#sad steve

[severitus812]

[stevesbipanic]

Steve has days where he'll unplug the receiver.

It will be the only time he gets out of bed. He'll wake up, feel the heavy weight pressing down on his chest, sigh, slowly walk downstairs, unplug the phone, even slower walk back up, and crawl back into bed.

He unplugs the phone, but at least then his friends know he's alive. Steve always answers the phone, it's more worrying to hear the voicemail machine than a disconnected phone. At least if it's disconnected they know what to expect. They're used to it by now.

Steve has these days.

Too many years fighting horrors.

Too many years alone in his empty home.

Too many years pushing it all down.

Now that all that's over his brain catches up. No dangers to push it away, no adrenaline to keep him going. So he just lays on bed. Let the weight of everything sink into him. Sometimes he's not even sure he's thinking. He doesn't really know how much time passes, but his friends do.

They always give him a day. A day to lay and sit in the quiet and process and wallow and feel and not feel. They give him a day of mourning and weight and guilt. They give him a day, and then they come.

Robin always comes first. No one will ever be more important than her, not even Dustin, not even Eddie. Robin let's herself in with the key she got after Starcourt. She goes to the kitchen, puts away the dishes left to dry and heats up some soup. The soup isn't always eaten, but it's a good gauge on the rest of the timeline. She'll carry the soup upstairs, placing it carefully on his bedside table and will sit with him.

She'll softly card her fingers through his hair, no words are needed yet, Steve just needs to know that she's here, that it's time to come back to them. On good days, he'll sit up, quietly eat his soup and lean against Robin while she tells him about the day he missed. On bad days, the soup goes cold, the only movement Robin receives is a soft push of Steve's head into her hands, and the room stays quiet. No matter the day, when it's time, she goes downstairs, washes out the bowl, plugs in the phone and calls Eddie.

Eddie spends the morning of the second day waiting by the phone, he knew what was happening, this isn't the first time it's happened since he joined their little group, not even the first time since he started dating Steve. The first time had been horrible, tears and confusion and hurt for Steve. Now Eddie knew what to do, when he got the call he'd come.

On good days, Eddie will come up the stairs, smile at Steve and get the ghost of a smile back, hell lay down with Steve and whisper loving words to him until Steve gains the strength back to tighten his hold on Eddie. On bad days, Steve won't meet his eyes, hell lay with Steve, sharing air and just hoping it helps.

On the best days, Robin and Eddie get to call the kids. They come over and Steve smiles at them and they all loudly tell Steve about their days and what their plans are. They'll manage to drag Steve out of bed down to the loving room, dogpiling onto the couch, surrounding Steve with warmth and love and watch a movie late into the night. On these days, Steve will wake up to Dustin's drool on his shirt and smile and everything will be ok.

On the worst days, Steve doesn't eat, Steve doesn't drink, Steve barely even sleeps. He just lays there, existing. Robin will try and get him to drink something, Eddie will offer to read to him, they'll softly play his favourite tapes and just let Steve know they're there. On these days, Steve doesn't wake up smiling. On these days, the days turn into a week. On these days, his friends wait and wait and wait, hoping that Steve comes back.

Steve always comes back. As long as the phone gets disconnected Steve is still there. Steve is still sending them the message, saying "hey, I'm here, I'm not ok, but I'm here." Steve always comes back, so they just wait and hope that he always will.

[steddie-luvr]

just some angst and heartbreak that i was thinking of,,,

steve’s brain is throwing him for a loop (his dad has a cement hold on him from when he was little) and has been for months, telling himself that he’s not good enough/doesn’t deserve to love somebody, that no one can love him, that his dad would kill him if he found out he was dating the town freak, let alone a boy, that eddie will find someone to give him the care and love he deserves, that it won’t come from someone who has battles within himself everyday because why would his brain lie to him?

steve knocking on eddie’s trailer door and saying in the most care-free, condescending, heart-breaking tone of voice ever that he’s breaking up with him & that he doesn’t love him anymore.

that couldn’t be further from the damn truth; he was pacing in his room before he came over and running his hands furiously through his hair, wondering how he’d be able to say something so detrimental and make it sound real.

eddie thinks steve is joking at first. he gives a chuckle and rolls his eyes, but his brows furrow and his face drops when steve doesn’t laugh.

