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blasvemous · 1 year ago

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here i have found some peace of mind [chapter four]

Rated E | Steddie

[ FIRST ] [ PREVIOUS ]

The boys figure their nonsense out. I meant to say this in the last update, but I have bandcasted the band Green Lung as "Corroded Coffin" re: their sound and vibe? I have actually made a "setlist" as well! Also!! The transphobia introduced in chapter two is resolved in this chapter ;p CW: There is smut in this chapter! Phone sex to be specific!

[ READ ON AO3 ]

soon as the summer comes, i will step out of time

“Just call him,” Robin groaned, dragging her hands down her face dramatically.

“I can’t,” Steve insisted, picking at the muffin Robin gave him the moment he stepped into Dustin’s office.

It had been three days since Steve had watched the YouTube videos, and he was admittedly miserable.

That night, when it sunk in how Eddie felt for him, Steve had texted Robin, not wanting to interrupt her if she was busy with Nancy.

Steve [sent at 05:02]: u busy? Robbie [sent at 05:03]: dude, we’re getting ready for work. did u even sleep?

Steve hadn’t even realized how long he’d been on Corroded Coffin’s channel, and sure enough his alarm went off a few seconds later. Getting up, he shuffled out into the apartment and found Robin in the kitchen making a coffee.

“Robs,” Steve said, his voice a bit rough with lack of sleep.

Robin turned around and frowned worriedly. “Seriously, Dingus, did you even sleep?”

“Robs, I fucked up,” he said sadly, dropping onto one of the stools at the island and holding his head in his hands.

“Well, yeah, you didn’t sleep,” Robin said nervously, coming around the island to sit next to him.

“No, this,” Steve said, unlocking his phone to play the end of the video he last watched.

Robin blinked down at the phone when the video ended. “Oof,” Robin started slowly before looking at Steve. “I don’t think you fucked up.”

“Robin, did you watch the same video? He was so—and I was so mean!” Steve groaned, crossing his arms on the counter and dropping his head on top of them.

“Okay, listen, yeah you were a bitch, let’s just get that out there. That doesn’t mean you’ve fucked up. You just need to call him and listen to his apology, and then you can decide how you want to move forward,” Robin said, as if it was the easiest thing in the world to do.

And theoretically, it was. The ball was in his court when it came to making contact with Eddie again, Steve knew that much. Steve was still the hurt party, even if he had been wrong about Eddie’s intentions, and he told Eddie to lose his number.

If anyone was going to reach out, it would come down to Steve.

Except Steve had been mean, stubbornly mean, even. It was hard to come back from being that way, to admit he had been cruel and that he was wrong for it. It didn’t help matters that he was watching that video repeatedly to punish himself either.

So Steve was at a stalemate of his own creation, and he had finally worn Robin’s sympathy out.

Dustin groaned. “Can we please stop talking about this? You keep talking around in circles, you won’t tell me all the details for some stupid reason—”

“It’s confidential,” Steve said, smirking when Dustin gestured at Robin, offended.

“You told her!” he said.

“And she’s an adult. And also my roommate,” Steve replied and Dustin turned red.

“I’m an adult, too—”

“Okay! I’ve gotta get back to work,” Steve interrupted with a loud clap. “See you around, Dusty-buns—”

“Stop calling me that, man,” Dustin whined, and Steve just laughed as he left the storage room.

“Hey, Dingus, wait up,” Robin said as she hurried after him, grabbing the sleeve of Steve’s cardigan as they walked. “I’m serious, Steve, call him. If he’s even half as in love with you as he seems in that video, he’ll forgive you instantly. If he even held what you said against you.”

“It’s worse if he didn’t,” Steve grumbled and shrugged Robin off, waving as they went their separate ways in the lobby.

It was shaping up to be another long day of self-pity and Steve was resigned to it as he returned to his desk. It was just his luck that his phone would ring the second he settled into a proper sulk.

“Thank you for calling Chicago In-Terminal Events, this is Steve,” Steve greeted in the happiest voice he could muster as he glanced at his phone. He froze when he saw the phone number and realized he recognized it, even if he only saw it once.

“Hey, Steve,” Eddie said, his voice tentative and unsure.

“Mr. Munson,” Steve replied, his mind reeling with relief, even if he was defaulting to professionalism.

There was a silent pause before Eddie chuckled a bit. “Honestly didn’t think you’d pick up,” he confessed.

“I didn’t realize it was you calling,” Steve said, and he grimaced at how bitchy he was still sounding.

This is what he wanted. Steve wanted Eddie to call again, to reach back out, to try and apologize again so that Steve could actually listen and maybe even accept it. And what, he was just going to screw that up because he had committed to being mad about it?

