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smut marked with *

Extra Credit: House Calls* (eddie x inexperienced!fem!reader) | ongoing please see individual chapters for tags/tw's In Hawkins, Indiana, the infamous Eddie Munson is followed by a secret, and girls slip by his place for reasons no one dares to speak about. (loosely inspired by the kissing scene in the 2008 film 'Angus, Thongs and Perfect Snogging') series spotify playlist

Rituals For The Restless* (apprentice!eddie X witch!fem!reader) | three part fic | strangers to friends to lovers please see individual posts for tags/tw's A burned out witch leaves her spiritually stagnant life and moves into Forest Hills Trailer Park, hoping for a fresh start. An unexpected connection with her metalhead neighbour begins pulling her towards something softer, and possibly life-changing. series spotify playlist

Spring Break & Midnight Campfires* (eddie x f!reader) | 7k+ A party at Lovers Lake to kick off Spring Break –  crackling firelight, music debates, shared smokes, and touches that don’t feel accidental.

The X Factor (1995)* (40s!eddie x 20s!Reader) | 6.6k A teasing banter over Iron Maiden and Dio quickly spirals into whiskey-soaked and reckless attraction.

Hollow Crusade* (late40s!rockstar!eddie x 20s!reader | 12k Three weeks before Eddie goes back on tour; in the meantime, he'll let a bartender more than half his age fuck him senseless.

Despite the many hours spent flying home, Eddie is desperate to stretch his legs and walk around town after finally dropping his suitcases by the front door – the jumbled cables and dirty laundry were a problem for Future Eddie. He probably smelled a little funky, not having had a proper shower in longer than he cared to admit – but what he desperately needed right now was a drink at his favourite bar.

The amber glow of the streetlights spread softly across the few white strands spread through his dark grey curls and the tattoos scattered along his arms – ink that had once been black, now softened to a faded blue. Every time he lifted the cigarette back to his mouth, the brief flare of its ember painted the years across his features in a warm orange light.

It was a little after eleven, and the air still felt warm and thick with humidity to the point that a bead of sweat rolled down his spine. The black, starry sky above made the growing neon sign of The Brass Lantern glow more vividly with every step he took towards the bar.

It’s mostly empty when he stomped on his cigarette and finally pushed the door open – not because it wasn’t popular, but because it was tucked away from the more tourist-heavy streets. Only one person sat along the bar, while a couple occupied a table near the big windows.

The Brass Lantern was the kind of place where nobody asked too many questions, and nobody particularly cared who you were when you walked through the door – and that’s exactly why it was his favourite bar in the entire city. Because after days of being the Eddie fucking Munson – the untouchable frontman of Corroded Coffin, the guy whose face ended up on magazine covers and concert posters – he just wanted to be another tired forty-seven year old man, and enjoy a drink at the end of a very long day.

No one looked up when he walked in – just the way he liked it.

That is one of the many beauties of Nashville – nobody looked twice at someone carrying a guitar case through the city, or shoved their phones in world-wide known musicians. People still recognised him wherever he went, obviously – Corroded Coffin was far too big for that to ever stop – but local fans were different from the ones in Los Angeles. Here, they offered small smiles and respectful nods, maybe the occasional wave from across a restaurant or bar.

As soon as Eddie settled onto a stool at the far end of the bar – ignoring the faint protest of his knees and lower back – he noticed someone new behind the counter instead of Mike, the owner-turned-friend, but didn’t think much of it when they asked what his poison was.

“Whiskey,” he said automatically, rubbing at his eyes. “Whatever’s easiest.”

You simply nodded in response, even though he wasn’t looking at you, and reached for a bottle without another question.

Eddie let out a quiet sigh as he settled more comfortably against the worn wood of the counter, rolling one shoulder until something popped. Jesus H. Christ. Almost a year and a half on the road and somehow his body always chose the very first night back home to remind him that he’s not twenty anymore.

“Welcome back,” you murmured as you put down the glass in front of him a moment later.

His hand paused halfway towards it as he looked up at you.

It took him a second too long to look away. Not because you are pretty – though you are – but because you looked completely at home behind the counter, like you’d been working there for years instead of filling in for Mike.

Twenty-three. Maybe twenty-four, at the most.

Young enough that you probably hadn’t even been fucking born when Corroded Coffin released its first album.

Eddie took a long drink of his whiskey.

You picked up another glass and continued polishing, completely unfazed by the fact that you’d recognised him.

No excitement, no gawking. Not even a carefully disguised attempt to mention one of his records. If anything, you seemed more interested in the glass in your hands than the man who’d spent the last twenty years plastered across magazine covers.

For some reason, Eddie found that far more distracting than he should.

“Sorry?” he breathed out, dragging himself back from wherever his thoughts had wandered off to.

“Mike mentioned about you touring?” you asked back, although it didn’t really sound like a question, and poured yourself a splash of whiskey too.

That caught him more off guard than the recognition itself. Most people know him because of the band – you apparently know him because he’s a regular.

“That’s a little concerning,” he laughed before he could stop it, eyes flickering down to his glass. “Mike talks about me behind my back?”

“If you know who I’m talking about, then you know he talks about everybody behind their backs.”

That pulled a tired laugh from him. “Yeah, fair point.”

While you reached for his glass before he could take another sip, your fingers brushed his as you lifted it just enough to slide a coaster underneath it.

That’s what pulled his eyes up towards you, and for the first time, he got a proper look — beyond your youthful face. It wasn’t because you’re flirting with him, or because you were trying to get his attention. If anything, it was the opposite.

You carried yourself with the easy confidence of somebody who had absolutely nothing to prove. No careful smiles, no subtle attempts to impress him.

Somehow, that’s what made him look twice.

The grip he had on his glass tightened just a fraction before it loosened again.

“So, where’s Mike anyway?”

“Florida,” you explained before taking a sip of your own glass. “Family vacation.”

“Voluntarily?”

A soft laugh escaped you. “That’s what I said.”

Eddie laughed into his glass before taking another sip.

When you drifted away to help another customer, he caught himself watching you for a second too long before dragging his attention back to the whiskey in front of him. The burn settled warmly in his chest, and he told himself that was all he was paying attention to.

Not the way you moved effortlessly between customers, or the fact that you seemed to know all of them by name despite the fact he’d never seen you behind the bar before tonight.

And definitely not the way he kept finding you again every time he looked up.

His tattooed fingers drummer against the side of his glass as he glanced up at the speakers hanging above the shelves.

“You keep looking at me like you wanna say something,” you said when you came back for your glass. “So, spill.”

“Maybe I’m trying to figure out who you are,” he replied, and peered at you over the rim of his glass as a grin tugged at the corner of his mouth.

The smile you sent him was openly sceptical. “That sounds ominous.”

Eddie shook his head, and a huffed out laugh followed.

“I’m gone for a year and a half, Mike suddenly disappeared to fucking Florida, and now you’re here.”

“So, besides being a world-famous musician, you’re also a profiler?” you asked, pointing at yourself.

“I’m, uh…” he swirled the whiskey in his glass, trying to buy himself a second. “Doing research.”

“Doing research,” you echoed, and narrowed your eyes at him. The suspicion didn’t quite land with the smile that pulled at your lips. “That’s a fancy way of saying you’re interested in me.”

Eddie opened his mouth, only to close it again. He pursed his lips, trying to suppress a smile from taking over his face, and his eyes fell back on the glass in his hand.

“Well,” is all he muttered into his whiskey, his eyes back on you again.

“That’s not a denial,” you hummed.

“Didn’t say it was.”

His gaze lingered a little longer than it should have.

It would’ve been easy enough to leave things exactly as they were – a drink, flirtatious banter, a familiar bar on his first night home. Simple and safe.

It wasn’t the first time someone had approached him because they’d recognised him. Hell, it probably wasn’t even the first time that month. Most people either tried too hard to impress him or expected him to impress them.

You hadn’t done either.

You’d recognised him, sure. But since then, you’d spent more time teasing him than talking about the band. You hadn’t asked for a picture, or brought up your favourite album – if you were even a fan – or looked at him like he was something separate from everybody else in the room.

If anything, you seemed completely uninterested in the fact that he was supposed to be impressive.

For reasons he didn’t particularly care to examine, Eddie found that difficult to ignore.

He took one last sip of whiskey before setting the empty glass back on its coaster.

You smiled at him while you automatically reached for the bottle of whiskey you still hadn’t put away to pour him another dose, even though he hadn’t actually asked for it, and then poured yourself a little more.

After you’d put the bottle between the two of you, you grabbed your pack of cigarettes beneath the counter, and held it up to him.

“You have the face of a man who could use a cigarette,” you joked softly after you’d seen the yellowing stain on his fingers.

“Oh, do I?” he grinned against the rim of his glass.

“Or maybe I’m trying to come up with an excuse to get you alone,” you shrugged with a raised eyebrow, already taking steps backwards and making your way around the counter and towards the door.

Eddie stayed seated for another second or two, ringed fingers curled around his glass as he let your words sink in.

The smartest thing to do would be to leave the flirtation for what it was – just a few fun exchanged words – and not follow you outside. Not when the age gap between you was almost as big as his career.

But Eddie Munson had never really been known for being a smart man – considering he had failed his senior year of high school not once or twice, but three times, or that one time he tried fixing his lighting switch only for his entire home to nearly catch fire.

And so he downed his whiskey, threw his head back, and set the empty glass onto its coaster with a sharp thud. His throat burned slightly as he stood up from his seat and followed you outside.

The humid air hit you the second you stepped outside, while the door swung back and forth lazily behind you before it finally settled shut. Then it creaked once again as Eddie walked through it.

His eyes found you in an instant, warm amber light spilling from the fixture above the entrance and over your face. You flipped your cigarette pack and pulled out two before he could reach for his own. His gaze flickered between your face and the cigarettes in front of him before he finally took one, his free hand already pulling the battered silver Zippo from his pocket to light them both.

The flame briefly illuminated your face as you leaned forwards. In the flicker of bright orange light, you looked even younger than he’d originally guessed.

Yet he couldn’t bring himself to look away this time.

But he ended up doing it anyway, when the first drag nearly killed him.

“Jesus Christ,” he coughed. “What’s this?”

You winced at the sight in front of you before a laugh escaped you when you saw him pull a face. Despite the fact that his lungs nearly gave out on him with the first drag he took, he dared to take another one.

“Gauloises Blue,” you murmured back as you leaned against the brick wall. “French, I think.”

“Of course it is.”

Eddie turned the cigarette between his fingers, and watched the paper already yellowing beneath the burn.

Somewhere along the way, he’d become the kind of man that noticed cigarette brands. Twenty-year-old Eddie would’ve smoked whatever he could afford; forty-seven-year old Eddie apparently had opinions.

“So,” he said, exhaling smoke into the humid night air. “How long have you worked for Mike?”

“Six months, give or take,” you answered between drags. “But that wasn’t the actual question you wanted to ask, was it?”

He glanced down the street while a chuckle escaped him, followed by a lick at his lips. The city looked exactly the same as it had sixteen months ago. The same cracked sidewalks, the same neon signs, the same godforsaken humidity sticking to the back of his neck.

He’d spent the last months surrounded by people – managers, promoters, journalists, fans – yet somehow, the most interesting thing he’d experienced all year was happening outside a bar with a woman who kept making fun of him.

Eddie shook his head. Fair enough, the conversation had been heading there anyway.

A group of drunk college students stumbled past the two of you, hollering and laughing without a care in the world. One of them had a it’s my 21st birthday! sash across her frame. The two of you fell silent for a few seconds, your gazes following the five girls until they disappeared somewhere around the block.

Eddie stretched his neck and winced when something cracked loudly; the flight seemed to have settled into every muscle and bone in his body. Another fucking reminder that he wasn’t twenty anymore.

“No, it wasn’t,” he said eventually, and finally glanced back at you.

The smile you gave him was warm and knowing when you raised your eyebrows and gave him a single nod, signalling for him to go on.

“Alright, how old are you?”

“Twenty-two,” you said after blowing away the trapped smoke in your lungs.

Twenty-fucking-two.

