Time keeps moving on, with or without you

[the_hair]

[the general vibe]

It had been five years, five years that might as well have been a lifetime. They hadn't lost Eddie the first time, they almost had, the same way they'd almost lost Max, but the two of them had recovered just in time for Vecna to rise again, and while they hadn't lost Max the second time, hadn't even come close, they'd definitely lost Eddie.

Something that Steve had tried, repeatedly, to forgive himself for, sometimes he almost managed, but mostly he'd just managed to bury how much it still stung, and in doing so maybe he'd even managed to convince himself that it didn't anymore. Except for the part where he still saw Eddie everywhere, not as often as he had at the beginning, but often enough to make his chest clench every time.

Though now, with all the kids moving on -whether to college or other adventures- and Hawkins becoming more and more of a ghost town over the past few years, Steve finally decided it was time for him to move on, too.

It was harder than he'd expected, mostly because he didn't have any idea of where he wanted to go, but then, unbidden as these things often were, he remembered an exchange he'd had with Eddie, a bare snippet of a conversation when they'd been lying low before that final battle.

"You know Stevie, if this whole saving the world thing doesn't work out, at least we'll always have Paris."
"Sure, but Illinois or Tennessee?"
"Tennessee, obviously, nobody in their right mind moves to Illinois on purpose. Besides, Tennessee's got an Eiffel Tower in it, kind of makes it the superior option, right?"

They'd laughed about it, at the time, sleep-deprived and still fighting, but having given himself three days to think about it, and with no better options coming up in that time, Steve had gone for it and was lucky enough to find both a cheap apartment and a job at a video store -something he knew Robin would laugh about, considering how often they'd both complained about the Family Video- and had managed to settle in.

It was fine, really, things were going as well as could be expected. Except for the fact that he'd started seeing Eddie again.

Leaving the supermarket as he was arriving, across the green at a concert in the park, even just walking by outside the video store, but never close enough or with enough time for Steve to actually stop him and make sure, and if he was being honest with himself, he wasn't really sure he wanted to, since he knew it couldn't actually be Eddie, and how would that conversation even go? 'Hi, I'm Steve, you look like a friend of mine who died saving the world, you want to get a coffee sometime, maybe?' and that was a best case scenario.

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[thefreak]

Eddie could feel his traitorous heart practically skipped a beat. This felt too good to be true, a rare moment of fortune in his otherwise bleak life. After so long of never getting to have anything nice, and now he finally hit the jackpot?

"Yeah?" Eddie asked, his voice sounding a little breathless like he was trying to hold back tears from the overwhelming feeling that someone in this town might actually care about him. "I might just take you up on that."

[the_hair]

"Yeah." He replied, earnest and even matter-of-fact, like there wasn't a world that he wouldn't help Eddie with furniture if he needed it, "Even if it means we have to hit surrounding areas to find everything you need."

His brow creased, "I mean, I hope you already have everything you need and we'll just be looking for stuff that fits, like extra chairs and that kind of thing."

[thefreak]

Eddie snorted at Steve's comment. He shook his head. "Yeah, I've got the basics. It's nothing too fancy, just the bare essentials. Plus a couple posters I managed to pick up, but otherwise it looks like someone took everything from one of those showrooms in a furniture store and plopped it right in my apartment."

He sighed. It never felt like something he would have put together himself, but the place was already furnished when he moved in. Not having to go through the agony of furniture shopping was definitely worth the trade-off of feeling like his home felt too impersonal. "But thank you. I'm sure you'll be able to help breathe some life into the damn place."

[the_hair]

His nose wrinkled a little at that description, because he knew what that was like, which was why he said, "Oh, so like my folks' place back in Hawkins. We definitely need to fix that, which means the big flea market and not just the goodwill. There's always something essentially useless but fun to look at at the flea market."

He shrugged, "And it's where I got most of my dishes, too, I don't know why I needed a full six serving set, it's not like I'm going to have that many people over at once, but it does make it so I only have to run the dishwasher once a week, so that's... something? I don't know." He huffed a laugh, shaking his head, "I don't even know if that's actually an accomplishment."

[thefreak]

Steve was, as always, full of surprises. It was safe to say he would never have expected any of this to come out of a chance meeting with him. Just a few weeks ago, Eddie had been despondent, feeling like his life was destined to be the same thing day in and day out. But now, with Steve's presence, Eddie's perspective had shifted. He was no longer despondent, but hopeful, knowing that his life was about to change in ways he could never have imagined.

Now, Eddie had a purpose, something to look forward to. He felt like he was being given permission not just to live but to thrive. Maybe he couldn't be a rockstar like he originally wanted, but at least he could have this one thing that meant more to him than he could have ever known. At least he could have Steve, even for a little while.

