Stevehharringtcns·:

“Living after midnight, rockin’ to the dawn. Lovin’ ‘til the morning, then I’m gone. I’m gone.”

zccming·:

.

it was weird enough that eddie had stopped by during her shift, but his entire demeanor was enough to send a jolt up her spine. shut up. max looked physically taken aback, “what gives?” she asked in return, but eddie would up answering her with a string of paranoid questions. wondering how he might know, max shifted in her seat behind the counter. his sense of urgency was suddenly adding up and it seemed worth her while to pay attention. 

to max, eddie was so blatantly wondering about here whereabouts because he went through something, at the same time. she scooted a little closer to the counter, “i was with the boys, well not lucas, but the rest of them. will’s mom…” max started, a distant look glossing over her eyes. apparently, it wasn’t going to get any easier each time she disclosed this information, “we went to the edge of town,” she mustered up the courage to glance back up at eddie, “something tried to get us, but we made it out.” the way she put it wasn’t exactly comforting, but she thought finishing it off with a little sarcasm might make it better. max tilted her chin up to reveal a bandaid, “so stoked to have another scar!” she flashed a sickeningly enthusiastic smile, then her expression dropped along with her chin.

maybe the fabrication of an unaffected demeanor would rub off on eddie. her hopes weren’t high, but she had to try something to chill him out before he lost all his marbles. “nothing weird since,” she hummed, “except you, right now.” figuring that this conversation might be best continued privately, max exited the booth the counter sat inside, grabbed eddie, pulled him back inside after her, then sat him down in her chair while she pulled the blinds down in the windows. this warranted an early lunch break. after a couple of quiet moments spent gnawing on her cheek and staring at eddie, max asked, “so? what happened to you two days ago? that’s why you’re so freaked, right?” max had been at the border, heard about the cemetery from lucas, and now this. truly, how much worse could it get?

+++

he listened intently, brows drawn together in concentration. and he felt his stomach drop as max affirmed his  suspicions - something had happened. something weird. to her, too. whatever the fuck had been going on in hawkins since, well, seemingly since the dawn of time, it was back. it was happening again and eddie was, quite frankly, absolutely terrified.

“something.”, he echoed, brows pulled into a nervous frown. “’something’ tried to get you. not someone. something.” and his voice pitched up slightly, the way it did right before it got all loud and panicky, so albeit unexpectedly, startling him, max pulling him back into the booth was a welcome gesture. giving him the opportunity to take a couple calming breaths in the process.

if he hadn’t been on the brink of the second or third nervous breakdown in two days, eddie would’ve snorted with laughter at the way max drew the blinds and sat him down - like a scene right out of a film noir, where the detectives finally sit their subject down and interrogate them. he cleared his throat. 

“i was....hanging with nancy.”, he said, and that statement alone was odd enough for his tastes. it was about to get even weirder. “we, uh, that’s hopper and his kid, nancy and i. well, we went..we were investigating and we sorta, uh.” he looked up at her, sheepish smile on his face. “long story short we burnt down benny’s.”

a moment of silence, eddie’s eyes darted around as he tried to gather his thoughts, remember what was important. “long story a little longer - there were eggs. in the diner. big, big, freaky alien eggs that have hatched, max.” and his voice went shaky and breathy and intense at the last two words. “there was this, this goo on the ground and we thought it was blood but! but it wasn’t. and then - the eggs and. yeah. burnt it down. went home. as if nothing happened.”

he cleared his throat, purses his lips as he exhaled, deeply. “it’s happening again, isn’t it.” it’s not really much of a question. “i can’t fucking believe this.”

backtowheeler·:

— ✎ —

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

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

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

+++

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

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

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

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

eddie munson + being a lil spider monkey

4.06 || 4.09

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.”

walkie talks || steddie

steve: okay, let's try this shit again...

steve: eddie, are you there?

steve: uh...over?

eddie: wh - hello?

eddie: uh ...

eddie: who is this.

stevehharringtcns·:

.

steve couldn’t believe his eyes when he spotted that the person in front of his car (and that he had almost ran over with his car) was no other than eddie. he was pretty convinced that he had walked in front of his car on purpose, but then again, he couldn’t really be surprised by that - it was eddie after all. he couldn’t help but to chuckle at the other’s reaction to seeing him. only eddie would react like that, but at least someone was glad to see him. he couldn’t imagine nancy’s reaction when she spotted him, but he didn’t want to think about that right now. “what the hell are you doing, munson? you can’t just jump in front of my car like that, i could have killed you!” he continued his protests, but this time he had a smile on his face, shaking his head slowly as he laughed.

