eddiemcnson

Latest Posts by eddiemcnson

stevehharringtcns·:

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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."

#eddie realising that not only is steve terrified but that he also cares about his life too (and then trying to reassure him 😭)

god, I miss him so much. please come back :((

stevehharringtcns·:

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it was funny to think that steve used to think that he would never make his way inside of eddie’s trailer when he was younger. the two were apparently incompatible back then, but now, steve would gladly spend his days with eddie if he could. it was better than spending time at his place, especially when his parents were around. steve also wasn’t sure when eddie’s opinion became so important to him, but it was definitely important now. that’s why he was sort of nervous to show him his new haircut. who could tell what his reaction was going to be? maybe he liked his hair the way it used to be, and he had to admit that the other’s face scared him a bit once he first saw it.

smiling once the other approached him and kissed him, steve smiled as he wrapped both of his arms around the other’s waist and brought him closer to him. “do you really love it or are you just saying that because i’m your boyfriend? because you have to tell me if you don’t.” steve said with a small chuckle escaping from his lips, before he kissed the other’s cheek. steve could feel his knee starting to hurt, mostly because he had probably been standing for too long now. he knew that they both needed to sit down, especially since eddie had messed up his ankle pretty bad. he looked down to check out the other’s ankle and frowned when he noticed that it was wrapped in bandages.

“what are you doing up? i thought we both agreed that we’re supposed to… you know, get some rest and all of that. you’re hurt.” steve said as he shook his head slightly. he could feel his face turning hot, but he thought that might have just been from being in eddie’s presence. who could blame him after all? “c’mon, let’s sit down.” steve said as he let go of the other and sat down on the couch carefully enough not to hurt himself. that area was a sensitive one, but he wouldn’t admit it out loud, even if eddie wouldn’t make fun of him. 

steve smiled up at the other as he watched him, feeling himself relax on the couch. he was used to this couch now, but who could blame him? he spent a lot of time there. he ran a hand through his hair, a little shocked when he felt it so short. it was hard getting used to it, but he knew that he could probably still rock it. “it’s weird getting used to have short hair…” he said, nodding his head. “you know, i think you would look pretty good with short hair too. maybe you should try it out.” he said, a teasing tone in his voice as he looked over at eddie. he knew how much the other liked his hair, and who could blame him? he looked good.

+++

eddie was glad for the support that steve's arms around his waist proved to be, relaxing ever so slightly, he wrapped one hand around the back of steve's neck, the other resting on his biceps. it allowed to him to shift his weight, relieving his injured ankle of the burden of fully supporting him. still, eddie tried his best to keep his reaction under control - no need for steve to worry, after the man himself had only recently gotten out of hospital. this was a minor injury at best, fat more benign than the wounds steve had suffered. so he put on a brave face, gave his boyfriend a smile.

"oh, so you think you have me totally at your mercy, huh? that you've wooed me into being a dishonest man? why, i detest your accusation!" said with all the theatrics and bravado he could muster up - lacking in execution but not passion. eddie gave a slight chuckle." no, steve, princess, I assure you that i love it. totally honestly. cross my heart, and all that. "

a sharp pang of guilt in his chest, he grimaced as steve took note of his injury. eddie waved his hand, but stopped himself shirt of saying 'it's nothing'. instead he sighed, rolled his eyes and plopped down on the couch next to steve, swinging his legs over his boyfriends lap. "yeah, yeah, sorry. ill rest. im resting now, aren't i?" then, snuggling closer, he took hold of steve's arm and added : "not that id be opposed to not-resting. cause that new hair of yours is really making me want to not rest, babe." and eddie wiggled his brows suggestively, added a wink for good measure.

soon replaced by a frown, he fervently shook his head. "me with short hair? no man, i definitely can't pull that off. besides - that's sort of my whole thing here. ever seen a metalhead without long, luscious locks?"

stevehharringtcns·:

who: steve harrington & @eddiemcnson·

where: eddie’s place / the trailer park

what: steve gets a haircut (looks like this)

his hair had always been a part of steve and he took it very seriously. after all, it had given him his reputation for all of those years, he couldn’t deny it. he was still steve ‘the hair’ harrington, even if he had been slightly slacking ever since he graduated from high school. after being a couple of days in the hospital, he thought it was for the best if he got it arranged, or at least, a few trims so it could go back to the way it looked when he was in high school. he always thought that it had looked the best back then. what he didn’t expect was for the hairdresser that he would usually go to cut it a little bit too much. it wasn’t terrible to say the least, in fact, steve enjoyed it more than he thought he would. maybe he would keep it like this for quite some time, even though he was sure that people would comment on it, but it wasn’t like he was concerned about people’s opinions on him anymore.

he knew that one of the people that would probably notice it the most would be his boyfriend. steve wanted him to be the first one to see, so he didn’t waste his time in driving down to the trailer park once he was out of the hairdresser. steve knew that eddie would probably be there. he parked his car and quickly got out of it, making his way towards the door, opening it and walking inside. he had been doing this for a couple of weeks now and he knew that eddie wouldn’t mind. wayne was probably working too. “eddie?” he asked out loud. “okay, i know that you love my hair a lot, but… you know, i needed to do something different or i might have just gone crazy with my hair looking like that.” he said right off the bat, only to realize that the other wasn’t anywhere to be seen. “are you here?” he asked, raising an eyebrow as he looked around for a bit.

+++

eddie hadn’t gone out much since what he had dubbed the ‘junkyard incident’. partly due to the fact that he, quite literally, couldn’t go out, seeing as his ankle was wrapped in bandages and he’d been advised by the doctor to let it rest as much as possible. the antibiotics he was on - because doppelganger or not, rabies was still a thing - made him drowsy, too, and so eddie had spent most of his time lounging on the couch in the two or three positions he could comfortably rest in. until, inevitably, his foot would fall asleep and he’d have to get up and move around a bit. 

wayne was at work and so eddie couldn’t whine and ask him to do all the tedious stuff, like making snacks or refilling the electric kettle so he could keep himself from sleeping through the day by drinking copious amounts of coffee. so here he was, shuffling into the bathroom since the tap in the kitchen didn’t have a water filter - it had broken and wayne had promised to pick one up after his shift - to refill the kettle. rubbing at his eyes as he let the water run, wobbly on his feet. 

eddie turned off the tap, startled by a sudden noise coming from the living room - wondering if there was really someone there or if he was that out of it. sure enough the voice persisted, and a voice he knew all too well, and so, with a stupid wide toothy grin, eddie walked back - and nearly dropped the kettle. in his right mind to put it onto the kitchen counter, all he could do was stare, gape, really, chin dropped, eyes wide.

no, yeah, that was steve, undoubtedly. but ... unlike eddie had ever seen him. not sporting his signature, gravity defying hairdo. eddie never thought he’d live to see the day. he brushed a lock of hair behind his ears and came closer to inspect it, running a hand through steve’s hair, ruffling it. an incredulous chuckle fell from his lips, he softly shook his head in disbelief. “my, my.... well, it’s my pleasure to welcome you back, steve ‘the hair’ harrington.” he gave him a nod, then took his face in his hands, pressing a kiss to the space between steve’s brows. “i love 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?”