“Okay, I deserve that—”

“No—”

“Steve, I get that I’ve got literally zero right to ask you for anything, but please just listen?” Eddie asked in a rush, and Steve closed his mouth.

“Go ahead,” Steve said after a moment, realizing belatedly that Eddie was waiting for him to give him the okay.

Eddie took a deep breath. “It wasn’t fair to you, and I should’ve come clean a hell of a lot sooner. I just… really liked talking to you, and I was afraid you’d stop talking to me if you knew,” he said, and Steve’s heart ached at how sad Eddie sounded. “But doing what I did took away your choice, and it was really selfish of me because I got to hide behind this extra fuckin’ layer of armor or whatever while you were being real.”

Steve couldn’t even argue that Eddie’s fear was unfounded. Had Eddie come clean at the beginning, he would’ve put an immediate stop to their conversations. He wasn’t really forbidden from speaking to the performers, but it wasn’t encouraged either. Also, Steve would have had no interest in talking to Eddie; he was the frontman of a metal band, and Steve almost exclusively listened to what was most popular at the moment. But that was before he had gotten to know Eddie, even if he hadn’t been truthful about who he was exactly.

As he was mulling those thoughts over, he realized that had Eddie cleared up the misunderstanding immediately, they wouldn’t have talked at all. Steve would never have known that Eddie even existed, really. It was a bit annoying to consider that Eddie had ultimately done the best thing by hiding behind a fake identity.

“I really like you Steve, and I really want to keep talking to you,” Eddie continued after a few moments of silence and Steve let a slow breath out through his nose.

“The only reason I was able to chat with you on company time was because I thought you were my client,” Steve said slowly as he picked up his pencil and jotted down Eddie’s number from the screen on his phone. “I can’t really justify talking to you that much now.”

“Then give me your number? Like your personal one and we’ll keep it off the clock,” Eddie said quickly, and Steve raised his eyebrow at that, even if his stomach fluttered at the request. Eddie seemed to realize what he did and quickly added, “please?”

“Hm,” Steve hummed thoughtfully, and he hoped it sounded as playful as he had intended it. “I’ll consider it. I have to go now.”

“Steve, I really am sorry,” Eddie said quickly, and Steve chuckled a bit.

“I know, and thanks. For apologizing, I mean,” Steve replied, and finally he was apparently able to drop the bitchy tone, as if the mean, hurt part of him was waiting for those two words to finally drop its guard. Eddie seemed to hear the change in his tone, sighing out a small laugh.

“I will apologize as much as you want,” Eddie breathed, and Steve chuckled.

“Goodbye, Eddie,” Steve said, his voice soft and quiet, and he hung the receiver up before Eddie could respond.

Steve smiled down at his phone as he typed out a quick text, but he didn’t send it immediately. It wasn’t entirely intentional, as he was called away from his desk because Tammy needed assistance with one of her clients up in the meeting rooms. When he finally had a chance to sit back down and unlock his phone, it was roughly an hour and a half later.

‘Hey it’s Steve,’ his text read, and Steve got back to his work. When his phone almost immediately vibrated, lighting up with the notification from Eddie, Steve’s stomach filled with butterflies.

His good mood was interrupted when his computer pinged, reminding him that he was at work. Putting away his phone, he saw an email in his inbox from the sales manager he hated. Steve didn’t want to open the email, not wanting to be misgendered for the first time in weeks, but the woman had marked the email as “urgent” so he couldn’t reasonably ignore it.

“What the fuck?!”

Steve jumped and looked over at Joyce’s office, eyes wide as she continued to rant with a truly creative use of expletives. It wasn’t uncommon for Joyce to cuss, far from it even, but she wasn’t known to go on a tirade for that long.

Suddenly, she appeared in the doorway of her office with her kindest smile on her face as she looked at Steve. “Steve, can I speak with you for a minute?” she asked, and dread settled in his gut.

‘Oh fuck, she knows about Eddie,’ he thought as he nodded and locked his computer.

When he sat down across from Joyce’s desk, she glanced at her monitor and made a disgusted sound before meeting his gaze. “Why is Carol calling you by that name, Steve?” she asked calmly, and Steve just blinked at her, his mouth dropping open.

“What?” he asked, brow furrowed.

“The email she just sent, she referred to you as your birth name and then your real name in parentheses to the client. Do you know why she’s doing that?” Joyce asked again, and when he just blinked at her, still confused. “Did you look at the email, Steve? She copied me in it, so that’s why I saw it.”

Steve grimaced. “I was… stalling opening it. I was feeling good and didn’t want to be misgendered. I know it’s marked urgent, so I wasn’t going to ignore it forever, I promise, just—”

“Steve, honey, slow down! I’m not mad at you, you’re not in trouble, I promise! Are you telling me this has been going on for a while?” Joyce asked, horrified.

