cosmicrelease

[cosmicrelease]

1976

1986

inspired by this post by @criticaloser 🥰

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[cosmicrelease]

it’s him

[cosmicrelease]

Don’t think about Steve waking from a nightmare whilst the kids are sleeping over and Max is the only one who is woken and she tries to comfort him but she can’t see well and she’s not sure what to do, it’s Steve after all, and she ends up sort of awkwardly holding his face whilst wiping away the tears but it’s more physical comfort and affection that he’s had from family for a while. It’s just what he needs.

[cosmicrelease]

“why won’t you just try swimming for physical therapy eds?” steve asked gently, not wanting to push or pry.

“because i don’t want people to see me in a swimsuit?” eddie responded hoping to throw steve off his scent.

“cmon eddie, you know I’m not buying that excuse. you would walk around naked at all times if society allowed”

eddie let out a huff, “okay fine, i don’t know how to swim. okay? is that what you want to hear?”

“wait. what?”

“i can’t swim. i don’t know how. i never learned. is that clear enough?”

“but you jumped into lovers lake? you just did that without knowing how to swim?”

“it doesn’t take much skill to sink to the bottom stevie.”

steve sat there for a moment as the gears turned in his head, “then i’ll teach you!”

“huh?!” was all eddie could let out in response.

“yeah! it’s perfect! you’ll get in some exercise for PT and i get the satisfaction of teaching you!”

steve seemed so excited about it, how could eddie possibly say no to him?

“ugh. okay fine! but only because you look so cute when you beg.” eddie replied, using humor to cover up the fear that was bubbling under the surface.

a/n: i think ab steve teaching eddie to swim every time i swim laps so i needed to write it down lol

[cosmicrelease]

[cosmicrelease]

Prying sincerity from the mouth of Eddie Munson feels a bit like yanking a tooth that’s not quite ready to come out, but Steve ties a line of floss to the door handle and pulls. “Try again.” 

“I’m…” If Eddie grits his teeth any harder, there won’t be any left for Steve’s metaphor to extract. “…Scared. And—” His nostrils flare; his jaw goes tight, tongue dipping into the space between bottom teeth and lower lip like he’s got a wad of dip in there. “—Embarrassed.”

Is that all? “Well, why couldn’t you have just said that?”

“Because it’s fucking embarrassing!”

[cosmicrelease]

eddie would not make fun of steve's music taste. he'd lovingly tease him, then put on steve's favorite songs in the car, when they're cooking, when they're just hanging out. he just loves to get a peak inside his boyfriend's mind. (and he knows he has to be careful with metal because it often gives steve headaches.) he thinks people's taste in music reveals so much about them.

so he not only listens to his music, but asks steve what he likes about each song. sometimes steve will shrug and say it's catchy, but sometimes he'd describe how it makes him feel or what memory it's attached to and eddie loves that so much.

and steve tries to do the same, but he doesn't quite have the same love for music that eddie has. but he still listens to eddie's albums when his head allows him to. and he asks eddie about the lyrics and his interpretations and what he likes about them. and he loves to listen to eddie go on and on about them.

they dance to each other's music and learn the lyrics and sing along.

[cosmicrelease]

Merry Steddie-mas everyone!

Silly lil thing, i love them being happy together

[cosmicrelease]

eddie loves steves yellow jumper but only wears it at home because he’s “got an image to uphold, steve”

[cosmicrelease]

steve had spent all day at work. meaning he spent all day masking using his perfectly curated customer service persona. and he was tired. all he wanted to do was go to his dark, quiet house, and curl up in bed.

except he couldn’t.

no of course he couldn’t. he had stupidly made plans weeks ago and stupidly assumed he’d be up for it when the day came. eddie had asked steve to use his place for a hellfire christmas get together and of course steve said yes. but now the day is here and he really wasn’t looking forward to it.

steve drove home from work in silence. just needing the time to recover from the day. he knew he didn’t have much time between work and when people would be at his place but he was hoping it would be enough time to take a breath.

unfortunately, it was not enough time. everyone had shown up about an hour ago and steve was starting to feel the ribbon holding his mask on start to come loose. the group was in the living room listening to christmas music while having a loud and heated debate about something from the last campaign. steve was sat next to eddie on the couch, trying to keep up with what was going on. trying to make the right facial expressions for whatever story was being told to him, trying to make sure he asked enough questions but not too many, trying to appear like everyone else. all that in combination with the music and everyone talking at once and the room was a mess of discarded wrapping paper had steve feeling like he was about to rip off his skin.

