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#bed sharing fic
jovenshires · 4 months
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13, 15, 19 & 21!! -baflegacy
tyyy @baflegacy xoxo
13. What fic was the easiest to write?
tommy bowe possessed me and he said baby (that's what he called me) came right out of me idk WHAT happened i blacked out and then that happened. he said baby my adored
15. Rec a fic you wrote or posted in 2023
oooh.... that's tough but im gonna go with the right side of my neck (still smells like you), a classic!!
19. Share your favorite opening line
from i could be the reason (you don't sleep at night):
For the past hour and thirty-five minutes, Angela has had time to reflect.
21. Share your favorite piece of dialogue
from if we keep score:
“You know, weirdly, I think I’m okay with not knowing.”
send me fic writer asks!
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lotus-pear · 7 months
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i think you guys are onto smth..
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i unironically got invested in this HELP
#WHERES THE FIC AT IF SOMEONE WRITES THIS I WILL PAY THEM A HUNDRED DOLLARS😭😭#kunikida serving the country while dazai's serving cunt😔#dazai was born to malewife but forced to manipulate and i think that's the greatest tragedy of bsd#anyway some facts i would like to share abt this au thay i came up w while drawing!!#takes place in 1939 (start of wwii) and there was a mandatory draft that required one male over eighteen from each house to serve#both of them are still twenty two and had been engaged for abt two years before getting married that year#newlyweds! unfortunately kuni had to go fight and they were seperated :(#before the war kunikida was a math teacher at the local high school and dazai obviously managed the household and didn't work#he's hopeless at cooking and meal prep even w recipie books so they either get those prepackaged meals or kuni makes dinner when he gets ba#so like when he's making lunch for kunikida he normally just packs a basic sandwich w raw fruit#kunikida always appreciates the effort even tho hes probably sick of having the same thing everyday but he won't complain abt it#when kunikida joined the army he was relieved that the mess hall had better food than dazai#he was the only one in his platoon that never complained abt the food so his fellow soldiers assumed it was bc he came from a tough bg#when in reality he was just used to being poisoned on a daily basis from his dumbass husbands cooking and was hardly fazed from army ration#they write to each other although its more dazai sending and kuni receiving bc hes off fighting and doesnt have time to write back#dazai talks abt life on the homefront and how he has to grow a victory garden (everything is DYING HE CANT EVEN RAISE TOMATOES)#and kuni writes abt his fellow soldiers and how the war is going and when he thinks he'll be home and how he misses sleeping in a bed#ANYWAY yea thought i'd share sry for infodumping in the tags again#this post is for like the four ppl that care abt this specific flavor of knkdz so hopefully this gets four notes at least#bungou stray dogs#bungo stray dogs#dazai osamu#osamu dazai#kunikida doppo#doppo kunikida#kunikidazai#knkdz#lotus draws#bro sry for posting at two in the morning i couldnt sleep until i got this out of my head they have infested my brain
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rodolfoparras · 7 months
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breaking my silence: soap is a walking fleshlight... the s in soap stands for slut
Hear me out..
Soap likes your possessiveness, loves the marks you leave on him, loves the need for constant touching loves how you remind him that he’s yours and yours only while you fuck him . There’s no one he’d want in this world beside you.
However he can’t help the way he clenches around your cock when you leave the door open for everyone to walk in while you’re fucking him, wondering what everyone would think seeing the mouthy sergeant submitting to you like this, wondering if they’d find him pretty like this, pretty enough to kiss and caress while he’s being split open on your cock
Soap cant help but have his cunt dripping just at the mention of someone else joining in, at the thought of taking two cocks at the same time because of course it would be possible you’d spent enough time exploring his body’s limit to know that, or thinking about having your cock down his throat while someone fucks his cunt and the entire time he’s getting off to the sight of you standing there smiling down at him while imaging it’s your cock inside him, because at the end of the day no one can fuck him the way you can and both of you know it
He can’t help but cum quickly while taking someone else’s cock as you watch and instruct because there’s something so hot about you knowing his body like this this to the point where you can instruct someone else on how to pleasure him, or when you tell the person they can fuck him but can’t cum inside his cunt and if Soap were into something like that, you’d clean him up throughly afterwards with your mouth and despite his hole being all pink and puffy and feeling sensitive to your touch he’d still let you fill him up with your own load because at the end of the day Soap is yours
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mahoushojo-chan · 7 months
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Astarion x Tav || bed sharing
one forever won't be enough
synopsis: it's a habit they picked up from travelling together. every so often, astarion came to tav at night. it turned into something that he needs sometimes, even if he'd really rather not admit it. instead of lying in his old bunk, astarion chooses not to be alone.
an excerpt of "'cause my love (is mine, all mine)"
word count: 1203
pairing: astarion/tav
other tags: f!reader, bed sharing, tooth-rotting fluff, hurt/comfort, non-sexual intimacy, romantic tension, late night conversations, friends to lovers, song inspo: where do i begin by Egg
ao3: here
concept: bed sharing
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At night, Astarion lies in his old bunk. It’s rough, grating, and it creaks every time he shifts, and he’s pretty sure he couldn’t enter trance even if he tried. It’s telling that he would rather lay on a bedroll laid over hard rock than ‘his’ own bed, but the last time he laid in this bed, he was still a slave. Just Cazador’s spawn.
Somehow, it feels even emptier than back then. He doesn't have Petras sleeping in the top bunk, snoring loud enough for him to kick the mattress above. He doesn't have Dalyria in the bunk beside him, hiding a light underneath her sheets while she dove her research into the next topic. There isn't Leon in the corner, whispering sweet comforts to his little girl, Victoria. It’s too quiet all on his own.
Then, even with his new companions, he can't hear Gale patronizing Wyll about this or that kind of magic, he can't hear Karlach playing with Scratch or the Owlbear, and there is no occasional thump of Lae’zel’s late-night training. He had gotten used to all of it as some kind of white noise for the next dawn.
Besides, he thinks, he should get used to his nocturnal schedule again, so staying awake wouldn’t be too bad. It would keep the nightmares away, at least. He had enough of Cazador. He thinks of Tav, who he hopes is sleeping peacefully away.
In the dark, he has to confront the reality that he and Tav are worlds apart. He wonders if she’ll be able to adapt to this schedule.
The door to the Favoured Spawn room opens, the room that Tav had taken, with a quiet creak that only Astarion would hear. Then, the mattress dips, and a hesitant arm wraps around her waist and pulls Tav in as someone nestles in close.
“Mm… still awake, Star?” She mutters, though he’s more surprised to hear that she’s still awake.
“Yes.” Astarion replies in a whisper, because it feels like the night calls for whispers, even when the entire palace is empty.
It’s a habit they picked up from travelling together. Every so often, Astarion came to Tav to sleep. Tav knows that it first started after he first drank from her and she found herself exhausted enough to slip unconscious; but it turned into something that he needs sometimes, even though he’d really rather not admit it. Tav thought it would end after Astarion made it clear that he wasn’t ready for a relationship, and she decided to be friends, rather than lovers. It seemed to be what he needed at the time, but she also knows that this—whatever this is, lying in bed together, in the dark, holding each other and whispering—isn’t really something friends do. Astarion has never had any friends, but even he suspects this is something that is beyond friendship.
But this isn’t sexual, either. He can't think of a single conquest who he had done this with because this felt too vulnerable. This felt like a different reality, reframing what it meant to find comfort in the dark.
With a sigh, Tav turns around to face Astarion. He sees her eyes, heavy-lidded with sleep, and he brushes some hair out of her face. It’s never as awkward as it should be.
“I’m not sure if I’m ready to face them.” Astarion whispers, truthful and defeated, because holding Tav in the darkness brings about a whole different world around him; one where he can tell Tav anything.
“We don’t have to go if you don’t want to, Star.” She says, and it does something to his chest when she whispers his nickname in that tone, with that softness of sleep tinging her voice.
Astarion huffs out a whisper of a laugh. “I do want to. They’re… something like family, after all. They’re the closest thing I have to love.”
“I love you,” she protests, her voice still quiet. He knows this is not what friends do. They are in bed holding each other, now declaring love for each other, in the comfort of darkness. Astarion has never had anyone he had been this intimate with, even in the throes of passion, and he feels that he should think more about what this means.
“Fine, then. They’re the closest thing, other than you.” He drawls affectionately, feeling a tug at his lips even as he rolls his eyes. “But still, they’re not like you. I’m not like you. I can’t be good like you, and I’m afraid they know that. It feels like I’ll have to solve all of this world’s problems to be worthy of forgiveness, and even then, they would be right not to give it to me. They might never forgive me.”
“Then they’d be fools, the lot of them.” She says, and though she still sounds asleep, her eyes look at him with a sincerity he knows. If there’s one consistency about Tav’s behaviour, it’s that she has no patience for fools, and he can’t help but laugh.
A silence passes through them for a moment. “Do you think I’m evil?”
“No.” She says. “Even I’m not nearly as good as you think I am. Out of the two of us, you’re far more special. You make me think anything is possible.”
It’s odd because he can imagine saying the exact same thing to her. He wonders if she was just reading his thoughts and saying the words out loud, and if it was some sort of byproduct left by the mind-reading tadpole. But then again, he can’t at all understand why she would think he was special, and if they did still have the tadpoles, he would wish to see himself through her eyes. He wants to see what she sees in him—this brave, dashing, kind, supportive, heroic man, capable of love and goodness.
He wonders what would happen if he kissed her. 
Not that he was particularly sexually attracted to her, though he admits that objectively, she is attractive. He has a working pair of eyes and a good sense of taste, after all. And honestly, he doesn’t even know if she’s attracted to him—he thinks she might be, because Astarion hadn’t met many people who weren’t, but she also never asked him for anything sexual. Even their first night together, he always wondered if she had truly wanted it, or if he was just taking advantage of their desperate, life-or-death situation. All her intimacy seemed strictly… well, not exactly platonic, but not sexual, either. And it didn’t feel quite romantic, either.
But he wonders what she would do. What might she see? What might she feel?
He compromises by resting the crown of his head on hers, and quietly, he whispers, “Thank you for loving me.”
“Of course I would.” She replies, sounding fond, before closing her eyes. He can tell that sleep is about to take her again as she sighs, “Don’t worry about who you think you’ve got to be. Just be Astarion. It’s good enough.”
Her breaths even out, and he does his best to match her, taking in the air she exhales. He runs fingers through her hair again as she drifts to sleep.
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baflegacy · 22 days
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SOOOO many thoughts about this. did they stay in the airbnb after the reception. who stayed. was it a little sleepover. were they all drunk and goofing around.
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shitouttabuck · 23 days
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hi (said with all the love and affection in the world bursting out of me) please remember to take care of yourself first but also the "stay on your side or so help me god I will set this bed on fire" prompt is calling my name and also yours
mwah <333
tried and true blue
buck/eddie | 4k | rated t
It’s not even three minutes after he switches off the light that the door bangs open. Bangs open, not even an attempt at quietness. “Eddie,” Buck stage-whispers, “you’re not asleep yet, right?” “No,” Eddie grumbles, flicking on the light when Buck bumps heavily into something and swears. “But I could’ve been.” “Eddie, Eddie,” Buck sings breathily, shucking his trousers and clambering onto the bed in just his boxers and a button-down shirt. “Why is there only one bed?” “Um,” Eddie draws the comforter up to his chin, as if he can shield himself from the half-naked—oh, three-quarters naked, he’s pulling off his shirt now—Buck with just a duvet.
or, sharing a bed with your best friend is fine, usually, except for when your best friend is the particular combination of tipsy and stoned at his sister’s wedding that transforms him into 200 pounds of cuddlebug
read on ao3
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johnslittlespoon · 2 months
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"buck, can i climb up into your bunk to keep warm?" shut up.