before he knew it, eddie was making his way inside of his car and before he could say anything about it, he was being pulled into a hug by the other, which made him chuckle awkwardly as he patted his back. “alright, alright, munson, don’t get too emotional just by my presence. it’s not like i went anywhere, you’re the one that has been missing from hawkins.” he said, shaking his head slightly as he kept patting the other’s back until he finally was pulled way from the hug.

staring at eddie as he invited himself over to the barbecue, steve thought to himself: it would be better if he showed with someone else, right? it would be less awkward than just showing up on his own and having to deal with the wheeler family all by himself. right? “i don’t think she’ll mind… but it’s not like i can ask her either way, so… the wheeler barbecue it is then.” he said as he started driving again, not thinking twice as he started making his way towards the wheeler house. “what have you been up to, munson? don’t tell me you came back to hawkins, after all this time?” he asked, a smirk showing up in his features as he drove.

+++

he shrugged. “had to get your attention somehow, didn’t i?” wide beaming smile fixed on his lips, eddie settled into the seat with a sigh, lifting his hips to pull the bandana from his back pocket. perhaps the hug had been a bit much, he thought to himself as he patted away a sheen of sweat on his forehead. he gave steve a sheepish smile. “sorry, man, didn’t mean to get all...”, he gestured between them with his hands, then dropped them in his lap. “it’s just you’re, like, the first friendly face i’ve come across here, ‘cept for my uncle, of course. and that means a lot, at least in hawkins, you know.”<7small>

although steve and eddie were... well, friends - bound together by that fucking whacky shit they’d gone through two years ago - eddie’s brow still twitched in anticipation as he awaited steve’s reply. he was still afraid of rejection, even after two years of keeping in contact. platonic rejection, though - yeah, no, eddie was pretty damn sure steve was as straight as they come. he’d put the moves on him during their time fighting vecna, really, come to think of it he’d never flirted as shamelessly with anyone else. dropping hints left, right and center, to no avail. until he’d moved to chicago and, well, had been forced to give up pursuing steve, for his own good.

but whatever. eddie noticed the sudden shift in tone as steve talked about nancy and cocked an eyebrow, buckling th seatbelt as he spoke. “huh? trouble in paradise, harrington? are you and wheeler, like, doing okay, or...?” a sort of open ended question, leaving it to steve to fill him in on the details he wanted to share.

he stretched his arms above his head, slipped his bandana back into his pocket. “oh, i’ve been up to all sorts of things. y’know. wreakig general havoc here and there, same old, in true munson fashion.”, he said and gave him a grin. “god, no, i’m only back for the summer, stevie. why? did you miss me?”

“you been up to anything fun, harrington?”

cassieconrads·:

Cassie looked up from concentrating on her map to take stock of the guy in front of her, who claimed to be Hawkins’ biggest outcast with a disclaimer. She couldn’t imagine why, if Hawkins itself was already an anomaly, that the town decided to pick on one particular resident. Thankfully, Cassie’s temporary residence lent itself to not giving a shit about who she hung out with this summer; she’d be leaving Indiana soon enough. She folded up the map, sticking it in the back pocket of her jeans as she stood to join the stranger on their walk in the direction of the library.

“I don’t mind,” she assured him, “I’m just here for the summer, crashing at the Wheeler residence.” It was getting old, having to introduce herself as the new girl, but she supposed that it was better than a ‘freak’, as her companion had so described himself. “May I ask how you acquired that title, or is that too intrusive for a singular block into our walk?”

+++

he pressed his lips together into an awkward smile, shoved his hands into the pockets of his denim vest, nodding for her to come along as they set off towards the library. he felt himself visibly relax once she mentioned the wheeler’s - if she was staying nancy and mike then he was definitely safe with her, or rather from her, even if a stray angry hick decided to expose just why he was deemed the town freak. 

“the wheeler’s.”, he said and hummed, nodded in acknowledgement. “they got a pretty nice pad. are you one of nancy’s college friends? or...” eddie looked at her, eyes narrowed. “ .. or in some dubious connection to mike?”

at her question eddie gave a shrug, steered them to the right to turn onto the main street. “well, for starters i don’t really look like your average small town prom king.”, he said, blew a lock off her from out of his eyes. “and i was, uh, head of the dnd club at school. mike was in it, too, actually. then the ‘satanic panic’ spread over ‘murica.” eddie wiggled his fingers, raised his brows before he dropped the theatrics, chuckled.