The number settled somewhere in the back of his mind. It didn’t shock him, not really; if anything, it confirmed what he’d already suspected.

Still, Jesus Christ, he’d been touring internationally long before you were even born.

Eddie’s eyes caught on the chipped polish coating your nails, the amber light overhead reflecting softly against it before his gaze drifted back up to your face.

“Stop making that face,” you pointed your cigarette at him and chuckled.

“I’m not making a face,” he muttered under his breath as he flicked ash onto the pavement before he took another drag.

“You absolutely are,” you said with a smile.

He looked away for just a moment, shaking his head and licking his lips before he blew the smoke into the night air.

The laugh that escaped you was soft and easy.

The amber glow of the streetlamp caught in your eyes as your attention suddenly shifted towards the window. A patron tapped gently against the glass until they caught your attention, and lifted their empty glass for you to see.

“Duty calls,” you said with your eyebrows pulled in a slight furrow, turning just in time to catch his gaze lingering on you for a few seconds too long.

Eddie dropped his cigarette to the ground and crushed it beneath the sole of his boot before he reached for the door. He pulled it open, stepping aside to let you pass first.

The scent of cigarette smoke followed you through the doorway, mixing briefly with something sweeter before it disappeared into the warm glow of the bar.

He lingered outside for half a second longer than necessary, watching you weave behind the counter before he caught himself.

Christ.

One conversation and somehow he’d already started tracking your movements every time you left his line of sight.

The rest of the night slipped by easier than Eddie had expected as a second whiskey turned into a third, and then a fourth.

The bar emptied, filled, then emptied again. Conversations came and went, and every now and then he caught himself looking for you while you dried glasses and sent the last few patrons on their way with a smile and a goodnight.

The neon sign that hung outside had been switched off twenty minutes ago. The blinds had followed shortly after. Half the chairs now sat upside down on freshly wiped tables while you were stationed at the end of the counter, expertly sorting through a stack of crumpled bills as you counted tonight's tips.

Yet somehow, Eddie still nursed the last inch of whiskey in his glass.

"Just throw me out if you're tired of me," he murmured from behind the rim.

You didn't answer immediately. Your lips moved silently as you counted beneath your breath, eyebrows furrowing in concentration. He watched you crouch down and somehow produce a purse from beneath the counter. The zipper slid open before you tucked the bills safely inside.

"Nah, it's okay," you said at last, glancing up as the corners of your mouth twitched. "I actually enjoy your company."

Something in Eddie's chest shifted in a way he didn't entirely care for at how much he liked hearing that.

Once the money was put away, you rolled your shoulders before reaching behind yourself to loosen the strings of your apron. A quiet sigh slipped from your lips as the beer-scented fabric landed on the counter while your free hand automatically reached for the whiskey bottle.

You stopped halfway through pouring before walking over to him instead and, without asking, took the seat next to him and topped off his drink before filling your own.

Eddie raised an eyebrow—you'd just poured yourself considerably more than the usual two fingers.

His gaze drifted from the amber liquid to your face. The shadows beneath your eyes were more noticeable now. The energy you'd carried all evening hadn't disappeared, but it had begun fraying around the edges.

"Long day?"

"Ugh, you don't wanna know," you mumbled, glancing towards the clock that hung above the shelves. "Twelve-hour shift, no breaks."

"Yeah," he said quietly as he winced in sympathy. "That'll do it."

His ringed fingers curled around his glass, swirling the amber liquid absentmindedly.

"No breaks?" He furrowed his eyebrows and looked up at you. "Have you eaten anything?"

The way you hesitated for just a second was answer enough. Your hand stilled halfway to your mouth, the glass suspended between your fingers.

"Yeah, of course," you muttered finally.

A chuckle escaped him before silence settled between you.

Then he tilted his head towards you and jokingly narrowed his eyes, and you immediately knew what was coming.

"Oh, c'mon," you groaned. "I'm fine."

"And that's not what I asked."

"No," you confessed after a muffled sigh escaped you, dramatically dropping your forehead against the counter. "I was busy."

Eddie hummed and looked entirely too pleased with himself when you lifted your head just enough to shoot him a deep glare.

"There's probably still a diner open."

You glanced towards the dark windows. Amber streetlights spilled through the blinds while the occasional set of headlights drifted past outside.

"I'm too tired to sit in a diner and be friendly to waitresses."

"Fair," he nodded, his light curls bouncing with the movement before he took another sip of his glass. "I've got frozen pizza at home."

The words left his mouth without thinking, and he immediately regretted them. His eyes falling shut while his free hand came up to pinch the bridge of his nose.

"That sounded significantly less weird in my head."

Your lips twitched as silence settled between the two of you.

"Don't," Eddie pointed a finger at you without opening his eyes.

A laugh slipped out while you turned on the stool to face him. "I didn't even say anything."

"You were about to," he said accusingly.

"Oh, absolutely."

You curled your fingers around your glass, the rings around them glimmering beneath the soft amber lights overhead, while you tried – and failed – not to smile.

"You know, that's the worst pickup line I've ever gotten."

"It wasn't a pickup line."

"Good," you smiled against the rim of your glass.

Eddie opened his eyes, but the furrow between his eyebrows stayed. Not because he was still cringing at the accidental invitation, but because the answer came a little too quickly.

Good.

He wasn’t entirely sure why that answer had stuck with him.

The joke should’ve ended there.

Instead, he spent the next few seconds wondering what would’ve happened if it had been a pickup line after all.

When he finally lifted his gaze from his glass, he found you already looking at him.

Your lips were pulled into a smile – small and suspicious, like you were trying very hard not to let it grow any wider – and the exhaustion that had been lingering in your eyes all evening had given way to something else.

Something he couldn't quite place, but that made his stomach do an annoying little flip anyway.

Then you wetted your lips and took another sip of whiskey, hiding whatever thought had been threatening to surface behind the rim of your glass.

Your gaze dropped to the counter for a split second before finding his again.

"You got any whiskey to go with that frozen pizza?"

Eddie blinked as your words registered. Well, that wasn't exactly the answer he'd been expecting. A laugh rumbled low in his chest as he shook his head, sending a few grey curls shifting around his face.

"You're trying to invite yourself over, sweetheart?"

"Depends," you smiled behind the rim of your glass.

Eddie's eyebrows furrowed slightly. "On what?"

A breathless chuckle escaped you before you could stop it, and you dragged a hand through your hair.

"If you got any aged whiskey," you said before drowning the rest of your drink in one go and setting the empty glass back onto its coaster. "It's the only way I like it."

Eddie's eyebrows rose slightly as he stared at you for a moment longer, then he laughed again.

"Jesus," he licked his lips absentmindedly, though the smile never quite left his face. "You're twenty-two. What do you know about aged whiskey?"

"You forget I work at a bar." You glanced towards the cluttered shelves lined with bottles and pointed in their direction. "I also know where Mike hides the good stuff."

"That sounds suspiciously like a confession."

Eddie watched the corners of your mouth twitch upwards before you jumped off the stool. His gaze followed you as you made your way back behind the counter and reached for another bottle.

"I'm not really the type to kneel and confess," you murmured.

Your eyes flicked up to his for half a second before dropping back to the glass as amber liquid spilled into it.

"But I'll do it occasionally," you continued lightly, giving your lips another twitch when your gaze found his again, "depending on the sin."

Whatever composure he had faltered ever so slightly.

"Jesus Christ," he said as he set his glass back down on its coaster. "You say shit like that on purpose?"

He reached for the bottle sitting between the two of you and poured himself half a glass.

"Only when I'm having a good time." A grin tugged at your lips as you brought the glass to your mouth.

Your smile grew even wider behind the rim while your gaze lingered on his face.

The few white strands scattered through his dark grey curls caught the amber glow overhead, and the faint crow's feet beside his eyes deepened as a smile spread across his face. For the first time all evening, he looked less like a tired rockstar and more like a man who knew he was about to have a good night.

"Looks like you're having a good time, too."

"Yeah," he murmured, gaze glued to yours, before downing the last of his drink. "I am."

“Good,” you murmured back.

After nearly thirty minutes of walking under amber light and starry skies, talking about music – he couldn’t help himself, it was his passion – and shared cigarette smoke, the two of you finally stood in front of his house.

It wasn’t a gated mansion like you’d expected from a man who’d sold millions of records, but it wasn’t really a humble home either.

Moonlight filtered through a canopy of leaves, spilling across the warm, wood-clad home. The low roof and wide eaves created a sheltered porch where potted succulents and terracotta bowls gathered like old friends. It felt more like a quietly cared-for refuge than the home of the lead vocalist of a heavy metal band.

The grip you had on the strap of your bag tightened just slightly when his hand found the small of your back once he finally unlocked the door. He let go of you for a brief moment, pushing the door closed behind him and kicking off his boots once he’d stepped onto the red-ceramic tiled floor of the entryway.

“Huh,” you said under your breath, eyes lingering on the scattered picture frames across the white walls while he walked ahead and turned on the living room lights.

“Not what you expected?” he joked over his shoulder as he walked further into the space.

“Not really, no,” you muttered as you mimicked him and took off your shoes before you followed him through the room. “I expected something more… dramatic.”

Eddie barked a laugh as soon as the words left your mouth.

“Believe me, I’ve tried the whole mansion thing,” he murmured as he walked into the open kitchen and disappeared into a pantry. “Turns out I don’t like too much empty space.”

The polished wooden floors were cold, even under your socked feet, as you stood in the middle of the living room, slowly turning around to catch all the little details of who he was outside of his work. Your eyes flickered towards the far wall in an instant, attention stolen away from the noise he was making and placed on the carefully mounted plaques. The shelves on the wall beside it were filled with books and, funnily enough, some heavy awards he’d won over the years doubling down as bookends.

You were too busy brushing your fingers along the  broken spines, smiling whenever you recognised a title and growing curious whenever you didn’t, to notice he’d returned.

Eddie dragged a hand through his long hair, pushing away rebellious grey strands from his face before pulling at a cupboard for two glasses.

When he turned around again, he immediately noticed how intrigued you’d been by his book collection, and not towards the impressive plaques covering the entire wall next to you. He licked his lips, and made his way towards where you stood.

“You got some heavy reading here,” you mumbled when you heard the clinking sound of glasses getting closer, eyes still glued to the cracked spine of Open Veins of Latin America.

“Trust me, sometimes I surprise myself too,” he joked with a little grin tugging at his lips. “I never would’ve read it when I was your age.”

He held a tall, cylindrical case in his hand as he took a few steps back to the coffee table. Under the layer of dust, it looked matte brown with a subtle metallic sheen, in a way that it was obvious it was something quietly luxurious.

“You were telling me about how you got into metal?” he murmured as he sat down on the leather couch. He perched on the edge of the cushion, balancing the case on the coffee table while he opened it.

“Right.” You smiled shyly as the sound of whiskey spilling into glass filled the brief silence between the two of you. “I was in sixth grade and had the biggest crush on this boy in my class.”

“No,” he said dramatically and tilted his head back slightly, already chuckling. “You got into metal for a boy?”

“What can I say? Emil Korman had that effect on me,” you said absentmindedly as you reached for one of the glasses. “Anyway, he, uh…”

You took a sip of whiskey before your eyes flickered back towards the book shelves for a split second.

“He said his favourite band was Iron maiden, and I thought that,” you sighed dramatically before continuing, “pretending to be a Maiden fan was gonna make him fall for me, too.”

“Did it work?” Eddie asked through a grin, eyes squinting in disbelief.

“No,” you confessed with a quiet chuckle as you sank on the cushion beside him. “But it’s fine. At least I got a good taste in music out of it.”

Eddie barked out a laugh, shaking his head as his eyes slipped shut for a brief moment. When he opened them again, he found your gaze already on him.

“So what happened to Emil?”

“I was his first kiss,” you chuckled gently. “And then… absolutely nothing.”

“Ouch,” he grimaced. “Not even a middle-school relationship?”

“Not even eye contact most days.”

He nearly choked on his drink when your words reached his ears.

“Wait,” he said and pointed at you with his glass. “You became a Maiden fan for a guy who barely acknowledged you?”

