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patheticgirlsteve · 1 year

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Hihihihi!! so, i haven't written fic in like 3 years and also i've never written stranger things fic so keep that in mind if you read this, BUT i saw this post by @babyboymunson and i just had to write it!!

i was gonna write something short and just reblog it onto that post, but this ended up being 3k so. i did not do that. also i did not proof read this at all. ok bye i hope you enjoy

(this is on ao3 now!!)

Steve never used to have strong feelings in any direction, positive or negative, when it came to sleeping. He spent most of his life taking a good night’s sleep for granted, just like every other normal person would. And why shouldn’t he? He had no reason to think that he would ever find himself going days on end without sleeping for more than three hours at a time.

He never thought he’d be waking up screaming or sobbing (or both) because he had had yet another dream about his best friend getting tortured by Russians under the mall in their small town, about the kids he babysat (the kids he loved a ridiculous amount but would never admit to their faces) putting themselves in harms way to try to save the world yet again, about his… Well, about Eddie dying in Dustin’s arms as Dustin sobbed over him.

And hadn’t that been just another kick in the teeth, on top of everything else? His feelings for Eddie had hit him like a battering ram and at the worst possible moment. Realizing he was maybe a little bit (a lot) into Eddie Munson right after he had basically sacrificed himself to save Dustin had felt like when you’re blowing up a balloon and just when it’s almost full you give it one last puff, and it pops in your face and the snap of the rubber stings against your skin.

Steve honestly didn’t like to think about it. Everything had ended up working out, relatively speaking. The details didn’t matter much to him, everyone was alive and mostly whole, so who cared about the rest? Plus, he and Eddie had ended up with matching demobat scars, which Eddie said was metal.

(“Like Ozzy?” Steve had asked the first time Eddie had said it when Steve had been helping him replace his bandages after having been discharged from the hospital. He didn’t know much about metal, but he knew who Ozzy was. Kind of. Okay, not really, but he knew that Eddie thought he was a badass, which was what mattered to Steve.

“Yeah, sure, Stevie,” Eddie had laughed softly, with a smile that made the butterflies flutter in Steve’s stomach. “Like Ozzy.”

Steve had smiled weakly at Eddie, looking up from where he had been very carefully unwinding Eddie’s old bandages from his side.

“You know,” he had started slowly, wondering if he was about to make a mistake. But Eddie had been sat there on the bathroom counter in front of Steve, letting Steve help him, letting him see the real Eddie, the Eddie that wasn’t just for show. “I’ve never actually listened to Ozzy,”

Eddie had scoffed, “Yeah, I know, Harrington. We really need to work on your taste in music, it’s absolutely tragic.”

Steve had nodded and shrugged, hoping it came off as casual. “Okay, so teach me.”

Eddie had stared, mouth slightly open and eyes wide and shocked. “What?”

“Teach me,” Steve had said, his heart beating wildly in his chest. “You’ve got plenty of records and tapes, and we’ve got plenty of time. This is the perfect chance for you to teach me everything I need to know about Ozzy and Dio and the rest of those metal guys. Who knows, maybe you’ll convince me to become a metalhead like you.”

Eddie’s shocked expression had quickly turned into something much more gleeful and mischievous even as a slight blush had dusted his cheeks. “Oh, you’re gonna regret saying that, Harrington. I’m gonna educate the hell outta you!” He cackled, clearly already planning the perfect musical education curriculum in his head.

Steve had just smiled, thinking, No, I don’t think I’ll regret it at all.)

Steve always just nodded along with Eddie when he called their scars metal.

(Even after all of his music education lessons with Eddie, which had eventually devolved into makeout sessions with Iron Maiden blasting in the background, he hadn’t really gotten it. He knew why Eddie liked it, it was loud and expressive, just like he was, but it just wasn’t Steve’s taste. Eddie had sighed deeply and dramatically when Steve had told him this, but Steve knew it was just an act. They each had their own tastes, and that was fine. Even if Eddie still complained about having to listen to ABBA in Steve’s car.)

Steve liked having matching scars with Eddie, as fucked up as that might have been, but he felt it connected them profoundly, and they served as a reminder that it had been real and that they had survived. That they had made it out.

Sometimes, that reminder was more necessary than others. Like when the nightmares got the better of him, waking him in a frozen panicky fear after only a couple of hours asleep alone in his parent’s house, he would call Eddie.

(“You can always call me, Stevie, it’s not like I’m sleeping either, anyway.” Eddie had said over the phone, the first time Steve had called him in a panic at 3 am to make sure Eddie was really alive, that the nightmares weren’t real. “So you’re not gonna wake me up, and, even if you did, I wouldn’t care, anyway. I want you to call me, okay?”

