Thequeenofhawkins·:

backtowheeler·:

— ✎ —

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

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

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

+++

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

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

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

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

stevehharringtcns​:

.

.

listening to eddie talk about their matching scars made steve let out a dry chuckle, nodding his head as he thought about it. he still remembered how much it hurt, feeling the demobat’s teeth sinking into his skin. the thought alone made his skin crawl, especially when he thought about the tail wrapped around his neck. he didn’t want to think about that right now, so he decided to shut off those thoughts and focus on what eddie was saying. “you’re right, we do have matching scars…” he said slowly with a nod of his head. “i think you got the worst of it though. sorry i wasn’t there to help you… you know, like you did with me.” he said as he thought back about that night and everything that had happened. it scared him to think that things could have been worse.

steve stared at eddie for a little longer as he shifted closer to him. he didn’t know much closer he could get. he was too quiet, which was weird coming from eddie. he talked a lot and seem to ramble, but steve liked that. but now he was quiet and it was making steve wonder if he was actually uncomfortable with this. after all, they were cuddling and this was the first time steve had been this close to eddie.

“are you sure you’re okay with this? we don’t need to cuddle… i just… i don’t know, i wat to help with the night terrors.” he said, but he wasn’t sure how cuddling the other would help with that. maybe it would, maybe it wouldn’t. steve didn’t want to make the other uncomfortable. maybe he should have gone to the guest room. maybe this was a bad idea. but then he looked at eddie’s face and every single one of those thoughts seemed to vanish. the other didn’t mind, right? if he did, he would have had a worse reaction then this.

“i don’t think you’re a freak at all… i think whoever calls you that, doesn’t really know you.” he said simply, as his eyes looked up from eddie’s lips into his eyes for a couple of moments and then back at his lips. it was like his brain was deciding on what to do next and couldn’t make a decision. he wanted to kiss him. was it wrong of him to think that? would eddie take it the wrong way? steve really couldn’t know what the other’s reaction would be, and that’s when he heard eddie say that he wanted to kiss him.

he immediately turned red when he heard those words coming out of eddie’s mouth and he felt his cheeks warming up. had he heard that correctly? he did. eddie wanted to kiss him, and steve wanted to kiss him too. “uh… i… uh… you can kiss me, if you want. i mean, yeah, you can kiss me.” he said, stuttering in his own words as he looked at eddie. the two seemed to be closer than ever. and steve couldn’t wait that much longer.

without warning, steve threw himself forward, his lips crashing into eddie’s for only a few seconds as he paused to think about what he was doing. he looked at eddie’s eyes, then back to his lips, before pulling him in closer to another kiss. this felt right. like something that was going to happen sooner or later. steve’s only regret was that it didn’t happen sooner. he brought one hand to eddie’s hip, only to remember that there was a bruise there. “sorry, sorry…” he pulled away from the kiss once he realized where his hand was. “was… was that okay?” he asked, wanting to reassure himself that he wasn’t kissing eddie when he didn’t want to.

+++

eddie frowned and quickly shook his head. “no, man, no, don’t...don’t go there. i think we kinda shared the worst of it, really.” thinking back to their first trip to the upside down via watergate, eddie admittedly had ... mixed feelings. as horrible as frightening as it had been, watching steve nearly get eaten alive by demobats - well, eddie was a simple man. and the sight of steve pulling that ozzy move, finishing that bat off by biting it’s head off - yeah, yeah, alright, even under the horrid circumstances, that might’ve been just about the hottest thing eddie had ever seen in his life. 

steve shifted even closer to him and eddie felt like he could just die, right then and there, cheeks burning, goosebumps all over his skin. he seemed top have that effect on him - everytime he was close to him, eddie felt like he was intoxicated. the air was static between them, heavily charged with something eddie didn’t dare think about, lest he jinxed it.

he nodded, quickly and perhaps a little too eager. heat pooling in his stomach. “y-yeah. this is fine, it’s... yeah, it’s, uh okay. ‘s good. don’t worry. helps. with the night terrors, i mean.” followed by a choked off ‘thanks’. he wondered if this was simply another act of king steve’s inexhaustible kindness. if eddie was the one making it weird by reading too much into it.