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five-hxrgreeves · 1 year
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Two Positives Equal a Negative (Or Something Like That)
PAIRING: adam warlock & fem! quill’s sister!reader
WC: 2.8k (again, a long one. I just can’t seem to write anything short!) 
SUMMARY: you’ve always had trouble sleeping thanks your numerous (unfortunate) life experiences. While he hasn’t lived as long as you have, Adam has a similar problem. Fortunately, a Terran phrase that your brother taught you might have the solution that you seek.
WARNINGS: slight gotg three spoilers, fluff, angst if you squint.
AUTHOR’S NOTE: okay, so I accidentally lied and I realized that my last one-shot wasn’t my first official one; I wrote a Natasha x reader several years ago. I just don’t post on here that often so I forgot about it, lol. Anyway, Adam Warlock currently has a chokehold on me so here’s another one-shot for him- the sequel that I mentioned on the last one. I’m tempted to write a Gally one/two-shot, but I’m not familiar with the TMR universe so I’m worried that I’d mess it up.
Also, I know that the phrase is actually ‘two negatives equal a positive,’ but I was drawing on the fact that non-Terrans wouldn’t really remember/understand Peter’s references, and since ‘you’ had only been to Earth during Endgame, you it mixed up.
Part 0 , Part 1
You’d always had trouble sleeping, especially on your father’s planet. There had just been a sense of. . . wrongness that you didn’t need Mantis’ empath powers to feel. It had made you on edge most of the time, alert for the unseen danger that you felt. While this might’ve just been your role as Ego’s protector speaking, you knew that your sister felt similarly. Mantis had once offered to put you to sleep using her powers, which you’d agreed to. Although it had worked, you hadn’t liked the feeling of your emotions being messed with, or the vulnerability that came with sleep. Even though you trusted that your sister wouldn’t hurt you, Ego was a different story entirely.
So, that meant that you were up most of the time with only catnaps and snatches of sleep when absolutely necessary. (Luckily your enhanced stamina helped in this case so it wasn’t terribly detrimental to your wellbeing.) It was hard to hide your unusual sleep patterns on the Milano with your new friends since there wasn’t space to walk around like there had been on Ego’s planet. But the Guardians all had various traumas of their own, so they understood the difficulty of getting peaceful rest. Some nights had even been better than others as Peter would teach you how to play Terran card games, which would then include the rest of the Guardians once you’d learned.
You also liked to sit in the pilot’s chair late at night and watch the darkness of space light up around you. It was funny, really; everyone expected space to be a dark, black vacuum of nothing when it was actually just the opposite. Sure, there was no physical form of life, but space was alive in its own way. As the Milano sailed aimlessly through the stars, you’d pass the orange-red clouds of dust and gas— nebulas. Or the brilliant white-blue of a dying star, or the different hues of blue-black that surrounded you. Space was truly beautiful, which was something that you never tried to take for granted.
But now you were stuck on Knowhere. There were no brilliant colors of space to distract you or friends to play card games with. Mantis was gone— your only source of comfort on those long nights when you’d served your father. You were alone, with nothing but a Zune to distract you as you sat, bored, in the kitchen late into the night. You’d decided on some calmer tunes and were currently listening to the Frank Sinatra playlist you’d curated. A warm mug of tea— which Peter had also introduced you to— sat between your hands as your eyes glazed over, getting lost in your music.
--
As it turned out, Adam wasn’t that great of a sleeper, either. It always felt like there was too much energy running through him to be properly restful— not to mention that, whenever he closed his eyes, he saw his mother waiting for him as he flew desperately towards her. And then the explosion would come, jolting him out of sleep as a reminder of his failure.
With a sigh, he pushed back his covers and stood. Since he was already dressed (his mother had always told him to be ready for anything), he made his way to the kitchen where he’d baked cookies with you. It hadn’t been that long ago, but he already missed the comfortable, homey feeling he’d gotten as he formed the batter into spheres with you standing at his side. You had yet to talk to Rocket about how his comments made you feel, but he knew it was because you respected your teammate and didn’t like making a big deal out of things. Thinking about you now, he sort of hoped that he would see you in the kitchen when he got there— but that was a crazy thought; it was the middle of the night! Any normal person would be in a deep sleep by now.
So, it was definitely a pleasant surprise when he came upon you, sitting at the head of the table. Your earbuds were in your ears, as usual, and you seemed to be deep in thought as you absentmindedly traced the rim of your mug with your finger. He was comfortable enough with you to approach you without hesitation, so he took the chair next to yours and nudged you gently to get your attention.
You jumped, startled by the unexpected presence of someone else in the room. At first you had a wild thought that it might be Peter, who came to keep you company as he often had. You were only mildly disappointed to see that it was Adam instead (and this was just because you missed your brother; you were actually quite happy to see the golden boy.) You took out your earbuds and paused your music. “You’re up late. Or early.”
His golden eyes met yours— something you noticed that he did often; it seemed that eye contact was his way of showing that he was listening to you, which always made your stomach flutter pleasantly. “So are you,” he replied. “Can’t sleep?”
“Nah,” you said with a shrug. “You?”
“Me either,” he agreed.
You sat in a comfortable silence together, one so long that you were almost tempted to  put your earbuds back in. Maybe this was a one-off thing; you’d never seen him before on your sleepless nights. Maybe he wasn’t used to being up at this hour and just wasn’t as talkative as he normally was with you. But you were also curious; what could a supposedly perfect being be troubled with at night? So, you sighed, and against your better judgement (as you hated to talk about your feelings), you asked, “wanna talk about it?”
But Adam also knew how you were, and he shook his head. “No, it’s okay. I don’t mind just sitting here.” He got to enjoy your company, after all, so he considered tonight to be better than most.
You let out another sigh. As much as you hated getting touchy-feely, the night was already very boring; sitting and not talking would only make it worse. “I don’t mind, actually. I’m used to being around other people when I’m up like this. Talking would make the time pass faster.” You studied his expression for a moment, which was unusually unreadable; it always seemed like he had a kind smile or glance to send your way. “We can start off easy, if you want. Are you up like this every night?”
His expression softened at your willingness to go outside your comfort zone, so he answered honestly. (He had nothing that he wanted to hide from you, anyway.) “Most nights, yeah. What about you?”
“Same,” you agreed. You played with the rubber protective tip on your earbud. “Can’t get to sleep or bad dreams?”
“Both,” Adam admitted. “Although it’s usually the first one.”
You nodded. “Same, again, but for me it’s mostly the latter. You remember when I said that you weren’t the first person to try and kill me?” At his confirmation (because how could he have forgotten that?), you continued, “yeah. It’s mostly that. My father was a great parent,” you finished sarcastically.
When you’d first become friends, you’d shared stories about the Guardians’ adventures— even the ones that had happened before you’d joined the team— although they’d mostly been lighthearted in tone. You’d acted like they hadn’t really affected you and had laughed at the fact that your father’s planet had tried to swallow you whole. Adam sort of wished that your father was still alive so he could fight him for you. While his mother had had her moments of parenting issues, he’d never doubted that she did love him; it was clear that this wasn’t the case with your father.
“I’m sorry,” he said, not really sure what else he could say. Despite everything that had happened to you, you were still a good person; you hadn’t fought the Guardians on your first meeting like he had, which already made you better than him. He wished that there was something he could do (such as getting revenge for you) to help ease whatever burden you were feeling as you often had for him, but there didn’t seem like there was anything that he could do.
“Don’t worry about it,” you replied in a blasé tone, already moving on from your heavy things. “Want to talk about your stuff?”
He shifted in his seat, a little uncomfortable to admit his failure to you. He wanted to prove that he was just as capable as you were, and this was one of his worst moments. “I. . . keep thinking about my mother.” His gaze dropped to where his hands were folded on the table, unable to watch your reaction in case you thought worse of him. “How I. . . wasn’t able to save her. I was so close, too. If only I’d been faster—”
You reached out a hand to put it on top of both of his, cutting him off. Yours was much smaller in comparison, barely covering even one of his hands. He looked up at you with surprise, feeling his face heat up at the contact. Your usually jovial expression was uncharacteristically serious as you chided him gently, “stop. Thinking like that never helps, you know. You’ll drive yourself mad if you keep wondering ‘what if.’ I should know.”
While he was relieved that his fears about your reaction were unfounded, he frowned at your last words. “What do you mean?”
You pretended not to notice that your hands were still holding his as you answered, “remember what I told you about the Snap?” At his nod, you continued, “Peter and I were the only ones who weren’t trying to subdue Thanos. My powers are mostly defensive, so they would only anger him, which was the opposite of what we were trying to do. Peter got— understandably— distraught at the news of Gamora’s death and he was practically solely responsible for the Snap.” You sighed heavily, dropping your gaze from him. “As the only other person not doing anything on that planet, I could’ve stopped him, but he was my brother; I couldn’t hurt him. But if I had. . . everything could’ve been so much different. In a way, I was responsible for the Snap, too.”
While he understood your reasoning, he didn’t completely agree with it. You’d filled him in with great detail about the Infinity War, which you’d only learned the missing parts after you’d been brought back. So, he insisted quietly, “Thor could’ve also gone for Thanos’ head, but he didn’t.”
“But Thanos wouldn’t have even gotten to the Terran planet if we’d stopped him on Titan. You see what I mean? These what-ifs really messed with my head— still do. You eventually just have to accept the fact that the situation can’t be changed and learn from your mistakes.” In a lighter tone you added, “I promised myself that the next time I needed to sock it to Peter, I wouldn’t hesitate. Maybe a good hit to the head would knock some common sense back into him.”
Adam chuckled at this, his serious expression lifting. Sensing that you didn’t want to talk about such emotional topics anymore, he changed the subject slightly. “So you’re up every night because of these thoughts? Don’t you need sleep?”
“Yeah, but I’ve got enhanced stamina, so not as much as a regular person,” you said, relieved that he picked up on your hint. “What about you? You’re practically a god yourself.”
He felt his face flush with (pleased) embarrassment at your indirect compliment, even if it was truthful. “That’s part of the problem, I think,” he explained. “All this power. . . it gives me too much energy and. . . I can’t sleep.”
You frowned thoughtfully at your similar predicaments, an idea (admittedly, a stupid enough one that Peter could’ve come up with it) forming in your mind. “Y’know,” you began slowly, “Peter taught me a Terran phrase awhile back. I can’t exactly remember how it goes— it’s like two positives equal a negative, or something like that— and it means that when there’s two good things, it cancels out the bad one. We could try and apply it here.”
He gave you a curious look. “Really? How?”
“Well, since we both can’t sleep— that’s the negative— maybe. . . maybe if we slept. . .” You felt your face burning at your suggestion. “If we slept. . . tog— well, not together-together, I mean— with each— does that sound worse? I—” you struggled to find the right wording that wouldn’t come off as suggestive. “You don’t have to if you don’t want to,” you added hastily, misunderstanding his bemused expression.
“Little Quill,” he teased you lightly, “you haven’t even gotten the question out.”
Oh. You only felt even more embarrassed. “Do you want to sleep in my room?” you finally managed to blurt out, burying your face in your hands, unable to look at the boy across from you.
Instead of taking offense or making fun of you as you’d expected, Adam seemed to actually consider your offer. “Do you think it would work?”
At his question, you dropped your hands to your lap and shrugged, though your face was still very red. He seemed remarkably unflustered, not that you could tell if he was (damn his beautiful golden skin— wait, what?) “I don’t know,” you mumbled, still refusing to look at him. “I can only sleep if I feel safe, and there’s only one person I ever felt that way with— Mantis. But. . . now I think that includes you, too.”
