Where: The Munson Trailer, Living Room

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.

You’re home. (via pinterest)

dvstybuns·:

Dustin wasn’t even remotely phased by having woken Eddie up. He’d woken him up at weirder times before back when Eddie was in Chicago and Dustin had something he had to tell him right that second. It was a wonder Eddie put up with him still, but Dustin wasn’t one to question when people grew a soft spot for him. “I’m talking about the Upside Down! Probably,” He amended. Dustin didn’t know for sure that that was what was behind all of this, but considering it always was, it was a fair guess. 

“I’m injured, I have to elevate it!” Dustin complained when he was called a heathen. Rolling up the leg of his jeans, Dustin showed off Max’s poor bandaging skills to prove that he wasn’t making it up. But, he did move his feet off the coffee table and onto the couch beside him. “What? Come on…” Dustin whined, not fighting the lack of beer too hard. It was noon, after all. And really, he could steal one from Steve’s fridge if he really wanted one. 

With a deep sigh, Dustin began his retelling of their night in the woods. “Okay, so Joyce, Murray, Max, Will, Mike and I were in Joyce’s car going to check something out at the town border. But then I saw something out the window. It was like… human but not? Some kind of mix with a demogorgon?” He shrugged, still not really knowing what to call the thing. “It hit the car, so we all got out to look for it. Then, we kind of got separated. Someone went missing, or something. Anyway, it came back and hit Joyce’s car again and I fell, fucked up leg and took Max down too. We were lucky to get away.” In truth, some of the details were already becoming fuzzy for Dustin. Maybe a side effect of the adrenaline wearing off, or maybe he’d hit his head or something. He wasn’t entirely sure. 

+++

the upside down. if there were any two words that drew a visceral, gutteral reaction out of him it would be those two. a shiver ran down his spine - or was it up, actually? -, goosebumps on his arms, he nearly choked on his coffee. didn't even need the damn thing anymore, seeing as he was suddenly wide awake. still he held onto it, took a cautious sip, for comfort more than anything else.

dustin's mention of his injury had a similarly effect, sobering him up completely, eddie rubbed the last remnants of sleep Form his eyes, cranked his neck to get a better look at his very poorly bandaged injury. "who the fuck stitched you up? max with her eyes closed?"

still, he listened intently to dustin's storytelling, taking the occasional sip of coffee, his tiredness all but forgotten. replaced by an eerie feeling of dread. because dustin's story, combined with eddie's own experiences at benny's, it became undoubtedly clear - the supernatural had somehow wormed its way back into hawkins. and, presumably, it was out to get them.

"fucking - shit, man.", he hissed, dragged a hand down his face. "are you sure? like, a hundred percent - you're not fucking with me here, henderson, are you?"

stevehharringtcns·:

steve felt like this was right, like he always meant to be like this with eddie. when the other had invited him to go to his place, steve didn’t hesitate when he said yes, knowing that they needed to spend time together after being apart. sure, they weren’t apart for that long, but steve felt like he needed to spend more time with eddie. so there they were, sitting on eddie’s couch. they were lucky that his uncle was out or this would have been awkward, but with eddie’s legs on his lap and with them kissing occasionally, steve felt like he was in heaving, his hand resting on eddie’s leg as he pulled him down for a kiss again, blushing slightly at the contact.

when they broke the kiss, steve felt his hair tangle on one of eddie’s rings and he whined lowly. “ow, ow, ow…” he hissed as he finally rid himself of the ring, smiling at eddie right after and letting out a chuckle. the way he called him princess made him blush, but that was another talk that steve wasn’t ready to have. he didn’t know why he liked it so much. “it’s okay, plus the rings look hot on you, you don’t need to take them off.” he said as he pulled him for yet another kiss and smirked into it. this felt nice.

steve smiled when eddie grabbed his hand, steve almost immediately pulling it to press a kiss on eddie’s hand and nodding his head. “you look so cute.” he said with a smile, before squeezing the other’s cheek. it was almost as an instinct as he did so, and steve was glad that the two could share this moment without having any kids barging in. steve only hoped that dustin wouldn’t come in the house or even worse, that he would yell code red through the walkie. but it wasn’t the time to think about that.

“sure, we can watch a movie…” he said, knowing that the two probably wouldn’t pay that much attention to the movie. “oh, do you have dirty dancing? i…” he said, before blushing and lowering his tone. “love that movie…” he said, letting out a small chuckle as he leaned down to kiss eddie’s forehead lovingly.

