Stevehharringtcns·:

Still super jealous as hell, by the way.

+++

eddie scoffed, amused. "yeah cause i chucked it at you, since you were like half-naked and bleeding.",he said with a playful roll of his eyes. "not that I was worried about the injuries or anything. nah, one more minute of you and your fucking chest hair, looking all sexy and hero-like after slaying that bat, may the lord have mercy, i would've jumped your bones, stevie." back then eddie had used the word 'metal' to describe steve's bat-slaying. come to think of it now, 'ridiculously hot' fit the situation better.

his grip on the bottom of steve's shirt loosened slightly before it instantly tightened when he felt the other wrap his arms around his waist. he quickly took the chance to get closer, even closer than steve was pulling him in, hands tentatively roaming up his biceps. jesus, eddie thought, steve's arms should come with a warning - caution : can cause resident gay metalheads to become extremely hot and bothered.

eddie pouted at the sudden loss of contact as steve pulled back and gave him his vest, the wink didn't go unnoticed, bringing a blush to eddie's cheeks. grinning, he rolled his eyes and, as if to prove a point, brought the vest to his face, inhaling over exaggeratedly, before he pulled it on. "aw, shucks, steve you caught me."

though he quickly dropped the teasing, leaned into steve's touch, palms flat on his chest, he tilted his head to the side, a fond yet uncertain look in his eyes. it all felt so awfully familiar and comfortable, he wondered again if this was all some cruel joke.

eddie gave a slight weak nod, steve was right, they needed to talk about what had happened. about what.... this was. they definitely needed to talk - at some point, though, not now. now, eddie grabbed a fistful of steve's shirt and pulled him close.

"yeah, let's talk.",he breathed, gaze darting down to his lips before he connected their lips, sighing into the kiss.

eddiemcnson​:

+++

he couldn’t help but bite his lip, grinning, hands clasped behind his back as he leaned against the wall next to steve, eyes raking over his frame. nope, definitely couldn’t deny that the vest looked good on him - had looked even better when he’d worn nothing under it but that was a thought for another time.

a spark ran through him as steve got closer, remembering the last time they’d hung out. when eddie had shown up on his doorstep, terrified, and it had ended up with them sharing a bed, making out, waking up cuddling. they hadn’t talked much since, the events of the day had pretty much prevented eddie from forming a single coherent thought aside from frantic, panicked over thinking.

he nodded, eyes darting down to the floor. “yeah. everytime i look at that like I think of -”, he stopped himself, gave steve a sheepish smile, shrugged. steve knew what he thought of, he’d been through it too, after all, and eddie really didn’t want to make any hurtful memories resurface.

aside from watergate, lovers lake also strongly reminded eddie of his time spent in hiding. the fear that had gripped him when he’d looked over his shoulder and seen jason carver, eddie thought he’d seen his life flash before his eyes. he shrugged again. “weird doesn’t even begin to cover it, man.”

steves hand on his arm made eddie shiver and he smiled again, leaned into the touch, his fingers idly toying with the hem of steve’s shirt. fidgeting - nervous habit. “yeah, yeah, we all know you’re crazy handsome and everything looks good on you, yada yada. you done now?” a teasing chuckle fell from his lips as he looked back up at steve. “doesn’t mean you get to keep it. besides, I’m starting to get cold, man.”

eddie’s mood sobered a little at steves question and he gave another shrug. “i don’t know if I’ve ever been, like, fully okay after… what happened. but being here…. it’s weird. and not a good kinda weird. bad weird.” a couple of beats passed before eddie broke the silence with a soft “I’m glad your here, steve.”

.

ever since eddie had spent the night at his house, in his bed, that things had been different between them. not a bad different, steve definitely liked that he was now intimate with eddie. he just wasn’t sure what other people would act like if they were to find out. not that he minded people finding out, but he wasn’t exactly sure how they would react to it. how would nancy take it? steve didn’t want to think about it in that exact moment. eddie was standing in front of him right now and that’s what mattered.