He smiled, charmed by Steve's suggestions. "Hey, you'll have me over now. That's gotta have you running the dishwasher a little more often, yeah?" he teased, his gentle nudge to Steve's shoulder adding a playful note to their conversation.

[the_hair]

That got another warm laugh out of him, "Yeah, and look, having people over might even make me dust or something." Not something he'd ever really had to worry about before, and wasn't terribly worried about right then, either, because despite his few useless-but-fun-to-look-at things from the flea market, his apartment was still pretty sparse as it was, and he kept things clean, wiped up spills, vacuumed once a week when he ran the dishwasher.

He gave a rolling shrug, shoulder still pressed to Eddie's, "And look, you've already got me eating real food and not just a hot dog or a packaged sandwich from the quick stop. And if you're coming over for dinner, then I'll have to have some real food, not going to subject someone else to my terrible habits."

[thefreak]

With their shoulder pressed together, it took no effort for Eddie to gracefully wrap an arm around Steve, letting his ear rest against Steve's shoulder. This was a position he thought he would only ever dream about being in before, and now look at him.

"Sounds like you've got plenty of reasons to keep me around, then," Eddie teased, turning to look up at Steve, squinting to keep his features in focus as much as he could from this angle. Though I have terrible habits of my own, you know. So anytime you want to go back to gremlin mode around me, I'm definitely not going to judge you."

[the_hair]

He laughed warmly, shaking his head before resting it against Eddie's in turn, "Well first of all I have no idea what that means, but you? Hawkins High's king of nonconformity three years running? Not going to judge?" It was definitely a gentle tease and not an actual jab, mostly because Steve was struggling not to laugh even as he said it.

Though the statement that followed was, maybe conspicuously, more genuine than he meant it to be in turn, "That's good to hear. Took me way longer than that to get over high school attitudes." And in a few ways he still wasn't, but at least these days he caught himself at it, and usually before he actually said something that would end up with his foot in his mouth.

[thefreak]

Eddie rolled his eyes; he knew he had earned that teasing remark. He could admit he had been a bit of a righteous asshole in high school, though he had his reasons for it at the time. But now, removed from the near-constant fight-or-flight altercations and with no sheep to look after, he had undergone a significant change, mellowing out considerably.

"Yeah, well, as it turns out, sometimes wanting to fit in isn't such a bad thing. Just so long as you're doing it for the right reasons," Eddie admitted with a shrug. "But seriously, when you live on your own and work sucks the energy right out of you? Yeah, I wouldn't expect you to want to cook a five star meal for yourself either."

[the_hair]

Steve laughed then, couldn't help it, "That's presuming I'm capable of cooking a five-star meal when I do have energy. I think the best we can hope for is a three and a half, maybe four, if it's a good day."

He'd definitely gotten better at it since high school, but it was mostly just by way of knowing what to add to canned soup or instant ramen to make it better. That and how to stretch leftovers by adding other things to them, "I'm getting pretty good at fried rice, actually, though have to just order an extra side of steamed rice when I get Chinese food, definitely easier than trying to cook it myself."

[thefreak]

Eddie snorted at Steve's comment. "Still better than anything I would be capable of, I hope you know." He shook his head. Eddie had to learn to cook out of necessity, but he focused on quick and easy things that come from a box or can rather than anything from a recipe.

"But hey, maybe you can teach me a thing or two." Eddie shrugged. "Fried rice sounds pretty damn good, though, if you ask me."

[the_hair]

He smiled again, "Fried rice is easy, but if that's something you want to learn it means you're going to have to spend the night sometime." He shrugged, "It's best to use day-old steamed rice for it, and I can't be sure I'll have any or remember to call you to come over the next time I've got some to use up."

He gave Eddie a sideways look, smile never faltering, "You know, just so you have a better idea how seriously I'm taking this."

[thefreak]

Eddie's brain seemed to short circuit as he heard the words spend the night sometime. While, yes, the thought of spending the night with Steve had crossed his mind even before he ran into the man again, he never thought that would one day be a viable option. He grinned.

"Well, sounds like we've got plenty of future plans, then, huh?" Eddie's eyes glimmered with a hope that he hadn't had for a long time. Suddenly, the strange trajectory his life had taken after that fateful Spring Break didn't seem so bad.

[the_hair]

Steve was smiling again, broad and bright and unable to contain it even if he'd wanted to, "Sounds like. Enough to keep us busy for at least the next month or two."

He shrugged, slow and exaggerated, "After that, though? Who knows. Guess we'll have to come up with more plans sometime, who knows what might happen if we run out of them." It was by no means a legitimate concern, there was something light and fluttering in his chest in a way there hadn't been in years, and he wanted to foster that and keep it going, and if Eddie was the cause, then it should be easy enough to do.