but steve’s gaze so obviously dropping to his lips every so often told him otherwise. a shiver ran down his spine,eddie felt his breath and heartbeat quicken. he was sure steve could hear how fast his pulse was going, heart hammering away in his chest, deafeningly loud in the brief silence that hung between them. “that’s...that’s good to know.” he swallowed, tongue darting out to wet his lips. “that might be, like, the nicest thing anyone’s said to me, man.”

then steve gave him confirmation and before eddie quite had the time to process it, to throw all caution to the wind and go in for a kiss, steve’s lips were already on his. lips crashing together in a quick, rough kiss, teeth clacking together - steve pulled back briefly, eddie’s heart sunk but before he could mutter any apologies, steve had connected their lips in another kiss. 

eddie gasped into it, cautiously wrapping his hand around the back of steve’s neck to pull him closer. it was exactly like eddie had imagined the kiss to be and vastly different at the same time. better. because this, this was real. eddie was awake. he was awake in steve harrington’s bed, kissing him. and he wondered briefly if this was some cruel joke. or if he had died back then in the upside down, if this was his personal heaven. sure felt like it.

another gasp mixed with a pleased hum as steve’s hand found his hip, next thing he knew the other had pulled back. leaving eddie breathless, panting. almost immediately, eddie’s grasp on steve tightened, he tried to pull him closer. afraid that once he let him go that that was the end of it - that he’d never have this again.

“yeah”, he breathed, licked his lips, eyes darting between steve’s, half-lidded. “yeah, it’s nothing, don’t worry. all good.” eddie quickly covered steve’s hand with his own, moved it up to his waist, before grabbing steve by the shoulder and pulling him in for another kiss. 

stevehharringtcns·:

who: steve harrington and @eddiemcnson·

where: the video store

steve hated that he have to work. well, he didn’t hate working whenever he was accompanied by robin, but this time around, it was his turn to have a shift on his own and he didn’t know what to do with himself. he definitely didn’t want to spend most of his shift talking with keith, so he kept himself busy with rearranging the videos, although he was always with a bored look on his face. it was summer, why the hell was he wasting away at the video store? he should be at the pool or getting drunk with his friends, but instead he was just carrying the videotapes from one side to the other and organizing them in the right section. he heard the door open but he didn’t look, he was sure that keith could handle it.

he was about to turn and make his way around one of the halls, his eyes locked on the pile of videos that he carried before he almost bumped into someone. he was lucky that he didn’t drop anything or else he was never going to hear the end of it. getting ready to argue with the person, steve finally looked up to find eddie. why was he blushing out of the sudden? he didn’t know. “eddie!” he said, a smile forming on his lips as he looked over at him, before clearing his throat. “what are you doing here? seems like we keep running into each other, right?” he asked with a smile, as he just stood there waiting for an answer from the other.

+++ 

‘act casual, just ... act casual.’, eddie thought to himself, desperately trying to appear relaxed and unbothered as he continued browsing through stacks of vhs tapes he had no intention of watching. no, he wasn’t at family video for the videos’ sake. his fingers traced over the rough plastic edges of the casing of ‘fast times at richmond high’ - eddie grimaced - and he walked down another aisle that he’d been in about three times already. stealing quick glances at the man behind the counter - the actual reason eddie had come to the store.

not keith, ugh, no, never. but steve harrington, this time without his seemingly ever-present attaché robin buckley, engrossed in his work. he hadn’t looked over at him yet, and, well, it would be awkward if he came up to greet him, wouldn’t it? so eddie waited, waited until steve would finally notice him. stupid. he felt like a teenager with a silly crush.

lost in though, he accidentally pulled on a case, scrambling to catch it before it fell. close one. when he turned back ‘round to steal another glance at steve, eddie found him standing right in front of him, a little too close to comfort. he cleared his throat, signature grin pulling at his lips. “my my, harrington, what a surprise.”, he said - as if he hadn’t come by almost every day since coming back to hawkins, seeing if steve finally had a shift without buckley ( much as eddie liked robin, he’d wanted to catch steve alone ). as if he hadn’t just ‘browsed’ through movies for a good half hour.

stupid. he’d gotten over his stupid crush on steve, it had done himno good, destined to end in heartache and lead nowhere. or so he’d thought - because locking eyes with steve, eddie felt himself get flustered, he nervously played with his rings. “what am i doing here? well, you gotta think real hard steve, what do people usually go to the video store for?”, he teased, moved a little closer, one hand placed on a nearby shelf, leaning against it, the other on his hip. he shrugged. “i’m waiting to receive that world famous customer service you got going on here.”

