steve: i didn't think anything
steve: fine, i'll be there soon
steve: nothing
steve: just forget it, we'll talk when i'm there
eddie: nothing?
eddie: ... alright then. suit yourself.
eddie: see you later, king steve.
eddie: over.
stevehharringtcns·:
.
listening to eddie talk about him like that made steve blush slightly. he wasn’t sure where he had become a hero, but the truth was that he had always thought of himself as one. it didn’t help with his ego, but it was the truth. steve had always been in the front line to defend his friends and the people he cared about, and that was something it wasn’t going to change anytime soon. even if it ended up with him getting beaten up by russians. he just hoped that part of his life was over or else he could end up with permanent scars on his face. the ones on his body were enough, he thought to himself. “thanks, eddie… that’s really nice to hear.” he said with a nod.
he felt himself blush even harder when eddie asked him he saw something that he liked, making him turn his head away after staring for too long. “i just think… your tattoos are pretty cool.” he said, nodding his head. it wasn’t a complete lie, but steve was doing much more than checking out the other’s tattoos. he didn’t know what else to say, so he just stared up at the ceiling as he waited for eddie to finish getting dressed, and once he knew it was okay, he looked back at him and smiled, nodding his head slowly.
he watched eddie carefully as he joined him in bed. this was weird. he had never slept with a guy in his bed before, and now eddie was there, lying down next to him. he didn’t know what to do with himself, but he didn’t know where to look at either. he looked into the other’s eyes for a few moments. he felt like he was back in high school again, like he was just a teenager, but somehow, this felt right. better than it ever did before. and steve was enjoying every moment of it. “that’s fine.” he said, nodding his head as he kept staring at him.
steve could fall asleep by just looking at eddie’s face. he was sure that the other was going to fall asleep anytime soon, and then steve would be left alone to wonder what the hell was he doing with eddie munson in his bed. listening to him talk about the night terrors, steve let out a small sigh as he nodded his head. “oh, don’t worry about that, it’s totally okay, eddie… i mean, it’s kind of hard not to have those after everything we’ve been through… it’s weird to think about that we’ve both been attacked by those demo-bats.” he said with a small chuckle escaping from his lips, his heart almost breaking when he heard eddie calling himself a freak.
it hurt him that there were people who called him that - they clearly didn’t know eddie that well. getting to know him seemed to be the only good thing that steve could think of that vecna had brought him. the rest had been misery, but at least eddie was part of his life. without thinking, steve wrapped his arm around eddie’s body, careful enough so he didn’t get his hand near the bruise he had seen earlier and looked at him. “is this okay?” he asked, blushing as he did so. “i don’t think you’re a freak, eddie.” he said in a quiet tone, as he looked into the other’s eyes again and gave him a small smile, before his eyes wandered off to eddie’s lips for a few moments.
+++
he nodded, relieved and found that he agreed. steve was right, really, it was hard to imagine for anyone who’d been to the upside down not to wake up occasionally, drenched in cold sweat and shaking all over, consumed by an all-powerful feeling of dread and doom. said feeling probably heightened for steve and himself, seeing as both had very nearly met their end down there. and in eerily similar ways, too. “shit, you’re right, i forgot about that.”, he said with a lopsided grin. “but now we’ve got matching scars. and that’s, like, way more metal than matching tats.”
gripped with a sudden urge to let his fingers trail over steve’s demobat scars, he flexed his hands in a desperate attempt to keep himself from doing so. to not make it weird. the fact that steve was friends with robin assured eddie in the fact that, should he find out that eddie was similarly inclined, he wouldn’t, like, bash his brains out or anything. however, eddie didn’t want to push his luck and bring either of them into an uncomfortable situation either.
so, the fact that he suddenly found steve’s arm wrapped around his middle caught him even more off-guard. his eyes widened, flicking between steve’s, trying to make out the expression that lay behind them - failing to make out much of anything in the dark. hs heart skipped a beat at the touch, maybe a couple of them, actually, and his skin suddenly felt like it was on fire. blood burning in his veins, boiling, his breath hitched in his throat.
eddie really couldn’t speak, he nodded weakly, a strangled sound in the back of his throat. ‘is this okay’. steve could’ve just as well asked him if he liked to breathe. or if he listened to dio. it was okay, it was more than okay, exceptional, really. and eddie couldn’t help but feel pathetic that something as simple as a friendly, comforting touch could make him react that way.