[thefreak]

Eddie couldn't stop grinning. It had been so long since he had a single plan, let alone enough to keep him going for a month, even longer. And now he had Steve back in his life. It was a dream come true.

"I have faith in our ability to brainstorm new plans," Eddie replied, nudging Steve gently. "Besides, we should probably finish up our first set of plans before we skip ahead three steps, right?" Not that Eddie wanted to see this date end just yet. He just didn't want to spend so much time looking forward to the future that he forgot to savor the present.

[the_hair]

He did actually laugh at the response, warm as anything, nodding, "Yeah, we probably should." Another exaggerated shrug followed, biting back further laughter, "There is still time for this one to go wrong."

He wasn't counting on it, and had no reason to actually think it would, but it amused him to say that it might all the same, especially when his next statement was: "We could fall in a sinkhole. Or the zoo up the highway might have had a jailbreak and we didn't hear the breaking news because we're out here in the park away from a radio."

[thefreak]

Eddie couldn't hold back a giggle even if he wanted to. The possibilities Steve posed were just ridiculous enough that, coupled with the fact that it was Steve saying these things, filled Eddie with a lightness like he had drank too much soda and the bubbles were filling his lungs.

"Please, no, let's not jinx this," Eddie insisted, struggling to keep a straight face. "I'm having a really nice time, I'd love to end on a high note." Eddie shuffled, moving closer to Steve before wrapping an arm around him. "I'm just so damn glad we ran into each other. That we're doing this."

[the_hair]

To his credit, Steve did have enough sense not to say that he was pretty sure their jinx threshold was higher than most people's, because that would definitely blow the whole thing for them.

He did, however, settle into that arm around him, his own sliding across Eddie's back in turn, shifting his weight a little to lean comfortably against his side, "I am too." He shook his head a little, "I don't know what I did to deserve another chance, but I just, you know, hope I can keep doing that."

[thefreak]

It is entirely too comfortable to lean against Steve like this. Eddie doesn't want to stop now that they have their arms around each other. He knows they will have to eventually, but he will relish in their closeness for now.

"Might I remind you how much of a goddamn hero you are? Of course you deserve another chance." Eddie shifted again, this time to lean his head against Steve's shoulder. "You don't have to do much to keep me around, you know. Just keep taking me on dates like this one."

[the_hair]

He just grinned a that, "Well that's easy, there's at least two more parks, and the what's the thing, the Heritage Trail? That walking tour that new arrivals always say they're going to do but only tourists actually do."

He scratched the back of his neck, "And we can always go for a drive out of town, like, I hear they're opening an aquarium in Chattanooga soon." It might have already opened, he wasn't really keeping track of that kind of thing. He couldn't help the small smile that edged into place as well, "And obviously we can always go to the movies instead of doing quality control on the new releases at my place."

[thefreak]

Eddie could feel himself grow giddy at all of the things Steve suggested they do. He wasn't the type of guy that people generally took on dates, so the thought that Steve wanted to do all of this and not just keep this a hidden thing? It filled Eddie with hope.

"Sounds like we have our work cut out for us, then," he teased, turning to press his nose against Steve's cheek, just breathing him in. "Luckily it's a job worth doing."

[the_hair]

For probably the first time in his life, Steve had no reason to keep anything about himself hidden, which wasn't even something he'd taken into account before Eddie showed up in his life again, but he figured if he was -if they were- getting a second chance, there was even less reason to keep quiet about that.

He couldn't help but laugh at the way Eddie pressed close against his face, shaking his head a little so as not to shake him off just yet, the arm around Eddie's waist lifting to scratch through the hair at the back of his head, just above his nape, "Yeah it is. And one we're pretty good at individually, I think. Only be easier working together, right?"

[thefreak]

Eddie preened at the feeling of Steve's hand on the back of his head, pressing further into the touch. At that moment, it struck him just how touch-starved he had become in the years since leaving Hawkins. Even after developing a new persona, Eddie never felt quite comfortable enough to let anyone else in. Now that Steve was back in his life, he felt a deep sense of comfort, finally allowing someone to touch him so intimately.

He turned to catch Steve's gaze, grinning widely at his comment. "Yeah. Definitely." He paused, his eyes dropping to Steve's lips before darting back to hold his eye contact. "I really want to kiss you right now. Would that be okay?"

[the_hair]

He nodded, the corner of his lower lip caught between his teeth, managing to find his voice again after a moment, because he hadn't really expected that question to catch him by surprise like it had, "Yeah, better than okay, but, um, only if I get to kiss you back?"

He was pretty sure that was implied in what Eddie was asking, but he also didn't want to jump to the wrong conclusions here with everything still shiny new between them, he definitely didn't want to overstep anywhere.