#justonechancefictlet
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Just ONE chance
Stephanie Harrington never intended to be a whole presence online.
She hadnāt even really understood the whole thing at first, it didnāt exist when she was a kid! An if it did it sure as hell wasnāt in every nook and cranny of the globe like it now seemed to be. Kids with iPads, hands glued to phones, six year olds who simply had to have the latest Apple thing.
It was all Dustinās idea. King of the Gadget. Overseer of all things technology. Gargantuan nerd. Stevieās little brother.
Not biologically, Claudia, Dustinās mother had basically adopted Stevie when her own parents had tragically lost control of the wheel during a storm and wrapped their car around a tree back when Stevie was still a teenager. Back when Stevie was still Dustinās regular babysitter and very suddenly found herself alone having been babysitting when the news reached her.
Theyād been coming back from a business trip that she hadnāt been able to go with them on because of school. Theyād been so close to home. Sheād heard the sirens. Theyād been that close.
It was fine though, in one fell swoop, yes she lost her parents, but she gained Claudia, and Dustin, and that was enough, because she sure as hell didnāt get anything else from them. It was all swallowed up, snatched away by her parents business partners because people are sharks and she justā¦ wasnāt prepared to fight them on any of it, especially not when her parents had stupidly left her without a will.
Apparently they believed theyād live forever! The money vanished, the house was sold, she was left with nothing.
With growing up in the Henderson house, came choices, some great, some really stupid, and some thatād led to the very happy accident of Rosie.
To be fair to herself, sheād been in quite a long term relationship at that point! It was a happy one too! Sheād thought heād be it. Sure heād been a lot rough around the edges, at the start, itād been a shame cycle at the beginning since he was in fact, a colossal prick, but he was also the hottest guy sheād ever seen. Like, unfairly attractive considering his personality, and he knew exactly how to touch her to melt her icy resolve into a watery mess.
But once heād gotten away from his dipshit of a father, his step mother dragging him with her when she escaped the man too, once Stevie had laid down the law of how little of the bullshit heād learned from said father sheād personally tolerate before heād get a boot out the door, heād come around.
The racism had stopped immediately. The attitude had ebbed bit by bit as feelings set in, and heād become a regular ol handsome teddy bear, heād allowed himself to soften after heād escaped the only reason heād had to protect himself.
Heād even started getting along with his step sister, one of Dustinās friends.
Then stupidity happened when they ran out of condoms, her cycles stopped, and three months in, two drunk idiots in a pickup ran a stoplight while he was getting her some ice cream. Doctors said he probably hadnāt felt a thing.
Rosie came along, a beautiful little thing, had her dadās soft cheeks, his stormy eyes, thick dark lashes and soft curls, but she took after Stevie in everything else.
Stevie didnāt date after that. A personal choice really. Sheād lost her parents, lost her love, and now she had a little girl to focus on, she was done. She felt herself complete! So what if she was still in her mid-twenties. Life had dealt her a hand, she was going to run with it.
Rosie would always come first, and she didnāt like explaining where Rosies father was, she didnāt like the look of pity on peopleās faces, the apologies, the rinse and repeat cycle, and so she just. Didnāt bother!
It was easier! She had Rosie, she had her adoptive mother, she had Dustin, she had Billyās sister Max and her other half Lucas, she had Susan, she had Robin, her co-worker and platonic soulmate from that dumb job at the mall sheād picked up to help Claudia with the bills, she had a whole support network, and she was fine.
Soon Rosie was in preschool, and then middle school, and the internet became a household thing, houses had computers, kids had phones, then smartphones, laptops, tablets, and suddenly the internet was everywhere and everyone had to be on it.
So there she was now. Mid-thirties, with a little girl, and a house paid for by her little brother.
Dustin had struck gold with a job at NASA, heād put the downpayment on a little two bed house with a cute picket fence lined garden for her when Rosie was born without consulting her, just did it and āSURPRISE STEVIE, now get the hell out of momās basement, Jesus Christ.ā Kept paying until it was all hers, and that was thatā¦ until he came round with computers and gadgets and then she had the internet because Rosie would need it for school because while libraries were awesome heād had to suffer the five books at a time, Dustin rule one too many times and the internet had UNLIMITED books.
And now Stevie had a smart phone, and apps, and Instagram was fun! Doomscrolling the FYP took up chunks of her days off work while Rosie was at school! She never intended to be a name on there. Sheād heard that people could become known for stuff, go viral or whatever.
She never intended to do that. She was a mother. Not even a hot young mom either. She was in her thirties! She remembered when the world didnāt have internet, she was there.
