Black Sabbath - Paranoid  ♰

where: the hospital

what: a sleep-deprived, traumatized eddie visits an unconcious steve

who: @stevehharringtcns​ + eddie

despite max’s insistence to wait until the morning, get some shut eye and straighten himself out, eddie found himself wandering the hall so hawkins’ hospital. the circles under his eyes darker then his messy, tangled and frizzy hair, a worry wrinkle on his forehead that hadn’t gone away since he’d seen jack foreman knocking steve out. it was tempting to say that he couldn’t remember the last time he’d felt this awful, but that would be an outright lie. oh, eddie remembered. only then, the roles were reversed - with him waking up in a hospital bed, though chained to it, and steve probably wandering the halls, pacing up and down the corridors. 

he blinked rapidly, his eyes felt weirdly dry and strained from the harsh led lights above him him. max had told him what room steve was in, and so far eddie had managed to successfully sneak by various nurses and guards unnoticed. finding the room was another question, eddie could barely make out the numbers on the doors clearly, and in his sleep-deprived states, all corridors looked the same to him. like an endless maze.

another left turn, then a right, eddie was right back where he started and every step was nauseating, he felt heavy, every inhale getting more and more difficult. so when he finally reached steve’s room he didn’t even bother looking left and right to see if he was beinf watched, eddie bursted through the door,  letting it fall shut with a semi-loud ‘bang’. 

lips trembling as his eyes settled on steve. laying in his bed, his hospital bed, with all sorts of monitors hooked up, beeping deafeningly loud. eddie exhaled shakily, drew his brows together tightly, he swallowed as he approached the other’s bedside. fingers absent-mindedly ghosting over the bruises - burns, more like - that officer callahan’s handcuffs had left on his wrist. “.....steve?” voice meek, eddie nearly choked on a sob. there was time to cry about all of this later, he scolded himself. first he had to make sure that steve was ok. “can you hear me?”

thequeenofhawkins·:

𝐖𝐇𝐎: Chrissy Cunningham & @eddiemcnson··

𝐖𝐇𝐀𝐓: Chrissy and Eddie are just friends, oh no! sound off the homophobes :/

𝐖𝐇𝐄𝐑𝐄: Junkyard bus

This was not normal. None of the last month was normal. It hadn’t been easy, accepting that she had died years ago. In fact, she hadn’t fully processed it. It defied everything that she had been taught. Science said it wasn’t possible, even religion said it wasn’t possible (except in very specific cases and Chrissy was sure that she, along with all the other commune people, were not messiah’s of any sort). Yet, she was somehow brought out of the soil and was now breathing heavily, her back pressed against the cold steel of the bus, legs outstretched on the seat after what could only be described as hellish. From rabid undead dogs to Max Mayfield backhanding her, she was, for once, ready to be back at home in her own bed.

She felt so useless the entire time. When people started asking her questions, she tensed up and barely said anything, choosing to lie to protect herself more than anything and when it came time to fight, Chrissy had to stay back with Jack so no one got hurt. Even if she had knocked over one of those dogs, she didn’t feel good about it. It just made her feel queasy, regardless of the circumstance. Once they had gotten out of the junkyard and Dustin’s driving steadied, Chrissy peeled herself from the seat and attempted to make herself useful by finding Lucas Sinclair’s backpack and grabbing his first aid kit. Growing up, Chrissy had always been taught practical skills that were deemed ladylike. First aid happened to just fall under that.

She walked back down the aisle, first aid kit in hand as she sat next to Eddie, making herself known. The last time she had seen him she had all but stomped into his trailer demanding to know what happened to her. Since then, she had gotten pieces, but never a concise story. She remembered being at his trailer last and even Chance said that he thought it had been Eddie who murdered her. It sat in the back of her head that maybe there was truth to that. “You probably want to get something on that soon,” she pointed out, looking down at his ankle where the rabid dog had attacked him. It didn’t look bad, per se, but it seemed like an injury that shouldn’t be left out to breathe either. She popped open the first aid kit and pulled out a tube of ointment, holding it out in his direction. “How’s it feel?” 