What personal space?

mayorstjames·:

who: spencer st. james & @eddiemcnson·

where: near city hall

spencer was done with his day at work. it hadn’t been that stressful now that he thought about it, but it hadn’t been that interesting either. it had been dull, if anything. but now he could finally go home and so he made his way towards his car. it was almost getting dark outside, which didn’t surprise him. as he unlocked his car, he noticed a familiar face walking by. a face that he hadn’t seen in a while, but definitely a face he remembered. it was impossible to forget the face of eddie munson, the purp who had been the suspect of all of the mystery deaths in 1986. and the one who had caused so much trouble.

turning to stop the other on his tracks, standing in front of him, spencer looked at the other with a small smile on his lips. a fake one, obviously, but nevertheless a smile. “edward munson, right?” he asked. he knew exactly who he was. but he wanted to see how the other would react. “now, that’s a face i never thought i would see again. i didn’t know you were back in hawkins.” he said. not that he knew of his whereabouts in the past two years, but it seemed like he had disappeared after everything that happened, so he only assumed that he had left town.

+++

another day, another visit to family video. to catch up with robin, flirt with steve until he was all blushing and flustered, eddie counted today as a success as he walked back to where he’d parked his van near city hall, hand sin his pockets, an uncharacteristic smile on his face. whistling the melody of quiet riot’s ‘cum on feel the noize’ to himself. the sun was shining, the heat off the day slowly cooling down. no, yeah, today was a good day. and eddie was going to go home and smoke, maybe hit up max, too, and he was going to make it an even better day.

it was funny, in hindisght, how quickly a good day could turn into a great one, and how a great day could turn into a horrifically bad one. all thanks to the sight of one unfortunately familiar face. eddie stopped walking abruptly, nearly tripped over his own feet. brows furrowed, he nearly grimaced. he scoffed. “uh, yeah. eddie. but whatever.” pretending like he didn’t know exactly who he was. eddie fought off the urge to roll his eyes. 

“back for the summer, mayor spencer. assuming it still is ‘mayor’?” eddie mirrored his smile, it was equally fake and equally difficult, as he was going against his body’s natural instinct of looking at the other with an expression of pure disgust. but he was going to play it nice and safe. after all, his uncle still lived here - and presently, thanks to the border shenanigans, eddie was in no position to leave the town.

colemontgomeryx·:

xx.

Cole usually didn’t get nervous; he had an unearned air of confidence supported by the belief that he could get with any guy. The flirting was no problem, but after that? When the feeling was returned? It had been so long since he’d felt this. Finally, Eddie was reciprocating and moving closer to him, confirming that Eddie felt it too.

Cole breathed in deeply, catching a whiff of Eddie’s cologne mingling with cigarette smoke. A smell that made Cole want to bury his face into Eddie’s chest, so he could smell it on himself the rest of the night. Cole couldn’t drag his eyes away from Eddie’s lips, watching the other run his tongue along his bottom lip.

“We’re in a mall,” Cole repeated, his voice breathy. “There are plenty of places to hide. And I doubt the vandals will notice we’re gone,” he grinned, tugging on Eddie’s shirt as if to say let’s go now. 

+++

his thoughts were spiralling, dizzy with how close they suddenly were to one another. a contact high, if you will, eddie thought and nearly chuckled at his own joke that he had cracked, to himself, in his own head. decided against it because he had a strong feeling that that might ruin the mood. and after his love life had been a big heap of, well, nothing, these past few months, eddie was definitely not trying to do anything that could potentially ruin the mood.

eddie watched, enraptured, as cole’s eyes stuck to his lips and is own darted down to cole’s. and man, while he hadn’t taken much notice of him in hgih school, he now wondered why - cole was pretty. like, very pretty. the relevation hit eddie hard, made his breath hitch. shit.

his heart skipped a beat, stopped for a second, he thought, as he felt cole tug on his shirt. he bit his lip as his eyes flicked down to cole’s lips, god, they really had to get out of there, stat. so eddie nodded, hummed in agreement. grabbed hold of his wrist and looked around for a moment before he dragged him off around the corner, pressing him up against a marble pillar.

nervous eyes searching is. “uh...you, uh, sure about this?”