+++

lovingly. everything steve did was so caring, loving, that eddie felt his heart might just burst. this was uncharted territory for him, hell, eddie had never even dated anyone, or not properly. not like steve harrington was dating him. the forehead kisses, swinging your intertwined hands between each other as you walk - and love letters and sharing as milshake in a fifties diner kind of dating. proper, nice. nobody had ever treated eddie ‘the freak’ munson as nice as steve ‘the hair’ harrington, and he gazed up at him in awe, a grin on his lips, all wide and toothy.

the amount of attention steve payed him was unfamiliar, too. eddie didn’t have to ask or beg for kisses, no, steve kissed him on his own accord, grabbed his hand, pressed light pecks to his cheek. he was there, ever present, and eddie thought that this might be what his heaven would look like after he died.

he giggled, downright giggled, and pulled his hair in front of his face to hide his blush. “oh my god, steve harrington called me cute, i might just, like, die, he’s so fly and, like a total hottie.”, he said in his best valley girl impression, chuckling all the way through it, wiggling his eyebrows. eddie bat his lashes at steve, then leaned in to press a gross, wet kiss to his cheek. “you’re hella cute, too.”

he shivered, shook his head and limbs, as if shaking off the valley girl character for good. another forehead kiss had eddie biting his lip, brushing furiously. lips twitching, on the verge of bursting into a loud cackle. “dirty dancing, man?”, he echoed, eyes widening. he purse dhis lip to stop the smile from spreading. “i mean, like .... okay, if you tell anyone this then your ass is grass, steve, yeah? i’m going to kill you, like, satanic ritualistic dnd murder your ass for real, but ... “  eddie held up a finger as if to say ‘don’t move’ before he jumped up towards the tv, digging through the few vhs tapes stored in the small cupboard underneath.victorious smile on his face, he quickly popped the tape in and rejoined steve on the couch. rubbing his hands together as the title sequence to ‘dirty dancing’ started playing.

“i’m .. .yeah, i watched that movie religiously when it came out. i’ve got the biggest crush on patrick swayze. you know, you two kinda look alike.”

stevehharringtcns·:

.

steve smiled at eddie’s reaction, calling him wise and slightly shaking his head, as much as he could of course, as he kept his eyes on eddie. “i wouldn’t necessarily say wise, but… i guess i am. i mean, you are dating steve harrington.” he said with a low chuckle, careful enough to not send him through a cough attack yet again, as he looked over at eddie. it definitely was something to get used to, dating eddie munson and saying it out loud. he thought about how the people around them would take it, but he knew that they would take it positively. or at least steve hoped so - but he definitely had better made friends ever since tommy hagan and carol. that was for sure. he looked at eddie, squeezing his hand once again as he enjoyed the few moments of happiness that they seemed to get. he wondered for a few seconds if they would be happier if they left hawkins eventually, but that was another thought.

he closed his eyes when he felt eddie’s lips against his, smiling weakly into the kiss. he only opened them again when eddie pulled away, looking at eddie. the thought of losing eddie seemed to be unthinkable at that very moment, and just thinking about him getting arrested made him want to go down to the police station and tear everything apart. he didn’t know how that had happened, but he told himself not to get worked up at that very moment. he was still recovering, which probably wouldn’t be very healthy to his body. “i won’t let… anyone hurt you, okay? no matter what.” he promised the other. he knew that it wasn’t possible to keep everyone safe at the same time, but he was going to try.

listening to eddie talk about he had gone through that four times now and apparently counting, steve nodded. it was crazy that he had been brought into this mess all the way back in 1983 and now his life had completely changed. he was no longer the same person he had been all those years back and that was a blessing. but part of him did miss the life without the upside down and the monsters. he wondered if he had run off that night at the byers’ house, if he would have met eddie. or if he would have met max, lucas, dustin and everyone else. probably not. so, in a way, it was sort of a blessing in disguise, if he really thought about it. “i’m pretty badass… it’s true. i got plenty of scars to prove it… if you ever want to see them.” he joked, trying to lighten up the mood of that cold hospital. eddie had already done that by walking in the room though, steve thought to himself.

steve was about to protest at being called a dork, smiling into a kiss and letting out a chuckle. once they broke the kiss, steve shook his head. “to make it clear, i am not a dork… i just always really wanted to learn that and i was… to embarrassed to ask nancy.” he said with a smile, letting out a sigh of relief as he looked at eddie. he was sure that he had completely fallen for eddie munson and he wouldn’t change anything about it. 

