Willthewize·:

zccming·:

.

if there were any men that max hated nearly as much as billy and his dad, they were named callahan and powell of hawkins p.d. her interrogation with them in the spring of ‘86 never strayed far from her mind. max recalled how they chose her first, probably thinking she was the weakest link. they must have thought it would be so easy to plop her into a chair and that she would tuck herself away into a corner at the first sign of intimidation, that she was merely some stupid, meek, little girl for them to scare and trick into fessing up. well, they were wrong, and frankly, not very intimidating either. from the moment she exited that room, max vowed to herself that if she made it out of this vecna bullshit alive, she’d make them pay. 

she made good on that promise for the years following that, wreaking minor nuisances and unleashing dishonorable displays at any chance she could. and she didn’t do it just for herself, she did it for eddie. while she might have initially bought into the idea that he could’ve been some psycho killer, her opinion of him changed swiftly and drastically. eddie didn’t do it and he didn’t deserve the complications from having it pinned on him either. this rivalry of sorts came to ahead earlier in the summer when callahan pulled one over on her by arresting her at the blue quarry mall. it hadn’t been fun while it was presently happening, but now that hawkins p.d was doing this shit to eddie again, giving them that grief felt worth it. 

max sat across from eddie, shoving the bowl of cereal into his hand and clutching her own close to her chest with no intention of eating. instead, she silently watched him, brows furrowed as she looked him over for any signs that she might actually set hawkins p.d ablaze when the dust settled. at the same time he spoke, max did too, “i’m gonna fucking get them.” she said, voice feeling raw and unfamiliar in the back of her throat. max got mad all the time, she’d learned to deal with it, but rarely did her rage scare her or feel out of control like this. she wondered that as she felt the aftershocks of what had happened at the carnival, she skipped ahead to the anger stage of grief, that this was misplaced. maybe she was upset, sure, that was always a possibility. or maybe, it was the best she knew how to show eddie she cared, how sorry she was that this had happened. she didn’t know and didn’t plan on figuring it out. 

poking at her cereal with her spoon, max mulled over eddie’s question she had spoken in time with. finally, she answered, “i’m alright, steve made me get stitches.” she said his name warmly, flashing it like a lighthouse, a beacon to eddie to indicate that not only was he alright, but so was steve. that was important to her to convey. “i busted it on some mirrors…” max added, then shrugged as if to say no big deal. it was a big deal, but everything was right now. quietly and flatly, max reminded eddie, “you didn’t answer my question….” a pause, “how fucked are you?” to max, it was her way of wanting to know how he was holding up and what was happening on his end. 

+++

eddie stared thoughtlessly into his bowl, tired eyes searching for something, he didn’t know what. something to say, maybe. something to think about other than shock, horror, disaster. life and death. the upside down. vecna. he weakly pushed the bowl a bit further away from him, like a defiant, sulky child. eating was the last thing on his mind. then again, eddie couldn’t even pin point one singular string of thought - it was a mess up there. more so than usual. it felt like the world was spinning. there wasn’t a fibre in his being that wasn’t aching or nauseaous.

he didn’t quite register max’s words, they accompanied the faint beating of his heart and loud rushing and ringing in his ears,  but there was ‘alright’ and ‘steve and that’ snapped him out of his momentary trance, drew a shaky, relieved exhale from his lips. “you’re good? you’re okay. you’re - you’re alright.” eddie whispered, more to himself, nodded. 

a couple of beats passed, the room silent except for their labored breathing and the sound his knee made as it the coffee table every now and then. he wanted to cry, he desperately needed to, to sob his heart out and draw max into a bone crushing hug. staying in the embrace until one of them would start whispering empty, reasuring promises of how ‘everything was going to be okay’. but eddie was exhausted, and ... god, he felt so... resigned to his fate. he barely managed to muster up the strength to meet her eye.

“i can’t do this.” was what eventually broke the silence. voice barely above a whisper, a fatalistic tone to it. “i can’t ... i can’t have everybody thinking i’m a monster again. hunting me down, i - no. “ he gave a weak shake of his head, drew in a ragged breath. “i’m not - i can’t run anymore. i can’t- i can’t do it. not again.”

zccming·:

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

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

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

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

+++

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

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

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

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

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

stevehharringtcns·:

.

