Tried to write a fun little fic about why Daniel unfollowed on Instagram Zak, Michael, Fernando, and Nicki, the most random quartet possible, only to end up with this lol
Daniel finally answers a call at just gone 4.30am, Max's time. It's 5.30am, Daniel's time, which admittedly is only marginally better, but maybe the hospital he's in has some crazy Get-Up-And-Seize-The-Day sort of ethos. Although from what Christian has told him, Daniel might not be seizing anything, metaphorically or otherwise, for some time.
"Daniel," Max says as soon as he hears the line clicking through. "How are you? How do you feel? Is your wrist alright? Do the doctors and nurses take care of you, do they speak English, or did Red Bull send a Spanish translator and I hope I have not woken you up and-"
He cuts himself off. There's a sort of stunned silence on the other side of the line. Sometimes, Max thinks his need for Daniel is a bottomless pit, something that has hollowed him out and leaves an ache echoing through him.
"Max?" Daniel says, incredulous. High, drugged up, gone on pain medication. "How did you get into my phone?!"
Max squeezes his eyes shut. His mouth is twisted, making some shape. A smile, a frown? He doesn't know, nobody can see him in his old childhood bedroom.
He wants to be with Daniel. He wants to brush a hand through his curls and run his fingertips along the lines of his faded tattoos like how a child would first begin to trace letters and numbers.
I miss you, he wants to say
I want you
I need you
"I'm not in your phone," he says instead, tone light and soft. "I called you. I am in the Netherlands."
"Oh," Daniel says, as if the fact Max had not been magically transformed into his phone is mildly disappointing. "What are you doing there?"
"We had a race, remember?" Max says. He's stretched out on his old bed. His feet dangle just slightly off the edge, and each year, he's promised a new one, bigger and larger and finally a grown-up bed. But it never materialises and Max has stopped bringing it up now.
The room is unchanged. Around him, the faces of former racing legends watch him, tapped to his wall. Above, stars look down, stuck to his ceiling in haphazard patterns. The day his father got to play God and created universes and cosmos splayed above his head.
"Of course," Daniel huffs good naturedly. "You won, Maxy."
"I know," Max replies softly.
"It was your ninth consecutive win," Daniel continues, his tone strong and proud, as if it's Daniel who has achieved it. Maybe he's so high on meds he thinks it is, that him and Max are some sort of Jeckyl and Hyde being, two sides of the same life. Max doesn't know. A headache is building behind his eyes. He hasn't really slept since Friday, three days previous.
"You're now equalling Sebastian Vettle. If you win the next race, you'll beat the record." Daniel continues before pausing, as if realisation is only just dawning. "I don't think I'll be there."
"No," Max murmurs. "I don't think you will be either."
"My wrist is really fucked," Daniel goes back to his jubilant tone, like a child with the best show and tell in school. "I have a metal plate in it, isn't that neat?"
He laughs. Max closes his eyes, just listening to the sound. "Imagine if it goes off at every airport security, Maxy? How annoying with that be?" He laughs again, the prospect sounding delightful to him in that very moment.
Max hums softly, and then shifts on the bed, turning away from the stars his father hung up for him. Instead, he moves to his side, facing a giant poster of Micheal Schumacher celebrating one of his championships. At the bottom, Max, to great things! MS. He was six. It was one of the best Christmas presents his dad had ever gotten him.
"How do you feel?" He asks. Daniel is humming a tune under his breath, the theme song to some gameshome Max barely recognises. He stops at Max's question.
"Good," he says happily. "I have gained deep clarity."
That shocks a laugh out of Max, as only Daniel, even doped, drugged Daniel, can do. The longing feels physical, the hole never ending in his chest. He closes his eyes, blocking out the stars and racing legends whose shine has faded and whose records he's now beating.
In another life, he thinks, he would be there. He'd be the first face Daniel would see, the first hand he'd get to hold, the first for nearly everything, just like Daniel had been for Max.
But instead they're a time zone apart and Daniel is alone in a country where he can't even speak the language and Max is in his childhood bedroom, surrounded by his family who are fast sleep and utterly oblivious to the fact he's gay, let alone in a relationship with Daniel Ricciardo.
"Clarity," Max forces his mind back on track. "How so?"
"Oh you know," Daniel says with ease. "Cleared my mental space."
Max huffs another laugh. His chest aches, empty. He wonders does Daniel know how hollowed out he is without him.
"Go on."
"Well, I deleted a shit ton of apps. That wellness app you made me download last year? Sorry Maxy, but that went," Daniel makes a popping noise. "And the fertility tracking app Scotty downloaded at his bachelor's party."
"Presumably he just got his and your phones mixed up, right?"
"No Maxy, it was a prank because I -" Daniel breaks away, finally understanding, laughing as if Max has made the funniest joke possible.
"Okay so you cleared up some space on your phone," Max prompts him.
"Oh yes, and then deleted twitter and went to WhatsApp and left about a billion groups and then I went to Instagram, and went through who I followed, and unfollowed tons of people."
"Oh? Did I make the cut?"
Daniel tutts as if Max is being purposefully dense.
"Naturally Maxy. In fact, I sort of debated unfollowing everyone except you, but then figured you might've been pissed at me."
Max can't tell if Daniel is joking or not. He doesn't know which he wants it to be.