Hey

Favourite stranger things scenes??

hey!

just off the top of my head, i'd say the running up that hill scene (sadie sink my beloved!) in s4; then when they found will's fake body in s1 - heroes playing in the background, the joyce and jonathan scene, poetic cinema ; the sauna scene in s3 because dacre montgomery's acting is insane and, of course, how could i ever forget 'don't ya, big boy?'

honorable mention is the ted wheeler slander here:

stevehharringtcns·:

steve smiled at eddie, nodding his head slowly. he let out yet another chuckle as he watched his now boyfriend, taking him all in and staring at him lovingly. “you really were trying to steal my title for best hair… back in high school, right?” he teased with a chuckle. it was still weird to think about how different they were in high school and how they were both still so different from each other, but still had managed to find each other and be together. steve wouldn’t let that change anytime soon. he closed his eyes for a couple of moments when he felt eddie run a hand through his hair, smiling at the touch. he didn’t even want to think about how his hair looked right now. he had been in that hospital for long enough time for it to become a mess and only he knew how much time it took him to get it ready. “right… probably looks like a mess right now…” he said quietly, before letting out a sigh. “i’ve been thinking about cutting it anyway.” he said with a small nod of his head.

at the other’s question about joining hellfire club, steve couldn’t help but to smile and shrug his shoulders slightly. “listen, i wouldn’t join for… the game. or whatever it is. i would join so i could look at you.” he said, a smile on his face, a charming one for that fact. if there was something that time or that explosion didn’t take away from him was his natural charm, or at least he thought so. but that was only focused on eddie now. he didn’t want anyone else. “i mean it, ed… i would join just for you. even if… i’m pretty sure i wouldn’t know what’s going on… most of the time.” he said, pausing for a bit to take a breath, nodding his head slowly.

while steve had been pretty jealous that dustin had been hanging out with eddie more and more when they had first met, steve was glad that dustin had eddie as well. dustin needed them, or at least that’s what he liked to tell himself. he was glad that eddie cared so much for him that he would keep an eye out for him. it was clear that the two were worried about him, especially with everything that had happened. he pursed his lips together, as he let out a sigh. “i’m glad… he’s okay. he goes through too much…” he said, shaking his head slowly. he thought that all of the kids went through too much for their age, but yet again, they were at the age where steve had burned down those tunnels. hawkins definitely wasn’t a good place to live in. “i know you will, but take care of him… okay? he needs someone there for him.” he said with a smile, knowing that eddie wouldn’t fail him.

he was touched when eddie had offered wayne to stop by with some food. steve was glad that he had someone from his family that cared for him like this. he nodded his head. “okay… that sounds nice.” he said simply, as he looked at his boyfriend. they sat there in silence for a couple of moments, steve smiling at him the whole time until he finally spoke. he let out a small chuckle that only hurt his ribs slightly, but he didn’t show it. “i’m… i’m real. we’re real, eddie. we’re… dating, you know?” he said, smiling at eddie. even with everything, steve was glad that he still had that. he wouldn’t let it go. “kiss me again? i like kissing you.” he said with a nod.

+++

eddie snorted. "back when we were in high school together, you mean? nah, man, my hair looked like shit back then, that weird growing out phase after i buzzed it." he'd sported a mohawk for a week or two, before he'd decided that that looked too punk-y for him and that he was a metalhead now. "you know", he said, moving his hand out of steve's hair as gently as possible to take a strand of his own hair between his fingers, inspecting and then twirling it, "a lot of hard work and dedication went into these locks." a lot of arguments with wayne where he refused to acknowledge his split ends, his uncle trying to talk him into getting that 'wild mop of hair of his' under control. eddie smiled to himself, pulled his hair over his face for a moment before letting it fall to the side again.

"are you for real right now? you want to cut it?" he pursed his lips, eyes squinting and his head tilted to the side as he tried to imagine steve without his signature gravity defying hairstyle. he hummed a question. "whatever you want to do, sweetheart - but the offer still stands. I'm a master of detangling hospital bed induced matting."

eddie chewed on his bottom lip, gave a weak nod but looked away, blinking to fight the oncoming tears. there'd been enough crying today. "i will. you know i will.", he paused for a moment, let out a shaky breath. "don't... don't talk like that, man." like he wasn't going to be around for much longer. like he was passing the torch of care to eddie.

how eddie had talked to dustin, when he'd had his head in the boys lap, drawing shaky, ragged breaths, the sting of his wounds slowly fading as he himself had faded into a blissful oblivion. "you're sticking around, harrington." it was a demand, if anything. "you *have* to, now. you can't ask me to be your boyfriend and then kick the bucket. nobody would believe me. id look like some pathetic loser going around telling everyone steve harrington was actually my secret boyfriend all along." cope with humor. he let out a dry chuckle.

and he nodded in confirmation, a smile playing at his lips. "yeah, we sure are." eddie thought about how he'd never dated anyone, not seriously, not as long term as this was going to be - because there was no chance in hell that eddie was ever going to break up with steve. And by the looks of it, the look that steve had in his eyes as he looked up at him, asked him for another kiss, it seemed like steve had no intention of doing so, either. the upside down was going to have to pull its biggest stunt ever if it wanted to separate the two of them. and eddie wasn't going to let it.

he grinned, all wide and toothy, and bent down to give into steve's request. connecting their lips in a sweet kiss, lips lazily moving against one another. there was no rush here. eventually, they'd have to face the fast pace of life in hawkins again, gave whatever the universe was going to throw their way next. but not now.

when eddie pulled back he placed a short peck on Steve's forehead, brushing some hair out of his face. "im getting you some ice chips, stevie. go rest a bit. that's an order." and with a wink, he detached himself from his boyfriend and walked out the room, feeling like he was floating.

THE END

cassieconrads·:

WHO: cassie conrrad & @eddiemcnson· WHERE: skull rock

In the weekend of the Fourth of July, Cassie had learned a lot. Hawkins was under attack by some supernatural creature, no one could leave, the government may or may not have been covering the whole thing up, and the girl Cassie thought she’d seen in her head the night at the graveyard actually hadn’t been dead. Which meant that she had some sort of apology to give to the nice guy with the rockstar head of hair she’d seen on her way to the library when she’d been looking for more information: Eddie Munson. After describing the cheerleader in her head, Eddie had proceeded to practically run in the other direction, and Cassie couldn’t help but dig into why. 

As it turned out, Eddie had been some sort of town-declared freak, after all. They’d thought that he was responsible for the cult in the woods or something like that, all because of playing Dungeons and Dragons. But, after talking to Lucas and finding out that there was no way some teenager could have done this singlehandedly back then, Cassie had come to realize just how horrible Hawkins had been to the guy. 