Steve had nodded, before remembering that Eddie couldn’t see him nod over the phone. He was tired, okay?

“Yeah, okay. Yeah. I’ll call you,” Steve had whispered. “You know you can call me, too, right? When you can’t sleep either?”

Eddie had paused, and for a moment Steve had thought that maybe he was overstepping. Yeah, they were friends now, after everything, but maybe they weren’t that close. Maybe Steve had just been imagining the looks he thought Eddie was giving him when he thought Steve wasn’t looking. Maybe the lingering hands on his shoulders, his back, his arms when they were hanging out with the rest of their friends were nothing. Maybe it was all just wishful thinking, and Steve was messing up one of the two age-appropriate friendships that he had managed to create.

And then Eddie had said, sounding almost unsure, “Okay. We’ll take care of each other?” Steve had hated the way it sounded like a question.

“Yeah, Eds,” he had promised. “We’ll take care of each other.” )

And then Eddie would drive over to the Harrington’s house, pull Steve back to his bed in his room with the hideous plaid wallpaper that everyone loved to tease him about, and settle Steve against his bare chest (it was summer in Hawkins, and it was hot, okay?), and wrap his arms under Steve’s, breathing comfort into Steve’s hair as they fell asleep together, Steve cradled like something precious in Eddie's hold.

It felt safe, sleeping in Eddie’s arms, even before they got together. Being held made him feel small, sort of, but not in a bad way. It made him feel like, well, like he could rest for a moment, that he didn’t need to be the shield, the protector. He could just be Steve, asleep in his boyfriend’s arms, with Eddie’s scars lined up behind his own. He just felt safe.

Steve couldn’t remember the last person who made him feel so protected. He thinks maybe it’s only been Eddie.

Steve wonders sometimes if Eddie even knows how safe he makes Steve feel, when he holds him like that. He kind of thinks maybe Eddie does know, even though Steve has never managed to say it out loud. When they’re alone, Steve coming over to spend time with Eddie at the new government-funded trailer that he and Wayne have moved into, he would sit on his bed (and his new mattress, not stained, thank you very much) with his back against the headboard and his legs open wide enough for Steve to take his place in between them.

Steve loved when Eddie would wrap his arms around him, letting him relax into his boyfriend’s hold, and pick up whatever book they had been reading lately to pick up where they had left off last time, Eddie reading it aloud to Steve, doing different voices for each character. Right now they were reading The Two Towers. With anyone else it would have felt embarrassing, being read to like a little kid, but it wasn’t, with Eddie. Steve wanted to read Eddie’s favorite books, he wanted to understand the jokes and references that he and the kids made with each other and to be able to enjoy it with them, but he just couldn’t.

It wasn’t that Steve didn’t like reading, it was just that it was hard for him, harder than it should have been. He tended to avoid reading on his own, because staring at the tiny words just made his head ache and his eyes tired. That was okay, though, because Eddie had been more than happy to narrate the Lord of the Rings books to Steve, anyway. Since they had started reading it together, Steve had begun to understand exactly why people liked it so much. The text was dense and Steve was very impressed that Eddie was able to pronounce all of the names and stuff. And the story was good, great, even. He liked Aragorn a lot, and when he had told this to Eddie he had laughed and kissed Steve’s cheek, saying, “Yeah, sweetheart, I know.” Anyway, this Tolkien guy was kind of a genius, in Steve’s opinion.

Often, they would spend entire days just laying in Eddie’s bed, Steve sprawled on his chest, reading together. Steve would always insist that they take breaks so that Eddie could rest his voice and drink some water, and Eddie would always drop a kiss into Steve’s hair and call him sweet whenever Steve stopped him for a break, which never failed to make Steve blush. He wasn’t used to being called sweet, but Eddie never let him argue over the statement.

Steve thought about this as he opened the door to the trailer, letting himself in without knocking, knowing that Eddie was probably just waiting for him to walk in. He had called Steve at Family Video earlier in the afternoon during a brief pause in the Saturday rush to invite him over when he got off work.

It had been unusually busy at the store today, even for a Saturday, and at noon Steve was already tired of dealing with rude teens and even ruder adults for a minimum wage paycheck. So when the phone rang, he had groaned and turned to Robin, who had been looking just as tired as he had been feeling.

(Robin had seen him start to ask her to answer the phone and cut him off before he could get a word out, shaking her head forcefully and glaring at him. “No way, dingus, it’s your turn to answer the phone. I’ve answered the last three calls!”

“Yeah,” Steve had let his drop onto the counter and closed his eyes against the ringing of the phone in his ear. “You had to because I was busy dealing with Shannon Simmons trying to flirt her way into a free rental, despite the fact that I was clearly not interested!” He protested.

