Inspired by Party Tattoos by Dodie
An Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works
Take a look at the clock only so long to go
Scrubbing smooth young skin saying I don't know
Grab a bag, grab a bottle but leave the what if
You'll see it in the morning after your kicks
Eddie loved getting ready for parties. He loved picking out his outfits, mixing and matching clothes in all kinds of combinations. He loved going through his jewelry box and picking out his rings and necklaces, sometimes even an earring or two, to go along with his outfits. He checked the clock and hurried to the bathroom to wash his face, the feeling of the cold water waking him up after his long shift at the record store. He grabbed his deodorant, humming along to whatever song was playing from his stereo through the whole trailer, and swiped it under his armpits. A spritz of cologne after he got dressed and put on all his jewelry and a touch of dark eyeshadow on his eyelids.
“Shit, where's my wallet?” he cursed himself while digging through his work bag, finding the wallet at the very bottom of it. He stuffed it into the back pocket of his black jeans and turned off the stereo. The tote bag with bottles of different liquors and some snacks was waiting for him in the kitchen. He always brought snacks when they went out, never knowing when hunger would strike their drunk minds. At first the others had made fun of him, but after Robin's third munchies attack and Steve's drunken mind only being calmed by the crackers in Eddie's bag, they had started to appreciate it.
He grabbed his bag and made his way out of the trailer, ditching his van and instead decided to bike to the Harrington residence for their pregaming shenanigans. Two more bikes were already parked on the front lawn when he got there, so he wasted no time barging through the door.
All you will need for a rocking good time
Is a bunch of people who don't give a damn
There's a yes, in your head, gotta find where it's at
You'll lose it in the morning but ignore that
"Eddie! There you are!” Robin threw her arms around him, while Steve grabbed the bag from his hands and unloaded the bottles in the kitchen. Eddie could already smell a hint of alcohol on her breath and a smirk crept up on his face.
“Did you start without me Buckley? I’m offended” He pushed her off and dramatically grabbed his chest.
“She couldn’t wait. And she’s still upset that we went out without her last time, when she was sick.” Nancy chuckled and Eddie quickly joined in. They all made their way to the couch, a few red solo cups already waiting on the couch table. Steve joined them shortly after, a few bottles of liquor and mixers in his hands. He set them all down on the table and started to take orders as if he were a bartender. He mixed their drinks and handed everyone their respective cups.
A few rounds of different drinking games, and they were all more than buzzed. They were a stumbling mess of limbs as they all pulled their shoes back on by the door, getting ready to head out to whatever Party it was, that they were invited to. Eddie never really bothered to keep up with the invitation. He just joined along with his friends, whenever they told him they were invited somewhere. He barely recalled the name Jackson being said at some point during their drinking session.
And we're not bruised, they're just party tattoos
And that colourful mess is just colourful regret
Black lipstick will never be a sin
We'll regret it when we're old with wrinkled up skin
We'll regret it when we're old with wrinkled up skin
Regret it when we're old with wrinkled up skin
Robin kept giggling and stumbling as they walked to the party, her being the drunkest out of all of them. Even with Nancy’s arm wrapped around her hip it didn't take long for Robin to stumble and fall to the ground, scraping her knees a little bit. She laid on the floor, a giggling mess, while Steve and Eddie tried to pull her back up.
“Nooooo,” she whined, “It’s so comfy down here.”
“Get your ass up, Buckley! We have places to be!” Eddie continued to pull her back up to her feet. Eventually she stood back up, holding onto the two men who steadier her on either side.
“That’s gonna leave a bruise, Robs. Maybe even a scar” Nancy pointed to her girlfriend's scraped up knees, pulling a tissue from her small bag to attempt to get rid of some of the dirt in the small open wounds. Eddie pulled a small sleeve of crackers from his pocket and stuffed one of them in Robin's mouth, in an attempt to sober her up enough to walk properly by herself.
They stayed by the side of the road for a few minutes, waiting for Robin to regain control of her legs. Eventually she straightened herself up, grabbed Nancy’s hand and placed a big wet kiss on her cheek, leaving an imprint of her lips in the black lipstick she was wearing. They both giggled and the four of them made their way to the party.
My mummy said to always wear a coat
But it's warm and it's heavy and we're trying to float
Don't forget she'll be right when it's 3am
So shiver, but shiver with a friend
The inside of Jackson's house was hot. People were piled up on the couch, others were dancing on every free inch of the floor. Red solo cups were strewn about, turning the floor into a sticky mess. There were too many people and not enough open windows, the air felt heavy. The small group quickly made their way to the kitchen, dropping their leftover bottles between the other ones on the counter, before grabbing cups and filling them up with various drinks.
They all quickly lost sight of each other, Robin and Nancy presumably hiding in some corner to make out, while Eddie and Steve made their way into the big crowd to dance. The room grew hotter and hotter, more and more people kept piling into the house. Eventually Steve grabbed Eddie's hand and pulled him to the kitchen, through the back door and out into the garden.
A few people were already outside, a couple making out in one of the lawn chairs, a small group sitting on the grass passing a joint around and chatting. Steve dragged Eddie to the side of the pool, plopping down on the lounge chair, further away from everyone else. Eddie quickly sat next to him, leaning into his boyfriend’s personal space as much as he physically could. It was cold outside and he cursed himself for not listening to Wayne and bringing a jacket, so he had to make do with Steve’s body heat. Steve noticed his shivering boyfriend next to him and quickly wrapped his arms around Eddie, pulling him close and kissing his lips softly.
