Colemontgomeryx·:

mmuscles·:

.

thad didn’t take kindly to when people didn’t take kindly to him. in hawkins, it was happening at what felt like every turn, but with this guy? it was different. not only did it bug him that he wasn’t wagging his tail to help him find a bouquet for nancy, but he totally gave thad the creeps. he countered for that by continuing to huff and puff and blow everyone in hawkins down with his ‘charm’ and ‘status’. it probably would have been wise at this point for thad to exit the conversation, and yet, he couldn’t stand to surrender first. “yeah man, ‘cause you’re like, the first person i saw?” thad furrowed his brows, shaking his head slightly as he explained where he was coming from, frustrated. “it has nothing to do with you specifically, in fact, it would’ve been killer if i could have avoided talking to someone like you.” he continued to rant and rave about totally irrelevant information, but the desire to let the other know how much he didn’t care for him was too strong to stop. 

“mike brady? really?” he scoffed, “do you think you’re like, funny or something?” thad narrowed his eyes, taking a step closer, “i don’t like jokes.” he informed. that wasn’t really true, he just didn’t like that joke. still, these directions were the closest thing thad had gotten to help. so he might just have to swallow his pride and take them. “of course i can manage that.” he answered promptly, “you think i can’t?” he asked foolishly, clearly now just looking for a fight. thad tried to reign it in though, he couldn’t show up at nancy’s with a fat lip. “watch your back.” he threatened, with no intention of following up on that. in a final power play, thad spit at eddie’s feet and continued towards this melvald’s.

+++

eddie simply stood there and watched with his brows drawn together, nose scrunched up in what could only be described as digust. “someone like me.”, he echoed, nodded to himself. noted how eerily similar this felt to just about any interaction he’d had with jason carver back in high school. noted how all he ever really got in chicago was a shove to the shoulder on the street, a couple of dirty looks. not someone so clearly unapproving of his life choices that he was looking for a fight.

he’d presses the play button on his walkman before the head of the brady bunch had stopped talking, could hear the music faintly playing over the headphones hanging around his neck. he gave him another look up and down, then shrugged. “back your watch.”, eddie called after him before he slipped his headphones back on and stomped off in the opposite direction, a little faster than before.

zccming·:

WHO: max mayfield & @eddiemcnson· WHAT: eddie is worried and max is suspicious!!! WHERE: the hawk movie theater (june 19th-ish)

having a summer job was maybe one of the most mind numbing things max mayfield ever had to endure, and that was saying something considering she’d tried to sit through the boys’ campaigns once or twice. it wasn’t so bad though, when she didn’t have any customers at the ticket counter, she could usually get away with reading a magazine or two, and if it was really slow, she’d even pop on her walkman, then kick back and relax. 

this afternoon just so happened to be one of those days where max mayfield looked like an extra from any high school movie set ever. she chewed gum and blew bubbles until they popped while she feasted her eyes on the february edition of Right On! magazine, and listened to iggy pop’s Lust for Life album on her walkman. every second she spent overstimulating herself to avoid remembering what happened at the border the other night was a heavenly illusion that life right now was good. 

her dreamscape was shattered at the sight of eddie approaching the ticket counter. minorly confused, max slid her feet off the ticket counter, set her magazine down, and slipped her headphones down around her neck, “eddie?” she squinted, “the fuck are you doing here?” max reached for her magazine again, then rolled her eyes, “if there was anything good out, i would have told you.”

+++

nearly two days since hanging out with nancy wheeler had turned into a supernatural investigation followed by arson and eddie had not known a moments peace since. had barely slept, aside from passing out from exhaustion for a couple of hours, the events of the night kept replaying in his head. and while he wasn’t exactly sure just what it was they’d stumbled across, eddie knew one thing.

it was back. that weird, creepy alien-y part of hawkins was back, the impending doom looming threatingly over the town, turning the air sour. it was back and eddie wished desperately that he was anywhere but hawkins, indiana. anywhere but the epicentre of evil. he couldn’t do it again, fuck now. his need to not run away had nearly gotten him killed last time around, so this time eddie was going to fucking book it if push came to shove.

last time. vecna. the name still sent icy shivers down his spine, his stomach dropped at the thought of someone else who nearly hadn’t made it out alive. and without a second thought eddie went and grabbed his keys, hopped into the van and drove. he knew max wasn’t home, he basically knew her schedule by heart. and as much as he didn’t want to bother her at work this couldn’t wait.

 overwhelmed with a desperate need to make sure the other was safe, a feeling usually only reserved for siblings, he jumped out of the car, approached the ticket counter fast. a wave of relief rushed through him - she was there, safe. she was okay, by the looks of it.

