And as the kiss slowed and came to a stop. Both lips swollen and you two were breathing heavily. Eddie put his forehead on yours.

" yeah that's the one." His voice was thick and deep.

You swallowed. " Do you want to stay the night?"

Eddie nodded.

You took off your pants and Eddie striped down to his boxers. And got under the covers with you. You laid there facing each. Eddie caressed your hand until you fell asleep.

Oh man what was going to happen between you two.

[the-passenger-if]

one of my favorite angst tropes is someone breaking up with their partner in order to keep them safe! how would the ros handle this if newman did this to them? (also, would any of the ro’s break up with newman to keep them safe?)

combining it with

How would the ROs react to Newman who just texts them out of nowhere and the message just say "I love you always bye sorry" as if Newman was in a hurry and no matter how hard they try to contact them, no one picks up.

also

some angST!! How would the ROs react to Newman breaking up with them after being together for a looooong time?

and

ROs reaction to Newman wanting to break up with them after a while of being together?

Jonny and Horizon would break up with Newman to keep them safe. Fiama knows she can keep both of them safe, and Roach will do their best but if they have to die then they will die together xD

Combining Newman just up and disappears one day with Newman breaks up with RO after being together for a long time.

Long angsty scenarios under the cut.

“Mommy… kisses me… on the… cheek. Cheek. Cheek, Bruno. Listen, cheeeek. That’s chek.”

Bruno mutters the word ‘cheek’ under his breath a few times before adding another ‘e’ just on top of the first one.

“No,” Fiama tells him. “Erase the word and rewrite it. Well this time.”

Her son scowls but he does as he’s told. His round eyes slip away from the exercise book to the front door and stay there.

“Bruno,” she calls him. “Bruno.” He looks at her, and she knows. She just knows what he’s thinking about. Who he’s thinking about. “Cheek.” She points at the book.

He writes down the word very slowly and forcefully on the page. She still can read the wrong word under it, but she decides to let it go.

“The chick eats corn,” Fiama continues, “The… chick… Chick, Bruno.”

He bites his lower lip, staring at her.

“Remember the chicks? Grandpa took you to see them…”

Bruno mutters ‘chick’ under his breath a couple of times, then his eyes go to the front door again.

“Bruno,” and she doesn’t want to lose her patience like this, but she’s tired and she wants to… she doesn’t know what she wants to do yet, but doing homework in the living room with a very distracted Bruno isn’t it.

Her boy scowls at her, pencil shaking in a tiny angry fist. He opens his mouth to retort when someone knocks on the door. His eyes widen, the scowl vanishes. He jumps off the chair, homework and pencil and Fiama completely forgotten.

“Bruno!” she calls out, but he’s already dashing to the door and yanking it open.

“Oh! Hi there, rabbit,” Fiama’s mother says.

“No!” Bruno replies trying to close the door again.

That’s when Fiama stands up and grabs him by the arm. “Don’t you shut the door in your grandma’s face!”

“Don’t you grab him like that!” her mother yells at her, and she lets go of Bruno as if he was a hot iron.

“Why are you here?” Bruno screams at Fiama’s mother. “I wanted it to be them!”

“Bruno!” Fiama scolds.

“No!” her boy yells at her. “This is your fault! You did this!” Then he’s running off to his room, slamming the door behind him.

Fiama isn’t the type to care about metaphors, but right now she completely understands what people mean when they say 'it felt like a bucket of cold water'.

The one that breaks the silence is her mother. “Well, didn’t I tell you this would happen?”

“Not now, mom.” Fiama grits out.

“Let us hope it doesn’t affect Bruno too much…”

“I said not now.” The glare she sends her mother’s way is enough for the woman to shake her head and turn away.

Fiama closes the door very carefully, and then rests her back against it, scowl set on the table where Bruno’s homework was left unfinished. A thought like a flash; the table toppling over, books and pencils, and the ceramic fruit basket flying in the air. It passes quickly. Fiama is taking slow deep breaths. She still remembers what happened the last time she let her emotions get the best of her. That familiar wave of shame and guilt washes over her as she remembers Bruno’s stunned silence when he found her sobbing in her room, sat in the midst of broken pieces of whatever she had lying about in there.

A single tear rolls down her cheek, one Fiama swiftly washes away. She promises herself this is the last she’ll ever waste on them.

---

There's one lonely cloud floating in the blue sky and Jonny's eyes have been following its snail-like march for the last ten minutes or so. His neck is starting to feel stiff but he doesn't shift his position; watching the lazy parade happening outside of his window has kept his mind in silence. Sweet, sweet silence.