"So firstly I unfollowed a bunch of people I had met years ago at business deals and stuff, and then Craig and Rebecca from school because I never really liked them anyway and they definitely never liked me and then Zak because the vibes were Not It and then my high-school teacher who I definitely only ended up following on a dare and -"
"Zak," Max says, picking out the familiar name in the sea of chatter. "As in Zak Brown?"
Daniel hums. "Yeah, the vibes were Not It. And then I also unfollowed Fernando -"
"Alonso?" Max splutters out another laugh of disbelief. "What on earth did he do to you?"
"I don't like how he acts around you."
"Me?!" Max voice goes up an octave. "What? But he's always nice to me Daniel. I like him."
"I know Max, that's the point," Daniel says, and before Max can even begin to comprehend what he means, he's continuing. "And then also Richard, from McLaren because I swear he used to tell Zak everything I did and then Michael, and then Sam, this old hookup, and -"
"Michael," Max cuts in, sure he's mistaken, "as in ..."
"Yeah," Daniel says after a beat. "That Michael."
Max swallows. Michael has been a constant strain on their relationship, the fly in the otherwise smooth ointment. Max had told Daniel he wasn't good for him, he wasn't looking after him. That friendship and business rarely mixed, and that in this case, it had congealed into something of neither, a strange, interdependent relationship which drained them both.
Daniel had said Max hadn't understood it, hadn't gotten how much Michael helped him, how good it was to have a physico who was also his mate. Max replied by saying that as far as he was concerned, Michael was proving himself to be neither.
Jealousy. That was what Daniel had pinned to him, had washed all rationality away with. Max was jealous.
He remembers feeling like he had been slapped. Jealousy. Fucking jealousy.
He never mentioned Michael again.
"But," Max begins slowly, mind whirling. "You had lunch with him last week." Even though you never mentioned it, even though I had to find out through fans' blurry photos.
"Yeah," Daniel draws the syllable out. "But... the vibes were not immaculate."
"Right," Max says, hating how terse the single word sounds. And the vibes were fine when he encouraged you to do that fucked up intermittent fasting? When he recommended yoga and gym sessions instead of therapy?
"And then I unfollowed Nicky Latifi, because unfortunately, he's going to do a masters in London, and following him online will simply remind me of all the missed possibilities I had in the academic world," he goes on.
"Daniel," Max says, trying to force his mind to move on, Daniel has unfollowed Michael Daniel has unfollowed Michael. "You dropped out of school when you were seventeen. In the most loving of ways, I would hardly call you an up and coming scholar."
"Details, Maxy," he says, but then goes quiet, and so does Max. He opens his eyes. His room is painted in shadows, sunrise still distant. The trophies he won as a child are carefully displayed in neat rows, their plaques opaque with dust, now thick and heavy. He remembers winning them, young and already starving for more, remembers the weight of plastic, the way sugary pop soda dried sticky on his skin.
"I think you were right," Daniel says softly. Max nods, face pressed against his pillow.
"I mean about him. Michael."
"I know who you meant," Max murmurs.
"Okay good, because you're definitely not write about my academic prowess, I was one hundred percent on track to be this world's Stephen Hawkens."
Max laughs softly. "It's Hawking not Hawken."
"Once again Maxy, details."
There's another exhale of quiet between them, and outside Max hears the world beginning to rise. Birds waking, their whistles winding their way through the crack in his window.
"I miss you," he says softly, as if the words are barely permitted to be spoken aloud.
"I love you too Maxy," Daniel replies with ease. Then - "you should come. I think it would be nice. If you were here too."
"I think so too," Max says. The longing grows. The trophies are dusty on his shelf, forgotten. His feet hang off his childhood bed. Birds begin to sing.
"So will you?" Daniel persists. Max squeezes his eyes shut.
"I don't know. I do not think you would be saying this if you weren't off your head on pain meds," he tries to joke. His chest aches. Hollowed out, always wanting more than he's allowed.
"Of course I would," Daniel says confidently, even though he ends it with a yawn. "I anyways want you around."
Max keeps his eyes still tightly shut. He tucks his knees up, bringing them to his chest. When he was very young and his parents were still together, he'd do this. Curl up on the bed with his eyes squeezed closed. The door shut, their shouts muffled; as distant as the bird song is to him now.
"Maxy?"
His sister said the same. Maxy? Climbing on his bed, tugging at his arms. What are they talking about? Nothing, nothing, it doesn't matter.
"How's your wrist?" Max asks. He opens his eyes - the room has grown lighter, dawn finally creeping in.
"Good," Daniel says, already forgotten what he said. Like a butterfly, moving onto the next topic, nothing permanent. "Sore. I'm on some strong shit though." He laughs. It sounds so near.
Max imagines it. He could do it. Book the ticket to Spain. It wouldn't even be that bad. People know him and Daniel are mates, and mates visit each other in hospital. And that's if it even comes out, which it might not. Nobody has to know.
"I love you," he blurts out, cheeks warm. Daniel laughs again, soft and delighted.
"Good, because my right hand is currently out of action, so I might need help over the next few weeks with a few particular things."
Max laughs, cheeks warm. He's not being quiet any more. His family can probably hear him through the walls, just like he could hear his parents all those years ago.
He can imagine his sister asking him, echoing their childhood as she questions him on words she's grasped through walls. This time, though, he thinks he will tell her the truth.
"I've heard Spain is very beautiful at the end of August," he says.