“you are joking, right? because i don’t think i can handle it if you weren’t”

steve stays silent and leans against the threshold of eddie’s front door with his arms crossed in front of his chest.

he doesn’t say anything and just looks down at his feet.

eddie’s brain is going a million miles a minute. he turns around and starts pacing the living room. his biggest fear is coming true, the person he loves being done with him, over him. like he’s a christmas present that hit it’s two-week mark. throwing him away like they’ve gotten their use out of him.

“so that’s it, huh? you’ve just fallen out of love with me, is that it?”

steve stays silent.

“because i don’t believe that for a second.” eddie’s voice breaks at the last word. “if it’s me, i’m sorry. i’m so sorry. i’ll fix whatever i did wrong. i can’t lose you, steve.” eddie’s begging, pleading. he’s hysterical.

steve just closes his eyes tightly, not being able to look at the man who’s heart he just shattered.

eddie raises his arms and places his hands on top of his head, face twisting up in such heartbreak. “no. no, don’t do this to me.” he fucking whispers. so pathetically, so broken.

steve opens his eyes, wet with tears.

“i know. i’m sorry.” he’s straight faced, barely looks at him for longer than a second.

“please, steve. i know you still love me. you do. lie to me. do something. you can’t do this to me.” eddie steps closer to him, tips of shoes touching tips of shoes.

steve steps back. eddie’s heart shatters into even smaller pieces than before.

he readjusts himself and pulls out his wallet. he opens it and pulls out the very first Polaroid they took together after they started dating two and a half years ago.

“here, i don’t want it. keep it” he hands it to eddie and shows no emotion, like he’d rather be somewhere else, like he was forced to be here almost. the facade must be working because eddie doesn’t see how he’s two damn seconds away from crumbling to the ground and hugging the other man’s jean-covered legs.

eddie just looks at him. stares at him disbelief because how the fuck is this real life right now?

eddie softly grabs the picture from steve’s fingers.

“i don’t… steve, please. i don’t- c’mon man. please.” his words are wet, his throat is thick, the tears won’t stop streaming.

steve just shakes his head twice.

“you, uh… take care of yourself. i’ll… i’ll see you around.” he turns around and walks down the two damn steps of eddie’s trailer.

walks away with eddie’s heart in his back pocket.

eddie’s still in shock. he blindly watches as steve pulls out of the dirt patch in front of his trailer, and drives off quickly.

it isn’t until he hears himself close the front door that he processes what just happened. he turns around slowly and leans against the door, eventually sliding down it. he just starts screaming. screaming as loud as he can. screams just like that day in the upside down, thinking that that was finally the end.

wishes it was so that he didn’t have to deal with this.

he wraps his arms around himself and just screams and cries and wails. so many thoughts run through his head.

he falls asleep against the door, his arms wrapped around himself, legs tugged up under his chin, tear stained cheeks, his broken heart walking around in steve’s back pocket.

[hellcheerficdatabase]

Enough

Author: Foxface3

Rating/Warning: General

Chapter Count: 1/1

Description: Eddie gets a little sick of Steve's pining on graduation night.

Tags: Alternate Universe- canon divergence, post vecna, Eddie and Chrissy being insufferable, angst, wise Eddie Munson, sad Steve, happy ending, outside POV, one-shot, status: Completed

[chloesimaginationthings]

William Afton winning that “idgaf” award in FNAF

[tubesock86]

my comfort characters for real

[morganbritton132]

Eddie ended his live-stream by not ending it at all. He just picked up his phone, put it in his pocket, and then sat his phone flat on his nightstand.

So for any viewers still watching , you get to stare at the ceiling while Steve and Eddie get ready for bed.