“Unfortunately,” you admitted with a chuckle.

Eddie fell silent for a moment as he took another slow sip of his whiskey, though his eyes never quite left yours.

“And you stuck with metal after?”

“Turns out Children of the Damned made an impact on me.”

“Well,” a smile tugged at his lips as he lifted his glass slightly. “At least something good came out of Emil Korman.”

You laughed and gently clinked your glass against his.

“To Emil Korman,” you joked.

His ringed fingers tapped softly against the glass once, then again, before they stilled completely. Eddie tilted his head back just slightly, his gaze never leaving yours – it didn’t even drift. His eyes looked almost black beneath the low lights of his living room, impossible to read and entirely too focused on you.

He opened his mouth, only to close it again, squinting at nothing in particular. For a moment, he looked like he wanted to ask something else entirely before thinking better of it.

“What’s your favourite Corroded album?” he asked eventually, finally letting himself say the words out loud instead of pushing them away again.

“Bold of you to assume I even listen to you guys,” you murmured, a smirk tugging at your lips.

Eddie’s gaze lingered on the arch of your eyebrow and the way the light caught in your eyes.

“Oh, don’t play coy now,” he murmured before licking his bottom lip. “You look like a Pure Oaths & Pagan Rites kind of girl.”

A disbelieving smile tugged at your lips as you looked away from a brief second before returning your gaze to his.

“Wrong,” you said after clicking your tongue. “It’s Hollow Crusade.”

His eyebrows furrowed at your answer before confusion took over.

“What?” he scoffed. “That’s our worst album.”

“No, it’s not. Are you kidding me?” You took another sip of whiskey before shaking your head. “The philosophical storytelling on that album? Fucking insane.”

Eddie’s gaze lingered on your face, on the small smile tugging at your lips as you spoke. He lifted his glass and took another sip, letting your words settle into the space between the two of you.

“It’s raw and claustrophobic, and yet strangely tender,” you continued softly, your hand moving absentmindedly as you spoke. “It’s a criminally underrated album.”

For some reason, the words that slipped from your mouth sent something hot and uncomfortable spreading through his chest. He didn’t answer immediately. Instead, he watched you for a moment longer, his brain still trying to catch up.

You sat with one arm draped across the back of the couch, your head resting in the palm of your hand while your gaze remained fixed on his.

Somewhere in the middle of the lingering silence and beneath the low glow of the lights overhead, Eddie realised he’d shifted closer to you than he had been a minute ago.

He dragged a tattooed hand through his hair, pushing a few grey curls away from his face as he felt himself growing unexpectedly flustered beneath your gaze.

It was ridiculous, really.

He’d spent decades performing in front of packed stadiums. He’d sat through endless interviews with journalists determined to pick him apart, accepted awards in front of hundreds of people, and survived more awkward conversations than he cared to count.

Yet somehow, a twenty-two year old bartender complimenting one of Corroded Coffin’s least popular albums had rendered him completely incapable of forming a coherent thought.

 “Jesus,” he muttered at last, shaking his head with a quiet laugh as he pulled his gaze away from yours. “Nobody ever says Hollow Crusade.”

Your eyes, however, stayed glued to his face, taking in the soft lines beside his eyes and the light grey beard he’d grown over the last few months.

Another few seconds passed before you bent to set your glass back on the table. Licking your lips, you leaned back into the couch and shifted a little closer to him.

“Does that do it for you?” you teased, unable to help yourself, a smile already tugging at your lips.

Eddie scoffed and looked away for a split second, trying to control the warmth that crept up his neck.

“Presumptuous, are we?”

“Am I wrong?” you murmured.

Your eyes flickered to his lips for the briefest moment before finding his gaze again.

It was easy – and far too much fun – to tease him, to watch him tip his head back and finish his whiskey instead of answering.

Besides, both of you already knew you weren’t wrong.

You leaned in slowly and curled your fingers around his glass, gently pulling it from his hand before setting it on the coffee table beside yours.

“Well?” you asked again, a little firmer this time. Your tongue swept across your bottom lip before a knowing smile tugged at the corner of your mouth. “Am I?”

Eddie’s breath caught.

He leaned back slightly, blinking a few times too many. For a moment, he looked like he wanted to say something. The words hovered somewhere behind his eyes before disappearing entirely.

Under the warm glow of the living room lights, he looked softer somehow. Less like the untouchable frontman plastered across magazine covers and more like a man who’d been unexpectedly caught off guard by learning something new about himself.

The faint scent of your perfume drifted between you as you leaned closer.

Your rings caught the light when you reached for his tattooed arm. Your fingertips brushed lightly against his warm skin as you slowly traced your way up until you reached his neck. You lingered on the neo-traditional raven inked into his skin – still dark and sharp compared to the rest of his tattoos, whose black lines had softened into faded blue over the years.

Eddie’s gaze followed your hand the entire way. All he could focus on was the warmth of your fingers against his skin.

You noticed the way his pupils dilated ever so slightly as his gaze lingered on your hand. A second later, he dragged his eyes back to yours and swallowed.

“You wanna know what I think, Eddie?” you asked, though the tone of your voice made it clear you weren’t actually looking for an answer. “I think you’re used to having control all the time. Over everything.”

Your fingertips brushed over the inked raven, drawing a fresh wave of goosebumps across his skin as you trailed higher until you reached his chin. When he tried to look away, his cheeks pink and warm, you gently guided his face back towards you.

“But that’s not really the way you like things, is it?” you continued softly, your fingers resting against his jaw. “Hm?”

“I, uh…” Eddie trailed off, blinking a few times too many beneath your gaze.

You licked your lips again, your eyebrows pulling together in mock sympathy as you tilted your head slightly to the side.

“All those groupies…” a faint pout tugged at your mouth. “They never gave you what you needed, did they?”

The air between you seemed to thicken instantly.

Another breath caught in his throat. For a moment, Eddie couldn’t tell whether it was the whiskey, the late hour, or the fact that you were looking at him like you already knew the answer.

The pout on your lips softened into a small smile when you noticed his eyes flickering down to your mouth. His gaze lingered there a second longer than he probably intended before you drew his attention back to your eyes with a few light taps against his jaw.

“How do you want me, Eds?” you murmured softly, your thumb brushing against his warm cheek. “Do you want me to take over, hm?”

Eddie blinked dumbly at you for a few seconds.

His mouth opened, then closed again. Whatever answer he wanted to give seemed to get lost somewhere on the way out.

You counted to ten before finally letting go of his face.

Then you leaned back just enough to drape your arm across the back of the couch once more, resting your head against your hand while forcing a look of boredom onto your face. Your free hand drummed absentmindedly against your thigh as you waited a moment longer.

“Am I wasting my time here?” you asked after another beat of silence, pursing your lips as your eyebrows pulled together.

“No,” he answered quickly before swallowing.

The barely concealed desperation in his voice made something twist pleasantly in your stomach, warmth spreading through your chest.

“No?” You raised an eyebrow at the man sitting beside you. “Because all I see is a man who’s pushing fifty and still hasn’t learned how to ask for what he wants.”

Eddie’s entire body went rigid, save for the nervous twitch of his hands at his sides.

He sucked in a sharp breath, his cheeks somehow deepening into an even darker shade of pink at your words – mean and sultry all at once.

“Sorry,” the apology slipped from his mouth before his brain had a chance to catch up.

Your lips twitched at the soft, unsteady sound of his voice.

Humming quietly, you reached for his face again and brushed your thumb across his cheek. His eyes fluttered shut for a brief second beneath your touch. Your gaze lingered on the movement of his throat as he swallowed hard before you pushed your digit past his lips.

A quiet whimper escaped him when you pulled your thumb from his mouth and brought it to your own. His eyes immediately dropped to your lips, to the way they closed around the tip before you sucked it clean of his spit.

“Should we try again?” you asked, tilting your head slightly.

You lowered your hand back to your thigh while watching him nod shyly.

“How do you want me, Eds?”

“I, uh…” he tried again before forcing a dry lump down his throat. “On top of me?”

Your lips twitched as the words came out cracked and desperate as he blinked a few times. His gaze flickered down to your lap, finding the thumb you’d pushed into his mouth only seconds earlier. There was something almost hesitant about the way he said it, his voice small and uncertain despite the man it belonged to.

A slow, knowing smile curled across your face; there he was – a world-famous musician practically folding for someone half his age.

Your eyes lingered on his for another moment before you pushed him gently back against the armrest of the couch.

You shifted onto your knees on the leather cushions and settled yourself over him without warning, and adjusted your position until you were comfortable – ignoring the soft huffs that escaped him and the raging hard on under you.

“Like this?” you murmured, your gaze fixed on his as your hand drifted across his clothed chest.

“Fuck,” he whispered under his breath, as though the word had slipped out by accident.

Your hands trailed down his chest, feeling the uneven rise and fall of his breathing before you reached for his hands. You intertwined your fingers with his and guided them towards your thighs.

His tattooed hand trembled slightly when you let go, uncertainty flickering across his face.

“It’s okay, Eds,” you whispered as you leaned forwards until your lips brushed the shell of his ear. “You can touch me.”

The rings on his fingers dug into your jean-clad thighs when those four little words slipped from your mouth. He didn’t hesitate to touch you. His palms slid slowly over your thighs as he felt your warm breath ghost against the side of his face. Your lips trailed soft, open-mouthed kisses along his cheek before making their way down to his neck, occasionally nipping at his skin.

But you pulled away abruptly the moment his hands wandered beneath your ass.

“Sorry,” he breathed again, his voice small as his eyes blinked rapidly, like he’d done something wrong.

“No need to apologise, baby,” you whispered, your gaze never leaving his. “I’m not mad.”

You trailed a hand up his chest until you reached his face, brushing your thumb softly across his cheek.

“Just wanna make sure you’re comfortable here,” you murmured. “Or do you wanna go to your room?”

His lips parted slightly as he turned your question over in his mind.

“Uh…” he managed after a moment. “Bed, please.”

A smile tugged at your lips.

“Alright, big boy,” you murmured as you slipped off his lap, leaving him unexpectedly cold in the absence of your warmth. Then you reached for his hand and gently pulled him to his feet. “You gonna show me the way?”

Eddie nodded once, then again, as he finally found his footing. His dark brown eyes found yours beneath the warm lights overhead. His body stilled again for a split second before he nodded a third time and led you towards the hallway that connected the entryway to his bedroom.

His long grey curls shifted with the movement when he glanced over his shoulder, only to find your gaze already fixed on him.

Then he finally pushed open the bedroom door.

His trembling fingers reached for the light switches, nervously flicking them on and off again when the room became too bright. He toyed with them for another second before warm amber light finally spilled across the room.

Your gaze drifted across the deep green walls before settling on the painting hanging above the wooden king-sized bed positioned in the centre of the room.

“Take off your shirt,” you murmured absentmindedly, your tone gentle but firm, as you released your hand and stepped further inside.

Eddie dragged a hand through his grey curls, pushing them back from his face as he let out a deep sigh. His ringed fingers found the hem of his shirt and pulled it over his head before tossing it carelessly onto the floor. The soft thud of fabric hitting wood drew your attention back to him.

It was obvious he took care of himself – something a younger version of himself would’ve probably cringed at. He wasn’t ripped, but he was fit enough that the tattoos scattered across his chest had stretched lightly over the years.

“Pants too,” you added, lifting an eyebrow.

He blinked once, then again, before his hands finally dropped to the buckle of his belt.

While his fingers fumbled briefly with the button of his jeans, you crossed the room and sat down on the neatly made bed. Crossing one leg over the other, you leaned back on your hands and let your gaze wander over his body.

His jeans pooled around his feet, the buckle clinking loudly against the wooden floor before he stepped out of them and nudged them aside with his foot. Eddie’s heartbeat pounded in his ears, swallowing a dry lump down his throat while he remained still for a moment longer, waiting for your next instruction.

But you were in no hurry to give one. Instead, your gaze continued its slow journey across the ink scattered over his skin, deliberately ignoring the hard on under his boxers, until it settled on the grim reaper tattooed onto his left thigh.