Which was why, upon seeing him at the rock where another one of Mike’s friends had apparently gotten possessed, according to Nancy, Cassie didn’t turn in the other direction. She also didn’t want to scare him into thinking she was there to pick a fight, so she approached with her hands in the air, notebook full of DnD notes she’d taken in one, as this was supposed to be a research trip.  “Please don’t run away this time, I come in peace,” she pleaded, taking cautious steps forward. “I promise. I have a whole lot of explaining to do and a pack of cigarettes in my pocket, half of which could be yours,” Cassie offered, lowering her hands slowly with a grin. 

+++

this was stupid. stupid, stupid, stupid. eddie truly didn’t know what had posessed him when he’d stormed out the trailer, headphones clasped tightly on his head, blasting the sisters of mercy’s 1987 ‘floodland’. coincidentally the same album he’d listened to over and over again following the months of spring break ‘86. the tape was worn out, sounding mangled at times, he didn’t care. it still provided him an odd sort of comfort. 

perhaps it had been wayne’s concerned nagging, or the way eddie still felt the bruises callahan’s handcuffs had left on his wrist. or it had been the fact that, once again, he couldn’t show his face in town without being subjected to scrutiny. maybe it had been eddie’s own doing, in the end, his constant overthinking that had caused him to snap at his uncle - who only meant well, of course, and eddie knew this - and leave the trailer to go on a walk. clear his head. not that he could take any of his usual routes, not if he planned on coming back home unharmed, anyway. still, he wondered why his feet had carried him to skull rock. muscle memory, maybe. just like it had been muscle memory in ‘86 when he’d fled to the same place after a run in with jason carver that had very nearly cost him his life, hadn’t vecna claimed his next victim at a particularly convenient moment.

being back at that spot did nothing in terms of calming his jangled nerves, made him feel worse, if anything. the feeling of worse-ness heightened by the fact that he’d forgot his cigarettes at home. bullshit. a voice cut through his incessant thoughts and eddie jumped, ripped his headphones off his head, ready to make a run for it. wasn’t that - oh. right.

a frown settled on his features, he eyed her with suspicion, a couple of beats passed. finally, he nodded apprehensively. “hand ‘em over.” and he nodded for her to go on.

xihopper·:

-

Eleven beamed happily when he complimented her roll, although she really hadn’t had much to do with it. It was all luck. But still, it was definitely exciting to think about it, and to hear again how great it was from someone who knew what he was talking about. “Thank you!” she said brightly. She thought about it for a second. “My friends like to play,” she said. “I would play with them. I think they would like it if you played, too.” She paused, looking up at him. “If you wanted to play,” she added. Just to be polite. 

El understood what it was like to be judged by something far less than your actual self. When she had first started school, everyone had treated her like she was…well, a freak. And she could understand that, in part. It wasn’t like she was normal. But she was more than what she had gone through, more than the vestiges of trauma – of living like a rat in a cage, with no autonomy, no future, no love – that it had left her with. Underneath all of that, like Eddie, she was a good person. She was soft. And all she wanted was the opportunity to be soft, to find others to cushion the blows from the world, people she could offer the same protection. 

She couldn’t help but giggle at his reaction. “Yes,” she said, clearly pleased. He thought she was a superhero – only superheroes had superpowers, after all. “I can show you?” She sounded eager to do so, especially since he was clearly so excited. El gave another little giggle. “It’s lovely to meet you, Eddie,” she said, with the good manner that Joyce and Hopper had taught her.

+++

and this was why he played, why he’d dedicated every lunch period to scanning the cafeteria for lost soulds. that smile, that happy beam. the excitement so clearly audible in her voice. god, yeah, he fucking missed it. “well, i’ll have you know that i would like it if played too. i used to run hellfire, you know. and  - don’t tell anyone this - “, he wiggled his brows suggestively, put one finger over his mouth in a ‘shh’ motion - “but i may or may not have been planning another one of my notoriously and epically sadistic campaigns these past few months.”

though even the thought of playing dnd or proposing another campaign of his own had been pushed far, far into the background by the continuous tragic events befalling the town. and it was refreshing, talking about something so normal for a change, admist all the crazy that was going on.

not that eddie would necessarily deem the topic of ‘superpowers’ normal but hey, this was hawkins, after all, and superpowers seemed somehow more ordinary than half the stuff that was going on. he eagerly nodded at her suggestion, an excited glint in his eyes. “would you? i mean, you don’t - like, you totally don’t have to. i mean, i bet there’s loads of people asking you to show them your tricks or something, right? so, totally up to you, kid.” throwing her a look that both said ‘i respect whatever choice you make’ and ‘ please, please, please show me your superpowers’.

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?”

stevehharringtcns·:

.

steve smiled at eddie’s reaction, and he couldn’t blame him. steve himself was a little surprised that he was dating eddie. he was dating him. that was real. king steve wouldn’t believe it either if this had happened during high school, but he was too busy being an asshole to eddie. to everyone. it was weird to think about how he used to do that. he didn’t like looking back to high school and be remembered of all of that. while in the end of their friendship he had blamed tommy hagan and carol for everything, the truth was that he was as much to blame as the two of them. he didn’t even know why eddie had chosen to forgive him for allowing his friends to torment him, but… this was definitely going well for the two of them now. they were dating. and for as long as steve could predict, there was nothing that could separate them. and steve liked the idea of that - with nancy, there had always been doubts. with eddie, there was nothing in their way.

he had been lost in his thoughts. he kept his eyes glued to eddie. it was addicting to look at him and he couldn’t get enough. he was glad that no one else had access to his thoughts, because he was pretty sure people would make fun of them. but steve really did like looking at eddie - and before all of this, he would do it when no one was watching. or at least, when he thought no one was watching. and now he was all his to look at for as long as he wanted. a small smile formed on his lips, not leaving his face for a long time as he watched his now boyfriend so close to him.

“i am not… a dork, eddie munson. i was popular because i was… co-captain of the swimming team and i was also in the basketball team. and… i had and still have great hair.” he said with a small chuckle, looking over at eddie with a smile. “i would have never joined hellfire club back then… but now, maybe… i would. for you. and you know, i would have to say that it was because of dustin too, or else he would be jealous.” he said with a small chuckle again, holding on to his chest for a few moments as he took a deep breath and looked at eddie. “speaking of… dustin… have you talked to him? he seemed… pretty upset last i saw him.” he said with a sigh. the two cared too much about the kid, he was family for both of them at this point and they both hated when he was down, although it was sort of impossible not to be after what happened.

steve didn’t like talking about his family, in fact, he hated it. he knew that eddie had meant well when he had brought it up, but he couldn’t help but to be a little sad about it. he knew that most parents would visit their kid if they were in the hospital, but steve’s parents weren’t like most. but that was another story for another day. he didn’t feel like talking about. he looked over at eddie as he talked about wayne and his casserole, a small smile forming on his lips again as he heard him talk. steve knew that eddie’s parents weren’t that present either, but at least eddie had wayne. and wayne was a sweetheart, from the interactions steve had with him. nodding his head with a smile, he looked at the other. “i… i would like that a lot, eddie. you can tell him… but only if it’s not… a burden to come visit me or whatever. i don’t want to bother him.” he assured the other with a sigh.

