Stevehharringtcns·:

loverboymontgomery·:

who: Cole & @eddiemcnson·

where: the shores of Lover’s Lake

What a weird fucking night it had been. It was already weird enough for Cole to come to an open-invitation camping trip. Add onto that that Adam, his resurrected boyfriend, was helping to plan it. And then everything that had actually happened in the lake. Ninety percent of Cole was internally screaming at him to go home– but he wanted to be a good sport and a supportive boyfriend, and besides, whatever ‘injury’ he had earlier was now gone. 

Still, Cole needed a reprieve from the crowd; apparently shit had gone down in the cabin, too, and Adam was being the usual Good Samaritan and helping some stragglers put their tents together. So, Cole slipped away back towards the lake. He was certainly going to keep his distance from the water, but something about the scene and the sun setting on the lake’s horizon was enough to calm his fears from before. 

As he rounded the corner and heard the chatter behind him die down, Cole spotted a figure closer to the shore. That hair was unmistakeable, and a grin broke out onto Cole’s face. “Hey, Munson!” he called to announce his presence. Though they hadn’t spoken much since that day in the mall (and they hardly spoke that day either, to be fair), Cole felt incredibly comfortable with Eddie. Like they’d been friends for years. “You hoping to find the Lochness monster down here or something?” 

+++

god, it had been an eventful six-ish hours at the lake,and eddie was more than ready to just fuck it and go home again. he'd even debated sleeping in the van but after what had went down he wasn't sure if he'd be brave enough to be on his own tonight.

a nice, simple, fun, relaxing camping trip had sounded like a hell of an idea, once he'd found out about it he'd been all game. not to say that the fact that they were camping at lover's lake didn't make him uneasy, oh god it did. everytime his gaze fell on the open water he gulped, a ghastly shiver running down his spine as he remembered the events of spring break '86. watergate. the upside down.

still he'd come along, because what else was there to do? soon enough the fun had turned sour, when adam and cole had been dragged down in the water, when dustin had started acting weird, apparently some shit had gone down over at the cabin, too, but he could barely even wrap his head around what had happened at the shore. in true hawkins fashion, the paranormal apparently couldn't take a day off.

he needed a break. he needed some time to clear his head, so eddie had split from the group. to breathe, have a smoke, be alone with his racing thoughts for a moment. though the solitary didn't last long.

a lopsided grin, eddie awkwardly waved at cole, cigarette between his fingers. a faint blush rising to his cheeks as memories of the day of the mall protest flooded his mind. "nah, not here for nessie. just.... needed a break. from all this." he shrugged, took a drag. "how's your ankle, montgomery?"

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?"

savethevirginia·:

—  ❤ —

Ginny hadn’t been back in town long. It had only been about a month since she walked that Penn State stage and she had spent a lot of time catching up with her selected family and Cal. After all, they were the ones at the top of her list. Everyone else just eventually fell below that until she either ran into them or bothered to pick up the phone and call anyone who’s number she could remember. 

It was hot out on this particular day in Hawkins. Probably something to do with all that talk her dad did about global warming. After getting done with her shift, she went out of her way to stop by Melvald’s to pick up a few things, still in her swimsuit (with a totally appropriate pair of short on over!). Turns out, her dad didn’t exactly stay stocked up on Ginny’s favorite snacks. She had a basket in her arms full of chips, sugary drinks, and ventured into the dairy aisle to hunt down enough yogurt to sustain her for the next week.

She almost didn’t notice him, masked by pulled up hair and an uncharacteristic shirt, but she’d recognize Eddie Munson anywhere. Even in a crowd of a thousand people. Ginny had lost contact with a lot of people after high school, including Eddie. At one point in time, they had been close. In some ways, she’d still consider him one of her closest friends. They were both outsiders, losers, and while high school was one of the most miserable times in Ginny’s life, Eddie had made it… slightly tolerable.

“Now, Edward, I don’t think we have to have a lesson in manners, do we?” She teased, her face not moving from its cool state as she walked towards him. "I heard you’re wanted again,” she pointed out, as if he didn’t know. She had read the paper and seeing his name in big black letters surprised her. He should be in Chicago, slumming it up with the other like minded freaks of the world. “Please tell me that’s the reason for this sad ensemble,” she pulled at the collar of his flannel. “You can’t go changing on me.”