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

cassieconrads·:

Cassie gave a nod at Eddie’s question, noticing his demeanor shift as she mentioned the Wheelers. As he described how he was friends with Mike, things started to make sense: maybe her new companion wasn’t that much of a stranger, after all. “Yeah, I came back with Nancy from the summer from college,” she explained, “we’re in the same sorority there, and they kind of all suck, so we bonded over it. Mike, though? I’m trying to get him to like me better than Nancy’s boyfriend, who somehow managed to follow us across the country to try and win her back, or some shit.” Cassie shrugged.

She let out a laugh, supposing he was right: Eddie certainly wasn’t the kind of guy she saw on the streets of Boston or San Francisco. “Shit, I’m sorry. I mean, I’m from California, and we had nothing like that going on there. Honestly, more has happened in the past few weeks that I’ve been here than my whole life there.” Including, but not limited to, a weird night at the graveyard and an entire diner burning down. “I’m Cassie. I appreciate the personal escort.”

+++

see, any friend of nancy’s that nancy trusted and liked enough to invite to stay with her over break surely wouldn’t mean no harm and eddie immediately relaxed. the...unfortunate encounter with ‘unnamed asshole slash jason carver carbon copy’ still had him somewhat shaken, looking over his shoulder more often than usual. and, at the mention of a dubious boyfriend that had followed them across the country, he slowly began to connect the dots. hoped to god that he had connected them all wrong. “that, uh, that boyfriend of hers - does he, like, have a little temper problem? and, like...does he sort of look like a ken doll right out of the box? “

he chuckled at her statement, shoved his hands into the pockets of his jeans. “yeah, hawkins sort of does that to a person. lived here all my life before i moved to chicago, twenty years of, like, constant mayhem. and not, like, the good kind of mayhem, either.” 

but he spared her the gory details, the story of how, two years ago, he had nearly died while being attacked by vampire demon bats in the literal hell version of hawkins underneath the town. “well, pleased to make your acquaintance, cassie.”, he said with a grin and gave an over-exaggerated bow. “may i inquire what brings you to the library on such a fine day?”

stevehharringtcns·:

.

steve wouldn’t have been able to forgive himself if something had happened to eddie at the carnival. he had been arrested and steve felt his heart sink when he had been told that. the worst part was that he was unable to help, but he was glad to see that the other was okay. he had been unharmed in the explosion. he wouldn’t have been able to handle it if eddie had been in the bed right next to him, in a different room or worse, if he had died. steve didn’t like thinking about that. not after everything that had happened two years prior, where steve had been the one to visit at the hospital after he had been attacked by the demo-bats and almost died. of course, at that point he hadn’t been this close to eddie, but he was still concerned of course. especially since dustin had become so close to eddie and he didn’t know how the kid would handle that loss. now the roles had switched.

he let his eyes be closed for a little longer, opening them to look at eddie. he hadn’t noticed he had been cold this entire time until eddie pointed it out. “a blanket… would be nice.” he said as he tried to adjust himself on the bed, but he was far too weak and far too bruised to even attempt to move. he would have to try again later, he thought. “but… just stay here for now.” he said, squeezing eddie’s hand so that he wouldn’t get up just now. he wanted for the other to stay beside him. it’s all he asked for at that moment. he looked over at him, a small and weak smile forming on his lips as he felt eddie’s hand on his. he was glad he was there with him. they both had survived and they both would be okay. they had to be. steve couldn’t imagine a future where the two of them wouldn’t be okay anymore. he had pushed away the thought of everything going wrong between them.

he enjoyed the silence for a couple of moments, heavy breathing as he did. he looked over at eddie when the other started sobbing, but he didn’t say anything. he couldn’t stop the other from feeling that way. he lied there, as he started feeling his own tears streaming from his eyes down his cheeks. he didn’t sob, he knew that it would hurt if he did, but he was crying. he hated seeing eddie like this, breaking down in front of him and he just couldn’t wrap his arms around him and bring him close. he squeezed his hand once again. “eddie…” he said, his voice weak as he sniffed, hoping that the tears would stop eventually. for both of them. the two were alive, yet they found themselves crying like one of them had died. it didn’t make any sense, but the two had been through enough for this to be allowed. “i’m not going anywhere. i promise…” he said weakly, nodding his head slowly. he wanted to keep that promise. he couldn’t leave eddie, he didn’t want to leave him. he couldn’t hurt him again. and seeing him like this made him feel stupid that he hadn’t seen the signs sooner, when they were fighting vecna and eddie was flirting with him. steve was too busy chasing something that he didn’t want. he wanted to be with eddie, and he was sure of it. “and when… when i leave the hospital, we’re going to…” he said, stopping to cough a little more, wincing as he felt the pain of his broken ribs spreading through, stopping to take a breath. once he recovered, he continued. “we’re going to watch… dirty dancing. and we’ll learn that… lift move. i promise.” he said with a nod.