It isn’t surprising that it doesn’t last. Somebody is knocking on his bedroom door and Jonny really doesn't have the energy for this. He closes his eyes shut, focuses on the inverted shadow cloud burned in his tired retina. The door clicks open and he keeps still on his bed, chest barely moving. It's childish, he knows this, but it's the only thing that seems to keep Joaquin and Lucia from asking how he's doing or commenting about his love life, or even worse, trying to give him advice.

The visitor lingers there where they stand for another moment, before closing the door again. Jonny thinks he’s been left alone to go back to what apparently has become his favorite hobby as of late, when he hears approaching footsteps.

“I know you’re awake.”

“Don’t tell me they called you,” he says in a drawl, opening his eyes and fixing them on the man sitting on the bed across from his. Quino has the same green eyes, straight nose, and wavy brown hair Jonny has, however, his twin chooses to wear it shorter and well out of his face. He is, after all, the good-looking one.

“They didn’t,” Quino assures him with a conciliatory smile. Jonny’s skepticism must be written all over his face because his brother crosses his heart and shrugs.

“Why are you here?” Jonny knows why, but he also knows Quino too well and his twin has never been the type to start awkward conversations unless Jonny opens that door for him first.

“Do I need a reason? Can’t I—?”

“They broke up with me,” Jonny cuts him off, “I’m feeling like shit, I just want to sleep until I forget I ever met them, but every time people ask about it I think about them, and every time they tell me ‘it will pass’, and that I’ll ‘find someone new’ I just want to jump in front of a car.” Quino doesn’t say anything, he just nods while picking at his nails. Jonny rolls on his back, stares at the ceiling. “I know I’m way too old to be acting like this, but I don’t know what else to do.”

“You aren’t too old to feel like shit, Jonny. You loved them, and they left you. It’s completely understandable.”

He presses his lips together. He did love them. He does love them still. Stupid, so stupid.

“If you want to cry—“

“Screw off.”

“Not in front of me, heaven forbid,” Quino says with mock horror, “but you should cry sometimes. Crying is good for you, you know?”

Maybe it is, Jonny guesses, but he might have cried himself dry the night Newman broke up with him over the phone. Over the fucking phone, of fucking course. He rubs at his dry eyes. He doesn’t want to think about that. “Yeah,” he mutters.

The silence stretches until Quino clears his throat. “So, do you want to know why I’m here or not?”

Jonny turns his head and then frowns at the tickets in his brother’s hand. He blinks twice, recognizing the iconic font printed on them at once. He sits up an instant later. “You’re shitting me.”

“No, I’m inviting you to see Metallica in Columbia.”

“Their last two albums suck,” Jonny says, yet he still takes the ticket from Quino’s hand.

“What doesn’t?” his twin asks with a laugh, and this time Jonny can feel himself smile.

---

One of the humans is awake. Shit. Roach thought they had at least another hour or two, now they’ll have to deal with them and their overfamiliarity and their hands and their faces.

The stub between their lips trembles and they realize it has gone out. They take it, frown at it and then flick it off. It flies in an arc, landing among its dozen of dead brothers. Roach knows at least ten of those are theirs—not that the parking lot of this dingy motel could look any worse by having more dead cigs lying about.

They look for their smokes in the denim jacket they are wearing—a gift from a trucker with a tendency to comment on people’s appearances and leave his jacket behind when going to the restroom—and almost drop the entire pack when the door at their left opens.

“Those things will kill you,” says the woman coming out of their shared motel room.

“Life is killing me,” Roach replies without missing a beat, but they don’t smile; she won’t see their face anyway, not when the sun has yet to come out, and the only lightbulb over their head suddenly burned out.

“Do you have another one?”

She comes to sit next to them on the bench and Roach doesn’t need light to see the deep crow's feet at the corner of her eyes and the dark circles under them. Their conquests always look immensely better under synthetic lighting, once outside, once they’ve used one another, it’s like the spell breaks.

Roach holds two cigs between their lips and lights them with practiced ease. They offer one to their broken Juliette. It’s the least they can do; they do remember biting her hard at some point in the middle of their sexcapade… or maybe they bit one of the others, they aren’t sure anymore.

She accepts it with a thanks and takes a long drag. She sighs out the smoke, peers at Roach as if she could somehow pierce through the shadows and take a good look at them. “You are young, darling,” she croaks out. “Way too young to be doing this shit.”

“Smoking?” Roach asks innocently. Words read out from a script, tone sweet, face immobile. The face of a ghost really, one that haunts and judges them.