“i - you don’t ?” it wasn’t much of a question, more of a startled observation. his lips gave a weak twitch though he was too taken aback, too riled up to give him a proper smile. he watched, carefully, eyes growing impossibly wide, as steve’s eyes dropped to his lips. all the bells inside his head were ringing, all alarms going off. some screaming ‘go for it’ others alerting him ‘danger - this is a trap, beware!’.
he skillfully ignored all of them, swallowed, his lips suddenly felt awfully dry and eddie was sure he could hear his heart beating, could feel it in his throat, too. he must’ve shuffled closer without realising, seeing as steve’s face was suddenly so close, impossibly close. his own gaze darted down to steve’s mouth, lingering there for a touch too long. eddie licked his lips.
“steve, man,”, he suddenly heard himself saying, the words spilling out on their own accord, before eddie had time to stop himself.”i feel like i wanna kiss you.” he swallowed, god, when had his throat become so parched? “you don’t...you don’t have to kiss me back if you don’t want.”
stevehharringtcns·:
just thinking about that night sent shivers down his spine. he was sure that he was never going to forget that, how could he? he would be lying if he occasionally didn’t have nightmares about it, but he tried to shut them out. he was also sure that he wasn’t the only one who dreamt about getting attacked by demobats or about vecna. everyone down there had to share the same trauma they both did. “you definitely got the worst of it all, eddie… from what dustin told me, you could have…” he said, stopping himself from saying anything else, fearing to put that out in the universe. “you were the hero that time around.” he said with a small nod of his head.
being this close to eddie felt right to steve and it made him forget about the world outside of that room. it seemed like nothing was going to ruin this moment as long as they stayed in bed. “no need to thank me, i just want to help.” he said, nodding his head. it was true anyway, eddie had showed up at his door, clearly panicked about everything going on and steve just wanted to help in the best way he could. he couldn’t control the giant eggs or whatever was running around the woods at that very moment, but he could help eddie.
“people should be nicer to you… i mean, i probably wasn’t… you know, during high school.” steve thought back to the person he used to be in high school. it only took a demogorgon and a nancy wheeler for him to actually become a better person, but that was past the point. he remembered making fun of everyone who wasn’t popular, meaning that he probably hadn’t been the nicest to eddie when he was in high school, throwing snarky comments his way when he knew he shouldn’t.
and now there he was, kissing eddie munson on his bed. it felt like it was something that should have happened two years before, but better late then never, right? he only deepened the kiss, propping himself up on his elbow as dove down for another kiss until they finally pulled away once steve realized that he could have been hurting the other’s bruise.
listening to eddie say that everything was okay, steve nodded his head slowly as he stared into his eyes for a couple of moments. suddenly, everything that eddie had told him before, the flirting and all of it, it made sense in steve’s head. why hadn’t he realized that before? it wasn’t that hard to notice, but yet, steve had gone through all of the signs that eddie gave him and now he just felt stupid.
before he knew it, steve was grabbing him by his shoulder and pulling him down for another kiss. steve didn’t hesitate as his arm slithered around the other’s waist and pulled him even closer, if it was even possible, deepening the kiss, hungry for more. after all, this had been a long time coming, steve had been the one who hadn’t realized it. he pulled away again, as he looked down at eddie and at his lips. “uh… um… do-do you want to get some sleep?” he asked, biting down on his lower lip. the other had gone to his place to rest and now they were making out. steve thought the other would be tired. “we don’t… need to, i’m not tired.” he said with a nod.