“shut up.”, eddie snapped, brows drawn together, he leaned forward on the counter. “i know this might seem, like, .... weird but where were you, like, two days ago? notice anything weird since? “

murray-baumans·:

who: murray & @eddiemcnson·

where: the music center

After the semi-successful investigation at the border, Murray decided to treat himself to a relaxing night in– he’d cook a lasagna, pour some wine, and unwind to some jazz. In particular, he was looking to replace his George Benson record; he’d discovered earlier that day that he’d left it in Illinois. So, Murray found himself a the Music Center, which must have been run by a middle schooler because the organization was completely senseless.

Approaching who he assumed to be an employee, Murray cleared his throat to make his presence known. “Excuse me, could you point me in the direction of your jazz collection?” he asked, investigating the button’s on the young man’s jacket. “You a metalhead?” he wondered aloud.

+++

the music center was one of his more frequented places, eddie made sure to stop by at least once when he came back to hawkins. though vastly different from the record store he worked at in chicago - which was more specialised on alternative music and the sort - he enjoyed browsing through the stacks of vinyls and tapes, spending time rummaging through the bargain bin. it reminded him of his childhood and early adolescence. really, eddie had spent hours on end in the store, some days only leaving if he was explicitly asked to do so.

today, however, he’d simply come in to take his mind off things. off the ‘tragedy at benny’s diner’, more specifically. he wanted to browse through some new releases, see if they got any heavy stuff at all. drop by to make sure that cole was okay, too - they’d left things on a rather....awkward note, too, having had their encounter in the mall cut short by max’s arrest. 

“sorry?”, eddie’s head popped up from behind the shelf, he threw the other a puzzled look. eyes narrowing as the man in front of him mentioned the words ‘jazz’ and ‘collection’. “uh, i don’t....work here, man. sorry.”

eddie stared at him for a moment, wondering if his question was, perhaps, a trap of sorts. and because, quite frankly, he was an odd looking fella. “uh, yeah. sure am. what gave it away?”, he asked jokingly and laughed, gesturing down at his buttons.

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?"

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

colemontgomeryx·:

xx. 

Cole didn’t waver under Eddie’s gaze. If he was correct, Eddie’s behavior made sense. Cole felt it too, the fear of being found out by someone who wasn’t safe. It was the reason Cole and Adam snuck around for the three years they were together– to avoid the football jocks and the band geeks and the teachers berating them and calling them names. Only it never stopped there; it often got physical, violent. Of course Eddie was afraid.

It was like they were playing chicken, like they were standing in front of a train for as long as possible and pulling back at the last second– exhilarating, maybe, but not satisfying. Something about being in the mall, all his thoughts about Adam… it was the perfect concoction for a confession. “I like guys,” he said, meeting Eddie’s eyes again. “Adam was my boyfriend.”

And then: relief. Cole felt like he’d recovered part of himself, like he’d regained a phantom limb. He hadn’t been able to talk about his feelings this openly since, well, Adam. It was refreshing, rejuvenating even. “If you want, I’ll prove it,” he teased, giving Eddie a once-over. Maybe he shouldn’t have been so open about it, but what’s the worst that could happen?