+++

his vision was a little blurry, thoughts hazy, but one thing was for certain - whomever had taught dustin henderson how to drive was a threat to society who thrived on chaos. eddie had gripped the backrest, holding on for dear life. eyes screwed shut, lips tighthly pressed together, making way for the occasional curse, as he tried to fight off the oncoming wave of nausea. breathing in through his nose, out through his mouth - or the other way around? 

whatever. at least he was breathing, he thought with a weak scoff, and the sickly, bittersweet sensation returned to the pit of his stomach. eddie placed a hand over his belly button, as if that would help anything. the spotty, dark visual of his eyes squeezed shut proved to be a perfect projection space as his mind forced him to replay the events past - the bickering about who to sacrifice to lure out the doppelganger, how max hadn’t hesitated to throw a punch chrissy’s way, earning the blow herself. how he’d approached the dog, how it had multiplied, how it had something to do with the fucking diner - and how they’d made it out miraculously, by the skin of their teeth. not completely unharmed, but out, at least.

in time, dustin’s driving had steadied and eddie had exhaled shakily, shifting to make himself more comfortable, only to be reminded of how he counted as part of the ‘not completely unharmed’. a sharp hiss, a curse, eddie didn’t managed to fight the urge to reach out, roll up his pant leg and inspect the injury, touch it, even. his face twisted into a grimace, he was almost annoyed at how fast the nausea managed to resurface. not that it looked that bad - just ... not good, either.

and another hit to his stomach as he looked up to find chrissy cunningham with a first-aid kit in hand. immediately, involuntarily, an aimge of her with her bones snapped and eyes rolled back floating on the ceiling of his trailer came into his mind and he had to look away, squeeze his eyes shut to force it to stop. chrissy was back now, she was alive. and eddie couldn’t go and panic at the sight of her face forever. so, reluctantly, he met her eyes, if only a for a few seconds, gave her a weak smile. “uh. well - not ideal but, uh, i’ll live.” he gave a nod. not too convinced with his own words. “uhm, how - how are you feeling?”

eddie looked between her and the ointment, then held up his hands. “i’ve got, like, demon-dog goo and grime on my hands, not really sure i should be rubbing anything into anything.” a little chuckle, he craned his neck to peek at the first aid kit. “you got any, like, bandages in there? gauge, maybe?”

zccming·:

WHO: max mayfield & @eddiemcnson· WHAT: max checks in with eddie. WHERE: forest hills trailer park.

if max had to guess, she’d say she got a solid half hour of sleep in her twenty-four hours at the hospital. and that had been when she was waiting to get her hands stitched up per steve’s request. eventually, she checked on everyone one last time for the night, then peeled out of the hospital and straight for the trailer park. she was banking on eddie having been released and if he hadn’t yet? she was fully prepared to burn hawkins p.d to the fucking ground. it was like as soon as max ticked one concern off her post-disaster checklist, five more got added to the bottom. she didn’t have enough sleep on her side to keep up with it all, but she was trying. and in all fairness? it got infinitely easier to do when she ran out of tears to cry at around five o’clock in the evening that same day. 

skating from the hospital to the trailer park was a fucking trip and a half. max had learned that the hard way back in ‘86 when she stubbornly insisted she could still skateboard home with a broken arm. luckily for her, a car full of her friends who knew she was being stupid about the whole thing followed close behind to pick her up when she gave up less than halfway into the journey. max’s hands might have been bandaged, and her mind might’ve been a little broken following the warped record of what happened in the past twenty-four hours, but this time, she made it the whole way. it was the one place it made sense to go to first, share the news about steve.

carelessly, she chucked her board somewhere in the yard on her arrival, and willed her tired body to sprint up the steps and bang on the door. when eddie opened it, relief washed over her as she hugged him and refused to let go for a long minute, a minute where she didn’t think about how bad it was out there, and live in the space where she was happy she hadn’t lost another brother. when max stepped back she croaked up at him, “how fucked are you?” then she nodded a little, “don’t sugar coat it, munson.” she demanded. standing still, max suddenly felt jittery and couldn’t wait for his answer before interrupting him again, “wait, first, sit down.” she started barking orders the moment she got out of the house of mirrors, and hadn’t stopped since. figuring eddie hadn’t had the sense to eat, because she hadn’t, she beelined for the kitchen and got to fixing them…bowls of cereal. while she was digging in the fridge for milk, she called out to him, “you can answer now.” it took her about five minutes after that to sit down with their bowls that were most likely going to remain untouched. 