+++

eddie waved it off with a dramatic eyeroll. “yeah, whatever you need to tell yourself, man. though i gotta agree with the great hair part. can’t deny it, much as it wounds me.” a melodramatic sigh, it soon shifted and made way for a light-hearted chuckle as he lifted his hand to gently card his fingers through steve’s hair. awfully careful, so as not to pull too much and end up hurting him. “i’m afraid that best feature of yours has seen better days, sweetheart...”, he muttered, lips twisted into a pitying crooked smile as he absent-mindedly scissored his fingers to detangle a knot in his hair. “but i got a couple of tricks up my sleeve. don’t you worry, we’ll get you back that title of steve ‘the hair’ harrington in no time.”

he kept his hand there for a moment, contuing to detangle steve’s hair, eddie grinned, all wide and toothy. “you would willingly join hellfire, huh?” the thought alone seemed outlandish, with a stifled chuckle eddie recalled the wheeler’s bbq, when steve had sat on his lap, looking all sorts of lost while eddie had attempted to explain the rules of dnd to him in hushed whispers. “you know, there’s no need to sweet talk me anymore, harrington. already got me wrapped around your finger.”

the mention of dustin brought that same worry wrinkle to his brows that was seemingly ever present on steve’s face, he nodded. “i’ve seen him, yeah. he came by. he’s - he’s alright, i think. seemed fine. considering.” he twisted his lips into what was supposed to be a reassuring smile, yet eddie couldn’t completely shake his worries off. the second he’d seen him and suzie go into that tent his heart had dropped, a feeling he’d not forget too soon. there was no parallel universe where eddie wouldn’t worry about dustin. there was none in which he wouldn’t care. there was a running joke, about how steve and later eddie had sort of adopted dustin. eddie didn’t have any siblings, or none he knew of, but he rather thought that this was how one felt about a younger brother. a son, even, if you will.

eddie mirrored his smile, nodded too. “i’ll let him know. it’s on his way, anyway. and he offered, so.” a shrug, eddie fell silent for a moment, simply looked at steve. it was as if he could feel his heart swell, and he wondered if it would always be like this when he looked at steve. when eddie spoke a couple of beats later his voice was soft, low. “you’re so beautiful, steve.” and, adding a pained timbre to his voice, he added: “i was so worried. i ... still don’t - i’m afraid this isn’t real. does that make sense?”

zccming·:

.

max was comfortable with silence, silence was safe most of the time. she could live there for a while if needed. she knew full well that she wasn’t the best with words, and usually, if ever, people didn’t come to her for her motivational speeches. more often than not, it looked like this, max going to someone and offering herself up as a shoulder, someone to share the load of a burden with if only for a little while. at least, lately, that’s what it looked like. 

she watched eddie not speaking, setting her bowl down when he did, quietly indicated, nah, me either. it was the thought that counted or whatever, right? when eddie frantically verified that she was alright, max kept an expression of stone as she nodded. she was more or less in one piece, so was he, so was steve, so was everyone. now she wasn’t happy all of this had happened, but the relief that came with doing her rounds and seeing her friends alive and breathing was enough to propel her through a sleepless twenty four hours at the hospital, and a long ride on her board back home. 

their wordless processing ended though as eddie confessed, his voice uneasy. max hadn’t really seen him like this. not for a long time, not since they’d gotten closer. instantly, she jumped to all of the ways she could fix this, which started with calming eddie down and ended with something along the lines of throwing callahan in a deep deep pit he couldn’t crawl out of. “you’re not a monster.” she said swiftly and with such conviction she hoped it knocked into him like a punch, like he’d have no choice but to believe it. “you were innocent then and you’re innocent now.” max wouldn’t tell him it was okay because she knew he didn’t feel like it was. “they haven’t released names yet, i don’t think anyone other than…us saw it happen.” she used reason to talk him down.  

when none of that seemed to work and he shook his head and began a spiral, max yelled, hopping to snap him out of it “eddie!” she took his hands and offered the following words like a get out of jail free card, “steve will not let anything happen to you. i will not let anything happen to you.” she laughed a wryly, hoping to make everything feel less heavy, “you think robin, and nancy, and literally anyone else would let that slide? fuck no.” she shook her head, then offered her final comfort, “we’ve figured it out like four times before, we’ll do it again. you’re a vet this time, munson. you just gotta screw your head back onto your shoulders.” 

+++

eddie scoffed, slumping further back into the couch, wishing it would swallow him whole. “yeah, and just like ‘86 nobody’s gonna believe me. real fucking nice.” he didn’t mean to snap at her, neither of them had anything to do with the utter chaos that was currently playing out in hawkins. but the rational part of his brain had long since bid its farewell and he simply hoped that max knew this. what did it matter if he was innocent or not? when people already stared at him , mistrusted him without a solid reason. now they had one and eddie didn’t want to imagine what the scalding looks burning into the back of his head could soon turn into. because he knew it, he’d lived it, and he couldn’t again, never again.

he gave her hands a short, tight squeeze before he relased them, carding his fingers through his tangled hair. taking deep breaths, he squeezed his eyes shut for a moment. this was just max, just max. meaning only good. trying to calm him. there was no reaosn to get upset, not with her. his mouth felt awfully dry. when he opened his eyes again they were fixed to the ceiling, looking at nothing in particular. “yeah, yeah, well, you remember what happened last time, right? i’m a vet, sure, but ... i almost wasn’t. almost wasn’t anything anymore.” and his lip quivered slightly at the memory, it was still fresh as day. a swarm of demobats circling around him, knocking him to the ground. a sharp sting in his side soon followed by agony and a fade to black, a teary goodbye, a faint white light. a faint white light that, for some reason, perhaps divine intervention, had faded into a shrill green-ish one, the distinct hue of hospital fluorescents. 

but what good had it ever done, dwelling on the past? dwelling on what almost had been, eddie munson, only good for running, it seemed. ‘don’t try to be cute, don’t try to be a hero’. he should’ve just listened to steve, stayed a decoy. heroism clearly didn’t suit him. thinking of... he sat up a little straighter. “how’s - how’s steve? have you seen him?”

savethevirginia·:

—  ❤ —

Ginny hadn’t been back in town long. It had only been about a month since she walked that Penn State stage and she had spent a lot of time catching up with her selected family and Cal. After all, they were the ones at the top of her list. Everyone else just eventually fell below that until she either ran into them or bothered to pick up the phone and call anyone who’s number she could remember. 