“we don’t need to talk about it… we both know what went on in that lake. oddly enough, i wore this vest not long after.” he chuckled slightly at the thought, remembering the time where eddie had tossed his vest in steve’s direction so he would have some clothes on. now that he thought back on it, it probably meant something, but steve hadn’t given that much attention to it.

just by touching eddie, steve could almost feel electricity. and it was only his arm. steve smiled as the other got closer to him. it didn’t take long until steve wrapped his arm around his wait and brought him closer, his face just a couple of inches from the other’s face. he wanted to kiss him. but if they were caught, what would people think? “i know, i know, i’m glad that you remember that… because it’s the truth.” he chuckled, pouting slightly when the other asked for the vest back. “alright, alright.” he said.

steve quickly pulled off the vest off and handed it back to eddie with a smile, winking at him. “now it smells like me, just admit that’s why you gave it to me.” he teased the other as he pulled him close by the waist again, now wrapping both of his arms around him. this felt awfully intimate and steve didn’t mind it one minute. he could stay like this forever, but part of him hoped that the cabin had locks, something that it seemed like it was missing.

“i’m glad you’re here too, eddie…” he said with a smile, blushing slightly as he looked over at eddie. “we should… uh… talk about what happened in my room the other day, yeah? i mean, i just need… to figure out what’s going on.” he said, not sure what else to say. he needed to talk with eddie about it or else he feared he would go crazy about this whole thing.

🎸

stevehharringtcns​:

.

“don’t worry about it… she was old anyway.” steve shrugged it off, he didn’t really care for his family that much. not his real family either way, he liked to think that everyone he knew in hawkins and was close with were his actual family, rather than his blood. but that didn’t matter now, steve was too focused on eddie to think about that right now.

steve stared at eddie for a couple of moments as he talked, nodding his head slowly once the other mentioned that he was tough. “i know you are, but tough guys need some ice sometimes. it’s okay.” he said with a small smile, before shaking his head once he mentioned that he was a hero. “you know, i’m not really a hero if i get beat up every time i try to get into a fight. but thank you. it’s good to know that you think i’m hot, munson.” he said with a smirk, as he looked at eddie with a smile on his face. steve didn’t expect to spend this much time with eddie, especially not alone, but he liked it. the other was good company and it was easy to talk to him. sure, they wouldn’t have been friends in high school, but that was the thing. they weren’t exactly in high school anymore. steve was glad for that.

looking around his room once eddie started commenting on it, he couldn’t help but to blush slightly. he had never really gotten around to change his room to his style, his mom didn’t seem to like it, but why did she care? it wasn’t like she was around to see it anyway. the only thing that made that room steve’s room was the bat with nails under his bed, but he didn’t want to tell eddie that. he didn’t need to know he kept it there. “it’s not me, it’s my… mom. i just never really bothered to change it” he said with a small shrug of his shoulders as he looked at eddie again.

without even having time to process it, eddie was changing right in front of him. he didn’t know why he stopped breathing for some moments there, after all, he was used to seeing guys changing in the locker rooms when he was in the swimming team, but this… it was different. it was eddie. his eyes lingered on the other’s body, checking the tattoos for a few moments until he finally put on steve’s shirt. it was weird how he looked good on it, or maybe steve just liked the sight of eddie wearing his clothes. whatever it was, steve couldn’t help himself to turn red. “that’s a secret i’ll never tell.” he said with a chuckle.

steve stood by the door for a few moments as he looked at eddie, deciding if he should stay or not, but when he heard eddie say that the bed was big enough, steve nodded his head. “sure, i… i can stay with you. that’s fine.” he said, before closing the door behind him. he was about to spend the night with eddie munson on his bed and he wasn’t sure how to feel about that. it wasn’t the first time he had brought someone up to his room, but this was eddie.

steve didn’t waste any time as he climbed onto his own bed, sitting up on it as he looked over at eddie. “come on.” he said with a nod, as he cleared his throat and patted the spot next to him. what was he doing? what if eddie took it the wrong way? he wouldn’t, right? he was the one who had asked him to stay, and steve wanted to stay more than anything. “i’ll even let you choose the side you want to sleep on.” he smiled.