Steve shrugged and looked away, his face hot with embarrassment. “A couple months, I think? She didn’t always do that, so I dunno,” he said quietly, shrugging again.

“Why didn’t you say anything? No, don’t answer that, that was worded terribly. Let me start over,” Joyce said, waving him off when he tried to interrupt. Taking a deep breath, Joyce started again, “I want you to feel like you can come to me when you’re having problems, Steve, and this is a huge problem.”

Steve swallowed thickly, a bit emotional at how fired up Joyce was about this without him bringing it up to her first. Realizing she was waiting for some kind of response, Steve nodded quickly and looked at his knees.

“Carol’s behaviour must be addressed, Steve. If you don’t want to talk to me about this, I can absolutely bring HR in on this. Just let me know what would make you most comfortable moving forward,” Joyce said gently before she quietly added, “And I’m sorry, Steve, for anything I’ve done that made you feel like you had to deal with this on your own.”

“You didn’t do anything, Joyce,” Steve said quickly, looking up to meet her eyes. “I just—I don’t think I can really explain how it feels, but I just—standing up for myself about this is scary. It’s—yeah, so far I’ve had a ton of support, but that’s all been because it’s been easy. What Carol’s doing…”

Steve trailed off, rubbing the back of his neck to stop himself from shrugging again.

“Is there anyone on the team you worry about siding with her if this becomes a problem?” Joyce asked and Steve quickly shook his head.

“It’s not like I think anyone’s secretly hating my guts, just… in my experience, people show where they actually stand the second I get firm about my name and pronouns,” Steve said carefully, staring at the ceiling. “I’d rather deal with the dysphoria than find out who only respects me when I’m not making a fuss.”

Joyce let out a slow breath and when Steve looked at her she had tears in her eyes. “I’m so sorry you’ve been dealing with this, and I’m even more sorry that you feel that way. Unfortunately, I still have to deal with this now that I know she’s doing this. It’s up to you how involved you are.”

“What do you mean?” Steve asked, chewing the inside of his cheek.

“You can either file a formal complaint against her with HR, or I can take it to HR and file the complaint myself as your manager,” Joyce said, holding her hands out on the desk between them. “I can make it about how I feel about my employee being discriminated against like this.”

Steve considered the options, and he was tempted to let Joyce file the complaint. At the same time, he knew Joyce had his back, even without him asking, and that alone felt like enough to deal with whatever fall-out came of this.

Shaking his head, Steve said, “I’ll file the complaint.”

Joyce tilted her head with a soft smile. “Only if you want to, Steve. I don’t expect you to, and this isn’t a test,” she insisted, and Steve laughed a bit at that.

“I know, Joyce. Just—I’ll file the complaint,” Steve replied. “How do we actually do this?”

“We’ll take this to HR, and they’ll help us with the next step. Since this is a sensitive subject regarding discrimination in the workplace, they will likely take over completely and work with Carol’s HR department to do an investigation,” Joyce answered, taking a deep breath. “Can you forward me every email you’ve received from her that you still have?”

“Yeah, of course,” Steve agreed.

“And can you also forward me any emails you’ve sent to her with your signature attached?” Joyce asked, pulling up a blank email on her screen, starting the message to HR.

“Yep, absolutely,” Steve said, nodding quickly. At that, Joyce turned in her chair to face him fully.

“Steve, I really want you to know that I’m in your corner, no matter what. I will deal with anyone—and I mean anyone—who treats you poorly,” she said, her voice deathly serious before she turned back to the computer. Then her face scrunched up as she asked, “You know what’s stupid?”

“What?” Steve asked with a startled laugh.

“She has her goddamned pronouns in her signature, and she can’t get yours right?” Joyce said and Steve laughed.

“Right? I thought I was having a stroke when she first deadnamed me and I noticed those,” Steve joked, and Joyce made a disgusted sound.

“And right at the start of Pride Month, too? The CEO just sent out an email about inclusion, especially around trans rights, and she sends this?” Joyce ranted before shaking her head and then shaking out her hands. “Okay, I need to calm down before I send this email. You want a coffee, Steve? Let’s go grab a coffee.”

Just like that, Joyce was jumping up and grabbing her blazer and wallet. Steve barely had time to react before she gestured impatiently.

“C’mon, Steve, let’s go,” she insisted, and Steve jumped up with a laugh, following her out of the office.

❖

When Steve got home, he forced himself to get changed and make himself dinner before he picked up his phone and responded to literally any of the texts Eddie had sent. Yes, there had been multiple over the day, though Steve could tell from the previews he saw when he glanced at his phone that they were largely just stream-of-thought type messages. None of them were demanding his attention immediately.