They’re quiet. Clearly both tired. Occasionally you’ll hear a yawn as they settle into bed and at one point Eddie mentions he doesn’t want to cuddle because he’s hot, and then nothing for ten minutes.

Steve: I wish we knew each other sooner.

Eddie: We’ve known each other a pretty long time, babe.

Steve: I know…just wish it was longer.

Eddie: It will be. Got a long future ahead of us.

Steve: Yeah.

Steve: Just don’t know how much of me is gonna be there.

Eddie, serious: Hey, what’s going on? What are you talking about?

Steve: …I don’t know. Feels like things are getting harder. I walked into the kitchen three times today and couldn’t remember why I went in there.

Eddie: That’s normal.

Steve: Is it? I forget my lunch one day and then it’s our anniversary, and then I don’t know who Robin is and you’re stuck in a life having to take-

Eddie: Hey! We’re not doing that. Don’t catastrophize tomorrow. Anything could happen tomorrow, no point worrying about it.

Steve: I know, but-

Eddie: And don’t ever imply that it would be a burden to me to take care of you, got it?

Steve:

Eddie: I need an ‘okay, Eddie.’

Steve: Okay, Eddie

Eddie: Good, c’mere. In what universe are you forgetting Robin?

[meidui]

steve not taking care of himself in ways that are basically self harm but no one knows because of his healing factor

he'll ignore wounds on purpose and that would get most people infected, but he heals faster than the baseline human and is immune to disease so no one bats an eye when he skips medical again

he drinks enough high proof liquor to give the baseline human alcohol poisoning ten times over but no one thinks he has a drinking problem because they think he can't get drunk, but it's not that he can't get drunk, his body just processes alcohol more efficiently

he's in the gym too much but everyone brushes it off because of course cap is a gym rat, he's an avenger so of course he has to train, he has to keep up with the job somehow, no he's not over-exerting himself, he'll be fine, he's a supersoldier.

[stervrucht]

[kennahjune]

ALRIGHT BUT

I’ve been having flustered Steve thoughts.

The Party has NEVER seen Steve flustered. Steve’s always the one flirting and no one ever flirts back anymore so Steve’s never actually flustered.

But then Eddie Munson comes slithering along and he flirts with everyone just cause he can but nobody’s flustered by his attempts because he’s not trying to actually fluster them.

But for some reason he really flusters Steve.

Eddie uses this to his advantage and actually puts forth effort when he flirts with Steve.

Steve is flustered, bashful, embarrassed. He’s twirling his hair and giggling and he does this thing where he taps his fingernails on his front teeth when he gets distracted.

The Party was NEVER seen Steve like this.

Not even Nancy when they were dating.

Steve has described what he was like when he was flustered to them, calling himself stupid and saying he acted like an idiot to try and get them to just lay off.

All anyone sees is an absolute sweetheart.

Steve blushes really bright, starting with his ears and it just travels down from there. And also he’s really bad at hiding his smiles and he smiles so BIG when Eddie flirts with him. Like you can see every tooth and his eyes crinkle so much they basically close and his nose scrunches up.

And Eddie fucking THRIVES in it.

Because NO ONE else gets Steve like that.

Eddie’s witnessed Steve flirting with the girls of Hawkins. Has seen them all flirt back with varying degrees of bluntness.

None of them have gotten Steve nearly half as flustered as Eddie has.

UNTIL.

Eddie has Steve come over to the trailer to hang out. Steve by some turn of events ends up cooking and making grilled cheese and tomato soup.

Wayne comes home right as Steve is playing everything and Steve is DISTRAUGHT. Like “no Wayne it’s alright, really. I can make you some to it’s ok I like cooking you’re really doing me a favor.”

So Steve makes Wayne a grilled cheese to and refuses to let Eddie eat until they can eat together.

So they’re all sitting and then they start eating. And obviously it was a damn good grilled cheese— Eddie knew Steve could cook but good GOD.