+++

despite his various run ins with the law over the years, eddie had only ever been arrested once before, when some nosy nelly had caught him with a joint in gareth's garage freshman year, and had promptly reported them. moving to chicago had made him clean up his act, or rather hide his act more proficiently. he wasn't dealing anymore, hadn't been since graduation, and when the cops once again raided one of the bars he frequented he was the first to pluck that bandana from his back pocket and book it.

returning to hawkins for the summer, eddie had been prepared for lots of things. dirty looks burning into his back, sneers, maybe even a couple pushes and shoves here and there. but he'd expected to be relatively safe, seeing as he'd planned to lay low, anyway. and now? now it was like '86 all over again. the upside down had undeniably snuck its way back into their lives, eddie felt the effects weigh heavy on his mind as he absentmindedly rubbed the burns that officer callahan's handcuffs had left on his wrists.

just like 86, when he'd woken up chained to a hospital bed until hopper and some dubious government agents had come through with a cover story, clearing him of all charges. just like 86, when he'd looked up from where he'd been pushed to the ground by callahan, he'd caught the curious bystander's looks. accusatory glances as he was manhandled to the back of the police car. 'that's him', they seemed to whisper among themselves, 'that's that deadbeat satan worshipper that killed all those kids' 86. no wonder he's responsible for this, too. '

he'd been home for approximately an hour or two when max had come knocking at his door. eddie hadn't slept a wink and it showed, lids threatening to flutter shut at any given moment, palms nearly bloody from how he'd nervously scratched at them for hours. when max had come knocking he'd simply opened the door, no 'hello', no 'thank fuck you're okay', not even a nod, he'd stepped aside to let her in. closed the door, then followed her order to sit down, the sofa felt weird underneath him, a sharp contrast to the rough, hard bench in the prison cell.

his eyes focused on nothing in particular, eddie coughed, mouth feeling awfully dry. when was the last time he'd had a sip of water? max's hands carrying the bowls came into view, he frowned. "what happened to your hand? are you hurt?"

where: blue quarry mall

who: eddie + max !

@zccming​​

despite popular belief, eddie wasn’t completely clueless. he was in a lot of matters, mostly concerning normal social interactions, but he wasn’t completely oblivious to what had happened those years ago on the very spot they were now standing, partying. after venturing through the upside down he’d been filled in on most of the gory details on what whack shit had taken place in hawkins and it had all started to make a little more sense.

presently, eddie knew, they were very much dancing on graves. of people who had died posessed by the mindflayer, people who had been ‘collateral damage’ and people who had heroically sacrificed themselves. people like billy hargrove.

he’d never been that close to billy, hadn’t come to known the guy that well, except for a few hushed drug deals here and there. their connection hadn’t gone past a somewhat acknowledging nod to one another at a metal gig. but eddie knew that, in a twisted way, he’d filled the position that billy had left -

- in max mayfield’s life. so he’d kept close watch of her througout the evening from his position next to the stereo. when he’d spotted her a little further away from the crowd, he’d quickly made his way over.

“hey kid. you good? having fun?”

loverboymontgomery·:

xx.

As he walked closer to Eddie, he tried flexing his ankle. It was sore, but the soreness was dull enough that it left Cole wondering if it was all in his head. The last few weeks had Cole questioning his sanity more times than he was comfortable with. Pulling Adam’s flannel around his torso, Cole nodded in agreement with Eddie’s statement. “Yeah… it’s a lot. Kind of too much to try and figure out right now, after that keg stand,” Cole admitted with a grimace. Not his brightest idea.

“Can I bum a smoke?” Cole asked when Eddie brought the cigarette to his lips.  Cole glanced down to his ankle and laughed humorlessly. “I don’t know. I can’t tell if it’s all in my head or if that really happened. You’d tell me if you thought I was going crazy, right?” he asked, half-joking. Cole straightened his back and met Eddie’s eyes. 

“So, not to be awkward, but… we’re cool, right?” Cole asked, sincerity written on his face. “I just mean… like, to me, we’re good.” They never had a chance to talk about what had happened, and since then, there was Thad and then Adam coming back. He didn’t think it was that deep, really, but wanted to make sure.

With Steve, it had been an unspoken agreement: Steve will bring it up if he wants to. But with Eddie, he wasn’t sure. With the frantic way things ended at the mall, it was impossible to know what Eddie had been thinking, what he could be thinking now. Cole felt drawn to him as a friend, and he hoped what had happened hadn’t ruined that from the start.  

Besides, Cole was very curious about what he’d seen between Eddie and Steve. It was glaringly obvious to him at the shore that something had happened, and when it clicked in Cole’s mind, he’d wanted nothing more than to congratulate them. Obviously, that was out of the question, but now that he’d found Eddie alone, he hoped it would come up. 