Adam couldn’t help the bright smile that formed on his face at your words, the thought that you felt safe with him (especially after everything that he’d done to you and your friends) meant more than he could say. The thought that you would willingly be vulnerable in his presence made his stomach feel enjoyably— and inexplicably— nauseous. “I feel safe around you too,” he replied without hesitation. “And. . . I wouldn’t mind trying it.”
--
Not long after, the two of you returned to the room you were renting in the dorm-style building. Since neither you nor Adam had family to speak of (and were also short on funds), you’d both found rooms in a tenant building that had lots of other people, many of whom had lost their homes during the Guardians’ most recent adventures. Luckily you’d gotten a room to yourself, though you had to share basic facilities with everyone else.
“You can sleep in the bed since this was my idea,” you offered. You were still in what you considered your pajamas, so you just had to gather some spare blankets and pillows.
Adam shook his head, against the thought of you making accommodations for him. “I can sleep on the floor. You shouldn’t have to give up your bed.”
“It’s not like I use it much anyway,” you joke, pulling the covers back. “But if you’re seriously against me sleeping on the floor, I guess we could. . . share?”
He seemed not to mind your proposal as he agreed readily, and after taking off his shoes, he made to get in when you spoke again with a confused look on your face. “You. . . sleep in your clothes? No wonder why you can’t get comfortable!”
Adam seemed to not understand your comment. “You sleep in your clothes.”
You laughed a little at his observation. “These are sleep clothes, not everyday clothes. At least take off your jacket,” you reasoned.
But as he did so, you realized why he hadn’t gotten more comfortable: there was nothing except chiseled chest under his clothes. You blushed and tried (but failed) not to stare as he got into bed next to you, admiring the way his muscles flexed with his movement. Luckily he seemed to not notice your attention as he settled next to you. There was a sizeable gap between you two despite the bed not being very big, one that you wished you had the guts to close. (Wait— again, what?)
You wondered how you’d ever get to sleep with all that muscle right behind you (okay, this one you could admit freely), but somehow, in the quiet stillness of your dark room, the safe, peaceful feeling lulled you into the first restful slumber that you’d had since your siblings had left months ago.
--
And if you woke up the next morning, curled up against Adam’s chest with his arm wrapped around you protectively, neither of you bothered to say anything about it.
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Memory Log: Day 52
part 1 here | part 2 here | part 3 here | part 5 here | part 6 here (ao3 link here)
After seeing his ink-smeared biography all over Eddie Munson’s arm, Steve becomes extremely motivated. Obsessed, even.
He assembles a makeshift army. Eddie’s Memory Soldiers, he calls it. Okay - he doesn’t call it that out loud, only to himself (because even Steve is self-aware enough to know how deranged this all sounds).
Steve compiles a ragtag group of Eddie’s friends to nudge his brain along faster. Band mates, theater dweebs, potheads that can carry a tune. All of them bring mixtapes on their visits. After two weekends, there’s already a fuckload of thrashy melodies for Eddie to choose from.
He lets them take the reins on this music-healing plan because there’s no fucking way Steve will be helpful in that department. It means less visits that include his presence, which sort of sucks, but it’s worth it. Worth it to get Eddie back to where he used to be.
Before Steve heads out for one of his morning visits, Robin interrogates him. Asks him the question he’s been ignoring for weeks.
“Steve… not to sound harsh, but why do you care so much?” 
Yeah. Why does he care so much? 
She quickly follows it up with, “I just didn’t know you two were friends now. So I’m just curious, I guess.”
They’re not friends. They’re lukewarm tolerators - tethered together by monster hunting and Dustin Henderson.
They’ve flirted, sure. But who doesn’t? Steve would flirt with half of the leggy cartoon characters that appear on Saturday Mornings if he could. So that’s a weak argument to assume they’re more than just friends. Tolerators. Whatever.
So he lies. To Robin. To himself. Lies so much that it sits in his stomach like motion sickness.
He answers the exact same way he’s been answering since day one:
“I’m just doing this for the kids, Robs.”
He’s pretty sure neither of them are buying that statement. He tries again. Stamps the words onto his confused brain. Considers writing them on his arm just like Eddie might do.
“I’m doing it for them.”
Eddie is always on his Walkman (Steve’s Walkman) now that he has skyscraper of cassettes on his desk. Pretty much every time Steve returns, Eddie is head banging. Won’t stop until the nurses scold him.
Or Steve. He’ll stop if Steve scolds him too.
“You can’t keep jostling up your brain, Munson.” Steve whips the headphones off of Eddie’s ears. “Gonna undo all of our hard work.”
“Our hard work?” Eddie attempts to grab the headphones back. Gives up as soon as their hands make contact. “And who might be included in this our that you speak of?”
“You know…” Me. “The doctors and nurses and your friends.”
“Right.”
This is how things have been going lately. Eddie teases him mercilessly and Steve bats it all away. Doesn’t encourage it for a second.
Which blows so hard because he wants to flirt back. Steve wants to know what Eddie feels like beyond tubes and bandages and hospital gowns. He wants way too much after watching Eddie fall asleep smiling that night. After finding out that Eddie scams his own mind into remembering Steve in technicolor details every day.
But it feels wrong. Deep down, there’s this part of Steve that worries that Eddie only likes the scribbled notes, the good qualities of himself. The non-prickster qualities.
He doesn’t scribble the bad qualities on his arm. Eddie lets himself forget about those every night. 
So it seems wrong. Unfair to let Eddie only remember the good parts of him and take advantage of his weak mind.
Life was a fucking breeze before Steve cared about not taking advantage of people. Shit, he used the world’s biggest advantage-taker before all of this evil wizard nonsense.
“Quiz me, Harrington.” Eddie insists.
So Steve does. Steve goes down the list of questions. Things that Eddie’s memory typically hesitates to recognize. 
Music helps Eddie remember his childhood memories the best.
That’s the biggest discovery they’ve made over the last fourteen days. Tapes that include songs from the early to mid 70’s have the biggest mental impact on his memory skills. Every day, he recalls more moments from his past.
Winter birthday parties. Recess and tire swings. Nineteen chickenpox. A pet hamster named Sterling.
“Can’t believe Wayne trusted you with a living creature.” Steve sneers.
“Never said he did.”
He always gets fuzzy with stuff from the late 70s though. And the early 80s is just a jumbled-up shit show. That’s when Eddie really starts failing his quiz.
“What year did you get the tattoo on your chest?”
“You mean this one?” Eddie pulls down the wrinkly hospital gown, exposing way too much of his collarbone. “Or this one?” He pulls the fabric down even further.
They must’ve finally turned the heat on in this place. Or maybe Steve’s sweater is just extra itchy, scratching his skin all splotchy red. He rubs furiously at the collar, spreads the flush all over by accident. 
His eyes dart up to the fluorescent lights. Away from Eddie’s chest. “Um… the… creepy guy.”
“You’ll sprain your neck looking up like that.”
“Good thing I’m in a hospital then.”
“Okay - seriously, what’s up with you?”
“Nothing.”
“Sure.” Eddie snorts. His heart monitor beeps faster. Steve hates that laughing must be a bit painful for him. “And he’s not some creepy guy. He’s a creepy demon. Please respect the body art and get your facts right.”
“Fine.”
Not flirting back makes Steve feel like he could break out into hives. He has a fucking stockpile of pickup lines. He hoards provocative catchphrases like a horny pack rat. Talking is becoming increasingly difficult when he can’t banter back the way he wants to.
“Don’t remember what year I got it.” Eddie admits. “Sorry.”
Steve pulls his focus away from the ceiling and scribbles that down:
Eddie still can’t remember when he got his tattoos.
“Gee mister,” Eddie imitates a very masculine Shirley Temple voice. “Am I failing the pop quiz already?”
Eddie remembers who Shirley Temple is (weird, but okay).
Eddie does a really shitty impression of Shirley Temple.
Steve just keeps writing. Not even writing words anymore, just moving the pen to stay focused. Stay distracted from flirting.
The energy starts to feel swampy and stiff as he continues to give short responses with lifeless enthusiasm. Steve can tell that Eddie is picking up on the weirdness too. 
He’s so fidgety. Drumming his fingers, twisting the one ring he’s allowed to wear on one of his less busted fingers. Bobbing his knees and kicking off his blankets. 
Eventually, Eddie puts his (Steve’s) headphones back on and closes his eyes. A nonverbal surrender. A borrowed Walkman instead of a white flag. Why does it feel so shitty to see that he is just as defeated as Steve?
Once Eddie is asleep, Steve peaks over at his arms.
The notes are still there. Fading, but there.
It shouldn’t jab him in the heart the way that it does every time he checks, but christ. It’s so fucked up.
Slowly but surely, Eddie is gaining pieces of his past, but never his present. Why the fuck is that? Steve is so selfishly pissed about that because he’s a main role in Eddie’s present life. 
He’s the one that’s here most days. He’s the one that listens to Eddie’s rants and incessant complaints. He’s the one that calls the nurses when Eddie is too prideful to admit when he’s in pain.
Steve should be remembered without smudgey reminders and foggy recollections.
Steve should be un-fucking-forgettable.
After an unhealthy amount of moping, he comes up with an idea. Well, Dustin comes up with an idea, actually. Steve bribed him with nougat and R-rated movie rentals to construct a gameplan.
“And you need Eddie to remember your favorite sweater…why?” Dustin’s mouth is full of chewy candy as he asks.
Steve chucks a raisinette at his dumb hat. “I thought we agreed this was a no questions asked request.”
“You suggested that.” Dustin points at Steve. “I never agreed to it though.”
This is the part Steve despises. If he admits it to others, he has to admit it to himself. And while he’s come a long way since that first day with Eddie, he’s not there yet. His pride can only take so much vulnerability before it fractures completely. “Just… I’m testing a theory I have on his newest memories.”
“Right. And what theory would that be?”
That he thinks about me in kissable ways. “That he remembers more than he gives himself credit for.”
Dustin chugs back his soda and scrunches the can in his grasp. “Okay. Well, the mixtape theory is working decently well with older memories, right?
“Yeah. Definitely.”
“So maybe it can work with newer memories too.”
Steve is lost already. “Meaning?”
“Find songs that relate to you.” Dustin shrugs like duh. He must sense Steve’s hesitation, so he sputters back into his brainy explanation. “Think about it: you’re there all the time -”
“Not all the time, but -”
“Shut the hell up. You’re there all the time, so he must remember the essence of Steve Harrington.”
Steve fake gags. “Don’t say essence, that’s fucking gross.”
“Will you stop interrupting? Jesus christ.” Dustin yells, scrunching the soda can even more with his irritation. “Just make a mixtape with stuff that relates to you. Get his current memories to stick with lyrics and shit.”
Steve twists his mouth to one side. Then the other. “That’s…”
“Genius?”
“I was gonna say worth a shot, but sure.” Steve agrees. “We’ll go with your conceited analysis.”
Dustin finally picks up the raisinette from earlier. Throws it back at Steve. “You should be nicer to me. I possibly just solved your dilemma.”
“I should be nicer to you?” Steve tosses the raisinette into his mouth, despite its questionable duration on the floor. “Dude, you’re never nice to me.”
“Yeah, but it’s affectionate hostility.”
“And that makes it better?”
“Basically, yeah.”
“Fine.” Steve rolls eyes, offers a hand to Dustin. “Thank you for the hostile affection.”
Dustin accepts the handshake. He’s overly smug about it too. “You’re very welcome.”
Memory Log: Day 53
Right away, Steve determines it’s a Kathy Day. Eddie is a verbal nightmare already, whining about the dead batteries in his tv remote.