She posted work out videos, never having lost the competitive streak sheād always had as a teenager, sports were her thing back in high school, Gymnastics specifically, which led into cheering. Sheād done some competition once with the team but nothing huge, she was fit, healthy, and the subject of many a thirst comment that she pointedly ignored.
Sheād posted the occasional rant about Sally the PTA bitch with the self-proclaimed ābest potato salad in the Stateā while doing her morning makeup, still never paying much mind to the comments section, the little rapidly climbing number that signalled followers, or the occasional DM from brands wanting to ācollabā.
She didnāt care for that, she just wanted to post her little videos in peace. In retrospect, if peace was what she wanted, the lunch trendā¦ probably wasnāt the best one to pick up. It was just a trend though! Sheād seen a few moms doing it! Just posting little harmless videos online of what theyād pack their kids for lunch every day!
Harmless, fun! She loved making Rosies lunches, she saw no harm in sharing the fun!
They were always affordable, packed with healthy options, and creative too! She tried her hand at sushi, Rosie hated it, Robin loved it, so Robin got the sushi rolls in her lunches instead, picked up every morning when she grabbed Rosie on the way into work, they were both going to the same place after all, Robin taking on the music teacher role at the Middle school Rosie attended.
She tried noodle jars, cool wraps, made shapes and fun little animals out of fruit, she got creative, but they were all very cookie cutter videos, they all had the same vibe, similar content, it was something to fill her free time that she enjoyed so never in a million years would she have ever predicted that ONE of them, would cause so much chaos.
It started with the beeping.
The incessant pings sometime in the early hours of the morning. Notifications on her phone going off one after the other until she was forced to sit up, bleary eyed, and stare with squinted eyes at the far too bright screen of her phone, then she silenced it and went back to sleep.
With the chaos of the morning routines, getting Rosie up, washed, dressed, packed up for school, and out the door, she didnāt think about the incessant little beeping sheād silenced. It was a distant memory buried under the fog of a heavy sleep and continued to be a distant memory right up until Dustin appeared at her doorstep at around one in the afternoon midway through her afternoon workout, ruffled, stressed, flustered, and frankly just a little too sweaty.
He bypassed all niceties, as usual, bulldozing straight to the point, he pinpointed her phone, which sat comfortably on the countertop, seemingly oh so innocent, grabbed it, brandished it up as if to highlight its very existence and just āWoman, do you LOOK, AT YOUR PHONE?!ā
Now, Stevie was not in the business of accepting a tone like that, especially not from her little brother. No matter how much heād shelled out for the house, the attitude had to go. āTone problem you little shit, fix it now or get the fuck out of this house and try again later.ā
To his credit, he took a breath, and fixed it āSorry, Iām sorry, butālook! Look at it, please, for the love of Christ, the internet is freaking out.ā
āWhat?ā
āYour video yesterday! The one with the likeā¦ teddy bear thing you did? With the rice an theāā
āRosies lunch?ā
āYeah! Have you seen the comments on it?ā Stevie rolled her eyes and went about picking up her things, workout sufficiently disrupted, she wouldnāt be able to pick that pace back up now. āStevie?ā
āYou know I donāt look at those, people get weird on the internet, itās like it gives weirdos the perfect place to be their weirdest selves and not in a good way.ā Sheād looked at them once, curiosity had gotten the better of her once upon a time and wound up having to ask Max what āOF?ā meant. Sheād taken the win, let it momentarily boost her self-confidence, and decided to never look again. She was done with all that.
āStevie, this timeā¦ one of those weirdos, is famous.ā Since it was the age of the internet, Stevie regarded him with a look of disinterest, āfamousā could be anything, it could be some dweeb behind a computer screaming obscenities at a mic hooked up to some ridiculously overpriced gaming PC for likes. It could be a podcast bro with half a brain cell kicking its long since dead other half, it could beāārockstar famous.ā Dustin clarified. āOne of the guys from that band I like? Corroded Coffin, they justāā he swiped the phone, letting out a soft scoff as the screen just flicked to life, no security pin to be seen of course, no matter, heād probably berate later, he had a video to find andāāAh-hah! Look!ā and a phone to once again shove into his big sisterās face.
āThatās not even my video!ā
āI know! They took the comment down already, but itās EVERYWHERE, look!ā Someone had screenshots. It wasnāt just one video covering it, Dustin scrolled, another popped up soon after, someone getting a little too excited about what was probably the most unfortunate of accidents.