Daniel hums, "I've heard something similar, Maxy."
Outside, birds sing. The dawn continues on, filling the emptiness of night.
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NEXT CHAPTER
Whatever you want, birthday boy.
Steve is 33, Eddie is twenty something. Age gap Steddie fic I wrote for my birthday. Very explicit, semi public sex.
"Thirty three," Steve sighs, melancholic. "I can't believe it."
"Well, think about it this way," Dustin opens his mouth and Steve knows whatever he's going to say it's not going to comfort him at all. "If you were a hobbit, you'd be an adult at last!"
"How's that supposed to be a good thing?" Steve groans, looking at the kid (ok, not a kid anymore since he's now twenty, but still a kid in Steve's eyes). "You basically told me I'm old even in that fantasy world of yours!"
Robin, bless her, punches Dustin's shoulder as punishment, getting a satisfying grunt of pain from him.
"I told you that that bit was unnecessary, Henderson," Robin chastises him and before Dustin can open his nosy mouth, adds, "what Steve needs is to go out and have fun tonight, what do you say, Harrington? Party night?"
"We already have plans, remember?" Dustin mumbles between gritted teeth, opening his eyes comically and pointing at Steve with his head.
"It's ok, I know about the surprise party, kid, you can talk about it freely," Steve shrugs and Dustin blinks several times, flabbergasted and offended.
"How…"
"Baby Wheeler," Robin says as an explanation, and that is, in fact, enough to get Dusting to ramble for a whole hour about how he can't trust anybody.
The party with the kids is, well, pretty nice. Sure, they're the kids he used to babysit when they all were… actually kids, but Steve loves all of them more than he loves his own family.
Robin is there, being the funny, eccentric aunt, pulling silly pranks for all of them and dancing horribly, dragging the girls with her and making them laugh.
Dustin has chastised Mike for hours, making Steve laugh at his antics, but now, the curly haired boy is enraptured watching Erica Sinclair dancing with El and Max.
Meanwhile, Lucas is crumpling a disposable cup, frowning at Dustin and his lovesick, bright eyes. Oh well, that's going to be fun. Steve, with a fond smile on his lips, wonders how this all will end.
Mike is talking quietly to sweet Baby Byers, who is blushing and hiding his smile behind his cup. These two should talk sooner or later, too, even if privately Steve thinks Will could find someone better.
That's what Mike thought about him when Steve was dating Nancy, and he can understand it now.
Jonathan and Argyle are already stoned and laughing about god knows what, sprawled on the coach. Steve is grateful this is not his house, he'd hate to clean up all this mess the next morning.
"Well, well, birthday boy," Nancy greets him, pouring herself a drink. "A little bird has told me that you're feeling down about your birthday."
Steve grunts.
"My birthday is ok," Steve shrugs. "It's the number that makes me sad. I'm old."
Nancy huffaws. "We are the same age."
"You're younger and prettier," Steve pouts, making Nancy laugh.
"God, she's right, you're moping, you need to get laid," his ex-girlfriend sighs with a sad smile.
"I don't-"
"Yes! Shut up," Robin interrupts them, how she has heard them, Steve doesn't know. She wraps her lanky arm around Steve's neck. "Steve needs to go out and find a nice someone. If you know what I mean. I'm taking him out now that we're done here."
"You're not-"
"Shut up, Steve, this is not about you," Robin cuts him, putting her dainty index finger in his lips.
"It's my birthday and you're talking about me and my sex life."
"What sex life, Steve?" Nancy asks with a grin. Robin, of course, snorts inelegantly.
"Auch, that was unnecessary, Wheeler."
"No more talking, baby," Robin says and starts tugging at Steve's arm. "You have your tight jeans, your shirt is ok, and your hair is amazing as always. Let's go!"
"But I want another piece of cake!" Steve tries, and loses.
He wasn't expecting a cake at all, and it was very nice when El and Max appeared holding a three chocolates cake, candles lit atop of it and everything.
"You'll have more cake later, say bye to everyone," Robin orders him, not unkindly.
Steve obliges with a tired sigh.
"Bye, everyone."
-
The club is fucking crowded when they arrive. Robin announces to the security man at the door that it's his best friend's birthday, and to Steve's dismay, she starts telling everyone who's listening that it's actually Steve's twentieth five birthday.
Fuck. Steve wishes to have twenty five years again.
He was in better form at that age, still playing basketball regularly and enjoying swimming, back when his lungs were in top form.
Steve knows objectively that being thirty three doesn't make him old, holy fuck, he knows that.
But it's sad how his life turned out.
He dropped uni because his parents lost all their money in their poorly chosen investment and his shitty minimum wage salary job wasn't enough to pay his studies and rent.
His high school sweetheart, his Nancy, broke up with him after that. Sure, they're friends now, but it was, in Nancy's words, bullshit. All that happened between them was bullshit until they managed to be civilized in front of each other again.
Then…, well, shitty job after shitty job, trying hard for nothing. He ended up working at Hopper's mechanic workshop - man, that's a story to tell some day. He's grateful that Hopper didn't give up with him.
But then again, no love, not too much money. At least Steve kept his friends and his health.
"This year is going to be your lucky year, Steve!" Robin yells at him when they manage to reach the bar, digging elbows here and there to make themselves a place. "Thirty three is a master number, baby, this is your year!"
"If you say so…"
"But today you're twenty five again!" His best friend keeps yelling to make herself be heard over the music.