+++
"gotta say, you definitely didn't give me the impression that you were too fond of my existence back in high school.", eddie said with a chuckle, absent-mindely shuffling closer to steve. lost in thought for a moment, how school now seemed like such a distant time, a different land, different life lived by a different person. back when they'd been eddie 'the freak' and king steve. when everyone's biggest worries had been who they were taking to homecoming and what their position in the social hierarchy of hawkins high was. it was funny thinking about that now, after all they'd been through. left a bittersweet taste in eddie's mouth. "but you sorta made up for it when you, like, heroically slayed the dragon and saved the world from doom. all good now, harrington. don't worry 'bout it."
steve's arm around his waist made him shiver and he gasped into the kiss, arms wrapped around steve neck, pulling him further down. all his worries, the nightmares that kept him awake usually, seemingly forgotten the instant their lips had connected. god, Eddie was sure he could do this for hours. really, eddie could die right then and there and be happy and content with his life, simply because he'd spent his last moments kissing steve harrington.
the mere thought of it made him dizzy with glee. he hummed, a pleased sound, and experimentally liked across steve's bottom lip just as the other pulled away.
eddie knew he looked a mess - lips swollen, cheeks flushed, eyes impossibly wide. he was panting, the mere sight of steve took his breath away, and eddie swallowed. "i... uh, i don't know. i'm.... i mean if you don't wanna, like, continue or something...." all the while his eyes darted between steve's, fingers toying with the hair at the nape of steves neck. "you know what i am pretty tired."
eddie exhaled shakily, his eyes dropped to steve's lips, fingertips tracing across his cheek, in awe. "but i also kinda want to keep kissing you."
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?”
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.
loverboymontgomery·:
xx.
A satisfied grin spread across Cole’s lips at Eddie’s remark. It was easy to be good at kissing Eddie, he thought, when Eddie looked at him like that. Simultaneously, Cole was desperate to have more of Eddie and terrified that he’d never really find what he was looking for. But that was a problem for tomorrow.
Heat spread across Cole’s body as Eddie grabbed his waist and pulled him closer. Unable to stop himself, Cole let his hands wander Eddie’s body– slipping under his shirt and balling up the fabric in his hand. If they weren’t in public, Cole would tug it off… and other things.
Pressing his lips to Eddie’s ear, Cole whispered: “Oops, it’s already gone to my head.” As Eddie took his chin, Cole shut his eyes and gave in to Eddie’s demands. Darting his tongue inside the other’s mouth, he felt his cheeks heat up and his heartbeat quicken. It felt so natural with him, like they’d done this before.
Cole pulled back, giving them a chance to breathe, and focused his attention on Eddie’s neck. Careful not to leave any marks, he trailed his lips down to Eddie’s collarbone, his hand lazily rubbing Eddie’s back. In the back of his mind, behind the kissing-induced haze, Cole heard several voices– were they yelling? But he couldn’t tear himself away from Eddie.
+++
eddie very nearly hissed when cole pulled on his shirt, when he felt his breath ghost over his ear a few seconds later. almost instinctively, his grip on cole's waist tightened, fingers experimentally darting underneath the fabric to feel the warmth of his skin, the sensation made his arms break out in goosebumps. god, it had been a fucking long time since he'd last been this close to someone. and eddie certainly hadn't expected to find himself in this situation when he'd loaded his stereo into the van to drive to an illegal party in the mall some four hours ago.
a slight, dazed grin tugged at his lips, he rolled his eyes. "you're a cocky bastard, you know that?", he whispered with a slight shake of his head before their lips were connected yet again and eddie gasped into the kiss, shivered as their tongues lazily brushed together.
he hummed, pleased, when cole moved onto his neck, let one hand travel up to card his fingers through cole's hair. he let his head fall back, eyes closed, trying to town in the sensation of cole's lips on his skin -
- but no, there was something else, something disturbing them. he frowned, and, tugging at cole's hair slightly, pulled back. "i - d'you hear that?"
steve: that's not what i meant, eddie! i just want a private talk, that's all...
steve: i wanted to come over but i wasn't sure if you wanted to see me...
steve: i've been trying for days to get on the... right fucking channel, or whatever
steve: i just... i wanna know what happened back in the cabin
eddie: a private talk on a walkie line any of the shitbirds could intercept at, like, any moment, huh?
eddie: gotta say i probably wouldn't have fist bumped the air if i'd seen you pull up in my driveway
eddie:... i say drive way like it isn't a trailer park
eddie: anyway
eddie: thought it was quite obvious what happened at the cabin. *you* made it quite obvious, chief.
loverboymontgomery·:
xx.