āDonāt they have likeā¦ I dunno, people running their accounts? A person? Maybe their internet person just forgot to log out of that account?ā
āNo! Eddie runs it! The guitarist? Eddie Munson, he usually runs it all himself so everyone thinks itās him, ANDāAND LOOK!ā Dustin clicked on the Corroded Coffinās account, then tapped on the most recent post. Just a big black square, with the word āWhoopsā in big bold white lettering, captioned āI regret nothing. Just ONE chance, sweetheart, just one.ā With a little prayer hands emoji. āHeās ASKING you out!ā
āHeās being a freak on the internetā hands found her hips, the classic mom pose. Immovable, stubborn.
āHeās always a freak! But heās really cool! He does like, Make A Wish stuff, andāand visits childrenās hospitals dressed up like fantasy characters, and he runs DnD things on the account every few months an heās just REALLY cool, I mean theyāre all really cool but Eddie is really cool maybeāmaybe you couldāā
āUpend my life, Rosieās life, for a guy I donāt know, who has a job that takes him all over the world, who probably has his pick of whoever the hell he wants so what exactly could I bring to the table to keep him around? Iām done with all that shit, Dustyā¦ I had my time, I have Rosie, I have everything I need. What makes you think Iād even like him?ā
āYou liked Billy.ā
āGet out.ā
āNo, wait, not like that, I mean, theyāre the same! Well, okay, not the same, Eddie didnāt start out a giant prick an heās never been racist, but theyāre sorta similar, similar music tastes, shit fathers, heās rough round the edges, lil scary looking sometimes but heās just a big softie when you get past the whole, scary dog thing. Eddieās likeā¦ if Billy never had a shit dad. I just think that maybeā¦ if you looked him up, maybe youādā¦ I dunno, youād like himā¦ maybe heād be your kind of guyā¦ maybe you could finally find someone who appreciates youā¦ youāre not supposed to be on your own, Stevie.ā
āYeah well, Iām not. I have Rosie, and Robin, an you guysā¦ an yāknow. Bob.ā
āBob?ā One of her patented looks told him all he needed to know, he jerked back in revulsion āew! God! Fine, could you just! I dunno, look him up or something? Just think about it, I swear heās really cool an Iādāā
āYouād love free tickets to their next concert.ā
āWell, yes, butāā
āAlright then, nice to see you Dustin. Always a pleasure to have you round, please get the hell out of my house.āĀ
āUggGGGGGHHHHH, STEVIIIIEEE!!!ā
āUggghh, DUSTIIIIN! You interrupted my work out for internet pervert nonsense.ā She began shooing him toward the door āShoo, shoo. I have a family sized bar of chocolate to work off my hips before it gets stuck there.ā
āHeād love your hips! With the addition of chocolate bars or not!ā
āWeird! Out!ā Out the door he went, it closed behind him.
That of course didnāt stop him from yelling through the door, āJust look him up!! I promise you wonāt regret it!ā But she mostly ignored him, until he went away.
Mostly becauseā¦ Dustin never spoke up in favour of men before. Heād even gone through a period of hinting at maybe just switching sides and dating Robin when he found out Robin was a lesbian, but both women had promptly shut that down every single time he tried bringing it up.
He wasnāt a huge fan of men.
Heād been raised by a strong independent woman, heād had a strong female role model in Stevie whoād pushed through every trauma life had thrown at her, he had Robin, he had Max, Jane, Erica, he had Nancy his friend Mikeās older sister, one of his friends had also been raised by a strong independent woman, heād been surrounded by strong women his entire life with only one real solid male figure.
And that was his middle school science teacher, Scott Clarke. Which was kind of sad when you thought about it.
For him to really vouch for a man, it meant something! It wasnāt something to ignore, even if every instinct Stevie had told her to just. Leave it. What kind of man could a rockstar lifestyle have created. What kind of red flags could Eddie Munson be hiding that Dustin couldnāt (or didnāt want to) see.
Did he really even mean it?
Was it actually Eddie, and not someone else from the band? Would she be seen as foolish for even entertaining the thought? It wasnāt like sheād ever paid attention to the bands Dustin liked, so surely nobody would see her as a weird fan for thinking about it, right? She didnāt even approach him!
He approached her!
Shit like that didnāt just happen though. Or did it? Could it? Was she stupid to even entertain the thought?
Before she knew it, it was time to pick Rosie up, and she hadnāt even finished her work out. it was fine, her hips could handle a chocolate bar. For now. Its days were numbered.
#Piratewrites#justonechancefictlet#Part 1 of 4#Rosies dad could have been ANYONE but i thought this would be fitting#Steddie#Fem!Steve Harrington#Stephanie Harrington#tw: past character death mention
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Just ONE chance | Part 2
āAre you gonna message him?ā It was later in the evening, Rosie was in the living room watching some gameshow while Stevie sat at the kitchen island, having just finished cleaning up after dinner, Robin facing her through her phone, stuffing her face with what looked like French fries.