+++

eddie frowned, his brows twitching as he looked at her. god, he hadn’t seen her since ... he couldn’t even remember the last time he’d seen her. must’ve been sometime around graduation, some two years ago. before eddie had booked it out of hawkins at the first opportunity, leaving his old life behind - that meant friends, too, of course. wasn’t a big deal, right? lots of people lost contact with their school friends over the years, time passed, life went on. for eddie it was all a bit different, seeing as he didn’t have many school friends to begin with. less people meant they were more important to him, less likely to be forgotten and left behind. ginny driscoll however was a face he truly thought he’d never see again, save for the odd high school reunion (that he probably wouldn’t attend, anyway). 

they’d been close in school, two outsiders who’d formed a caharacteristic acquaintance. then came spring break of ‘86, the witch hunt instigated by one jason carver, the upside down. weeks spent in the hospital, a silent walk across the stage at graduation. he’d flipped off principal higgins as promised, had agreed to a small graduation celebration at the new trailer and in the morning his van had left hawkins for the last time in months. he hadn’t told anyone, had barely talked to anyone except for the people who’d been through the whole vecna situation with him. that hadn’t included ginny.

he gave her a nod, fumbled awkwardly with a loose thread on his sleeve. “yup. heard that too.” it was ironic, how he’d just listened to ‘wanted man’ by ratt back in the van. everything about coming back to hawkins seemed ironic lately, and also fucking tragic. “that’s exactly why i’m dressed like my uncle right now. better to blend in when you’re wanted for arson, right?” and he gave her a weak chuckle, more of an amused scoff, pulling his sleeves further down. “you’re one to talk. seems like you’ve done an awful lot of changing. didn’t even recognise you at first. what’re you doing back in hawkins?”

zccming·:

as eddie yelped in pain, max cut in, “geez! watch it! i can’t afford to pay for your burn treatments right now.” the state of the kitchen stirred enough concern in max that she crawled off the couch and stood guard at the threshold, watching eddie. “don’t blow my house up.” her words of encouragement, obviously, weren’t helping, but she couldn’t seem to bite her tongue. the effort from eddie was sincere, and max did appreciate it, but at the end of the day she was a little shit who couldn’t keep her mouth shut and the idea of her mom coming home from a long shift to this mess was enough to get her antsy. 

eddie miraculously finished the meal and max stared at the aftermath skeptically, “i don’t complain.” she whined in refute. “now you go sit down, find us something to watch.” max prompted, mostly urging him out of the kitchen. while she had been very vocal about not helping him clean up, once she got him sitting, that’s exactly what max did. she swept the vegetables off the floor and did some of the dishes she could before making a plate for eddie and herself, then pouring then drinks to match. maybe this would work out to be a nice gesture after all. 

“here.” she handed him his food first, then sat with her own. eddie signaling max to try first didn’t bode well for the final product of this dish. willing to be somewhat optimistic, she took a bite, then immediately frowned. she managed to choke it down, then looked at eddie, “eddie,” max levelled with him, “this is burnt.” before he could ask what part, max clarified, “like, all of it.” she tapped her fork onto his plate, “you eat it and try to tell me this is edible.” she set her plate down, shaking her head. “idiot. i told you.” 

eddie had made enough choices about dinner that max was finally taking matters into her own hand. she marched into the kitchen and pulled out various take out menus from a drawer. calling to eddie, she asked, “do you want enzo’s, takeout from the bar menu at the hideaway, or something else?” and while she was at it, might as well add, “i hope you found something worth watching in the meantime.” 

