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Brows lifting in amusement, Buck tilts his head. “What're you looking at?”

Eddie blinks out of his daze. He knew he’d been staring at Buck and Chris beside him but he hadn’t realized he’d been obvious about it. Buck had been so focused on eating dinner that Eddie thought he could get away with it for a little bit but now even Chris is staring at him, Buck’s curious expression mirrored on his face.

When Eddie takes a moment to answer, Buck continues to press. “If you have a complaint about dinner, remember you wanted to make the salad so that's on you.”

Chris giggles beside him and they high five like Buck uttered the world's funniest joke. It only proves Eddie's internal musings further.

He stabs his fork into the last remaining piece of chicken, busying himself before he says. “I didn't realize how much Chris is starting to look like you, that’s all.” His curly hair, his grin, his love for knowledge, that’s all Buck.

“Uh.” Buck gaps like a fish, gaze darting between Chris and Eddie. His own fork drops to his plate. “I don't—”

But Chris is already nodding along to Eddie's observations. “A lot of people at school think Buck's my dad. I don't bother correcting them anymore.”

“Ah, bud, you probably should. Your dad—”

“I don't mind,” Eddie interrupts, “You are his legal guardian.”

“Yeah but only when you…” Buck swallows the rest of his sentence, unable or unwilling to say the words out loud, but Eddie understands it just the same.

“The specifics of it don't matter. You're as much of a parent to Chris as I am.”

Buck stares at him with those widening blue. He struggles to speak.

Chris grunts, not in protest to Eddie's statement but in the way that he's on the verge of becoming a teen and thus is so done with this conversation—which Eddie can say is a trait Chris fully got from him and Shannon. “I'm gonna finish this in my room, see if anyone's online.”

“Don't stay up too late,” Eddie calls after him but maintains most of his attention on Buck. It's Friday at least but Chris and Buck have plans in the morning, one of the reasons why Buck is having dinner and sleeping over in the first place, not that he's not welcome to do so literally any day.

“Eddie,” Buck whispers softly once Chris shuts the door to his bedroom.

“Buck.” Somehow he gains the confidence to place a hand on Buck’s thigh and squeezes in reassurance. He needs to hear this just as much as Eddie needs to actually say it. “I've felt so stupid lately. For years I've been searching for a way to give Chris a proper family but he's had one all along.” It took too long for Eddie to realize that while he’d felt like he had to search for a mother for Chris, his son had a second father all this time and Eddie was never alone. He already had the partner he wanted. The only person he wanted to see life through with. “Chris is ours, just as you're... mine.”

“I-I'm yours?” A light flush blooms on Buck’s skin, almost matching his birthmark.

“If you want to be.”

Buck ducks his head but the action doesn't hide his smile. When he looks up at Eddie, that flush is much darker but his gaze is steady. “I don't think I've wanted anything more, to be honest." He rests his hand on top of Eddie’s, curling their fingers together.

“Good.” And Eddie leans in to kiss him.

justaz

arthur somehow summons a genie (or smth similar) and is given three wishes with some restrictions: can't wish for more wishes, can't wish for love, and can't wish to bring anyone back from the dead. after some deliberation, arthur’s first wish is to be able to see the truth, to see people for who they really are. he has been lied to and betrayed enough times, he wishes to see clearly. the genie grants him his wish. he doesn’t know what else he should wish for so he pockets the other two. he returns to camelot and notices how different people seem. there isn’t anything physically different with them, they look the same to him - same clothes, same hair, same face, etc., etc., but there are some who walk past surrounded with gold. as they pass by arthur, he feels safe and protected and knows that they’d make a good, loyal knight. he walks past some that bow to him as he passes but are shadowed in sludge. it makes arthur nauseous as he passes. they are not to be trusted.

arthur continues and sees a woman and man run into one another outside a shop. they shoot back with apologies that stutter off when they meet each others gaze. a red string ties around their ring fingers, connecting the two. they continue to converse, helping one another with what they dropped, their fingers brushing and causing them to blush. he walks past two women who also have a red string connecting them, but a man shuffles down the street and wraps an arm around one of the women. he kisses her cheek and both women look away from one another. the man doesn’t have a string.

he runs into a few of his knights who prove themselves to be as loyal as arthur believed them to be. though there is something different about them, their…auras? energies? are more fractured. they shift as the seconds pass them by. gwaine has a constant dark blue that curls around his gold. when arthur focuses on it, it pulls at his heart, an ache in his soul, some sadness he doesn’t fully understand. lancelot’s is fuzzy and shifting faster than the others. he has secrets, many, but the gold remains true. he has a red string wrapped around his finger. arthur doesn’t have to wonder who it's tied to for long, as guinevere strides around the corner a moment later. hers is golden with loyalty, but the dark blue of sadness lingers and grows stronger when she notices lancelot and arthur are together.

it hurts but arthur cares deeply for both of them. her red string isn’t tied to his finger. he’d be the man in the street disrupting the two women’s conversations. a heartache borne through loyalty. arthur will let her go. she and lancelot will be happy. arthur will survive. this is what he wished for after all.

arthur returns to his chambers to try and work through his headache but the silence doesn’t last long before merlin is bursting through his door and striding across the room towards him going on and on with some lecture about how arthur should really stop sneaking out and at least tell merlin or leon where he’s going. merlin is surrounded by gold, stronger and more vibrant than any of his knights. his energy is even more fractured than them too, shifting with each word he speaks. its fuzzy in the way lancelot's was, a lot more fuzzy. a lot of secrets. there's a dark blue, a deep sadness, that arthur hadn't been aware of. merlin reaches up to pull a leaf from arthur's hair and the king watches as the sadness ebbs and a rich pink pours over it.

arthur's eye catches on the red string around his finger that leads down to arthur's own.

merlin sighs and fiddles with the cape over his shoulder, babbling on and on as he takes care of arthur. the blue fades into almost nothingness as the pink and gold meld further and further together with each touch. his energy is also...bubbly? sparkly? it feels more alive than leon's, gwaine's, lancelot's, and even gwen's do. he wasn't entirely sure what it meant.

until he saw the same with gaius's. and audrey's. and mordred's. until he saw the same on the young man brought to his knees before arthur and accused of sorcery. until he ran into a camp of druids and saw the same energy so full of life surrounding each one of them, the energy of magic.

danny-doodles

Eddie and His Totally Real Boyfriend

Eddie got himself a boyfriend that is absolutely real and totally not fake. Inspired by an old tweet of mine where Eddie says he has a bf but corroded coffin think its a “my girlfriend goes to another school” situation.

warmfigure

i am massively overdue for a very very good week where not a single bad thing happens and everything is easy

letmegrabyourcuteass

The phone vibrates for some time now. Hen, Chim, and Ravi watch it slowly vibrate off the edge and hit the floor with a good smack.

Ravi winced as his eyes flickered to Eddie, who sat there rubbing his forehead and sighing.

"You, uh, gonna get that?" Ravi asks.

"Nope," Eddie says, relaxing further in the chair and kicking his feet up. "Where the hell is Buck? Thought he'd be here by now," the man says. They were at a small get-together at Maddie's and Chim's.

"So, who are you exactly ignoring?" Hen asks.

"Nobody," Eddie says.

Hen huffs. "Right, and I'm a straight woman."

The phone then starts a series of singular brr-brr.

"That, my friend, is a group chat," Chim says, waltzing in the living area with drinks. "What other group chat are you also in, Diaz? Are you cheating on us?"

Eddie laughs. "No, no it's just-" another single vibration. "My cousins, and sisters. They're trying to get me to come over."

"Oh?" Hen asks, raising an eyebrow.

"Are you not on good terms with them?" Ravi asks, curious about the man's family.

"I am," Eddie sighs. "They all caught wind of me coming out, you know? And by wind, I mean my mom calling every single family member and telling them what I told them,"

"Ooo, damn," Hen winces. "Do you think they wouldn't...?"