steve couldn’t quite wrap his head around on whether eddie was flirting with him or not. he couldn’t be, right? after all, eddie had never mentioned anything about being… you know. or given him any sighs, so he didn’t want to risk it. what if he ended up insulting him in some sort? either way, steve shook his head as in a way to shake those thoughts away, letting out a small chuckle. “you know, you’re not actually the first person to tell me that! apparently the girls love looking at my face, but that’s it, they actually give up after the first date… i wonder why that is.” he said, as he thought to himself and thought back on the failure that was his love life. and even know, it didn’t seem like it was going to get better.

rolling his eyes slightly as eddie brought up the conversation about dungeons and dragons, steve sighed as he stared at the other. “you know what, you’re starting to sound exactly like henderson. maybe i should call him so you can… annoy him about that game instead of me. full offense.” he said with a small smirk forming on his lips, before shaking his head and leaning forward on the counter as he looked over at eddie. at the invitation to join the game, steve immediately shook his head. “first of all, i do have fun, i just don’t have fun playing games that make no sense and that take up most of the time. and second, no, i’m not going to join your little club. but you guys have fun, i’m sure it’ll be fun.” he said with a small chuckle, before running a hand through his hair - it wasn’t going to get any messier than that either way.

okay, now eddie was definitely acting weird. steve could have sworn that he was blushing, but then again, he was too. he wondered if eddie had noticed that and what he thought about it. maybe he hadn’t thought that much about it as steve was, but seeing him blush meant that he still had the old harrington touch in him, capable of making anyone swoon over him. he liked that, in a way. “tattoos? nah, i don’t think i’m the type of guy who can get tattoos and rock them. you definitely are though, really.” he said with a smirk, nodding his head slowly. this didn’t count like flirting right? at the comment about girls liking it, he shrugged his shoulders slightly. “i mean, i wouldn’t know, i don’t think girls… pay that much attention to me anymore. it’s really not the same as before.” he said, deciding to let that stay there, not sure if he should continue talking or not.

letting out a laugh at eddie’s comments, steve just shook his head. he really liked the other’s company, so much that he grabbed the keys from the video store from his back pocket and looked around for keith before calling out for him, tossing him the keys. “you’re closing today, an emergency came up.” he said, before turning around the counter and grabbing eddie by the shoulders and leading him out of the store. just touching him felt like electricity, but he wouldn’t say anything. “see, you should feel even more special now, i got off work sooner because of you.” he said as he almost started running still grabbing eddie by the shoulders as they got out of the store. he probably would get in trouble the next day with keith, but he didn’t care about that right now. “c’mon, get in the car, munson.” he said with a smile as he unlocked the car and got in quickly.

+++

see, eddie didn’t know whether to be incredibly frustrated that steve kept pushing his advances into a platonic light or if he should be grateful that he was talking to him in the first place. maybe it was for the best. not that steve would be the kind of person to bash his brains in if he found out about his ‘preferences’, but that didn’t mean that steve wouldn’t be weirded out or feel alienated by him. and with the whole summer left to spend in hawkins eddie couldn’t afford to lose another friend.

however much steve kept discarding his advances as platonic, he didn’t seem particularly uncomforable by them either. which gave eddie a sudden boost of confidence. “don’t let it get to you, player.”, he said and reached out to give steve a comforting pat on the back. “girls are stupid. they don’t know what they’re missing here.”

steve leaned forward and eddie blinked nervously. “ hold up - this was definitely not an invitation, harrington. you’d bring down the whole vibe and - well, quite frankly- “, it was his turn to lean a little closer now, he looked steve up and down skeptically “ you’d suck at dnd. full offense.”

without realising, eddie had mirrored steve’s movements, running his hand through his own hair, fingers getting tangled in the frizzy mess of curls. and he foolishly allowed his mind to wander, imagined what it would be like to run his hands through steve’s hair, always shiny and soft and big. god fucking dammit. their dynamic was off, he suddenly realised. in the past it had always been eddie who showered steve in compliments, watching his face light up as he accepted them graciously. now it was the other way roun, all twisted and upside down. and quite frankly, eddie was way out of his comfort zone here, reduced to a blushing squirming mess. he just wasn’t used to being on the receiving end of a compliment.