+++

"sure, here ya go.", eddie nodded, fumbled to pull a cigarette from his pack and handed it to cole, along with the lighter. his eyes followed cole's, dropping down to his ankle, brows drawn together in worried concern.

he shook his head. "no, you're not going insane, man. i saw it, too. i mean, like, not what... what exactly dragged you down or anything but, uh, i was there." eddie shrugged, pulled his lips into a polite smile - certainly not his best bid at reassuring someone that they weren't losing their mind but hey, he'd tried.

the question, albeit expected, caught eddie somewhat off-guard. fingers flexing, he nearly dropped the cigarette, straightened his back, searched cole's eyes. "uh, yeah. totally, totally, man. we're, uh, we're cool. yeah." accompanied by eager nods,brows still drawn together.

they hadn't had a chance to talk since the mall disaster, really, eddie had been preoccupied with committing arson, coming to terms with the fact that the supernatural was making a reappearance in town and kissing steve harrington, his schedule was quite busy these days. eddie had stopped by the music centre a couple of times, though he'd either been too nervous to talk to cole or had been roped into long, winding conversations about jazz and being a metalhead. so, yeah, they hadn't talked. and now, apparently, it was time to do just that.

not that eddie hadn't picked up on the fact that cole and adam were seemingly going strong again - the looks the two of them exchanged reminded him of one's that he shared with steve, too, and the thought of it made a faint blush rise to his cheek.

he nodded again. "yeah, we're cool. no worries. i.... saw that adam's back in town. im happy for you, man. really." said with a genuine smile, he patted cole's shoulder. "and also he's like smoking hot, so go you."

stevehharringtcns·:

dvstybuns·:

“What? No. No one broke into your house. You got mad the last time I did that, so I stopped.” Dustin replied to Steve, frowning at the question. If someone else had, Dustin would have called the cops - and then left. He wasn’t about to try to fight off a burglar at Steve’s house; his parents could afford to replace it all, anyway. And then all hell broke loose when Steve and Eddie realized why he’d used a Code Red. 

In theory, Dustin knew that Code Red meant Code Red and he wasn’t supposed to use it for other shit. He knew that! He didn’t need this lecture right now, damn it. “Okay, but you wouldn’t have gotten here as fast if I’d told you the real reason I needed to see you!” Dustin replied, voice rising to match theirs. Not that he had any real reason to be annoyed at them. “But fine! Whatever! I won’t use Code Red again unless I’m dying, okay?” He grumbled at Eddie, looking at Steve for some sympathy here. Not that he was really expecting to find it, but still. Of the two, Eddie seemed more pissed right now. 

Sitting down on Steve’s couch, he looked to the two older boys for guidance. He had asked them both for help because they were both like big brothers to him, or dads even. Older male figures that he looked up to and respected, even if just thinking that made him want to gag. Dustin loved them, and he trusted that even if their advice was shitty, it came from a good place because neither would actually actively want to ruin his life. 

“No, I know I need to take her on dates!” Dustin shook his head, leaning forward and resting his elbows on his knees. “I can do that. I can be romantic,” He murmured quietly, nodding at Eddie’s advice as he took it in. “Um, actually, we can’t go away somewhere because of the fucking border,” He reminded them, brow screwing up in confusion at the mention of a cabin. That seemed pointed, for some reason, and Dustin had no clue why. 

Was something else going on here? What was happening with them? Was this about a girl or something?

Pausing, Dustin took in the rest of Eddie’s advice. Okay, that was solid. That was something he could do. But that was also mostly what he was already doing. “I guess… I don’t know. It’s like, when we were talking over Cerebro or the phone, it was easy. Now that she’s here, I’m just…” He paused, looking down at the floor. It shouldn’t be embarrassing to admit - they both already knew how dorky he was. It was just hard being vulnerable sometimes, although he knew Steve and Eddie wouldn’t really judge him. Steve had been around for the fiasco that was the Snowball, and Eddie had known him for years too. Talking about this with them would be fine. Easier than talking about it with Mike and Lucas, for sure. 

“…I’m nervous. I really like her, and it’s been a long time since she’s been around me in person. What if she realizes that I’m weird or something and doesn’t like me anymore?” Dustin admitted quietly, avoiding looking at either of them.

When Eddie asked to leave, Dustin looked up at him sharply. “What? No! I asked you both here for your advice! Just because you don’t know much about girls doesn’t excuse you!” 

