Still Super Jealous As Hell, By The Way.

loverboymontgomery·:

xx.

A satisfied grin spread across Cole’s lips at Eddie’s remark. It was easy to be good at kissing Eddie, he thought, when Eddie looked at him like that. Simultaneously, Cole was desperate to have more of Eddie and terrified that he’d never really find what he was looking for. But that was a problem for tomorrow.

Heat spread across Cole’s body as Eddie grabbed his waist and pulled him closer. Unable to stop himself, Cole let his hands wander Eddie’s body– slipping under his shirt and balling up the fabric in his hand. If they weren’t in public, Cole would tug it off… and other things. 

Pressing his lips to Eddie’s ear, Cole whispered: “Oops, it’s already gone to my head.” As Eddie took his chin, Cole shut his eyes and gave in to Eddie’s demands. Darting his tongue inside the other’s mouth, he felt his cheeks heat up and his heartbeat quicken. It felt so natural with him, like they’d done this before. 

Cole pulled back, giving them a chance to breathe, and focused his attention on Eddie’s neck. Careful not to leave any marks, he trailed his lips down to Eddie’s collarbone, his hand lazily rubbing Eddie’s back. In the back of his mind, behind the kissing-induced haze, Cole heard several voices– were they yelling? But he couldn’t tear himself away from Eddie.  

+++

eddie very nearly hissed when cole pulled on his shirt, when he felt his breath ghost over his ear a few seconds later. almost instinctively, his grip on cole's waist tightened, fingers experimentally darting underneath the fabric to feel the warmth of his skin, the sensation made his arms break out in goosebumps. god, it had been a fucking long time since he'd last been this close to someone. and eddie certainly hadn't expected to find himself in this situation when he'd loaded his stereo into the van to drive to an illegal party in the mall some four hours ago.

a slight, dazed grin tugged at his lips, he rolled his eyes. "you're a cocky bastard, you know that?", he whispered with a slight shake of his head before their lips were connected yet again and eddie gasped into the kiss, shivered as their tongues lazily brushed together.

he hummed, pleased, when cole moved onto his neck, let one hand travel up to card his fingers through cole's hair. he let his head fall back, eyes closed, trying to town in the sensation of cole's lips on his skin -

- but no, there was something else, something disturbing them. he frowned, and, tugging at cole's hair slightly, pulled back. "i - d'you hear that?"

stevehharringtcns·:

.

steve smiled at eddie’s reaction, and he couldn’t blame him. steve himself was a little surprised that he was dating eddie. he was dating him. that was real. king steve wouldn’t believe it either if this had happened during high school, but he was too busy being an asshole to eddie. to everyone. it was weird to think about how he used to do that. he didn’t like looking back to high school and be remembered of all of that. while in the end of their friendship he had blamed tommy hagan and carol for everything, the truth was that he was as much to blame as the two of them. he didn’t even know why eddie had chosen to forgive him for allowing his friends to torment him, but… this was definitely going well for the two of them now. they were dating. and for as long as steve could predict, there was nothing that could separate them. and steve liked the idea of that - with nancy, there had always been doubts. with eddie, there was nothing in their way.

he had been lost in his thoughts. he kept his eyes glued to eddie. it was addicting to look at him and he couldn’t get enough. he was glad that no one else had access to his thoughts, because he was pretty sure people would make fun of them. but steve really did like looking at eddie - and before all of this, he would do it when no one was watching. or at least, when he thought no one was watching. and now he was all his to look at for as long as he wanted. a small smile formed on his lips, not leaving his face for a long time as he watched his now boyfriend so close to him.

“i am not… a dork, eddie munson. i was popular because i was… co-captain of the swimming team and i was also in the basketball team. and… i had and still have great hair.” he said with a small chuckle, looking over at eddie with a smile. “i would have never joined hellfire club back then… but now, maybe… i would. for you. and you know, i would have to say that it was because of dustin too, or else he would be jealous.” he said with a small chuckle again, holding on to his chest for a few moments as he took a deep breath and looked at eddie. “speaking of… dustin… have you talked to him? he seemed… pretty upset last i saw him.” he said with a sigh. the two cared too much about the kid, he was family for both of them at this point and they both hated when he was down, although it was sort of impossible not to be after what happened.

