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has this heavy metal band turned YOUR kid to satan? more at 7
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has this heavy metal band turned YOUR kid to satan? more at 7
“Harrington!!!” Eddie slurs from across the room when Steve walks into the party — eyes closed, head lolled, big cheeseball grin on his flushed pink face. “My dick works again!!!”
Uh. “G-good for you, man!”
Frank cracks open a fresh beer. “Don’t listen to him, man, he’s drunk.”
“I am drunk,” Eddie agrees enthusiastically, leaning over to paw Frank’s drink out of his hand and nearly knocking it to the ground. Beer spills over the lip of the can; runs down Frank’s hand and wrist all the way to his elbow. Eddie proudly pronounces, “I’m drunk and I’m healed and my dick is fuckin’ func— fuckin’— uh— work good?”
“Well, Jee. Zus. Christ.” Frank punctuates each syllable with a wipe of his wet hand across Eddie’s shirt. “Just keep your functional fuckstick in your pants, ya fuckin’ caveman.”
“How long—” Steve starts. It comes out scratchy, so he clears his throat and tries again. “How long has it been like this?”
Gareth looks at him then, and Steve thinks he looks a lot older than his twenty-one years. His expression is sombre, steely. Steve wonders just how much of a toll this is putting on Eddie’s bandmembers; having to see him like this time after time. And not being able to do much about it.”
———
A close up piece I did for @snarkatthemoon’s @steddiebbang fic “marry the smoke”
CORRODED COFFIN BOYS FOR THE WIN!! ⚰️ Featuring an excerpt from the fic,,,,they’re so fed up with Eddie’s bullshit. Chapter 9 AND 10 are up!
Written for @corrodedcoffinfest.
What the Kids Are Calling It
Prompt #2 - Selling the Drama | Word Count: 1000 | Rating: T | CW: None | POV: Eddie | Pairing: Steddie | Tags: AU, Meet Cute, Movie Set, Famous Corroded Coffin, Regular Guy Steve Harrington
"Cut!"
Eddie slumps back into his director's chair. They're in over their heads here. This was a really bad idea, none of them know how to act. The label has lost their minds if they think this is gonna help their career. It's just gonna be an embarrassment.
He needs a minute, so he slips away from the set, heading back to the craft service table. It's the only thing he likes about this situation.
Studying the choices, he zones out. Acting is stressful. More than he ever imagined it'd be.
"Looking for something in particular?"
Eddie looks up. There's a guy standing next to him. He's never seen him before.
"Uh, not really. Just. You know. Avoiding."
"Your job?" he asks. It makes Eddie laugh.
"Exactly," Eddie teases.
"You're doing good," he says, and Eddie doesn't think that's true at all. But he's used to having smoke blown up his ass after being in the business this long. "Really selling the drama."
Eddie laughs, a sudden burst of sound that he knows surely made people look in his direction.
"This is supposed to be a comedy," Eddie says, and this guy blushes a pretty pink.
Steve who finishes hair school in Indianapolis then moves to LA because he wants to do hair for movies.
He can’t find a job on a film set right away so in an attempt to get closer to the industry he starts booking at home hair drying & styling through an app.
When he starts its mostly older rich ladies who book him before dinners with their husbands business partners or soirées with their girlfriends. It reminds him a bit too much of his own mother but he pushes that aside in hopes that one day he gives the right rich lady an at home blow out.
That day comes but it isn’t a rich lady. Instead cut to Chrissy manager of newly famous up and coming band corroded coffin, desperate and scrambling. It was the day the band was meant to be shooting their music video for their latest single but the hair stylist they booked called in sick that morning. Out of desperation Chrissy gets on the app and hires Steve. He has 4 stars and over 20 positive reviews and she is running out of options.
Steve sees the name chrissy and sees its for a music video and assumes he is going to be doing some fun bouncy youthful hair for an up and coming pop star. Imagine his shock when heavily pierced and tattooed lead singer of corroded coffin Eddie Munson sits down in his chair with his curly birds nest of hair. Steve does his job though, detangling and defining Eddie’s curls. Steve is even more shocked though, when it turns out Eddie is actually super sweet and…kind of charming? He might even be flirting?