āDusty thinks I should butā¦ should I? It doesnāt feel tooā¦ I dunno, desperate? Cause Iām not desperate, I could not care less about dating rockstars, in fact before all this the idea of dating a rockstar would have never crossed my māā
āStevieā Robin cut her off āif anyone seems desperate right now, itās him. It aināt you, nobody in their right mind could think it was you. You were just doing your own damn thing and he cringe-failed so hard he broke the internet. Listenā¦ you donāt have to do shit, EVEN IF Dustin is telling you to. Dustin doesnāt know everything.ā Stevie bit her bottom lip in pensive thought, Robin on the other end of the video call stuffed another French fry into her mouth before asking, ādo you want to though? Thatās the important thing, do you want to?ā
āI donāt KNOW, thatās the problem. Itās niceā¦ I guessā¦ to be wanted, but itās not just about me anymore.ā It was about Rosie. Stevieās life wouldnāt be the only life impacted if she took that chance. Maybe if she were younger, maybe if she didnāt have Rosie things would be different, maybe sheād have been wild and jumped at it, but she had Rosie, and Rosie mattered way more to her than anything a stranger on the internet could give her.
āItās a little bit about you, Stevie, and itās okay to let it be about you. Youāve spent literal years putting yourself on the back burner, even Mike got hitched before you, like who called that?ā Nobody. Nobody called that, even though he and Will had been dancing around each other since kindergarten, nobody would have called that. āWe both know Billy wouldnāt have wanted you to be on your own like this either.ā
āWhat if heās weird about Rosie?ā
āThen he hits the road, simple. I heard heās good with kids though.ā Stevie offered a look, a simple unimpressed raised brow āWhaaatt, okay fine I looked him up when I saw it all blowing up, call it me doing my sisterly duty. Heās weird, but in a harmless opossum kind a way, yāknow? Like he probably scampers or something.ā
āWhat about likeā¦ drugsā¦ alcoholā¦ shit I donāt want around Rosie?ā
āAccording to his Wiki page, the whole band an issue with addiction in the early days, toxic music label, it was a huge legal mess, they all went to rehab, cut their old label an theyāve all been clean and sober since. Knowing you, like I doā¦ I really do think youād like him, and Rosie would love him too, Heās veryā¦ I dunnoā¦ā
Vickie, Robinās fiancĆ©e, chose that exact moment to shove her face into view of the camera to announce, āHeās like a mix between Billy and Dustin, a suuuper-hot, but a huge nerd, youād like him, definitely.ā
A weird mix of Billy and Dustin. What a wild mental image.
āSo youāre both on Dustinās side then. I should message him?ā
āItās not our place to tell you what to doā Robin shrugged, she couldnāt tell her what to do, but she could offer a helpful suggestion of āmaybe ask Rosie, sheās the only reason youāre hesitating and sheās old enough now to at least have an opinion, right?ā Stevie looked toward the living room, where the glow of the TV bounced off the walls, Rosieās laughter echoing from the other room.
āShe already knows somethings up, Stevie, kids talk in schoolā Vickie reminded them āand Eddieāsā¦ pretty famous, Corroded Coffin arenāt exactly unknown, an youāre not exactly unknown online either, someoneās bound to have mentioned it to her by now.ā If the kids hadnāt, Dustin probably would eventually just to get her on his side before Stevie could get her on hers.
āFine. But if this all blows up in my face, iām revoking both your lunch privileges, for life.ā
āWhat?! Nāā Stevie cut their unison attempt to argue off with a well-timed click of the end call button, put her phone face down on the island top so she could ignore the incessant buzzing of them attempting to dial back, and made her way to the living room, where someone just face planted into a lovely pool of mud on the TV. Good ol gameshow night.
āRosieā¦?ā No time like the present. āCan we talk?ā
It wasnāt often that Stevie interrupted gameshow night, usually theyād be watching it together, but Stevie had had other things on her mind, other much more pressing things that people didnāt seem to want to let die.
She was prepared to let them die, let this be a weird story of her āyouthā that sheād remember some day in a nursing home, a story nobody would believe but sheād swear blind happened!
A rockstar thought she was hot enough to send the internet into a meltdown one time. It happened, she swore it!
It wouldnāt die though. Not until she either told everyone to drop it, or entertained it.