"No, no, they wouldn't care. My cousin Alysia has a wife. Still, I'm a little nervous. I didn't get the chance to tell them, and so I'm avoiding them. And I don't want the date set-ups to start again," Eddie groans.

"Well, it doesn't seem to be working," Maddie says with a sigh. "Baby Nash is down for a nap. "Thanks again for the white noise machine, Hen. I was freaking out when our old one stopped working so suddenly."

"Hey, not a problem. We have a few in the closet, so it's no bother."

Another vibration, but this time it was a different pattern. Eddie perks up, reaching over for his phone. "That's Buck."

"I'm not going to even comment on the fact that he set a different pattern just for Buck," Chim says, amused.

Eddie quickly sits up, alert. "What the fuck--" he says, panicking. Everyone whips their heads over to Eddie, all concerned.

"What?"

"Did something happen to Buck?" Maddie says, worried. She pulls her phone out."

"He just messaged me help sos, but left a crying emoji," Eddie says, confused. "Jesus Christ my cousins and sister left so many messages," the man mutters. Eddie notices a voicemail left by his cousin.

He sighs, ignoring it and clicking on the voicemail Buck left.

"I have been taken against my WILL," the voicemail Buck left says.

Maddie tilts her head at her brother's tone of voice. Not panicking enough.

A woman laughs, "You came willingly!"

"I-I did not--" the voicemail ends.

Eddie glares at the screen.

That laugh.

"That was my fucking sister," Eddie hisses. He scrolls back to his voicemail logs, clicking on the previous one he had ignored from his cousin.

"Ahhhh!!!!! Baby Primo!!! Come on, don't ignore us!! We just wanna hang out. It's been forever, and I feel like we haven't done that in a while--hang you know? We got a party going on, ama making some food, managed to get your sister here too, but she said you wouldn't come unless we had something to get you to come over. Usually, abuela works, pero you know she's in Texas right now for a small trip," his cousin, Fernando, says.

Oh. Oh no.

"I don't like where this is going~" Chim says, looking at Eddie amused.

"Oh no," Eddie mutters in horror.

"So we got your gringo here!" Fernando cheers. "It was easy, man."

Another voice chimes in. "Yeah, all Sophia had to do was show up at his place and wave baby pictures of you, you know, the one where you were all cute and chunky--" Alysia, his cousin, says.

Eddie's face turns red. He glares at Hen and the others, who were all too amused by the events unfolding. Hen looks like she really wants to see those photos.

She was going to probably get those photos one way or another.

Alysia continues. "He was confused about who we were until he spotted Adriana and Sophia, probably from family photos you have in your house. Soon as he saw your baby photo, he was all happy, smiling away. Swear his eyes lit up and everything."

"They manhandled me into the car!" Buck's voice says in the background.

"He's kinda right. Sophia actually manhandled him into the car. Said something about it being chilly and that we should all sit in the car." That. That was his sister, Adriana. "He was like, 'okay.'"

"They're lying!" Buck cries out.

"You keep that up, and I'm not showing the videos," Adriana threatens.

Silence.

"Thought so," She huffs,

Jesus Christ.

"Anyways, you know where mi mama is, we're all at her place. We'll wait for you. Don't worry, I think ama is going to keep him busy in the kitchen. We'll feed him, too. He looks like he needs a few tacos," Fernando mutters.

The voicemail ends.

And a headache starts forming for Eddie.

"Did-Did your family just kidnap my brother?" Maddie asks.

"Is it kidnapping if he went willingly?" Chim says. "I mean, leave a trail of Eddie's baby photos, and Buck will go anywhere."

"I don't blame him. I kinda want to see those photos too," Hen says.

Eddie sighs, getting up. "I gotta go,"

"Have fun!" Chim snorts.

super-powerful-queen-slayyna

"Eddie, c'mon!"

"Leave it alone, Buck!"

"You expect me to forget about the fact that you just kissed me?!"

"Yes!"

"Eddie!"

Buck knocked on the bedroom door again, to no avail. Sighing deeply, Buck closed his eyes and slumped forward against the locked door, unwittingly replaying the last few minutes in his mind.

He truly did not see it coming. And with the way Eddie was acting, it didn't seem like he was expecting to kiss Buck either.

They were at Buck's new place, testing out recipes for his big housewarming dinner scheduled a couple of days away. Buck had been struggling to pick a menu, overwhelmed with vastness of the choices available to him (from his own repertoire and online) and the pressure to make it perfect for everyone. It was going to be their first real family dinner following months of gloom and Buck had taken the initiative for once. With Eddie (and Chris) back and Bobby better and Mara officially adopted and the Hans having welcomed their son into the world, it was time they had a positive gathering. A celebration.

Except, two hours into researching and planning had found him inundated with a myriad ideas and no hope of narrowing them down. So, he'd done what he should have done in the first place — accepted Eddie's standing offer to help.

Eddie had turned up and converted his haphazard concepts into a concrete list. And together, they had accomplished a lot in a half hour, managing to shortlist Buck's recipes based on his ability to make them and the time it took to cook it all.

"Alright. This sounds amazing, Buck! If you do a trial run now, you won't be nervous about how the newer recipes will turn out on the day."

"Yeah, you're right."

"So, which one do you want to start with?"

"None of them."

"Excuse me?"

Buck ducked his head, shy with what he was about to admit. "I... actually have another recipe I want to try out first."

Eddie frowned. "Okay? Why didn't you write it down?"

"Because it's Pepa's Queso fundido."

Eddie's mouth parted in surprise. "What?"

"Yeah," Buck rubbed at the back of his neck, chuckling nervously. "I called her before you got here to get some ideas and she told me about it. It sounds really easy to make and Pepa said it was your favourite dish growing up, so that pretty much sealed the deal. I was going to surprise you with it."

"You were?" Eddie asked, still looking a little stunned.

"Yeah, but I can't anymore," he groaned, pouting at his friend. "I really don't want to cook it for the first time on the day and we're on shift tomorrow, so today is the only time I can trial it. I'm just annoyed the surprise is ruined."

"Buck," Eddie breathed, stepping up to him, hand on his shoulder. "I promise any queso fundir you make will be a surprise even if I'm standing next to you the whole time. You haven't ruined anything."

Buck grinned at him. "Yeah?"

"Yeah," Eddie reassured him, matching his smile.

"Okay then! Time for some chopping! But you're not allowed to do anything because this is still a surprise."

"Buck. C'mon, it'll go by faster if I do some of the chopping. Or even the grating! If this is my Tia's recipe, then I know there's a monstrous amount of cheese involved."

"... fine. But only because I hate grating."

Soon, the sounds of prep floated through the air in Buck's new kitchen. Buck started chopping the veggies while Eddie took over grating the three types of cheese involved. It was quiet until Eddie chuckled, seemingly out of nowhere.

"What?" Buck asked curiously.

"Just... this takes me back," Eddie explained, eyes alight with memory.

"Oh yeah?"

"I was stuck with the grating back then too. Sophia used to say I had to do the 'yucky' job since I was the oldest and Adri was too young to do more than hand her the ingredients as she cooked." Eddie shook his head fondly, his smile turning sweeter. "I loved it anyway. It was a simple yet delicious dish we could make whenever and it meant we could have as many tortilla chips as we wanted. And believe me, we ate a concerning amount."

"That amazing, Eds."

"Hmm. It was one of the best times I spent with them."

After the initial prep was done, Eddie was delegated to sit on the counter whilst Buck busted out the iron skillet.

"You sure I don't need to stick this in the oven? I didn't want to believe it when Pepa said I didn't really need to, but you get that crispy top with it."

Eddie smiled, rolling his eyes good-naturedly. "Yes, Buck, no oven necessary. It's just as amazing without."

Once Buck had checked that all the cheese had melted into that pleasing stretchy consistency and switched off the stove, he added the pico de gallo garnish and reached for a spoon.