It was hot out on this particular day in Hawkins. Probably something to do with all that talk her dad did about global warming. After getting done with her shift, she went out of her way to stop by Melvald’s to pick up a few things, still in her swimsuit (with a totally appropriate pair of short on over!). Turns out, her dad didn’t exactly stay stocked up on Ginny’s favorite snacks. She had a basket in her arms full of chips, sugary drinks, and ventured into the dairy aisle to hunt down enough yogurt to sustain her for the next week.

She almost didn’t notice him, masked by pulled up hair and an uncharacteristic shirt, but she’d recognize Eddie Munson anywhere. Even in a crowd of a thousand people. Ginny had lost contact with a lot of people after high school, including Eddie. At one point in time, they had been close. In some ways, she’d still consider him one of her closest friends. They were both outsiders, losers, and while high school was one of the most miserable times in Ginny’s life, Eddie had made it… slightly tolerable.

“Now, Edward, I don’t think we have to have a lesson in manners, do we?” She teased, her face not moving from its cool state as she walked towards him. "I heard you’re wanted again,” she pointed out, as if he didn’t know. She had read the paper and seeing his name in big black letters surprised her. He should be in Chicago, slumming it up with the other like minded freaks of the world. “Please tell me that’s the reason for this sad ensemble,” she pulled at the collar of his flannel. “You can’t go changing on me.”

+++

eddie frowned, his brows twitching as he looked at her. god, he hadn’t seen her since ... he couldn’t even remember the last time he’d seen her. must’ve been sometime around graduation, some two years ago. before eddie had booked it out of hawkins at the first opportunity, leaving his old life behind - that meant friends, too, of course. wasn’t a big deal, right? lots of people lost contact with their school friends over the years, time passed, life went on. for eddie it was all a bit different, seeing as he didn’t have many school friends to begin with. less people meant they were more important to him, less likely to be forgotten and left behind. ginny driscoll however was a face he truly thought he’d never see again, save for the odd high school reunion (that he probably wouldn’t attend, anyway). 

they’d been close in school, two outsiders who’d formed a caharacteristic acquaintance. then came spring break of ‘86, the witch hunt instigated by one jason carver, the upside down. weeks spent in the hospital, a silent walk across the stage at graduation. he’d flipped off principal higgins as promised, had agreed to a small graduation celebration at the new trailer and in the morning his van had left hawkins for the last time in months. he hadn’t told anyone, had barely talked to anyone except for the people who’d been through the whole vecna situation with him. that hadn’t included ginny.

he gave her a nod, fumbled awkwardly with a loose thread on his sleeve. “yup. heard that too.” it was ironic, how he’d just listened to ‘wanted man’ by ratt back in the van. everything about coming back to hawkins seemed ironic lately, and also fucking tragic. “that’s exactly why i’m dressed like my uncle right now. better to blend in when you’re wanted for arson, right?” and he gave her a weak chuckle, more of an amused scoff, pulling his sleeves further down. “you’re one to talk. seems like you’ve done an awful lot of changing. didn’t even recognise you at first. what’re you doing back in hawkins?”

xihopper·:

@eddiemcnson··

While El didn’t know Eddie very well, she could tell there was an inherent kindness in him. Even if his appearance may frighten those who were…well, who were close-minded, if not outright bullies. In any case, she knew everyone who had been down in the basement the night of the Wheeler’s barbecue was a good person. She trusted her friends’ respective judgment, and they had all seemed to like Eddie. It made her smile to think about the way Steve had been sitting in Eddie’s lap. She had the sense that it was not simply due to a lack of seating. If that was the case, she thought maybe she would have liked to sit in a certain someone’s lap, but it didn’t matter. It wasn’t available.

The sight of Eddie pulled her from her thoughts, and she approached him with a little bit of shyness. Making friends was a skill that still felt fragile to her even after all this time in Hawkins, around people her own age. “We met at the Wheeler’s,” she said. “Do you remember? I was playing DND. It was my first game. I rolled a 19.” She smiled at the memory, still pleased, recalling how excited everyone had been. “But I didn’t tell you my name,” she added, frowning a little. Had that been rude? There were so many people in the basement, and everyone had been focused on the game. “I’m Eleven,” she said finally, offering him a soft smile. “People call me El.”

+++

see, eddie wasn’t really used to being ... approached. he’d been told he wasn’t very approachable, with his long unruly hair, his gory bandshirts, the tattoos, the rings, it all played into his mean and scary metalhead image. however, anyone who’d ever so much as exchanged a word with him had soon come to know that eddie munson was, in fact, extremeley approachable. tough on the outside, soft on the inside, that whole shtick. not that eddie would ever admit this to someone out loud, but yeah.

so it surprised him to say the least when he saw her come up to him out of the corner of his eye, all nerves and smiles. eddie in turn couldn’t help but mirror her smile, he nodded. “yeah, yeah i remember. gotta say, that was a wicked roll for your first ever game, man. ever thought about joining a party?” being back in that basement, steve on his lap, eddie had found himself wishing he could go back to a simpler time. when all he cared about was passing his senior year - third time’s the charm, right? - and planning wicked hellfire campaigns. he missed the club, missed dnd, missed ... everything. living in hawkins had ben literal hell on earth, but it did have its moments.

“holy shit.” there it was. of course, she’d seemed familiar - maybe he hadn’t seen her around before, but he sure had heard descriptions. holy shit. “holy shit, you’re - el. yeah, you are. you’re the...you know, the superpower girl, right?” an excited glint in his eyes, eddie smiled a wide and toothy grin. “it’s, like, so great to meet you. i’m eddie.”

EDDIE THROUGH THE YEARS + THE SONGS HE LISTENED TO

freshman year ‘80 - ‘81 : blank generation - richard hell (1977) ; god save the queen - the sex pistols (1977)

sophomore year ‘81 - ‘82 : search and destroy (bowie mix) - iggy and the stooges (1973) ; breaking the law - judas priest (1980)

junior year ‘82 - ‘83 : paranoid - black sabbath (1970) ; crazy train - ozzy osbourne (1980)

senior year #1 ‘83 - ‘84 : cum on feel the noize - quiet riot (1983) ; holy diver - dio (1983)

senior year #2 ‘84 - ‘85 : for whom the bell tolls - metallica (1984) ; a little bit of what you fancy - saxon (1984) 

senior year #3 ‘85 - ‘86 : she sells sanctuary - the cult (1985) ; 2 minutes to midnight - iron maiden (1984)

spring break ‘86 and beyond : shot in the dark - ozzy osbourne (1986) ; master of puppets - metallica (1986)

chicago ‘86 - 87 [trauma era] : i could have been a dreamer - dio (1987) ; flood II - the sisters of mercy (1985)

chicago ‘87 [coping era ]: animal (fuck like a beast) - w.a.s.p. (1984) ; sex dwarf - soft cell (1981)

back to hawkins ‘88 : rainbow in the dark - dio (1983) ; round and round - ratt (1984)

*bonus: songs he listens to with steve: head over heels - tears for fears (1985) ; (i’ve had) the time of my life - bill medley, jennifer warnes (1987)

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.”

backtowheeler·:

— ✎ —

Nancy clocked that. The nervous laughter. The same laughter anyone would use to cover up something. She chose not to say anything, though. It wasn’t her business and she wasn’t the prying type. Besides, Eddie wasn’t exactly what she would call debonair, so she didn’t want to say the wrong thing and have it turn out that nothing was going on. “I’ve seen you pass by a few times,” she pointed out to the hallway. Not that is meant anything, of course. She had also seen Adam, Max, Dustin, and Robin pass by her room on their way to Steve and Cole’s. “It’s sweet,” then she followed up with, “Steve needs someone like that with him,” with him meaning just spending time in his room. “He doesn’t get taken care of often.”

