eddie psl post.

[heatmetal]

boop boop banoop

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[retromix]

Means I should get off your bed, buddy.

[ Steve levies himself up with a sway, eyeing the bedside chair. He's gonna dump himself in that and fold his legs, super subtle. ]

[heatmetal]

[ so...

maybe he wasn't imagining the... the thing, between them. steve must have felt it too because he was really feeling it now.

he shifts the blanket up over his hips. ]

Well. I know what'll kill the mood... I didn't get a chance to ask... [ max is still alive, so he's guessing that things must have turned out okay in the end. she's been in and out of his room, holding hands with lucas, looking happier than he's ever seen her. ] Did you make him pay?

[retromix]

[ That's one way to settle his blood, talking about Vecna. Steve nods, hand settling halfway through raking back his hair. ]

Me and Robin lit him up, Nance fired off a few rounds and blasted him out the window. He was gone when we got down there ... and then we heard the chimes.

He ripped his gates open, just like he had planned. [ Because technically, Max did die. ] The Upside-Down's starting to bleed through at the crossroads.

[heatmetal]

Shit.

[ he scrubs a hand down his face. ]

Hargrove and I must've gotten out just in time.

[retromix]

Glad he didn't gobble you up, he seems less ... human, than you.

[ More time as the undead will do that to a man. ]

[heatmetal]

[ unsurprising. he thinks about billy. how billy had been in the upside down for nearly a year but was still, somehow, himself. just... number. that doesn't feel supernatural. that feels fueled by a need to survive. ]

The Upside Down... keeps you alive, man. [ he doesn't know how else to explain it, absently picking at the bedsheets. ] I should've been dead when Hargrove found me, but I wasn't... Lived for a good day or so after Dustin ran to get help. [ he shakes his head. if he'd been brought out, he'd probably have died instantly. he gets that now. ] It was hell, man. Pure hell. If it wasn't for Billy, I...

[ would still be there. begging for death. being twisted up by all that emotion, the toxins in the atmosphere.

and then he thinks about the two of them. the bare minimum to their own mutations. the lack of connection to the rest of the upside down. only vecna, because he's professor x on crack. ]

I don't think he ever died. Vecna's probably just one giant, mutated wound at this point.

[retromix]

Mmm.

[ That's a good description of that place; he remembers demogorgons, the screams of the bats as they descended on him, the fear of mere vines even. Everything was hellish and Vecna most of all.

Billy by all rights should be far more twisted than he is.

Steve reaches out a hand for Eddie's, missing some of the contact from before. Holding hands is okay, right? He never got a chance to talk to him properly. ]

I'm gonna fix your leg, man.

[heatmetal]

[ he offers it easily, giving a solid squeeze. feels warmth build in his chest, painful fondness for this man. ]

... You're a really good dude, Steve Harrington. You know that?

[retromix]

Says the guy who not only played a Metallica concert in hell but also took on an army of evil bats all by himself.

[ He arches a brow, lips twitching. ]

Thank you for that, by the way.

[heatmetal]

Look at that, you remembered their name.

[ he laughs, but it feels a little hollow. ]

Henderson punched me for that. Softly, but, a harder one's coming when he's not scared I'm gonna keel over.

[retromix]

My brain's not a sieve.

[ Pinching Eddie's wrist! ]

My parents aren't coming back to Hawkins after what happened, they're wiring me money. Means my house can become ground-zero for everyone while Hawkins is turning grey, which also means you're gonna see a lot of that little shitlord since he intends to be over all the time.

[heatmetal]

[ a beat. eddie turns to look at him, confused by what he just heard. ]

They aren't coming back...? They're just... leaving you here while the whole town gets fucked over by the supernatural?

[ ... actually. yeah.

how did they not pick up on the fact that steve's been constantly in danger for the last four years? it's not like he's walked away unscathed. ]

[retromix]

They invited me to Bali, which, all things considered, was pretty tempting.

[ It wasn't. Steve shakes the hand in his pointedly, eyes warm where they rest on Eddie. ]

It's okay, I'd rather be here. God, I must have really hit my head, huh?

[heatmetal]

You are a magnet for head trauma.

[ He grins in turn, turning his hand to thread his fingers with steve's. ]

... Glad you stayed, Steve. [ didn't run away. because that's never an option with steve harrington, is it? ] This town would suck a lot more without you in it.

[retromix]

You don't ever get to say the word "suck" again, by the way, I'm banning it.

[ Leaning forward in the chair and pretends to bite at the knuckles he holds, instead dropping a quick kiss there.

[heatmetal]

[ and that gets his heart pounding again. face flushing. ]

Blows, then? [ he waggles his eyebrows, trying to play this off like a joke. ]

[retromix]

Haven't been distracted being being blown yet, so, [ the teasing comes naturally, Steve flirting while the ebbing waves of attraction are still beating in his blood and aching neck, ] think you're good.

[ Despite all that, his expression sobers and he squeezes Eddie's hand. ]

You didn't eat much, dude. In all seriousness, are you still hungry?

[heatmetal]

I've been snacking on blood bags. I'm good... gotta be careful to not get too much better too fast, or they'll start asking questions.

[ he trills his lips, tilting his head back as he thinks. ]

Gotta get a skin-muscle graft thing on the leg and then they'll let me outta here. It'll be easier to get better at your place.

[retromix]

Oh sure, what with Harrington milkshakes twenty-four-seven.

[ Lips twitching. ]

[heatmetal]

I was going to say with your charming smile to lift my broken spirits, but yeah, that won't hurt none either.

[retromix]

You think my smile's charming?

[ Like no one's ever said that before. ]

[heatmetal]

Oh, come off it. You ooze charm.

[retromix]

I do?

[ Eyes twinkling, he sounds genuinely interested. Teasing Eddie is a lot easier than he anticipated (not that he thought about this, not ever). ]

Am I about to hear I'm pretty, too?

[heatmetal]

Drop dead gorgeous.

[ he cocks his head to the side, eyes bright and mischievous. ]

I get it. That why you're donating blood. You need someone to puff your ego with pretty words.

[retromix]

Maybe I'm just a good samaritan trying to help you absorb some of these gorgeous looks, you want to keep an eye on your hair or it'll start defying gravity. Kinda dangerous with all of yours.

[ It's playground taunting, fond as he tests which buttons he can push. ]