"Sorry, I don't have any chips to hand right now," he said, carefully scooping up a portion and twisting the spoon to get all the cheese, "but tell me what you think."

Eddie inclined closer wordlessly and wrapped his mouth around the utensil, his eyes never straying from Buck's face. They lit up as he proceeded to chew.

"Good?" Buck asked tentatively.

Still chewing, Eddie opted to smile broadly and nod.

"Good," Buck sighed out, relieved, moving to taste it himself. "I think this will be a good alternative for your usual dips. And who doesn't love tortilla chips, right?"

There was no answer.

Buck was too busy taking a bite to notice. "Mmmf, you weren't kidding. I'd want to eat unhealthy amounts of this, too. No wonder it's your favourite, Eds, I don't think I can stop making this now."

"Yeah."

Buck was being hauled forward then, his chin tipped up as soft lips pressed to his. The spoon dropped the floor as his fingers slackened with surprise, the metal clattering noisily on the tile below.

Buck's eyes dropped shut as he melted into it after a moment, kissing back gently, hands coming up to frame Eddie's face. But as he tried to angle their lips and deepen the kiss, Eddie ripped himself away, his eyes wide with panic and shock.

"Eddie..." Buck murmured, his mind finally catching up and sending his heart racing. His best friend had just kissed him.

However, Eddie didn't reply, hopping off the counter and sprinting out of the kitchen. There was the distinct sound of a door slamming shut by the time Buck managed to pry his feet off the floor and trail after him.

"That's my bedroom!"

"So?"

"You can't hide in there forever!"

"Watch me!"

"What about Chris, Eddie? You gonna leave him to his own devices?"

"I've had a good run being his father. It's your turn now!"

Buck choked out an incredulous laugh, feeling slightly ridiculous shouting at a door. Did he unknowingly step through the Looking Glass with Alice?

"I will break down this door, man, new house be damned."

Silence rang out from the other side. Buck decided that he'd wait about twenty seconds before he'd follow through on his promise.

He'd counted down to five when the lock finally clicked.

The door creaked open to reveal a red faced Eddie, biting his lip, eyes cast to the floor. "I don't know why I did that," he whispered.

Buck shuffled forward carefully, stopping when their feet touched. "Do you regret it?" he asked, voice hushed. That was the only real question at the moment. They could figure out everything else.

Eddie didn't meet his eyes. His head shook side to side.

Exhaling slowly, Buck closed the last of the distance, gathering Eddie into his arms. It was slow, but Eddie embraced him back, nestling into him with a sigh.

"I think I got it wrong, why Queso fundido is my favourite."

"Yeah?" Buck hummed, palm gently soothing up and down Eddie's back.

"I think I like the process of making it more than just eating it."

"Why's that?"

Eddie pulled back from his chest then, finally looking him in the eye. His cheeks were still flushed prettily and there was a cute little smile adorning his lips.

"Because making it always meant that I get to spend time with the ones I love."

Buck made a pleased sound, his lips splitting open in a blinding grin as he tilted forward to nudge his nose with Eddie's and rest against his forehead.

He closed his eyes, letting out a dreamy sigh.

"I think that's the perfect reason to call anything your most favourite thing in the world."

littleyellowtangerine

Modern-ish fake dating Steddie AU where Steve is still the king of Hawkins High when the party enters their freshman year.

He used to babysit them when he was with Nancy but became friends when they started to teach him how to be less of a jerk and remained friends after they broke up.

He loves them, and he is excited, although begrudgingly, to have them in high school. He expected the bunch of kids to bother him at any minor inconvenience, get the perks of being friends with someone "popular," like they continually pointed out. But none of them does.

Which comes as a surprise because Steve finds out that they are being bothered.

At first they brush it off; they say that it's to be expected, they are nerds after all, that Steve wouldn't understand because he is popular.

But Steve doesn't buy it; he knows there's more to it by the way everyone immediately closed off about it. Repeating like a broken record that he wouldn't understand. Steve's hunch is right, as he later finds out they are specially bothering Will and Mike, calling them slurs and such.

He hates it, he hates it so much and wants to intervene, but Mike tells him to "mind his own business."

Steve figures out that maybe that was the thing he "wouldn't understand" that the kids were so adamant on telling him.

He doesn't know what the right move to do is, but he knows he has to do something. He looks for help, for someone who does understand and can help him do something for his kids. And he meets Robin.

He found her in the library while he was investigating one day, she was reading some language book, and he just happened to see a pin on her jacket. Barely inconspicuous, but those who knew, knew.

He shot her with one of the lines he had learned in a zine about finding community, and she looked at him with wide eyes. Needless to say, she questioned the shit out of him about his knowledge and why or how.

She admired his desire but still thought he was out of his mind. Telling him the kids were right, he couldn't understand their struggles, and aside from supporting them, there wasn't much to be done.

Steve told her how he just wanted them to feel secure, to have something to look up to, and to show them and all the other people that it was possible.

Robin telling him that of course it was possible, and although the town wasn't as bad, it was little, and not many people wanted to be the first to be out and deal with the nasty comments and the looks that everything that was 'different' brought while people adjusted to it. While they decided to either accept it or ignore it.

And that's when the idea came to Steve.

What if he was the first one to be out? What if he dated someone publicly?

"You're not gay, Steve," she said simply.

"Well, no, but people wouldn't know that, and I don't mind them thinking that of me."

And Robin hated the idea so much, it was dangerous and crazy and absurd, and it was simply bad. She knows it, but, god, what if? What if it works? Maybe it was just her delusional side that wanted it to work, but who cared?

"Ok, ok, god, I can't believe I'm saying this, but Steve, we need to get you a boyfriend."

They spend weeks looking for someone to be Steve's fake boyfriend, but they can't seem to find the perfect match. Robin scolding Steve for rejecting candidates because 'there was no way he would date a guy like this or like that.'

Steve claiming that it had to look real and that he would never go for a guy whose whole personality was hitting the gym and drink proteins.

Steve reassures Robin that they will find the perfect match. She has to trust him.

And they do find the one.

Steve takes one look at Eddie Munson stepping on people's lunches and ranting about nonconformism and the big man, and he just knows it has to be him.

It helps that Eddie displays his handkerchief in his back pocket, a patch on his vest, and a pin on his backpack that loudly call to Steve.

His lips are parted, and his heart is beating rapidly as he watches him.

"Robin" he calls her. She was mildly listening to Eddie, more preoccupied with eating her lunch. "I think I found him."

Robin had never moved as fast, turning to see Eddie loudly yelling at the jock's table. Looking back at Steve, "Him?" she whisper-yelled, but finding only amusement in Steve's face, "Munson? Really?"

So it's settled: Steve meets with Eddie at the beat-up picnic table where he deals and tells him the whole plan.

Giving the whole speech he practiced with Robin, telling him the situation bar the names of his kids, what he wanted to accomplish, what he could do for him to ensure he was safe, everything.

If he still wanted deniability, he just needed to let Steve be the one to approach and take care of things. If anything turned ugly, he would take the brunt of it.

Eddie at first laughs, thinking it's a joke, but when he sees Steve's confused puppy look, he knows it's for real.

He immediately tells him he can't help, but he sees Steve's face fall with his answer.

"Not that I don't find your quest admirable, Harrington, but do you even understand what you are asking? Like, seriously?"

And well, Steve knows he could never really fathom it; he understands why the thing he is asking for is hard but never really understands going through it the same way his kids or Robin and Eddie do, but there's not a thing on earth that he wouldn't do or try to ensure his kids were happy and safe.

"I do know, Eddie," Steve said, almost a whisper. "I do know, that's why I was asking you."

But it didn't matter anymore; Eddie had already said no, and he swore to Robin he wouldn't press.

But that gets Eddie's attention.

Suddenly stopping him to ask what that meant, why the King of Hawkins High and apparently mother of some freshman kids chose him?