he let the two of them calm down for a bit before he asked what he wanted to ask. he had been thinking about it for quite some time now. he just didn’t know that he needed a near death experience to actually say it. “life’s too short.” he started by saying, taking a deep breath after that. “i could have died… and-and…” he said as he started rambling, trying to find the right words. “i want you… to be… my boyfriend, eddie.” he said. it felt weird to say that out loud, he wasn’t used to it, but he knew that it was right. he knew that eddie was right for him. “no more… pretending that we’re just seeing each other and going out. i want… to be your boyfriend.” he said, giving the other a small nod. “okay?” he asked. 

+++

eddie nodded so fast and eagerly that he nearly strained his neck. “yeah, of course, blanket, blanket....”, he trailed off, anxious, strained eyes darting around, briefly landing on the bed cole montgomery currently occupied. but - no, eddie frowned, shook his head to himself softly, no, he couldn’t steal cole’s blanket. the man needed it to himself, probably. despite steve’s wishes to simply stay put, eddie reluctantly let go of his hand for a moment to shrug off his signature leather jacket and denim vest, carefully draping it over steve’s chest. “to tide you over ‘till you’re letting me leave to get you that blanket, hot shot.”

words followed by a weak, disingenuous smile, he squeezed steve hand again, tight, until the tears came spilling out on their own accord, body rocked by heavy sobs. eddie hated it, how easy he began to cry. in front of others, too. ever since he’d been a little kid, once the tears came there was no stopping them, which had obviously made eddie the subject of ridicule. over the years he had learned to ‘suck it up’, develop thicker skin, bottle up his feelings. not let people in on what was truly going on inside him. but steve was ...  different. 

and steve was crying, too. eddie’s head snapped up as he heard him sniffle, his own sobs ceasing instantly. his chest heavy with the guilt that his display of emotion had caused the tears he was now softly wiping away with his thumb, caressing steve’s cheek as he did so. “hey, shh. i’m sorry, sorry, sweetheart. i didn’t mean - sorry.” he shook his head, shaking the last couple of tears out of the corners of his eyes as he did so. they’d have plenty of time to cry once steve got out of there. besides, crying was exhausting, and steve was here to get better, to rest and relax. and eddie could get up and finally get him that blanket once they had both calmed down. steve’s hands really were cold.

the cough made steve wince and eddie tear up again. he bit down on his lip, hard, winced and mirrored steve’s grimace, wishing he could mirror the pain, too. if he couldn’t take it from him then they could at least be together in their suffering . teeth moving over his bottom lip, he waited patiently as steve recovered enough to continue talking. an incredulous chuckle drawn from his lips, brows raised, eddie softly shook his head in disbelief, raised their joined hands to his lips again. “yeah. yeah, alright, we’ll learn the lift. whatever you want.”

life’s too short, i could’ve died. feeling the lump in his throat grow bigger, eddie blinked and averted his gaze to their hands, thumb softly tracing over his knuckles. his whispers of “no” and “don’t say that”, quickly ceased as steve finally popped the dreaded question. come to think of it - not dreaded at all, actually. eddie lifted his head very slowly until he met steve’s eyes, a puzzled look on his face as steve’s words kept repeating in his head. boyfriend, boyfriend, boyfriend. i want to be your boyfriend. he blinked, confused, squeezed steve’s hand - yeah, no, this was real. this was definitely real.

“i - i’m sorry?” a couple of beats passed before the meaning of steve’s words had apparently sunk in, eddie’s bemused expression suddenly fading, making way for a wide, toothy grin. he nodded slowly, his grin spreading wider and wider before eddie surged forward, to connect their lips in a short and soft kiss, careful not to hurt steve in any way. “yeah. yeah, of course, dumbass. duh. “ and eddie laughed, genuinely and loudly, quickly pressed his lips together, giving steve a sheepish smile. “i mean - you’re, like, a hundred percent sure about this?  because .. cause i’d hate for you to wake up, like, tomorrow or whenever the painkillers have worn off and regret the whole thing.”

Stranger Things - 4x08 - Papa