steve didn’t like talking about his family, in fact, he hated it. he knew that eddie had meant well when he had brought it up, but he couldn’t help but to be a little sad about it. he knew that most parents would visit their kid if they were in the hospital, but steve’s parents weren’t like most. but that was another story for another day. he didn’t feel like talking about. he looked over at eddie as he talked about wayne and his casserole, a small smile forming on his lips again as he heard him talk. steve knew that eddie’s parents weren’t that present either, but at least eddie had wayne. and wayne was a sweetheart, from the interactions steve had with him. nodding his head with a smile, he looked at the other. “i… i would like that a lot, eddie. you can tell him… but only if it’s not… a burden to come visit me or whatever. i don’t want to bother him.” he assured the other with a sigh.

+++

eddie waved it off with a dramatic eyeroll. “yeah, whatever you need to tell yourself, man. though i gotta agree with the great hair part. can’t deny it, much as it wounds me.” a melodramatic sigh, it soon shifted and made way for a light-hearted chuckle as he lifted his hand to gently card his fingers through steve’s hair. awfully careful, so as not to pull too much and end up hurting him. “i’m afraid that best feature of yours has seen better days, sweetheart...”, he muttered, lips twisted into a pitying crooked smile as he absent-mindedly scissored his fingers to detangle a knot in his hair. “but i got a couple of tricks up my sleeve. don’t you worry, we’ll get you back that title of steve ‘the hair’ harrington in no time.”

he kept his hand there for a moment, contuing to detangle steve’s hair, eddie grinned, all wide and toothy. “you would willingly join hellfire, huh?” the thought alone seemed outlandish, with a stifled chuckle eddie recalled the wheeler’s bbq, when steve had sat on his lap, looking all sorts of lost while eddie had attempted to explain the rules of dnd to him in hushed whispers. “you know, there’s no need to sweet talk me anymore, harrington. already got me wrapped around your finger.”

the mention of dustin brought that same worry wrinkle to his brows that was seemingly ever present on steve’s face, he nodded. “i’ve seen him, yeah. he came by. he’s - he’s alright, i think. seemed fine. considering.” he twisted his lips into what was supposed to be a reassuring smile, yet eddie couldn’t completely shake his worries off. the second he’d seen him and suzie go into that tent his heart had dropped, a feeling he’d not forget too soon. there was no parallel universe where eddie wouldn’t worry about dustin. there was none in which he wouldn’t care. there was a running joke, about how steve and later eddie had sort of adopted dustin. eddie didn’t have any siblings, or none he knew of, but he rather thought that this was how one felt about a younger brother. a son, even, if you will.

eddie mirrored his smile, nodded too. “i’ll let him know. it’s on his way, anyway. and he offered, so.” a shrug, eddie fell silent for a moment, simply looked at steve. it was as if he could feel his heart swell, and he wondered if it would always be like this when he looked at steve. when eddie spoke a couple of beats later his voice was soft, low. “you’re so beautiful, steve.” and, adding a pained timbre to his voice, he added: “i was so worried. i ... still don’t - i’m afraid this isn’t real. does that make sense?”

where: eddie’s trailer

what: wtf is going on??? let’s get zooted

who: @rcbinbvckleys​​ + eddie.

“robin buckley!”, eddie called out and, despite everything, there was a wide grin on his face, as he made his way from his room to the ‘living room’ area of the trailer after hearing the soft lick of the front door. he’d left it standing wide open for robin to get in, probably not the best idea with half the town still thinking he was a satan worshipping serial killer but oh well. spared him an extra trip to the door, didn’t it.

“i welcome you to my humble abode. casa del munson! or...whatever.” he shrugged. he’d taken spanish in high school but had rarely ever used it since. and he’d rarely shown up for the classes in question, either, so. 

eddie plopped down on the sofa, muffled sounds of the latest metallica emerging from his room, he rolled the joint between his fingers, admiring his work. despite his calm and carefree exterior, eddie was on edge. who knew hanging out with nancy ‘i have multiple guns in my bedroom at all times’ wheeler would end with them standing in front of benny’s, watching it go up in flames. watching....whatever alien supernatural halloween monster upside down crap that had been in there, burn to the ground, too. hopefully. it was all too much to wrap his head around.

he desperately needed a distraction. equally, he desperately needed a friendly face around him. eddie placed the joint between his lips and lit it. “how’s it going?”