“I’ll get Sam to grab some batteries when her shift starts.” Steve reassures the bitchy entity possessing Eddie Munson’s body at the moment.
“Why don’t you just get the damn batteries?” Eddie bites back. “You have legs, don’t you?”
“You have eyes, don’t you? Of course, I have fucking legs.” Steve can play it this game. Doesn’t want to but he can be just as obnoxious if Eddie keeps going with his attitude. “Please don’t pull this Kathy shit today.”
That simultaneously shuts them both up for a while. Steve begins flipping through one of the outdated magazines on Eddie’s desk, avoiding the escalated atmosphere. At this rate, there’s no fucking way Steve is going to bring up his mixtape. Kathy/Eddie will probably smash it. Roll over it with the wheels on his imprisoning hospital bed.
Eddie clears his throat, speaking softer than he did at Steve’s arrival. “You know… you were sort of a Kathy yourself yesterday.”
Eddie remembers Steve’s weird mood from the day before (needs to check Eddie’s arm notes to make sure he didn’t write that down).
“Yeah well… I’m allowed to be the pissy one sometimes.” Steve doesn’t look up. He just keeps pretending to read the fossilized magazine in his hand.
“Whatever you say, Harrington.” There’s another pause. Just as awkward as the last one. Their dynamics today are clashing harder than their music styles. Eddie breaks through the awkwardness once again. “So… what’s on the brain agenda today?”
Eddie remembers their pop quizzes.
Right. The quiz. The quiz that Steve has no intention of administering today because he’s supposed to give Eddie this stupid mixtape. 
And look, Steve is pretty good at avoiding shit - homework and phone calls and extended family members. He’s good at dodging shit too, like the relentless one-night stands that can never seem to take a goddamn hint.
But this situation is different because Steve would clearly like to avoid the potential weirdness of giving Eddie Munson a gift. However, he’s innately aware that this particular gift could be helpful. Maybe more to himself than to Eddie, but who knows? If Eddie gets his memory tank back on track and Steve gets someone that reciprocates his affections? 
The payoff might be worth the weirdness.
“I actually wanted to contribute to your…” Steve gestures apathetically at the stack of tapes.
Eddie looks over at them and then back to Steve. “Oh you mean, Munsonopolis?”
“Boooo.�� Steve heckles him immediately for that.
“You think of something better then.”
Steve thinks about this way too hard. “The Ed-pire State Building.”
“Boooo.” Eddie imitates Steve’s heckling.
“Better than yours.”
“Says who?”
“Says anyone with a sense of humor.”
“Brave of you to call that a sense of humor.”
“What can I say?” Steve clicks his mouth twice and does the most douchey finger-gun bit, blowing out the nonexistent smoke from each index finger. “I’m something else.”
Eddie bites down over his lip, hard enough that it goes white for a second. Doesn’t take his eyes off of Steve while he bares down.
“You sure are, Steve.”
Oh shit - did they just mindlessly segue onto Flirtation Boulevard without even trying? Is it really that natural with Eddie? Damnit, Steve needs to get his mind on the task at hand.
“Here.” He walks over, lays the tape on Eddie’s lap.
“Is this another one from Gareth?” Eddie flips the tape over, studies the back. “Cause I already assured him that I remember the concert we went to back in ‘84.”
Eddie remembers one of his closest friends.
“No, this one is actually…” Just fucking own up, Steve. “Well, I made it.”
Eddie’s eyes do that sequin thing again. Almost turn into disco balls. “You made me a mixtape?”
Ugh. “Don’t get too flattered, Munson.” 
“Too late.”
Steve was afraid that might be the case. So he does his damndest to channel Dustin Henderson. Provide a scientific explanation to his crush-driven theory. “It’s just an extension of our little music experiment. Some stuff that will help you remember me.”
“And why exactly do you want me to remember you?” Eddie does the same lip biting thing from before. He bites harder, and the color stays white even longer this time.
Steve involuntarily glances down at Eddie’s arm, giving himself away.
“Oh.” Eddie stops biting his lip, swiftly lifts the blankets over his arms. Hiding what Steve already knows is there. “Look… that’s just -”
“You don’t have to explain yourself, really.”
Eddie looks down, nodding in agreement. “Right. But it’s not-”
“Eddie.” Steve places a firm hand on Eddie’s shoulder because he can’t. He can’t listen to whatever Eddie is about to confirm or deny. “It’s okay. I mean it.”
He’s not ready for it, for whatever barricade that’s between them to come crashing down. Steve didn’t bring the proper tools to shield himself from raw emotions or desperate declarations of true feelings. And from the way Eddie goes breathless and tense under Steve’s shoulder-grip, he doesn’t think Eddie has the proper tools for that either.
“So you uh…” Eddie peers down at Steve’s hand. Catches a glimpse then abruptly looks away again. “Do you want me to listen now or…”
God no. Steve releases his grip at that thought. “Wait till I leave.” 
“Got it.”
The rest of the visit goes both fairly smoothly. There are only a few lingering particles of awkward tension left behind. It doesn’t bother Steve, not necessarily. The whole day has been kind of all over the place, just like Eddie’s Literary Behavioral Scale. So this uneasy atmosphere is to be expected.
They talk about movies while Steve packs up his things to leave. Eddie asks about all the new movies that have come out since he’s been in the hospital. Steve tells him to make a list of the ones he’s interested in seeing. Tells him that they’ll have a marathon at his place once they’re released to vhs. Eddie says he knows a guy that sells bootlegs before the vhs release date, but Steve shoots that idea down so fucking fast.
It’s not their usual banter, but that’s okay. At least they're talking. Getting along. Tolerating one another at a lukewarm temperature again.
“Steve?”
“Yeah?” Steve is met with the most anxiety-ridden face. Eddie’s whole forehead is covered in wrinkles, like that one fancy dog breed that his next-door neighbor used to have. There’s no shimmer in Eddie’s eyes, no disco balls. It’s all just dull. Fearful.
“Sorry if the arm thing made you...” Eddie trips over his words. He pinches the skin between his eyes, makes his even more forehead wrinkles. “I don’t know what’s the word I’m looking for.. Uncomfortable, I guess.”
“Don’t worry. It didn’t.” It made Steve a lot of other things: gutted, determined, confused, sulky, smitten. But no. Worried did not make Steve’s grocery list of Feelings.
“Don’t forget to tell Sam about the batteries on your way out.”
Eddie remembers bitching about the batteries.
Yeah, Steve’s memory isn’t the faulty one here. Even so, Steve reassures him:
“I won’t forget, Eds.”
Day 56:
Wayne had a couple days off from work and took over Steve’s Wednesday and Thursday shifts in the hospital. It’s probably for the best - especially since Steve decided to do the most high school shit ever, and gift Eddie a fucking bouquet in the form of radio hits and plastic.
He’s breaking out from the stress, just marinating on what Eddie’s thoughts might be of the mixtape. It can’t be good. None of the songs are his typical riffs of eternal damnation or whatever. But it certainly sounds like Steve Harrington in a Speaker. So it better help him picture Steve dressed in the tackiest, most burnable sweaters imaginable, goddamnit.
But like, why is he breaking out from thinking about Eddie Munson? Absurd. All of it. The feelings and the acne. His weird little crush is making him regress into adolescent woes and it’s pissing him off.
After popping the zit and crossing his fingers that it’s not outrageously noticeable, Steve sucks in a deep breath, and heads into Eddie’s hospital room.
“There’s my favorite Material Girl.” Eddie lowers the headphones, smiles bonus-level wide.
Steve’s gulps. His face feels like a fucking toaster. “I take it you listened to the tape?”
“I didn’t just listen to the tape.” Eddie picks up the Walkman and smacks it against the side of his head. “I practically absorbed that bubblegum bullshit. Think some of it is still stuck in my teeth.”
Steve plays along, hoping that his face will return to its usual complexion. “You should see a dentist about that.”
“With what insurance?”
“That’s fair.” Steve slides his hands into his jean pockets. He’s so rigid. “So?”
“So?”
“Final conclusion?”
“Oh, I hated it.” Eddie says bluntly. “In a very stick-that-syringe-in-my-neck kind of way.”
“Shocker.” Steve actually expected a meaner response than that.
“Why did you put so many songs on there that use Girl in the title?”
“Hey - it’s not my fault that all of the rich poster child songs are about women.” Steve gets defensive about that one. Honestly, it’s true. There needs to be more music about wealthy guys with genetically flawless hair. Somebody needs to get on that shit so Steve can have more songs that apply to him.
“Whatever you say, man.” 
“So did it…” Steve is still standing. Hovering a bit. “Did it help?”
Eddie sticks out both of his arms, flipping to reveal his forearms to Steve.
They’re blank, besides the usual tattoos and contusions. They’re as blank as Eddie’s arms can be at the moment. No more Steve Cheat Sheet to be found.
Steve exhales all of his relief. “And you remember me?”
“Remembering you was never the problem, Steve.”
“It wasn’t?”
Eddie shakes his head. “But if I ever allowed myself to forget, I…” He taps rapidly over the Walkman. Steve’s Walkman. “I just didn’t wanna risk starting over.”
“Oh.”
“With you.”
The metaphorical arrow, the one Steve has alway seen on department store Valentines Day cards, goes straight through his chest. Eddie aims the words with you directly for Steve’s heart. Punctures that wall he built up after Nancy Wheeler.
The monitor connected to Eddie is beeping faster again. It’s not like that day Eddie was writhing in pain. No, it’s a different tempo.
It sounds like his nerves are conducting the pattern. He’s nervous. Steve is making him nervous.
Or Steve’s lack of response is making him nervous.
But how does Steve respond? Is this Eddie giving him permission to flirt back again? To keep driving down the detour of attraction, take the scenic route?
Eddie’s heart monitor is screaming, ‘say something, Steve.’
But Steve’s archive of failed relationships is screaming, back, ‘don’t fuck this up, dickhead.’
Steve tries to meet the two in the middle. Say something inviting yet keep it simple.
“So… do you wanna make fun of the shitty soap operas together?” 
Steve puts a little emphasis on the together part, hoping it’ll tame the monitor. Make the tones evenly paced. He lets his hand tap once against Eddie’s arm. Right over his newly blank wrist. So clean. No more scribbles.
“I don’t know, I’ll have to check my schedule.” Eddie teases with his words, sure. But his hand lifts up. Tapping Steve back. Twice. “I’m a very busy man, you see.”
Steve shoves him away, laughing as he does it. “You’re ridiculous.”
“You’re not wrong.”
His monitor is ballad again.
One of Eddie’s (many) doctors walks into the room during their third hour of mocking the Home Shopping Network. Eddie has developed an elaborate backstory that they’re all cyborgs who are taking civilian money to grow their army of killer robots. Steve is surprisingly on board with this theory after the second hour. Some red headed lady twitches her eyes way too much to be human.
The doctor runs a few tests, looks over Eddie’s chart, the typical procedure. However, at the end of the visit, he decides to put Eddie on a new medication for his headaches. 
Headaches…
Steve flips back to that first day he started visiting Eddie. Finds the note he passive-aggressively took back then:
Eddie has a headache (that’s not a memory thing - he’s just told Steve a thousand times now).
He fans through the other pages as well. At least two-thirds of them mention Eddie complaining about headaches. How did Steve miss this? How could he be so stupid? He was too busy fantasizing about Eddie’s chest tattoos and making shitty mixtapes, that he glossed over something so significant.
Dustin wouldn’t have missed this. Robin wouldn’t have missed this. Nancy definitely wouldn’t have missed this - hell, she would’ve already cracked the Case of the Missing Memories by now. 
Steve is the wrong man for this job. Not enough brainpower to fix a broken brain.
“Uh oh.” Eddie says. “Where you’d go, Harrington?”