his smile dropped slightly as eddie started asking about his parents. letting out a sigh, steve just shook his head slightly. “my mom… my mom was here for a couple of moments. i asked if my dad would end come here, but apparently work is more important for him.” steve said, nodding his head. he hated talking about his family and their relationship with them. he was much more of a listener than anything else and he would usually listen to everyone’s problems but not talk about the issues he had back at home. right now the only real connection he had with his family was that they shared a house and nothing else. steve didn’t even want to think about introducing eddie to his parents, because he knew what their reaction would be like. “it’s… fine.” he said with a small shrug.

+++

that startled eddie for a second as he pulled back slightly, looking visibly taken aback. not negatively, though, there was an almost starstruck look in his eyes. “i ... guess i am, huh.” he was dating steve harrington. steve ‘the hair’ harrington was his boyfriend. he was in a relationship with king steve and eddie rather thought that if he could travel back in time and tell that to sixteen year old eddie munson who’d just been shoved into the lockers by tommy hagan and his goons, well, that would’ve made him short-circuit. yeah, sixteen year old eddie would’ve probably erupted into nervous laughter, vehemently insisting that he was hopelessly crushing on, like, chrissy cunningham or someone equally unattainable. 

and twenty-two year old eddie couldn’t blame him, either, seeing as he was still very much short-circuiting at laughing nervously, because steve’s low chuckle might be the most divine sound he’d ever heard and that was his boyfriend right there in front of him and it was all entirely too nice. things this nice didn’t happen to people like eddie munson, and he couldn’t help but wonder when this would all be taken away from him again. 

“you’re such a dork, harrington, i wonder how you managed to walk the halls of hawkins high everyday, at the very top of the food chain, all while harboring this longing inside of you, to unleash the full dork potential you were capable of. forced confimity, it’s a drag, man.”, eddie exclaimed mockingly, nearly cracking up, he nodded to himself. “who knows, maybe if you’d given into that side of you sooner you might’ve even joined hellfire. “ /small>

eddie felt a sharp pang in his chest as steve talked about his family, averted his gaze for a moment. sure, eddie didn’t have much of a family himself, not in the traditional sense, anyway, but he knew that if anything were to happen to him, wayne and max would immediately drop everything and come rushing to his bedside. to hear that steve’d dad hadn’t even shown up - he shook his head softly, cradled steve’s hand, raised it to his lips to press a soft kiss to it. it wasn’t ‘fine’ as steve suggested, not by any means, but eddie didn’t want to press on it further, sensing it was a sensitive topic for steve. “you know, wayne makes, like, a killer casserole. he...heard about what happened” - eddie had basically wept in his arms after he’d been released, telling him all about it - “and he asked - well, he offered to, like, drop some of it off on his way to work later. if you - if you want it.”

thequeenofhawkins·:

𝐖𝐇𝐎: Chrissy Cunningham & @eddiemcnson··

𝐖𝐇𝐀𝐓: Chrissy and Eddie are just friends, oh no! sound off the homophobes :/

𝐖𝐇𝐄𝐑𝐄: Junkyard bus

This was not normal. None of the last month was normal. It hadn’t been easy, accepting that she had died years ago. In fact, she hadn’t fully processed it. It defied everything that she had been taught. Science said it wasn’t possible, even religion said it wasn’t possible (except in very specific cases and Chrissy was sure that she, along with all the other commune people, were not messiah’s of any sort). Yet, she was somehow brought out of the soil and was now breathing heavily, her back pressed against the cold steel of the bus, legs outstretched on the seat after what could only be described as hellish. From rabid undead dogs to Max Mayfield backhanding her, she was, for once, ready to be back at home in her own bed.

She felt so useless the entire time. When people started asking her questions, she tensed up and barely said anything, choosing to lie to protect herself more than anything and when it came time to fight, Chrissy had to stay back with Jack so no one got hurt. Even if she had knocked over one of those dogs, she didn’t feel good about it. It just made her feel queasy, regardless of the circumstance. Once they had gotten out of the junkyard and Dustin’s driving steadied, Chrissy peeled herself from the seat and attempted to make herself useful by finding Lucas Sinclair’s backpack and grabbing his first aid kit. Growing up, Chrissy had always been taught practical skills that were deemed ladylike. First aid happened to just fall under that.