+++

‘it’s good to know that you think i’m hot, munson’. eddie’s lips parted, a nervous chuckle and amused scoff drawn from them.  as good as it felt that steve was so receptive to his teasing, it felt bittersweet all the same. because eddie had spent the better part of, what, two years now flirting with him. in vain, of course, for steve had never picked up on any of his advances. or if he had, he’d certainly given eddie the impression that they weren’t welcome or worth to be acknwoledged.

“but, you know, the fact that you get into fights in the first place - sure, you get your ass kicked but you’re doing it for a righteous cause. that screams hero to me, harrington.” not to mention that steve looked bonkers hot when he got a little roughed up.

he could feel steve’s eyes on him, his stare burning into his back and he squirmed under his gaze. eddie hoped the dim lighting of the room wuld hide the deep, deep blush that had risen to his cheeks. who could blame him, that felt like a perfectly reasonable reaction to having steve harrington watch you change. and before he could stop himself, before he even knew it the words had already fallen from his lips, causing his brain to short-circuit somewhat. “see  something you like, stevie?”

a sigh of relief drawn from his lungs, eddie relaxed slightly when steve agreed to stay and closed the door behind him. still, he wtached in...nervous excitement when as steve made his way to his bed,. sat down and invited him in. no, it was too much - it was more than he’d even dared to imagine in his wildest fantasies.

cautiously, he climbed into the bed, body brushing past steve’s as he settled. a small smile playing on his lips, edie wasted no time scotting under the covers. “i’m more of a wall side guy myself.”, he said, shifting around until he’d made himself comfortable.steve’s bed was so incredibly soft it took all he had for him not to fall asleep right then and there. eddie turned to the side to face steve.

“uh, listen, man, i...i get like, these, night terrors ? i guess?” chewing on his bottom lip nervously, he averted his gaze. “so, uh. don’t get freaked out when i, like, move around. and if i get too close or something feel free top, just, push me away. don’t worry,”, he said, gave him an amused scoff, “you don’t have to cuddle with the freak or anything.”

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 -”

scribblcs·:

WHO: gabe diaz & @eddiemcnson· WHAT: gabe spots a familiar face WHERE: downtown hawkins

gabe was settling into hawkins nicely. sure, it was vastly different from chicago, but this small town quiet was something he might be able to get used to. he’d seen a few patients already, but he still had a lot of downtime. on an ideal day, he walked to downtown in the morning, tried some coffee, read the paper, then went to work. following sessions, he liked to walk the town again, try some more coffee, then return home. gabe was really making an effort to immerse himself with the civilians. he’d gotten tangled up in a deep conversation with an elderly gentleman inside of melvald’s late in the afternoon, and they strolled about town together for a while before they parted ways, leaving gabe to finish out his walk alone at dusk. 

at least, he’d thought it would be alone. a couple feet ahead of him, an unmistakable mound of hair veered around the corner and gabe curiously squinted. that bandana certainly looked familiar…tailing the other for a while, he remained inconspicuous until he stole a glimpse of the other and got confirmation that he was in fact, eddie munson, a client from back in chicago. laughing in disbelief, gabe cupped his hands together and warmly called, “eddie!” last he’d heard from eddie, he was taking another trip back to his hometown, how was he to know that it was hawkins? despite how in depth they had gone about how horrible it was for him there, they’d never gotten on a first name basis with the place. gabe knew he made frequent visits, but typically, they weren’t this long, and when gabe left town to take up this new job, he worried about how eddie might react upon his return to find out his therapist had up and left him. luckily, those worries were quickly erased as soon as gabe saw how well eddie seemed to be faring. approaching him, beaming, gabe went in for a hug. oftentimes his heart seemed to get in the way from successfully preventing professional bleeding into personal and such was the case with eddie. he was one of many clients that gabe took a personal liking too, worried a little more about, and hoped extra harder they’d have an emotionally rich future. pulling back from the hug, gabe laughed in disbelief, “i have to admit, i’m quite surprised to see you here. i’m sure you could say the same.” 

while this was all well and good, it gave gabe second thoughts about hawkins. if this was the town that was such a source of hurt for one eddie munson, maybe it wasn’t as nice as he was starting to believe. 