"You like the Dragons and Dorks game that my kids play," Steve tells him. He wanted someone the kids could relate to, someone who liked the things they liked and understood them better than Steve ever could. He wanted someone that they could look up to.

Eddie seems confused with his answer, holding onto Steve until he explains, and Steve only wants to get out of there, feeling rejected, so he just blurts his thoughts out, wishing any of it makes sense to Eddie so he lets him go.

"You are always yelling about not letting other people dictate your life and breaking the expected. You rant endlessly in the cafeteria about not conforming to the system and openly enjoy the things you like, even if they are strange or not popular. You are just so unapologetically yourself, man. I was sure that if anyone would understand and want to actually do something about it, it would be you."

Steve pursed his lips but ultimately slumped his shoulders, defeated. "I guess I was wrong"

And he leaves.

Steve was slumped after that, he didn't realize how high his hopes were about Eddie accepting that when he didn't, he felt really hurt. A constant pang in his chest every time he thought of their conversation. He called Robin and told her everything, she saying that it was expected and that they would try to find another person.

Steve didn't feel like telling her how little he wanted to find another person. Wallowing the whole weekend.

By Monday he had half his mind to just quit the plan altogether; he couldn't think of anyone other than Eddie who could hit all the marks. He was in the middle of telling all of that to Robin when they made it to his locker, and there, peeking out, was a red envelope and a rose.

He quickly took the thing. On the front, in a chicken-scrawled signature, it read

"For Steve from Eddie <3"

Steve's heart was beating fast. Robin gasped at his side; she was looking over his shoulder, urging him to open it and pulling at his jacket to hurry up.

Steve blinked like he was awakening from a dream and hurriedly opened the letter.

It read:

"Dear, King Steve,

although I still think you're crazy and out of your mind. Your words have moved me, and I accept whatever lunatic thing you have in that head of yours.

But, for someone who apparently has been listening and watching what I say and what I do, you don't know shit about me if you think you will be the one courting.

There will be some rules to discuss later, but for now, enjoy the little gift. Like someone said, 'What's in a name? That which we call a rose, by any other name would smell as sweet' or something romantic like that.

Love, your humble jester, Eddie"

Robin points out how clever Eddie was with the writing of the letter, making sure that if anyone other than Steve snooped around, they would only think they were involved. Like really involved.

And that's when Steve remembers this card is part of the performance, because they are faking it.

And something in there doesn't sit right with him, because this is the first flower he gets in his life, and he doesn't like that it's part of a scheme.

Robin bumps his arm, getting him out of his head, silently asking if he is ok, and Steve smiles at her. This is good news; he is happy.

The fake dating ensues.

Just like Eddie said, he takes care of all of it; he constantly leaves notes and poems for Steve. He walks him to all his classes and makes sure to sit (or make him sit) with him at lunch. His hands always finding their way to interlock with Steve's. He is boisterous and knows how to make a show of how infatuated he is with Steve.

They did put rules, but if he wanted the plan to work, there needed to be more than just hand holding. So Eddie kisses his hands, cheeks, and forehead whenever he deems necessary.

Steve is in kind of a shock because he is accustomed to being the one doing the charming, but he can't say it hasn't been nice to experience being on the receiving end of all the affection. Still, he does try to do his part; he asks Eddie to wear his letterman jacket and trade him something in return, he asks the people in the radio club to put on some corny-ass song for him during the morning announcements, and he gets Nancy to include a tiny poem in the school's newspaper for him. Steve is all about the gestures, after all.

Everyone at school is shocked at first, but even if they aren't really friends anymore, Tommy gives shit to others for being in Steve's business, and Carol makes fun of his teammates for being more interested in who he is dating than actually scoring in games, and that seems to calm the waters.

The kids don't believe it right away; this is their Steve! There's no way they didn't know he liked guys; he dated Nancy and a bunch of other girls; he is famously a ladies man.

Eddie didn't know they were Steve's kids, but as soon as he clocks them, he takes them under his wing, inviting them to Hellfire and making sure to keep an eye on them. They are skeptical about it but warm up pretty soon when they see how ruthless he is with the game.

Robin meddles a bit in his favor and lectures them about bisexuality, and that, plus the kids seeing Steve actually blushing with Eddie's words and gestures, makes them buy it.

The plan seems to work just right, better than right. Against every odd, Mike ends up confiding in Steve about him and Will and everything that happened at school before.

Steve understands a bit better, because even though Eddie and him are doing fine, they still receive some hate.

At school it's mostly Billy and his cronies, but Steve is so high up on the social hierarchy that his words fall on deaf ears, and Eddie and his band are 'freaky' enough that they are scared of trying anything funny in case they curse them or something.

But around town, when Eddie and him go on 'dates,' because according to Steve they have to be seen outside of school too, they get sneers and comments that actually make Steve shake.

He tells Mike just that, the good and the bad, and that if he needs anything, he can count on him anytime.

He tells Steve he is happy that he found Eddie and how much they love each other, and Steve is met with the realization that he might not be faking it as much as he though.

Which Robin seconds with a "duh" because she had the thought since he was so adamant on Eddie being the one he wanted to fake date.

Steve feels guilty about it because there's no way he can tell Eddie about his feelings. This was supposed to be fake, and Eddie might not like him in reality, and now Steve has trapped him in an awkward situation. On top of that, if they break up, he will not only lose Eddie but also shatter the illusion for the kids.

Unbeknownst to him, Eddie has been fighting with the feelings he caught for Steve since he told him his crazy but sweet plan to help the kids, along with learning the vision Steve had of him before they even 'met.' They even have kissed! (They agreed they had to do it to keep up appearances, nothing else at all. Nope, they didn't practice at Eddie's van, multiple times).

So they both think there's no way out of it without a heartbreak and try to keep it from the other, but they become so stiff around each other and they miss being close so much that they break.

Steve tells him he was sorry, but he lied, and he enjoyed every date and gift and gesture as if it was real and directed at him, and Eddie tells Steve he is sorry because it was real for him, and he never faked anything because he really wanted it to be so he had been flirting and doing all of it, taking advantage of the plan to be close to Steve.

When they realize what the other is saying, they realize they have actually been dating for months. That the looks and blushes Steve got anytime Eddie would come near were real. The heart-to-heart talks they had on their dates and any smile he gave Eddie were sincere.

As well as Eddie's sweet and encouraging words, the poems he wrote and the way he made Steve feel warm and taken care of instead of being the one taking care of things. It was all real.

They end up telling the kids years later, when the party is on their graduation day, and they give them shit for lying for about two seconds before they reason it wasn't actually a lie if they did end up together.

gay-space-diaries

Eddie washes dishes late at night. It has to be past midnight but he can’t sleep. The reminder of dirty dishes in the sink had managed to filter through his weighted thoughts, loud enough to force him out of bed instead of continuing to stare at the ceiling for four more hours thinking of his son in Texas and all his disastrous romantic entanglements.

Warm water glides over his hands; he scrubs at the caked-on food until the soap disappears and his skin reddens from the temperature. He hums a song he’s heard too many times on the radio, completely lost to the outside world.

A pair of strong arms wrap around him.

Eddie’s breath hitches but his body never startles. He twists his head slightly to the side as Buck crams his face into the crook of his neck.

“You’re drunk,” Eddie says, returning to his dish washing duties. He didn’t mean to make too much noise, didn’t mean to wake Buck up too. His grip grows tighter in response, or lack of one, and Eddie sighs.

Buck only gets super touchy with him when he’s drunk. It happened at the bachelor party where for the entire time maybe not a minute had passed without Buck keeping him close—whether draping an arm over his shoulder or helping strip off his shirt. And he’s rather still fresh off his break up with Tommy, which is probably partly the reason why he drank so much tonight and Eddie barely finished one beer so he could drive them both home.