“C’mere,” you said and you pointed lazily towards the floor as you uncrossed your legs.

Eddie wiped his damp palms against his thighs before stepping closer. Then he stopped, his gaze dropping to the rings on his fingers, and he began curling one absentmindedly as though considering taking it off.

“No,” you said, stopping him before he could. “I didn’t tell you to take those off, did I?”

You tilted your head slightly, your eyebrows drawing together.

“Answer me when I ask you a question.”

He blinked a few times before finally lowering himself between your legs.

“No, you didn’t,” he whispered, his eyes lifting nervously back to your face.

His cheeks turned pink beneath your gaze, the warmth spreading down his neck and chest until it settled somewhere deep in his stomach. He fidgeted with his fingers, doing his best to ignore the way his cock twitched under the fabric of his boxers.

You tapped your fingers absentmindedly against your leg and licked your lips as you carefully considered your next words.

“Tell me what you want,” you murmured firmly.

Eddie’s entire body went rigid, and his breath caught for a split second. The nervous fidgeting stopped as he wiped his damp palms against his thighs once again.

Warm light spilled softly across his features, turning the silver threads through his curls amber beneath the glow overhead. He looked pretty like this; wide eyes beneath blown pupils, nervous hands twitching against his thighs as he sat back on his heels and looked up at you.

You studied him for a moment, making sure he was alright before reaching for his cheek. His breath hitched when your thumb brushed across his lips, encouraging them to part.

“C’mon,” you murmured softly as you purposefully pressed your thumb found its way back into his mouth. “Answer me.”

“I want you,” he admitted, the words slipping out muffled and unsteady.

A knowing smile tugged at your lips. “I know you can do better than that, baby.”

He swallowed nervously around your digit, his gaze flickering down to your mouth for the briefest moment before returning to your eyes.

“Can I…” he began, only to trail off when you slipped your thumb out of his mouth, and spread his spit across his cheek as you waited patiently. “Can we kiss?”

The words came out barely above a whisper, cracked with nerves, and were followed by a soft sigh when your hand slid from his jaw to the back of his neck. Your fingers threaded gently into his grey curls.

“Of course we can, baby,” you said lowly.

You guided him a little closer, stopping when only a breath separated the two of you.

A mischievous glimmer flashed through your eyes as your gaze dipped briefly to his lips before finding his eyes again. A low, broken sound escaped him when your mouth brushed lightly against his, though you made no move to close the distance completely.

The anticipation was obvious; you could see it in the way his eyes searched yours and in the increasingly uneven rise and fall of his chest.

For a moment, you simply let the tension linger between you.

Then, without warning, you closed the gap. A startled sound escaped him at the sudden movement. His eyebrows lifted in surprise before his eyes finally slipped shut, leaning into the warmth of your touch as the last of the distance between you finally disappeared.

Your tongue delved past his parted lips, exploring his warm mouth with bold, slick strokes. His hands twitched on his thighs before they slid up your legs. His palms hovered hesitantly over your waist before he wrapped his fingers around you, steadying himself. It was too much, too fast – a sharp jolt of electricity racing straight to his covered cock. Another whimper slipped from his throat, airy and desperate, when you pulled back just enough to bite at his lip.

You tightened the grip on his hair before you pulled his head back. Eddie inhaled sharply when you broke away, his lips tingling from the intensity of the kiss. Your eyes searched for his, a smile tugging at your mouth as you licked your lips. Your gaze pinned him in place, dark and inviting, sending a shiver racing down his spine.

He didn’t care anymore about the age gap – he stopped caring long ago, especially with the grip you had on his hair, and the way you’d completely wrecked him with a dizzying kiss.

“Get on the bed,” you murmured softly as your lips pulled into a mischievous smile. “Back against the headboard, baby.”

You watched Eddie rise up on trembling knees, joints cracking softly, his fingers loosening their grip on your waist as the command echoed in his ears. His swollen lips part, but no words come out.

He swallowed thickly as he walked around the bed, sinking against the headboard. His muscles coiled tight, his knuckles blanched as he gripped the sheets.

The air crackled with tension, heavy with promise. His legs twitched as he spread his thighs, feeling exposed yet aching for more under your firm gaze.

You pushed away from the edge and pulled your shirt over your head, throwing it carelessly somewhere before you turned around towards him. His breath came shallow and faster while his eyes followed your hands to the button of your jeans, his hands twitching while every inch of him yearned to touch you.

The thick silence was interrupted with the metallic sound of you pulling down your zipper before pushing the thick denim down your legs and stepping away from it.

Eddie inhaled sharply when you stepped closer to the bed, sinking your knees into the mattress and crawling over to him. The heat of your body seared through the thin fabric of his boxers when you sat down on his lap, your crotch flush against his hard-on. Anticipation coiled tighter, his stomach fluttering when your hand came up to the back of his neck once again.

“You’re so pretty, Eddie,” you whispered as you scraped your nails against his scalp.

Your eyes trailed down his face, finding his gaze glued to the bra hugging your breasts. The desperate look in his eyes and the erratic way his chest moved up and down let you know he itched to see you without it.

“Take it off for me?” you whispered sweetly and before giving him a contrasting tug at his silver strands when he didn’t immediately react.

Eddie jerked at the sudden pull at his hair, a strangled whimper escaping his lips. With shaking hands, he reached behind you and fumbled clumsily in his haste. The delicate lace fell away, revealing silver skulls hugging your hardened nipples. His eyes drank in the sight, pupils somehow blown even wider while he absentmindedly threw your bra on the ground.

His eyes flickered up to yours for a quick second before they fell down onto the piercings once again.

“Fuck,” he chocked out, his trembling fingers nervously reaching for your tits before halting his hands mid-air.

You leaned further into him, giving him silent approval to touch you. Eddie traced the swell of your breasts reverently, his cold fingertips grazing your sensitive nipples, and his warm rings digging in your skin while he gulped nervously.

“Can I?” he asked softly anyway, his gaze glued to yours while the words slipped his mouth.

“Go ahead, baby,” you murmured softly, a smile tugging at your lips.

Eddie’s other hand snaked around your waist and pulled you flush against him. He arched up, capturing one peaked nipple between his lips, giving it a gentle suck. His eyebrows furrowed, and his eyes closed, lost in your silky skin and the warm metal clashing against his teeth.

He moaned against your breast when you tugged harshly at his hair, accidentally rolling your hips against his. The friction sent sparks skittering under his skin while he continued lapping and sucking at your pebbled peak.

You rolled your hips against his with each moan that slipped out of your mouth. Eddie’s cock twitched under you, and he let go of your waist to palm your other breast roughly, pinching and rolling the sensitive buds between calloused fingers. He moaned against your skin when his hips twitched once again.

“Please,” he whimpered against your nipple, the word coming out muffled.

“Please what, Eddie?” you murmur as you pulled at his hair until his plush lips popped off your breasts with a soft pop! “I can’t read your mind, dummy. You gotta tell me.”

His chest rose up and down heavily as his gaze trailed up. Furrowed eyebrows and glassy eyes found yours, his mouth hanging low and glistening with spit.

“Want you so bad,” he whispered before licking his lips. “Wanna eat you out.”

The words spilled down, shameless and desperate, sending another wave of slick to seep into your lacy underwear.

“Please.”

“You wanna be a good boy and eat me out?” you said and tilted your head to the side, eyes glued to his.

Not waiting for a reaction, you pulled him into another sloppy kiss, slick tongues brushing against each other. You gave him another harsh pull at his roots before you pulled away from his lap to take off your lacy panties.

“Lay down f’me.”

A shudder raced down Eddie’s spine at your demand, and he scrambled until he laid back. His fingers twitched beside him when you climbed back onto him, a needy whine drawing from his throat when the sight of your glistening pussy hovered above his face. He grabbed your hips, urging you closer until his nose bumped into your swollen clit.

Eddie breathed over your slick heat. His tongue darted out, lapping at you tentatively before he grew bolder and sunk his tongue into your entrance. Low vibrations travelled through you when he groaned desperately when he tasted your slick, his eyes fluttering shut. The coarse white hairs of his bear rubbed against your pussy as he somehow pulled you even closer to his face, licking a greedy line back to your clit.

“You’re doing so well for me, Eds,” you whimpered as you moved your hips against his face, your clit bumping against the tip of his nose. His hand twitched around your thighs before he tightened his grip on you, rings biting sharply in your skin, and a knowing smile momentarily found it way to your face before your lips fell open with another broken moan. “Y-you like it when I give you compliments, hm?”

He whimpered into your slick heat, the vibrations sending shockwaves of pleasure through you. His eyebrows furrowed as his eyes opened in search of yours. He doubled down his efforts when he noticed your mouth hanging low, and grazed his teeth against your clit before harshly sucking on it.

“Wanna be good for you,” he mumbled against your slick folds.

The words were barely more than a whisper, but they still sent warmth rushing through him. A deep blush spread across his cheeks the moment he heard himself say them out loud.

Eddie squeezed his eyes shut for a brief second. There was no point pretending otherwise anymore. He was completely putty in your hands – the words he’d just spoken echoed in the back of his mind, serving as undeniable proof.

“Fuck, Eddie–” you moaned as you threw your head back. “I-I’m gonna–”

He moaned into your dripping core as you rolled your hips against his face, the sound muffled yet eager nonetheless. He lapped urgently at your cunt, and his fingers twitched around your thighs as he swallowed everything you gave him as you came with a scream of his name.

Eddie peppered tender kisses along your inner thighs, and slowly lifted you to sit on his chest. His beard tickled your overstimulated clit when he did so, a chocked whimper leaving your mouth. His eyes flickered up to your face when the pretty sound rang in his ears.

“You’re so pretty,” he whispered before he gulped down.

His eyes flickered back down to your folds as he brought his fingers to your clit, tracing a few lazy circles on it before he slowly dipped one calloused finger in your pussy until only the silver pig on it remained. A groan escaped him as he felt you clench around him.

But then you wrapped your fingers around his hand, and pulled him out of your slick folds.

“No,” you breathed out, your chest moving unevenly as you looked down at him, your eyebrows furrowed.

The ache in his groin bordered on painful, strained fabric doing little to conceal his need.

“It’s my turn now.”

Eddie’s breath came ragged as the words slipped from your mouth, sending a painful ache down his length.

“Please,” he rasped, voice strangled as he failed to catch his breath. “Wan– need to be inside you.”

He fisted his hands at his sides, nails biting into his palms as he fought the urge to grab at you.

“I’m not taking requests anymore,” you murmured firmly, moving further down until you sat between his legs. Your fingers curled around the elastic band of his boxers, and tugged it down achingly slow. “You’re gonna take what I give you.”

Your warm fingertips brushed lightly over his thick thighs, tracing the lines of his tattoos as you slowly made your way up to his hips. Your nails bit gently into his skin, drawing a soft whimper from him before your touch drifted inwards. Almost absentmindedly, you brushed your fingers across the silky skin of his cock.

Eddie was thick, pretty and absolutely desperate; his tip as red and swollen as his bitten lips. Soft, white curls coiled around his base, a result of not trimming himself while he was on the road.

A violent shudder wracked Eddie’s frame at the fleeting contact. He shamelessly arched into your touch as a broken moan spilled from his lips, and his cock throbbed urgently, his pretty tip already glistening with pre-cum.

You spit into your hand before wrapping your fingers around him, giving him a lazy tug as a mischievous smile grew on your lips. Then, you slowly trailed your hand along his length, until your hand closed loosely around his swollen tip, circling your palm on it while spreading his pre-cum around.

After leaning down until your eyes are level with your hand, you flickered your gaze up to his, maintaining eye contact with him as you let a thick drop of spit spill on his cock. You spread it down his length before finally taking him into your mouth. You start bobbing slowly, almost painfully slow, keeping your eyes on his face.

Eddie whined piteously as you manhandled him. He watched you through hooded eyes, enraptured by the sight of you toying with his weeping cock. Your somewhat degrading words from just moments ago still rang in his ears, heightening the heat low in his belly as shame mingled with want in a dizzying cocktail.