The woman shakes her head and then points with her thumb at the room behind them. “I bet you aren’t even thirty yet.” She tilts her head at them, eyes narrowing and still trying to see. “Whatever happened to you… you can opt out. It isn’t easy, but you can move on, you can leave your old self behind. It’s never too late…” A coughing fit interrupts her fortune cookie monologue, and Roach is super ready to skedaddle now.

They stand up, rub their hands together. “Speaking of,” they exclaim with fake enthusiasm, “I should hit the road now. It was a pleasure, really,” they add just as if they were wrapping a 5-cents bow around used pair of socks. Here, happy birthday.

Roach jogs off before she can add anything else.

“Hag,” they mutter around their cigarette. They stop as they catch a glimpse of their reflection in the window of a stripped car. The face scowling at them is silently judging them for stealing it and then using it to lure in humans. “It’s poetic, ok?” Roach explains with a tense grin. “You fucked me over so this is my way to return the favor, pet.” The reflection doesn’t reply, but Roach doesn’t care. They don’t care. They never cared, actually. Who said they ever did?

---

Slow, deep breaths. Inhale, one… two… three… four. Exhale, one… two… three… four… five… six…

Horizon opens their eyes. They are crouched in front of the ceremonial pitcher. Looking down at their reflection in the water makes something like a thumb-size metal ball roll in the back of their skull. They wince in pain and lose whatever little balance they had before. Horizon doesn’t yelp when they fall back on their ass; the sudden waves of nausea coming up like lava inside a volcano could turn a bad situation into a nightmarish one at the flip of a hat.

“Ah,” they whine in a whisper, “if there truly is anything out there, up there, or around, please make it stop.” They run a hand down their face, suppress a fiery belch.

They blindly look for the pitcher and submerge their other hand in the cold water. Dominus Dove and Domina Basil would blanch in horror and anger, but right now, this is the best Horizon has felt since Velour dragged them out of bed, wrapped their robes around them, and pushed them into their office.

Running wet, cold fingers through their messy hair is the best feeling in the world, so they continue this little ritual for a while… and another while… and a little longer…

The door opens just a crack and Horizon’s gaze jumps to Velour’s so fast that the metal ball comes back with a vengeance. An arrow piercing their brain back to front.

“Ahh!”

“This isn’t happening,” Velour hisses as they slink into the room and close the door behind them. “Tell me this isn’t happening.”

“This isn’t happening,” Horizon mutters trying to smile through the pain. They open their eyes to find a very frowny, very serious Velour staring down at them. The smile slips off their face like a slug going down the drain. “I’m so sorry, Velour.”

“As you should,” they reply coldly, and Horizon wants to cry because there’s so much more to their tone than just scorn; they are truly disappointed and they have all the right to be.

“I’m a mess,” the words sound strained to Horizon’s ears, and they can feel new tears threatening to spill down their face again.

Velour’s jaw tightens before they crouch down shaking their head. “You are drunk,” they whisper in a mellow way. “And we can’t let anyone know that.”

“No, we can’t.”

“Alright, I’ll tell them you are indisposed. Wait here, and please, stop playing with the sacred water, Domini.”

Horizon can feel themself blushing in embarrassment, but they nod nonetheless and almost don’t wince when the metal ball ricochets around their skull.

Velour steps out of the room, their voice booming in the cabin, “Domini Horizon has fallen ill with a fever. Today’s prayers will be under my supervision.”

“Are they ok?” somebody asks.

“Yes, but they are very tired and would appreciate being left alone in their cabin. Any concerns or questions you have can be brought to me.”

Efficiently, they march into the office again. “Lean on me, Domini,” they instruct and Horizon does as they say. A few moments later, The Domini is back on their feet and being herded out of the office and through the cabin. They keep their head down, letting their hair cover their face.

“Poor Domini,” another person loud-whispers, “they are drenched in sweat.”

Next to them, Velour tenses up, but they don’t let their discomfort show in any other way.

Once in Horizon’s cabin, their assistant sits them on the bed and fetches them a glass of water.

“They aren’t worth any of this, Domini,” Velour says, and Horizon keeps still, lips barely touching the water. They look up at their assistant but say nothing. “That’s all I wanted to say, and that’s all I’ll say on the subject.”

Horizon puts down the glass on their lap, both hands holding it still. They lower their gaze before softly replying, “Noted.”

Velour makes to leave. They open the door before saying over their shoulder, “And stop drinking. If I come back to find you drunk again, I swear I’m leaving. For real this time.”

Horizon nods slowly, and doesn’t look up until Velour closes the door behind them. Once they are out, the Domini puts the glass down, next to the bed, carefully lies down, and lets the ugly sobs come gushing out of them like muddy water from a broken levee.