+++

today was ... weird, to say the least. having previously ridden the high of managing to make steve all flustered and blushed when he’d stopped by family video, eddie’s modd had been dampened significantly by his run in with mayor spencer, leaving with a weird feeling in the pit of his stomach as he turned the corner, made his way back to his car. maybe he should park closer to family video next. re-route his evening walks to go through the woods instead of downtown hawkins. lost in thought, he’d barely even taken notice of the figure that had started to follow him, jumping slightly, hand on his heart as he ehard someone call his name.

turning around, prepared to lock eyes with someone who was definitely not fond of seeing him around town, eddie found he was pleasantly surprised as his former therapist came into view. slowly, he lowered his hand, squinted. “.... dr. diaz ? what - what are you- “ doing here, he thought as he was interrupted by gabe’s arms puilling him into a tight hug. one that eddie eagerly returned, wide smile on his face. “yeah... well, my boss is travelling the states for the summer, gave everyone an advance and closed up shop. thought i’d stop by here, pay my uncle a visit, you know.” he shrugged, non-chalantly, as if he hadn’t described hawkins as ‘hell on earth’ to gabe during therapy sessions for the last, like, three years. “and you? what brings you to hicksville, indiana?”

stevehharringtcns·:

.

steve chuckled at eddie’s explanation on why he had thrown him the vest in the first place. at first he thought he was sort of jealous of the things between him and nancy, but he would have never figured it out that he was jealous of nancy. it didn’t matter, the past was in the past. he let out a small chuckle at the other, shaking his head slowly. “i’m sorry if my injuries bothered you so much, next time i’ll just bleed out in the upside down and then you won’t have to look at me.” he said in a teasing tone, tilting his head to the side as he stared at eddie’s lips for a couple of moments. “what was it that you said again? for your modesty?” he teased the other, biting his lower lip for an instant.

bringing eddie closer made steve take a deep breath, feeling a shiver down his spine once he felt eddie’s hands on his arms. he wished the two had been alone on this trip, at least they would have some more privacy and the chances of someone walking in while they were… well, like this, were way few less than right now. but still, he wanted to take his chances as he held eddie close to him.

looking as eddie took the vest, steve smiled as he mockingly wiped the other’s shoulders as he put it on, smiling as he looked at him up and down. “you know what, you definitely look good in it. but maybe next time you can wear it without a shirt on. like i did.” he said with a smile, as he kept looking at the other with the vest on. he did look good in that vest and there was no denying that. “oh, don’t sniff it like that, you… dingus.” he said, stealing robin’s nickname yet again. he did that too often. “if you’re good, then i’ll give you one of my shirts.” he said with another wink. 

the two really needed to talk, but being this close to him, it made it almost impossible to just talk. that’s why he didn’t waste any time in kissing the other back and pulling him even closer, the closest possible to him, as he held on to the other’s vest. he kept kissing the other for a few moments until he finally pulled away and sighed.

“are you sure…?” he asked, taking a moment to lick his lips and then looking at eddie. “it’s better if we talk… about… you know.” he said. he had never been good with words, not even when he was together with nancy and everything seemed to be easy. he was at a loss for words. “i just don’t know what to say.” he said, as he leaned forward slightly to kiss eddie’s forehead.