The obscene suction, the firmly drag of your spit-drenched palm, the sultry gleam in your eyes – it’s nearly torturous. It made his hips twitch restlessly under you, desperate for you to take him deeper into your throat. But still, he held himself through sheer force of will, submitting wholly to you no matter how cruel you were being.

Eddie stared down at you with glossy eyes, ingraining the view of you lazily sucking his tip into his eyelids.

You were in no rush, and just let the tense knot deep in his stomach tighten until it nearly drove him insane. He dragged a hand through his hair, and tugged firmly at his roots while he kept his gaze glued onto yours. He watched how you pulled back, and slowly licked your lips before you took him back in your mouth again.

“Jesus–” he whimpered, trembling under your touch as you fastened your rhythm ever so slightly. “Please.”

A tiny bead of sweat rolled from his forehead down to the tip of his nose. He kept his eyes glued on you, flickering down to your mouth for a moment while his fell open.

You hummed softly around him before sucking him faster, loosening your grip on his base and gripping his thighs instead. Digging your nails into his milky skin, you pushed yourself lower, taking more of his cock in your mouth.

His breath, already uneven, hitched as shaky gasps fell from his pretty lips while you worked him deeper in your warm, tight throat. Your tongue swirled around his length, drool trickling down to his fuzzy sack, until his brain short-circuited with the visceral sensation of being wanted by someone who knew exactly how to tear him apart – unlike any other girl he’d fucked over the years. You increased your pace, a muffled gag echoing in the room when he accidentally bucked upwards.

“I– mmpff!”

Eddie squeezed his eyes shut, his grip on the sheets underneath him tightening as he finally came. Warm, sticky ropes of cum trailed down your throat while his hips twitched and his chest heaved in uneven bursts.

He lay there for a moment, legs trembling under your warm hands, breathing in the sweet mix of sweat and spit that hung in his bedroom. Eventually, he forced his eyes open, and looked down at you when he felt you pulling your mouth off him. His cock twitched when you gave him one last hard suck on his tip before letting him fall out from between your lips.

“I-I…” he breathed out, blinking relentlessly as he watched you push yourself upright. “Fuck.”

Ignoring the sticky drop of cum trailing down the corner of your mouth, you sat back on your heels and squeezed his thighs while a knowing smile tugged at your lips.

Without voicing out a warning, you climbed back onto his lap and straddled him. Eddie froze under you, his cock twitching between your folds as you forced him to look up at you. He felt so small under your gaze – a pathetic, tangled spill of ink and frayed nerves kept intact only by your overwhelming presence above him.

Your fingers reached up, sliding into his messy curls and cupped the back of his head. You gave him a sharp tug, holding his gaze glued onto yours.

“You’re gonna give me another one,” you murmured, still smiling down at him. “I don’t care if you’re sensitive, or if you can’t take it; you are giving me another one.”

A breathless, broken oh escaped him, his pupils blowing wide until the warm brown ring around them nearly disappeared. His hands moved on their own accord, reaching for your breasts and tracing the peaked circles of your nipples while you rolled your hips against his.

Eddie’s eyebrows furrowed, his overly sensitive cock twitching under you, as he watched you lean down over him until your breasts were level with his desperate mouth. He moved his lips against your skin, teeth grazing your nipple and clinking against the silver skulls hugging it.

“You like my tits a little too much, don’t you?” you whispered into his ear, and gave his hair another hard tug.

With agonizing slowness, you lifted your hips just enough to slide your free hand between you to grab his cock. You gave him a few lazy tugs, ignoring his broken whimpers and the deep furrow between his brows, and then lined him up with your slit. You pushed down just a tad, just his tip resting inside you. A gasp caught in his throat, his teeth accidentally biting your nipple harder than you’d expected. You choked on a yelp, and your eyebrows pulled into a scowl as you pulled away from him.

“S-sorry,” he quickly breathed out when your nipple fell from his mouth.

You let go of his cock, and let it slap against his stomach as you sat back on his thighs. For a moment, you just sat there and stared at him. Eddie trembled under your hard gaze, fingers twitching beside him.

“You do that again,” you said slowly, “and I’ll walk away.”

Eddie gulped hard and shook his head, mouth falling open only to close again. Then, ever so slowly, he nodded, and whispered another soft sorry.

The begging glimmer in his eyes tightened the knot in your stomach. You stared down at him for a few more seconds before, finally, moving your hips closer to his cock once again.

“Are you gonna behave?” you murmured, and wrapped your fingers around his base.

“Y-yes,” he breathed out.

More than thirty years of singing and smoking, yet his voice had never sounded as rough as it did now.

For a second time, you lined him up with your slit. He blinked rapidly as you pushed down slowly, painfully so. Eddie whined out a sob – loud and pathetic – as you pushed down a little further. You sank your nails in his chest as you slammed down your hips, squirming and panting as he filled you to the brim. And then your mouth is hanging open, a soft gasp escaping you when you give him a small – almost tentative – bounce on his cock. You reached down, curling your fingers around his hands and brought one to your clit, and the other back to your breasts.

Eddie squirms, unable to go anywhere when you lifted your hips and slammed down on him again. You gushed around his cock as he stroked your clit in distracted, almost non-existent circles.

He nearly came again as felt you cinch his cock as you rocked your hips, bouncing up and down.

“F-fuck, you feel so good, Eds,” you breathed out, and nearly fell on top of him before you were able to grab his headboard. His open lips brush against your chest as he choked on another moan, your words ringing in his ears. “You fill me up so well.”

His back arched into you when you started bouncing harder, occasionally clenching hard around him before you lifted your hips again. You laced one of your hands in his hair as you fucked him just hard enough to make his overpriced bed creak and groan. Burying your face in the crook of his neck as you took him, your legs squirmed and muscles tensed as you took every drag of his cock.

“Mmpff!” he whimpered against your chest before he took one of your bouncing tits into his mouth once again. His warm tongue stroked feverishly against your nipple, while his fingers tugged softly at the other.

His toes curled as you clenched around him again. The grip you had on his hair tightened, and you pressed your nails into his scalp – not enough to actually hurt him, but sharp enough that it made his mouth work faster against your nipple.

“I– I’m–” he whimpered as he pulled his mouth away from your breast. “Fuckfuckfuck. Please don’t st– I’m–”

“Yeah?” you breathed out, a dark smile tugging at your lips. “Pretty boy’s gonna cum for me again?”

Eddie groaned in your ear when he felt your slick trailing down to his fuzzy sack, and you tugged harshly at his hair again as you both spilled over. Him a few seconds before you, his loud and broken moans ringing in your ears while he spilled inside you and your pussy milked every drop he had left in him.

“Fuck, Eddie,” you moaned out against his neck. “That’s it, baby, fill me up.”

Your chest heaved as you slowly stilled your hips, and you leaned up to place a kiss on his temple. For a moment, you just stayed like that; hips flush against his, heaving chests touching, milky cum trailing down his balls. Then, like you hadn’t already tortured him enough, you leaned back and watched his face as you wiggled your hips, feeling his softening cock twitch inside you.

“N-no, please,” he cried out, his head throwed back. Eddie squeezed his eyes shut when you did it again, then stilled, and did it once more before stopping altogether.

You licked your lips before a mischievous smile tugged at the corners of your mouth.

Eddie looked absolutely beautiful like this; cheeks red, long white and grey curls splayed messily on the pillows underneath him, inked chest heaving unevenly as he tiredly blinked the forming tears away from his eyes.

Never, in all forty-seven years of his life – and in the more than thirty years he’d spent sexually active – had Eddie ever experienced something quite like this. No fleeting encounter, no one-night stand, had ever managed to turn his brain to mush the way you just had.

Most of his hookups over the last twenty years had been with fans or groupies, just like tonight – yet not a single one of them had ever tried to take the reins from him. Once they’d managed to get him alone, he’d always be the one doing the work. The one paying attention, taking charge, making sure whoever shared his bed for the night left satisfied.

But here you were; the only person who had ever managed to unlock a need in him he hadn’t even known existed.

“No?” you asked, playing dumb, and tilting your head to the side. “Are you tired, old man?”

“I– Jesus, woman,” he exhaled as he pulled himself out of his thoughts. A breathless, disbelieving chuckle escaped him as he looked away for just a second. “You’re killing me, here.”

“Don’t die,” you chuckle, accidentally clenching around him again, and pulling another broken whimper from his lips. “I’m waiting for you guys to announce a new album in the making.”

Eddie took a second to steady his breathing before your words finally sunk in.

A deep, belly-aching laugh escaped him as he shook his head in disbelief at your words, before he winced as he felt you flutter around him again.

You take a deep breath before you lifted your hips and let his softening cock slip out of you. His breath hitched at the movement, tongue swiping over his teeth before he let out a deep exhale. He kept his gaze on you as you scratched your scalp, a soft sigh falling from your lips.

Eddie’s eyes followed you as you moved away from the bed, watching your trembling legs nearly give out beneath you when you reached for your clothes.

“Wait–”

He cut himself off, pushing himself upright until his back rested against the headboard.

“Where–” he shook his head and furrowed his eyebrows ever so slightly. “Don’t go.”

You stilled at his words, one arm already through a sleeve. Slowly, you turned back towards him, feeling warmth creep into your cheeks.

“Uh…” you trailed off softly, blinking a few times as you searched – and failed – for the right words. “What?”

“Stay,” he murmured. “Please.”

“You want me to stay?” you asked, and blinked again before letting out a soft laugh of disbelief. “Are you sure?”

“It’s…” his eyes flickered towards the clock on the nightstand, “nearly five.”

He licked his lips and dragged a tattooed hand through his grey curls before letting out a quiet breath.

For a moment, neither of you said anything.

Eddie chuckled softly, glancing away for a second before looking back at you.

“And I’m pretty sure I promised you pizza,” he murmured.

His dark brown eyes glimmered beneath the warm amber light as he waited for you to respond.

You licked your lips before swallowing, the sound suddenly too loud in your ears.

Then, as though your body had made the decision before your brain could catch up, the shirt you’d been halfway through putting on slipped from your fingers and fell back to the floor.

“Pizza for breakfast?” you asked with a shy smile as you climbed back into bed.

“After all of that?” he replied dramatically before a scoff escaped him. “Hell, I’ll even let you eat in my fucking bed.”

That earned another laugh from you as you settled beside him, tucking your head into the palm of your hand and looking up at him.

“Pizza in bed?” You raised an eyebrow. “Careful, Munson. You’re gonna make me fall in love with you.”

Eddie opened his mouth, only to close it again. For a moment, he simply looked at you, tired-eyed and warm beneath the glow of the amber light overhead.

Then the corner his mouth twitched.

“Would that be so bad?”

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⊹ ࣪ ˖ @whitakerstorm @sespe08 @donchanoo @julxsxx

Monday had passed pretty much the same way – uneventful, forgettable, not truly worth holding onto.

Even the lingering stares from some of the Hellfire members as you passed them in the halls hadn’t been enough to shake you – or the tight, permanent scowl that had settled on your face.

By Tuesday, something had shifted in the air – whatever it was, it hadn’t gone away entirely, just… quieter, like it had been pushed somewhere further back, where it couldn’t quite reach you the same way.

“Absolutely not,” Nathalie said, the moment she took one look at you. “We are not doing any of that today.”

Her lips pressed into a sharp, hot-pink line, her eyes narrowing with clear annoyance.

“Listen, I love you – you know that, right?” she started, shaking her head at you. “But seriously, I am so over this whole mood of yours.”

Nathalie brought her manicured fingers to her mouth, taking one last drag of her cigarette before stubbing it out under her heel.

“Are you going to tell me what happened?” she said after a moment, already narrowing her eyes again. “Or do I have to pull it out of you?”

Your hardened glaze flickered over the grassy football field, taking in the cheerleaders running through a new routine.

You opened your mouth – then closed it again just as quickly.

Nathalie tilted her head. “I won’t be able to give you advice if you won’t tell me what the problem is.”

“Like you ever have any good advice to give, Nat.” The joke landed flatter than you’d expected.

Chrissy Cunningham and Kylie Brookes seemed to be the only girls on the team who got the routine on the first try; the rest were just… a mess. Almost as much as you.