normally steve did great in social situations, he was good at mimicking people and listening to what they had to say. but on days where his system was already overwhelmed, he got very overstimulated very quickly. and all he wanted to do was be somewhere quiet and dark.

not wanting to ruin anyone’s festivities he decided to go up to his room, his safe space, to try and get it together. he hadn’t even realized he had been shaking until he reached for the knob to let himself in. after shutting the door to block out the noise steve went to the furthers corner of the room before sliding to the floor with his back against the wall. it made him feel safe and protected from all sides. he began biting at the skin on his nails on one hand while the other was in his hair pulling, trying to pull himself back to reality. he felt like his whole body was on fire. his pants were too tight, his shirt had a tag that he hadn’t noticed before, and he could still hear the rumbling of people on the floor below.

he wasn’t sure how much time had passed before he heard a small knock on the door, “stevie? I’m going to come in because I’m worried about you. okay baby?”

steve didn’t have the energy to respond but he knew eddie was going to come in either way so it didn’t really matter. eddie opened the door before quickly and quietly closing it, making his way over to where steve and quietly speaking, “hey sweetheart. what’s going on?”

steve couldn’t respond, still feeling too overwhelmed to form a coherent thought. instead he let out a small defeat whine because it’s the only sound his body would allow him to make. suddenly steve felt eddie grab his hands, entangling their fingers together. it was grounding but he still felt jittery and like he needed to get the movement out somehow so he began rocking side to side. he closed his eyes because making eye contact with eddie right now is way too much for him.

this caused eddie to softly say, “yeah baby that’s okay. i just don’t want you hurting yourself sweetheart.” eddie started to softly rock along with steve as to not hinder steve’s movements with their hand holding.

they sway for awhile longer while steve takes some deep breaths before stopping his movement, hands still intwined with eddie’s. he then opens his eyes to look at eddie before saying a whispering a quiet, “sorry.”

“oh sweetheart,” eddie cooed. “you never have to apologize for something like this, it’s not your fault. i just want to make sure you’re okay. can we get you off the floor and over to the bed?”

steve was so exhausted he could only nod in reply to eddie’s question. eddie stands first, and with their hands still connected, steve allows himself to be pulled up off the floor. once steve is sitting in bed eddie grabs him some comfy pants to slide on instead of jeans, and tells steve to take his shirt off since eddie knows it will make steve feel like he can breathe better.

once he was changed and comfy steve spoke up again, “eds? will you—will you hold me?”

“yeah sweetheart of course i will.” eddie gently replies as he arranges himself. he sits with his back against the pillows and allowed steve to wrap himself around eddie’s torso, with his head on eddie’s chest.

after letting out a sigh of comfort as he felt eddie’s fingers in his hair steve felt the need to say something, “thank you eds. i really appreciate you taking care of me and not judging. you make me feel safe.”

“you know you’ll always be safe with me baby. i will always take care of you just like you always take care of me. i wish you had told me you were having a bad day stevie, i could’ve helped you sooner.”

“i didn’t want you to worry. plus i didn’t want to ruin your party. oh my god the party! is everyone still downstairs? did i ruin everything?” steve began to panic.

“no need to stress sweetheart i already took care of it.”

“does that mean you kicked everyone out and i ruined your party?”

“no of course not! i just told dustin i was coming to check on you and if i wasn’t back in an hour to get clear everyone out. we had already done all the stuff we had planned lovey, we were just down there shooting the shit. i promise you didn’t ruin anything. now go ahead and rest I’m sure you’re exhausted right now. we can talk more about it later.” eddie sealed his statement with a kiss to the top of steve’s head.

“okay. love you eds.”

“love you too baby. now get some rest i’ll be here when you wake up.”

[cosmicrelease]

In the lead up to the gang all getting together for christmas dinner, Steve keeps bragging about how he found the best christmas sweater around. Eddie keeps bragging about how he found the ugliest christmas sweater around.

They turn up in the same sweater.

[cosmicrelease]

steve notices everything about eddie. and one thing he has noticed recently is that eddie has been painting his finger nails more often. sure, he always paints them black because it’s “hardcore”, but still steve is obsessed.

one day while he is hanging out at robin’s he notices her collection of polishes, “do you think you could teach me how to paint nails?” steve inquired.