+++

see, cole could’ve hit eddie flat in the face with a giant metal sign that said ‘i’m into guys’ and he still wouldn’t have taken the hint. just...the thought of someone else in hawkins that was like him. surely not - or well, they just wouldn’t come right out the gate and say it. no, being...different, whatever kind of different, and living in that godforsaken town - for some people that was comparable to a death sentence.

still, his eyes widened, blinking at cole with that ‘deer caught in the headlights’ look as he hastily in- and exhaled the smoke. not that that did anything in terms of calming him down. on the contrary, eddie just started to fidget more. “as in....you like them or...like, like like them....” he felt like a fucking middle-schooler. but he just continued. “your boyfriend. you mean like when ... wheeler and buckley or like, i dunno, girls call each other ‘girl-friends’ or like....like if...like, when wheeler called harrington her ‘boyfriend’ when they were still a thing?”

as confused as eddie was about the whole situation he apparently still had it in him to blush and get insanely flustered at cole’s....suggestion? if that’s what it was? lips parted, mouth dropped open slightly, he took another drag. his eyes never left cole’s, only once to go look around them, see if anyone was in earshot. negative. “h-how....”, his lips formed around words he didn’t say, a thousand scenarios flashes in his head. eddie blinked.”...how would - you, uh, prove....it?”

colemontgomeryx·:

Cole hadn’t realized what he’d gotten himself into by volunteering to bring a keg– scratch that, multiple kegs– to this shindig. It might not bother everyone, but the sticky beer dripping on the linoleum made Cole’s spine shiver, so he dug into his backpack for something to clean it up with. Digging to the very bottom, he found a black handkerchief. Perfect. Cole wiped down the side of the keg and the floor beneath it, and decided to perch nearby in order to nag people not to let it drip on the floor. Really, how hard was it?

In his bag, Cole caught a glimpse of his cigarettes and felt a familiar pang in his gut. Surely it wouldn’t be in bad taste to smoke inside, given the circumstances? Absentmindedly, he tucked the bandana in his back pocket and grabbed a cigarette. “Hope no one minds,” he mumbled, mostly to himself, and lit up.

Shutting his eyes, Cole allowed the blaring music to distract him from the fact that he was inside the mall where the love of his life died. Light stuff. He wasn’t mad at the music choice, surprisingly. Cole tried not to be pretentious about music, but he could only take so many days of people coming into the Music Center asking for the new Rick Astley or Whitney Houston. Thankfully, this music had some teeth. He wondered who’d been recruited to play it. 

When Cole opened his eyes to take another drag, he was shocked to see Eddie Munson running right at him. Cole leaned back instinctively, confusion written on his face, “Uh, sorry. What’d you call me?” He followed Eddie’s eyes to his pocket and pulled out the handkerchief. “Wait– flagging? I’m cleaning up the keg because these goddamned kids can’t be bothered to catch their beer…” he paused, suddenly curious. “What did you think?”

+++

shit. shit, shit, shit, shit, shit. he should’ve known, should’ve known that this was a bad idea, should’ve known better than to ask a current resident of hicksville, indiana if he was flagging. stupid, stupid, god, what had he been thinking? nothing, apparently, and now his mind was wiped empty once more as he stared at cole blinking at him in confusion - and, what was that, curiosity? - as eddie scrambled for something to say. he cleared his throat. 

“never....mind.”, he said slowly, cautiously, tongue pressed to the roof of his mouth. shit. eddie shook his head. “nothing, nothing. i just thought -” oh my god, munson, shut the fuck up. “i just - “ no matter how hard he tried to stop himself the words now fell freely from his lips. “well, i wondered if you...well, do you know someone named - “ if he didn’t stop talking right then and there he was going to explode. well, spontaneous human combustion it was, as he simply carried on. “are you...perhaps a friend of, uh. of dorothy’s ? “ a beat passed, eddie sucked on his bottem lip nerverously. he waved it off. “you know what....nevermind. nothing. it was stupid.”

he flashed him a pained grin, nodded, ‘right, then’,  and turned on his heel. already squeezing his eyes shut because oh, the embarassment now creeped up on him, made his cheeks flush. at the last minute he decided to turn back, walk back to cole. “can i bum a cig off you?” please, please, heaven, god, if there is one - eddie thought to himself as he stared at cole expectantly -  please just don’t let him bring it up again.

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?"

+++

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.

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