āSure, but uhmā¦ if this is about the Eddie Munson thingāā she turned away from the TV to look at her mom āUncle Dusty warned me about it way in advance, got me just before school started this morning.ā Probably saved her from being ambushed about it by the kids at school. āItās cool! Heās really cool, I mean, heās super weird, huge nerd butā¦ he seems niceā
Meddling little shit. Stevie took a breath, accepted this information, decided to deal with it later, and just powered through. āAnd you donāt think itās unrealistic for everyone to think this is real?ā
āItās definitely real, mom. Uncle Dusty found his private account on your followers list, heās been following you for aaaaaages,ā
āMost people call that stalking.ā How did Dustin even find it among the mass of others? Had Eddie been that obvious? Or was Dustin just that good?
āIn the old days maybe! Itās almost romantic nowadays. You should message him, before Uncle Dusty does, cause he will. We both know he will.ā Dustin had been uncomfortably absent all day since bursting in without warning. Stevie hadnāt even thought of it as a red flag until Rosie mentioned it ought to be. āItās time, mom. Itās okay.ā
āYouāre really okay with it? Itās not crazy?ā
āOh, itās SUPER crazy, but itās a cool crazy, my momās gonna date thee Eddie Munson cause he begged you to, itās the best kind of nuts, I wonder if heād teach me how to play guitarā¦ā
Had Eddie Munson actually asked anyone before he opened those DMās, anyone at all, because he didnāt really consult the band as to what he was going to DO on the band's accounts, theyād have probably told him not to do that.
And theyād have been correct!
Because everyone and their mother, and even some fathers, decided to shoot a shot they never had!
He didnāt just get one DM, no, he gotā¦ many. Many. People messaged asking for autographs, merch, people asked for tickets, some offered themselves if Stevie didnāt message, some offered to DRESS UP as Stevie for him, a few went with Eddieās own plan simply messaging with a plea for just ONE chance for themselves.
For hours. Hours. He scrolled through those messages.
Sure, he could have gotten someone to do it for him, but heād done everything else on the account by himself, so heād tackle the DMs too. Heād delete them, one by one, everything that wasnāt relevant to his quest, making sure to view each one, even if they did surprise him in their creativity, because what if she had a private account like he did? What if she actually recognised her popularity and created a tiny incognito safe haven from it all like he did?
She didnāt though.
She didnāt have one.
She didnāt need one.
At least that was what he gathered at the end of the long list of DMs, she didnāt have a private, she just had her main one, and she hadnāt sent him anything from it.
He knew it was a long shot, he could have had all the fame and fortune in the world, it wouldnāt matter if she wasnāt interested in it all and she clearly didnāt seem to be if what Chrissy had said was true. She didnāt do sponsored posts; she wasnāt aiming for fame and fortune. She lived a comfortable life with her kid, and just happened to be popular on the internet.
She didnāt owe him anything, he didnāt deserve an answer, heā
Bzzt-bzzt
He snatched his phone right back up lightning fast, swiped down the notifications bar, and with wide eyes read the first line of the message heād been sent,
āPLEASE HEAR ME OUT IāM STEVIEāS BROTHER, DUSTIN.ā
Eddie wasnāt about to claim Stevie didnāt have a brother. He didnāt know if Stevie had a brother, just that Stevie had a sister because the sister, Robin, had turned up in a video once, bursting in on a live in the early days to accidentally announce to the world that āVickieā was now single.
It could be a trick, it could be a way in, it could be literally anything, what Eddie knew for sure though, was that it was the closest heād gotten to potentially speaking to Stevie.
So, he did the only thing he could think of.
He replied, āprove it.ā
The reply came through quickly, almost like this mysterious brother was waiting by the phone in hopes Eddie would be there to receive his message. It was a photo of a polaroid. Grainy as it was, it was clearly a younger, frankly stunning Stevie with a barely-there baby bump, reaching back to a guy who was leaning over her with a ridiculously stacked sandwich, she looked happy, she looked lovestruck, she glowed, and for a moment, jealousy struck him as if he were some childish teenager.
This was likely her childās father, the one who was no longer in the picture for some unknown reason. Sheād never disclosed why. He looked happy too though soā¦ there were more questions than answers at that point.
Plus, the Polaroid had a scrawled āStevie domesticated Satanā on the white part with a little devil face so, many questions, very few answers.
With the image, however, came the caption āI took this when she was pregnant with Rosie, itās the last photo we have of Billy, Rosieās dad.ā
Rosieā¦ Stevie had a little girl.
Another photo followed, this one of Stevie and a younger boy with curly hair, the kid all dressed up in a brown suit, hair done up to the nines, probably for some kind of party. No pregnancy in sight, they were both beaming at the camera, the kid with an awful lot of metal in his mouth but, adorable. The Polaroid had āSnowball!!!ā scribbled on the white part, followed by a message reading āmy mom took tons of photos of us for the Snowball dance back when I was in middle school, Stevie helped me do my hairā so the kid was supposed to be this ābrotherā of hers.