And then Wayne puts his grilled cheese down, looks between Steve and Eddie, and tells Eddie “If you don’t marry ‘im I’m adoptin ‘im.”

And Steve BEAMS.

It’s that same smile he gets when Eddie flirts with him and Eddie is only somewhat livid.

Cause he totally gets the rush of having Wayne compliment you for the first time. He’s just such an honest man.

And it goes from there that the only people who can fluster Steve are Eddie and Wayne (Eddie romantically and Wayne platonic-fatherly).

They both go out of their way to compliment him constantly just to see him smile like that :)))

Aaahhhhh this makes me so happy!!!!

[hairmetal666]

Wayne's used to worrying about Eddie. He should be; he's been doing it since the kid was twelve. First it was Eddie's silence, his permanent frown, the way the bones stood out too prominent on his small wrists. Then it was the kids at school, taunting him and calling him names, the fights and calls from the principal's office. Next came the late nights, the drinking, the dealing, failing his senior year twice. But all of those times, every single one, Wayne had known what to do. Maybe it wasn't perfect, maybe it took a little time, but he'd always figured out exactly what his boy needed.

And now--now Wayne doesn't know if he can help; knows it's not in his power to fix it. 

So, he sits for the second week in a row, watching his nephew--his whole heart--sitting in front of the window, looking out at the forest, nursing the same cup of coffee that he poured six hours ago, and wonders how in the world he can help.

They're cleaning up from dinner, Eddie quiet at his side, when he says, "Gonna need some help with the mugs tomorrow."

After moving to Oregon once Eddie graduated and he retired, he found an affinity for pottery. Never woulda thought it, but he loves it and tourists love his booth at the farmers market.

He can't think of a better way to get his nephew out of the house, but wonders if he doesn't know his boy as well as he thinks after a decade in Los Angeles, that Eddie'll refuse. He just nods, though, goes back to drying the plate in his hands.

And next morning, right at 6:45, Eddie is in the living room in black jeans that are so worn they're nearly grey in places, and the threadbare Metallica tee Wayne thrifted for him nearly a decade back. It's a win. Small, yes--Eddie doesn't even complain once about the country-western station Wayne plays in the truck--but still a step forward.

Wayne wastes no time parking and handing Eddie a box of carefully packed merchandise. He leads the way, trusts that Eddie is right on his heels until he hears Jim Hopper's voice say, "You better keep an eye on those mugs, son. Your uncle will tan your hide."

He turns to see Hopper balancing one end of Eddie's box, Eddie's cheeks flushed pink. "Sorry, I--uh, I've got it now." Hopper lets go and for the briefest instant Eddie's eyes dart to the side and the pink in his cheeks grows deeper.

Wayne tracks the path Eddie's eyes took and finds--he swallows back a chuckle--Steve Harrington just setting one of his Adirondack chairs into place, his t-shirt lifted to show of a stretch of stomach.

Well. Eddie did always like the pretty ones.

They setup the booth in companionable silence, and Hopper pops back over for a proper introduction. Before he departs again, he says to Eddie, "I got some kids who really love that dnd game and your show. They're going to be crazy to meet you. That okay?"

And Eddie, he's a good boy, he smiles and nods but as soon as Hopper is out of earshot, Wayne's saying, "Hop's kids and their friends are big fans and I know you're heartsore about the cancellation, but you better be polite."

Eddie glares. "What do you think, old man, that I'll be mean to children?"

"Well, with how you've been moping around the cabin these last few weeks, hard to know."

He scoffs. "Yeah, well. Netflix putting your hit show on indefinite hiatus without warning or explanation will do that to a guy."

Wayne knows there's nothing he can say to soften this hurt, so he gives Eddie's shoulder a tight squeeze. "I'm proud of you no matter what, son."

His nephew nods, eyes down, but Wayne doesn't miss the small, pleased, lift at the corner of his lips.

The morning passes smoothly and Wayne pretends he doesn't notice every time he finds Eddie's gaze straying to Steve's booth.