You sighed, finally dragging your gaze back to the blonde sitting opposite you.

“We had a great time Thursday,” you started, eyes dropping to the tiny burn mark she’d left in her blazer. “It was funny, it was sexy, and–”

You groaned, leaning back against the table, elbows braced behind you.

“We talked for hours. About everything,” you added, your fingers twitching with restless energy, “…except that. His stupid, fucking side business – or whatever he calls it.”

Nathalie’s brow lifted. “Is this… is this about what those juniors said on Friday?”

She followed your line of sight, her nose scrunching when she caught a quick flash of Kylie’s underwear peeking out from under her emerald uniform – yikes.

“Listen, I’m not saying you’re being dramatic,” she said as her gaze shifted back to you, “because you’re not, but…”

“But?” you cut in, ignoring the hard stare she shot you.

“You just started seeing each other,” she added, already reaching for her pack again and offering you one. You stared at it for a split second before snatching a cigarette, your scowl settling right back into place.

You didn’t answer, too busy fiddling with the lighter.

Nathalie watched you for a second before she sighed.

“I get why it’s weird,” she said, softer now, though her eyes stayed sharp. “I do. But you can’t expect him to just– what? Drop everything he’s been doing before you showed up?”

“That is not what I’m saying.”

Your jaw tightened as you tried to find the right words.

“I just…” you started, frowning as you tasted the tar on your bottom lip. “I didn’t think there’d be so many people.”

Nathalie let out a quiet huff through her nose, shaking her head.

“Yeah,” she muttered. “Well… I kind of told you that.”

That didn’t help – at all.

Her eyes flicked back to yours, studying your face more carefully this time, a faint smirk tugging at her lips despite herself.

“You like him,” she said, not even as a question.

You didn’t feel the need to respond.

Nathalie’s lips pressed together, something shifting behind her eyes – less teasing now, more thoughtful.

“What’s the actual problem here, babe?”

 You sighed, bringing the cigarette back to your lips, and taking a drag a little longer than your lungs could handle.

The scowl on your face softened as you exhaled, giving way to something more uncertain.

“I just don’t like the idea of… not being the only one,” you admitted, quickly bringing the cigarette back to your mouth like it might stop you from saying anything else.

Nathalie’s expression shifted immediately into something… less sharp – but not quite soft.

“Yeah, that’ll do,” she said after a second, tilting her head slightly.

“Don’t start,” you murmured, not looking at her.

“I’m not,” she replied, nudging your knee lightly with hers. “I’m just saying… you don’t get weird about stuff like that unless you actually care.”

“Was that supposed to help? Because it didn’t.”

She snorted, watching you for a second before her eyes narrowed again – not in suspicion this time, but interest.

“So,” she dragged out, “what are you gonna do about it?”

You shrugged too quickly.

Then the hesitation set in.

“He asked me to come to the Hide Out,” you said, like it wasn’t a big deal.

Your gaze drifted back to the field, following the cheerleaders as they spun and moved like nothing else in the world mattered.

Nathalie blinked slowly, letting the silence stretch just a second too long.

“Oh,” she said, just as slow.

Then a grin spread across her face – wide, and a little too unhinged.

“This is going to be so good.”

The rhythmic – and frankly, overly energetic – chanting of the girls in emerald caught your attention.

You watched them move in synchronized jumps, pom-poms snapping through the air in sharp, calculated motions – a small, petty part of you almost impressed that Kylie’s constant yelling had actually paid off.

“I am so going with you.”

Something like quiet dread settled in your chest as Nathalie’s voice pulled you back.

“Oh, God.”

“Please,” she dragged out dramatically. “Please let me choose your outfit.”

You thought about it for a second – longer than you should have – before answering.

“I already know what I’m wearing tonight.”

A few scattered cars sat in the sandy excuse of a parking lot outside the Hide Out, but there was still more than enough space to lose Nathalie’s car among them.

The clinging smell of cigarette smoke hung heavier in the air as the evening heat pressed in with more force.

Nathalie’s eyes dragged over the entrance, taking in the dirty glass set into the door. A worn, half-peeled sticker of the bar’s name clung to it – a sad little reminder that it had seen better days.

The Hide Out was known for… leaving a lot to be desired.

But actually standing there, taking it all in with her own two eyes?

She was less than impressed – especially when her gaze dropped to her carefully put-together outfit, then back to the bar.

“Oh, I hate this already,” she muttered, one brow lifting. “The things I do for you, honestly.”

“I heard they serve underage people.”

Her eyes dropped for a second, like she was trying very hard to look more nonchalant than she actually was.

“You know what?” she said, lifting her head again. “I am so glad I came with you tonight.”

Nathalie didn’t even try to hide her smile as she pushed the door open, tugging you in with her.

The door creaked louder than it should have as your crossed the threshold, and the smell of stale beer and something vaguely resembling roasted peanuts hit you the second you stepped inside.

Eddie had told you to leavy any expectations of something remotely fancy outside – no colourful drinks, no clean floors, no sold-out show like he’d joked about.

And somehow, standing there didn’t feel weird; something about it felt… easy, and familiar.

Like the same kind of warmth you’d been getting used to over the past few days.

The low, warm light behind the bar spread softly across the walls and ceiling, doing a decent job of masking the yellowed layers of cigarette smoke clinging to them – though it did nothing to dull the lingering smell.

A low hum of conversation filled the place, layered with the faint distortion of something generic playing over the radio.

Glass clinked, and someone laughed too loudly near the bar, cutting through the music for a moment before it faded back into the noise.

The few people there were scattered throughout – pressed against the bar, slouched in booths, leaning too close into each other’s space like the air itself demanded it.

Nathalie’s boots dragged across the floor, sticking with every step as she made her way towards the counter.

Her nose scrunched up, and her grip on your arm tightened.

“Oh, ew,” she muttered under her breath, glaring at the floor like it had personally offended her.

You barely heard her, your eyes already scanning the mirror behind who you could only assume was the infamous, underage-serving Loretta.

The soft, yellow summer dress hugging your form looked almost out of place as your gaze caught your reflection.

From across the room, tucked into a shadowed corner, Jeff’s hand curled loosely around his beer as his gaze drifted lazily over the space – until the door creaked open.

His dark brown, almost black, eyes lit with quiet mischief as he nudged Gareth with his elbow, tilting his chin ever so slightly, a smirk already tugging at his lips.

Eddie, seated across from him, caught the movement from the corner of his eye.

He glanced over his shoulder just enough to spot a flash of yellow.

He did a double take, curls bouncing as he turned back again – just to make sure he’d seen it right.

“Oh, c’mon,” Gareth muttered from behind his beer when he caught the way Eddie’s expression lit up instantly. “That’s not fair.”

“What’s not fair?” Eddie asked, almost absentmindedly, his eyes already tracking your movements across the room.

“First the babe in cowboy boots, now a babe in a short dress?”

Jeff had never seen Eddie moved that fast. His head snapped towards Gareth the second the words left his mouth.

“Watch it, asshole,” he scowled.

“Yeah, asshole,” Jeff added with a laugh, lifting his drink. “Watch it.”

Eddie’s gaze found that flash of yellow across the room again, the tip of his tongue brushing over his lip as he let it all sink in: the way you looked a little unsure as you muttered something to Loretta; the soft shake of your head when Nathalie held up her tattered pack of cigarettes–

The way that dress hugged your body just a little too well for his liking.

Especially in a room where more than just his eyes could follow it.

His ringed hand curled tighter around the glass before he lifted it, downing the last of his whiskey in one go.

Then he was already on his feet, making his way over to you.

Nathalie tilted her face away, blowing out a stream of cigarette smoke as her eyes caught a moving flash of black and bouncing curls.

Her gaze snapped back to your face, quick and knowing, as her grip tightened around her vodka coke. She muttered something about sitting down – already stepping past you before you could react.

You raised your brows, turning just in time to watch her blonde hair bounce as she slipped into Eddie’s empty chair like she’d known the other two band members for years.

Your mind had apparently been too stunned by Nathalie’s sudden departure across the room to notice the familiar curls and that dangerously easy grin making its way towards you.

Eddie set his glass down on the counter, flashing Loretta one of his usual winks as he asked for a refill – no ice this time, which was unusual for him, and earned him a brief, unimpressed look from the older woman – before finally turning to you, like he’d only just noticed you standing there.

His eyes lingered on your face for a few seconds, a smirk tugging at the corner of his lips. His brows lifted, disappearing beneath his bangs for a moment before settling again, bringing a knew kind of glimmer to his eyes.

“You came,” he murmured, his gaze still tracing your features like he was taking them in for the first time.

“Of course I came,” you whispered back, your fingers tightening slightly around your glass.

“Thought you might’ve stood me up,” he said, taking a quick sip before setting the glass back down. “Not exactly the kind of scene girls like you get lost in.”

“Girls like me?”

His mouth twitched into a smirk, like he knew he’d said just enough to get a reaction.

“Oh, you know,” he said, leaning in just a fraction, his voice dropping. “All… pretty like this. Like you actually belong somewhere better than this.”

Your grip tightened slightly around your glass.

You let your gaze drift briefly across the room before meeting his eyes again.

“Yeah, well,” you took a small sip, just enough for a little courage, already shrugging as your next words slipped out, “I was actually thinking of making it my scene.”

You licked your lips briefly, like the motion might help push your next words out.

“But only if you’d like that.”

There, you’ve said it – clear enough to hint at what you actually meant, but vague enough not to weigh the air between you down too much.

Eddie stilled for a split second, his hand coming up to his hair like playing with it might somehow hide the faint flush creeping across his cheeks.

“Well–”

He didn’t get too far; Gareth’s hand smacked against his shoulder before his arm slung around it, pulling him back just slightly.

“You ready to perform, big boy?”

Eddie shot Gareth an exasperated look, muttering something about giving him a second.

The drummer just smirked, clapping a hand against Eddie’s shoulder again before winking at you as he pushed himself away.

“I…” Eddie trailed off, his eyes flickering back to yours before settling somewhere just below them, along your cheek. “Can we talk about this after the set?”

He winced the second the words left his mouth.

“That sounded bad– it’s not, I promise. I just… I want us to–”

You squinted at him, trying to piece together what he was trying to say – and failing completely at it.

“You want us to…?”

“Not rush it,” he settled on, quieter now. He nodded once, then again, like he’d finally landed on the right words.

Eddie dragged his ringed hand through his hair, wincing slightly when a strand caught on one of them.

He glanced over his shoulder, letting out a quiet sigh when he caught Jeff’s raised brow.

“Please stay,” he whispered, afraid he’d scared you off, and then turned towards the makeshift stage.

“Oh, we’re so staying,” Nathalie’s voice rang out from behind you. “I’m curious now.”

Her eyes drifted to the three boys, catching the way Gareth’s gaze lingered a little too long on Jeff, and the knowing smile Jeff returned.

Eddie slung the strap of his guitar over his head, taking a second longer than usual to adjust it on his shoulder.

His fingers brushed the steel strings, almost hesitantly – like something was holding him back from slipping into that easy, rockstar persona he usually fell into.

He wasn’t just playing for the same five drunks tonight; and while he’d usually light up at the sight of more people sticking around for their screeching set, a slow, unfamiliar nervousness crept under his skin instead.

He swallowed it down and forced it away.

Then gave Gareth a sharp nod – the usual signal to start counting off.

You didn’t expect the first note to hit that hard – which was a little ridiculous, considering you knew exactly the kind of music they liked to play, but still.

The first punchy, single riff tore through the space, distortion buzzing in its wake, followed by the powerful, galloping rhythm of Gareth’s drums rattling the walls, and Jeff’s bass grounding it all beneath.

And just like that, Eddie found his footing again – losing himself in the raw, expressive freedom bleeding through the lyrics.

“Okay,” Nathalie started beside you, then paused, blinking a little too hard towards the back of the stage. “Okay, wait.”

You barely heard her, too occupied with the hypnotizing way he handled his guitar.

The hesitation you’d seen earlier had vanished completely, replaced by something sharper, louder – something that pulled at you without asking.