“Am not,” eventually comes Buck’s delayed reply. It should be impressive that he only slightly slurs his words. You could almost make a case that exhaustion is the thing blurring his speech but they went to bed no more than an hour ago—Buck face-planting on the couch without so much as a complaint about comfort—and even Buck’s system can’t process alcohol that quickly.

When Eddie fully turns to face Buck, Buck slips his arms from Eddie to plant them on the counter, blocking him on either side. Eddie settles against the counter top not looking to escape. Buck leans closer, a sloppy grin on his face as if he can’t keep his thoughts contained, though that’s also not out of the ordinary.

“If I asked,” he whispers, blue eyes shining, “would you kiss me?”

Oh—that’s… that’s not at all what Eddie could have predicted for this evening. His eyes widen, brows rising high. He opens his mouth, lips parting, before daring a response. Crossing his arms, then crossing his ankles, he presses his fingers into his biceps to ground himself, choosing to say,

“I wouldn’t kiss you when you’re drunk.”

Buck pouts but remains undeterred by Eddie’s reply. “Tomorrow then. If I asked tomorrow, would you?”

A stuttered laugh catches in Eddie’s throat. This is ridiculous. Totally, completely ridiculous. ...Right? “You’re not going to remember any of this in the morning.”

“I will,” Buck mutters with utter certainty. As if late night exhaustion has finally crept up on him, his eyelids flutter closed for a few seconds, his long lashes brushing his skin. “I will.” Repeating it a second time doesn’t convince Eddie any better, especially when Buck releases a yawn he is compelled to mirror.

“If you do, you’ll be weird about it.” Buck will probably avoid him too until enough time has passed to convince himself that Eddie would have forgotten the whole encounter—but what he never quite gets right is that Eddie remembers everything that has to do with Buck.

Buck shakes his head. “You’ll be weird about it,” he argues back like he’s five.

Would he? If Buck asked to be kissed tomorrow, would he do it? Something sputters inside him.

He thinks he would.

Suddenly, he holds Buck’s face in both hands, propping up his drooping head and forcing him to look at him, to hear him. “If you remember this conversation, ask me in the morning.”

Buck grins, nodding way too many times while Eddie guides him back to the couch, insisting, “I will. I definitely will.”

But Buck doesn’t remember and Eddie locks the question behind his lips, partly wondering if he imagined the whole thing after all. Maybe that one beer had made him delusional.

He’s not sure why he’s so disappointed.

allsteddie

Following @cafecito-by-thewindow suggestion, and this post.

When the day of their concert in Indianapolis comes, Eddie feels a little nervous. He didn’t get any replies from Steve, confirming if he’d be at the concert or not, but he did know the package he’d sent was personally delivered to the guy, so he did get the tickets and Eddie’s note.

Logically speaking, Eddie knows he shouldn’t be anxious. He doesn’t even know the guy, their only interaction in that convenience store was a complete disaster, but Steve’s honesty that night had been like a breath of fresh air. It had been years since anyone had dared to talk to Eddie like that, without filter or fake pleasantries. It’s safe to say that, after that single, horrible interaction, Eddie was smitten. Smitten enough to bully the man’s name out of the store cashier, then use his influence to track down where he lives.

Does his little infatuation make any sense? No, but a lot of things in Eddie’s life don’t make sense, so he doesn’t give a fuck, really.

That night, he gives everything he’s got in his performance. He sings each song with so much emotion even his bandmates notice there’s something different there. The crowd screams his name, sings with him; the atmosphere inside the venue is like nothing he’s ever seen.

And Eddie is elated, so, so proud of himself and his art. He hopes Steve is watching him, hopes the guy can give him a chance to finally meet him and apologize for being a prick to him the other night.

When the concert comes to an end, Eddie is basically vibrating with adrenaline. He goes backstage in a hurry, heart pounding like crazy inside his chest, in his ears. He makes quick work toweling the sweat off his skin, checking himself in the mirror to make sure he looks composed enough to meet with his guests.

But minutes pass, a few people come backstage to meet the band, but there’s no sign of Steve anywhere. He recognizes some of their label’s higher-ups and their families, some celebrities who were there watching their show, and still no Steve in sight.

Then, Eddie sees a curly-haired teenage boy with braces, dressed head to toe in Corroded Coffin merch, and a brunette girl with a buzzcut. They are both looking at Eddie with these huge eyes, the boy even has his mouth open dumbly. Eddie’s never seen these kids in his life, but they are looking at him with so much awe in their faces that he can’t help but approach them.

“What’s up, kids? What can I help you with?”

That’s all it takes for the kids to start talking non-stop. Eddie soon finds out their names –Dustin and El—, finds out they’ve been following Corroded Coffin music for a few years now, that it was their friend Will who introduced them to the band when they were twelve and that they became hardcore fans since then –they are seventeen now. They then start asking Eddie a thousand questions about their songs, about life on the road, about what inspires them when they are writing their lyrics.

Eddie tries to answer everything; they are nice kids, and it’s amusing how excited they are about meeting him. When Dustin introduces himself, Eddie recognizes the name and wonders if this is Steve’s Dustin, but the kids talk so fast that he can’t find an opportunity to ask them.

They talk for some good twenty minutes. Eddie offers them some soda and snacks, and they sit on the couches, their conversation interrupted now and then when Gareth, Jeff or Freak join them for a minute or two.

It’s nearing half past one when Dustin takes a quick look at his phone and kinda freaks out.

“Oh my God, El, we need to get going!” he almost squeaks, frantic, already jumping out of the couch and pulling El by the arm. “Steve’s already called me seven times. He’s gonna skin us.”

“So you two are friends with Steve,” Eddie says, following them. “Why didn’t he come to the show? No offense, El, it was lovely meeting you.”

El grins knowingly. “None taken.”

“Ah, right. You probably don’t know,” Dustin says. “Well, Steve can’t really come to places like this; he’s got some kind of chronic migraines because he suffered a lot of concussions when he was in school. Places with loud music and large crowds are a no go for him.”

Ah, so that’s why the guy didn’t show up. Eddie is still disappointed, of course, but at least now he knows it’s not exactly because Steve didn’t want to see him, but because he couldn’t.

“But he did drive us here,” El chirps in, taking Eddie out of his thoughts. “And we’re supposed to meet him in this pizza place a few blocks down the street before he can drive us back home.”

Eddie is so confused by the sudden information that all he can say is, “Oh. Really?”

“Yeah,” Dustin nods. “The guy is super protective. No way he’d let us drive here alone.”

For some reason, that only makes Eddie’s disappointment grow even more. Honest, pretty and a sweetheart, why the hell did Eddie act like dick when he met the man? He’s so fucking stupid.

“You can come with us if you want,” El suggests, and there’s this glint in her eyes that lets Eddie know that she’s painfully aware of what’s happening there.

Dustin shoots his friend a confused look.

“He can?” he asks, at the same time that Eddie asks, “I can?”

“Of course,” the girl smiles. “Don’t you wanna say hi to Steve?”

That’s how Eddie finds himself sneaking out of the concert venue with two teenagers, so they can walk the few blocks to the pizza place El mentioned.

The look of surprise in Steve’s face when he sees Eddie walk in with Dustin and El is the funniest thing Eddie’s seen in a while.

buckmeetsboy

Going Once, Going Twice, Sold On You

Evan "Buck" Buckley/Eddie Diaz

He doesn’t belong in a tux.

He knows how to wear a uniform, how to stand at attention, how to look like part of a machine with gears and teeth. He knows how to make a suit behave on Sunday mass or his cousin’s wedding — collar tamed, tie obedient, shoes that pretend they never once knew dust. But tuxedos are a different animal. The jacket sits too smooth against his shoulders, like it might slide off if he breathes too deeply. The bow tie itches. The ballroom smells expensive: chilled air, polish, something floral that isn’t any flower he’s met in real life.

Eddie Diaz takes another sip of champagne he doesn’t like and tells himself he can leave after one hour.