The kids come by around noon, Dustin Henderson breaking away from the pack to shriek, "You're Eddie Munson!"

Eddie smiles, stands. "That I am, young adventurer." He bows low, exaggerated and the kids giggle. "Pray tell, what are your names?"

The chatter is fast and easy, Eddie the happiest he's been in weeks, and Wayne relaxes back in his chair, lets out a long, slow breath of relief at the breaking storm. He stretches back in his chair, eyes catching on Steve Harrington across the way. Steve who is watching Eddie and the kids with an expression Wayne can only think of as fond.

Wayne isn't one to play matchmaker, but--he thinks, just maybe, just this once he could nudge.

It happens late in the afternoon, when business has well-slowed, Eddie asking, "Um--that guy over there, who is--what's his deal?"

Wayne thinks he manages to keep all traces of amusement from his face and voice as he answers, "Who? Ohh, Steve Harrington. He's the guidance counselor down at the middle school. Does a bit of carpentry in his free time. Best friends with the woman who owns that little bookstore."

He watches as Eddie processes, as his eyes widen, probably in remembrance of the pride flags and Protect Trans Kids shirts, how the woman in question wore a lesbian flag pin on her apron. "Guidance counselor?" He says eventually. "Kind of a drag."

"You would think, but the kids love him. The ones you met earlier today? He babysat them for years; imprinted on him, Jim and I say."

"Hmm," is the only response he gets, Eddie's attention back on the man in question.

---

The day after the market, Wayne walks into the living room to find Eddie's laptop tucked into the cushions of the window seat. He hasn't seen the thing since Eddie came home, never used to see him without it, and this--well.

He says, "need to run into town for a few things. You up for a trip? You might could stop at that bookstore."

Eddie nods, takes a sip of his coffee--he's actually drinking it-- says, "Yeah. Yeah, I think that'd be cool."

The store isn't busy when they arrive, and Wayne drifts towards the magazines to leave Eddie to his own devices.

Wayne loses himself to quiet browsing, wanting to give Eddie space, to maybe chat with Robin Buckley, strike up the beginnings of a friendship. Enough time passes, though, that Wayne is wondering where his boisterous, noticeable nephew could've disappeared to so silently.

He winds around a shelf and sees Eddie and Steve Harrington in deep conversation. He can't hear it, not really, but they're standing close, with pink in their cheeks. As he watches, Steve says something that makes Eddie laugh and pull a few strands of hair over his mouth.

They're almost inseparable after that. Eddie, Steve, Robin, and all those kids. They play dnd, have movie nights, spend hours at the diner. And Eddie, he's writing, sketching, gets down Wayne's acoustic guitar and plays around for a while.

When he asks how things are with "that Harrington boy," Eddie flushes red and says, "none of your business, old man" before giving Wayne a quick, affectionate squeeze. 

---

Two and a half months after Eddie came to stay, Wayne's walking back from the river, the sky the light navy of new dusk. His fishing rod is draped over one shoulder, tackle box held easily in his fist, the walk home pleasant, a perfect end to a good day.

The light from the front porch seeps through the trees, and he's thinking about a cold beer, a warm pizza, if Eddie's found his way home yet, when figures standing on the porch stop him in his tracks.

It takes a second, longer, for his eyes to adjust from the dark of the woods, and the glow of the bulb, but then he sees--

Eddie and Steve locked in a fierce embrace, desperate and very much private.

He turns right back towards the river, doesn't mind giving the boys some time.

He waits a good half hour, just enjoying the forest, before heading back. Steve's car is gone, the porch vacant, but the cabin is lit up, bright and warm and inviting.

Wayne steps inside, and his nephew is there, laptop open, but he isn't working, just smiling to himself, chin resting on his fist.

"Okay?" Wayne asks.

"Huh? Oh, yeah." Eddie's smile doesn't fall from his face.

He doesn't want to interfere, ask too much, not when he's sure things are still young. Instead, he asks, "What'd you say to ordering a pizza?"