“of course i can. this wouldn’t have anything to do with a certain metalhead painting his nails would it?”

steve blushed, “robs, will you teach me or not?”

a couple weeks, and a lot of practice later, steve finds himself at eddie’s place for a movie night. they had already eaten too much pizza and were about to start a second movie when eddie casually said,

“hey stevie do you mind if i paint my nails? i’ve seen this movie dozens of times and i need a fresh coat.” he mentioned with a small laugh.

“want me to do it?” steve asked hesitantly.

“what?”

“do you want me to paint your nails?” he asked more confidently this time.

“um I’m not sure what you know about painting nails but i’ll let a pretty boy like you give it a go.” eddie quipped. leaving steve with a pink tinge on his cheeks.

after eddie went and grabbed the bottle of black polish he and steve situated themselves to face each other on the couch, “are you sure you’re okay with me doing this on the couch? what if i get it everywhere?”

“i trust you sweetheart.”

steve shook the bottle, mixing the polish together, another trick he picked up from robin. then he grabbed eddie’s right hand and began meticulously swiping polish across the nails. steve could feel eddie’s eyes on him so he was trying his best to not get nervous causing a shaky hand.

“stop staring at me you’re making me nervous!” steve tried to bush it off as a joke.

“i can’t help it stevie! you just look so adorable when you’re focused.” eddie openly flirted. causing the other man to blush again.

once eddie finally pulled his eyes away from steve’s pink cheeks and looked at his almost done nails he realized something, “holy shit steve! i didn’t think you’d be this good at this! have you been secretly painting your nails and not letting me see?”

“what? no! trust me if i painted my nails i would show you.” steve joked.

“be real steve how did you get so good at this? i mean, i paint my nails regularly and I’m not even this good. have you been secretly practicing?”

steve didn’t reply while he cleaned up the edges and made sure they were dry he released his hold on eddie’s hands, quickly missing the feeling.

“i asked robin to teach me. you never know when a friend might be i need of polish assistance.” steve tried to joke.

“really sweetheart? because i think you just wanted an excuse to hold my hand.” no hint of joking or teasing in his voice.

steve felt caught. he thought he had done a good job of hiding his feelings for eddie. had he really been that obvious? what should he say? what if eddie is upset? would eddie call him sweetheart if he was upset with him?

avoiding looking eddie in the eye steve softly asked,“would you be upset if it was?”

eddie took steve’s hands in his, looking softly and sweetly at steve, “of course i wouldn’t be upset! if anything i’d be overjoyed! you think i just flirt with everyone stevie? i was hoping you would notice at some point, i wasn’t exactly being subtle about it.

“i think it’s adorable that you learned how to paint nails just so you could hold my hand. but i want you to know you could have just asked. you can ask for anything you want baby and i’ll give it to you.”

steve was looking into eddie’s eyes, looking for any hint of lie. but he couldn’t find one. he knew eddie was being sincere. before leaving eddie hanging for too long steve piped up, “can i have a kiss?”

eddie smiled wide at the request before leaning in to give steve exactly what he asked for. and they both knew it wouldn’t be the last time.

a/n: your honor, they love each other! and they deserve to make out! this thought came to me when i was painting my nails and i felt compelled to share it with the world.

[cosmicrelease]

sharks i have an offer for you, for a small investment of your time and nothing in return except joy, you too can think about, steve and eddie kissing sloppy and hot while christmas movies play in the background.

lmk if you’d like in on this.

[cosmicrelease]

steve was just trying his best to make it through the day without breaking down. and had so far been successful. but once steve walked into the door of his house he didn’t know how much longer he could last.

he had plans to hangout with eddie soon which is something he’d normally be excited about, but the thing is, steve’s arms hurt. since the upside down and fighting monsters thing was over steve hadn’t been working out as much. so when he did, like he had that morning, he felt sore.

for most people this wouldn’t be an issue. but the whole reason steve had worked out in the first place was to stop the buzzing in his body and mind. some days he woke up and it felt like everything was turned up to maximum. all the sounds, textures, colors, and smells of an average day felt like torture. and it made him feel buzzy. so add sore arms on top of his already overwhelmed system? he felt like he could lose it at any moment.

steve took a second to sit in silence with his eyes closed to try and calm down as he waited for his boyfriend to arrive any minute.

meanwhile his inner monologue would not relent,

“my arms are sore. that dog outside is barking too loud. my arms are sore. i hope eddie is on his way. my arms are sore. my arms are sore. my arms are sore.”

his train of thought was brought to a halt by a knock at the door. he took a deep breath before getting up and walking to let eddie in.

as soon as eddie was inside steve was greeted with a chipper,

“hey sweetheart!”

steve tried to hide his grimace at the sudden booming voice of his boyfriend, but to no avail.