@stevehharringtcns··

.

these stupid walkies had only given steve headaches. he could have easily had a talk with eddie at his cabin, but of course they were interrupted by dustin. and since it was a code red (or so they thought so), they couldn’t exactly ignore it. “eddie’s right about this, you can’t just go on and about saying code red when you feel like it! you know that my dad would kill me if something happened to the house while he was out. just don’t do it again.” he said, feeling like he was done lecturing dustin. sometimes he did feel like a babysitter. he shared a look with eddie, nodding his head slowly. he thought that he didn’t need to say anything as they made their way inside of the house, watching as dustin took a seat on his couch.

as much as he wanted to focus on dustin, steve couldn’t help but to feel bad that he was there with eddie like everything was okay. he decided that it was for the best to not bring it up to dustin. he liked to believe that dustin looked at steve for some comfort, and the way he had talked about eddie before, he definitely saw him the same way. he wasn’t going to bring him into their mess. but then again, it was kind of hard to do when he felt eddie’s stares burn into his head and the occasional jabs, even if subtle, that the other threw his way.

“a cabin is a really good place for a romance, if two people are alone. that much is true, dustin…” he said, giving eddie a look for a couple of moments, wanting for him to stop. what had happened at the cabin wasn’t his proudest moment and he felt sick every time he thought about it, but this wasn’t the best time to fight about it. although that he thought he would never hear the end of it from eddie. if he had been given a chance to talk to him before getting interrupted, maybe they wouldn’t be like this now. but it didn’t matter, steve wanted to focus on dustin. “look, this isn’t about me and the dates that i’ve gone to, ed- dustin.” he said, correcting himself at the end and clearing his throat. “clearly we’re different because i was popular back then and dustin is… well, dustin.” he said with a shrug of his shoulders.

steve listened carefully to dustin’s concerns about suzie. in all honesty, dustin made it seem like suzie was going to leave at any moment, but steve doubted that. after meeting her, she seemed way too nice to do something like that and she cared about dustin. steve pursed his lips as he nodded his head, thinking about on what to say next. “have you… you know, tried talking to her about it? maybe asking her?” he asked, raising an eyebrow before shaking his head.

“you’re not… okay, you’re definitely weird, but that’s past the point! she fell for you during that… camp or whatever it was. and even after that, she still wanted to talk to you through those stupid walkies. if she does all of that for a guy that’s miles away, then i definitely don’t think she’ll think you’re weird. or maybe…” he said, looking over at eddie for a couple of moments, a glint in his eyes as he pursed his lips and looked at dustin. “maybe she likes you because you’re weird.” he said, nodding his head. he thought if he was actually talking about himself. he let out a sigh as he sat down next to dustin and patted the other on the shoulder with a smile on his face. 

“i don’t think you have to worry about suzie thinking you’re weird. right, eddie?” he asked, feeling his heart pounding as he looked at eddie for a few moments, giving him a look. he wanted the other to agree with him and forget about what was going on between them for a couple of moments. this was about cheering up dustin and giving him some advice as he asked. they could fight later.

“how about this? you’ll go home tonight and ask suzie what are some of her favorite movies and tomorrow you can stop by the video store and rent them out, okay?” he asked, smiling at dustin. “it’ll be on the house.” he assured, patting the other on the shoulder again. he wasn’t the best at advice, he thought, but a movie always seemed to help whenever he had a date. even if he didn’t pay that much attention to the movie.

@eddiemcnson··

+++

eddie threw steve a sharp look, then sighed heavily. it was better to leave his own resentment out of this - for dustin's sake. and he was instantly reminded of a line he'd heard countless times in his childhood, over the sound muffled shouting and breaking glass - "not in front of the kid!"

besides, he didn't stand a chance when dustin looked at him like that so, slightly disgruntled, he plopped down on the couch. steves comment about popularity drew an eye roll from eddie. "ah, great, stevie ,amazing, real nicely done. makes him feel real special i bet." though eddie knew what he meant. he himself hadn't been exactly popular in high school, either, especially after the whole town had accused him of satanic ritualistic murders. still, that hadn't exactly gotten in the way of his dating life, seeing as it had been nonexistent in hawkins. a lack of options, if anything. perhaps a lack of adequate social skills, too.