She walked back down the aisle, first aid kit in hand as she sat next to Eddie, making herself known. The last time she had seen him she had all but stomped into his trailer demanding to know what happened to her. Since then, she had gotten pieces, but never a concise story. She remembered being at his trailer last and even Chance said that he thought it had been Eddie who murdered her. It sat in the back of her head that maybe there was truth to that. “You probably want to get something on that soon,” she pointed out, looking down at his ankle where the rabid dog had attacked him. It didn’t look bad, per se, but it seemed like an injury that shouldn’t be left out to breathe either. She popped open the first aid kit and pulled out a tube of ointment, holding it out in his direction. “How’s it feel?” 

+++

his vision was a little blurry, thoughts hazy, but one thing was for certain - whomever had taught dustin henderson how to drive was a threat to society who thrived on chaos. eddie had gripped the backrest, holding on for dear life. eyes screwed shut, lips tighthly pressed together, making way for the occasional curse, as he tried to fight off the oncoming wave of nausea. breathing in through his nose, out through his mouth - or the other way around? 

whatever. at least he was breathing, he thought with a weak scoff, and the sickly, bittersweet sensation returned to the pit of his stomach. eddie placed a hand over his belly button, as if that would help anything. the spotty, dark visual of his eyes squeezed shut proved to be a perfect projection space as his mind forced him to replay the events past - the bickering about who to sacrifice to lure out the doppelganger, how max hadn’t hesitated to throw a punch chrissy’s way, earning the blow herself. how he’d approached the dog, how it had multiplied, how it had something to do with the fucking diner - and how they’d made it out miraculously, by the skin of their teeth. not completely unharmed, but out, at least.

in time, dustin’s driving had steadied and eddie had exhaled shakily, shifting to make himself more comfortable, only to be reminded of how he counted as part of the ‘not completely unharmed’. a sharp hiss, a curse, eddie didn’t managed to fight the urge to reach out, roll up his pant leg and inspect the injury, touch it, even. his face twisted into a grimace, he was almost annoyed at how fast the nausea managed to resurface. not that it looked that bad - just ... not good, either.

and another hit to his stomach as he looked up to find chrissy cunningham with a first-aid kit in hand. immediately, involuntarily, an aimge of her with her bones snapped and eyes rolled back floating on the ceiling of his trailer came into his mind and he had to look away, squeeze his eyes shut to force it to stop. chrissy was back now, she was alive. and eddie couldn’t go and panic at the sight of her face forever. so, reluctantly, he met her eyes, if only a for a few seconds, gave her a weak smile. “uh. well - not ideal but, uh, i’ll live.” he gave a nod. not too convinced with his own words. “uhm, how - how are you feeling?”

eddie looked between her and the ointment, then held up his hands. “i’ve got, like, demon-dog goo and grime on my hands, not really sure i should be rubbing anything into anything.” a little chuckle, he craned his neck to peek at the first aid kit. “you got any, like, bandages in there? gauge, maybe?”

colemontgomeryx·:

xx.

As redness overtook Eddie’s cheeks, Cole took another drag of his cigarette. “Yes, I’m gay. You can say it,” he confirmed, his voice remaining low. Cole was sure Eddie would never out him, partially because that wasn’t Eddie’s character, and partially because of mutually assured destruction.

It was exhausting to have to keep such a large part of him a secret, and Cole was frustrated by it. Maybe that’s why he told Eddie (other than, obviously, trying to hook up with him). When Cole went to college, he was able to be himself more freely; he wasn’t out, per se, but he was much more comfortable discussing his sexuality. He wondered if Eddie had a similar experience in Chicago, and was now, like Cole, struggling to reconcile all the different parts of himself.

Cole grinned, noting the change in Eddie’s demeanor. Cole finished his cigarette and reached behind Eddie to throw it away. He brushed his arm against Eddie’s and took advantage of proximity this move afforded him. Glancing up into Eddie’s eyes, Cole’s own twinkled mischievously. “Well, that’s too easy. What about foreplay?” his voice was barely above a whisper. 