+++

he winced, groaned, sqeeuezed his eyes shut for a moment. "for your modesty", eddie echoed with a nod, digging his fingers further into the material of steve's shirt. "and to think you didn't know i was flirting with you, pretty boy. come on, that was like, shameless." really, in eddie's head the words 'for your modesty' had sounded more like 'stop flirting with your ex and kiss me already'.

feeling his cheeks flush and become hot, eddie quickly averted his gaze, cursing steve for that damn lip bite and pulled the vest back on. it still fit snugly, of course, though it didn't feel.... right anymore, in a way. like it was his anymore, at least not full, truly. "you know, steve, if you want to see me without my clothes on you could always just ask. slim to none chance i'll say no.", he grinned teasingly, mirroring steve's lip bite for a moment.

though his teasing, cocky demeanor quickly faded as he caught steve's wink and for a second eddie nearly let his eyes roll back in his head. "yeah?" sounding a little more breathless now, his gaze dropped to the other's lips for a split second. "so if im like, super good, you'll let me have that little yellow sweater of yours?" not that yellow was his colour, or any colour he'd ever seriously consider wearing, but the sweater was something so uniquely steve's that eddie truly wouldn't mind.

he sighed into the kiss, arms wrapped around steves neck as he felt him draw him closer by his vest. hands tangled into steve's hair, not caring whether or not he messed it up or if they got caught. let them, he thought as one hand came down to softly cup steve's face.

he chased after his lips when he felt the other pull away, pouted at the sudden loss of contact. sighing, he dropped his head a little, leaning into steve further. "what.... d'you want to talk about?", eddie muttered, lids fluttering shut as steve pressed a soft kiss to his forehead.

it was too nice, almost. being with steve, it felt too comfortable, too familiar. too nice. and nice things didn't just happen to eddie munson. he softly swiped his thumb across his cheek, basically clawing at steve's shirt with his other hand.

"you don't have to say anything, steve. i feel like I know what you're gonna say, anyway...", he muttered, pressed his lips together, as if that would hide the way his face fell. voice lower now, weaker. eddie sighed. "... so can I, like,... kiss you again before you push me away and decide that you're bored with and, I don't know, disgusted by me? listen i get it, im the freak and all, and im a guy, too, it's... a lot. but... one last kiss? please? and then i promise I'll get out of your hair, never bother you again."

stevehharringtcns·:

who: steve harrington & open

where: middle of the road

what was he doing? was he really about to go to a barbecue that was being thrown at the wheeler’s house? he had been invited, of course, but something didn’t feel right on just showing up there. how was he going to react when he saw nancy? and worst of all, how was she going to react? all of these thoughts were going through his mind as he drove - he should have been paying the attention to the road, but luckily he snapped out of his own head just in time to spot someone crossing the road right in front of his car. without even thinking, steve hit the brakes as hard as he could, his body leaning forward with the abrupt stop and before he knew it, he was honking the horn in protest, before sticking his head out of the window to get a better look at the person who was standing in front of his car.

“what the hell are you doing, dingus? you can’t just… walk in front of my car like that, you could have damaged it! i mean, you could have gotten hurt.” steve said, shaking his head as he ran a hand through his hair - both of them had been lucky, he thought to himself as he took a deep breath. “you going to the wheeler barbecue or what?” he asked, once it got awkward enough - they couldn’t just be there forever and the person didn’t seem to move, and steve definitely couldn’t run over them.

this was, objectively, awful. eddie was walking along the side of the road - not totally sure where he was - heaving and groaning and overall in a sour mood, dragging his feet like a little kid tired of walking. who'd have thought hawkins got this fucking hot in summer? he'd looked forward to getting away from the vicious chicago sun but had found his former hometown positively scalding, temperatures steadily climbing. he'd gone out to chill at his former favourite spot, that bench in that clearing in the woods behind hawkins high, to get a little piece of mind, have a smoke, be alone with his thoughts for a moment. he'd gone out there at, like, 12 this morning.

now, eddie wasn't sure what time it was, he'd forgotten his watch at home, but it was definitely past 12. he hadn't meant to fall asleep, it just happened. he'd only wanted to close his eyes for a couple minutes, next thing he knew he'd dozed off and awoken to bright piercing sunlight and what was definitely going to be a wicked sunburn on the back of his neck. some punk had stolen his bike so eddie was reduced to finding his way back to the trailer park.