It's not the kind of club Steve would choose. It's not the club neither of them would choose to spend the night, now that Steve stops and looks around. Why Robin even knows this place unsettles him.
First, the music is all wrong. Rock and roll blasting through the massive speakers, the riff of an electric guitar thrilling Steve's eardrums.
Second, the place itself. Dark and grimy as usual, yes, but the walls are covered in posters of bands Steve doesn't even recognize. Well, most of them. He knows Led Zeppelin because of Hopper, and AC/DC, but that's all.
Third, the people around them: metalheads, all of them. Bare skin covered in black ink tattoos, tight black jeans, well worn band t-shirts and ripped black lace everywhere. Fuck, is that guy wearing eyeliner?
Steve perches on the bar to call to any of the bartender's attention and then he sees it: the blonde girl that is, possibly, the reason they're in this metalhead club.
He looks at Robin before even doing a once over to the girl. His best friend smiles sheepishly at him.
"Really, Robin?" Steve mouths, arching a brow.
Robin shrugs with her beatific smile still on her lips. "Sorry," she mouths back at him.
The blonde girl, wearing a black crop top and revealing some tattoos, is talking with another waiter, a guy. Tall, with long, curly hair. He’s wearing a long sleeve shirt with black sheer material that clings to his toned arms and chest.
"You don't even respect my birthday now," Steve yells at her. The loud music and the fact that he's smiling at her makes the whole accusation fall flat.
"I still want you to have fun and get laid, try something new!" Robin says, tugging at his sleeve, and ok, she's right, Steve can have fun tonight and enjoy himself.
-
“I’m gonna do it,” Eddie says, a wolfish smile tugging at his lips.
“No, no, no, I forbid it,” Chrissy puts herself between Eddie and his target.
“But, look at him!” Eddie pouts. They’re yelling at each other so they can hear what they’re saying, even if Eddie is sure Chrissy can read his mind by now. “Or, don’t know, look at the girl that is with him and let me go, whatever.”
“Exactly, Eddie,” Chrissy has that exasperated look when she speaks. “He’s with a girl, you don’t know if…”
“Excuse me, madam,” Eddie cuts her, “but my gay-radar never, ever, fails.”
“Yes, yes, I know, but…”
“Then what’s the problem?” Eddie asks, looking at the guy that has him enraptured over her shoulder.
“The problem is that we don’t serve free drinks just because, Eddie!”
“I’ll find an excuse, darling,” Eddie promises, and shoves her to get to his target.
The target is the cutest preppy guy he has ever seen in his whole life. A white t-shirt that stretches over his pecs, of course, and a white and red windbreaker that makes him look broader than he probably is, Eddie wants to discover it. He’s sure that the guy is also wearing tight jeans, he looks just like the type, a jock. Tall, pretty face, great hair, like a white, bright beacon in a sea of metalheads wearing all-black outfits: the guy seems lost here, at the Horned Demon, with his looks and his styled hair. Eddie wants to ruin him. He can’t stop thinking about the unnamed things he wants to do to him while he approaches him and the girl that is talking to him.
“Hello, handsome!” Eddie greets him with a wink when he reaches their spot, leaning across the sticky bar so the preppy guy can hear him. “What can I do for you?”
It’s so difficult to be sultry while Judas Priest is blasting at full volume, but Eddie fucking tries, wearing his most charming smile and looking at the guy with interest.
The guy doesn’t have the chance to speak, though. The girl who accompanies him - Eddie is 90% sure she’s not his girlfriend - jumps over him, wrapping an arm over the guy’s shoulder, and yells at Eddie.
“He likes cranberry vodka!” She exclaims happily. “Can you put a little umbrella or something on it? We’re celebrating!”
“Really? What are you two celebrating?” Eddie asks, elbow propped on the bar, eyes raking over the preppy guy, grinning at him openly.
“It’s his birthday!” She yells again. “He’s twenty five today!”
Eddie’s grin widens. There it is, the excuse he was looking for.
“You got it, handsome birthday boy who likes cranberry vodka,” Eddie winks again at him. He’s good with his eyes, he knows it, Chrissy has told him, and Gareth hates when he puppy-eyes him, so Eddie knows he can weaponize them easily. “What about you?”
“Oh no, it’s not my birthday, thanks!” The blonde girls answers, and fuck, Eddie has to laugh. He immediately likes her, even if he’d hate if she’s actually the guy’s girlfriend.
“Good to know!” Eddie snorts. “Want something to drink?”
“She’ll have jack and coke, thanks!” The guy answers now, and, ok, it’s weird that they order for each other, but still, Eddie’s hope is strong.
-
Steve is stunned, there’s no other word for it. The bartender is hot, and undeniably young. This close and even in the dim light, Steve can appreciate his toned arms and chest and abs. God bless his stupid sheer lycra shirt. His torso is spattered with tattoos that Steve can't recognize but it doesn't matter, suddenly, a flash of himself worshiping and lapping these tattoos floods his mind.
The bartender flashes a grin to Steve, who returns it back the best he can, and by the smug look on Robin's face, Steve knows that she knows.
"What?!" He asks loudly.
"Nothing!" Robin grins knowingly. It's going to be a long night.
Just a few minutes later, the hot bartender is back with Robin's jack and coke and his own cranberry vodka.