Robin had just quirked an eyebrow at him, turning back to sorting the returns before the next rush started. “Answer the phone, Steve.”

Steve had groaned again, before dragging his limbs up to a standing position and picking up the receiver. “Family Video, this is Steve speaking, how can I help you?” he had droned in the flattest tone he could manage, ignoring the kick in the calf this earned him from Robin.

“Wow, such enthusiasm for the job, Stevie,” Eddie’s voice had drawled sarcastically over the phone, and Steve had perked up immediately as he recognized it. “Employee of the month material, right here! Somebody give this guy a raise for his excellent customer service skills!” Eddie had continued, and Steve had heard the grin in his voice through the line.

“Eddie,” Steve had smiled, feeling somewhat energized by his boyfriend’s voice. Robin had turned her head at this and waggled her eyebrows suggestively at him, which Steve had waved off with an eyeroll. “What’s up, Eds?”

“Hmmm, not much,” Eddie had hummed in answer. “I was just thinking of you and wanted to ask if you wanted to come over and read chapter four after your shift later. You can say no if you want, I know you’re probably gonna be tired.”

“Of course I wanna come over, I’m never too tired to spend time with you,” Steve knew it was a stupidly sappy thing to say and that the lovesick tone he had said it in probably didn’t help, but he hadn’t cared. He had heard Robin pretending to gag, but he had ignored her in favor of hearing Eddie’s cooing noise.

“Such a charmer, sweetheart,” Eddie’s voice had been teasing, but Steve knew that he was probably blushing on the other end of the line. “Okay, I’ll let you hang up before you get in trouble for using the work phone to talk to your super hot and wonderful boyfriend instead of doing your job. Tell Robin I said hi!”

Steve had rolled his eyes fondly and said, “Okay, I’ll see you after work, Eds,”

“See you then, sweetheart! Love ya!” Then Eddie had made a kissy noise that made Steve laugh and then there was a click and Steve put the phone back as he heard the dial tone signaling that Eddie had hung up.

“Eddie says hi,” He had said to Robin, and as she had opened her mouth to say something mocking back to him, the bell over the door had rung as a group of loud teenage boys walked in, saving Steve from her teasing.

Back to work, but at least he had plans with Eddie to look forward to now.)

As Steve shut the trailer door behind him, he toed off his shoes and slipped off his work vest, hanging it on the hook by the door. He liked that there were places in Eddie’s home specifically for Steve and his things, it made him feel like he was at home here when Eddie made room for Steve in his life.

He didn’t bother fighting down a yawn as he moved down the hall to Eddie’s room, it had been a long day and he was looking forward to unwinding with his boyfriend. He saw Eddie’s door open and he smiled at the sight of Eddie lying on his stomach with his head propped up on one of his hands at the end of the bed, his other hand holding his beat up copy of The Two Towers. Eddie looked up when he noticed Steve standing in the doorway.

“Well, hello there, handsome,” Eddie smiled up at him and started to shift from where he was laying to get into their reading position.

“Hi,” Steve crossed over to Eddie on the bed and kissed him softly, sighing into it when Eddie’s hand cupped Steve’s cheek and kissed him back for a moment before Steve pulled away. He went over to the dresser to pull out his favorite pair of Eddie’s sweatpants and a Black Sabbath tour shirt to change into. “Were you reading ahead before I got here?”

“Stevie, baby,” Eddie said, watching as Steve stripped out of his work shirt and pants, eyes lingering on the scars on his stomach. Steve tried not to blush as he stepped into the sweatpants. “I’ve read this book a million times, I don’t think it counts as reading ahead if I already know the entire story by heart,”

Steve pulled the shirt over his head, not caring at all that it messed up his hair as he pulled it down. “Yeah, but this is your first time reading it with me,”

“That it is, sweetheart,” Eddie nodded happily and reached out his arms as Steve came to the bed. “That it is.” He opened his legs for Steve to lay down between.

Steve hummed contentedly as he snuggled into Eddie’s chest placing all of his weight on his boyfriend as he leaned in, wrapping his arms around Eddie’s torso and closing his eyes as one of Eddie’s came up to wrap around him.

“You’re pretty sleepy tonight, baby,” Eddie said quietly, fondly. “Are you sure you wanna read tonight? We can just go to bed, if you want.”

“No,” Steve protested, his eyes still closed against Eddie’s shirt. “I wanna listen to you read, gotta find out what’s happening to Merry and Pippin in the forest,” He insisted. Steve liked the hobbits a lot, especially Pippin, who kind of reminded him of Dustin. Not that he would ever tell Dustin that.