He’s here because Marco wouldn’t shut up about it — a guy he knew from the Academy who got himself assigned to a station across town and somehow, miraculously, loves charity galas. It’s good to be seen, Marco had said, clapping him on the shoulder. Make a few friends before you start at your new house. LA likes a familiar face.

So Eddie came. He stood along the edge of the crowd through the program, nodded during speeches about community partnerships, smiled at a slideshow of firefighters posing with kids and rescue dogs. He thought about Christopher’s laugh during that slideshow, the way his son’s entire face becomes one joyful squint when a dog thinks he’s interesting. He thought about calling him in the morning, about checking how the first sleepover with his tia Pepa went. He thought about Monday — about a new station, a new captain, the kind of introduction where you shake hands and pretend your heart isn’t pounding at the idea of trusting these strangers with your life.

He was thinking of those hands — strong ones, he hopes, steady ones — when the room shifted.

It’s the sound first. Laughter bright enough to hook him, threaded through with something shameless. Eddie looks up and the tux issue falls away because the man on the little stage is wearing one like he was born inside it: jacket open, bow tie already loosened like he ran a race and won, hair doing something artful and ridiculous. He leans into the microphone with a grin that could sell out the Staples Center and says something Eddie doesn’t fully catch, because he’s listening to the way he says it, the way his whole body gets in on the joke. The crowd laughs again, helpless, and Eddie feels something in his chest tip toward the stage before he can drag it back.

Okay, Eddie tells himself, amused by his own reaction. So he’s got charm. Lots of people have charm. So what.

Continue reading on Ao3

novacorpsrecruit

Real To Me

@steddiemicrofic prompt: experiment | wc 398 | Gen

Steve's never heard his heart break so loud.

"It's mutual, right?" Eddie said with a half smile. "We were just messing around. I'm moving to Chicago. Jeff and Freak are already there. I'm moving up and there's a whole city —"

A whole city of people to fuck, is what Steve heard. A whole city of people who are better than you. Steve wanted to throw up.

"— And I don't want to be someone's experiment," Eddie said nonchalantly. "I want to be loved."

Loved by someone who's not you, rang too familiar in Steve's ears.

"But we're okay, right?" Eddie asked hopefully. "Still friends?"

Steve didn't want to talk. He didn't want to open his mouth, afraid what was going to come out. He wrapped his arms around his chest, leaning hard against the counter. "Yeah," he squeaked out.

"Great," Eddie breathed. "Great! For a second, I thought I fucked all of this up and ruined everything I had with you."

Steve nodded, feeling small.

God.

Steve was so stupid.

"I'm gonna head out," Eddie said, gesturing towards the front door. "I'm leaving Saturday. I'll call you when I get there?"

Steve nodded.

"Okay," Eddie nodded. "Bye, Steve —“

"It wasn't an experiment," Steve blurted out. "Not for me."

Eddie turned around, looking at Steve with wide eyes. "What?"

"It was real to me," Steve admitted quietly. "You and me. I thought —" he swallowed the lump in his throat. "— we were together."

The silence was loud. Steve closed his eyes, waiting for Eddie to retreat, to slam the door and leave.

Except, he doesn't.

He lunged forward, hands cupping Steve's face. "Oh my god, sweetheart, I'm sorry —"

"Don't do this to me," Steve said, feeling the tears fall from his cheeks. He pushed Eddie's arms away. "I can't —"

"I'm so sorry," Eddie said. "Stevie, I thought — I love you. Please. I fucked up — Let me love you."

Steve collapsed in Eddie's arms, sobbing as Eddie continued to apologize. He thought an amicable split would be better than his own heartbreak, not even aware he broke Steve's heart in the process. That Eddie was so in love with Steve, that he was scared. That he would do everything he can to prove to Steve that he does love him.

That Steve is loved.

That he was never letting go of Steve again.

allsteddie

You know what I was thinking about? Medieval/Royalty AU where Steve is a prince, who grew up alone and isolated from most people because his father was awful and thought no one was good enough to be around them.

Steve grew up by himself, with no real friends, no one he could trust. He learned really young that most people only got close to him because he was royalty; no one was interested in Steve.

Then one day this bard shows up at their castle. He’s passionate and funny and tells the best stories. Steve is awed.

The King, however, is not impressed. He’s not very fond of art, thinks the whole thing is pointless and a waste of time, so the bard is not allowed into the castle very often. And that angers Steve in a way it’s new to him.

Because he’s always followed his father’s rules without questioning. He’s been the best son and heir a king could wish for, he’s spent years of his life learning things he’s not interested in because his father says it is his duty, and he’s never asked for anything in return. And after all this, Steve can’t even hear some stories because his father says it’s useless.

For the first time in his life, Steve rebels. In his own way, but he does.

He finds out the bard is telling stories almost every day in the market, so Steve sneaks out of the castle and goes there to watch whatever tale he is telling that day. He spots the man easily, it’s impossible not to.

The bard starts with the usual adventures children love so much. He sings about a group of friends that fought together to defeat a horrible monster who was trying to conquer their village; they face hardships and dangerous enemies, but they are victorious because together they are stronger than any monster could ever dream of being.

The children cheer and clap when the man finishes his tale, and Steve joins them. The next story is about two lovers who find each other again after years of separation and heartbreak; this one makes Steve tear up a little.

Then, in the softest of voices, the bard starts singing about a prince, so beautiful and so kind, who’s admired by his people but always looks so, so sad. No one seems to understand the reason behind his sadness; he’s a prince after all. They think it’s because the prince is lonely, but there’s no way for them to know that because very few people are allowed to get close to him. If only the prince knew how much his people love him and how much they wish they could show him that.

By the time the bard finishes his song, Steve is full on crying because that song is about him, isn’t it? It has to be, there’s no way it isn’t.

The bard follows with a happier song, but Steve is not listening anymore. He’s too shaken up for that. He pulls his cloak closer to hide himself and goes back to the castle in a hurry, heart beating fast and feet unsteady. Luckly enough, his absence goes unnoticed.

This is all the incentive Steve needs to turn his little escapade into a habit.

Whenever he can, Steve pulls on his common clothes, his cloak and sneaks out of the castle. He doesn’t find the bard every time, but the man is at the market frequently enough that Steve becomes quite familiar with his songs and tales. The song about the sad prince makes Steve emotional every single time.

Then one day, when Steve is making the way back to the castle, he runs into the bard. Better yet, he spots the bard sitting somewhere close to the road, as if he’s waiting for something or someone. He has his fiddler with him and is playing a familiar tune.

“Hey there, princeling,” the man greets, waving at Steve. “Did you enjoy the show today?”

Steve stops in his tracks, alarmed. Has the bard been waiting for him here? How did he even get here so fast? Twenty minutes ago, the man was playing and singing in the market square.

“Calm down, I’m not gonna do anything to you if that’s your concern, Your Highness.” Standing up, the bard slings his fiddler over his back and saunters towards Steve until they’re face to face. “I just wanted to say hi to my most distinguished fan. You’ve been coming here a lot lately, I’m honored to know someone so important appreciates my humble art.”

Steve is hyperaware of how close they are and, yet, for some reason, he doesn’t feel threatened at all. Rationally, he knows he should. He doesn’t know this man, he doesn’t even know his name. For all Steve knows, this bard could actually be an assassin in disguise. Still, something in the man’s eyes seems too honest for Steve to feel in danger.

So, instead of doing the smart thing and running back to the castle without looking back, Steve blurts. “Is that song about me?”

“What song?”

“The one about the sad prince.”

And the bard… the bard smiles so bright and fond at him that Steve’s heart skips a beat.

(The fact that the man is easily one of the most handsome men Steve has ever laid eyes on might also have something to do with that.)

“You noticed that, huh!?” the bard chuckles as he takes a step closer, his eyes never leaving Steve’s as he does so. “Will you give me the pleasure of your company if I say it is?”