+++

eddie scoffed, “this is hardly a house”, and turned on the tap, holding his hands under the cold water. he doubted this would actually help the blisters that would most definitely form on his palms in the near future but, oh well, better than nothing. 

next thing he knew he was being ushered out of the kitchen and eddie knew better than to protest. not that he was particularly keen on having to clean up, either. so he just rolled his eyes and plopped down on the couch, straining his arm to reach for the remote because once eddie sat down he was sat. he’d rather perform an acrobatic stunt that get up again, not after what felt like hours he’d spent slaving away in the kitchen. he chuckled. sounded like he was a housewife or something.

he aimlessly zapped through the channels, hooked on a dallas plotline for a moment before changing the channel yet again. dynasty? definitely not. zap. oh - he sat up straighter. now, this would do. eddie grinned, looked over his shoulder at max. “found our evening entertainment. unsolved mysteries.” eddie wiggled his eyebrows. “sorta ironic if you ask me. but it’s so good, max.”

what was, apparently, not as good was the food he’d cooked, as even eddie himself stared down skeptically at the plate she’d handed him. “what? come on, don’t bullshit me, you can’t burn pasta.” and to reiterate his point he did take a massive bite and soon found out that it was, in fact, very possible to burn pasta. he nearly choked, grimacing as he chewed and then swallowed. frowning, he set the plate aside on the side table. “god damn it. son of a bitch must’ve given me the wrong recipe.”

blame someone else, always a good tactic. sheepishly, eddie looked at max, gaze following her as she went to get the take out menus. “’m sorry. i fucked up.” and really, eddie was quite mad at himself. good for nothing. couldn’t even cook them a nice meal. shit. “um, enzo’s sounds good?”

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.

zccming·:

after starcourt–

after billy, it wasn’t uncommon to find max tucking herself away from the rest of the world. of course, she did that before too, but it came to a more extreme head in the following years. eventually, it developed into part of who she was. jaded, distant, sad. of course, she was a lot of other things, but tonight max was feeling like she was only those. she leaned back against a store front, staring at her half empty cup. it should’ve been you instead. vecna was only trying to get even with you. she didn’t remember a life before those thoughts decided to act up and rattle against her skull religiously every once in a while. max also found  that the memories of billy’s face, his lifeless body, and the chilled feeling in her feet liked to pair themselves with her guilty mantras. all these thoughts came with no solutions to permanently soothe them, and if there was an instruction manual, she was too stubborn to read it. her beer looked like blood in the dark. rather than moping, she should have anticipated that eddie at some point would come to check up on her, but she didn’t. 

jumping slightly at his approach, she sighed, “much fun as i can.” deflect, deflect, deflect. “you couldn’t have brought any crowd pleasers with you?” she teased in reference to his very obviously personal tunes blaring throughout the mall. “seriously, i can’t tell if it’s the beer, your music, or those upcoming hawkins high school seniors that are giving me this headache.” the words were harsh, but she managed to smile over at eddie when she asked in turn, “you having fun?”

+++

eddie rolled his eyes, lightly and playfully shoved her. “shut up.” he knew her well enough to know that max wasn’t a champion at talking openly about her feelings and what was bothering her - but then again, neither was he. and pressuring her into talking about something that triggered even more painful memories was the last thing he wanted. so he just shrugged, let her deflect all she wanted while he stood idly by. his presence and gaze screaming ‘ i am here, if you need me ‘. 

he dug in the inner pocket of his denim vest and pulled out a mixtape, shoved it at her. “here you go. nothing but crowdpleasers. top of the fucking pops.”, he grumbled, made a fake gagging noise and then threw a sly grin her way. “i came prepared, butthead. but so far no one’s complained about my tunes so...”, eddie trailed off, then narrowed his eyes and threw her a dirty look. “ - ‘cept for you! traitor.”

the mention of said hawkins high seniors made him involuntarily flinch, he clutched his beer tighter, eyes darting around the mall to spot the familiar green, white and yellow varsity jackets. they were kids, he tried to reassure himself, just kids, too young to have been part of the angry mob led by jason carver who had initiated the witch hunt. ‘ hunt the freak ‘. and to think that wasn’t the weirdest thing that had happened that year. eddie hurriedly shook his head, as if trying to shake the thought out of his mind.

he turned back to max. “i should have an ibuprofen somewhere in my van. d’you want me to go get it for you? or, alternatively, you could always stop drinking that god-awful beer. tastes like straight up piss.”