“well, i’d hope so. almost got a full sleeve going on, would be a shame if i only now figured out i wasn’t the type to rock tattoos.”, he said and, with something that resembled a bow, added: “compliment accepted, harrington.”

steve’s next comment made his eyebrows raise, he straightened up, his interest piqued. feeling bolder now, which was perhaps foolish for him but hey, if it turned sour he could always say it had been a joke all along. “well, as i said, girls are stupid if they don’t see you for what you are, stevie - a fine, fine piece of local man.”, eddie said with a chuckle, he bit his lip. “and well, i wouldn’t know either, ya know. girls have never payed me much attention but i guess that’s...reasonable.” he was toeing a very fine line here, eddie knew. looked up at steve with that deer caught in the headlights look.

and next thing he knew there was that laugh again - fuck, he could listen to that sounds for ages - and suddenly his shoulders felt all hot because steve was touching them, ushering him out of the store. it was over as soon as it had begun but eddie had leaned into the touch and when steve’s hands were gone there was still static and a fait buzzing where they’d been. eddie grinned, climbed into the passenger seat eagerly. “oh, you sure know how to make a gal feel special, stevie.”, he laughed, fingers drumming nervously on the dashboard, waiting for him to start the car and drive away. “if this is only the beginning then shit, i can’t fucking wait to see where this date’s going.”

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.”

dvstybuns·:

WHO: Dustin Henderson & @eddiemcnson·

WHAT: Just a lil check-in after they both got ouchies <3

WHERE: Eddie’s trailer 

The most horrible thing about the Upside Down was that no matter how hard Dustin tried, he could never know everything about it. Just when it seemed like they’d figured shit out and defeated evil for good, some brand new horror would escape and they’d start this horrifying cycle all over again. Honestly, after Vecna, Dustin had thought that they might be done for good this time; it had been quiet for two years, after all. But that was clearly not the case. 

Once the adrenaline had begun to wane after the night of their encounter with the creature, Dustin wanted to check on everyone. Especially Eddie, considering that he’d really only faced off against the Upside Down once, and they had barely lived to tell the tale. He’d gotten to get out of Hawkins, away from all this shit. He probably wasn’t thrilled that it was all starting back up again now that he was back. 

“This is so fucked, dude,” Dustin announced once he’d sat down on Eddie’s couch. His feet went up onto the coffee table reflexively; when had Dustin ever cared about manners? “I mean, seriously. You’re never going to guess what happened to me, Max, Will, Mike, Joyce and Murray at the border. Some seriously fucked up shit.” He ran a hand through his messy hair and sighed. “Can I have a beer?” It was worth an ask, and after the last few days, Dustin felt like he deserved it. 

“How have you been, by the way? I’m sorry I haven’t come by sooner or anything. Just been busy with work and now being chased by a creature from another dimension. The fucking usual.” 

+++

albeit horribly and riddled with nightmares, eddie had slept after the disaster at benny’s. in fact, he’d passed out the minute he’d gotten back to the trailer, probably due to the adrenaline wearing off and the many injuries he’d sustained that night. which were still aching, a dull sort of pain, when he woke up.

he glanced at his radio alarm clock - it was noon, he realized, shit, he’d slept through most of the day. and now he’d woken up to the sound of pounding ont the front door. with a groan, eddie forced himself to get up, pulled a shirt over his head, pulling on a pair of shorts on his way to the door. 

“dude, what the hell?”, he’d said, all bed-head, rubbing sleep out of his eyes and blinking, in confusion, when he ‘d realized that it was dustin who’d knocked, not wayne who had forgotten his key or something. exchanging lazy yet excited greetings, he’d stepped away from the door, closing it behind dustin with a yawn.

fixing himself a cup of coffee, eddie concentrated hard on taking in dustin’s rambling. the kid’s chatter was a welcome noise, though. he’d missed him, of course he had. “what the hell are you on about?”, he mumbled, making his way to the couch to sit beside dustin.

“yo! get your damn feet of the coffee table, you heathen.”, he said with a scoff and a shake of his head. the shake of his head also indicating that dustin getting a beer wasn’t going to happen anytime soon. eddie dragged a hand down his face. “hold up  - wait - can you just, like, walk me through what happened and where? slowly, henderson ? “

dvstybuns·:

Dustin was just glad to see that Eddie was safe, for now. He’d been pulled into this shit so unfairly two years ago, and it was bullshit that he was back to being a suspect for yet another thing he hadn’t done. If anyone deserved to catch a fucking break, it was Eddie Munson. All of them did, honestly, but Eddie somehow always seemed to get blamed for everything. It wasn’t fair that it kept happening, just because Eddie was different than the usual suburban, cookie cutter stereotype most of Hawkins fit into. Dustin wished that they’d been able to do something to keep him from getting arrested, but what were their options? Without Hopper in charge of the police force, it seemed like they were pretty fucking powerless here. “I’m fine,” Dustin assured Eddie, knowing that he’d scared him. Fuck, Dustin had been scared. But Suzie was there, ready and willing to disarm the bomb, so he’d been beside her to support her the entire time. “I couldn’t just let her go through that alone, though. What would you have done if it had been Steve?” Dustin pointed out, raising an eyebrow at Eddie. Thank god it hadn’t been, though. Dustin couldn’t imagine what would have happened if either Steve or Eddie had had to deal with one more terrifying thing that night. 