“Why?”

“Because I’d like to know you, Steve. If you let me, of course.”

Not trusting his own voice, Steve nods, despite the mix of anxiety and exhilaration bubbling in his chest.

“Excellent.” The bard bows his head briefly before offering his hand. “I’m Eddie, by the way. Lovely to finally meet you."

Steve takes his hand without a second of hesitation.

kingdomvel

I swear I've seen your face before

ao3

Just the night before the first major awards Corroded Coffin have ever been invited to, Eddie gets a drink and meets someone.

Eddie is not afraid. He is not. He is not afraid, or nervous, or scared, or anything like that. He is pretty chill, the chilliest of guys actually. That’s why he is currently looking for an open bar -or pub, or whatever they call them here- that is not too crowded at almost midnight, because he is so chill he doesn’t care about how he is going to look tomorrow when Corroded Coffin makes their first appearance at a major award show at the International Music Awards, in London, of all places.

The other guys are asleep at the hotel, they had been dicking around the whole flight here yesterday, too excited to be across the Atlantic, and hadn’t slept well that night from the jetlag (even when they are not really known for keeping a normal sleeping schedule). Today, after a few interviews and a good dinner, they had all hit the sheets and fallen asleep immediately. All except from Eddie.

hot-patootiee

Letters From Hell

Steve and Eddie become pen pals purely out of boredom. Steve begins to tell Eddie about the Upside Down through his anonymous notes. The notes only make Eddie realize that there’s danger at Forest Hills, and he doesn’t know how to keep himself, or anyone else, safe.

Warnings: None really outside of anything canon typical

Part 1 <Part 2>

When he came to school the next day, his fuck you still sat in the desk. Eddie crumpled up the note, shoving it into his pocket and ripped half a page out of his notebook.

He scrawled an ‘I’m sorry’ on the paper before drawing the little demon dog he saw last night.

He then drew a little arrow at the creature.

‘I saw this at the trailer park, not entirely sure if it was a drug induced hallucination. It killed a cat.’

…

In the aftermath of the fuck you note Steve was dreading his next gov class.

He couldn’t tell if it was his expectation of finding nothing in the desk, another insulting note, or the same note, left in the desk for him to see again.

But, when he pulled out the paper dreading whatever hit to his self esteem he was going to get now, he was horrified by what he actually found.

A demodog.

Steve pulled out another sheet of paper sketching the stages of the demogorgon.

Tadpole-esque to demodog to demogorgon

His drawings were much more cartoony than his desk buddy’s but they should be fine. He carefully labels each drawing with its respective name.

‘If you’re ever in trouble, I’d recommend fire.’ He writes under his life cycle drawing. Then a ‘WARNING DRAWN TO BLOOD’

He slipped the note into his desk, sure that this progression was worse than he expected.

When he left class he headed to lunch. Instead of subjecting himself to the Hawkins’ hierarchy in the lunch room, he found himself a nice spot on the roof to sit and eat.

He watched as people moved into and out of the building. It wasn’t until someone did so particularly loudly that he took notice, he leaned over the ledge to find Eddie Munson being shoved up against the wall, Andy rearing up to punch him in the face.

He took his pudding cup and turned it upside down, watching as the vanilla sludge dripped carefully from the container, soaring gracefully in the air, to splash directly on Andy’s head.

He pulled his arm back quickly to avoid notice, only hearing Andy’s chorus of swears and some scuffling in the aftermath.

When he heard the door swing open and shut and Eddie’s following raucous laughter, Steve smiled.

He got up and left before Andy could come up and discover him.

Steve didn’t like vanilla pudding much anyway.

…

Eddie was in an especially good mood.

The image of Andy’s pudding covered visage almost made him forget about the monster in the trailer park.

Almost.

When he got home, it was normal at first.

It wasn’t until he saw a kid playing with fireflies that worry lodged itself in his chest.

He sat, holding Wayne’s gun and watching out the window. He had moved a chair, sitting in front of the door, angling himself so that he could leap up.

When he finally watched the kid run back inside did he relax.

He moved the chair back and went to bed, gun propped next to the door of his room.

When he woke up the next morning, it was to Wayne coming back home.

It was strange because Eddie usually slept through his arrival home.

Regardless of the reason, Eddie wasn’t going to be able to get back to sleep.

Instead, he drew last night. The small boy, Derek, he recalled, chasing fireflies, reaching towards the small flickering light amidst the dark atmosphere.

Morbidly, he created a small demogorgon out of highlights. It hid in the trees, in the place farthest from the light of the firefly.

Once he was finished, he folded it up, unable to look at it any longer.

He held onto it until Miller’s class, swapping out his drawing with his desk buddy’s note.

‘WARNING DRAWN TO BLOOD’ pops out at Eddie first. His eyes go a little wide at that.

‘If you’re ever in trouble, I’d recommend fire.’ Eddie doesn’t quite know how to react to that, just filing that information away for later.

His eyes trace the life cycle of the demogorgon. It hops between reptilian in nature to doglike, then humanlike.

It was like someone was flipping through a children’s book on animals and randomly adding that flower shaped mouth and slime.

It felt a little strange, not to have a person to look up at and go ‘what the fuck’ to. Maybe someone to give him a hug because learning that monsters were real made him want to curl up on his long dead mother’s lap.

Eddie played with the edges of the paper until they tore.

What was there even to say?

‘Thanks for the info’

‘I’ll probably run anyway’

It was only his own poverty that kept him and Wayne in the trailer park. Otherwise, the second he saw one of those things, he’d be running for the hills.

Eddie couldn’t help but imagine the abundance of people at forest hills. From the old man who always tried to make cookies for his wife and failing, making the air smell like smoke sporadically, to the little baby girl who waddles barefoot through the park with her mother less than a foot behind her.

There was danger in the forest and they didn’t even know.

…

Steve wished he could respond again before the weekend started.

Maybe scribble ‘hive mind’?

What could he even say?

Tell him to pray?

Steve wasn’t a religious type, but when he fought those things, each little bit of effort he put in felt like a prayer. Each swing of his bat was accompanied with that little animal in his brain desperately hoping that it would be enough to keep his life.

A little information didn’t seem like enough, but he didn’t have anything more.

He felt restless, so he left his study hall to ‘go to the bathroom’ but it was really to simply roam the halls.

He slowed down past Miller’s room.

He saw Eddie ‘the freak’ Munson sitting in his seat.

Clutching Steve’s note.

Steve hasn’t even realized he had stopped until Tammy is blowing a kiss at him and lavashing in the attention from him, not noticing that Steve was looking past her and at Eddie.

Steve’s eyes went a little wide and let his legs carry him away from the classroom, using the interconnected labyrinth of halls that allowed him to get back to his study hall without passing Miller’s class.

He couldn’t think, but the pieces slotted into place. Munson lived in the trailer park.

Maybe Steve could try to catch him, maybe do as he did with the kids and hide Munson behind him.

But most likely, Munson would bolt the second he realized Steve was looking for him.

He settled on slipping a note into Munson’s locker. He listed out anything that he knew.

He wrote down the weapons they used, what worked, what didn’t.

He borderline chewed through his cheek as he struggled to draw information from his adrenaline fueled interactions. Trying to look past the layers of panic, protect, and kill to find anything useful, like the snaily texture of their bodies.

Maybe they were like slugs? Dump salt on them and they die?

Steve feels his brain begin to hurt, a migraine coiling deep in his skull.

Steve’s leg bounced and he felt stupidly frustrated.

If only his brain worked like Nancy, Joyce, or any of the kids.

But it didn’t work like that. Looking at a math equation with his concussion made him nauseous.

He defaulted to any of the consensuses in the party on Demogorgon like the hive mind and Dustin training D’Art.

When he slipped it into Munson’s locker, only distinguishable by the faded FREAK written across it, he felt a little better. But his fingers still jittered nervously.