dvstybuns·:

WHO: Henderson & @eddiemcnson·

WHAT: Screaming Crying Throwing Up Post Event

WHERE: Eddie’s Trailer 

Everything at the carnival after they’d exited the Tunnel of Love had seemed to happen so fast. One minute, Dustin was trying to study some black goo, and the next he was watching people die. People get knocked out. Eddie get arrested. If Steve hadn’t been hurt, Dustin would have tried to intervene, convince Callahan that he couldn’t arrest Eddie just because. Because… because what proof did they have that he was even connected? Why was Eddie always the scapegoat? Why couldn’t he catch a fucking break for once?

He’d gotten out of jail sometime later, before Steve was out of the hospital. Dustin had already gone home by then, collapsing after explaining everything about the Upside Down to his extremely understanding and wonderful girlfriend. When he’d woken up and convinced his mother that he was fine and didn’t need to be watched so closely every fucking minute, Dustin had set out for Eddie’s trailer. 

Dustin didn’t know if Eddie’s uncle, Wayne, would have had time for grocery shopping or anything like that since everything that had happened. He couldn’t imagine that he did. So, on his way over, Dustin had picked up a pizza for the Munson’s. They all needed to eat something, no matter how poor their appetites were right now. 

“Eddie?” Dustin called, knocking on the door. “Dude, are you here?” He hoped that Eddie was okay; Dustin couldn’t imagine being in jail. He knew he wouldn’t make it. But thankfully, Eddie was a lot tougher than him. He was a hero, after all. “I thought you could use some dinner.” 

+++

eddie blamed his lack of sleep and judgement but somehow, steve had managed to convince him to leave his bedside for a while. leave the hospital altogether, and despite swearing high and holy that he’d not leave steve out of his sight again, now or ever, he’d eventually complied, after not even fifteen minutes of protest. he’d grabbed his stuff, pressed a kiss to steve’s lips, promising to come back in two hours tops. the rest was hazy. wayne had waited for him at home, pulled him into a bone crushing hug, he remembered that much. one of them had cried, maybe both. it seemed to be all eddie was capable of doing since the carnival. then his uncle had steered him into his room and lights out, the world had gone dark the second eddie’s body had hit his disgusting, worn out mattress. 

he’d woken up with that icky feeling you got from napping too long, mouth dry and sticky, eyes seemingly glued shut, a faint buzz all over his body. no sense of time at all. it was darker outside, he noted as he blinked, eyes narrowed, but not by much. rubbing sleep out of his eyes, he’d dragged himself out of bed to open the door, a faint smile playing at his lips as dusting came into view.

“hey, henderson, hey, man. how’s it going.” it wasn’t a question and eddie didn’t wait for an answer as he pulled dustin into the trailer and into a tight hug, not as strong as wayne’s hug had been earlier but nearly. eddie pressed his lips into a thin lip, exhaled sharply through his nose. he’d only just woken up but he was ready to cry again. god, if he could he’d jump straight into his van and drive back to chicago. taking dustin with him, of course, and max, and steve, and everyone who was near and dear to him. in time he released dustin from his grip, reached up to ruffle through hair. “thanks, man.” you didn’t have to. but dustin never had to and he always did, anyway. eddie gave him a sleepy smile. “how are you holding up? are you okay? you’re not hurt or anything?”

stevehharringtcns·:

.

steve couldn’t help but to smirk at eddie once he repeated his words, shaking his head slowly as he held the other close. he remembered that night so well, but not for a moment he thought that eddie was flirting with him. maybe he was just oblivious to that, but considering that he was used to flirting, he should have known. “well, you know, i thought you were interested in… something else.” he said with a shrug, letting those thoughts creep into the back of his mind again. he couldn’t shake the feeling that maybe eddie hadn’t been flirting with him during that night, but instead he was flirting with someone else. but he didn’t want to get into detail.

he let out a light chuckle fall from his lips as he heard eddie, his hands never leaving the other’s body. he didn’t want to let him go, he could stay like this for the rest of the night if he could. he smiled at the other, shrugging his shoulders. “that wouldn’t be half bad. i would suggest we go for a swim, but i don’t think lover’s lake is the best place to swim.” he said with yet another chuckle, but the truth was that he really couldn’t stand the idea of going out into that lake ever again.