“…I can see it now,” she muttered under her breath, a little more impressed this time, though she quickly tried to mask it with a casual sip of her drink.

You didn’t bother looking at her – nor would Eddie let you, not with the way his head tilted slightly forwards, messy curls falling around his face, his fingers pressing the strings against the frets with practiced ease.

Your hand curled a little too tightly around his wrist the moment he set his guitar down on its stand, pulling him towards the short hallway leading to the bathrooms.

Eddie was too stunned to pull away, letting himself be dragged along to the closest space that could offer even a hint of privacy.

The pounding of your heartbeat echoed loudly in your ears, but you ignored it, tightening your grip on your wrist as you pushed open the bathroom door without sparing a glance at the sign.

The moment it clicked shut behind him, you turned on your heel and grabbed his face with both hands – with a little too much force – pulling him down as your lips crashed against his.

His brows shot up beneath his bangs, a surprised mmpff! slipping from his lips before he melted into it, eyes closing as he let himself get lost in the weight of your mouth against his.

Your hands stayed firm on his face, fingers pressing into his cheeks as you let your urgency set the pace.

Eddie’s fingers came up, curling around your wrists to ground himself, before sliding down to settle at your hips, his grips tightening.

And just like that, you pulled him closer, pushing his back against the door with a dull thud as you deepened the kiss – your lips moving against his with more control now.

He let out a quiet breath against your mouth when your tongue brushed against his lower lip.

Your lips parted his, the movements of your tongue quick and intent as the kiss deepened, pulling him into your pace without hesitation.

The soft sound of a generic rock song playing over the radio drifted into the bathroom, its steady rhythm a stark contrast to the urgency you’d settled into.

The background noise bled into the thick air that settled between you, muffled beneath the quiet groans Eddie couldn’t quite hold back. His grip tightened at your hips, a sharp breath slipping past his lips as he tried to keep up with you – with the way you were setting the pace, not giving him a second to think.

His bangs brushed you for the briefest moment when he broke off the kiss, his forehead resting against yours – not because he wanted to, but because he had to, his lungs demanding air. Eddie’s lips were flushed now; a glistening shade of pink that somehow made him look even hotter than he had on stage.

“Fuck, Sweetheart,” he muttered under his breath, his chest still rising and falling in an uneven rhythm. “I…”

“You have no idea what you do to me, do you, Eddie?” your whispered, brushing your nose against his.

“Says you,” he murmured, brows pulling together as his fingers tightened at your hips. “Walking in here tonight… in that fucking dress.”

He shifted his weight, squeezing his eyes shut like looking at you was somehow too much, his tongue dragging over his lips as he tried to find the right words.

“You drive me absolutely insane,” he whispered, like saying it any louder might scare you away.

His hands slid down the small of your back, settling there as his fingers took a handful of your ass over the fabric.

Then he pushed himself off the door, guiding you back with him until your steps hit the tiled floor of one of the stalls, the door clicking shut behind you both.

The space felt smaller the second the door shut behind him, your uneven breaths only making it worse.

His hands stayed where they were, fingers still digging into your covered flesh. He let himself tighten his grip just a fraction more, drawing in the soft groan that slipped past your lips as he did.

Your brows pulled together in need as you tilted your head up, searching for his mouth again – this time, he met you halfway.

Eddie pulled your chest flush against his, his lips parting yours in the same way you had done moments before.

His tongue slid into your mouth, smooth and slick, as he tilted his head to deepen the kiss.

A faint sound of the bathroom door shifting echoed against the tiles, but neither of you noticed – too wrapped up in each other to care.

Your hand slid down from his face to his chest, pressing him back against the stall door as the kiss broke again, your lips finding the warm skin of his neck instead.

Eddie’s breath hitched the second you did it, his head tilting back against the wood with a quiet, shaky exhale he didn’t quite manage to hold in.

Your lips moved slower this time, deliberate, lingering over the rapid pulse beneath his skin.

His grip tightened on you, fingers pressing harder like he needed something to hold onto – something to steady himself against the way you were undoing him.

“Jesus, fuck…” he breathed, the words slipping out almost absentmindedly.

The space seemed to shrink even more, filled with the shaky groans leaving his lips, echoing faintly against the tiles until they blurred into the distant music.

Your lips sucked at a sensitive spot, drawing a sharper breath from him, the sound slipping out louder this time before you softened it with a slow pass of your tongue, easing the bruise you’d just left behind.

The heavy sound of boots clicking against the surprisingly clean bathroom floor cut through the space, masking Eddie’s uneven breaths.

“This is not a place to be making that kind of noise, son.”

The unfamiliar voice slicing through the thick, heated air made Eddie’s stomach drop – but it did little to stop you, your lips still pressed to his neck, unwilling to let the moment go just yet.

Eddie’s grip on you faltered for a second before returning to your ass, his grip on you noticeably less intense now.

He swallowed hard, a lump catching in his throat as he heard the bathroom door open and shut again somewhere behind you.

You brushed your nose softly against his skin before pulling away from his neck, taking in the faint trace of his cologne beneath the dried sweat of his performance.

Something hard shifted against your belly as you leaned back just enough to look at him properly.

His hair was slightly flattened where it had pressed against the stall door, his face flushed into a darker shade of pink than before.

His ringed hand slid up, fingers curling at the back of your neck as he pulled you closer again, resting his forehead against yours.

“I…” he trailed off, his chest rising and falling faster than he could keep up with.

Another dry lump found its way to the back of his throat, but that one was pushed away just as quickly as he had done the first one.

“My uncle’s working tonight,” he whispered, his fingers threading into your hair.

You pulled back just enough to meet his gaze, catching the dilation of his pupils beneath heavy lids.

Your tongue dragged slowly across your bottom lip as you took in the state you had left him in.

“You think their instruments would fit in Nathalie’s car?” you murmured, something sharper glinting behind your eyes.

The noise of the Hide Out still rang faintly in your ears by the time the trailer door shut behind you – but it didn’t follow you inside.

Instead, the soft sound of fingers flicking through endless vinyl sleeves filled the quiet.

The cold linoleum pressed against your knees as you sat back on your heels in front of the collection Eddie and his uncle had built over the years.

Eddie leaned against the kitchen counter that separated the space from the living room, taking in the sight of your dress hitching up your thighs as you shifted, pulling your legs to the side in search of something more comfortable.

He’d let you choose a record while he poured you both a drink.

And if he’d pulled something from Wayne’s cabinet – the kind usually preserved for special occasions – he’d never admit it.

“You find anything interesting?” he mumbled, catching himself getting a little too distracted by the pretty sight in front of him.

You hummed softly, absentminded, your fingers still flicking through the sleeves until you clicked your tongue against your teeth.

“Yeah… I think so,” the words came out a little unsure.

You gently nudged an album free from the crate, taking in the soft, pastoral greens of Distant Light.

The Hollies weren’t a band Eddie reached for often – even less than something like Golden Earring – and it leaned far more towards Wayne’s quieter, more easy-going taste.

Still, a faint, almost proud smirk tugged at his lips anyway.

“This one okay?” you asked, glancing back at him. “Don’t think I know this one.”

Eddie wrapped his hands around the two glasses as he moved around the counter towards you. He set them down on the small coffee table behind you before stepping closer, hunching slightly as he rested his chin on your shoulder.

He hummed softly near your ear, the ends of his curls brushing against your cheek as his face grazed yours, both of you taking in the painted details of the cover.

“It’s a…” he started, a little unsure, trailing off before pushing the words out anyway. “It’s a very intimate album.”

You turned your head slightly to get a better look at him. “Yeah?”

“Quite romantic,” he murmured, his eyes lingering on the tiny details of your face. “A little nostalgic. Grounding, if I remember correctly.”

He slowly straightened, gently taking the album from your hands before placing it on the record player. You stayed where you were for a moment longer, taking in the easy silence that settled around you.

Once the needle dropped, he turned back to you, offering his hand to help you up.

The gentle, bright opening of the piano filled the space, and was followed by the reflective, wistful lyrics that settled softly around you.

Eddie’s hand felt warm against yours as he nudged you towards the couch. He sat down first, then pulled you gently onto his lap. Your arm curled around his neck as you settled, your fingers absentmindedly playing with the hair at the nape of it.

He hummed quietly along to the song, his eyes drifting over your face again, his lips settling into a soft smile. His thumb brushed lightly against your thigh as he took in the way the low glow of the kitchen light spread across your features.

The arrangement felt almost optimistic, a gentle brightness in the piano as it wrapped around steady rhythms – a stark contrast to the harsher, more pensive lyrics. Eddie let Allan Clarke’s voice fill the space between you for a moment longer, carefully choosing his words.

“I meant what I said earlier,” he settled on, the words coming slower this time. “I don’t want to rush this.”

His fingers tightened slightly where they rested on you, his breathing just a little off from the calm the music tried to settle into the room.

You let out a soft breath, focusing on the warmth of his hand against your thigh for a moment longer before dropping your gaze – only to find his again.

“I don’t want to rush either,” you murmured, your fingers still absentmindedly tugging at his curls.

You licked your lips, turning the words over in your head, unsure if this was the right moment to bring it up.

“I just… don’t really know how to deal with it.”

“With what?” he asked, his brows pulling together.

“With that whole thing, you know?”

Eddie turned your vague words in his head, tilting it just slightly like it might help him piece them together.

You took in his confusion and let out a small, shaky breath.

“I heard two juniors talking about you on Friday,” you started, your gaze drifting past his shoulder – landing on Wayne’s mug collection like it might somehow make this easier. “About your, uh… business.”

Eddie bit the inside of his cheek before slowly opening his mouth. “What about it?”

Your fingers stilled in his hair, your jaw tightening just a fraction as you hesitated – not because you didn’t want to say it, but because you didn’t know how to do it without ruining whatever this was.

“They were talking about you like…” you trailed off, your voice quieter, more careful now.

Your gaze fixed on the Garfield mug that stood out among the others, your head shaking faintly like the words didn’t make sense anymore.

“I just don’t know where it leaves me.”

Eddie didn’t say anything right away.

The soft hum of the record filled the space between you instead.

His hand stilled where it held you, his gaze dropping for a second as your words replayed in his head. Then his grip on your thigh tightened – not sudden, and not forceful either – just enough to pull you a little closer against him.

“Listen, Sweetheart,” he started slowly, still searching for the right words as his hand came up to your face, tilting it gently back towards him.

“I won’t lie, this–” he continued, gesturing faintly between the two of you, “scares the shit out of me.”

His eyes dropped to your lips for a second before flicking back up to meet your gaze.

“But I am serious about this,” he murmured, his cheeks warming up under your gaze. “I’d stop. If that’s what you need.”

Eddie watched how your brows pulled together when his words finally sank in, making something softer flicker behind your eyes.

“I don’t want to be the reason you change everything,” you murmured. “But then again… I don’t think I’d be okay with it either.”

You let out a small, frustrated breath.

“And that feels… unfair.”

The muted opening of the electric guitar in Pull Down the Blind filled the space when neither of you dared to speak. The bass settled into its steady groove, followed by Clarke’s compact, intimate delivery.

Your eyes drifted back to the ridiculous Garfield mug, while Eddie’s dropped to the condensation trailing down the untouched glasses.

His chest rose in a slow, steady inhale against yours.

“It doesn’t,” he whispered, his gaze following a drop until it slipped from the glass and disappeared against the tabletop underneath it. “It’s how I felt when you…”

He didn’t need to finish.

You already knew what he meant – or rather, who.

That pulled your gaze back to him, and you saw how a faint scowl tugged at Eddie’s features, his eyes distant – like he’d drifted somewhere else entirely. This time, you reached for him. your hand came up to his face, gently guiding it back towards yours. He blinked once, then again, his gaze slowly settling on yours.

Your thumb brushed gently along his cheek.

“Hey,” you whispered. “Don’t go there.”

You caught a faint reflection of yourself in his dark eyes as you leaned in, pressing a soft kiss to his lips.

His hand mirrored yours, and came up to your face, holding you there – like he was afraid you might pull away too soon.

Eddie exhaled softly against your lips, his mouth still resting against yours for a lingering second before he finally let you go.