Later, when he held Munson’s drawing in his hands, he realized he should probably go to Hopper.

Like immediately.

When the bell rings, Steve bolts out the school doors. He jumps into his car and speeds the two miles to the police station.

Steve barely manages to calm himself before entering.

If he just barged in there like he wanted to, they would have written him off as a cokehead and sent him home.

Instead, he greets the woman at the front desk, who seems to be covered by an invisible sheet of weariness.

“Is Chief Hopper in?” Steve asks apprehensively.

“No, he had some business in the next town over. Don’t know when he’ll be back.” She shrugs, going back to the stacks of paper in front of her.

“Tell him Steve needs him when he gets back.”

…

Eddie was paranoid now.

He felt insane.

He watched the woods from a chair, with a bottle of rubbing alcohol and 5 lighters shoved in his various pockets.

He had a gun laying across his lap.

The neighbors would’ve called the cops at the sight of him, but luckily he was obscured by the slatted blinds in his window.

He felt the need to sleep tugging at his heavy eyes after hours of looking into the darkness.

He tried to fight it.

But, eventually, Eddie’s vision goes black and he falls asleep.

It’s the slamming of the door 3 feet from him that wakes him up.

He jolts away, hands automatically grabbing the gun.

“Woah, Eds.” A voice interrupts Eddie’s response.

It’s only when he looks up that he sees his tired uncle staring at Eddie like he’s gone mad.

AN. Uh so I got a job. I will have a nicely padded bank account for college but it does take away time from fic writing. I got my dorm too which FUCK YEA. And I’ve started watching 911 during work (I’m allowed to) and I love it so much, it’s such a perfect show because I’ve wanted my EMT for years. I’m going to try and get it next summer.

Tags for my sweeties <3

@coralineinwonderland @ofseaandstarz @kroymu09 @live-laugh-love-dietrich @nicememerino @cherries-and-smoke @watermelonmite @pentapoctopus @wheneverfeasible @curiouserstrangeone @zombiethingy @gutterflower77

kingdomvel

Steve gets dragged to a metal festival and he can't stand around just looking while the band is setting up.

“Okay this is fucking awkward.” Steve says, his hands on his hips as he stands next to the group of sitting teenagers.

He had said the same thing fifteen minutes ago when he had left them there to go get drinks for everyone, as soon as they had arrived at the side stage and Steve had seen that there would be no rushing and shoving to stand at the front. They were the only ones there.

It was awkward, being the only ones waiting for the set to start, so he had left them there to go on a supply run. He is now back and the party is sitting there right next to the barricade, the rest of the makeshift pit for the festival empty save for a few other small groups standing around.

One of the guys walking on and off stage looks their way and acknowledges Steve with a nod. It’s the fourth time it’s happened in the two minutes Steve has been back. Every time from a different guy that Steve is pretty sure is one of the members of the band they are going to see setting up their shit.

Steve looks as the one with the twig arms and long hair tries to get a case of what must be a drum up the stairs and sighs. It doesn’t even look that heavy, the guy is just struggling to grab it correctly.

He is at the barricade in two strides and over it with a quick jump. He doesn’t pay attention at the chorus of “Steve what are you doing?” “Oh my god, you can’t do that” “Come back you can’t do that” and “You are going to get us kicked out!” he leaves behind. He just walks over to long hair guy and grabs the other side of the drum.

shanesholender

pairing: pre-relationship steve harrington x eddie munson

summary: eddie comes out to steve and it goes about as well as robin said it would (very well)

aka me writing a coming out fic vs the bat boys wanting to gossip and giggle

word count: 1,563

ao3 link

—

“Robin told me something yesterday.” Eddie pauses, nerves tickling in his chest as he flips back and forth between following through and backing out.

“Oh?” Steve asks distractedly, focused on the careful unlacing of his shoes. There’s another pause as Eddie dithers once more, and Steve takes the opportunity to fully comprehend the statement. “Oh god, it wasn’t about when I fell asleep at work, was it? Because I swear there were no customers, and I –”

“No, no.” Eddie interrupts, shifting a little to the left as Steve joins him on the bed. He wouldn’t normally, content to press as much of himself against Steve’s side as possible, but tonight is different. Tonight Steve might want the space. “It wasn’t about you. It was… It was about her. About her and… Girls. How she feels about them. And not about guys?”

He feels dumb. In both ways. Like his mouth and his brain have been filled with cotton and it’s left him stumbling over his words in a nigh incoherent babble. He sucks in a stuttered breath - like that’ll help - and continues.

“She said, um… She said you knew? That she’d told you about it?”

“Yeah,” Steve agrees softly, before something seems to occur to him and he frowns a little as he glances at Eddie. “Why? D’you have a problem with it?”

Eddie’s shocked into silence for a second. The idea that he could exist in a world where Steve Harrington would lecture him about homophobia felt so incredibly removed from any reality he’d ever have conceived even six months ago, it takes him a second too long to answer, and Steve’s face morphs from suspicious into a disappointed frown.

“No! No, man, of course I don’t.” The idea is kind of laughable really, but Steve doesn’t know that. He takes him at his word, though, and smiles amiably.

“Good. I’m glad she told you. She’s been thinking about it for a bit. I said I thought you’d be cool about it. That’s like, your whole thing, right? Anti… Anti-estabsh… Whatever. Against the grain and shit. Would’ve sucked to find out you were secretly an asshole.”

Steve flashes him one of those smiles. The ones that say I’m making fun of you but you’re in on the joke and I’m so fond of you together in one. Directed at Eddie, they never fail to make his chest feel warm and he can’t stop the answering grin from spreading over his own face, even in spite of his nerves.

sidekick-hero

Someone who leaves on a light for me

steddie | 10k | mature | cw: suicidal thoughts, blood, torture aftermath, puking | season 3 alternate meeting

Read on AO3

Summary: Eddie doesn’t expect to find Steve Harrington half-dead on a dark road in the middle of the night — or to be the one he clings to after.

Eddie doesn’t need the devil chasing him to speed down the empty country roads outside the city limits—his own thoughts are doing a good enough job of that.

With Judas Priest’s Defenders of the Faith blaring through the speakers, he pushes the gas pedal down as far as his trusty old van will allow—further than is probably safe. Part of him doesn’t care. A big part, actually. And that should scare him.

But all he feels is empty.

Failing senior year once had been annoying, sure. But it had almost felt like part of his whole thing—giving the system the middle finger.

Failing senior year a second time, though? That stung. More than that.

It makes him feel ashamed. Like a failure. Like the son of his father. A fuck-up. A loser. A lowlife with no chance of ever making it outta here.

It would be so easy to swerve right, just a bit. At this speed, that’s all it would take — a slight twist of the wheel and the van would wrap around one of the trees lining the road. Another thought that doesn’t scare him the way he knows it should. He only wonders if he’d have time to feel any pain, or if it would all be over too fast.

It’s the thought of Wayne that keeps his hands steady and his foot easing off the gas. Wayne has lost enough. His face is lined with the weight of every sorrow he’s carried. He doesn’t deserve Eddie adding more pain to the pile.

A small voice in Eddie’s head suggests maybe it’d be doing Wayne a favor — removing himself from the list of Wayne’s responsibilities.

But despite what Higgins and the rest of the school might think, Eddie isn’t stupid. He knows Wayne loves him. He knows it would gut him to hear Callahan say Eddie died driving too fast.

So he ignores the voice. Ignores the intrusive flashes of twisted metal and splintered bark. Slows to a more reasonable pace. Cranks the music louder — lets the screaming guitars drown it all out.

It’s a good thing he did.

Not a minute later, he sees a figure walking in the middle of the road — swaying left and right like they’re drunk.

“Fuckfuckfuck—” he blurts, swerving and slamming on the brakes at the same time. Exactly what everyone says not to do when a deer runs out — you’re supposed to keep going, keep straight.

But this isn’t a deer.

It’s a person.

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