She let out a groan. Not from the pain, but because Eddie was completely right. “Fine. No breaking out of this place but,” she shrugged her shoulders. “I just want to get some air or something,” she wasn’t fully on bedrest anymore, but she just hadn’t gotten a minute to so much as just walk around the corridor. She planted both of her feet on the ground, slowly standing up. It hurt, but she had a feeling she’d be like this for the next few weeks regardless of how much ‘R&R’ she got.

And not the bring the conversation back around to Steve, but she brought it back to Steve. “Can I ask you something? And just promise me you’ll answer honestly and not tell Steve I asked you?” Now that was a loaded question. It was hard not to do, but she worried about Steve. He always had a smile on his face and was always helping out that she felt like sometimes he got shafted when it came to personal matters. “Has his parents come to check on him? Like, at all?”

+++

i’ve seen you pass by a few times. right, right, that made sense. eddie nodded idly, yet still unable to shake off the perpetual and persisting nervousness. growing up not-straight in the smalltown indiana, well, it was a habit hard to shake off. even after his move to the big city. eddie pulled his bottom lip between his teeth, eyes darting around nancy’s hospital room. a particular spot on the wall seemed to capture his attention but really, eddie was trying to look anywhere but nancy’s eyes. with him. he gulped. “yeah, yeah, he needs someone looking after him. someone - like you said, yeah, with him. i mean not - not that i, or we -like, when you say with him, i don’t - it - “ shit, fuck, bullshit. he stayed like that for a moment, forming his mouth around words that didn’t come. no, this situation was unsalvageable. so he pursed his lips, nodded again. “whatever.”

it was very much not ‘whatever’ but judging by how fast his heart was beating, if eddie spent another second talking to nancy about how he was sort of kind of really in love with her ex-boyfriend he was afraid he’d have to be admitted, too. he watched carefully and with a concerned wrinkle in his brow as nancy slowly got up, ready to rush over and steady her should she need it. thankfully she didn’t. “i - i can go out to the patio with you, if want to.” he shrugged. “like, if you don’t want any company i totally get it, and i’ll be out of your hair in a second. but if you don’t i’ll come with you.” lord knew he needed some fresh air of his own. maybe a glass of water, too. a bite to eat. a wink of sleep wouldn’t hurt either but then again, you couldn’t have everything, could you. a cigarette would have to do. “i - tell me if i’m, like, overstepping in any way here, but i could take a look at your hair if you want me to? i’m...sort of an expert when it gets to bedrest induced matting.”

just when he thought they’d been past the topic of steve harrington, his name fell from her lips again and eddie inadvertently tensed again. even more so when she hit him with the aforementioned question and he exhaled deeply, felt his stomach drop a little as he thought back to his conversation with steve. there was a sad, almost hurt look in his eyes as he met her gaze again, a soft shrug of his shoulders. “what do you think?” it’s a scoff and by the way nancy was looking at him, and the way she’d asked the question, he knew that that was enough said. still, he went on. “he said his mom swung by but only for, like, a half hour. his dad didn’t even show.”

where: melvald’s 

what: virgina ?? i hardly know her

who: @savethevirginia​ + eddie.

once again, edward munson was a wanted man. well, he’d been released, officially. the charges against him and billy hargrove,  which had never actually been explained to him in coherent detail, hadn’t been dropped but they'd been free to go. ‘just don’t leave hawkins!’ callahan had called after them, eddie had scoffed. he wished. but for the time being they were stuck here. for the time being, eddie was, once again, stuck in a town full of people that thought he was the epitome of evil and juvenile deliquiency. a town that so quickly and willingly pointed the finger at him, there, it was, him, that freak, he did it!

eddie had abstained from, well, going outside much ever since his arrest. save for the frequent trips from and to the hospital to check in on steve, eddie stayed in his uncle’s trailer. in his room. he didn’t even dare play any music or aimlessly pluck strings on his guitar, afraid that any noise might prompt someone to call the cops on him, get him taken away. for good this time. so he stayed in his room most of the time, in silence, the muffled sounds of whatever cassette he had laying around playing faintly from his headphones. 

however much the people of hawkins hated him, though, that hatred sadly wasn’t enough to fill his fridge and so eddie now found himself stood outside of melvald’s with his head lowered, careful not to make any eye contact. he had his hair put up in a ponytail, had ditched his signature rings, leather jacket and hellfire shirt for a simple dark washed out pair of jeans and one of wayne’s old plaid shirts. anything to make him look less like .. well, himself. which only made eddie feel worse about himself to be honest. yeah, he looked a mess as he pulled open and quickly made his way into the store. unsure whether or not he was only imagining the feeling of dirty looks burning into his back, but  - 

no , someone was definitely staring. staring hard and long and eddie’s grip around the carton of milk he’d picked up tightened. fuck this. he whipped around. “is there a problem or something? i - ginny driscoll ? what the hell are you doing here?”

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.”

dvstybuns·:

Dustin was glad that Eddie was out - he still for the life of him couldn’t figure out what the fuck they were even charging Eddie with. Hopefully they hadn’t, because a court case was the last fucking thing any of them needed now. He was glad that Eddie was a free man currently, and that he’d finally gone home to rest here instead of with Steve. He had to take care of himself right now too, which Dustin knew was easier said than done. After all, he was struggling with that himself - he assumed most of their group was.

When Eddie finally opened the door and pulled him into a hug, Dustin set the pizza down on the end table beside the couch to wrap both arms around him. He needed this - they both did. It was proof that they were both okay, that they’d made it back here in one piece and comfort from the shit they’d experienced. Dustin hugged him tightly, just happy that he was okay, as a few tears slipped out. He wiped them away quickly when Eddie let him go, smiling at the familiar hair ruffle. Dustin had missed this while Eddie had been in Chicago, although part of him wished now that Eddie had stayed, if only because it meant that he would be safe and not at risk of being arrested again. 