And Eddie, heedless of Wayne's question, says,"you know. I've been thinking about maybe staying here for a little longer."

And Wayne, his smile grows, and he claps a hand on his nephew's shoulder. "You're welcome here for as long as you want. Already consider it your home anyway."

[afewproblems]

Ohhhhhhh, oh man this is so so sad and amazing!!!

"What is..." Robin starts the question, trailing off like always, and Steve waits for her to find out what it was that she wants to know about him now.

This game of 20 questions has been going on for months now and there's not a single person who Steve trusts enough to play it with aside from her. So he gets more comfortable against the wall behind him and waits for her to come up with a question.

"Your biggest fear?"

Easy, he thinks. "Being alone."

She meets his eyes with a frown. "Seriously?"

He nods. "I know you enjoy solitude and all, but me, if you leave me on a desert island with no one to talk to? I would drown myself after a day or so."

"Jesus," she breathes, and yes, it's extreme. He knows. But he can't be alone. He can't. "Guess I better stick around so you don't drown then, huh?"

He smiles and reaches over to take her hand. "Yeah, you better."

****

Months later, Steve is sitting against the wall again, his hand cold and empty.

"I'm drowning, Robs," he whispers into the silence that weighs so heavily on his chest, his lungs barely filling with air anymore as he's trying not to cry.

[matchingbatbites]

Steve "6 kids and a Winnebago" Harrington vs. Eddie "One child is MORE than enough" Munson, who eventually split the difference and agree on 3.

Until Eddie walks in on Steve crying because their youngest has already outgrown her newborn clothes and he didn't know the last time he put her in a cute little outfit that it would actually be the last time.

Not just the last time that she would wear the outfit but the last time they would even need newborn clothes at all, and he wasn't even thinking about that so he missed it, and "She's already so big Eddie, what am I supposed to do?"

It's then that Eddie resigns himself to the fact that they're probably going to have another baby, because he would do anything to keep Steve happy.

[unsteddie]

Steve and Eddie are on again off again for years after the events of st4. It's never too serious, they have basically opposite schedules. Eddie tends bar and plays with his band, existing mostly at night. Steve gets a degree and moves onto being a school counselor, late nights are the bane of his existence. It's easier when they live together, but over the years they've moved in and out of the little place they share with Robin.

Eddie's moved cities a few times, tried living with the band, has been on and off tour. Steve moved back home when his parents divorced for about a year to help his mom out, moved in and usually quickly out with partners. He volunteered a few summers to live in low income rural areas and help with the schools summer programs.

They just never quite get the timing right to try anything other than casual. It's honestly tearing Steve apart, it's been the source of every break up he's had since meeting the man. Eddie however seems entirely unbothered.

Steve knows for a fact he's Eddie's favorite person. Even when Eddie is "seeing" someone else, Eddie's relationships are never serious, he still prefers to spend his time with Steve. He just doesn't get why Eddie doesn't want something real, but he doesn't push, doesn't wanna lose what he has

It's a full decade of this nonsense before the song Quit Playing Games With My Heart by The Backstreet Boys comes out. Steve doesn't really care much about the band, he likes boy band music well enough. It's fun and catchy and danceable. But he's picking Eddie up from the airport, back from a three month stint in LA recording and promoting with the band. And the air is tense as the lyrics spill out of the radio, and it makes Steve feel heavy.

The song ends but he's still pretty misty, it's only ten minutes back to the apartment. He can hold it back, and when they're home he'll just excuse himself and cry quietly on his bed. He's done it plenty of times before, this is no different, he's got this, he's good.

"Stevie?" Eddie asks softly, and his his voice sounds strained, like something's got him worked up too.

Steve can't respond, not with his voice, so he just sort of nods, doesn't look at Eddie, but can feel the weight of Eddie's stare.

"What is it about me that you don't wanna stick around for?" He asks quietly, but there's a solid quality to his tone, like this is a question he's resolved to ask many times, and finally got his nerve up.