"There you are, birthday boy!" He announces with a pretty smile that makes Steve go hot all over. Maybe he should take off his jacket.
Steve looks at his drink, the glass decorated with a silly pink umbrella, and smiles, reaching for his wallet and opening over the bar to pay.
“This one it’s on the house, handsome!” The bartender yells at him, putting his hand over Steve’s, stopping him. Steve looks at him quizzically, the other guy shrugs, his smile still in those plush lips, showing his teeths. “Happy birthday!”
Robin elbows him in the ribs, shouting at him that she’s gonna pay her drink to the pretty blonde girl that is still at the other corner of the bar, and Steve starts panicking almost immediately.
He used to be suave, when flirting. He used to be able to stay calm and smooth in front of someone pretty. Maybe with age he lost his ability, or maybe it’s the lack of alcohol in his system, or the loud heavy metal music that is deafening him.
“T-thanks!” He stutters, feeling deeply stupid.
He wants to say something flirty to this guy, he wants to know his name. He’s having ideas, everything he’d be already doing if he were twenty five again and not thirty three. Oh, Steve used to have the best ideas, he had so much fun when he was younger.
Now it seems that a pretty boy with dark eyes looking at him it’s enough to render him speechless.
“My break is in fifteen minutes!” The guy tells him, leaning into the bar to get close to Steve. By instinct, Steve leans on too, his eyes fixed on this man’s lips. “If you want to have some fresh air!”
Oh well, not subtle, not in the least with the way the long haired bartender is looking at him, biting his lower lip, and fuck. Steve wasn’t subtle when he was younger, either.
“I’d love to!” Steve manages to shout in the guy’s ear, earning a wide grin from him. Dimples, for fuck’s sake, the man has dimples when he smiles like this, and Steve feels himself sweating already.
Sadly, the bartender vanishes from his side to attend the other customers, and Robin appears by his side just a moment later. When she tilts her head, Steve notices that Robin’s face is tainted with lipstick in the shape of a kiss.
“How?!” Steve asks her, amazed.
Robin shrugs, sips her drink. “Jealous?”
“Yes, obviously, since when are you good at flirting?” Steve demands to know, faking being offended. There was a time when Robin tripped all over herself the moment a pretty girl passed by her side. Those were the times, my friend.
“Since you taught me!” Robin yells at him, laughing. “Come on, King Steve, where’s your charm lately?”
-
“What do you mean you’re taking your break?” Chrissy asks him once they’re at the storage room.
“I mean that…”
“You already took your break, Eddie!” Chrissy reminds him, and he bites his lower lip, puts his best puppy eyes to her, pouts.
“But he’s interested in me, Chris!” Eddie sobs like a child. His best friend sighs. “Gareth and Jeff are here already, and Freak will be here in like, two hours, the club is not going to be unattended, it’s not so crowded tonight.”
Eddie knows he’s pushing his luck: first the free drink, now asking for a second break. His shift will be over when Freak arrives, as he said, in two hours. But he knows that a lot of things could change in two hours and he really is into this preppy birthday boy with droopy eyes and kissable lips and broad shoulders.
He simply wants to see if they’re compatible before asking him to wait for him so he can walk him home, and a second break it’s perfect for that. A little bit of flirting, maybe a kiss, see if this guy and the butterflies in his belly are something he wants to take home with him at the end of his shift.
“Come on, Chris, I’ve been in this dry spell for months,” Eddie pouts again. “Also, I saw you kissing that blonde girl.”
Chrissy’s eyes widen and she looks at him with murder rage, nostrils flaring, and Eddie knows he just won.
“It’s his friend, you know…” Eddie shrugs nonchalantly. “I can get her number for you, if you didn’t ask her for it, if you just…”
“Ok, ok, fine! Whatever!” Chrissy exclaims, wiggling her arms in the air. Eddie grins and fist pumps in victory, mouthing a yes between his teeth. “I want her number before you leave tonight.” Chrissy adds primly, leaving him alone at the storage room.
-
With his jacket draped on his arm, Steve tells Robin about the bartender, asks her if she thinks it’s a bad idea, but his best friend howls an awful sound at Steve’s words, making him shake his head, even if he’s smiling.
“Tell me you told him yes, Steve, or so help me…”
“I told him that I’d love to, yes, gosh!” Steve answers, but he’s now feeling a bit lighter, a bit… high. Cran vodka it’s not so strong to him, he’s sure this feeling is related to the hot, young bartender that wants his attention tonight.
“Good!” Robin exclaims and clinks her drink with Steve’s. “You’re both adults, go have some fun!”
“What about you?” Steve asks, suddenly worried about leaving Robin behind.
“I’ll be good, I texted Jonathan and Argyle, they’re already on their way!” She grins at Steve. “But I plan to take someone home later, too, honestly.”
“The blonde girl?” Steve asks her now, wiggling his brows to make Robin laugh.
“D-uh!” Robin looks for the blonde girl who is serving drinks at the bar. “She’s so pretty it hurts me, Steve, and she’s so nice!”
“She already kissed you, didn’t she?”
They banter like this for a while, laughing at themselves. It’s good, fuck, is good to be able to laugh at the little silly things while having a drink. They never stopped doing it, so Steve doesn’t know why all this melancholy is coming from.
Someone taps him on his shoulder and Steve turns to see him. This close they’re almost the same age, Steve finds himself looking at the biggest dark eyes he has ever seen.