backtowheeler·:

— ✎ —

Whatever the hell this….shit is, was gonna catch up to me eventually. Nothing truer could be said for anyone who had ever experienced what went down below Hawkins. It felt too good to be true. It felt too easy to just say yep, that’s a wrap on all the weird shit. It would never be over. No matter how many times they’d defeat it, something would come crawling back whether it be as massive as someone like Vecna or as small as… hatched eggs? Nancy had already started mentally working on her hypothesis. Baby Demogorgons was her top thought, although thinking about Dart and how tiny he had allegedly been, she was starting to think otherwise. They were human sized, carrying something big enough that could possibly only continue growing.

“Still, I was hoping you would get to see an actual crime scene. Not so much… whatever was in there,” she told him, truth in her voice. Nancy didn’t really have a partner to lean on anymore whenever she got some sort of lead. It was part of the reason why she asked Eddie to come. She didn’t want to ask any of their younger friends and considering the two of them never got much one on one time together? She thought it could be a bonding experience. Plus, there was nothing more metal than some blood, gore, and crime, right? It’s what they were always singing about. 

When the keys were unwillingly snatched from her hand, Nancy let out a sigh. “Fine,” she conceded, mostly because of the throbbing pain in her hand. She walked in the direction of where she had parked, blowing on her hand as if that would stop the pain. “Just promise me you won’t crash my mom’s station wagon?” She asked. Nancy had never ridden with Eddie while he had been behind the wheel so she had no indication of his driving, but if she could guess? She figured it was much worse than her own.

+++

eddie clasped a hand over his heart, brows drawn up, lips twisted into a pout. “oh, geez, wheeler - you wanted to take me out to see a crime scene? little old me? oh, i’m touched.” and he wiped an imaginary tear from the corner of his eye, then let his hands fall back to his side, grinning. not willing to abandon his theatrics even in the face of impendind doom and evil. ‘cause that’s what this was, eddie thought, a queasy feeling in the pit of his stomach. this was only the beginning and eddie wasn’t sure if he wanted to stick around to see the end of it.

not running away had nearly gotten him killed the last time around. he nodded, hummed, a pleased little sound when nancy didn’t put up a fight and followed her to the car. “i’ll have you know i’m an excellent driver, wheeler, thank you very much.”, he retorted, swinging the keys around his fingers. though he promptly stopped as they hit his knuckles with full force, cursed under his breath. “pinkie promise. you know, i used to give max a ride to school everyday. gave dustin rides home after hellfire - actually, your brother, too. you can ask him, i’m sure he’ll vouch for my driving skills.”

though he skillfully glossed over the fact that one of the reasons he’d given max a ride to school almost everyday was that max was an absolute menace to society everytime she drove a car, and eddie very much wanted to see her live to graduation. he unlocked the car, quickly hopped in, an appreciative glance around before he looked back at nancy.

“not bad.”, he said, nodding to himself. “i mean, i’d take the van, any day. but not bad.” eddie shrugged, turned the keys in the ignition before his attention was drawn back to her hand. “you should get that checked out, wheeler. looks pretty nasty to me.”

stevehharringtcns·:

even if steve’s parents had just recently gotten home, it wasn’t long until they were out again. his dad seemed to have another business trip, and his mom would always go along with him. he wasn’t sure why, but by now he had been used to being alone. in years before, he would have thrown a party, but as years went by, steve just realized that would imply having to throw a party every other week. and sometimes it was for the best if he was by himself. even if he was alone, steve still liked to confine himself in his room. it was just his safe place.

he had just gotten out of the shower, his hair still wet as he put on some shorts and he was ready to get in bed. there was nothing better to do and he was tired after spending the day standing on his feet at the video store. he was about to sit on his bed when he thought he heard a car on the driveway, but that couldn’t be possible. and that’s when he heard the knocks on the door.

raising an eyebrow as he got out of the room, not even bothering to put a shirt on, steve made his way downstairs as he heard the banging on the door. he was about to make a detour to grab one of his baseball bats, he didn’t want to try his luck with whatever was out there, and that’s when he heard eddie’s voice coming from the outside.

he frowned, rushing towards the door to open it, only to realize that he was standing shirtless in front of eddie. whatever, it didn’t matter. “eddie, what the hell are you doing? it’s late!” he said, but he couldn’t lie and say that he wasn’t a tiny bit relieved that it was eddie and not someone else. he wanted to see him, but he hadn’t gotten the time after he came back and now there he was, standing at his door. “what are you doing here? what’s wrong?” he asked, slightly concerned about the other as he remembered that he was practically begging him to open the door.