Steve doesn't respond for a long time, as pieces slowly move into place. Eddie has always seemed so unaffected, even congratulating Steve when things got serious with someone else. But if he looked closely at Eddie's reactions now, in retrospect, with the way he asked his quiet question, it clicks.

Eddie never liked any of Steve's partners, always gave Steve an out of he needed it, was always a little petty about Steve's ex's after a breakup. The thought that maybe, for all these years, a decade now, they'd been wasting their time keep things casual was just...well it was fucking hilarious. Terrible and heartbreaking, sure. But it kick started ridiculous sounding giggles.

Giggles quickly snowballed into full hysterical laughter. He glanced at Eddie who looked hurt, which was absurd. Steve's laughter became unhinged, and he had to pull off the road. Eddie didn't look hurt anymore when he looked back, he looked furious, and he was wiping his cheeks. Steve hadn't seen tears, but the idea that Eddie was crying over him did nothing to quell the laughter.

The moment the car stopped Eddie threw the door open, and climbed out. Grabbing his duffle from the back seat. He managed to stomp a good distance away before Steve could get himself together enough to chase after him. He was still giggling when he caught up enough to grab the strap of Eddie's bag. He pulled it back hard enough to knock Eddie off balance, and had to reach out to steady him.

"Eddie please," he paused to laugh and catch his breath as Eddie struggled to pull out of his grip. "Please, baby, give me a minute."

Eddie froze at that. They didn't use pet names like that. Nothing so relationship-y. It was enough to make Eddie wait for him. Steve didn't let go though, terrified Eddie might run off without a proper explanation.

He didn't know how to explain it, the years of longing, the way he'd wanted to ask the same question so many times, how he ached for him. He certainly didn't know how to explain his reaction.

"I don't know why it made me laugh like that." He started once he had his breathing under control. "Some stupid pop song-" and he was laughing again because this was stupid. He threw his hands up in frustration, immediately grabbing onto Eddie again when his hands came back down.

"some stupid pop song had me on the brink of tears, because my stupid, broken heart-" more laughter, and Steve was getting really tired of this. "Aches for you, when you've, I guess-" laughter, "been feeling the same way. God Eddie how stupid are we?"

And with that the giggles were gone, his insides had gone suddenly still, and he felt the loss of the time they could have had.

"how long?" Eddie asked, quiet again, he was never this quite. When Steve looked at him now his face was hard to read, tears still brimming in his eyes, but the anger and hurt were gone.

"since the boat house probably, at least since the hospital, for sure. When you woke up and you were cuffed to the bed. The first thing you said was some joke about being flattered they thought you were that dangerous. I knew for sure then, but I think it started in the boat house." Steve flushed, his face hot and pink.

"God, no, that's ..we can't have been feeling the same way so long. Stevie, what have we been doing?" Tears were falling, both men crying on the side of the road, and Eddie was holding onto Steve now too.

"Didn't think you'd want me for real. Didn't think anyone-" Steve coughed around the lump in his throat. "Tried to move on, so many times. Never could, it always came back to you."

And Eddie was suddenly in his arms, weeping, getting tight words out between sobs. "Never. Anything. Compare. No one. Even close. Just you. My Stevie."

"Didn't catch all that sweetheart. You'll have to tell me the rest later." Steve whispered into his ear, and Eddie melted in his arms, nodding emphatically into Steve's shoulder.

The time they waisted sat heavy on Steve's shoulders, but he had Eddie now. Eventually they would joke about it, about pining after each other for a decade before getting thier shit together, but it was gonna hurt for a while still.

[comet-soda-lite]

There are many things to be said about the new Minecraft movie trailer. None of them are good

[morganbritton132]

Eddie, to his Tiktok following: In 1989, i was walking and I accidentally stepped on a butterfly. Steve has never let me forget it.

Eddie: Hey, Stevie. I saw a butterfly today.

Steve: Did you murder it too?