“Sorry to interrupt,” the guy says with that blinding smile that is making Steve feel so weak tonight. “I just, my break just started…”
“You don’t interrupt anything!” Steve rushes to say, to Robin’s amusement.
“Yeah, it’s ok, I’m his lesbian soulmate, Robin!” She introduces herself even before Steve can say something else. Worst wingwoman ever.
“Robin! My friend Chrissy, at the bar, wants your number, maybe you could..,”
“Well, gentlemen, see you later, have fun!” Robin exclaims, stepping between them holding her drink over their heads and rushing towards the bar like something is chasing her. Steve shouts a loud good luck to you! at her back, just to find that the guy is looking at him intently.
Steve clears his throat, awkwardly.
“You wanted some fresh air?” He asks.
The bartender nods and without wasting a single second, he grabs Steve by his wrist and leads him through the crowded place to the barely hidden back door.
Steve’s heart is thumping in his chest, following this guy he doesn’t know at all until they get out of the club, the cold night breeze welcoming them in the alley. It’s dark, dimly illuminated by the streetlights of the adjacent street. Steve can still hear the faint drumming and bass of the music blasting inside.
“Ah, this is better," the cute bartender exhales, tossing his head back, letting Steve ogle at his long neck, dampened curls sticking to it. Steve swallows dry at the sight in front of him.
Steve can't believe this guy wants to spend his time with him.
"I never saw you here before," the bartender says, opening his eyes and looking at Steve. Flustered at being caught, Steve avoids his eyes. The cute guy is smiling, though.
His voice is deep, calm, and washes over Steve easily. Even with his eardrums still pumping with the ghost of the loud music, Steve falls a bit more now that he has heard his voice.
"Not really my scene," Steve admits. "Robin was the one who dragged me here."
The cute bartender's smile widens. "Then I guess I should thank her," he adds, closing the distance with Steve.
Oh fuck, shit, it's happening. Steve feels his blood boiling under his skin, just because of the proximity.
Steve didn't even ask for this guy's name. Maybe it's how the cute guy likes to do it, no names, not complications. What if Steve's heart hurts a little at that thought. He's the one actually lying to him, not saying his real age to him.
"Well, well, birthday boy," he says with his rumbling voice, stepping into Steve's space. Steve smiles at him, feeling butterflies in his tummy. "I have twenty minutes and I’m all yours.”
Fuck. Yes.
Steve smirks when the cutie wraps his arms around his neck and he feels bold enough to span his hands around the guy’s thin waist and pulls him closer, their bodies crashing together. This is Steve’s area of expertise. Maybe he has forgotten how to flirt, but he’ll be damned if he doesn’t remember how to pull his moves.
The reason why he was called the King of Hawkins’ High.
It lites every nerve on his body when he cradles the guy’s pretty face on his hand, cupping his jaw and cheek softly, drinking the way he looks at Steve, dark eyes widening and breath hitching. Steve smiles and leans in slowly, just in case the bartender would want to take a step back, just in case he’s having second thoughts. But that’s not the case. They both find each other in the middle, lips brushing slowly.
Steve can make those twenty minutes pretty amazing for the guy that is now buzzing with nervous energy in his arms.
He feels high.
-
Eddie is used to one night stands and summer night flings. He’s a hot bartender with a strong sexual energy - he likes to tell himself that while he’s working at the club, when he’s at home reading with his glasses on and his sweatpants there’s zero sexual energy, but that’s another story.
The thing is, he flirts a lot, it’s part of the job, really. He has luck more often than not. He’s used to people lusting after him, and sometimes Eddie indulges - he indulges a lot. Sure, lately he’s been suffering this dry spell, but it was his choice. No one has picked his interest lately.
Tattooed, metalhead hot guys. Pretty girls with red, plush lips and soft curves. Eddie has never been picky, but his circle is limited, so he’s used to the same types again and again.
He’s also accustomed to quick affairs, he doesn’t even remember the last time he cared to ask someone’s name. Sometimes it’s just about a rushed handjob on the alley. He has only to be careful that Gareth hasn’t had the same idea at the same time. That was a nightmare of a night. Now both of them double check.
Rarely, Eddie invites whoever he has his interest on to stay the night with him. This doesn’t happen a lot, Eddie is… bored, if you ask him. Anonymous sex and one night affairs are great to an extent.
Eddie is not used to gentle hands caressing his face with no rush, though. He’s not used to the slow slide of this birthday boy’s tongue against his, tasting like cranberry vodka, kissing him as if they had two hours and not twenty minutes to enjoy themselves in a dark alley. Instead of rushing things, he simply presses their bodies together, rocking against the wall and pulling Eddie with him. His body is warm and solid against Eddie, his fingers digging in his waist. That all is more than enough to have Eddie hard and ready in his ripped, black jeans.
Birthday boy puts himself comfortably, his back against the wall. Opens his legs and lets Eddie settle between them, hands roaming up and down Eddie’s back, his warm sips through Eddie’s almost nonexistent shirt: yes, black translucent lycra looks good on him but now the cold of the night mixing with the heat that this guy radiates is making him lose his mind.
Fuck, this guy knows how to kiss. Eddie lets him set the pace, since he knows what he’s doing, and focuses on the pleasure that is kissing someone this leisurely. The moment Eddie breaks the kiss to breathe, the other boy mouths his jaw and neck, teeth brushing sensitive skin, and fuck. Eddie can’t help the involuntary twitch of his hips.