he leaned in, gave dustin a shrug and a comforting smile. "as much as I hate to say this but i agree with king steve over here. and anyway, the hell's wrong with being weird, anyway? i'm weird. you're weird. i wouldn't like you if you weren't weird, henderson. you see...", he trailed off, pursed his lips, fingers drumming against his thigh as he thought of how to phrase it. "freaks and weirdos, yeah, they, like, attract each other. we're like magnets. when I first saw you, i mean, you definitely looked odd with your fucking weird al shirt." he chuckled slightly at the memory, feeling a little more comfortable now despite the lingering tension between him and steve." but wheeler, he looked, like, disgustingly, boringly normal. "and he made a fake gagging sound to accentuate his words. " but i still came up to you two and asked you to sit at the hellfire table. because i could just tell you two were freaks. hey, think of it like this - weird is just like another word for special."

a reassuring smile he gave dustin a comforting pat on the back, freezing as his fingers lightly brushed steve's from where the other's hand rested on dustin's shoulder. he pulled it back, perhaps a couple of seconds too late. "yeah, go... go with what harrington here says. dinner and a movie, yada yada. take her to the arcade - you said she digs computers and that shit, right?"

@dvstybuns

stevehharringtcns·:

.

steve couldn’t believe his eyes when he spotted that the person in front of his car (and that he had almost ran over with his car) was no other than eddie. he was pretty convinced that he had walked in front of his car on purpose, but then again, he couldn’t really be surprised by that - it was eddie after all. he couldn’t help but to chuckle at the other’s reaction to seeing him. only eddie would react like that, but at least someone was glad to see him. he couldn’t imagine nancy’s reaction when she spotted him, but he didn’t want to think about that right now. “what the hell are you doing, munson? you can’t just jump in front of my car like that, i could have killed you!” he continued his protests, but this time he had a smile on his face, shaking his head slowly as he laughed.

before he knew it, eddie was making his way inside of his car and before he could say anything about it, he was being pulled into a hug by the other, which made him chuckle awkwardly as he patted his back. “alright, alright, munson, don’t get too emotional just by my presence. it’s not like i went anywhere, you’re the one that has been missing from hawkins.” he said, shaking his head slightly as he kept patting the other’s back until he finally was pulled way from the hug.

staring at eddie as he invited himself over to the barbecue, steve thought to himself: it would be better if he showed with someone else, right? it would be less awkward than just showing up on his own and having to deal with the wheeler family all by himself. right? “i don’t think she’ll mind… but it’s not like i can ask her either way, so… the wheeler barbecue it is then.” he said as he started driving again, not thinking twice as he started making his way towards the wheeler house. “what have you been up to, munson? don’t tell me you came back to hawkins, after all this time?” he asked, a smirk showing up in his features as he drove.

+++

he shrugged. “had to get your attention somehow, didn’t i?” wide beaming smile fixed on his lips, eddie settled into the seat with a sigh, lifting his hips to pull the bandana from his back pocket. perhaps the hug had been a bit much, he thought to himself as he patted away a sheen of sweat on his forehead. he gave steve a sheepish smile. “sorry, man, didn’t mean to get all...”, he gestured between them with his hands, then dropped them in his lap. “it’s just you’re, like, the first friendly face i’ve come across here, ‘cept for my uncle, of course. and that means a lot, at least in hawkins, you know.”<7small>

although steve and eddie were... well, friends - bound together by that fucking whacky shit they’d gone through two years ago - eddie’s brow still twitched in anticipation as he awaited steve’s reply. he was still afraid of rejection, even after two years of keeping in contact. platonic rejection, though - yeah, no, eddie was pretty damn sure steve was as straight as they come. he’d put the moves on him during their time fighting vecna, really, come to think of it he’d never flirted as shamelessly with anyone else. dropping hints left, right and center, to no avail. until he’d moved to chicago and, well, had been forced to give up pursuing steve, for his own good.

but whatever. eddie noticed the sudden shift in tone as steve talked about nancy and cocked an eyebrow, buckling th seatbelt as he spoke. “huh? trouble in paradise, harrington? are you and wheeler, like, doing okay, or...?” a sort of open ended question, leaving it to steve to fill him in on the details he wanted to share.

he stretched his arms above his head, slipped his bandana back into his pocket. “oh, i’ve been up to all sorts of things. y’know. wreakig general havoc here and there, same old, in true munson fashion.”, he said and gave him a grin. “god, no, i’m only back for the summer, stevie. why? did you miss me?”

“you been up to anything fun, harrington?”