Steve glances up to see Eddie pointing his finger at Steve’s head. “Just.. thinking.”
“Share with the class, please.”
Steve struggles to make his voice sound causal about this. “I should’ve known about the headaches. Paid better attention.”
“Are you joking?” Eddie asks. “Because if you are, we need to work on your delivery.”
“Not joking, no.”
Eddie’s tone is mildly annoyed, still gentle though. “Stevie… that guy gets paid a shitload of money to figure out my problems. Truly - the reason there’s no pot of gold at the end of the rainbow is because it’s going straight into that guy’s pocket.”
Steve snorts. It’s even funnier to visualize because the doctor is kind of short.
“What I’m saying is, it’s his job to have a big brain.” Eddie’s eye contact is sharp. Broken bottle to his neck sharp. “And your job is to be my eye candy. Sit there and look cute while I try to not hack up my dinner.”
Steve’s hearing went crackly at all of the compliments. “Eye candy, huh?”
“Pretty much.”
Steve no longer has an excuse not to flirt back. Eddie has his mixtape; his arms are bare. He’s obviously encouraging it, even with the knowledge that Steve is a spoiled brat. He likes Steve, not just the good stuff. Eddie is still willing to pursue this even with Steve’s bad qualities.
So fuck it. Steve is gonna delve into his stockpile of pickup lines. He’s gonna rummage around his hoard of provocative catchprashes. Be the horny pack rat that he was born to be.
“Is the sitting part of my job description mandatory?” Steve leans forward, elbows resting on his knees.
“Oh, I’m very lenient on that detail.” Eddie’s voice drops lower. “The cute part… not so much.”
“So you’re only keeping me around for what? My great hair? My symmetrical bone structure? My biceps, maybe?”
“Definitely not your humility, that’s for damn sure.”
They share a smile as Steve gets up, inches closer to Eddie’s bed. He reaches out and pinches the sleeve of Eddie’s hospital gown between his fingers. He cautiously rubs it over a few times, waiting to see Eddie’s reaction to this droplet of affection.
Eddie catches Steve’s wrist with his other hand. Mirrors the rubbing motion Steve set in place with the material.
“Hey.”
“Hey.”
Steve nudges Eddie lightly. “Is this okay?”
And before he can even get a response back, Eddie’s face starts turning grayish-green. 
This happens. Eddie throws up biweekly, so it’s not a big deal at all. It’s just that Steve is usually not laying on the moves when Eddie is about to blow chunks. Honestly, it knocks Steve’s astronomical ego down a few notches.
He probably deserves it.
Eddie is really sick. He pukes three more times, and he starts running a fever after the second time. He’s all clammy and curled into a pillow, clutching it with shaky fingers.
It’s all side effects from the new medication apparently. Yeah, Eddie’s head is no longer splitting open, but his body is rejecting all of the cardboard hospital food.
Steve keeps an eye on him, not that he can do much about it. He gets a styrofoam cup of ice chips so Eddie can chew on it whenever his temperature spikes. He wipes the sweat off Eddie’s temples because one - it’s a nice gesture, and two - it gives him an excuse to be nearby.
The shivering is driving Steve crazy though. He’s so on edge just watching Eddie like this. Eddie keeps making jokes like ‘at least I’ll remember your stupid worried face in the morning’ or ‘damn, my past better be worth all of this.’ And Steve will chuckle halfheartedly each time.
The heart monitor is all jumpy now. Even, uneven, even, uneven. If Steve focuses on it for too long, it starts to sound like he’s driving by a highway collision. A pileup of beeps and tones.
He gets another cup of cafeteria coffee. Hopes the bitterness and chalky creamer will be enough to muffle his hearing. Steer his mind to an empty exit lane.
“What? No coffee for me?” Eddie is under an extra blanket now.
Steve scoots his chair even closer to Eddie’s bedside. “What’s the point? You’d just puke it all up.” He’s pretty lousy at supportive words, isn’t he?
“Aren’t visiting hours almost over?”
“You trying to get rid of me, Munson?”
“Never. Just figured you needed to catch the bus or whatever.”
Eddie remembers Steve taking the bus.
“Robin finally gave me my car back.” Steve conveniently leaves out how he demanded  for it to be returned to him. “So, I’ll stay until they kick me out… if that’s cool with you.”
He places his non-coffee holding hand over top of Eddie’s open palm. It’s sort of instinctual. Doesn’t give his mind a moment to wonder if this is crossing a line. 
Holding hands in a hospital doesn’t mean romance. It never has. People do it all time, no one bats an eye at them either. It’s just a gesture of helpless support. It’s what people do to signify, ‘I can’t heal you with medicine, but I can warm your under-circulated skin just a little.’
But when Eddie’s fingers curl around his own, Steve’s stomach swells like its romance. It swells with hot air, helium maybe. It swells and stays swollen. Stays thermal and full.
“Looks like I’m gonna have to pay my eye candy overtime.” Eddie’s face rushes all pinkish-red. Almost as if he’s trying to combat his blush with humor, but it’s not working. He’s all the colors now. And with or without them, he’s attractive.
“You don’t pay me at all.”
“You got me there.” Eddie shakes a frizzy curl in front of his cheek. A poor effort to hide his flushed face. “I’m a terrible employer.”
Steve traces the grooves of Eddie’s palm lines. Pretends that they form a railroad track. “The worst.”
Once his fever finally breaks, Eddie falls asleep. His body unfolds, his fingers uncurl. It’s a heavy sleep, one that makes him all languid and soft. Any traces of bones are questionable now.
And even though Steve is about to pass out from exhaustion, he doesn’t move his hand from Eddie’s. He’d rather give up his whole arm than move it.
Sam peaks in just before Steve nods off. She lets in the bright hallway light, not too much though. Not enough to wake Eddie. Honestly, not a lot of things wake Eddie up these days.
“Sorry.” Steve yawns. “I overstayed my welcome.”
She shrugs, checks the fluids in one of Eddie’s IV bags. “You know, you can stay the night, if you’d like.”
“Really?”
“It’s pretty late… you shouldn’t be driving on the highway at this time of night.”
“Won’t I…” Steve reworks the phrase. Tries to be less selfish about it. “Won’t you get in trouble for letting me stay?”
“Oh no.” She winks. “Because I never saw you here.”
Steve smirks. “Got it.”
“But if I did see you here,” She gestures her head to the door on her right. “I would tell you there’s extra pillows in the linen closet over there.”
Sam deserves a fucking raise. Steve would become a goddamn patron of this hospital just to give her more money. Let the godsend of a woman retire early for christ’s sake.
“Thanks, Sam.” Steve whispers.
“Thank you for keeping him company.” She whispers back. “He’s lucky to have someone like you.”
Steve doesn’t know if that’s true, if Eddie is lucky to have him, but he nods anyway. Gives a gentle wave as Sam heads back out of the room.
He sets the pillow next to Eddie’s leg, keeping their hands connected as he dozes off. Steve falls asleep the same way he used to fall asleep in class. All bent over in his chair, one cheek flattened out on the desk. It’s very reminiscent of that.
Only better because he’s with the guy that makes his chest swell, even when he’s being sarcastic or melodramatic. Even when he’s cobwebbed himself into a maze of cords. Even when he’s bitching about batteries and Steve’s vomit-inducing fashion sense.
Steve thinks maybe he likes the undesirable traits of Eddie Munson just as much as the desirable ones.
And once he’s knocked out entirely, the rhythm of his heart matches the beeping monitor hooked up to Eddie’s chest.
Day 57:
It’s been a long time since Steve has had a decent dream. And this dream he’s in right now? It’s fucking luxurious.
He’s at the hair salon, because of course he is - it’s his home away from home. 
His head is reclining back in that giant sink thing. The one that’s like a soup bowl for hair or whatever. The stylist is shampooing his scalp, scrubbing all of those foamy products into his roots. This is Steve’s favorite part of getting his hair done, he always feels blissed out of his mind afterward.
They keep washing it for the whole dream, digging their nails into his head, dunking water over his hair every so often. It’s downright perfection. A dream he could stay stuck in forever. 
The scenery of the dream flickers out, but the sensations linger as he gains consciousness. His squints both of his eyes open, immediately greeted by too much brightness, too much sunlight. Steve shuts them again, soaking up the remnants of his dream. The hair scratching that’s ongoing even though he’s awake.
Awake.
Steve is awake and can still feel all of that salon paradise. His brain finally wakes up enough to realize it isn’t a dream. It’s Eddie’s hands in his hair, combing it thoroughly.
Fuck, it feels so good too. Steve wonders if Eddie is aware of what he’s doing or if he’s also in that suspended place between awake and asleep.
It doesn’t matter, not really. It all feels way too incredible to care about the logistics. Steve nuzzles deeper into the pillow to hide the happy little hums that keep escaping through his mouth. 
Eddie doesn’t stop. He keeps moving his hand around. Twirling strands and releasing them. Ruffling strands and smoothing them. Massaging the pads of his fingers in all the right places. Every bit of it is dreamy. Better than the dream Steve initially believed to be unbeatable.
Being Eddie’s own personal petting zoo is way better. Miles, light years better. Is there any form of measurement longer than lightyears? Because it’s bigger and better than that too.
Eddie tugs a little harder, just once, but once is all it takes to make Steve melt. He open-mouth sighs into the pillow, hoping the fabric mutes the neediness of it. There’s drool on the pillow and it’s unclear if it’s from when he was asleep or if it occurred just from that one hair tug. 
“Steve?” Eddie’s voice still sounds coated in sleep. “Is this weird?”
Steve shakes his head no, still unable to lift his face from the pillow.
“Should I stop?”
Steve shakes his head much faster. Absolutely not. Stopping should be banished from Eddie’s vocabulary. The word ‘stop’ should be homeless as far as Steve is concerned.
Eddie tugs again, more firmly this time. The tug goes straight to Steve’s dick, which yikes. Humiliating. Yeah, it’s morning and this shit happens, but not this kind of boner. Not one brought on by hair salon fantasies and a metalhead with magical fingertips. This can’t be the reality of Steve’s life right now but somehow, it is.
“I think I combed through all of that cake-up hairspray.” Eddie talks as his hand continues to roam around Steve’s scalp. “Feels like cashmere now, so you’re welcome.”
Steve sighs again, pretty sure it’s much more audible this time because Eddie laughs.
“Embarrassing.” Steve mumbles. That’s all he can muster out without becoming a puddle of humiliation.
“The sounds you’re making?”
Steve nods.
“Oh that is not the adjective I would’ve gone with.” Eddie claws his fingers all the way down to Steve’s neck. “Not even close.”
Steve is all hormones now, all slurred speech and thoughtless words. “So good, Eddie.”
“Oh my god.” Eddie whines, sounds breathier than Steve. “You cannot say my name like that when I’m in a tissue-thin gown.”
Steve wants to sneak a peek, see if what Eddie is suggesting holds any truth. He resists, only because he’s trying to sort out his own tent-pitching problems at the moment.
He gradually lifts his head off of the pillow, back cracking as he straightens his spine out after hours of being shaped like fucking tetris piece. It’s the last thing he wants to do because it means Eddie has to take his hand out of Steve’s hair. But as Eddie pulls away, his knuckles brush against Steve’s ear, awakening this newfound urgency to not let this moment fizzle out.
Steve hops up onto the bed, sitting side-saddle next to Eddie. He looks through Eddie’s eyes, the ones that remind him of shimmery dresses and the backseat of his car on prom night. He looks through to find a reason to stop his actions. Stop his need to touch Eddie’s jawline or thumb over his lips. He’s searching for a reason to stop and finding none whatsoever.
“Do you remember me?”