It was cute, surprising even.

Finally, Steve settled on his bed and opened the texts from Eddie.

Munson [sent at 13:41]: hi❗❗❗ ur off at 5, right? 😁😁😁 Munson [sent at 14:01]: u have to see this ✨✨ugly✨✨ ass bug i just found❗❗❗ Munson [sent at 14:01]: wait r bug pics okay 😬 i'll wait til u tell me before i send it😋😋😋🐜🐜 Munson [sent at 15:46]: gonna be playing tonight 🎸🎸🕺🏻 but w timezones and shit we should still be at the hotel when u get home 😋 Munson [sent at 17:00]: lmk if i can call u 👉🏻👈🏻 txting is fine too tho❗❗❗ just like hearing u 😚

Steve grinned at the messages, especially the liberal usage of emojis. It was honestly adorable, especially imagining a man who looked like Eddie Munson punctuating every sentence with at least one emoji. The last message made his heart give a fluttery little squeeze, especially when he noticed it was sent around the time Steve was clocking out.

Steve [sent at 18:21]: hey, home now, u can call whenever. I’ll be up for a few more hours probably Steve [sent at 18:22]: bug pics are fine, btw

It took about five minutes for Steve’s phone to start vibrating with the incoming call.

“Hey,” Steve greeted, just to be met with raucous laughter and the wailing of his name from the other band members. There was even a voice that sounded suspiciously like Chrissy in the mix.

“You’re a bunch of embarrassing fucking animals!” Eddie was barking at them, and by the way their laughter got suddenly quieter with a click, Steve could guess they had been hanging out in one hotel room. “Sorry about that,” Eddie said into the phone, his voice quiet and nervous.

“It’s all good,” Steve said, blushing deeply at actually hearing that dumb bit live.

“They’re so dumb. I swear, the moment they start dating anyone outside the band I’m gonna be ruthless,” Eddie promised grumpily, but it was punctuated with a chuckle. “Anyway, how was work?”

Steve’s heart squeezed again, overwhelmed by the question in a way that was beyond stupid. It was small talk at best and taking it as what, domesticity? Just setting himself up for heartbreak later.

“Work was work. Getting into the summer here, so tours and entertainment groups are picking back up and it’s getting pretty busy,” Steve responded, shrugging a shoulder despite Eddie not being able to see him. Then he said, “Can I ask you something?”

“Anything,” Eddie immediately replied, and Steve could hear the sound of a door shutting. Steve assumed that meant Eddie was now in his own hotel room.

“Why did you actually lie? Like, assuming I would stop talking to you aside like… why was it so important that I kept talking to you?” he asked, frowning a bit. “You didn’t really know me for the first few calls, so I just… don’t think it started with your feelings about me.”

Eddie let out a huff of laughter followed by a small oof as the phone was jostled a bit. “You’re so fuckin’ smart, Stevie, it’s scary sometimes,” Eddie muttered, and Steve blushed.

“Not a whole lot of people would agree with that,” Steve teased, and Eddie made a disgusted noise.

“Those people are just lying to themselves,” he said firmly before sighing. “I haven’t had like… a real conversation with someone in, like, forever. Since we started proper touring as openers and stuff. The only people I could talk to about things were the boys, Chrissy, and my uncle.”

Steve frowned at that but didn’t interrupt, even when Eddie paused for several seconds.

“When you called it was nice to not be Eddie Munson Of Corroded Coffin, and when I flirted with you, you—it was just nice. The way you reacted when I flirted,” Eddie said, his voice quiet. “It made me feel like I was a normal guy.”

“What—I don’t even remember how I reacted the first time,” Steve said, trying to recall that conversation two months ago.

“It wasn’t just the first time; it was every time. Like you would get shy and then give it back as good as you got, y’know? I’m used to flirting with people and them just…” Eddie trailed off, groaning. “I hate how this sounds out loud, but people normally just… throw themselves at me. Like, if I’m giving them attention, they need to get in my pants immediately, as if getting to know them at all is off the table. Like they think I won’t want to spend time with them if I actually knew them.”

“Sounds really lonely,” Steve confessed, his heart aching for Eddie and a new wave of guilt washed over Steve about the ‘groupie’ comment.

“I’ve got the boys and Chrissy, plus my uncle back home,” Eddie deflected, and Steve let him have that space.

“I’m sorry, too. For the groupie thing,” Steve said instead of pushing it, and Eddie laughed.