A final photo was sent, this one clearer, obviously taken on a phone of what looked like a grade graduation ceremony, a more recent image of Stevie, with her daughter, and an older version of the kid from the snowball picture. Captioned with the message āonly family could get so many family pictures!āĀ
The next message came through without a photo āweāre not related by birth, she was my babysitter for years before circumstances got her adopted by my mom. Iām oversharing a lot and sheās probably gonna kick my ass for it BUT I think sheād like you if she gave you a chance so Iām building a bridge of communication!ā
Oh yeah, this guy had meddling little brother energy for days.
Eddie quickly typed back, āthanks for your vote of confidence, man but she isnāt giving me a chance here, you are, itās not up to anyone but her.ā
Typingātypingātyyyyyping āshe just doesnāt know you, an sheās hesitating cause of Rosie, I could probably get you a meet up though!ā
āWhat like, ambushing her in the wild?ā
āItād work!ā
āSounds like itād get me slapped by both her, and a restraining order an neither are good for my public image, or my feelings.ā He then quickly added, before āDustinā could argue āListen dude as much as I appreciate this, an I do, Iām real touched by your approval, it means the world to me, at the end of the day, itās up to her. You canāt make this decision for her, alright?ā
The typing stopped, then started again, and then stopped. Then finally āfine, but can you leave your DMs open for a little longer? Sheās got Rosie to consider so she may just need to think about it a bit longer.ā
āDeal.ā Heād leave them open for one more day, after that heād just have to accept the loss, accept that she didnāt want him, cause she sure as shit didnāt need him, and move on with his life.
Dustin sent him one last emoji, a little salute, and that was that for the rest of the night. There were a few more pings, opportunists, but nothing from the person who mattered most. He deleted them, switched his phone to silent, and took his disappointed little self to bed.
It wasnāt that late but, he was done for the day.
He was tired.
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Just ONE chance | Part 1
Eddie Munson was only certain about one thing in his life, and that was that it was supposed to end in his twenties.
But it didnāt.
Thanks to a very dedicated swimsuit model with first aid training, a kick up the backside from Wayne, and a solid year long stint in rehab, Eddie Munson did not die at 23 years of age, when he fell, system full of drugs, into a pool head first from the pool house roof and didnāt QUITE stick the landing.
His head hit the edge of the pool, dyed the water a sickly red.
He still had the scar, he knew he was infinitely lucky that that was ALL he had, but that scar remained forever, buried beneath the mass of curls atop his head where theyād had to operate to reduce the swelling. A terrifying reminder that life was fleeting, and fragile, and god he could have died.
He could have wound up paralyzed, he could have wound up permanently disabled needing round the clock care, could have wound up as ANYTHING but perfectly healthy. Doctors said he must have had some kind of exhausted guardian angel looking out for him because a miracle was really all they had to describe it as.
Eddie gave a toast of apple juice to the terribly drab ceiling of his private hospital room, thanked his mother whoād long since passed for her life saving help because honestly who else would it have been, and then, after that kick up the backside from Wayne, not that it was needed but it was appreciated, he proceeded to fix his life.
Of course, the rockstar life wasnāt easily fixed, but he was a man on a mission. A man with a life he realised that he actually wanted to live.
Corroded Coffin hit fame early, they struck what initially appeared to be gold at some back ally dive bar in Indy, a guy, a fancy embossed business card, a label, words of promise like roses hiding thorns. It was all flashing lights and good times at first. They were thrust upon massive stages to crowds mostly paid to be there to make it look āpacked,ā label never told them that, theyād told them theyād put their material out on the air and people had responded well, half-truths really. They had gotten the music out there, but the people hadnāt really come until those packed venues hit the magazines.
Everyone wanted to be part of the next big thing. The up and coming next big name in the music industry, already selling out shows!
They were stars, they were famous, they were puppets on strings being pulled this way and that, given alcohol and drugs and thrust into the limelight to dance a jig thatād keep them relevant, not for their music but for their mess.
How very entertaining a human can be when theyāre not fully coherent, when they exist purely to make a mess of themselves.
Heād lost himself, his bandmates lost themselves, and only through him not dying did they finally realise that somewhere along the way things had gone so terribly wrong, only then did they finally realise that those perfumed words said in a dank bar back in Indy those years ago, were just well masked poison all along.
They spent two years of their lives after Eddie emerged from Rehab, two years and frankly way too much of the money theyād risked their very lives to earn, to free themselves from the web of legal bullshit their label had ensnared them in.