he didn't know how long he'd been walking out there, leathe racket tied around his waist, only wearing a muscle shirt - he'd left the vest at home, which was inherently stupid because that vest was his best feature - pants cuffed, familiar black bandana dangling out of his back pocket. no cars had passed him, until -

- "harrington....?" eddie blinked a couple of times, made sure that this wasn't a heat induced hallucination. no, definitely, without a doubt, that was steve harrington's car. his fave lit up immediately, lips twisting into a big smile as he did the only thing he could think of. which was jumping in front of his car.

"harrington!", he called out, skillfully ignoring steve's outraged comments. he waved at him eagerly, then made his way around the hood of the car and yanked open the door to the passenger seat. "are my eyes deceiving me? do I truly find myself within the presence of king steve?"

he climbed into the passenger seat, stopped himself short of pulling steve into a hug. pull yourself together, man. the grin never left his face, leg bouncing excitedly because holy hell, that's steve and eddie's been looking forward to seeing him again for ages now.

"the wheelers barbecue? - well, im going now.", he said with an eager nod, pulled the door shut. "wheeler won't mind if you bring a plus one, will she?"

JOSEPH QUINN as TOM | MAKE UP (2019) Snuggly sleepy boi

xihopper·:

@eddiemcnson··

While El didn’t know Eddie very well, she could tell there was an inherent kindness in him. Even if his appearance may frighten those who were…well, who were close-minded, if not outright bullies. In any case, she knew everyone who had been down in the basement the night of the Wheeler’s barbecue was a good person. She trusted her friends’ respective judgment, and they had all seemed to like Eddie. It made her smile to think about the way Steve had been sitting in Eddie’s lap. She had the sense that it was not simply due to a lack of seating. If that was the case, she thought maybe she would have liked to sit in a certain someone’s lap, but it didn’t matter. It wasn’t available.

The sight of Eddie pulled her from her thoughts, and she approached him with a little bit of shyness. Making friends was a skill that still felt fragile to her even after all this time in Hawkins, around people her own age. “We met at the Wheeler’s,” she said. “Do you remember? I was playing DND. It was my first game. I rolled a 19.” She smiled at the memory, still pleased, recalling how excited everyone had been. “But I didn’t tell you my name,” she added, frowning a little. Had that been rude? There were so many people in the basement, and everyone had been focused on the game. “I’m Eleven,” she said finally, offering him a soft smile. “People call me El.”

+++

see, eddie wasn’t really used to being ... approached. he’d been told he wasn’t very approachable, with his long unruly hair, his gory bandshirts, the tattoos, the rings, it all played into his mean and scary metalhead image. however, anyone who’d ever so much as exchanged a word with him had soon come to know that eddie munson was, in fact, extremeley approachable. tough on the outside, soft on the inside, that whole shtick. not that eddie would ever admit this to someone out loud, but yeah.

so it surprised him to say the least when he saw her come up to him out of the corner of his eye, all nerves and smiles. eddie in turn couldn’t help but mirror her smile, he nodded. “yeah, yeah i remember. gotta say, that was a wicked roll for your first ever game, man. ever thought about joining a party?” being back in that basement, steve on his lap, eddie had found himself wishing he could go back to a simpler time. when all he cared about was passing his senior year - third time’s the charm, right? - and planning wicked hellfire campaigns. he missed the club, missed dnd, missed ... everything. living in hawkins had ben literal hell on earth, but it did have its moments.

“holy shit.” there it was. of course, she’d seemed familiar - maybe he hadn’t seen her around before, but he sure had heard descriptions. holy shit. “holy shit, you’re - el. yeah, you are. you’re the...you know, the superpower girl, right?” an excited glint in his eyes, eddie smiled a wide and toothy grin. “it’s, like, so great to meet you. i’m eddie.”