“Hey, it’s fine—”

“No, it’s not. That was—I was hurt, and sometimes when I’m hurt I get mean,” Steve insisted firmly, talking over Eddie. “It’s something I’ve been working on, and you can’t let me get away with it, even if you think you deserved it, got it?”

There was a pause. “Got it, Stevie,” Eddie replied, laughing softly before he hummed. “I just want you to know I’m really happy you’re giving me a second chance.”

“Honestly, Eddie, I regretted telling you off pretty much immediately,” Steve admitted, chewing on his bottom lip.

“You still sounded pretty angry when you answered the phone earlier…” Eddie pointed out and Steve grimaced.

“Like I said, when I’m hurt I can be an asshole, and I was still a bit hurt because you did lie and it was kind of embarrassing as a professional fumbling like that in front of Chrissy,” Steve pointed out. “I’m lucky Chrissy isn’t super uptight, because that alone could’ve cost me my job, Eddie.”

“Yikes, sorry, again,” Eddie replied sheepishly. “What changed your mind?”

“I, uh, looked you up,” Steve admitted, and Eddie went very silent on the other line.

When Steve didn’t elaborate further, Eddie let out a strangled little, “Oh?”

“Yeah, kinda just figured out what band you’re in first and stuff, saw some of your promo stuff for your newest album, read an article about your disability,” Steve explained, clearing his throat nervously. “Then while I was reading another article, I clicked a link to your YouTube—”

“Oh, fuck me,” Eddie groaned, his voice muffled as if he had buried his face into a pillow. Then, with his voice a bit clearer, he added, “Please tell me you haven’t watched the Tour Diaries, I’m begging you, Stevie, even if you have to lie.”

“I don’t like to lie, Eddie,” Steve said with a grin, blushing as he thought about videos again. “They were sweet—”

“It’s so embarrassing, and I swear I was only letting Gareth keep the stupid Steve Spotting segment in there because Steve is a super common name and you said you didn’t know or care about who we were, but I can absolutely get Gareth to remove the segments—” Eddie rambled, sounding a bit panicked.

“Eddie, the segment is fine! It’s great, I don’t—Gareth can keep the segment in the videos. It was that segment that got my bitchy head out of my ass,” Steve interrupted, and Eddie sputtered, and Steve liked to imagine that he was blushing.

“But… can you pretend to have a problem with it so the boys will leave me alone?” Eddie asked in a dramatically pouty voice.

“Absolutely not,” Steve replied with a grin.

“Ugh,” Eddie groaned before sighing, and letting the conversation lapse into silence that was not awkward or uncomfortable.

“Tell me something about yourself that you haven’t told me before,” Steve said quietly after a minute, smiling at Eddie’s soft hum.

“I can tell you about how I got burned,” Eddie replied and Steve frowned.

“You don’t have to. I know you don’t like answering questions about that—”

“I only dodge that question with strangers, especially strangers who are reporters. You, Stevie, are neither of those things,” Eddie said flippantly, taking a deep breath. “In twelfth grade I, uh, set myself on fire.”

“Oh shit,” Steve said, eyebrows shooting high on his forehead.

“Yeah, but it wasn’t just like… oops, dropped a lit match on myself. I had the bright idea to do the whole… flamethrower thing with a can of hairspray and a lighter,” Eddie continued and Steve grimaced. “Before you ask, there was next to zero thought process behind that decision, it was almost entirely impulse.”

“How’d you end up on fire though? I thought the hairspray flamethrower made the flames pretty directional,” Steve asked, though he was definitely not completely positive on that either.

“Yeah, well, the wind changed direction and suddenly my pants, my shirt, and my hair was on fire,” Eddie replied with a put-upon sigh and Steve couldn’t help but laugh. “The worst part was the hair. Not only did that shit stink, but man, my hair was glorious.”

“I don’t know, your hair is pretty glorious now, too,” Steve said appreciatively, thinking back to the black and white photo and the way his long curls spread across the vanity and fell over his shoulders.

There was a slight pause before Eddie let out a soft, almost shy giggle. “Stevie, I don’t know how to handle compliments from you now that I know you’ve actually seen me,” he admitted and Steve grinned.

“Good to know,” Steve hummed cheekily, laughing when Eddie groaned a bit.

In the background at Eddie’s end, Steve could hear a knock and a muffled voice. “Yeah! Heard you loud and—shut the fuck up, we’re only talking!” Eddie yelled, before saying to Steve, “Duty calls, Stevie. Can I call you after the show?”

“If I’m still up,” Steve replied instantly, still grinning up at the ceiling of his room.

“Awesome, I’ll text you! Later, babe,” Eddie said in a rush and hung-up before Steve could properly respond.

Steve held the silent phone to his ear for a while, repeating the term of endearment in his head over and over again while blushing up at the ceiling. His phone vibrated and startled Steve out of his thoughts.