“No, I’m okay.” Dustin told him, shaking his head. “Some bruising and scrapes, but nothing major.” There was a lot happening emotionally, but he didn’t need to talk about that shit right now. Not when he was worried about how Eddie was holding up. “What about you, though? Are you okay? Do we need to find you a lawyer or something?” He asked, brow furrowed in concern for his friend. That was a terrifying prospect, but they’d handle it if they had to. 

+++

eddie pulled away from the embrace very reluctantly, tempted to draw dustin right back in again as he spotted the few wayward tears on his cheeks. why did everything about hawkins have to be so complicated? why could this town not grant them more than a year’s peace? they had no control over where they’d been born, so really, the universe was quite cruel for roping them into the curse so undeniably interwoven with hawkins’ very core. “good. ‘m glad. i  - i saw you going in the tent with suzie and - “ he stopped to take a deep breath, shook his head softly. it didn’t matter, no need to dwell on the tragedies that could’ve been. “you gotta be more careful, kid. got it?”

and eddie gave him a stern look that soon faded into another weak attempt at a smile. the mention of lawyers brought the ever present nausea back to the pit of his stomach and, with a sigh, he turned around and plopped down onthe couch, gestured for dustin to follow along. one hand reaching up to rub at his temples, he shrugged. “i don’t know, man, i - all i know is they released me. said i’m still a ‘prime suspect’ or whatever, that was it, that was - that was all they told me. apparently they think that hargrove and i are responsible for the explosion - or, well, they’re pinning it on us, anyway.” another shrug, he let his head fall back against the cushions. “but it’s - don’t worry ‘bout me, henderson. i’ll be fine. always am.”

stevehharringtcns·:

.

steve gave eddie a small and weak smile when he saw him take off his vest and placing him over him. that was a sweet gesture, he thought to himself, and steve loved it. he loved the vest, a vest that he had worn before, more than once now and he loved it. he loved the smell of it and it made him feel closer to eddie, especially now that they couldn’t be in the same bed because of steve’s injuries. he had to keep telling himself that the pain was only temporary or he might have gone crazy by the thought of not being able to hold eddie close to him ever again. he hated thinking about that, thinking about that one day he could lose eddie or that eddie could lose him, but he was trying not to think about that right now. he wanted to focus on the man in front of him right now, a weak smile on his lips.

steve hardly cried, so this was new to him. he had cried when nancy broke up with him the first time, but now that seemed something stupid to cry about. he wasn’t sure if he was crying because he was happy that eddie was there and alive, and he could feel him. or if he was crying because he was scared of something happening to him, to them. he let out a small sigh as he felt eddie caressing his cheek, his eyes locked on the other as he watched him close. “it’s okay… crying is okay sometimes… i’m just happy that you’re okay, eddie.” he said, taking a deep breath as he looked at him again. there was nothing more than he wanted other than to kiss him right now. “kiss me?” he asked, looking over at him, hoping that he would just lean forward and kiss him.

when eddie agreed to doing the lift with him, steve let out a weak laugh as he thought about the two of them doing it. eddie was clumsy and knowing them, they would end up on the floor. but they would get up again and they would laugh. steve smiled at the thought, of making memories with him and dustin, max, lucas and everyone. he couldn’t wait until he got out of the hospital. he was glad all of them were okay, even if it would take them all a while to recover from what they had gone through. but steve was trying to focus on the good things for now, looking at eddie with a smile. “i’m pretty sure… i can lift you easily.” he finished off, nodding his head.

he watched eddie closely as he tried to assimilate what steve had asked. steve didn’t regret asking it, in fact, he would ask it again in a heartbeat. they were young and they were clearly into each other. and after this whole thing, steve thought it was for the best if he just admitted his feelings for eddie. he had done that, but he didn’t want to hide anymore. he wanted everyone else to know, he wanted them to share their happiness too. he wanted to tell max and see her reaction. he wanted to tell dustin so he could be happy for them, because he knew he would. he was just waiting for the other’s confirmation, smiling at him. “you heard me correctly.” he said at eddie’s first hesitation, nodding his head slowly.

and then he felt his heart filling up with happiness once eddie said yes, pulling him into a soft kiss and blushing as he did. he was so happy in that moment that he almost forgot the pain he was in, wanting to wrap his arms around eddie and pull him closer to him. but he couldn’t do that without wincing, so he thought it would be for the best if he stayed still. “of course… i’m sure. i’ve never been so sure of anything, ed. i… want you to be my boyfriend. and trust me, i could be put through… russian spies super drugs or whatever, and i would still ask it. i don’t care about anything else, i just want… you. to be my boyfriend.” he said with a nod.

+++

eddie choked on a laugh, mingled with a sob he tried to cover up with said laugh, and he nodded, over-exggeratedly. “you’re....so wise, stevie, i’m... thoroughly impressed.” a weak attempt at a joke to lighten the somber mood, though eddie feared neither of them would be in high spirits anytime soon. as glad as eddie was that they had both gotten out of it ... somewhat okay, he couldn’t ignore the nagging thought at the back of his head. they’d made it out this time.they’d made it out and yet he was visiting steve in the hospital, pulling down his sleeves so he wouldn’t see the marks callahan’s handcuffs had left on his wrisst. eddie couldn’t imagine what it would be like the next time around - if there was a next time. if they survived said next time. this, whatever it was, was far from over.

“i’m happy you’re okay, too.” so happy. and eddie readily complied, leaning in to press a soft kiss to steve’s lips. don’t cry again, don’t cry, don’t cry, don’t cry. eddie did his best to try and ignore the constant rhythmic beeping of the monitors and machines around them, the acidic smell of cleaning agent that lingered in the air. it was all .. .well, for lack of a better word, incredibly and horribly depressing. and it simply wasn’t... fair. they deserved their sliver of happiness. they’d been through plenty - they deserved a break. a clean cut, even. a moment of peace, no matter how fleeting.

eddie decided that, despite the stale and creepy atmosphere of a hospital, this must be his moment of peace. a soft chuckle fell from his lips, so low it was barely audbile, yet a sound of genuine happiness, however brief. he shook his head softly, smiling. “you know, sometimes i forget you’ve been through this, like, what ? four times already ? you’re such a ... i hate to say it, you’re kind of a ... badass.” eddie had to give him that. though, the first time steve had told him about their past run-ins with hawkins’ resident supernatural creatures, eddie had had a hard time believing him. well, he’d thought that the starcourt mall incident of ‘84 and steve’s subsequent fighting with russian spy soldiers in their secret underground miliatiry base had been total bogus. but here they were and eddie had come to know that well, stranger things had happened. 