“You’re Steve Harrington.” Eddie kind of stutters as he says it. “Hometown Slut extraordinaire.”
The nerdy bastard is never going to let that one go.
Steve gives a quiet laugh, leaning in to his impulses. He slides his thumb over Eddie’s bottom lip, curving around, mapping invisible outlines. A blueprint for his imagination when they’re apart later. “Am I reading this wrong?”
Eddie’s gaze is glued to Steve’s lips as he shakes his head no.
“Good.”
Steve uses his free hand to lift himself up, get closer. Breathing in the same stale oxygen, sucking up the same early morning courage, existing in the same dizzying climate.
He can feel Eddie exhale softly over his skin when there’s a knock at the door.
Steve has never stood up so fast in his damn life. Gets a head rush that’s so overwhelming that his vision speckles out momentarily. 
It’s Sam. Thank god it’s only Sam. But also, screw god for interrupting what almost happened just now. Not cool, sky man.
“Just a heads up,” she starts, shutting the door behind her. “You have another visitor that just arrived.”
Right. It's the weekend.
Steve and Eddie say it in unison. “Dustin.”
Sam hums in reply. “I can stall him for a couple minutes. Give you time to sneak out the stairs that are tucked in the back hallway.”
“You’re the best.” Steve says. “I’ll be quick.”
She leaves, cracking the door on her way out.
Both of them just look at each other for a moment. There’s no time to even discuss the events that just took place. No time to recover the kiss that is already sneaking out the back hallway stairs.
Steve nervously whistles. “So…”
“I’ll see you Monday?”
“Monday.” 48 hours apart seems insane. “Yeah.”
Steve hurriedly makes his way to the door - refusing his horny impulses the opportunity to kick back in and ruin everything. “See you later, Eds.”
Eddie licks over his bottom lip - the one Steve mapped out with his thumbprint. “Later, sailor.”
Um. What?
Steve’s eyes go large. “What did you just call me?”
“Go.” Eddie flashes the wickedest grin. “We’ll talk all about your ocean of flavor on Monday.”
This can’t be happening. “Ocean of -”
“Get out of here already!”
Steve flings himself out of the room, sprinting down the hall. Does Eddie actually recall Steve working at Starcourt? How can that be possible? Steve doesn’t remember seeing Eddie outside of school ever. 
Plus, they’ve never even talked about his job at Scoops Ahoy. Family Video? Sure, that’s more recent. But Scoops? Steve tries to forget just about everything from his time at that seaside shithole.
Goddamnit, this is confusing. The hair foreplay. The almost-kiss. The nautical nickname. Confusing is an understatement. Steve needs to go back to high school and learn a better word for what this is. Confusing isn’t cutting it anymore.
If Steve can make it till Monday without spiraling into a bucket of nerves, he deserves a fucking trophy.
And a kiss on the lips.
Mostly the second option (although a trophy would be nice too). 
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zukkaflowers · 6 months
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middle aged zukka have to share a bed but they lie parallel, untouching, both their minds racing thinking about i’ve loved him for years and years and years it’s too late to do anything; if i move he will know if i touch him he will know if i breathe he will know and. i can’t let him know. if i look at him from this short distance there’s no way he won’t be able to tell in my eyes that he’s the center of my soul. if our hands brush and he hears the hitch in my breath. if we wake and i am curled towards him. maybe he can hear my thoughts; maybe he already knows. maybe he can feel my pounding heart forcing ripples through the mattress. maybe he remembers my blush as the lights went out. maybe he knows and he’s embarrassed. maybe he knows and he’s repulsed.
i can’t let him know.
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me-sploh-rada-imas · 17 days
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jutro po tebi mi diši [x]
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jovenshires · 8 months
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I loved the way you did the sharing a bed trope for the amangela fic! 💜
Since you mentioned the other roomie pairs in the fic tho...
Do you have any headcanons (whether shippy or platonic) on what the other duos' nights looked like?
Whether that be in the original set up of two king beds, or what would have happened if any of them had ended up with the single queen bed instead? 👀
tysm you are the best always and forever <3333
i sure do! i will talk ab each pair of roommates specifically mentioned bc. we all know i had Thoughts right. anyway under the cut for length purposes but here's a little behind-the-scenes to 'i could be the reason (you can't sleep at night)'!
peter & chanse:
you Know they just went about their days and nothing happened KDNLKNLFKNF like they were very chill ab it
chanse actually begged peter to room with him so angela would have to room with amanda that's the tea <3
if they had gotten the king bed: peter would have stayed on heidi and erin's couch like a normal person <3
arasha & olivia:
honestly they just had a good ass night. like they probably had a lil dance party and got snacks from the vending machine and did their nails and put on face masks
they also cracked into the mini-bar
if they had gotten the king bed: they would share the bed and it would be no problem!!
keith & noah: (idk if i remembered to mention them rooming together but its true)
these two were up until 3 am being absolutely unhinged. talking ab everything and nothing as always <333
they def got a noise complaint actually and they deserved it too bc they were blasting music and screaming
as a little bonus, in my mind they are always an established relationship KSNDKNFKN in any fic i write assume koah is already happening in the background. in this fic they pushed the beds together. to me. and the hotel staff comes in and is like '???' DNFEKNKNWS honestly they and amangela could have swapped rooms and the whole fic wouldn't have happened
if they had gotten the king bed: in a non-established-relationship-universe, honestly i see keith Insisting they don't share the bed. maybe rock-paper-scissors or noah's just like 'whatever' and then sleeps on the floor. it'd be more about how they spend the whole weekend bickering only to get together at the end of it bc noah shuts keith tf up by kissing him.
shayne & damien:
honestly them sharing a room was relatively chill. like they both brought books to read and video games to play.
they probably had one of those late-night talks where they got way too deep for 1 in the morning and did not speak of it again
if they had gotten the king bed: they would have just agreed to share it even though shayne did offer to sleep on the floor. very similar to amangela's except they get together after three nights of bed-sharing bc they're oblivious and dumb <333
kimmy & courtney:
they had a GREAT time sharing a room!! once again just chatting the night away. very 'do you think cats have feelings' 'courtney its 3 am. but yeah.' probably also got invited to arasha & olivia's girl night too
they rented grease and bend it like beckham and watched them back-to-back <333
if they had gotten the king bed: they share the bed without complaint!! i think courtney and kimmy are both like. well aware they've caught feelings and not as afraid of admitting it bc they're not as afraid of losing the friendship. so i think they get together before they even get in the bed LKNFNNLFN like they're just chilling and chatting so so far they are winning the bed-sharing race
ian & anthony:
for the most part i think they were also just chilling. like they just had a good time hanging out,
they seem like balcony kind of guys to me. like they were sitting out on their balcony and chatting for hours and all of a sudden it was like oh wow we've been out here for like three hours maybe it's time to sleep! and they were def Exhausted the next day NDFNLNKF
if they had gotten the king bed: oh i think they would have been SO awkward. like! oh haha! well that's weird! definitely tried to get their room changed as much as they could. ian for Sure considered sleeping on erin's couch. think they flipped a coin to see who would sleep on the floor (they both volunteered btw) and ian loses so he sleeps on the floor and they get all settled and turn the lights off and after a minute anthony's like. hey man. just get in the bed.
spencer & tommy:
oh the guys <3 the boys <3 okay so. i think they spent a lot of time hanging with the squad and like through That they talk to each other a lot. like so many inside jokes come out of this weekend. but i think back in the hotel room it's like. comfortable silence. the performative part of the day is Over this, as always, just for them.
"hey spencer what do you think the most vile insane horror movie we can rent tonight" "idk let's find out" cue them falling asleep on each other's shoulders watching the wildest movie you can think of
if they had gotten the king bed: this was literally so close to being a fic for them that i've thought about this so much. anyway, spencer's immediate panic sets in. he would actually go to the lengths of like getting another rooming situation like. let's imagine shaymien Also has a couch, that's where he's staying. and tommy's like. a little uncomfy about it but he's like 'what that's dumb??? lets just share the bed you're gonna hurt yourself' so spencer's like uh. okay. fine. and much like shaymien i don't think they get together until after three nights of this. maybe even After they get home when spencer's in his own bed and he's like. hm. maybe i liked sleeping w tommy a little bit.
erin & heidi:
made a betting pool to see who would come out of this weekend as a couple
selina is winning btw
if they had gotten the king bed: they would have just shared it like normal people or took turns sleeping on the couch <3
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hitlikehammers · 1 month
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straw poll: How Many Times Can You Sleep In The Same Bed With A Guy Before It Starts To ✨Mean Something✨?
Because Steve's just there to be a good friend hold Eddie close through the night so Eddie knows what his breathing sounds like as he falls asleep help Eddie through the nightmares, right?(!??!)
or: just how many manners of sin does 'trauma' cover, exactly?
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I Could Be Your Nurse (or something)
Or: Five Times Eddie Has To Ask For Help, Plus One Time He Doesn��t Need It Anymore (but asks anyway) ✨ for @penny00dreadful 💜
<<< two: wash🚿
💤🪦 three: sleep 🌗 🛌
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Eddie shoots up in his bed, less afraid of choking on his own heart for its pounding than he is for gnashing it apart with his teeth, it’s surged so high and he can’t breathe, he doesn’t know if he wants to because it’s dark and he can’t see and last thing he did see was, was—
“Ed,” and it’s murmured so close, and the bed dips quick as warmth envelops Eddie’s frame, as a hand grabs one wrist, both wrists and crushes them between two bodies to feel, feel—
“Eddie, breathe, breathe, shhh,” and oh: that’s what he’d seen, what he always sees now: the images he remembers, and the things he’s been told of his own near-demise, but it’s not his body; it’s never his body and more, and worse, they’re always too late and he’s being told to breathe but he can’t, he can’t breathe because they failed, he failed and Steve’s not breathing, he’ll never breathe again—
“Right here, Eds, I’m right here,” and one hand lets go of him and starts carefully wiping at Eddie’s face, drying his eyes so they can focus and recognize not just the touch and the scent and the heat but the sight of the body wrapped around him.
“I’m with you, you’re okay,” Steve breathes, he breathes and Eddie can feel it, he can feel it and it makes no sense but it’s clear and it’s deep and deliberate and, and—
“Breathe with me, come on, just breathe,” Steve coxes a little like soothing a wounded animal and…that’s apt, Eddie feels small and skittish and he needs the warmth and the dawning truth of Steve’s weight against his bones; “it’s okay, everyone’s okay,” and yes, yes, that’s important, that’s so important but it’s not enough, there’s still blood pumping like it wants to leap from his mouth as he gasps because he cannot fucking breathe until—
“I’m okay.”
Steve says it as just part of an ongoing litany of reassurance, hopes to calm Eddie into, y’know, the basic needs of human survival, heart and lungs remembering how to move right but—
Steve’s okay.
It’s like Eddie heart and lungs had an agenda; like maybe they didn’t want to move right if the dream—a dream, a dream, just a dream, Steve’s chest lifts against him, falls, lifts again, and again, and again, real—but maybe neither was really invested in survival, if it all hadn’t just been a dream.
“We’re okay, Eds,” and Eddie doesn’t mean to gasp, to half moan and half whimper in something wreathed in pure relief, doesn’t plan to burrow into Steve like he does as Steve presses closer, closer, so it’s only logical, only the reasonable thing when Steve’s lips move against Eddie’s skin at the hairline, at the temple when he speaks, he’s just that close, y’know—
“Swear,” Steve murmurs, and he crushes their hands a little closer between both their chests, and his face is still so close because of it—no other reason, it can’t be any other reason—that his lips drag when he breathes, when he fucking vows:
“I swear we’re okay.”