+++

final confirmation, eddie swallowed, blinked nervously as the words fell from cole’s lips. he nodded, a nod that said ‘me too’. as if eithr of them needed to state the face that they were both interested in men again. getting old at this point, eddie finsighed his own cigarette, felt his lips twitch, hands shaking a little.

you got this, munson, you got this. he wasn’t like this, usually, when flirting with guys. antsy and nervous and downright freaking out. he just needed to pull himself together, pretend like this was just any old other encounter in a bar or somewhere back in chicago. 

his lips twisted into a smile as he thought about the fact that the last time he’d been this nervous about flirting with someone, he’d gone and called steve harrington ‘big boy’ as they’d hijacked a goddamn rv. 

suddenly cole was much, much closer than before and eddie gulped, his eyes flicked down to meet cole’s, momentarily lingering on his lips. for maybe just a tad too long. he swiped his tongue across hi bottom lip, feeling it had suddenly gone extremely dry. eddie discarded his own cigarette, burshing up against cole, bringing them even closer. 

“well...”, he breathed, raised a brow. “we’re in the middle of a mall, in the middle of, like, vandalising said mall...what do you have in mind that won’t get our asses kicked?”

backtowheeler·:

𝐖𝐇𝐎: Nancy Wheeler & @eddiemcnson······

𝐖𝐇𝐀𝐓: Post-Benny’s shenanigans

𝐖𝐇𝐄𝐑𝐄: Outside of Benny’s while it burns <333

So, that happened. Nancy Wheeler started a literal fire and now she was watching as Benny’s bursted into flames. She told herself it would be fine, the damage wouldn’t be that bad, and it’d give the owner a reason to update the place but fact of the matter was it still happened. And they still agreed to let it burn down instead of calling for help. She backed away from the building, splitting off from the group as they decided it was time to clear out before anyone showed up. Nancy walked down the paved road, quick on her feet. “Hey, hey,” she jogged over to Eddie, who was only a few paces ahead of her.

“I’m really sorry for dragging you into this,” I didn’t think it was anything serious. Instead, there was goo and eggs and arson. Not the Nancy Drew mystery she had expected to solve. She had seen how spooked Eddie was and rightfully so. He had been to the Upside Down, even experienced the horrors of Hawkins once before, but this was entirely different. They were supposed to be safe. “Let me drive you home?” She asked, reaching into her pocket and grabbing the car keys to her mom’s station wagon, wincing at the pain she felt in her right hand from the burn she had gotten which was surely starting to blister. “As long as you don’t mind a one handed driver.”

+++

eddie was still in the process of catching his breath, hands braced on his thighs, leaning a little forward as he stood there and watched. watched benny’s burn down to the ground. the events of the night re-playing in his head like an episode of ‘unsolves mysteries’. he took another moment, then turned to head out, too.

seriously questioning and doubting his sanity. because what. the . fuck. had just happened. and how had he managed to get himself into another heap of hawkins shenanigans again. as if nearly dying in an alternate dimension while half the town thought you were a cold-blooded murderer wasn’t enough. no, apparently, the upside down had decided to introduce overly large ... eggs into the mix, too. typical. he should’ve figured. figured that this wouldn’t be a normal, happy, carefree summer.

he jumped slightly, startled, still spooked, as nancy called out and caught up with him. eddie shrugged. “not really your fault, wheeler, is it? i mean, whatever the hell this....shit is, was gonna catch up to me eventually.”, he said and managed a weak smile. “though, gotta say, not what i imagined when you asked if i wanted to hang.”

though what had he expected, exactly, from nancy ‘i have guns, plural, in my bedroom’ wheeler ?  eyes glanced down to her hand, concerned frown appearing on his face. eddie quickly snatched the keys from her hand, careful not to brush her injured hand. “uh, no, no way, wheeler.” he was about to suggest that he drove her home instead and then walked back, but remembered how long it had taken to bike back to his trailer in the upside down - and he really wasn’t keen on walking through hawkins alone, at night.

“how about i drive myself home and then let you take over? so you only have to be a one-handed driver for the last leg of the journey. and when you’re not responsible for two lives.”

stevehharringtcns​:

“you could have gotten my attention without almost getting yourself killed… we survived all of that stuff two years ago, don’t take it for granted by throwing yourself in front of a car…” he said, shrugging his shoulders as he looked over at eddie - he was pretty sure he would have never run over eddie, even on accident, he was confident that he was a pretty good driver - he was sure of it, actually. but he couldn’t do much if someone had jumped in front of his car. “so, you haven’t been back for long, i’m assuming? it’s like you forgot how good hawkins really is.” he said, teasingly, letting out a small chuckle as he started driving again, this time actually paying attention to the road and not letting himself get distracted by his thoughts - at least he had eddie to talk to while he drove to the wheelers’ house - he wasn’t sure how people would react to him bringing eddie, but people around seemed to like him.