Dustin followed Eddie easily, sitting down and turning to face him. He let out a deep breath as Eddie explained the situation, frowning at how unfair it all was. “This is such bullshit,” Dustin scoffed, hands balling into fists. “You weren’t holding the fucking lighter, you weren’t even that close to the fireworks! If anything, Billy should take the fall.” That might not be entirely fair, but neither was Eddie being blamed for it. He’d had nothing to do with any of this, and Dustin was sick of seeing Hawkins make him into a villain. “I am worried about you, though.” He frowned, hating feeling so helpless. This entire mess was such a shit show, and it pissed Dustin off. He just wished there was something he could do about it. 

+++

eddie scoffed, a small smile playing at his lips, he nodded, raised his hand to give dustin a loving pat on the back. “yeah, yeah, i know you had to go after her. you’re made of real hero material, henderson.”, he mused, nodded again. the smile didn’t waver, but there was a sad glint over his eyes. it seemedto him that, as similar as the two of him were, dustin never seemed to run from danger, but rather towards its open arms. and eddie? well, it was as if it didn’t matter whether he ran or not, he was doomed either way. “but you gotta start taking better care of yourself, man. or you’re bound to give me a heart attack sometime soon.”

a stern, scolding look on his face, soon broken by what could almost be called a ‘laugh’. then promptly replaced by a frown again, oh, today really was a rollercoaster of emotions, huh? “well, now, can’t say i’m particularly fond of the guy but from what i’ve seen he wasn’t responsible either. or, well, not, like, fully responsible. he might’ve done something, i don’t know.”, eddie shrugged, sunk further into the couch cushions behind him, wondering if, provided he lean back far enough, they would swallow him entirely, pull him in. a deep almost frustrated sigh was drawn from his lips. “but that wouldn’t be exactly fair on him, either. i don’t know. that police department is a fucking joke.” 

stating the obvious here, eddie began playing with the rings on his fingers, nervously fidgeting to calm himself down. moving them from one finger to another. hearing that dustin was worried about him made him quirk a brow, a fond smile tugging at his lips, he looked up to meed his eye. “yeah, kid, me too.” me too in the sense that eddie was worried about dustin, too - but he was similarly worried about himself. it was a mess. “you know, i can’t do this without you, henderson.” a more serious tone to his voice now. ‘this’ in the sense of ‘whatever the hell is going on in this godforsaken town again’ - but also in the sense of ‘everything, ever’. ‘life in general’. “how’s suzie doing? she okay?”

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.”

where: the hospital

what: a sleep-deprived, traumatized eddie visits an unconcious steve

who: @stevehharringtcns​ + eddie

despite max’s insistence to wait until the morning, get some shut eye and straighten himself out, eddie found himself wandering the hall so hawkins’ hospital. the circles under his eyes darker then his messy, tangled and frizzy hair, a worry wrinkle on his forehead that hadn’t gone away since he’d seen jack foreman knocking steve out. it was tempting to say that he couldn’t remember the last time he’d felt this awful, but that would be an outright lie. oh, eddie remembered. only then, the roles were reversed - with him waking up in a hospital bed, though chained to it, and steve probably wandering the halls, pacing up and down the corridors. 

he blinked rapidly, his eyes felt weirdly dry and strained from the harsh led lights above him him. max had told him what room steve was in, and so far eddie had managed to successfully sneak by various nurses and guards unnoticed. finding the room was another question, eddie could barely make out the numbers on the doors clearly, and in his sleep-deprived states, all corridors looked the same to him. like an endless maze.

another left turn, then a right, eddie was right back where he started and every step was nauseating, he felt heavy, every inhale getting more and more difficult. so when he finally reached steve’s room he didn’t even bother looking left and right to see if he was beinf watched, eddie bursted through the door,  letting it fall shut with a semi-loud ‘bang’. 

lips trembling as his eyes settled on steve. laying in his bed, his hospital bed, with all sorts of monitors hooked up, beeping deafeningly loud. eddie exhaled shakily, drew his brows together tightly, he swallowed as he approached the other’s bedside. fingers absent-mindedly ghosting over the bruises - burns, more like - that officer callahan’s handcuffs had left on his wrist. “.....steve?” voice meek, eddie nearly choked on a sob. there was time to cry about all of this later, he scolded himself. first he had to make sure that steve was ok. “can you hear me?”