Steve is unsure through the whole day and all of the touch ups he does. There is plausible deniability to all the light touches and brushing against one another that happens. Until the end of the day when Eddie comes to him looking frustrated. Instantly Steve’s stomach drops, he seemed happy with the style all day! If he didn’t like it why film a whole music video with it?
“Steve.” Eddie stops in front of him. “Look, I’m just gonna be blunt.”
Steve’s eyes go wide and he clears his throat, “uh, yeah sure go for it.”
“Am I an idiot who has been flirting with a straight guy all day?” Eddie asked.
All the air left Steve’s lungs, he couldn’t help the small wheeze that escaped him. “No you haven’t I- god Eddie.” Steve started giggling with relief, he even felt a little dizzy with it. “I’ve been trying to keep it together all day, thinking I was delusional and you were just really nice.”
“Oh,” it was Eddie’s turn to widen his eyes. Then a huge smile broke out in his face. “No delusions there, I was definitely flirting with you all day.” He paused taking one of his curls between his hands and separating it causing it to frizz. “And uh, would love to keep flirting with you over dinner tonight…if you’re interested?”
Steve smiled reaching forward taking the curl from Eddie. He began smoothing it back together and smiled warmly. “I’d love to.”
The Set Up (AITAH Steddie Au)
This is the last chapter, guys! Thank you to every single person who read or commented or liked this series. It's been fun!
Part One, Part Seven: Epilogue (you are here)
Also on Ao3
Divider credit: @steddiecameraroll-graphics
It’s been six months since he last talked to Gareth. Just over eight since he met Steve.
Things were difficult, those first few weeks. It was one thing to say goodbye to Gareth, it was another thing for the loss of his band and the reconfiguration of his friend group to become permanent things.
Freak and Steve were his rocks in those early days. Steve and him had taken the rest of their weekend to wrap around each other, Eddie calling out and Steve skipping class on Monday for good measure. They didn’t talk about what happened until Monday evening, letting themselves breathe.
Tuesday, Freak gave him space. He figured Jeff probably filled him in, which he appreciated. When Eddie was ready to ask, he confirmed what he already suspected, that he had no idea about how Gareth felt about him all these years. It was nice, knowing that he wasn’t just blind. Made him feel better about his decisions. He’d invited him over for some guy time after their shift, watching TV reruns and getting high like the old days.
Steve took the time alone in his apartment to self-care and debrief with Robin, asking Eddie for a couple of days to center himself. As much as Eddie craved closeness, it was also good to have a couple nights on his own. A breather from the onslaught of complicated emotions.
After that, something shifted. The time to recalibrate seemed to settle them in ways that Eddie didn’t know were needed. Eddie spent more days at Steve’s place than he did at his own, sacrificing the slightly longer commute to work for the new domesticity blooming between them. They could never be accused of taking this slow, but Eddie didn’t feel like he was afraid to blink, lest the wonderful turn his life had taken disappear before his eyes.
His days began with Steve starting up the coffee machine and ended with the two of them trying to scrounge something edible together between their combined skills. With the new and permanent change to his schedule, he found himself with more time in the evenings and an interest in cooking than he ever had before. It’s a nice reason to call Wayne and ask him what he can think to make with a can of green beans and some shredded cheese, and the look on Steve’s face when he gets back from class at the end of the day makes his efforts worth it.
He misses music like a limb. He talks to Jeff, but they don’t hang out right away, and without a drummer, the band is on indefinite hiatus. They could try and find someone to take Gareth’s place, but it doesn’t feel right. If he’s being completely honest, he knows they all gave up on making a profession out of music years ago. They play the occasional gig and sell homemade CDs and have a place in the local scene, but it’s never going further than that.
Still, those times on the stage felt like the closest thing to religion Eddie ever got. But time moves on. A month passes with no news. Two months in, Eddie walks into work to find Gareth and Jeff at the counter, talking to Freak. It’s awkward, and Eddie has to tamp down the instinctual flare of indignation to see them in his place of work, but they leave quickly, Gareth giving him a tight smile as he slinks out the door. Jeff even stops to talk to him a little before he heads out.
A barrier breaks after that. Him and Gareth don’t hang out, but they see each other in passing. He catches a glimpse of him behind the door when he picks Jeff up to hang for the first time since their break a week after the day at the game store. A month later, they nod to each other at a party Steve takes him to, Eddie tightening his arm around Steve’s waist as they make their way further in. It hurts a little less each time.