“Ah, fuck, you’re good at this,” Eddie whimpers. Birthday boy simply hums against his pulse point, sending vibrations down Eddie’s spine. Fuck, his cock twitches and they’re still doing nothing. The guy’s hands - why does he have these stupidly broad, warm hands? - press Eddie against him a bit tighter. Oh, the flex of his biceps when he does it, Eddie feels his muscles working underneath him, and somehow that drives him crazy.
Eddie needs more than twenty minutes with his guy. He has the urge to strip him naked and worship his body, he wants to see what’s hiding under these ridiculous tight white t-shirt and jeans that cling to his thighs. Sorry, James Dean, but birthday boy wears this outfit better. Fuck, he barely had time to admire his arms now that he’s not wearing the jacket, hanging from the crook of his arm.
With a particularly well aimed thrust of his bucking hips, Eddie feels the hard on that this guy is sporting himself. A hard line straining his jeans and twitching under Eddie’s constant squirming. They’re wearing too much clothes, Eddie wants to see, wants to know.
He sneaks a hand between their bodies and cups the guy’s obvious erection, making him gasp, hips bucking, so fucking satisfying, knowing that is Eddie making him react like this. Through the jeans, this guy’s dick is scorching hot and it seems to be massive.
It is this guy’s birthday, but Eddie is the one receiving the best gifts.
Or so he hopes.
“Ah, shit,” birthday boy pants when Eddie tries to stroke him, following the tenting of his jeans. “You don’t have to…”
Huh, Eddie thinks, this is why they’re here, is kind of the deal, right? No one ever told him something like that. Eddie cranes his neck to look at the preppy guy, his droopy eyes half lidded, lips parted, breathing heavily.
Eddie is doing this to him.
Oh fuck.
“You don’t want me to?” Eddie asks, aroused, confused.
“Fuck, I want to, just,” the guy laughs awkwardly, cock pulsing visibly through his jeans. “I’m nervous, I think, it’s been a while.”
Eddie smiles at him, pecks him softly in his lips, almost chastly. This guy is precious. And Eddie is enjoying far too much just being here, feeling him breathing and just having him underneath his body. It’d be cozy if it weren’t for the dark alley, the trash bins, the noise of the street and the music of the club.
This is new for Eddie. He gnaws at his lower lip for a moment.
“Look, I-” Eddie starts saying, his mouth betraying him. “I was thinking about getting you off here and now-”
“Jesus Christ,” birthday boy interrupts him, hips bucking, rutting his hard cock against Eddie’s.
“But if you’re not ok with that, that’s ok,” Eddie adds in a rush. “If you want to, we can wait. My shift ends in two hours or so, we can go to my place later, if that sounds better?”
The guy groans, arches his back. Laughs.
“That’s it, if you can wait two hours to taste this,” Eddie teases, ruts against the guy, hips rolling seductively.
“Fuck, you should come with a warning label around your neck,” he says, and tugs at Eddie’s nape, pulling him in for another kiss, melting Eddie in his spot. “Fuck it, let’s do both, let me touch you now and I’ll give you whatever you want at your home.”
Eddie is thrilled, trembling with anticipation, cock leaking at the guy’s words.
Before Eddie can think about it, birthday boy has both his hands on him, touching him through the sheer material of his stupid lycra shirt, and Eddie moans throatily.
-
Having this cute boy so close is driving him insane. Steve thumbs at his nipples just to find them pierced, and a wave of renewed arousal threats to overwhelm him. He wants to put his mouth on it, feel it on his tongue, tug at it with his tongue.
Steve has never been with someone like him, tattooed and pierced and with that blustery energy buzzing out of him, this aura of danger surrounding him. It’s doing things to Steve. Robin was right, he really needed to try something different. Plus the added risk of being caught in public.
Fuck. Fuck.
Steve wants to feel the warm bud of steel with his tongue, see if that gets some reaction from the boy, if he’s sensitive. So Steve tangles his fingers at the root of the bartender’s dampened curls, tugs at him, making him break the kiss and bare his throat. Steve tugs his hair a bit more, forcing Eddie to arch his back, chest heaving, and lunges to suck his left nipple into his mouth.
“Fuck me,” he whimpers, arching into it, hips thrashing. Steve pulls at him by the waist with his other hand, pressing his thinner frame against him, holding him there.
“When we get to your home, I promise,” Steve teases, and resumes to lick at the boy’s nipple through his shirt, dampening it with his spit.
The metal buds in his tongue are something else. The nipple hardens under his tongue, Steve wants to rip the stupid shirt off, even if the coarse material is an added texture to this all. He laps and licks it the best he can, tugs at it carefully with his teeth, and the cute guy in his arms whines at it.
So stupidly hot. Steve’s cock is leaking like a fountain, ruining his boxers, and it hurts when it throbs. Steve groans, nipple in mouth.
He doesn’t remember feeling this feverish for someone, this horny and needy. He feels like a teenager again, on the edge already just by this silly thing.
“Ah fuck, fuck, birthday boy,” the boy moans, body arched beautifully for Steve, his long fingers digging in Steve’s biceps.
It feels so good. So fucking good.
“Steve,” he murmurs at last, stopping in his mission to abuse the left nipple.
“W-wha?”
“I’m Steve,” he smiles, looking at the sight in his arms.