I hate how everyone has to make Eddie gay like just stop. He's not.

eddie munson wants to kiss steve harrington so bad. this ask just made him fruitier. he's at his homosexual peak rn.

stevehharringtcns·:

.

steve thought about the person who he was back in high school and he let out a sigh. he definitely hadn’t been fair to eddie or to anyone, really. he wished he had realized that sooner and maybe things would have been different. “i probably didn’t, i’m sorry…” he said with a sigh, although he knew that king steve was long gone, only the nickname staying behind - even if people didn’t use it as much now. he thought how things could have changed if he had always been the person he was now during high school. but it wasn’t good to dwell on the past, he decided to put his focus on the present, specially when he was kissing eddie munson on his bed. he thought what tommy and carol would think of this for a few moments, but then he shook it off his mind. “i barely slayed the dragon, but i’m glad that… everything’s good now.” he said with a small smile.

he kept kissing the other on the lips, their bodies close together as steve kept his arm around eddie’s waist, pulling him up occasionally to bring him into another kiss. he even dared to break the kiss for a couple of seconds to kiss eddie’s neck momentarily, before pulling away and diving back into the other’s lips, closing his eyes as he took the moment in. he thought he could do this for the rest of the night, but they needed to sleep sooner or later.

feeling the other’s tongue on his bottom lip as he pulled away from the kiss sent a chill down his spine as he stared down at the other and how he looked. just looking at eddie looking like that made steve’s heart skip a beat. he had left him like that.

“i…” he said, before clearing his throat and shaking his head as he looked down at eddie. “i’d love to continue, but…” he said, as he reached up with his hand to move eddie’s hair from his forehead in a loving gesture, as he looked down at him. “i work tomorrow… and you were pretty tired, so… maybe we should get some sleep.” he said as he blushed slightly. he was pretty sure that the two could keep doing this for the rest of the night, but maybe they should stop before anything else happened.

listening to the other say that he wanted to keep kissing him, steve didn’t waste his time as he dove down for another kiss, deepening it instantly before pulling away. “we… can continue this some other time. are you free tomorrow? i get off at 5.” he asked simply.

+++

eddie felt like he was floating, ever sense flooded with steve. the smell of his cologne and his laundry detergent, the feeling of his hair as he softly carded his fingers through that ‘best feature’ of his. he had his arms wrapped tight around the other’s neck, humming into the kiss, a pleased sound. soon replaced by a low whimper caught in the back of his throat as steve focused his attention on his neck for a moment and eddie’s grip on his hair tightened ever so slightly.

yeah, he could do this all night. all day, all week, really. and he suddenly thought to himself that coming back to hawkins for the summer was just about the best decision he could’ve made. did absoultely nothing in terms of getting over his silly little crush on steve - because now that he’d had a taste of what it was like to have him, eddie wasn’t sure if he was able to go without it again. the thought of this just being an experiment on steve’s part, or a sleep-drunken mistake, had his somtach in knots. but then again, whatever it was, he really was simply glad it had happened, no matter how they’d gotten there.

he chased after steve’s lips as they pulled back, eyes wide, just ... staring up at him. up at him - eddie hadn’t even noticed, sometime during their make out session - god, he felt like a teenager again - they must’ve shifted, with steve now towering above him. steve brushed a few strands of hair off his forehead and eddie nearly choked, shivering at the contact. a gesture far too ... caring and loving, not something eddie was used to. 

he nodded. “yeah. yeah, sure, i get it.”, he smiled, lop-sided, somewhat content with this being the end of it, maybe the only taste of steve he’d ever get, just as steve pulled down to connect their lips in another kiss. he pulled him down, flush against his chest, fingers clawing into steve’s shirt. his heart jumped at the .. .suggestion ? and he nodded, eagerly, let go of steve and put some distance between them. “i - yeah, that sounds - yeah. perfect.”, he grinned, shifted onto his side, pulling the covers over him. “i’ll  see you at family video at five, then. night, stevie.”

stevehharringtcns·:

.

at that very moment, steve wanted to get up from the bed and wrap his arms around eddie, tell him that everything would be okay. he just wanted to do that, but he couldn’t. his cuts and bruises were still pretty recent that every movement that he made, made his body ache. he hated seeing eddie like this. steve looked at him as he opened his hand slowly for the other to take. if he couldn’t hug him, he could at least hold his hand. it was the least he could do, he thought to himself. “eddie…” he said, pursing his lips as he tried to hold back his own tears as he saw eddie like this. he didn’t like it, he didn’t like it for a second, but he thought it would be better if the other just shared how he was feeling rather than repressing it.

when he felt eddie’s hand on his cheek, steve closed his eyes for a few moments and let out a sigh of relief. eddie was okay. when he had heard that the other had been arrested for no apparent reason, steve almost thought about getting up from the hospital bed and marching on to the police station, but just the thought of it made his body ache. he was still weak from everything, but he wanted to act tough for eddie. “no… i’m glad… you weren’t there.” he said weakly, giving the other a nod of his head. he would have hated if anything had happened to eddie like it had happened to him, he hated just thinking about it. “when i woke up… and you weren’t here… i thought…” he said, choking up on his own words. he couldn’t finish the sentence, he just couldn’t think about something like that. he didn’t want to. “i’m just glad you’re okay.” he said with a small nod, his hand reaching out to eddie’s.