He starts to write more. He finds that there are so many things that inspire him, these days. He writes songs and poems and campaign ideas and even starts fleshing out his own TTRPG system, a long time pipe dream of his.
When he shares the new lyrics with Freak, he encourages him to set them to music. A guitar and a bass don’t make a band, but there’s no reason they can’t jam it out every now and then, and who knows? Maybe one day they’ll start a new project, or Eddie can pick up his old machine from Wayne’s and fulfil some other, more romantic dreams of starlit serenades.
Before he knows it, he’s found a new normal. It’s not the chaotic, rock star lifestyle he’d always thought he wanted, but he feels fulfilled in ways he knows no one in his long family history has ever had.
Steve tells him he loves him four months after the confrontation, giving Eddie his own key over homefires and eggs, Eddie’s newest cooking obsession. Eddie calls Wayne that night, crying happy tears. He’s pretty sure he’s found his forever person.
Six months since he talked to Gareth. Eight months since he met Steve. Today, he’s 27.
It feels like one of those nothing birthdays that happen in the years before milestones, but he knows better than that. It’s his first birthday with Steve, and they’re spending it on the lake with their closest friends.
“I still can’t believe you’re a summer baby,” Steve says. Their lounge chairs are pulled up close together as they take a break from swimming.
He can see Robin and Freak lounging on matching flamingo innertubes, holding onto each other’s handles so they don’t float away. They are both relentless and unexpected gossips and get on like a house on fire. Nancy, Jonathan, and Jeff have pulled their loungers half into the water, submerging their feet and legs and carrying on a leisurely conversation.
“Yeah, yeah. Laugh it up, lover boy. Not all of us can have perfectly thematic birthdays.” Learning that Steve was a Valentine’s baby had been both a shock and made perfect sense. It was the center of their worst argument, because Steve didn’t say anything when Eddie asked if they could postpone their Valentine’s Day plan to the week after for work. Steve had been hurt, and Eddie had been upset at the lack of communication. That incident had required quite a bit of floor time.
He pokes Steve a couple of times with his foot just to be annoying, which Steve grabs by the ankle to bring into his lap, forcing Eddie half into his chair. Not that he’s complaining. Steve rubs his thumb along the dimple of his ankle, and Eddie thinks this is the best birthday he’s ever had.
They share a couple of lazy kisses under the late summer sun until Robin and Freak ambush them with the water guns Eddie packed himself, inciting an epic water fight that ends with Steve avenging Eddie’s untimely death by dunking Freak under the waves.
They end the night with booze and music and roasted weenies, Eddie’s heart and stomach full. There’s a moment, as the conversation dies down with the sun, where he longs acutely for Gareth to be there with them, but he lets it pass.
Tomorrow, him and Steve will wake up and drive the three hours to Wayne’s house to spend a long weekend with his uncle. A day after they get back, he’ll call Robin while Steve goes on his morning jog and ask her to come with him to the jewelry store. In a handful of months, after some intense planning, he’ll pop the question on their one year anniversary.
Maybe between it all, he’ll call Gareth, get the guys together for the first time in almost a year.
Maybe he won’t.
Either way, he knows that he’s going to be ok. He’s going to be happy.
And he’s never letting go of what he’s got.
------
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Angel
written for the @corrodedcoffinfest prompt ER
wc: 1.000 | rated: M | tags: blood and injury, criminal assault, Eddie & Gareth & Jeff & Freak friendship, famous Corroded Coffin, pre steddie, meet ugly | also on ao3
“Are you the one who found him?”
Steve looks up, finds a curly haired man with piercing blue eyes staring down at him, and nods.
“How is he?”
“They- they won’t tell me anything.”
Steve looks back down at his trembling hands, still stained with blood that isn’t his.
“I’ll go find a doctor,” another guy says – there’s three of them.
“Can you tell me what happened?” Blue Eyes asks, crouching down, gently patting Steve’s bouncing knee.
That’s a hard question. It’s all a blur, from the moment he saw two figures fighting, to one of them dropping to the ground, his white shirt turning red where he held a hand against his stomach.
“There was so much blood,” Steve whispers to himself, trying to shake the image of the man’s pale face, dark eyes widened in shock, breathing heavy. Wincing in pain when Steve raised his shirt to take a look at the wound, oozing dark red from cut open flesh.