“stevie are you okay?” eddie asked quietly.

“my arms hurt” steve let out softly with a sniffle before crumpling into his boyfriends loving embrace letting the weight of the day crash over him. knowing eddie would take care of him.

eddie wrapped his arms around his love before softly saying,

“oh baby, let’s get you somewhere comfy.”

as they walked into steve’s room eddie made sure to turn on the small lamp on the table knowing steve wouldn’t want to deal with the big light during a time like this. but even after getting comfortable in bed laying with his head on eddie’s chest, steve’s mind is still in overdrive.

“eddie is so cuddly. my arms are sore. i hope he doesn’t mind that we aren’t going anywhere tonight. my arms are sore. I’m glad eddie doesn’t smell like cologne right now. my arms are so-“

“you okay love bug? i know you said your arms hurt but i know that’s not the whole story.” eddie interrupted steve’s never ending thoughts.

steve let out a breath he hadn’t realized he’d been holding before rushing out,

“today is just too much. i woke up and the sun was too bright and the birds were basically screaming outside. and i tried to workout to focus on something else but it didn’t really help. and then at work the lights were humming and robin kept saying she couldn’t even hear it and it made me feel crazy. then i noticed my arms hurt from working out. now i can’t un-notice it and i can kind of control the stuff around me but i can’t control the stuff in me!”

“hey okay sweetheart just take a deep breath, it’s going to be okay.”

steve took some deep breaths as eddie continued,

“how about we take a hot shower and afterward i can massage your arms for you. does that sound like something you’d be up for baby?”

steve didn’t hesitate to agree to the plan set before him by his wonderfully caring boyfriend. following eddie’s lead into the bathroom.

the shower helps to release some of the tension he had been holding in his body all day. the steam and eddies hands working in tandem to surround his body. once they get out and after the aforementioned massage steve drifts to sleep curled around eddie. mind quiet for the first time all day.

a/n: this is my first time writing more than just a blurb in like a decade so lmk how y’all feel ab it! (unless you hate it then you keep that to yourself lol)

[cosmicrelease]

yes exactly!!

we crave ooey gooey steve and eddie!! it’s what the people need!!!!

like they’d be the type to sit outside the door while the other one is in the bathroom showering bc they would miss each other too much

i think ab that moment in season 2 a lot where steve sees nancy in the hallway and he says

“i missed you😘🥰”

and she’s all

“it’s been an hour 🙄”

and he responds

“tell me about it 💋😍”

and she like pushes him away.

and all i know is eddie would absolutely eat that shit up!!!! he’d be all in on steve and would crave the cheesy, all encompassing, silly, adorable love!!!! steve deserves the same energy back!!!

I YEARN FOR STEVE TO BE LOVED THE WAY HE DESERVES

[cosmicrelease]

i think ab that moment in season 2 a lot where steve sees nancy in the hallway and he says

“i missed you😘🥰”

and she’s all

“it’s been an hour 🙄”

and he responds

“tell me about it 💋😍”

and she like pushes him away.

and all i know is eddie would absolutely eat that shit up!!!! he’d be all in on steve and would crave the cheesy, all encompassing, silly, adorable love!!!! steve deserves the same energy back!!!

I YEARN FOR STEVE TO BE LOVED THE WAY HE DESERVES

[cosmicrelease]

i love autistic steve harrington!!! i love the idea that he was popular in high school but then lost his mask after he graduated. and i love the idea that he’s not stupid and clueless he’s just autistic and doesn’t understand. and i love the idea that people love him bc he’s good at curating a mask for each person he meets. and i love the idea that him and robin are so close bc she lets him unmask and be himself. and i love the idea that his interests were always sports and so it didn’t seem out of the ordinary that steve could recall the stats of his favorite players and knew all their numbers by heart. and i love that eddie is the one person that gets him on a level he could never understand himself.

I LOVE IT

I LOVE IT

I LOVE IT