“this? they’re just some cuts… and bruises. i’ll be fine.” he said weakly, letting out another small chuckle as he started coughing, his body flinching with the pain he felt in his ribs. that was going to be hard to get used to, but he closed his eyes for a couple of moments, gathering his strength as he looked back at eddie. “i need… to ask you something, okay?” he asked, looking over at eddie.

+++

“shh, shh, don’t speak. don’t.”, eddie gulped and quickly shuffled closer, elbows resting on the edge of the bed. cupping steve’s face with one hand he slid the other into his palm, gave it a gentle squeeze, thumb softly tracing along his knuckles. careful not to move any of the iv’s attached to the back of his hand, he gently lifted it to press his lips to his hand, trembling lips lingering there for a moment or two. it’s real, it’s real, it’s real. this is real. eddie squeezed his eyes shut for a moment, brows knitted together. this is real, steve is fine, he’s fine, it’s real. fate had played one trick too many on them these past few years, eddie wouldn’t let himself have that breath of relief until he was absolutely certain that this wasn’t all just taking place in his head. being back in hawkins he was never sure of that.

eddie sniffled,blinked a few tears away. “you’re cold.”, he simply stated as he lowered steve’s hand again, smoothing over where his lips had met his skin with his thumb. “your hand, you feel - it feels cold. do you need a blanket or something? want me to call the nurses? or i can  - i can look for one myself, if you want. i’ll do it. just say the word.” he was full aware that he was rambling. but when steve eyes had fluttered shut at his touch, eddie’s blood had run cold, his stomach had tightened at the sight and if it took him rambling or, hell, even singing for steve to open his eyes again then eddie would gladly oblige. the feeling passed somewhat, not entirely, when he  met steve’s gaze again. no more closed eyes, no more cold hands. from now on only warmth and aliveness. eddie hadn’t even realized that his fingers had positioned themselves around steve’s wrist so that eddie’s pointer rested over his pulse point. 

the sound of steve’s voice had eddie biting down on his bottom lip to stifle a choked off sob. he’d never seen him this weak, this frail. close to crying, too, eddie gulped in an attempt to swallow the enormous lump in his throat. he shook his head, shushed him again. “it’s - i’m fine. nothing happeend, i’m fne. i’m fine, yeah? we’re - “ the small smile eddie had mustered up and given steve now suddenly fell as he broke, erupting into loud, soul shattering sobs. the kind of crying that left one breathless, gasping for air. that had people tell you to ‘calm down’, asking what’s wrong but that left you unable to respond, for every sound was replaced by a wail. the kind of crying usually reserved for a child seeking its mother’s attention. eddie lowered his head so that his hair would hide his face, watched through his clouded gaze as tears fell onto the material of steve’s bedsheets, leaving marks there. “i thought you’d - i - that you weren’t - you - “ he struggled through the words, they made no sense in his head, either. nothing made sense, except for the way the soft skin of steve’s palm felt underneath his calloused fingertips. “i thought you were dead. when max said -” eddie shook his head, didn’t want to continue the sentence. he sniffled again, struggled through shaky breaths until his voice was a little calmer than before. lower, too. weaker, mirroring the sound of steve’s. “i can’t do this without you, man. i can’t - here - i can’t be here when you’re not here. this, the - the whole upside down vecna shit, i can’t - “, he looked back up at steve, through tear stained lashed. “i don’t want to be here - i can’t. i can’t be here without you. heree, everywhere, not - not without you.”

if he’d expected anything from his summer back in hawkins, well, crying at steve harrington’s bedside and telling him how he couldn’t live without him, that certainly hadn’t been on eddie’s bingo. and his sudden confession certainly took a weight off his chest, yet it invoked a sense of horror and anxiety in him previously unknown. he’d let his guard down. he was vulnerable in a way he’d never been before. a way he’d promised himself to never be, not in hawkins. not anywhere, really. weakly and cautiously, he gave steve a nod. “sure. anything, man.”