pairing: steve/eddie
word count: 9k
a/n: this was written for the king hellfire discord halloween event and the prompts i picked were 'halloween party' 'haunted house' and 'baking', which i then combined in this absolutely unhinged piece of fictionhope you enjoy!
summary:
"Are you sure you don’t want another cup of tea? One for the road?” Eddie asks, wandering after Steve towards the counter. He needs to start actually getting things ready if he wants to open in half an hour.
“Nah, I’m good, thank you,” Steve says, and then turns towards the teacups that are still floating near the ceiling. “And thank you,” he adds, and does a little bow.
The teacups titter happily and Eddie shakes his head with a laugh.“Stop charming my store. It’s going to like you more than me.”
“That’s the plan,” Steve says, grabbing the order sheet Eddie signed off the counter, leaving Eddie a copy. “All right, see you tomorrow?”
“Yeah,” Eddie says, smiling at him. “See you tomorrow.” And then Steve disappears through the door. The teacups rearrange themselves in a pattern that looks suspiciously like a heart. Eddie puts his middle finger up at them, but there’s not real heat behind it, and then starts taking chairs off tables.
Or, Eddie runs a haunted tea shop. Steve supplies him his baked goods. Somewhere in the midst of it all, they fall in love.
pairing: steve/eddie
word count: 1k
tw: injury, blood
a/n: for @rajumat :)
Eddie had some vague plans for how he was going to spend his free Friday evening. Read a book, maybe. Watch some tv. Grab a drink with some friends, if anyone was available. Normal stuff.
What he wasn’t planning on, however, was opening the door after a bout of incessant knocking only to find his roommate bleeding out on their doormat.
“What the fuck,” Eddie says, as Steve sways on the spot, clutching his side. Blood is seeping through his fingers, slowly dripping onto the floor. “What the fuck.” He stresses, a little more panicky, as Steve blinks slowly at him.
“M’fine,” Steve mutters, and slowly, haltingly, makes his way into the apartment. A stunned Eddie lets him pass. “Lost m’keys in the fight. Sorry for waking you.”
“I wasn’t asle- Actually, that is so not important right now. What do you mean fight?” Eddie says, following after Steve as he makes his way into their tiny bathroom, rummaging through the cabinets for their first aid kit, wincing with every move he makes.
“You should see the other guy,” Steve mutters, finally retrieving the first aid kit and heaving it onto the closed lid of the toilet. “Broke his nose.”
“Yeah, but why?” Eddie asks, watching with worry in his eyes as Steve struggles to take of his shirt. “For the love of- Here, let me help.” He moves forward, and gently takes the bottom of the shirt, tugging it over Steve’s head with ease.
Steve’s shirtless now, something that usually makes Eddie want to set his hair on fire. It really is just a special form of hell to be in love with your roommate, especially if said roommate tends to walk around shirtless a lot. Now, however, all he can focus on is the huge gash in Steve’s side. There’s blood everywhere, so it’s hard to see what the real damage is, but Eddie can see enough to know it’s bad.
“Steve,” he breaths. “Steve, you have to go to the hospital.”
“Can’t,” Steve says, looking down to observe the wound himself. “It’s not that bad. Had worse.”
“Steve,” Eddie emphasizes, but Steve just shrugs and starts digging through the first aid kit.
“Can you get some towels from the box from under my bed? They’re my blood cleaning towels.” Steve says, like that’s somehow a normal thing to say.
Eddie crosses his arms. “I will, but the second I come back you’re going to start fucking explaining what’s going on.” He says, before turning and rushing out of the room to get Steve his goddamn towels.
When he returns, Steve is sitting slumped on the floor, surrounded by stuff from the first aid kit. Eddie places the towels on the edge of the sink before washing his hands and wetting one of the towels. He takes the wet towel and sits down next to Steve on the floor, who looks at him drowsily.
“What’re you doing?” He mutters, as Eddie gently starts swiping at the bloody area with the towel.
“Helping you, you goddamn idiot,” Eddie grumbles. “Now start talking.”
“I’m fine, you don’t have to help me.” Steve mumbles. Eddie just glares at him and continues what he’s doing. “Fine, but you’re not going to believe me.” Steve winches when Eddie actually touches the wound. “But sometimes at night I go out and fight crime.”
Eddie pauses, arms midair, and stares at Steve with an incredulous look on his face. “You do what?”
“Fight crime,” Steve says, with a little shrug. “Just small stuff, robberies and shit, nothing too mayor.”
Eddie just stares at him for a few seconds. “You are goddamn insane,” he eventually concludes, before going back to cleaning Steve up. “Does explain the weird moaning sounds that sometimes come from your room. I honestly thought you were just like, wanking or some shit, but you were probably fucking injured, Jesus Christ.” Eddie’s done cleaning the wound and starts drying it gently with the other towel. “You could have come to me, you know. I would’ve helped.”
Steve does that little shrug thing again and immediately winces. “Didn’t want to bother you.”
“Steve,” Eddie says, looking up, only just now noticing how close they are sitting. “You never bother me. Especially not when you’re hurt. Let me take care of you, yeah?”
Steve nods, a little breathlessly, and a silence falls over them, only broken by Steve’s occasional hisses of pain. “So, you’re not mad?” Steve asks eventually, and Eddie snorts.
“What, because my roommate turns out to be batshit insane? No, I’m pretty sure I already knew that. I did see the nail covered bat like, the first day you moved in. That kind of clued me in.” Eddie reaches for the gauze, and slowly starts wrapping up Steve’s bandaged wound. Steve has to lean forward a bit to allow Eddie to wrap it fully around his back, and somehow he ends up with his forehead on Eddie’s shoulder.
“All right,” Eddie says, after securing the gauze, gently patting Steve’s shoulder. “I think I’m done.”
Steve merely hums, but stays right where he is, with his head on Eddie’s shoulder. Eddie, realizing that this is just what Steve needs right now, carefully wraps his arms around Steve’s back and very gently pulls him in for a hug. Steve hums again, contently, and they stay there for a few seconds, before Eddie himself pulls away.
“Okay, big boy, time to get off the bathroom floor. Tomorrow, you’re going to tell me everything, but right now I think you need some sleep.”
Steve nods and with some help from Eddie gets off the floor and stumbles into the bedroom. Eddie tucks him in, because that’s just the kind of day he’s having right now, but when he turns to leave, Steve grabs his hand. “Stay?” He mumbles, and then his face reddens, clearly embarrassed by his own vulnerability. “I mean, never mind.”
“Yeah,” Eddie breathes, taking a step back towards the bed. “I’ll stay.”
That’s how he finds himself in Steve’s bed, Steve’s head on his shoulder as his breathing slowly evens out, occasionally wincing a little in his sleep. It takes hours to fall asleep, head swimming with everything he’s learned that night, but when he finally does, it’s to Steve’s soft, gentle snores.
Link to the original, by Magical Light Shows. From the YouTube description: “I made this show as a free event for the community and as fundraiser for the McHenry House, a local family shelter here in Tracy, California.“
The version on YouTube is a full 21 minutes long! It’s always worth looking up the original artists.
There's this local family owned restaurant near me that makes the best fucking chicken tenders I've had in my life and I desperately need to know the recipe in case I move away but its a secret family recipe and I'm this 👌🏽 close to asking if they have a single adult son so I can marry in to the family just for these fucking chicken tenders. Anyway there's a possible fake marriage fanfic plot for you
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