at the question about him and nancy, steve sighed and shrugged his shoulders slightly. he should have expected for him to ask this, it was all people did when they saw him and he couldn’t blame them, but it was still uncomfortable to talk about it. “huh… there’s not really any trouble.” he lied, he wasn’t even sure how nancy felt after they split, but in his head everything seemed to be alright. “we just broke up… not that long ago. but we’re fine. i think, i really can’t be sure… if we haven’t talked since, you know, we broke up.” he said, as he kept his eyes locked on the road, not daring to look at eddie while he spoke about it.

his lips curled into a smile as he heard eddie talk, letting out a small chuckle as he heard that the other was still wreaking havoc. it didn’t surprise him that he was still doing that. “you know what, it is kind of weird not having you around, so i did kind of miss you, dude. it’s good to have you back, even if it’s just for the summer.” he said with a nod, now looking at eddie for a couple of moments and then back on the road. “well, you know, i’ve just been… working at the video store still. taking a few classes at the community college… not that much fun, as you can see, but that’s hawkins for you.” he said with a shrug.

+++

a wicked glint in his eyes, eddie grinned. “oh, but harrington - ‘to die by your side, is such a heavenly way to die’ “, he half-sung half-spoke the infamous smiths lyrics, watching steve with his brows raised in anticipation, to see if he’d get the reference. “you know? like the song?”

he rolled down the window, jesus it was hot outside, and put one arm behind his headrest, absent-mindedly drumming his fingers in the tune of the before mentioned smiths song. he shut his eyes for a moment, relishing in the feeling of the soft breeze lightly grazing across his heated face, locks of dark brown, curly hair - all frizzy due to the humidity - flying about. eddie nodded, eyes still closed. “yeah, man. just got back yesterday,” and he scrunched up his nose at steve’s comment. “if anything i forgot how much hawkins smells like cow shit.” though there was some truth to steve’s words - eddie had, actually, missed hawkins. not the place itself, but the people still inhabiting that strange little town.

no way. he opened his eyes.“oh shit, man. i’m sorry.”, eddie said,his delivery a little awkward because...well, he sure as shit hadn’t seen that coming. after all that stuff with vecna, wheeler and harrington both risking their lives for one another without a second thought, well, eddie had thought they were bound to stay together, forever, or something along those lines. he shited in his seat, looked over at steve with a frown. “i didn’t know..” of course he hadn’t, eddie silently cursed himself. awkward social situations, not his forte. “do you wanna, like, uh...talk, or something- ?”, he trailed off, grimaced. “i mean, we don’t have to, i usualyl don’t - i’m not realyl good with - “, more wild gesturing before ddie dropped his hands in his lap with shrug. “yeah. whatever. i just mean that i got an ear to lend, steve. just so you know.”

a wide grin spread on his lips, a twinkle in his eyes, eddie dramatically clutched at his heart. “oh, harrington, you big old softie! how those words warm this cold, cynical heart with affection! i missed ya too.” with a laugh he stretched his arms over the seat again, both hands now behind his headrest. he caught steve’s eye, his thoughts momentarily trailed off because holy hell, why did harrington always have to look this pretty?

“you still working with buckley, i assume?” another person he definitely needed to pay a visit to sooner than later. “oh, community college, huh? you know, academic scholars are like, super hot.”, he said with a teasing grin. “what classes?”

stevehharringtcns·:

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at that very moment, steve wanted to get up from the bed and wrap his arms around eddie, tell him that everything would be okay. he just wanted to do that, but he couldn’t. his cuts and bruises were still pretty recent that every movement that he made, made his body ache. he hated seeing eddie like this. steve looked at him as he opened his hand slowly for the other to take. if he couldn’t hug him, he could at least hold his hand. it was the least he could do, he thought to himself. “eddie…” he said, pursing his lips as he tried to hold back his own tears as he saw eddie like this. he didn’t like it, he didn’t like it for a second, but he thought it would be better if the other just shared how he was feeling rather than repressing it.

when he felt eddie’s hand on his cheek, steve closed his eyes for a few moments and let out a sigh of relief. eddie was okay. when he had heard that the other had been arrested for no apparent reason, steve almost thought about getting up from the hospital bed and marching on to the police station, but just the thought of it made his body ache. he was still weak from everything, but he wanted to act tough for eddie. “no… i’m glad… you weren’t there.” he said weakly, giving the other a nod of his head. he would have hated if anything had happened to eddie like it had happened to him, he hated just thinking about it. “when i woke up… and you weren’t here… i thought…” he said, choking up on his own words. he couldn’t finish the sentence, he just couldn’t think about something like that. he didn’t want to. “i’m just glad you’re okay.” he said with a small nod, his hand reaching out to eddie’s.