He can’t even remember calling the ambulance, just remembers holding on to the stranger, putting pressure on the wound, trying to keep him from drifting off.
“Hey, you did what you could. He’ll be okay.”
Blue Eyes sounds like he’s two seconds away from crying, but there’s a smile on his lips that seems genuine, reassuring.
“What’s your name?”
“S-Steve. Harrington.”
“I’m Gareth. This is Frank,“ he says, pointing at the man standing behind him, nervously picking at the frayed edges of his jean jacket. “Pretty sure Jeff will come back with more information soon. He can be quite convincing.”
As if on cue, the Jeff guy returns, and Steve holds his breath, mentally prepared for the worst.
“They’ve got Eddie in ER. He lost quite a lot of blood but thanks to you,” he says, nodding in Steve’s direction, “he got here in time.”
The Corroded Coffin used to think they'd be the new Metallica or Judas Priest. But where their passion and hard work never lacked, their big break just never came.
What did come, however, was an unexpected change of their career path.
It started innocently enough - they went through yet another failed meeting with recording studios, they'd travelled pretty far and it was for nothing. Instead of going back to Hawkins and risking another one of Eddie's road rages, they decided to break into an abandoned house and drink their sorrows away.
That is, until their empty bottles started collecting themselves, something invisible touched Gareth's shoulder and the dusty floor started showing written messages.
Jeff wanted to flee. Gareth to faint. But Eddie and Freak just shrugged. Eddie gestured towards the approximate ghost location and said "by the power of I don't give a shit anymore, I compel you to sit down and stop it, we'll clean the bottles when we leave tomorrow."
The rattling stopped. There was a moment of silence when the Corroded Coffin actually thought it had worked, but then the ghost overcame its shock and physically threw Eddie, his bandmates and their things out.
They sat on the wet grass for a while and contemplated their whole exitence. Eddie was pretty shaken about the whole thing because he'd just managed to royally piss off a ghost and lived to tell the tale. But apart from absolutely terrifying...it was also fun?
And his friends seemed to think the same. Jeff patted his shoulder and said: "not bad for a first touch with the unknown, huh?"
They stayed in the area and tried again. They decided to tape over their promotional video - not so great, they had to admit after rewatching it - and started documenting their ghostly encounters. And maybe it was just the timing, maybe it was their interactions and personalities, but it worked. They showed some of their tapes to a local TV station and they got a cautious yes, more than they ever had with their music.
They got assigned a small crew, Fred with a camera and Chrissy for sound, wrote their own episodes and did plenty of research. And they got to try quite a lot of different approaches with their ghostly friends. Eddie was amazing at taunting the ghosts, making them appear if there were any present. Gareth had a wonderfully calming presence, managing to save the CC's ass several times. Jeff was the brains, he made sure they'd always know the history of the house and the probable identity of the ghost. And Freak decided to dabble in the occult sciences with a terrifying precision. There could never be enough salt in Eddie's van for all the circles he made.
It all went well until they learned of the Creel House in Hawkins. They went there, did their research and before entering the house, they ordered some pizza for dinner. They assumed it would be over by midnight, thinking it was just another sad story of an unresolved murder, but the ghost of Henry Creel was out for blood.
Oh, and he also controlled the spiders of the house. That was new.
To set the scene: The crew had fled the house about an hour ago. Eddie was crouching behind an old table, blocking Henry's barrage of kitchen knives, shouting "IS THIS THE BEST YOU'VE GOT?!". Gareth was behind the table with Eddie, but he went more into the wailing territory with "I DON'T THINK THIS WILL HELP YOU MOVE ON, HENRY!". Jeff had blocked himself in the pantry and kept trying to identify the triggering moment - "I think he's re-enacting the murder of his mother, guys! Does that help?!" (it doesn't). And Freak gave up on salt circles and was now tossing handfuls of salt around the house with a questionable technique but unwavering determination.
Suddenly, a car horn.
Then, a bitchy male voice: "Are you coming to get your pizza or what? I have other customers to get to!"
Eddie gritted his teeth as Henry added heavy pans to the mix and hit his shoulder. "We're a little busy surviving here! Ask Chrissy to pay you!"