“i don’t know, people are werid, started saying we’re not actually playing dnd but worshipping satan.”, he shrugged.  “i’m eddie, by the way.”

stevehharringtcns·:

.

steve loved holding eddie like this. he loved it when the two of them were alone, enjoying every moment of it. they had been so busy fighting rabid dogs and having everyone around them that they barely could find the time to be alone together. and now that they were, steve was going to make sure to enjoy every minute of it. he closed his eyes as he let his head rest on the other’s shoulder for a couple of moments, pulling him closer to him. this felt nice, steve thought to himself. through all of the relationships he had been through, he had never had one like the one he had with eddie. and he was pretty sure that he wouldn’t find anyone like him. at least he hoped that eddie was the one for him, but maybe it was too early to talk about it. 

he let out a small chuckle as he heard eddie speak, being dramatic as he usually was. that had been a part of why steve had grown to like eddie so much. he opened his eyes and looked over at him with a smile on his face. he was glad that the other liked the haircut - it would have been bad if he had gotten one and suddenly he lost his boyfriend. it wouldn’t be very good to his self-esteem. “well, i’m glad you like it.” he said, before kissing his cheek.

once they were both settled on the couch, steve watched as the other draped his legs over his lap and smiled as he pulled him slightly closer to him. steve let out a sigh of relief once he felt his knee relax a bit, even if he had just been standing for a bit. it definitely wasn’t the worst injury he had ever had, but it definitely bothered him a bit. he was just hoping that it wouldn’t turn into anything serious. he let his hands rest on eddie’s legs as he slowly caressed them, looking over at his boyfriend. “we need to rest for a bit. i’m not opposed to that either, but… let’s just talk for a bit. you know, i think talking is… important, right? what did you do today?” he asked with a smile.

steve chuckled lightly as he watched his boyfriend shake his head at the thought of him having short hair. “i doubt that you wouldn’t be able to rock it. trust me, i think you would look hot.” he said, blushing lightly. “but you’re right, the long hair does suit you. and i do love it a lot.” he smiled.

+++

a content smile on his face, eddie hummed, tilted his head to press a quick kiss to steve's temple. they hadn't been able to get moments like these lately, just the two of them. the two of them, as happy as can be, considering everything that was going on around them - a little slice of happiness if you will. good for the soul, kept you from going completely mad. he nuzzled his fave into steve's freshly cut hair, greedily inhaled the scent of his shampoo and various other hair products, eyes nearly rolling back into his head.

it wasn't quite cuteness aggression that drove eddie to give into his impulses and tilt his head again to - gently - bite the tip of steve's nose, but it was something along those lines - happiness aggression, maybe? 'being content in your boyfriends arms as you share a small moment of peace and quiet in the midst of a whirlwind that could very well lead to the end of the world, once again' aggression. in any case, eddie munson had never been one to deny himself impulsive actions. with a wide toothy grin he fell back against the couch, giggling to himself. he smoothed steve's nose with his thumb, muttering a quiet 'sorry' into the couch cushions.

he blew a raspberry, taking a strand of steve's hair between his fingers, twirling it around. "fine", he groaned with a playful roll of his eyes. "you're no fun, harrington - but fine, ignore my shameless flirting, let's just talk. talking is good. I agree." and he over accentuated his nod to show just how much he agreed. "what did i do today, let's see... uh, i rubbed some suspicious smelling ointment on this fucker right here." he wiggled his injured foot to the best of his abilities, had to hold back a pained wince as he did so. "re-wrapped it and shit. watched tv. wayne made me some eggs and tea and stuff, all that yucky healthy shit. i get up every half hour or so to walk around, curse my dreadful existence and wait for my handsome soldier to return from the war and come back to me." eddie sighed dramatically, the back of his hand against his forehead before he leaned in to press a quick kiss to steve's lips." and here you are, returned to me at last! i rejoice!"

a suddenly bashful smile on his lips, eddie was sure there was a red tint to his cheeks now and he quickly pulled some of his own hair to cover his face. "oh, stop it - you have to say that, you're my boyfriend. what if i show up rocking a mohawk one of these days? what if I go insane and buzz my hair again huh? id look awful, im telling you." he cringed as he remembered his buzzcut era. no, yeah, he was definitely going to stick to long hair for the foreseeable future." however.... flattery does work with me, stevie, be careful. you call me hot one more time and im afraid im gonna have to jump your bones."