+++

there were many strings of thoughts rushing through his head at lightning speed once he opened the door. eddie felt relieved, fucking hell, at least steve was alright, or seemed to be, at first glance. he was safe, from what eddie could tell, and he released a breath he didn’t know he’d been holding. 

relief however mingled with shock, surprise, and a sharp pang of... something very warm in his stomach. slowly, torturously slow, his eyes travelled down from steve’s face to his bare torso. the sight knocked the wind right out of his sails, eddie’s mouth fell open as if he wanted to say something but no sound escaped his lips. he blinked in disbelief, had to force himself to tears his eyes away fro steve chest. gaze quickly dropping to the floor, he suddenly felt extremely hot, wondered if the temperature had somehow risen in the last two minutes. his cheeks were burning, he was certain that he was sporting a nice, brigt blush.

“uh....”, it took him a moment to assemble the scrambled words in his head into a coherent sentence. he thought back to their first trip to the upside down for a moment, back to how he had nearly forgotten to fucking breathe when steve had taken off his sweater to jump into lover’s lake. how he’d tossed him his denim vest some half hour later, simply because he couldn’t stand the sight of shirtless steve anymore, it was making him all dizzy and disoriented. 

and it seemed that it still had the same effect now. eddie swallowed, frowned. think, munson, think, for god’s sake. “ i, uh. eggs. “, he suddenly blurted out, looked back up to meet steve’s eyes. “in benny’s diner. eggs, they , uh, they, like, hatched and...then there was this fucking fire, and it, it burned down and -”

rcbinbvckleys·:

⚢

“i should be the one checking on my eyes! wait, you’re definitely actually you, right?” logistically speaking, this could be an elaborate trick from the upside down to lure robin to her doom. okay no, this was real and she really had to stop thinking like that. physical contact was usually something she avoided, but eddie was someone she was comfortable with — although she barely had any time to react, so just had time to put one arm around him to pat his back. “it’s gotta be one hell of a campaign to stick around all summer.” if robin were given the opportunity for a responsibility free summer, she would most likely want to travel, not return to her hometown.

“i’m just, toeing the line. college. and i’m still working at family video! i’m saving up.” it was true, the glass jar shoved in the top of her closet was filled with bills. but what exactly was she saving for? the multitude of escape plans she had come up with in the past had never worked out. something was keeping robin in hawkins. maybe it was the fear of being out there in the world, alone, with no one to turn to or rely on if it all went to shreds. or maybe a minuscule doubtful piece of her mind had convinced her that one of the creatures they’d encountered in the past would follow her wherever she went. “and you, you haven’t made it big yet? i was hoping i’d already have a tape with your face on it!”

+++

he nodded, grinned, did a little spin for her. “as he lives and breathes. eddie munson, in the flesh.” some days he couldn’t believe his own eyes, when he caught his reflection in the mirror, blinking at him, staring with that confused and surprised look on his face. couldn’t believe that he was still here, among the land of the living. because that day in the upside down, he’d said his finaly goodbyes to the world, thinking that that was it. here he was, back in hawkins after all those years, 

he was alive, and so was his unlikely little group of friends that still hung about in that godforsaken town. “oh, trust me, it is a sadistic campaign, the likes of which hellfire club has never seen before.”, eddie explained, a glint in his eyes but he stopped himself from rambling - they’d be here all day once he got into the logistics of his campaigns. “chicago gets crazy and busy during summer. thought i’d escape to...a different kind of crazy.” he threw her a knowing glance. “besides, had to check up on all of you guys, see how you’re doing now the talk of the town’s moved away. tragic, i know. spare me your tears.”

eddie nodded and listened, recognized himself in her. he, too, had saved every penny, having scratched together just enough to fuck off immediately after graduation. “still working with harrington? how’s he doing? oh and keith, right? is he still, like, you know....as weird?” seriously, eddie had often wondered why the town had branded him a ‘freak’ just because he listened to metal and played a fantasy game, and not keith with...well, with his whole thing. it made eddie grimace.

so did robin’s comment, he waved it off. “don’t ya worry your pretty little head about that, i’m still a rockstar in the making. i’ll make it, i’m sure.” and he wasn’t sure who he was trying to convince here. eddie looked around, as easy as talking to robin felt, he still didn’t feel exctly safe with so many people around.