Looking at the screen, it was a picture from Eddie, and for a second Steve was excited about potentially receiving a selfie from the man. When he opened it, he was confused to be faced with an image of a truly hideous bug.

Munson [sent at 18:57]: look at this ✨✨ugly✨✨ ass mf❗❗❗❗❗ he's so ✨✨uuuuuuuglyyyyy✨✨ Munson [sent at 18:58]: 😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭

Steve laughed, grinning at the image and the truly comical number of crying emojis that followed the message.

❖

Steve and Eddie spent the next couple of weeks talking daily. During his breaks at work, Steve would text Eddie, and when he would get home for the day, they would call each other. Most of their conversations were Eddie retelling a few stories about himself without the lens of Chris talking about the “frontman”. Even though Steve had heard the stories before, they were so much richer being retold in first person and had more details that Eddie had to previously omit.

They also made a few video calls, usually when production brought the boys to a local landmark to film them “seeing the sights” and Eddie wanted to show Steve something cool. Steve was pretty set on limiting how much time they spent on video calls, knowing it would just make him even more obsessed with Eddie.

Though, that ship had definitely already sailed, and Steve knew it deep in his heart. Even on days when he was too busy at work to spare a few moments to check his texts, he would look at his phone every time it vibrated and grinned when he saw Eddie’s name in his notifications.

When there was only two weeks before the band arrived, Steve went upstairs to meet with one of the front office supervisors, Will.

He was largely responsible for doing room assignments and communicating about groups to the rest of the team. Will was a great kid, super polite, charming, and great with guests to the point that literally every guest that dealt with him and left a review mentioned him by name. So many guests seemed to actually fall in love with the kid, and most of the time that seemed to go over the kid’s head.

Regardless, when Steve left the front desk to join events, he put Will’s name in to replace him.

“Hey Will, you got a minute?” Steve said as he poked his head around the corner to look in on Will’s workstation.

Will looked up at him with wide eyes before smiling and reaching over to his phone to pause his music. The song that had been playing was familiar to Steve, even if it was heavier than the music he typically listened to. After a moment, it clicked that he knew exactly what, or more whose song that was and grinned.

“Yeah, Steve, what’s up?” Will asked, turning to face Steve expectantly. He paused when he saw the gleeful expression on Steve’s face, raising an eyebrow.

Grabbing one of the other chairs in the back office, Steve sat down and handed Will the group summary for Eddie’s band. There was nothing identifying on the page, as it only contained the information that had been turned over to him and then elaborated on by Eddie and Chrissy over the past couple of months.

“We’ve got an entertainment group arriving in a couple weeks. I wanted to go over this with you personally, along with the riders,” Steve said as Will began reading the summary. “It’s a band and film crew. They arrive on the thirteenth, depart on the sixteenth. Their concert is on the Fri—”

“Who is it?” Will interrupted, a bit uncharacteristically, and Steve smirked just a bit when Will’s eyes shot up to meet his.

“They’re a metal band,” Steve responded airily, his smirk fighting to become a grin when Will seemed to vibrate for a second.

“Who is it, Steve?” he asked again, leaning forward.

“Corroded Coffin,” Steve finally said, grinning properly when Will actually stomped his feet excitedly. The kid tended to be pretty reserved, except when he was passionate about something like Dungeons & Dragons, or apparently metal bands.

“This is so cool. I love that band,” Will said, turning his music back on.

“You going to the concert?” Steve asked, and his smile fell a bit when Will frowned.

“The show sold out before I could afford a ticket. They went on sale right after rent and my student loans got pulled,” Will complained, shrugging slightly, but his expression was still excited. “This is so cool though. If I promise not to be weird about it, would it be possible to meet them?”

Steve laughed and nodded. “I think I could make that happen for you,” he said with a wink before standing up.

As Will exploded into a full rant about Corroded Coffin and their music, Steve took that moment to unlock his phone and read the steady flood of texts he had received from Eddie over the day.

Eddie [sent at 10:03]: holy shit i saw another ✨✨fucked up bug✨✨ wth 🤮 Eddie [sent at 11:17]: garebear thinks these candies taste good 🤮🤮🤮 pls tell me ur normal and agree theyre the nastiest shit on the planet 🤢🤢🤢🤢 Eddie [sent at 11:21]: ik ur busy but i'm taking ur silence as agreement and saying u agree w me to garebear 😤 Eddie [sent at 12:02]: wtf 😤 the pigs pulled us over for no gd reason❗❗❗ searched the whole gd bus and now we’re gonna be fuckn late for soundcheck❗❗❗ wtffffffffff 🤬 Eddie [sent at 12:37]: yo baby isnt it lunchtime there?????? u better be taking ur break soon❗❗❗ gotta eat food and stay big and 💪🏻strong💪🏻 and 🥵hot🥵❗❗❗ Eddie [sent at 13:07]: srsly stevie u better be eating 😠 even if ur not texting me back❗❗❗ 😘

Steve smiled fondly, his heart squeezing at the concern about his eating habits while he was at work. Turning his attention back to Will, he decided to keep what he had with Eddie a bit of a secret as it wasn’t something he wanted getting into the gossip pool. Anyway, Will didn’t need to know that Steve had some extra privileges with the band, or at least the frontman.

