Further context: Durham city council (Reform UK) cut funding and support for Pride. The Durham Miner's Association and other trade unions raised enough money for Durham Pride 2026 to go ahead - a direct call back to when Lesbian and Gays Support the Miners (LGSM) raised money for mining communities when Margaret Thatcher seized union funding during the miner strikes of 1984-85.
At the 1985 Labour party meet, the motion to support LGBT rights as a party was passed due to a block vote from mining unions.
Stephen Guy, the chair of the Durham Miners’ Association, said that when it became apparent Durham Pride was under threat, he took it upon himself to “encourage the trade union movement to step up and do the right thing, and stand shoulder to shoulder with the LGBT+ community […] They not only raised funds for us, but came to our communities, uplifted our spirits when they were down, and showed their solidarity.”
"Hey," Steve's head lolls onto Eddie's lap with a thump, "what do you think if I told Tommy to fuck off?"
Eddie thinks he might dance a jig, take a shot of tequila, and then blow Steve if he'd let him near him. But that's not in the cards. They've been roommates for four years now, the two years they'd lived in and out of the Harrington House and the Munson Trailer before then notwithstanding.
"I think that you're full of shit," Eddie retorts, ignoring the warmth of Steve's head in his lap. Ignoring how easily his stupid head turns to lustful images of shoving his palm against Steve's cheeks and turning him face-down to use his mouth in a way that Eddie can only dream of on the most holy of nights.
"No, really," Steve insists, hazel eyes earnest and staring up at Eddie. "You keep telling me that I'm worth more--"
"More than a bastard that fucks everthing that walks and then comes begging back to you? Yeah, sure. I have some standards."
Steve scowls up at him, eyes squinted, "I have standards."
Eddie stares right back, unwilling to back down, "Sure you do, sweetheart." He sinks enough scorn into the last word to push Steve away but Steve continues to squint back. He stares at Eddie with such unwavering certitude that it's Eddie who wavers.
"Robin told me something," Steve says calmly. Head still in Eddie's goddamn lap.
Eddie hums, looking away from the intent gaze. Ignoring it. Ignoring every moment he thought was more over the past six years.
"She told me that I'm not imagining things. That I'm not stupid--"
Eddie interrupts, exasperated after all this time that Steve still thinks so low of himself, "Of course you're not stupid. You have to stop listening to Tommy - he's full of shit and talks you down so that he's bigger. But you're bigger, Steve. You're a whole shitting statue looming above the teeny tiny human he pretends that he is. Just forget him for Christ's sake."
"Not that you will," Eddie mutters even as he's annoyed that he had spoken so candidly.
"So you're saying that I should trust my instincts?" Steve asks, eyes burning and frame oddly taut against Eddie's legs. The television flickers in the background, casting blue shadows against the planes of Steve's face and all Eddie can hopelessly think is how desperately he wants to lick the sharp lines of it.
Before he can sink into the moroseness of it all, Steve scrambles up and Eddie grunts at the unexpected force as elbows poke at sensitive parts only for Steve's sweet, sincere face to be hovering over his.
Eddie stares up, lacking understanding and any idea of what to do next. The beautiful eyes staring back down at him are captivating, the pretty marks against the canvas of his skin enthralling and, in that very moment, Eddie's head is so blank that he can't be counted on to make a decision or recall one past decisive thought.
"Kiss me," Steve demands and an arrow pierces Eddie's chest so cleanly that he thinks he'll never breathe easily again.
"What?" he wheezes, but Steve simply nods resolutely.
"Kiss me if you feel anything for me."
Steve's jaw is clenched, Eddie can see, in the way he does when vulnerable and sad. It makes something in Eddie's gut tighten in sympathy. Because all he has wanted for years is for Steve to kiss him. To want to kiss him. But here Steve is, looking for all the world like he expects Eddie to push him away.
He'd never.
Palm raising shakily, Eddie cups Steve's jaw, bringing their lips together in a union that is soft and unsure.
Just as shakily, Steve exhales, brow furrowed and lips pursing in distress. "That's it?" he sighs heavily, sadly. Looking away and nodding to himself as if he understands a terrible truth, "I get it. And I'm sorry, I shouldn't have forced you to--"
Consumed by a sudden fierceness, Eddie surges forward, taking Steve's beautiful face in his hands and his lips in a passionate fusion. Their lips merge in a slick embrace while breaths combine, becoming one.
Drawing back with a wet schlick, a translucent ribbon connects their mouths before snapping away. Steve looks as dazed as Eddie, the both of them reminiscent of cartoon characters whacked over the head with rolling pins.
"I should..." Steve stutters.
The whole of Eddie's body softens, sure in that this is the moment. This is his moment and it's Steve's too. It's their moment to make a future worthwhile.
"You should tell Tommy to fuck off," Eddie says, hoping against all hope that Steve will meet him beat for beat.
Steve licks his lips, a smirk spreading across his delectable face, "Because you feel something for me."
Confidence fills Eddie and he smirks right back, "Because I feel everything, sweetheart." Steve's face brightens as Eddie repeats, "Everything."
Eddie realizing his second senior year that Steve can't hear for shit out of his left ear.
He realizes this because he sits beside Steve in the back row of their English class and Steve never responds to him when he asks him to move his chair.
He thought Steve was just being a dick at first but no. He notices it all the time so really, there's no harm in admitting, "You smell really good."
Or saying, "Your hair looks hot today."
Or, "You're hot."
Or, "Saw you with that one kid again today. It's cute the way you look out for him."
Or, "I've always been a little in love with you."
"You know," Steve says back. "I got a hearing aid the other day."
"It's like a whole new world having two ears again," Steve continues even though Eddie's heart is in his ass. He turns his bright smile to him and ask, "Wanna show it to me, Munson?"
"Show...?"
"The hearing world," Steve clarifies. "You like music, right? Have a band?"
"Uh, yeah?"
"Cool, you can play for your music for me after school," He smiles. "It's a date."
lucas sinclair, who is a dark-skinned black man in the middle of nowhere indiana
lucas, who most definitely has been othered all of his life
lucas who, even when surrounded by people he trusts, so rarely sees himself reflected in them
lucas, who has always been an outcast in ways the others aren’t, in ways that are more – god knows he’s been called much worse things than freak
lucas, who has seen people avoiding his touch, crossing the street when he’s walking, distrusting him like it’s a default setting
lucas, who knows what it’s like to do everything right and still be looked at like he’s wrong
lucas, who hears will saying he’s not like them and gets it in ways the others can’t
lucas, who knows will is going to experience all of the same things – the othering, the distrust, the mistreatment, the slurs, the being avoided like the mere touch of you could kill, the dangers that come with just being – despite the differences in their circumstances
lucas who, even if he’d ever felt some kind of way about queerness, would grab that feeling and squeeze the life out of it because that right there is will. his will.
his in the way all of lucas’ people are his. his to carry when unconscious, his to tackle out of the way, his to use himself as bait, his to take a slashing to the chest, his to jump over tables and traps and interdimensional monsters. his to protect, his to kill for, his to die for.
lucas sinclair who of course is the first one to say you won’t ever lose me – who also means i’m here, i love you, there’s nothing wrong with you, i’ll protect you, i’ll stand by you, i understand you
stormborns
germansingergirl