“hey, do you wanna maybe get outta here? i got some, uh, pretty good shit from chicago that’s calling our names.”

stevehharringtcns·:

steve felt like this was right, like he always meant to be like this with eddie. when the other had invited him to go to his place, steve didn’t hesitate when he said yes, knowing that they needed to spend time together after being apart. sure, they weren’t apart for that long, but steve felt like he needed to spend more time with eddie. so there they were, sitting on eddie’s couch. they were lucky that his uncle was out or this would have been awkward, but with eddie’s legs on his lap and with them kissing occasionally, steve felt like he was in heaving, his hand resting on eddie’s leg as he pulled him down for a kiss again, blushing slightly at the contact.

when they broke the kiss, steve felt his hair tangle on one of eddie’s rings and he whined lowly. “ow, ow, ow…” he hissed as he finally rid himself of the ring, smiling at eddie right after and letting out a chuckle. the way he called him princess made him blush, but that was another talk that steve wasn’t ready to have. he didn’t know why he liked it so much. “it’s okay, plus the rings look hot on you, you don’t need to take them off.” he said as he pulled him for yet another kiss and smirked into it. this felt nice.

steve smiled when eddie grabbed his hand, steve almost immediately pulling it to press a kiss on eddie’s hand and nodding his head. “you look so cute.” he said with a smile, before squeezing the other’s cheek. it was almost as an instinct as he did so, and steve was glad that the two could share this moment without having any kids barging in. steve only hoped that dustin wouldn’t come in the house or even worse, that he would yell code red through the walkie. but it wasn’t the time to think about that.

“sure, we can watch a movie…” he said, knowing that the two probably wouldn’t pay that much attention to the movie. “oh, do you have dirty dancing? i…” he said, before blushing and lowering his tone. “love that movie…” he said, letting out a small chuckle as he leaned down to kiss eddie’s forehead lovingly.

+++

lovingly. everything steve did was so caring, loving, that eddie felt his heart might just burst. this was uncharted territory for him, hell, eddie had never even dated anyone, or not properly. not like steve harrington was dating him. the forehead kisses, swinging your intertwined hands between each other as you walk - and love letters and sharing as milshake in a fifties diner kind of dating. proper, nice. nobody had ever treated eddie ‘the freak’ munson as nice as steve ‘the hair’ harrington, and he gazed up at him in awe, a grin on his lips, all wide and toothy.

the amount of attention steve payed him was unfamiliar, too. eddie didn’t have to ask or beg for kisses, no, steve kissed him on his own accord, grabbed his hand, pressed light pecks to his cheek. he was there, ever present, and eddie thought that this might be what his heaven would look like after he died.

he giggled, downright giggled, and pulled his hair in front of his face to hide his blush. “oh my god, steve harrington called me cute, i might just, like, die, he’s so fly and, like a total hottie.”, he said in his best valley girl impression, chuckling all the way through it, wiggling his eyebrows. eddie bat his lashes at steve, then leaned in to press a gross, wet kiss to his cheek. “you’re hella cute, too.”

he shivered, shook his head and limbs, as if shaking off the valley girl character for good. another forehead kiss had eddie biting his lip, brushing furiously. lips twitching, on the verge of bursting into a loud cackle. “dirty dancing, man?”, he echoed, eyes widening. he purse dhis lip to stop the smile from spreading. “i mean, like .... okay, if you tell anyone this then your ass is grass, steve, yeah? i’m going to kill you, like, satanic ritualistic dnd murder your ass for real, but ... “  eddie held up a finger as if to say ‘don’t move’ before he jumped up towards the tv, digging through the few vhs tapes stored in the small cupboard underneath.victorious smile on his face, he quickly popped the tape in and rejoined steve on the couch. rubbing his hands together as the title sequence to ‘dirty dancing’ started playing.