❖

The bus was noisily driving down the highway as Eddie lay on his stomach, propped on his elbows in his bunk and talking quietly on the phone with Steve. The curtains of his bunk were drawn closed for as much privacy as he could manage, and he was using earbuds so that his hands were free to fidget with all of his pent-up energy.

They were only a few days away from arriving in Chicago and Eddie was practically vibrating out of his skin about it. Currently he was in the middle of picking his nail polish off, which was making an absolute mess of his bunk that he would be super annoyed about when he finally hung-up with Steve and went to bed, but whatever.

Eddie would deal with that when he had to.

“Have you listened to any of our music, Stevie?” Eddie asked and he hoped he didn’t sound as nervous as he felt asking. He’d been avoiding bringing up their music with Steve, worried that he wouldn’t like it at all.

“I’ve listened to a couple songs, yeah,” Steve responded with a chuckle.

Eddie waited a couple moments for Steve to say more on his own before asking, “What did you think?”

“I don’t really listen to metal, but your stuff is good,” Steve elaborated, and Eddie couldn’t help the way he wiggled happily at that. “There’s this kid at my work, at front desk, he loves your band. I told him about a week ago that you’re coming to the hotel, and he nearly vibrated through the floor.”

“Oh shit, that’s awesome,” Eddie said, his grin huge.

“He asked if he’d be able to meet you guys while you’re on-property,” Steve added, his voice full of mirth. “I said I would see what I could do.”

“Oh, Stevie, are you trying to exploit our little thing to get your coworker an exclusive meet and greet?” Eddie teased and Steve snorted.

“Nah, I was just gonna ask if it would be possible with your schedule. You can let me know when you do or whatever. No pressure,” Steve replied, and Eddie could tell he meant it.

“Well, he’s going to the show, right? I’ll see if I can upgrade his tickets,” Eddie said easily as he picked another chunk of nail polish off, but Steve sighed a bit sadly.

“Your show sold out before he could buy tickets,” he said at Eddie’s questioning hum, and Eddie frowned.

Well, that wouldn’t do. He’d have to talk to Chrissy about that.

Then Steve let out a little moan that Eddie knew was the noise reserved for stretching. He’d come to learn that Steve made a lot of little noises, when he stretched or was thinking particularly hard about something, or even the few times he fell asleep while they were on the phone. Each little noise was precious and drove Eddie insane with thoughts about the many other ways he could make Steve make such sweet little sounds.

So he cracked the same joke he did every time Steve stretched and moaned directly into his ear.

“Touching yourself over there, baby?” he asked, tone teasing and ready for Steve to scoff, tell him to keep it in his pants, and then go back to the conversation they were having before.

But Steve just hummed thoughtfully before asking, “And what if I was?”

Eddie’s thoughts came to a screeching halt as he tried to come up with a response to that. “What?” he asked stupidly, grimacing at himself.

Steve laughed. “What if I started touching myself?” he asked, his voice turning downright sultry.

“A-are you?” Eddie asked in a whisper. See, the rest of the boys could tolerate his late-night chats with Steve, but they wouldn’t for a second put up with Eddie saying filthy shit into the phone.

“Maybe… was considering it,” Steve replied, and Eddie could hear him shifting, maybe even undressing. That had Eddie’s attention and he shifted his hips as he felt his cock filling out against his bed. “Been thinking about our date a lot lately.”

“Steve, I can’t—I’m on the bus,” Eddie hissed into the phone and Steve made a small sound.

“Alright, I’ll hang up then—”

“No, please don’t hang up,” Eddie quickly interrupted, and if he wasn’t so hot and bothered already, he would’ve been embarrassed at just how desperate he sounded. “I just can’t, like, say anything right now.”

“Don’t have to,” Steve breathed down the line and Eddie shuddered. “Just have to listen, yeah?”

“Yeah,” Eddie replied, quiet and strangled. “Video call?”

“Hmm, no, I don’t think so,” Steve sighed, even if the thoughtful hum sounded interested. Eddie would file that away for later.