“Eds, I love you, you know?” Eddie only giggled in response, kissing Steve once more. It didn’t take long for their kiss to grow heated, warming Eddie from the inside.
And we're not bruised they're just party tattoos
And that colourful mess is just colourful regret
Black lipstick will never be a sin
We'll regret it when we're old with wrinkled up skin
We're not bruised they're just party tattoos
And that colourful mess is just colourful regret
Black lipstick will never be a sin
We'll regret it when we're old with wrinkled up skin
We'll regret it when we're old with wrinkled up skin
Regret it when we're old with wrinkled up skin
Nancy and Robin were still inside, hidden away in a corner, hands in each other's hair, their lips barely parting to gasp for air. Eventually the room grew hot even for them, and they decided to go looking for Eddie and Steve. They found them outside and sat down on the lounge chair right next to them. Robin cleared her throat theatrically, causing the men to finally pull away from each other's lips.
“Jesus you guys are almost worse than we are. Were you even breathing in there?” Robin chuckled, playing with the rings on Nancy's fingers. They both had Robin's black lipstick smeared all around their lips, hair obviously messier than when they had left Steve’s house.
“You guys look like you made out with a lump of coal, don’t think you did any more breathing than we did!” Steve chuckled and pointed at Nancy's face. “Black suits you though, Nance.”
“How are your knees doing, Buckley?” Eddie let his eyes wander down to his friend’s knees. The bruising around the scratches was more obvious now, he was sure she would be sore in the morning.
“Oh yeah they’re fine! Maybe I’ll get some sick scars to tell our kids about one day” Laughter erupted between the group.
Nancy pulled Robin closer and placed a kiss on her cheek. “I don’t know how much we should tell our kids about getting blackout drunk. But maybe we’ll come up with a different story to tell.”
Write a postcard to you at 84
Tell them you'd never dream of living behind the door
Life was fun, full of love, full of hopeful smiles
Bet you wish you were here, but I'll see you in a while
“I can’t wait for all of us to grow old together. Get married, have kids. The whole lot.” Steve sighed and leaned back on the lounge chair, “I wish I could tell my past self I would eventually be this happy.”
Eddie squeezed next to Steve on the too small lounge chair, wrapping his arms around him. “If I told past me that we would eventually end up with King Steve, I don’t think he would believe me.”
Robin and Nancy pushed their lounge chair closer and cuddled up on it just like the men did. Drunken ramblings of their past and future selves fell from each of their lips.
And we're not bruised they're just party tattoos
And that colourful mess is just colourful regret
Black lipstick will never be a sin
We'll regret it when we're old with wrinkled up skin
We're not bruised they're just party tattoos
And that colourful mess is just colourful regret
Black lipstick will never be a sin
We'll regret it when we're old with wrinkled up skin
We'll regret it when we're old with wrinkled up skin
Regret it when we're old with wrinkled up skin
Steve woke up back in his bed the next morning, Eddie's mop of curls tickling his chest. His head was pounding and he was not quite sure of how they made it back home. He mentally thanked himself when he spotted two bottles of water and some painkillers on his bedside table, quickly taking one of the pills and drinking half of the bottle of water. He placed a kiss on Eddie’s temple and peeled his arms off himself.
He trotted down the stairs slowly, ready to grab whatever food he could find to prepare a hangover breakfast, when he saw Robin's legs dangling off the back of the couch. He chuckled as he saw his two best friends intertwined on the couch and thanked himself again when he saw more water and painkillers on the couch table.
It was only when he opened his fridge and the cold air hit his bare chest, that he realized he was in his boxers. A trail of black lipstick marks leading down his chest, all the way to the waistband of his underwear. He blushed as his mind was flooded with images of Robin applying her lipstick to Eddie’s lips and then more images of Eddie kissing every inch of his body in his bed. A blush crept up his cheeks, which only intensified when he felt two tattooed arms snake around his waist.
“Morning Sunshine, thank you for the painkillers.” Eddie rested his head on his boyfriend's shoulder, placing soft kisses along his neck.
“I think I needed them just as much as you did.” Steve chuckled and turned around in Eddie’s arms. He placed a quick kiss on Eddie’s lips. “What do you want for breakfast? I have cereal or bacon and toast.”
The sizzling of the bacon in the pan was what woke up Nancy and Robin, they both took the provided painkillers and water and joined the men in the kitchen soon after. The four of them scarfed down their breakfast, accompanied by comments from Robin about the trail of kiss marks all over Steve. He hadn’t seen it, but his back was covered in the marks just as much as his front was, if not more.
Robin and Nancy eventually made their ways back to their respective homes, after freshening up. Steve had cleaned out enough of his closet so that they could each store some of their clothes at his house, so they each took showers and left in fresh clothes. Eddie however stayed.
The two men were cuddled up on the couch together, engrossed in some Horror Movie that was playing on the TV. Soft touches and kisses were shared between them. Whenever one of them remembered something from the night before, they shared it.
“Hey Stevie?”
"Yeah, Eds?"
“Remember what you asked me last night? Just before we came back here?”
Steve shook his head and looked at his boyfriend. “I don’t Eds. What did I ask you?”
Eddie blushed and pulled one of his rings off. “You took this ring, snatched it right off my hand. And then you asked me to marry you.”
Now it was Steve’s turn to blush. “And what did you say, Eds?”
“Well considering the ring was back on my finger this morning, I’m assuming I said yes Stevie."