With a grateful smile, Cole took the cigarette from Eddie’s hands and lit it. He took an extended drag, hoping the hit of nicotine would numb the panic swirling around his insides. It had subsided to a dull ache now, to the point where he was just coexisting with it, but after the lake, it was loud again. He was determined not to let it show, lest he worried Adam.
Cole nodded, his lips pulled into a thin smile. It was reassuring for his sanity, at least, but he couldn’t deny that it is not what he wanted to hear. “You’ve known about… this stuff for a while, right?” he asked, meeting Eddie’s eyes. “Does it get… I don’t know, easier?” Everyone else seemed relatively well-adjusted, like they were taking all of this in stride, though, Cole supposed that could just be for show.
He couldn’t help but smile at Eddie’s characteristically nervous response. “Okay,” Cole breathed a sigh of relief. “Okay, yeah. I just wanted to… check in, I guess.” He paused, sucked on the cigarette again. “Because you’re not half bad, and I think it’d be cool if we were friends,” he suggested.
It would be hard for Cole to forget the relief he’d felt when Eddie had approached him at the mall– not in a romantic way, the kissing had been good and all– but because Eddie was also like him. Other than Adam, Cole hadn’t met anyone he could be honest with. And that was refreshing. Maybe even one day, after the dust settled and Cole had finally told Adam, all of them could be friends.
A blush rose to Cole’s cheeks at the other’s comment. “Shit. I didn’t realize we were so obvious,” he said with a breathy laugh. But it was probably true; this time around, Cole cared very little about who saw and more about being near Adam. “Thanks. I know he is,” Cole gushed. Even after all this time, Adam’s smile made him feel like he was staring at the sun. “And he’s like… an incredible person,” Cole said, dopey smile and all.
Feeling exposed, Cole quickly turned the conversation back to Eddie. “Don’t think I didn’t notice you and King Steve,” he raised a brow, lifting his cigarette once more to give him a chance to respond.
+++
pursed lips, eddie took another drag, buried one hand in the pocket of his jeans. he huffed. oh, he’d known about this stuff for a while, alright. the mere thought of it made his stomach drop, he squeezed his eyes shut for a second, softly, almost unnoticeably, shook his head. trying to shake the image of red skies and black lightning, swarming bats from his mind.
eddie clicked his tongue, absent-mindedly kicked some gravel. “’easier’.”, he echoed, musing. wondering if he should shield cole from the truth. but he’d been roped into it, too, now. so what good it denial do him. and how cruel would it be of eddie, not letting him in on all the crazy. “remember....remember spring break ‘86? the.. ‘earthquake’ - it wasn’t an earthquake. anyway.”, another drag, eddie quickly exhaled. “anyway. anyway, shit .... went down, basically. like, supernatural shit. and i, well. i almost died.” eddie shrugged, resigned. it seemed so far away now, unreal. though it became frighteningly present again, every other night when eddie woke up in a cold sweat, heaving and panting and clutching at his chest to remind himself that he was alive and breathing. “it’s not .... it’s serious stuff, cole. but it - well, in a way, it sort of gets better. when you get outta here, it gets better.”
he glanced at cole, a small smile tugging at his lips, he nodded. “yeah. friends, i’d like that. that’d be cool. you’re not half bad yourself, montgomery.”truly, eddie hadn’t expected to make any new friends during his summer back in hawkins. and this was a pleasant surprise.
quirked brows, eddie watched with an amused expression on his face as cole went on about adam, gushing about him, and he felt a warmth swelling in his chest. he was genuinely happy for cole, even more so since they were both so alike. which made eddie hopeful that maybe he could be just as happy as cole one day. “yeah, he seems pretty cool. great catch, cole. well done.”
eddie quickly looked away, flustered chuckle, the mention of steve brought a blush to his cheeks. “it’s... ah, it’s nothng, not really. it’s - “he was cut off by his own incredulous laugh, eddie ran a hand through his hair, then rested his palm on his forehead, he turned to look at cole. “i just can’t wrap my head around the fact that i, like....i made out with steve harrington. king steve. that’s - that’s not real, you know? like, guys like him don’t... they don’t go for guys like me. it’s mental.”