But they were free. Sure, some of their old material was lost, claimed by their old label, but a quick rerecord, few changes here and there and a solid re-release under their own, self-made label, Corroded Records, well. They werenāt too worried about the future after that. Sure, their old label attempted to slander them online, tried to spread awareness of how theyād paid their earlier audiences to attend shows, but the real fans didnāt care.
The real fans hit back just as hard.
Used that fancy lil internet gizmo everyone now seemed to have to spread awareness on the frankly abhorrent practices their old label had engaged in, practices they hadnāt only used on Corroded Coffin, but several other smaller, younger, vulnerable members of the entertainment industry.
It was a long hard slog to the top full of pains, addictions, rehabilitations, and recoveries. But finally, they had their footing. They were making new music. They were comfortable. They were happy.
It was a brand new, quickly evolving world, and thanks to those new world advancements, thanks to home computers, laptops, smart phones, tabletsā¦ the internet, they very quickly found they had a way to get their creations out to everyone from the comforts of a Ā home studios while they figured themselves out post nightmare. Dove into their roots, rediscovered themselves, thrived.
But survival didnāt come without its downsides.
Eddie Munsonā¦ hadnāt died at 23 years of age, but that didnāt mean heād gotten to live straight away afterwards. Even as a clean and sober man, there were things he hadnāt done, things thatād justā¦ taken a back seat on the list of priorities while the years had ticked on by during their long haul trek to creative freedom.
Life had taken a backseat. For him at least.
Gareth had found himself a girlfriend, and now fiancĆ©e in a girl theyād known of back in high school, but had only recently reconnected after they found out she was a back up dancer in one of their new music videos. Once Head Cheerleader, now professional dancer Chrissy Cunningham, the reunion had been adorable, and aired on TV in ābehind the scenesā footage.
Jeff had had an ongoing thing with the backup drummer theyād taken up at a gig when Gareth had broken his arm a few years back. Never having been able to talk about it publicly thanks to their old label.
And Dougie was engaged, fell ass over tit for their lawyers assistant, thankfully it was mutual. Their relationship was a whirlwind but soulmates were supposed to be like that.
Eddie was thrilled for them all, really he was but no matter how much heād realised heād wanted to LIVE after nearly dyingā¦ he still hadnāt really lived at all. He was still justā¦ Eddie Munson, now thirty something rockstar. Single, sober, and honestly kind of sad.
So sue him if he watched a few slice of life things on the internet every now and then.
The bands accounts were thriving nicely with him at the helm, he got the hang of itquickly enough, adapted well as the technologies advanced, so much so that people accurately guessed very early on that it was him running the channel himself, rather than a social media professional. It was a nice distraction! Kept him busy, allowed him to watch silly little videos and find the occasional fan being adorable in their mentions, he loved his band accounts.
But his private account was his favourite.
Because of her.
Heād found her videos on the camera app within a few hours of signing up the bands account, and very quickly made a private one just to follow hers.
Was it weird? Was it a little stalkerish? From the experience could he possibly understand where some of his own fans were coming from when they stalked the bands socials? All of the above, yes.
But heād found a goddess on his very first real adventure into the internet. He figured he ought to be cut some slack!
Stevie was her name, or Stephanie, but she never went by Stephanie. He found out very quickly that she was a mother through her morning makeup videos where she ranted about PTA mothers, from what he heard, Sally was evil and her potato salad was garbage.
He would have been more than happy to just watch. He followed the account on his private one very early on, and heād have been content to just simply watch, swoon in silence, appreciate every little mole he could see on her without ever doing anything about it. Heād had crushes as a kid, he wasnāt a stranger to unrequited attraction, or even completely one sided attraction cause the other person didnāt know you exist, so it didnāt matter to him that she would never really know he existed.
He didnāt even comment on her videos. Liked them sometimes, but heād never commented. Even on the one where she let slip that sheād been single for a while. He remained respectful.
That wasā¦ until the lunch videos.
Specifically, the little teddy bear thing she did with the rice.
He didnāt know what it was about that specific video, heād watched a few of her cute lunch videos before, the sushi was adorable although not to Eddieās taste, the ramen pots? Genius, Eddie had even tried to do that himself a few times, although the āsoupā never tasted half as good as hers looked like it would be, the little fruit animals? He actually, for a moment, genuinely wanted to eat fruit!
But he still kept his words to himself.
But that little teddy bearā¦ nestled in a cushion of healthy greens with a small pot of home-made sauce on the side, it hit Eddie in a way he couldnāt really explain, he wanted that. Wanted someone who loved so hard that they went out of their way to make cute lunches for the person they loved the most. He wantedā¦ the domesticity of it all. She didnāt just have what he wanted. A life. A lived life. She was what he wanted.