“and then, in the next minute you turn around and ask me to learn the dirty dancing lift with you. you’re - “ eddie had to stop, interrupted by genuine giggles. a couple of beats passed before he’d calmed down enough to continue, grinning down at steve with a fond look in his eyes. and god, his heart felt like it might burst. “you’re a dork, steve harrington.” shutting up any and all protest steve could’ve thrown in with another kiss. followed by a quick peck on the tip of his nose, his cheek, his forehead. yeah. eddie munson was officially whipped. fuck.

he leaned back reluctantly, eyed steve with a curious expression on his face. wondering if the topic better stay avoided but - no, he had to ask. for his own sake, too. he shifted in his seat, cleared his throat. “so, uh. where -have your parents been in yet? “

stevehharringtcns·:

.

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

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

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

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

+++

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

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

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

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

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

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

backtowheeler​:

— ✎ —

Nancy had definitively decided she despised being in the hospital. Every time a nurse came in to check on her, she’d just ask when she’d be able to go home with not much of an answer. In her mind, she wasn’t even that badly injured! Her casted wrist didn’t even hurt, allegedly, and the pain in her ribs was bearable at best. Not to mention the scrapes and bruises she had sustained, but she was fine! She was sure of it. In fact, she was so confident that she was planning on proving it. She had to play it out carefully, though. Nancy waited until her parents were gone and that no one was on duty with her to make her great escape. It took her a few minutes, but she managed to slide out of the hospital bed, finally feeling free from the chains of such an uncomfortable mattress.

Nancy eventually found a bag that has spare clothes in it, assumingly for her once she was released but she was going to put them on now. Reaching down to put on her pair of socks, she heard the door open. Shit. Her head popped up, just as stunned as Eddie, thinking she had just gotten caught. “My liege?” That was a new one. She nodded. “Right,” she finished putting on her other sock best she could with her good hand. “I had no idea you and Steve were boyfriends or whatever,” a joke, and a poor one at that. 

At his question, Nancy stood up from the bed, wincing slightly but attempting to cover it up with a laugh. “How do I look? Great, right?” Great was an overstatement. She hadn’t even bothered to tuck her shirt into her pants and her hair was matted in the back from how long she had laid on the pillow. “Wanna help me with something? I’m trying to escape this shithole.”

+++

his confused and sleep-deprived gaze travelled down her form to where she was currently in the process of putting her socks on. getting dressed. in something other than a hospital gown. something was off here. but before eddie had time to quite put his finger on it, he suddenly jumped at the word ‘boyfriend’. crap. had she heard them? their rooms were right next to each other, after all. nervous eyes flicked to the washed out teal colored walls. they did seem quite sturdy ... however, if he concentrated hard enough, eddie was almost sure he could hear the constant beeping noise of one of the monitors steve and cole were hooked up to. shit.

“hey now, where did you pick that one up?” was what he settled on eventually, paired with a nervous chuckle meant to sound aloof and like this was totally not a big deal. it wasn’t. besides, nancy was dating someone else, and her and steve hadn’t been a thing in ages. and - nancy was a great person. she wouldn’t ... eddie sniffled, scrunched up his nose, discarded that train of thought right away.

now wholly focused on the barely unnoticeable wince nancy had tried to cover up. a sound he knew all too well, after all, he’d been in her position not two years ago.the desperate need to get out, convincing yourself that you were all better now, actually, thanks so much for asking. eddie gave a little amused scoff, shrugged. “you look fine, nancy. considering.” 

considering that the universe wouldn’t let them catch a break, apparently. that a lifetime of trauma experienced in the span of, what, three years, wasn’t enough. eddie wondered if they’d ever be free of this. the hospital visits, the constant worrying, the fighting, the loss. the nights spent laying awake with the lights on. “woah, where do you think you’re going? listen, i’d help you with anything, man, but, like, i think a couple more days of r&r wouldn’t do you any harm. trust me.”

stevehharringtcns·:

.

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.”

What personal space?

dvstybuns·:

WHO: Henderson & @eddiemcnson·

WHAT: Screaming Crying Throwing Up Post Event

WHERE: Eddie’s Trailer 

Everything at the carnival after they’d exited the Tunnel of Love had seemed to happen so fast. One minute, Dustin was trying to study some black goo, and the next he was watching people die. People get knocked out. Eddie get arrested. If Steve hadn’t been hurt, Dustin would have tried to intervene, convince Callahan that he couldn’t arrest Eddie just because. Because… because what proof did they have that he was even connected? Why was Eddie always the scapegoat? Why couldn’t he catch a fucking break for once?

He’d gotten out of jail sometime later, before Steve was out of the hospital. Dustin had already gone home by then, collapsing after explaining everything about the Upside Down to his extremely understanding and wonderful girlfriend. When he’d woken up and convinced his mother that he was fine and didn’t need to be watched so closely every fucking minute, Dustin had set out for Eddie’s trailer. 

Dustin didn’t know if Eddie’s uncle, Wayne, would have had time for grocery shopping or anything like that since everything that had happened. He couldn’t imagine that he did. So, on his way over, Dustin had picked up a pizza for the Munson’s. They all needed to eat something, no matter how poor their appetites were right now. 

“Eddie?” Dustin called, knocking on the door. “Dude, are you here?” He hoped that Eddie was okay; Dustin couldn’t imagine being in jail. He knew he wouldn’t make it. But thankfully, Eddie was a lot tougher than him. He was a hero, after all. “I thought you could use some dinner.” 

+++

eddie blamed his lack of sleep and judgement but somehow, steve had managed to convince him to leave his bedside for a while. leave the hospital altogether, and despite swearing high and holy that he’d not leave steve out of his sight again, now or ever, he’d eventually complied, after not even fifteen minutes of protest. he’d grabbed his stuff, pressed a kiss to steve’s lips, promising to come back in two hours tops. the rest was hazy. wayne had waited for him at home, pulled him into a bone crushing hug, he remembered that much. one of them had cried, maybe both. it seemed to be all eddie was capable of doing since the carnival. then his uncle had steered him into his room and lights out, the world had gone dark the second eddie’s body had hit his disgusting, worn out mattress. 

he’d woken up with that icky feeling you got from napping too long, mouth dry and sticky, eyes seemingly glued shut, a faint buzz all over his body. no sense of time at all. it was darker outside, he noted as he blinked, eyes narrowed, but not by much. rubbing sleep out of his eyes, he’d dragged himself out of bed to open the door, a faint smile playing at his lips as dusting came into view.

“hey, henderson, hey, man. how’s it going.” it wasn’t a question and eddie didn’t wait for an answer as he pulled dustin into the trailer and into a tight hug, not as strong as wayne’s hug had been earlier but nearly. eddie pressed his lips into a thin lip, exhaled sharply through his nose. he’d only just woken up but he was ready to cry again. god, if he could he’d jump straight into his van and drive back to chicago. taking dustin with him, of course, and max, and steve, and everyone who was near and dear to him. in time he released dustin from his grip, reached up to ruffle through hair. “thanks, man.” you didn’t have to. but dustin never had to and he always did, anyway. eddie gave him a sleepy smile. “how are you holding up? are you okay? you’re not hurt or anything?”

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