“i’m .. .yeah, i watched that movie religiously when it came out. i’ve got the biggest crush on patrick swayze. you know, you two kinda look alike.”

stevehharringtcns·:

.

as he stared at eddie, steve couldn’t help but have a smile creep on his features. it was good seeing eddie, even if he had seen him before the wheeler barbecue and many times before, but having him gone for so long made steve quite happy to say the least. he felt like all of the time he had spent with the other was too busy with fighting vecna and after everything that had happened, everyone seemed to drift off for a bit. he hadn’t talked to eddie in a while, not a real talk anyway, so it was definitely good to see him again around town. he couldn’t be the one that thought that, right?

“i work here, how is that a surprise? you should have known i would be here” he asked, raising an eyebrow but letting out a chuckle either way, shaking his head slightly as he started walking towards the aisle so he could drop off some of the cases, tilting his head slightly so eddie could follow him. he didn’t mind having some company, especially eddie’s.

listening to him talk made steve keep smiling. it seemed like he couldn’t get that smile off his face, but he had always liked eddie’s company. maybe a little too much, but he wasn’t going to be busy thinking about that. “oh, you looking for some movies to watch? well, i really don’t know what type of movies you like.” he said, as he started rearranging the cases on the shelf, letting out a sigh as he did so. “you kind of look like you’re a horror guy… i can take you to that section, but you know… i don’t spend that much time watching movies, i’m not a nerd.” he said with a sly smirk, as he looked at eddie. “no offense, obviously.” he said, a small shrug coming from his shoulders. “are you only really here for a movie? c’mon, be serious with me.” he said with a chuckle.

+++

jesus, fuck, why did harrington have to look this damn perfect all the time. it really wasn’t fair, especially when eddie had considered himself totally done with the whole affair. and here he waws again, blushing like a little girl. getting distracted by how pretty  his lips were when he spoke, how fucking lucious his hair looked and -

oh. lips, moving, it connected in eddie’s brain, steve was talking to him. he snapped out of his trance, blinked repeatedly. still a grin on his face, a stupid, silly, lovey-dovey look in his eyes. get it together munson. “i did know you’d be here, harrington. duh.”, he said and rolled his eyes. “sarcasm, man. look it up.”

he followed steve, slowly, as if he had to remind himself ‘one foot in front of the other.’ also, he didn’t particularly mind the view. not at all. “dude, you’re like henderson’s dad. you hang out with the kids more than i do. sure you’re a fucking nerd.”, he teased, shoved steve’s shoulder playfully. his hand lingered there perhaps a touch too long, he quickly dropped it. “none taken, harrington. been called worse. and i do pride myself on being a nerd.i daresay i am the king of nerds.”

jesus, he was coming on too strong. words falling from his lips without thought, absent-minded rambling. he was nervous. two years and steve ‘the hair’ harrington still had that effect on him. play it cool, munson, play it cool. he cleared his throat, straightened up a bit. “horror’s ok.”, he shrugged. “what....sorta movies do you like, harrington?” totally asked without any hidden intention, not like he was planning to invite steve over to watch a movie with him. definitely not.

eddie swiped his tongue over his teeth, his grin turned into a smirk. “alright, alright, harrington, i give in.”, he said, hands held up in mock surrender. “i just wanted to see your pretty face again. and that infamous hair, jeez, man. how do you get it to...fucking defy gravity like that?”

stevehharringtcns·:

steve smiled at eddie, nodding his head slowly. he let out yet another chuckle as he watched his now boyfriend, taking him all in and staring at him lovingly. “you really were trying to steal my title for best hair… back in high school, right?” he teased with a chuckle. it was still weird to think about how different they were in high school and how they were both still so different from each other, but still had managed to find each other and be together. steve wouldn’t let that change anytime soon. he closed his eyes for a couple of moments when he felt eddie run a hand through his hair, smiling at the touch. he didn’t even want to think about how his hair looked right now. he had been in that hospital for long enough time for it to become a mess and only he knew how much time it took him to get it ready. “right… probably looks like a mess right now…” he said quietly, before letting out a sigh. “i’ve been thinking about cutting it anyway.” he said with a small nod of his head.

at the other’s question about joining hellfire club, steve couldn’t help but to smile and shrug his shoulders slightly. “listen, i wouldn’t join for… the game. or whatever it is. i would join so i could look at you.” he said, a smile on his face, a charming one for that fact. if there was something that time or that explosion didn’t take away from him was his natural charm, or at least he thought so. but that was only focused on eddie now. he didn’t want anyone else. “i mean it, ed… i would join just for you. even if… i’m pretty sure i wouldn’t know what’s going on… most of the time.” he said, pausing for a bit to take a breath, nodding his head slowly.