Eddie nods, just nods; Steve keeps him tucked under his chin, safe: he lifts with his breathing, his heartbeat’s right there, taunt but true, realand maybe Eddie nuzzles there a little, so fucking sue him.
It’s been like this, though. Lately. More than just lately; it’s been like this for a while. Steve had always been around for the nightmares, and he always came to ease Eddie through them but he ended up back on the couch if Wayne wasn’t there, or in the chair in the corner, or the sleeping bag they’d found and he’d set up on the floor before Eddie could protest—and he never wanted to push too hard because, because…
At least on the floor, Eddie could hear him breathe.
But then, then the nightmares stopped being highlight reels of reality; then they turned, and they’re focused on…variations on a theme.
A theme of losing one Steve Harrington.
And then Eddie grew clingy, without even meaning to, or planning to, and Steve never fought him. It took a couple weeks before Steve didn’t only come to him as soon as Eddie started gasping, screaming and then stayed with him through the night, no: then Steve just started coming with him to bed and opening his arms to roll into, to wake up shaking against.
It didn’t make the nightmares go away but it made them…bearable. Because proof of the lies in them was there waiting to wrap around him, if he wasn’t already buried in that warm, fuzzy, living chest.
Where Eddie’s pressed tight, now. And he…he couldn’t say what tips the scales. What changes things when nothing is different. Steve’s heartbeat’s a little faster, maybe Eddie’s gasping heavier, more of Steve in his lungs than usual. Maybe it doesn’t matter.
Whatever the reason, Eddie lets his open lips drag along Steve’s collarbone. For proximity’s sake.
“Steve?”
And Eddie’s back to feel like his heart’s less a threat like the bat tails choking than it is for the biting in half where it’s caught on his tongue, like an offering, or else damnation.
Maybe both.
“Hmm?” Steve’s hum’s a little sleepy but he’s quick to maneuver them, to face Eddie and rove eyes over Eddie’s face with fully-wakeful care; concern.
Offering. His heart’s a manic wild thing thrashing on his tongue when he makes to speak but it’s…
It’s Steve’s. His heart is Steve’s and Eddie’s lost but in maybe the best most terrifying way imaginable; Eddie is beholden to Steve with all of him, and if the ungainly pulp shaking out of his ribs and up past his throat’s going to fall out with the words he has to whisper, well.
It’s Steve’s, and whether he feels anything at all in return, he’s been more than the word kind knows how to hold; maybe he’ll be gentle with it even in rejecting how it shakes, for him.
Kinda, just for him. Like this: just for him.
“What is this?”
He doesn’t move, doesn’t gesture or look anywhere but in Steve’s eyes but: their hands are still linked, and his fingers twitch without him meaning to move them at all but Steve.
Steve grips tighter. Steadies him with question; immediate.
“Trauma,” Steve huffs a little, humorless, but his breath’s so near, so warm: “or so they tell me.”
“No, I mean,” and Eddie’s shaking his head then because; “yeah, yes, definitely that, but,” and Eddie can be brave, he has to be brave because if he’s not brave this will maybe break him: the middle space without an answer, he needs some kind of answer—
“I mean this,” and now Eddie forces himself to tighten his fingers, and presses into Steve closer: Steve’s heart isn’t wild, but it’s not calm either. It’s not sleep-slow. It’s…untamed.
Eddie doesn’t know what it means.
But Steve looks at their hands, pulls Eddie’s fingertips through the curls on his chest, starts tracing Eddie’s nails from cuticle to tip.
“I’ve never been good with subtle,” Steve barely breathes, and his heart’s faster for it, where Eddie can feel; “or moving slow,” and then he laughs; it’s not humorous now either, more self deprecating, and Eddie…Eddie doesn’t like that.
Eddie loves this man too much.
“Kinda notorious for wearing my heart on my sleeve and all,” and Steve shrugs, only pauses the motions of their hands for half a breath, less than a heartbeat at the going pace. It feels too small for something so…significant.
Something precious like that.
“Easy to get stomped on,” Eddie finds the words tumbling out, almost aggrieved; he heard the rumors, even among their friends, their family but faced with it so stark like this, naked chest to chest, it’s…unthinkable.
It hurts, just to think of.
“Yeah,” Steve exhales; fucking…Eddie thinks that sounds resigned: “I know.”
Eddie doesn’t expect the whine that escapes him, a little jagged on the frantic pulse he can feel all in his teeth; he doesn’t expect it, but it’s not big enough. It’s not deep enough for the ache in him at that…acceptance, that expectation of hurt.
“I didn’t,” Eddie starts, desperate for him to know; however this plays out, Steve cannot ever, ever believe his heart isn’t…isn’t the most invaluable gift in, in—
In any universe. Any dimension. Across any existence at all worth knowing.
He doesn’t think the words he knows could do the sentiment justice, though. And words, shit: he should be good with those but, even if he knew the right ones. Hell just fought up his still-pounding heart with a flail and that’s…
He grabs Steve's hand tighter, fit to break bones: the need unquestionable.
He hopes the want, the devotion in him translates just as clear.
And then, oh holy fuck—then.
Steve holds back just as hard.
“I wanted to try to keep the ball in your court,” Steve exhales, shaky; and Eddie knows, he knows they’re on the same page. Steve’s heart’s so fast. Eddie’s is faster.
“I told you,” Eddie starts, more like he’s trying to figure it all out for himself more than arguing anything but, how could Steve had thought Eddie didn’t, how could—
Why would anyone trust Eddie with any kind of sports-oriented ball—
“With the shower, and—“
“I’m not that guy anymore,” Steve barely whispers; “you might’ve had a crush on me then but now I’m,” Eddie feels Steve swallow; hears his heartbeat maybe skip; ���I think, I mean, I hope I’m a different person.”
Eddie has to breathe at the notch in Steve’s throat for a couple seconds, maybe minutes; this…this sounds like…like maybe…
“And just because the ball’s in your court,” Steve’s pulse kicks up, and up, and—
“Didn’t mean my heart wasn’t still held out for the stomping,” and he’s twirling Eddie’s hair, he’s twirling his fingers through Eddie’s hair while he talks about the impossible possibility of, of what: Eddie…not wanting, of Eddie doing the stomping—
Eddie can barely swallow.
“You saying you wouldn’t help bathe all your friends in similar circumstances?” he mostly kinda squeaks; he can barely hear over the rush of his own blood.
“I’m saying not all of them,” there’s a little smile in Steve’s voice, but his pulse is still knocking against where Eddie pressed into his neck; “but I wouldn’t be risking my heart for it either way.”
And Eddie…Eddie thinks he’s maybe dying, for real this time. He thinks maybe he’s never felt alive before this moment, ever.
He blames the confusion, for not thinking through his next words.
“Would it be too not-slow,” Eddie mouths against the pulsepoint jumping at him, fit perfect to his lips; “or unsubtle, if I said I thought I was in love with you?”
He might not think the words through, but hell if he regrets them for a goddamn second.
Not when Steve doesn’t move to pull away, doesn’t let go at all, holds on tight—but the pulse against Eddie’s lips redefines what it means to hammer, to race.
Eddie starts thinking about turning, looking Steve in the eye and hoping to find what he…what he thinks he’ll find but there’s still a part of him that’s scared, that’s not brave, that’s…
But then Steve’s moving, raising up to meet Eddie’s gaze: so bright in the middle of the night, in the pitch dark. Lips open, breathing heavy, their chests still flush but now Steve’s reaching, framing Eddie’s face and just…looking.
Nah, no: staring.
“Steve?” Eddie thinks it’s more a matter of his lips moving than of sound coming out, especially as he tries to follow the pad of Steve’s thumb as it traces the corner of Eddie’s lips, careful, so careful, like Eddie’s glass and wonder all at once and—
“I think I’m in love with you, too.”
And then Steve’s leaning in, then Eddie’s learning that Steve tastes like leftover toothpaste and some kind of spice they hadn’t eaten, that Eddie doesn’t know: thinks, believes is what dawn tastes like, the breaking of day itself in Steve’s mouth, his veins.
They move slow, slick, tongues less exploring and more kinda worshipping; Eddie’s been kissed harder and faster and deeper for the technical definitions of any of the terms but he’s never felt so dizzy, so spun from the axis of his world, the line that splits his heart in halves; never like someone was tongue his soul out gentle to weigh and bathe in, like, adoration.
Eddie doesn’t have a word for how it steals his breath.
“Hey,” he tried to gasp anyway when they break apart for air; “hey, Stevie?”
“Hmm?” Steve hums, running the line of his nose up Eddie’s jaw, and Eddie throws his head back, shivers when Steve licks at the fading scars as he goes. When he makes it to kiss Eddie’s temple—because now he means to, or maybe he always did and, oh, oh shit, what if he always did—then he leans back and looks at Eddie, and there’s…
There’s so much in those eyes. It makes Eddie feel…almost-brave.
“What if I took the ‘think’ out?”
Steve tips his head, fucking adorable.
“Whatcha mean?”
Eddie swallows, and soaks up that gaze some more: almost-brave.
“I said I think I’m in love with you,” Eddie exhales; “what if I said that, but I took out the part where I say ‘think’?”
And oh wow: he’d thought, he’d known Steve was some inexplicable light before.
He’s putting their whole galaxy’s suns, every one of them Eddie doesn’t even know—the way his eyes shine and his smile beams puts every goddamn one of them to shame.
And Eddie doesn’t expect it, exactly, when Steve gathers his hands again and crushes them to his chest just to murmur low:
“Then I’d say this is yours to do with whatever you’d like,” and he moves Eddie’s palms to cup around the beat that’s still so fast and hard but not pulled taut anymore, closer to sugar high, or a rubber ball ricocheting around the ceiling just for the joy in it; “stomping included,” and he smiles for it like a joke but…but Eddie would never so—
He leans in and this time he captures the lips, and he presses hard, dares to nip at Steve’s lower lip and bite out:
“Never,” and he meets Steve’s eyes, watching them dilate impossibly in too little light and he just, he just…
He falls into Steve, presses his cheek close and, and feels him. Somehow all of it’s new.
“You okay?” Steve eventually asks, but doesn’t pull away, just slides a hand up the line of Eddie’s spine to steady, to keep him like there’s a question of Eddie going anywhere but here every again; and then just leans into Eddie’s cheek, magnetic-like.
And okay is such a foolish, insignificant word. Eddie could hold the weight of the earth ten times over, he feels strong enough; Eddie could swallow the stars and it wouldn’t matter because he has his own sun right in front of him.
Eddie doesn’t know if he understood the word happy before this moment, and every synonym for it that means the exact same thing’s a lot like okay: just too fucking small.
“Yeah,” Eddie answers, and breathes Steve in so deep his lungs kinda shake for it before he breathes back out; “yeah, sweetheart,” and fuck, fuck—Eddie Munson’s not just in love.
Eddie Munson is loved in return. Eddie Munson loves, and is loved back. That’s…that’s just…
“I’ve never been better.”
>>> four: play 🎶🎧🎹
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phantomgrimalkin · 8 months
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"Moony- how did you get a cat and not tell us?" 
Remus growled at the question, pulling his blanket over his head as James bounced on the bed, trying to get his attention.
"Piss off, Prongs," he snarled, grabbing his pillow to smack the boy with, resulting in an indignant yowl that made him freeze and process what James had actually said.
He froze, pillow in his raised arms, and glanced down to where a large, black, fluffy cat with silvery eyes was flicking its tail with irritation, nearly blending into Sirius’s long, black hair spread over the pillow as the other boy also grumbled and buried himself under the covers.
Remus tilted his head back for a moment, muttered, "Right, I signed up for this," then resumed smacking James across the face with his pillow, "It is too fucking early, you bloody Quidditch menace!"