“E-Eddie,” says the bartender, voice raw and wrecked.
They stay like that for a second, panting, drinking in the other’s arousal. Steve’s head feels dizzy, full of cotton, static noise drilling his ears. Eddie, the name echoes in his mind.
“Nice to meet you, Eddie,” Steve smirks, feeling confident again. He lets go of Eddie’s hair, satisfied when he leans into his body, hands roaming over Steve’s pecs, and kisses him with all that young enthusiasm.
While Steve kisses him trying to set a pace, Eddie fumbles with their jeans until he has the flies open and unzips them. Eddie moans a few curses against his lips when he finally grabs Steve’s cock and frees it from his cotton boxers. Steve keeps him pressed tight against him, peppering kisses and nibbles whenever he can reach.
“Is this ok?” Eddie asks nervously. Whatever reticence that was holding Steve back is now forgotten.
Steve didn’t plan any of this. It never occurred to him that he’d be spending the night of his thirtieth three birthday jerking off in an alley with someone as pretty and interesting as Eddie. Thankfully, life still keeps some good surprises for him.
“More than ok, Eddie, fuck,” he moans, hips twitching, feeling electricity where Eddie has wrapped his fingers around his shaft. It’s like Steve can feel everything at once, overwhelming him.
The maddening beating of his heart, Eddie’s hot breath in his lips, his long fingers around him, the warm metal of his rings in his tender skin. Eddie’s weight and heat. The cold air of the night.
“Kiss me,” Eddie demands, taking himself in hand and lining his hips so both their cocks are pressed together. Steve obliges, his whole body on fire. He thinks he could never deny Eddie a thing.
He’s the desperate and uncoordinated one in this kiss. Eddie strokes them both, mixing their precum and making everything sloppier and messy and fucking amazing.
“Fuck, yes,” Eddie groans, his voice low and deep. “You feel so good, Steve, can’t wait to have you inside me…”
Steve gasps, digs his fingers in Eddie’s soft flesh.
“You want that, birthday boy?” Eddie asks, his fist tightening around their dicks, fucking into it with abandon, hips pistoning as if he needs it bad. Steve dares to look where they’re joined and see how more pearly beads of precum bleed off his cock. “I want it too, baby, I want to have this so deep in me I can feel it in my throat.”
“Holy fuck, Eddie!” Steve whines, imagining it. Eddie sprawled for him, open wide so Steve could take him, legs on his shoulders, spine arched while Steve pounds into him fiercely.
It’s the first time in years he’s this turned on, rushing towards the edge shamefully soon. Well, it’s not like they have more than Eddie’s break to finish this, thankfully.
Steve’s hand joins Eddie’s, clenching around them both, helping Eddie to go faster.
“Ah, shit, I’m close,” Eddie warns, and is all Steve needs.
Claiming the swollen lips of the bartender, Steve’s strokes grow frantic, feels Eddie squirming where they’re joined together, legs trembling. Steve swallows every one of his moans and pants.
Eddie goes first, breaking the kiss to growl, resting his head on Steve's shoulders, shivering with the force of his orgasm. That, and feeling Eddie’s come all over the head of his cock is what pushes Steve towards the edge, groaning between his teeth and holding to Eddie for dear life, his whole body twitching.
Neither of them say a word, too occupied panting and coming down from their orgasms, Eddie’s weight on Steve, and the wall behind Steve supporting them both. Knees shaking and chests heaving, spent cocks twitching with the aftershocks.
Steve feels… alive. On fire. He doesn’t think if it’s appropriate or not, he simply holds Eddie, keeping him from falling to the ground, and kisses the crown of his head.
Oh, he’ll overthink about it later. Right now it feels good, it feels right.
“Fuck,” he hears Eddie whisper, and the rumbling of his laugh. Steve smiles, deeply satisfied.
“I know,” Steve says, laughing too.
“I’m wasted, man,” Eddie laughs. “I need water, and a nap, fuck, I don’t know if I’m going to survive the next two hours.”
Steve laughs with him, feeling just the same.
“I’m sorry?” Steve asks, laughing, and Eddie shoves at his shoulder without strength.
“Shut up, you know it was amazing,” Eddie smiles at him, that blinding smile that is becoming a problem, since Steve can only think about kissing it.
He does that, though, now that he still can. Just in case.
-
Eddie is- what’s the opposite of freaking out? He’s at peace with the world, and himself, and everything is pure and bright and perfect.
Man, the power of a mind blowing orgasm. Eddie can’t wait for the next one, hopefully thinking that Steve will wait for him and walking him home later.
“I ruined our shirts, that I’m really sorry for,” birthday boy, Steve, says, wincing.
“I have spare clothes in the storage room, maybe something you can wear too,” Eddie offers. He takes a glance at his wristwatch. “We still have a few minutes, if you don’t mind waiting a bit, though I’m getting cold.”
“Oh, here,” Steve says. He shifts and produces his white jacket from nowhere, Eddie doesn’t even remember him putting it aside or whatever. Magic.
Steve wraps his jacket around Eddie, and after all that happened during the last fifteen minutes, this is what makes Eddie blush like a maiden.
“There you are, don’t freeze yourself,” Steve smiles at him, his back still against the wall and supporting Eddie’s body, ignoring his own trembling knees.
Oh, no. Eddie thinks, smiling dopily at Steve.
Chapter 1 / Chapter 2 / Chapter 3
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