while steve had been pretty jealous that dustin had been hanging out with eddie more and more when they had first met, steve was glad that dustin had eddie as well. dustin needed them, or at least that’s what he liked to tell himself. he was glad that eddie cared so much for him that he would keep an eye out for him. it was clear that the two were worried about him, especially with everything that had happened. he pursed his lips together, as he let out a sigh. “i’m glad… he’s okay. he goes through too much…” he said, shaking his head slowly. he thought that all of the kids went through too much for their age, but yet again, they were at the age where steve had burned down those tunnels. hawkins definitely wasn’t a good place to live in. “i know you will, but take care of him… okay? he needs someone there for him.” he said with a smile, knowing that eddie wouldn’t fail him.

he was touched when eddie had offered wayne to stop by with some food. steve was glad that he had someone from his family that cared for him like this. he nodded his head. “okay… that sounds nice.” he said simply, as he looked at his boyfriend. they sat there in silence for a couple of moments, steve smiling at him the whole time until he finally spoke. he let out a small chuckle that only hurt his ribs slightly, but he didn’t show it. “i’m… i’m real. we’re real, eddie. we’re… dating, you know?” he said, smiling at eddie. even with everything, steve was glad that he still had that. he wouldn’t let it go. “kiss me again? i like kissing you.” he said with a nod.

+++

eddie snorted. "back when we were in high school together, you mean? nah, man, my hair looked like shit back then, that weird growing out phase after i buzzed it." he'd sported a mohawk for a week or two, before he'd decided that that looked too punk-y for him and that he was a metalhead now. "you know", he said, moving his hand out of steve's hair as gently as possible to take a strand of his own hair between his fingers, inspecting and then twirling it, "a lot of hard work and dedication went into these locks." a lot of arguments with wayne where he refused to acknowledge his split ends, his uncle trying to talk him into getting that 'wild mop of hair of his' under control. eddie smiled to himself, pulled his hair over his face for a moment before letting it fall to the side again.

"are you for real right now? you want to cut it?" he pursed his lips, eyes squinting and his head tilted to the side as he tried to imagine steve without his signature gravity defying hairstyle. he hummed a question. "whatever you want to do, sweetheart - but the offer still stands. I'm a master of detangling hospital bed induced matting."

eddie chewed on his bottom lip, gave a weak nod but looked away, blinking to fight the oncoming tears. there'd been enough crying today. "i will. you know i will.", he paused for a moment, let out a shaky breath. "don't... don't talk like that, man." like he wasn't going to be around for much longer. like he was passing the torch of care to eddie.

how eddie had talked to dustin, when he'd had his head in the boys lap, drawing shaky, ragged breaths, the sting of his wounds slowly fading as he himself had faded into a blissful oblivion. "you're sticking around, harrington." it was a demand, if anything. "you *have* to, now. you can't ask me to be your boyfriend and then kick the bucket. nobody would believe me. id look like some pathetic loser going around telling everyone steve harrington was actually my secret boyfriend all along." cope with humor. he let out a dry chuckle.

and he nodded in confirmation, a smile playing at his lips. "yeah, we sure are." eddie thought about how he'd never dated anyone, not seriously, not as long term as this was going to be - because there was no chance in hell that eddie was ever going to break up with steve. And by the looks of it, the look that steve had in his eyes as he looked up at him, asked him for another kiss, it seemed like steve had no intention of doing so, either. the upside down was going to have to pull its biggest stunt ever if it wanted to separate the two of them. and eddie wasn't going to let it.

he grinned, all wide and toothy, and bent down to give into steve's request. connecting their lips in a sweet kiss, lips lazily moving against one another. there was no rush here. eventually, they'd have to face the fast pace of life in hawkins again, gave whatever the universe was going to throw their way next. but not now.

when eddie pulled back he placed a short peck on Steve's forehead, brushing some hair out of his face. "im getting you some ice chips, stevie. go rest a bit. that's an order." and with a wink, he detached himself from his boyfriend and walked out the room, feeling like he was floating.

THE END

🎸