“this? they’re just some cuts… and bruises. i’ll be fine.” he said weakly, letting out another small chuckle as he started coughing, his body flinching with the pain he felt in his ribs. that was going to be hard to get used to, but he closed his eyes for a couple of moments, gathering his strength as he looked back at eddie. “i need… to ask you something, okay?” he asked, looking over at eddie.

+++

“shh, shh, don’t speak. don’t.”, eddie gulped and quickly shuffled closer, elbows resting on the edge of the bed. cupping steve’s face with one hand he slid the other into his palm, gave it a gentle squeeze, thumb softly tracing along his knuckles. careful not to move any of the iv’s attached to the back of his hand, he gently lifted it to press his lips to his hand, trembling lips lingering there for a moment or two. it’s real, it’s real, it’s real. this is real. eddie squeezed his eyes shut for a moment, brows knitted together. this is real, steve is fine, he’s fine, it’s real. fate had played one trick too many on them these past few years, eddie wouldn’t let himself have that breath of relief until he was absolutely certain that this wasn’t all just taking place in his head. being back in hawkins he was never sure of that.

eddie sniffled,blinked a few tears away. “you’re cold.”, he simply stated as he lowered steve’s hand again, smoothing over where his lips had met his skin with his thumb. “your hand, you feel - it feels cold. do you need a blanket or something? want me to call the nurses? or i can  - i can look for one myself, if you want. i’ll do it. just say the word.” he was full aware that he was rambling. but when steve eyes had fluttered shut at his touch, eddie’s blood had run cold, his stomach had tightened at the sight and if it took him rambling or, hell, even singing for steve to open his eyes again then eddie would gladly oblige. the feeling passed somewhat, not entirely, when he  met steve’s gaze again. no more closed eyes, no more cold hands. from now on only warmth and aliveness. eddie hadn’t even realized that his fingers had positioned themselves around steve’s wrist so that eddie’s pointer rested over his pulse point. 

the sound of steve’s voice had eddie biting down on his bottom lip to stifle a choked off sob. he’d never seen him this weak, this frail. close to crying, too, eddie gulped in an attempt to swallow the enormous lump in his throat. he shook his head, shushed him again. “it’s - i’m fine. nothing happeend, i’m fne. i’m fine, yeah? we’re - “ the small smile eddie had mustered up and given steve now suddenly fell as he broke, erupting into loud, soul shattering sobs. the kind of crying that left one breathless, gasping for air. that had people tell you to ‘calm down’, asking what’s wrong but that left you unable to respond, for every sound was replaced by a wail. the kind of crying usually reserved for a child seeking its mother’s attention. eddie lowered his head so that his hair would hide his face, watched through his clouded gaze as tears fell onto the material of steve’s bedsheets, leaving marks there. “i thought you’d - i - that you weren’t - you - “ he struggled through the words, they made no sense in his head, either. nothing made sense, except for the way the soft skin of steve’s palm felt underneath his calloused fingertips. “i thought you were dead. when max said -” eddie shook his head, didn’t want to continue the sentence. he sniffled again, struggled through shaky breaths until his voice was a little calmer than before. lower, too. weaker, mirroring the sound of steve’s. “i can’t do this without you, man. i can’t - here - i can’t be here when you’re not here. this, the - the whole upside down vecna shit, i can’t - “, he looked back up at steve, through tear stained lashed. “i don’t want to be here - i can’t. i can’t be here without you. heree, everywhere, not - not without you.”

if he’d expected anything from his summer back in hawkins, well, crying at steve harrington’s bedside and telling him how he couldn’t live without him, that certainly hadn’t been on eddie’s bingo. and his sudden confession certainly took a weight off his chest, yet it invoked a sense of horror and anxiety in him previously unknown. he’d let his guard down. he was vulnerable in a way he’d never been before. a way he’d promised himself to never be, not in hawkins. not anywhere, really. weakly and cautiously, he gave steve a nod. “sure. anything, man.”