Everything about her, that he knew at least, that she was smart, creative, full of love, beautiful, but also pretty damn feisty if her inspired rants about Sally and her potato salad were anything to go by. He wanted her.
He typed a comment, hit send, closed the app, and turned off his phone. Certain that that would be it, sheād ignore his personal account, as she ignored everyone else, heād get the urge out of his system, heād feel sad for a little while after the inevitable ignoring, and all would be well.
If only heād have just looked at the account he was on, before he pressed send.
Maybe itād have protected his poor front door from the abuse it suffered a few hours later when Dougie finally realised he was at home, because really out of all four of them, Dougie really was the only one with the solid arm strength to really beat the shit out of his front door.
āEDDIE, OPEN THE DAMN DOOR!ā Or the vocals to reach him all the way up in his bedroom where heād very maturely burritoed himself after turning his phone off.
Itād been up for hours. Had he not turned his phone off, heād have known immediately, because it wouldnāt have shut up, there were over fifty thousand likes on his comment already, over six thousand replies to it.
And the first video on his for you page was someone REACTING to it.
There were screenshots circulating. Stevie hadnāt replied to it, everyone ELSE had, but she hadnāt, deleting it wouldnāt do anything, but he did it anyway. The damage was done, the spotlight was lit and aimed. It was only when the others managed to get to his place and get him seated on his comfy couch, that he finally asked the most important question. āWhat should I do?ā
āWellā¦ we could blame an imaginary social media guyā Gareth offered, already expecting the following, ātell everyone it was just an oopsie?ā
āNah, everyone knows Eddie mans the accountā from Jeff. āMaybe we justā¦ silent treatment it, let it blow over?ā
āThatās not exactly fair on Stevie though, is it?ā Chrissy piped up from where sheād perched herself on the arm of the chair Gareth was sat on. āSheās been thrown into the spotlight here and some of your fans can be kindaā¦ intense.ā
āSheās an influencer though, being in the spotlight is like her job.ā
āUh, no, Dougie. Sheās not.ā Chrissy argued ānothing she does is sponsored, sheās justā¦ popular, and Eddieās just given her a lot of unwanted attention. Eddieā¦ you really should address it. Either say you were joking if you were, orā¦ I dunno, own it. Be serious about it.ā
āWere you joking?ā Jeff stepped a little closer, into Eddieās space, crouching down a little to his level. āWas this just little Eddie talking? Orāor were you serious? Like, sheās hot, donāt get me wrongāā
Gareth snorted, cutting him off āyou think sheās hot?ā
āIām gay, Gare, Iām not blind. Eddie?ā
āā¦An if I were serious? Would that be okay? I could hear a but before Garebear interrupted.ā
āBut, she does have a kid, right? She comes with a real little human being, kids are fragile, impressionable, opinionated, and rockstar lives arenāt kid friendly most of the timeā¦ I know weāve cooled it down, and I know youāre great with kids, Ed butā¦ are you prepared to likeā¦ have one? Like a whole āthis is one I made earlierā little kid with its own pre-built personality that youāve made zero contributions to?ā
āI made zero contributions to you shits too and yet you turned out alrightā Eddie sniped right back, a little more defensive than he really had any right to be. āIf it werenāt for me hunting this lil chubby cheeked fuck down after his first hellfire he wouldnāt even be here!ā Eddie motioned to Gareth, who squawked in objection
āHey! Iām neutral here leave me out of it!ā
āDo you not think I could take care of one?ā Eddie ignored Gareth completely, eyes on Jeff, who shook his head without any offense taken from the outburst.
āI think youād be great at it, Iām pretty sure youād be like, the first choice for godfather if any of us had kids, but Iām asking youā¦ are you prepared to take one on right now, even if they might not like you very much at first, if sheās interested? Because that kid will come with her, thereās no ignoring that.ā
He didnāt even have to think about it. Even though the godfather thing was something heād undoubtedly circle back to later, his answer was an instant āYes.ā
āThen own it. You have our support to use the account to make a public statement, however you choose. See where it gets you.ā
His public statement was a picture, a black square with big white writing on it. Just a big ol āWHOOPSā, captioned āI regret nothing. Just ONE chance, sweetheart, just one.ā And then he opened their DMās in the hopes that maybe.
Just maybe.
Sheād message.
Part 3
#Piratewrites#justonechancefictlet#Part 2 of 4#minor Gareth/Chrissy#Eddie putting a lot of faith in a 'whoopsiieee teehee' right there
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