Eddie chuckled softly and Steve enjoyed the way the laugh vibrated in his chest. “Okay, I’ll read, but it’s okay if you fall asleep, yeah?” He picked up the book from where he had placed it on the pillow next to him. “It can be a bedtime story tonight.”

“Okay,” Steve murmured, already starting to drift now that he was settled against Eddie, being surrounded by his boyfriend’s long limbs. As he thought this, Eddie’s legs wrapped around Steve’s and he rubbed a hand against Steve’s arm.

Steve knew what the warm feeling in his chest was. It was some mixture of safety, trust, and a not inconsiderable amount of love for Eddie.

“Okay, so, we left off at chapter three,” Eddie said as he flipped through the pages to get to where they had left off last time. He found it, and cleared his throat dramatically before he began to read aloud.

“ ‘Chapter Four: Treebeard. Meanwhile the hobbits went with as much speed as the dark and tangled forest allowed, following the line of the running stream, westward and up towards the slopes of the mountains, deeper and deeper into Fangorn. Slowly their fear of the Orcs died away, and their pace slackened. A queer stifling feeling came over them, as if the air were too thin or too scanty for breathing…' ”

Steve didn’t last very long, he knew he wouldn’t. He was tired and he was safe, and that combination, plus the soothing sound of Eddie’s narration, was more than enough to lull him to sleep. He stopped fighting, and let himself relax fully.

As he slipped into sleep, he barely registered the kiss Eddie placed on his head.

“Good night, love,” Eddie whispered. “I hope you have sweet dreams,”

And Steve did.

#hi i hope it's ok that i tagged you in this #feel free to ignore this if you want lol #steddie #steddie fic #steve #eddie #my writing #anya.txt

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allylikethecat · 4 months

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January OTP Prompts

Remember when I said yesterday's prompt was the hardest one for me to write and the words just weren't wording? I lied, this one was the hardest to write and the words REALLY were not wording. I am not happy with it, but alas I want to go back to reading my new book so here it is, it all it's subpar glory. I'm proud of myself for finishing it though, and sticking to my goal so far for 2024! ❤️

9. Slippers

George always ran hot. He was happy to wander around in a tee shirt and jeans while Matty was required to be bundled up in at least two layers and a scarf. He would then still complain that he was cold. Luckily, George was always happy to share his warmth with Matty, tucking him into his side, with an arm wrapped around his shoulders. However, despite being Matty’s own personal space heater, George had the coldest toes of any partner Matty had ever shared a bed with. He would lounge around their shared home in nothing but boxer shorts and wool socks, complaining on even the hottest of days that his feet were freezing, jamming his toes under Matty’s thigh when they sat on the sofa, causing him to squawk with outrage.

Matty had gotten him a pair of slippers for Christmas two years ago, feeling silly as he ordered them off the Ugg Australia website. He wanted to get George something useful, something thoughtful and was worried that he would think the slippers were silly, or not enough. But George’s face had lit up when he unwrapped them, a grin on his face and tears in his eyes as he pulled Matty into his arms, pressing a kiss to the side of his head in thanks. The slippers became the most important item in George’s wardrobe, worn constantly at home, and a must bring when he packed for tour.

Which was why it was so shocking, so distressing to George that he had forgotten them at home when packing for a month in the countryside with the boys. They had rented a house in the middle of nowhere, just the four of them, reconnecting with their roots as they worked to write and record their sixth album. He had planned to pack his slippers last, he had been wearing them as he filled his suitcase with jeans and tee shirts and joggers and sweatshirts that Matty would inevitably steal. He had then slipped off his slippers and shoved his feet into a pair of trainers and brought his bag out to the car, he had then gone back into the house to get Matty’s as well when he realized that he had left it sitting in the kitchen, getting distracted on his way out to the car.

George always gave Matty a hard time for being forgetful, like nearly leaving for a month with no luggage at all, teasing him that he would forget his head if it wasn’t attached to his body. But this time it was George who had forgotten something. He could clearly picture his slippers sitting in the front hall by the door where he had kicked them off. His toes were freezing and he was beyond frustrated with himself. How was he supposed to record an album with cold feet?!

Matty had just scoffed when he had complained. “Babe,” said Matty slowly, like he was talking to a child, “why don’t you just order another pair on Amazon.”

Day: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8

#allylikethecat #January OTP Prompts #matty fic #gatty #fanfic #keep it kind #prompts #prompt fills #prompt fill #ugh i just idk whats wrong with me #the words have not been wording the last few days #and im not very happy at all with how this prompt came out #but i dont know what else to do with it #and i want to go read my new book #so its getting posted #feel free to ignore this one #and go read the new ducklings chapter instead #i do like the new ducklings chapter lol #thank you for always being so supportive and lovely and kind though! i really appreciate it

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