at the mention of the yellow sweater, steve was a little surprised that eddie remembered it. he didn’t even remember the last time he had worn it, but apparently he had worn it enough times for eddie to remember. “you want my yellow sweater? i’m sorry, but i just love it too much, i can’t let it go…” he said as he squeezed the other’s hips with a smile, teasing him as he kissed his cheek for a couple of moments and then looked at eddie. “maybe… we’ll see. i have tons of clothes you can go through.” he said with a nod.

he kept kissing the other passionately, pulling him closer every second. it felt right to be this close with eddie, but he still felt like the two needed to talk. if not only to know what… well, what they were. steve wasn’t sure about it, but he needed to understand. it wasn’t easy for him to just go around kissing eddie like everything was alright, but in all honesty, steve cared about him. it was obvious that they weren’t just friends anymore. “i just…” he said.

but he was interrupted by eddie speaking. steve wasn’t even sure if he had an answer for that, but he didn’t think all of those things. he let eddie finish and just as he was about to open his mouth to talk, he heard the cabin door opening and his first instinct was to let go of eddie and take a step back from him. he didn’t even think about it or the impact that it would have, especially when eddie had just said all of those things. “wait, eddie…” he said as he took a step forward to get closer to him again. “i don’t…” he said, trying to figure out what to say. “can we talk somewhere quieter?” he asked, now in a whisper, as he looked over at the person who had just walked inside of the cabin and then back at eddie.

+++

eddie furrowed his brows, trying to search the expression behind steve's eyes, he pulled back slightly. "'something else'? like, what, steve? you keep talking in riddles.... hey, you should try dm-ing sometime at hellfire. that'd be hot." eddie gave him a tongue in teeth grin, swaying side to side as he got closer to him again. and despite the warmth of the day cooling down, eddie suddenly felt oddly warm, with steve's arms wrapped snugly around him. it was dangerous, how quickly he'd gotten used to it.

eddie grimaced, gave steve an over-exaggerated full body shiver at the mention of going swimming. yeah, no, all of the kings guards and all of the kings men couldn't get him back into that lake. no matter how hot hawkins got in the summer, eddie would gladly take the community pool or any other body of water over lover's lake.

"no, steve, no offense but your other clothes just won't do. it has to be the yellow sweater.", eddie said, whined almost, and shrugged. "won't settle for less, big boy."

and eddie had leaned back in again, ready for the requested last kiss to smooth the hit of steve's rejection when the cabin door suddenly swung open and steve all but leaped from his arms. with fluttering lids, brows drawn together and his lips parted slightly, he exhaled shakily, watched steve closely as he took a step towards him again. as he did, eddie took one back. pulling his lip in with his teeth, he gave a weak scoff.

"i see.", eddie said quietly, spat almost. he didn't miss how steve's gaze drifted to the side but he didn't bother follow it, eddie couldn't give two fucks about who had just walked in, interrupted their moment. he gulped, scrunched his nose up, eyes darting between steve's. breath going faster, hear threatening to burst out of his chest, but not in the way it had the first time he and steve had kissed, for example. no this was the exact opposite of that happy, excited feeling.

eddie pressed his tongue to the roof of hiw mouth when he felt his eyes water, he'd read somewhere that that stopped you from crying. and he really didn't want to give steve the satisfaction of crying in front of him.

"you know what, harrington? spare me your... explanations, apologies, whatever. i’m not mad, promise.", accentuating his words with exaggerated gestures, hands flying about. "i don't really care what this was for you, steve. some... experiment, a little joke with your jock friends or... i don't know, releasing some tension after wheeler dumped you. whatever." he shrugged. "i don't.... care, steve, really. but.... i thought we were friends. you didn't have to be so fucking mean about it."

voice a little shaker now, eddie let out a sad chuckle, scratched the back of his neck. "see you around, king steve.", he whispered, averted his gaze and walked past steve out the cabin.

You’re home. (via pinterest)

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 -”