stevehharringtcns·:

steve couldn’t say that he had ventured out in flirting with men before, at least, if he had done it, he couldn’t tell that he was doing. it was part of his personality to be naturally charming - he thought to himself. and it wasn’t like eddie was bad looking, there was definitely something about him. he wasn’t sure if it was the hair or the tattoos, but steve definitely liked what he saw whenever he looked at eddie. a smile showed up on his face and he let out a small chuckle. “so, you’re here to see me, is that it munson? you could have just told me that, i know i’m great company.”

once he was done rearranging the cases on the shelves, he started making his way towards the counter and passed on the other side, knwoing that eddie would follow him. his company was definitely better than keith’s, he thought. he could stay with eddie all day and he was sure that the day would pass on faster than it normally did. opening his mouth as he was offended, he let out a small chuckle. “i am definitely not a nerd, but yes, you are… didn’t you play that dragons and dungeons game or whatever it was called? i’m not even sure if i know what that game is about.” he said with a chuckle, shaking his head slowly as he leaned forward against the counter and stared at eddie, a smile on his face. he really was attractive… steve hadn’t seen that before. i mean, he definitely had noticed it, but it wasn’t like this before.

“oh, uh…” he thought a little about the type of movies he liked. “i really don’t have a type. i just kind of like… everything.” he said, clearing his throat as he did. “but horror’s pretty cool, i think. but i think our life has been enough horror as it is.” he said with a small chuckle, feeling himself turn red at eddie’s compliments, mentioning his hair and face. “thanks, man… and it’s a secret, i can’t just reveal that to anyone.” he said with a chuckle. “you’re not so bad yourself… you definitely could be a great contender to be the best hair in town if i weren’t here.” he said with a smirk on his face. “and the tattoos are sick, man.” he said with a nod.

he stared at the other, feeling himself still blushing before he just shrugged his shoulders and looked over at his watch. “do you have plans for after this? my shift ends in about twenty minutes, we could do… something.” he suggested with a small nod.

+++

“and that’s exactly why i didn’t tell you. your hair’s big enough, your ego doesn’t need to be the same size.”, eddie said with an overexaggerated sigh, grin still playing on his lips. all said in good fun because, well, in all honesty eddie wouldn’t mind being ‘round steve all day, paying him compliment after compliment. just to watch his cheeks take on that lovely pink colour.

he followed steve through the store like a lost puppy, stumbling over his own feet every so often. he feigned a look of outrage, one hand clutching at his chest, he let himself fall dramatically back against the counter. “oh, you wound me, harrington! pretending as if you do not even know what the sacred game is called - pain! “, he wailed dramatically, then got back upright, chuckled. “it’s dungeons and dragons, pretty boy. and well, why don’t you go and think real, real hard for a moment what a game called ‘dungeons and dragons’ could be about, hm?”

eddie watched in delight, a dazed glint over his eyes, as steve blushed at his compliments. which was very dangerous because now there was no stopping him, the compliments would fall freely from his lips. but when steve actually returned the compliment, in a way, and smirked - eddie gulped, audibly, smiled nervously. his heartbeat had increased rapidly. “oh, this frizzy mess? looks way tighter in chicago, trust me. hawkins is too fucking humid.”, he waved it off - eddie had never been particularly good at receiving compliments, though when steve gave them to him he did feel all sorts of buzzy inside. “and yeah, some sweet old tatties, hm? actually got a couple more. see?” and, feeling particularly bold, he pulled down the collar of his shirt to expose his inked skin.

and then steve asked him what he was doing after his shift, actually suggested that they do something together and his stomach flipped, in a good way, pulse speeding up. fuck yes, he didn’t have to be the one to ask. eddie blushed, nodded eagerly. “hell yeah, man.”, then, considering he might’ve come on to strong, he shrugged. “i mean, yeah, whatever, let’s do it.” god, he wished he could’ve been a touch less of an idiot when talking to steve. he leaned against the counter, tilted his head to the side. “thought i’d never see the day where steve ‘the hair’ harrington, king steve, asks me out.”, he said teasingly with a smirk. “it’s a date, then. how about....well, we could do the classic approach, dinner and a moive. or, if you’re that sort of girl, the drive-in straight away. bit....”, he wiggled his brows suggestively, “...racy for a first date but you do have a reputation ‘round town,”

Still super jealous as hell, by the way.