"Oy! If you'd stop trying to hide things from us!" he laughed.
"It can wait until a reasonable hour!" he insisted.
"It's not my fault - your bunkmate needs to get up," James pouted, shoving Sirius out of bed with a single push, taking the covers with him. "And I saw this sweetie," he finished, reaching out for the cat who hissed.
"Right inconsiderate, Moons, what if I was allergic?" Sirius muttered sleepily, rubbing his eyes.
"And Wormy might have issues with it," James added, teasingly.
"Leave me out of this! I like cats fine!" Peter shouted.
Remus growled again, grabbing the cat in his arms and moving them both to Sirius's untouched bed, as his had been thoroughly destroyed.
"You're going to have to tell me what you want to be called like that, or else you'll be named by the people responsible for 'Moony' and 'Wormtail'," Remus muttered to the cat, pulling the blanket over his head and going back to sleep.
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lulublack90 · 2 days
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Prompt 18 - Bed Sharing
@wolfstarmicrofic May 18, word count 757
Second part of Prompt 10 - Only One Bed/Room
He hadn’t known Sirius had tattoos. Oh gods, how was he going to survive two nights in the same bed as him? He’d been rude and he knew it. Too many drinks and his tongue had become venomous.
By the time he’d calmed himself, Sirius had fallen asleep. His soft snores filled the quiet room. He slipped under the covers and laid back into his pillow. Damn that bed was comfy. It took him minutes to fall asleep. 
He dreamed of Sirius and his bare chest and what he wanted to do to Sirius and his bare chest. He was unceremoniously pulled from his happy dreams when Sirius tried to move away from him. He’d opened his eyes and found himself much too close to Sirius. Those icy blue eyes penetrated his own. He’d been dreaming about them all night, so he was a bit slow realising he was awake. 
“Sorry, I must have rolled in my sleep.” Sirius huffed a nervous laugh. That was when Remus realised their legs were tangled together and Sirius was practically on his chest. He also became aware of something else that had woken up. 
Afraid that Sirius might accidentally knock into it and be offended, Remus yanked his legs free and ran into the bathroom, locking it behind him.
He held his head in his hands. He took a cold shower and spotted his bag that he’d left in the bathroom last night. He got out the clothes he’d be wearing to the conference, put them on and unlocked the bathroom door. 
Sirius was lying on the bed, playing a game on his phone. He ignored Remus. Remus felt a pang of panic race through him. Had Sirius felt what was going on under the covers? Was he annoyed at Remus? Remus couldn’t take it, and grabbing his wallet, laptop and phone, he left the room to find breakfast. 
The conference hadn’t been that bad. He’d made notes on a few things that could be implemented immediately at the company and a few that could slowly be rolled out. All in all, the trip had been worth it in Remus’s opinion. He didn’t know what Sirius had written down, but he’d been scribbling in a notebook all day. 
“I really fancy something greasy and disgusting,” Sirius said as they packed their things away. He rubbed his hand and made a little whimpering noise in the back of his throat. Remus nearly died. Sirius continued rubbing his hand, unaware of Remus’s distress. Remus assumed Sirius’s hand had cramped from all the writing he’d done that day. Remus wanted nothing more than to take Sirius’s hand and massage it for him. “So what do you think? You okay with that?” Remus hadn’t heard a word Sirius had been saying. 
“Huh?” 
“Can we just order burgers or something to the room? I really don’t want to sit in a restaurant,” Sirius repeated. 
“Oh, yeah, sure, sounds good.” Remus panicked, he’d just agreed to spend even more time in that room with Sirius. He couldn’t wait until he was back in his own bed.
Sirius had made a good call. They ate their meals in comfortable silence while they watched fail videos on YouTube. 
Sirius started searching for his favourite videos to show Remus and Remus began to relax a bit. He showed Sirius some of the clips he found hilarious, and they ended up sitting back on the bed laughing at an old skit about fork handles. 
Sirius leant over the side of the bed and pulled out a cheap bottle of whisky. He shook it at Remus.
“Can I tempt you?” Remus felt his heart stutter and nodded. Sirius beamed at him and unscrewed the cap, taking a long swig before passing it to Remus. 
They drank far too much of the whisky. Sirius was rolling around on the bed giggling uncontrollably at Eddie Izzard’s Star Wars Cantina story played out with lego and Remus was goon grinning at him. 
“What are you grinning at?” Sirius slurred, pointing accusingly at Remus. 
“You,” Remus stuck his tongue out, Sirius pounced. Suddenly, Sirius was on him, his teeth carefully nipping Remus’s outstretched tongue. His drunken brain had to catch up with what had just happened, but once he did, he flipped Sirius onto the mattress and towered over him, before leaning closer and sloppily kissing him on his lips and slowly making his way to those tattoos. 
They woke up with banging headaches, with entangled limbs again. But this time Remus didn’t run away.
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shitouttabuck · 8 months
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oh my god nina!!! 8 for the bedsharing prompts if it takes your fancy <33
thank you sweet peach this scratched an itch !!!
bed-sharing prompts: whispering “Oh, you are going to be very embarrassed when you wake up.”
Eddie’s not old—he’s not even 30, despite the near-constant jokes about his senior citizen-isms he seems incapable of shaking. And he wouldn’t even say he’s a man of creature comforts. He just likes familiarity, and routine, and his own goddamn bed.
Quarantine has brought a lot of change: being away from Chris, living in a single-occupancy apartment with three other people, and sharing a bed with all six-foot-two of Evan Buckley.
Currently, this means waking up at some wretched hour and squinting in the moonlight filtering in through half-open blinds, because the aforementioned best friend has stolen Eddie’s pillow from right under his head yet again.
Eddie groans quietly, easing his neck out of the crick it’s cramped in. He glares at the enormous lump snoring serenely beside him and pats the mattress blindly for his pillow. Eyes adjusting to the dark, he’s greeted by the same sight he’s woken to at ungodly hours thrice this month already: Buck with his gigantic thieving arms wrapped happily around Eddie’s goddamn pillow as he clutches it to his chest, dead to the world.
“Fuck’s sake,” Eddie mutters, reaching out and tugging the end of the pillowcase to no avail. Buck’s vice-grip doesn’t falter even in sleep. Eddie’s usually able to coax it out of his grasp without waking him, but it takes a minute, and their last shift had been a full-body workout from hell, and Eddie just wants to go the fuck back to sleep with a single measly pillow supporting his exhausted head. Surely that’s not too decadent a luxury to expect.
He tugs again, harder and meaner than he normally would. The pillow inches out of Buck’s hold, and Eddie grabs a firmer handful to yank it away, grunting triumphantly when it pops free.
“Hrmmph,” Buck grumbles, crease appearing between his eyebrows. Eddie stills, holding his breath as he gauges Buck’s proximity to consciousness. He thinks he’s in the clear, but then Buck murmurs unhappily and rolls ever-so-slightly towards Eddie.
“S’your turn to be th’ li’l spoon,” he slurs, and Eddie freezes even further. “’M th’ big spoon t’night.” He pats half-heartedly at the mattress between him and Eddie, jaw going slack again after a few seconds.
Eddie grins, just barely containing the snort that bubbles up at Buck’s sleep-talking. There’s enough distance from Ali and even Abby, post-train debacle, that means he can wring weeks’ worth of teasing out of this. Whichever one of them it is Buck’s dreaming of, Eddie thinks multiple nights of interrupted sleep allow him a little good-natured—if merciless—ribbing.
He shifts onto his back, shoving the pillow under his head and shutting his eyes with a sigh, but the movement has Buck mumbling again. His face is mashed into his own pillow, words barely intelligible when he says, “Y’re littler than me. C’mon, lemme be big spoon.”
The snort sneaks out of Eddie then, just a bit. He barely knew either woman, but he can’t quite picture them indulging Buck in this line of conversation. It’s—sweet, if deeply mortifying for Buck himself to know anyone else has heard it.
Buck snuffles discontentedly, forehead scrunching as he reaches out in search of the pillow, still asleep.
“Oh, you are going to be very embarrassed when you wake up,” Eddie whispers, wondering if there’s more entertainment about to be provided and if it’s worth getting up to unplug his phone and catch the tail end of this on video.
“Urgh,” asleep-Buck responds, patting the bed a little more insistently when he’s unsuccessful in his pillow-retrieval endeavours. “Wh’re—c’mere. Eddie. Y’re li’l spoon.”
This time when Eddie freezes, it’s such a sudden locking of every joint in his body that his neck cricks in the opposite direction. He barely feels it, singularly focused on Buck’s latest garbled complaint, because—is Buck awake? Is Buck dreaming about him?
He’s frozen so still he doesn’t realise Buck’s questing hand is now well in range of Eddie himself, and he jolts back into his body when Buck’s strong, calloused fingers wrap around his wrist.
“C’me back,” he whines, tugging at Eddie while shuffling closer at the same time. Eddie holds himself carefully still, hardly daring to breathe as Buck slowly but surely plasters his long, long body along Eddie’s side, hitching one leg over Eddie’s thigh before flinging an arm across his torso and dragging him nearer.
“Mm,” he hums, brow smoothing out. His cheek rests on Eddie’s shoulder, face smushed but seemingly satisfied. Eddie’s arm is trapped between his own side and Buck’s stomach, and he worms it under Buck’s body almost on autopilot, more to get comfortable than anything else. This leaves him basically cradling Buck to him, and Buck gives one final happy grunt before burrowing his face into Eddie’s neck and going limp, a dead weight over Eddie’s right side.
Eddie makes his fingers relax where they’re clutching the back of Buck’s t-shirt. This is—fine. Normal and fine. So Buck isn’t dreaming about cuddling an ex-girlfriend, he’s dreaming about holding Eddie. They’ve been living out of each other’s pockets more than usual recently, leaning on each other a little heavier through a global pandemic and missing Christopher. Eddie’s told himself it’s because of constant proximity, and maybe it is, but whatever the reason, if Buck’s subconscious is embracing that vulnerability in this way, that’s fine. He’s an affectionate guy, and while it’s relatively new for Eddie to be on the receiving end of that from another man, he’s not one to shy away because of someone else’s archaic ideas of masculinity.
And—hold on. Y’re littler than me? Was that what Buck said? Eddie huffs indignantly, and then huffs again for different reasons, feeling his cheeks heat. He doesn’t know why, but he pulls Buck a little closer.
It’s still normal and fine, he finds, turning his head to press his nose into Buck’s curls. That surprises him a little, that there’s no freak-out of any kind accompanying—whatever this is. Buck smells like vanilla, because he used Chim’s fancy shampoo that’s actually Maddie’s fancy shampoo because both of them are missing her something fierce, and he’s definitely drooling onto Eddie’s neck, and now that he’s not sleep-talking he’s back to snoring like a motorcycle, and Eddie’s slipping under before he can marvel any more at just how normal and fine it all is.
When the moonlight is swapped for sunlight, Eddie stirs to Chim singing along to radio in the kitchen downstairs. Buck blinks awake right alongside him, cheek imprinted with creases from Eddie’s collar and turning pink as he hastily peels himself away.
“Oh, um, sorry,” he says, voice rough with sleep. He contorts his body in surprise trying to roll off Eddie’s arm. “Did I—sorry, Eds.”
Eddie works his arm back under Buck, easy and deliberate. “S’fine,” he yawns. “It was my turn to be the little spoon.”
In his peripheral vision, Buck turns a brilliant red, and Eddie gives him a reassuring squeeze before taking great joy in telling him just how embarrassed he should be about the contents of his dreams.
(Buck’s mortification is blessedly short-lived, since the contents of Eddie’s dreams are equally embarrassing in the very exact same way, as it turns out.)
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