“Then tell me what you’re doing,” Eddie whispered, biting his bottom lip roughly as he reached down to reposition his cock between himself and the shitty mattress of his bunk.

On the other end of the line, Steve let out a sound that was breathy and sweet, and Eddie wanted to taste that sound so desperately.

“Just touching my dick, thinking about getting your mouth on it,” Steve moaned, letting another sound tumble out that was much deeper, more guttural, a sound that Eddie felt all the way to the tip of his own cock. “Bet you—oh, fuck, bet your pretty mouth was made for eating cunt.”

Eddie shivered, staring down at the mess of nail polish on the bed, eyes wide as he tried to understand what was happening. Obviously, he was listening to Steve jerk off, listening to him openly fantasize about him, but that didn’t make sense to Eddie. He wasn’t going to complain at all, except for the fact that he couldn’t actually respond. Eddie knew that if he tried, if he opened his mouth and tried to speak right then, he would just moan and alert the three assholes plus Chrissy to their activities.

“Jesus, Eds, I’m so fucking wet thinking about it,” Steve sighed, letting another deep sound of pleasure loose.

Eddie let out a strangled, breathy sound and rocked against the mattress, a furious blush overcoming his face, ears, and throat as he literally humped his bed like a fucking teenager.

“Shit, Eds, gonna—fuck, can’t concentrate anymore. Gonna get myself off, just listen,” Steve eventually said around a thick, desperate groan.

“Got it, Stevie,” Eddie managed to say, his tone shockingly even and quiet.

Then he was treated to the sounds of Steve getting himself off, the way he gasped and moaned, the guttural noises as the pleasure mounted and strangled whines as he seemed to back off a bit. Like he was edging himself, just a bit, dragging it out to torture Eddie.

And fuck, if Steve didn’t moan like a goddamn porn star, like he was being paid to sound so fucking hot. There was a delirious moment where Eddie thought about recording these sounds to sample in a song somehow while he grabbed his body pillow and shoved it between his legs for better friction. Grabbing another pillow, he bit it to better muffle his own noises as he got closer to his own release.

Eddie Munson was about to come in his own boxers while humping a pillow. The thought of it was so humiliating, it looped right back around to being the hottest fucking thing to ever happen to him.

“Shit, Eds, gonna come,” Steve whined, and Eddie shivered, imagining Steve arching in his bed, fingers working his dick and cunt furiously. Then Steve gasped, his voice wavering just before he shouted, “Fuck, Eddie!”

That was it for Eddie. Grinding his teeth around his mouthful of pillow, Eddie rocked his hips hard and fast, breathing heavily through his nose as the front of his boxers became sticky and warm against his skin. With gasping, panting breaths, Eddie quickly rolled onto his hip to avoid too much cum seeping through the layers and defiling his body pillow more than he already had.

“Holy fuck, that was way hotter than I expected,” Steve gasped through is own post-coital panting. “Fuck, Eds, you sounded so hot trying to be quiet.”

Eddie laughed breathlessly. “Wish I didn’t have to be, but hey, as long as it worked for you,” he teased, pushing his sweaty, curly hair up off his forehead.

“It definitely worked,” Steve confirmed with a tired hum, then he audibly yawned and sighed. “Okay, I’ve gotta get to bed, okay?”

“Same. I’ve gotta also change real quick,” Eddie replied in a whisper, grinning at the groan that got out of Steve.

“Shut up, you’re gonna get me going again,” Steve laughed. “I’ll talk to you tomorrow?”

“Absolutely,” Eddie agreed. “Night, Stevie.”

“Night, Eds,” Steve yawned just before hanging up.

Before Eddie could even really think to move from his spot, the curtain of his bunk parted just enough for Gareth’s upside-down face to poke inside with an unimpressed glare.

“If you ever keep me up with freaky phone sex again, I’m putting Nair in your conditioner. Do not test me, Munson,” he bit out.

Eddie just narrowed his eyes. “You’re just jealous I’m getting freaky phone sex and you’re not,” he replied with a haughty sniff. He knew better than to call Gareth’s bluff.

“Of course, I fucking am,” Gareth snapped back before wrinkling his nose. “God, now the whole bus is gonna stink like jizz. Chrissy’s gonna strangle you and I’m gonna let her.”

“Don’t threaten me with a good time, Garebear,” Eddie cooed as he began stripping out of his wet pajama pants and boxers, not even waiting for Gareth to look away. Honestly, it worked better to threaten his childhood best friend with his nudity to get him to look away faster.

“You’re fucking gross, man,” Gareth groused as he disappeared from view, and Eddie just grinned.

[ TBC ]

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#excuse me #why am i not having spicy calls like this #this is the hottest shit ever

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