There was a muffled and annoyed "ugh" from behind the door and then: "Is it Henry again?"
Eddie just blinked. Gareth was more ready to answer: "Sure is! He's not a fan of our exorcism!"
And the pizza guy didn't leave. He just huffed and said something that sounded suspiciously like "amateurs".
Eddie wanted to punch him.
But before he could do that, the front door opened. Gareth held his breath, half expecting a sound of knives hitting their target.
Instead, they heard a few more steps and then: "What the fuck, Henry?!"
A faint whispering reached their ears, but they couldn't decipher it. But the pizza guy could.
"I don't care they didn't get your permission, Henry. Yeah, it's annoying, but what are you going to do? If more people die in this house, it's going to get demolished. You know that. Yeah, I know the house is old, but it's great for your spiders, right? They'd be homeless. Do you want to make your spiders homeless, Henry?"
They dared to peek from behind the table, and Eddie had to pinch himself. Because in the middle of the dusty dining room stood one of the prettiest young men Eddie had ever seen, hands on hips and arguing with something invisible.
The man completely ignored them.
"That's what I thought. Now, apologize. No, they can't hear you, so get creative."
All four CC members stared as words formed in the spilled salt: "SORRY".
The pizza guy seemed to be pleased. "Good job, Henry. Now, let me get them out of here and I promise I'll get the Party to bring you some new spiders when they capture them outside, yeah? Three knocks, slide them in a glass behind the door. Got it. Take care, Henry."
Only then did he look at Eddie and the others and frowned. "That's your cue to leave. Get your stuff and go, now." And as they were quickly collecting their scattered notes and recording equipment, he added: "and say goodbye when leaving. Don't be rude."
Four rushed "Bye, Henry!" and "Sorry, Henry"s later, the Corroded Coffin was standing on the grass outside, feeling the setting sun on their skin and smelling fresh pizza. Gareth promptly paid for the delivery, and everyone proceeded to thank their mysterious savior.
"I'm Steve," he said after they'd all expressed their thanks, "and you're stupid. Do you really do this without anyone who sees and hears them? Do you just stumble blindly into haunted houses for a fun and stabby time?"
Eddie had to swallow down a very bitchy response of his own. "Sorry to stroke your ego even more, pretty boy, but a man of your talents is hard to come by."
And Steve, to Eddie's massive shock, just cocked his head and fluffed his hair, probably out of habit, but damn. "Well, consider yourself lucky because I'm open to job offers," he said with a wink that brought Eddie back into his teenage fantasies. "You need someone like me, and I assume you pay better than pizza delivery. Do you?"
Turns out, their producer was willing to get one more person on board, especially when they finished processing the leftover footage from the Creel house.
Steve was an amazing addition. He was snarky, self-confident, easy to look at and most of all, he was fun and compassionate. Watching him communicate with ghosts of kids and help them move on made Eddie's icy heart melt.
But one day they were on a site of an unfortunate teenage death, Steve was chatting with the ghost of a 17 year old girl like they'd known each other for ages, he was laughing, cracking jokes, and then:
"No, he hasn't kissed me yet."
Eddie turned around on his heel and stared at Steve, snickering to himself and talking to a misty figure next to him. And worst of all, they were both staring right at Eddie.
"Hasn't even asked me out, no. You'd think he'd be interested, but I guess I'm doing something wrong."
And Eddie's head short-circuited, and all the repressed fantasies from nights next to Steve in their trailer came back with vengeance. He howled and threw himself at Steve, kissing him right on that bitchy mouth. "Doing something wrong?! Steven Harrington, those shorts of yours are doing everything right, but how about you say something, huh?!"
Steve returned the kiss to the cheering of the CC guys, Chrissy's clapping and Fred's disgusted noise, and shrugged when they broke apart. "I knew you'd get it, eventually. Oh, and Heather?" he turned to the ghost. "You're the best wingwoman ever, in this life and after."
Four good things came from this ghostly encounter:
After the kiss, Gareth finally gathered enough courage to ask Chrissy out. She said yes.
The episode with Heather became the most watched episode of the CC's show.
Steve and Eddie remained in an equally blissful and teasing relationship for the rest of their lives.
And finally...
The TV station decided to design official merch for the CC's show: incredibly short shorts that said on the backside: "DOING EVERYTHING RIGHT".