“Please, stay,” he murmured quietly.

“I’m not going anywhere,” you whispered back. A sneaky glimmer flickered in your eyes as a fleeting thought crossed your mind. “Can’t, really. You drove me here.”

That pulled a chuckle out of him, along with a quick drag through his hair. He glanced away for a second, shaking his head like he couldn’t quite believe it.

“You’re lucky I like you,” he muttered under his breath, like he hadn’t meant to say it out loud.

Your lips tugged into a soft, cheeky smile.

“Very lucky,” you whispered, still grinning, as you leaned in and pulled him into another kiss – slower this time, lingering.

It was one of those soft, slow kisses where only your lips moved against each other – until it wasn’t.

Eddie’s hand returned to your thigh, his grip tightening just slightly as he pulled you closer.

Your hand stayed on his flushed cheek, angling his face to deepen the kiss, your lips pressing more firmly against his until they parted for you.

When you pulled away again, after one last flick of your tongue against his, you rested your forehead against his, your eyes still closed.

“Take me somewhere more comfortable,” you murmured softly.

His eyes searched yours for any hesitation or second-guessing but found none.

“Okay,” he whispered back, trying – and failing, badly – to hide the cheeky grin tugging at the corner of his lips.

Before you knew it, one hand slid to your back while the other tightened around your thigh, and with the practiced ease of someone who’d spent years hauling amps, he hoisted you over his shoulder. Eddie ignored your soft complaints – they had no bite to them anyway – and just chuckled as he carried you towards his room.

He pushed the bedroom door open and crossed to the bed, dropping you onto it with little care before disappearing into the hallway again.

When he returned, he held your two glasses in one hand, the other brushing through his hair. His steps faltered as he crossed the threshold. He leaned against the doorframe, taking in the sight in front of him.

You – in that infuriating dress he liked a little too much – stretched out on his bed while the music still drifted through the trailer.

“What?” you mumbled when you noticed he’d been staring a little too long.

You rolled onto your side, propping your head up as your hand tucked under your chin.

Eddie pressed his lips together, his tongue brushing over them as his gaze stayed fixed on you.

“Nothing,” he said, pushing himself off the doorframe. He passed you one of the glasses as he stepped closer.

His ringed hand lingered just a second too long as you took it, a quiet hum leaving you in response.

He tipped his own glass back for a small sip before setting it down on his cluttered nightstand, then sat down beside you.

“You gonna make some room, or…” he teased, eyeing the way you’d claimed the middle of his bed.

“Depends,” you murmured, licking your lips. “You planning on behaving?”

“Won’t make promises I’m not sure I can keep,” he replied, watching you as you shifted back to make room.

You just hummed in response, your gaze flicking across his face before drifting lower, tracing the line of his neck, and landing on the magenta bruise you’d left behind earlier that night.

You took a slow sip of your drink, your eyes lingering on his milky skin just a moment longer.

“You let all your… students mark you like that?” you mumbled, your voice tightening at the end as something uncomfortable settled in your chest.

Eddie didn’t answer right away, too busy watching you, his tongue dragging slowly over his lips.

“Only the pretty ones,” he murmured, a faint smirk tugging at his mouth. “The ones who buy dresses with me in mind, y’know?”

You hummed, taking another sip of your drink as you held his gaze.

“Good,” you settled on. “Wouldn’t want to be just anyone.”

“Believe me, Sweetheart,” he said, brow arching as that smirk lingered. “You’re not just anyone.”

Eddie gently took your glass from your hand, setting it beside his before shifting to lie next to you.

“C’mere,” he whispered, his hand finding your thigh again.

His warm fingers traced slow, sweet nothings on the skin where the fabric of your dress couldn’t reach, lingering there for a moment before drifting up, finding its way just beneath the hem.

Your breath hitched as warmth spread beneath his fingertips.

“This okay?” he whispered, leaning in until his lips brushed softly against your forehead, pressing a gentle kiss there.

You swallowed, your voice quieter when it came. “Yeah.”

You tipped your head back just enough to catch his lips with yours.

His grip tightened slightly at the feel of your breath against his skin, a soft exhale passing between you before his hand drifted lower again. His fingers curled beneath your thigh as he guided your leg over his, drawing your body closer while you pulled him in a deeper kiss.

Eddie’s hand paused, like he was checking in again without having to ask.

But you just curled your fingers around his wrist, and guided him back where he’d touched you just now, under your hem. At the same time, your socked foot pressed lightly against the back of his leg, nudging him closer.

“I said it was okay,” you murmured, pulling back just enough for the words to leave your lips.

The rings of his fingers had warmed up by now, but they still felt cool against your skin as he hardened his grip on your thigh.

Eddie had learned over the past few days that he liked having his hands on you – your thighs, your hips, anywhere he could reach. He liked the way the warmth of your skin settled into his palms, and the soft, shaky breaths that slipped past your lips whenever his grip tightened just a fraction too much.

What he liked even more was the way he could tilt his head just enough to deepen the kiss, leaning in slowly, and let his tongue brush against your lips before he forced them open for easy access.

He was an easy man – so when his shoulders started to protest from holding himself up, he didn’t think twice of letting his fingers dug a little deeper into you as he shifted, rolling onto his back and taking you with him. You were still half on your side, your leg draped over his, but now your chest rested flush against his, your bodies settling together in the new position.

The kiss followed, fast now but no less intent, his slick tongue moving against your with an ease that felt practiced – familiar, like he’d already learned exactly how to meet you there.

The soft static of the needle lifting from the record player went unnoticed, lost somewhere behind the soft huffs leaving from Eddie’s mouth.

You pressed your lips a little firmer against his, following the rhythm he’d shown you before – familiar now, almost instinctive.

But then you caught him off guard when you pulled back just enough before catching his lower lip between your teeth, tilting your head slightly back as you tugged – not enough to hurt, just enough to make him follow – before letting it slip free again.

Eddie’s breath stuttered at that, his chest rising up and falling in an uneven rhythm he couldn’t quite steady.

When you opened up your eyes, his were already on you – dark, unfocused, watching you like he was trying to keep up with something he didn’t quite control anymore.

Your hand slid from his chest to his face, fingers pressing lightly into his cheeks as you guided him back to you. His lips parted easily – just like you’d hoped for.

You didn’t look away as your lips curled around his tongue, not even when you’d started bobbing your head up and down as you let your own slick tongue brush against his in the process.

The warm, pink flush crept back across Eddie’s cheeks, his brows slowly drawing tighter as he took in the sight in front of him – you, doing exactly what he’d done to you last Thursday.

You kept sucking on his tongue, with more precision and rhythm than necessary, like you were testing how far you could take it before he broke down.

But he didn’t stop you – he wouldn’t dare.

No one had ever made him feel this way – not with the way his breath hitched, soft groans spilling from his lips as a drop of spit rolled down his chin and onto his shirt.

Somewhere along the open kiss, his grip on your thigh had faltered, his fingers loosening until they only brushed against your skin. The second he noticed, his fingers tightened again, pulling you back into him, into another kiss that felt a little less controlled than the last.

His lips were swollen now, his jaw aching faintly from the constant movement, but it didn’t stop him as he shifted, guiding you onto your back.

His elbow planted beside your head to steady himself, while the hand on your thigh drew your leg higher, holding you closer against him.

Eddie gave a tentative roll of his hips against yours, the sturdy, coarse material of his black jeans doing little to dull the pulsing pressure behind his zipper.

A quiet whimper slipped from his lips at the movement, low and shaky, and you weren’t far behind him, your own breath catching as it echoed softly through the room. His hand stayed firm on your thigh, guiding you slowly to the rhythm he’d set, though the shaky groans slipping from his mouth made it obvious he was losing whatever control he still had left.

“This is not exactly…” he trailed off, forcing down a swallow as he buried his face against your neck. “Not rushing. You gotta tell me to stop.”

You moved your hips the same way he had done just now, swallowing a lump of your own.

“What if I don’t?” you whispered back.

The sound that left his lips was somewhere between a groan and a shaky whimper.

He pressed himself closer to your neck, his lips finding your skin again in sucks that had lost whatever patience he’d been trying so hard to hold onto.

“Fuck,” he groaned, his brows pulling together. “You can’t just say shit like that, not in this dress.”

A shaky chuckle slipped from you at the way he sounded almost genuinely tortured by it, and you angled your head just enough to catch the corner of his mouth with yours again.

The hand closest to your head shifted just enough for his fingers to slip into your hair, softly tugging at the roots when that shaky chuckle reached his ears.

It caught you off guard. One second you’d been too busy thinking of something clever to say back, and the next he’d pulled a surprised little sound from the back of your throat when his fingers pulled just slightly.

Your hand found the one still gripping your thigh, your nails pressing softly into his skin when he gave another soft pull, and words stopped mattering after that. Instead, you answered him by rolling your hips against his again, chasing more of that fraction he’d showed you.

“You sure?” he mumbled, his voice trembling faintly against the side of your neck where his lips still lingered. “Just say the word, and I’ll stop.”

His fingers slowly loosened from your hair so he could brace himself properly, pushing back just enough to take you in. Your lips were swollen, your brows softly drawn together, your throat bobbing as you tried to swallow around the dryness that had settled there.

You licked your lips when your eyes met his, then wrapped your hand around his wrist and guided it away from your thigh, closer to your underwear.

“Please, Eddie,” you whispered, your chest rising even faster than it had only seconds before. “I don’t want you to stop.”

Hearing those six little words leave your mouth stripped away the last of his restraint, giving way to something dangerously close to desperation.

Eddie crashed back into your lips like he needed them to breathe, his mouth moving against yours with a new kind of urgency.

His tongue brushed against your lower lip in that now familiar way that made your stomach tighten before he parted your lips just enough to deepen the kiss again.

The hand you’d been holding moved closer until his fingers found the soft, wet cotton of your underwear, warmth spreading beneath his touch as his fingertips moved slowly up and down until the fabric stuck against you.

He spread your slick until it ruined your panties, his fingertips bumping against your clothed clit until he finally had enough, finally letting a finger curl around the sodden fabric to push it aside.

Eddie pulled away from your mouth, his gaze dropping to your glistening pussy as he took in how pink and swollen he’d gotten you, just from a few kisses and a few soft touches.

His thumb found your clit, brushing soft circles across the swollen nub, like he was still carefully testing how far he could let himself go, while the rest of his fingers splayed gently on your belly.

“I– fuck, Eddie,” you let out, a little shakier than you’d expected.

He left out a shaky whimper of his own when he lifted his head and took in the way your brows had pulled tightly together, the soft fabric of your dress and bra doing little to hide your hardened nipples.

Soft exhales and shaky whimpers kept slipping past your lips as his thumb continued moving in slow circles against your clit, the pressure gradually deepening as he slowed down his movements until stopping altogether. His fingers didn’t go too far, just enough to pull your panties down your legs before returning to you.

His thumb slipped away from your clit as his middle and ring fingers slid up and down your wet folds, spreading your sticky slick until his fingertips caught your entrance.

You felt his fingertips hesitate for the briefest second before they slowly curled, tracing the soft hollow. He pushed his ring finger slowly in, letting you taint his skin as he did so.

“Fuck, you’re so fucking wet,” Eddie’s teeth worried at his lower lip hard enough to leave it red, trying to keep himself from spiralling as another moan slipped out from beneath him.

Your cheeks warmed even more at the words that slipped from his mouth, the knot low in your belly tightening hard at the sound of them.

“Is– is that…” you trailed off, your brows pulling together as embarrassment flooded through you. “Bad?”

“Fuck, no, Sweetheart,” Eddie whispered back, sounding just as affected as you felt. His finger kept moving in and out of you in a soft rhythm. “I fucking love the way you respond to me.”

He angled his thumb back to your clit, softly circling it with each gentle thrust of his finger as he took in the way your hips buckled against his hand. Eddie slowly pulled his sodden finger out of your pussy, just so he could add a second one to stretch you open. He relished in the way your tight walls fluttered around his digits, pulsing in need, while slick drops rolled down to his knuckles.

Eddie curled his finger inside you, hitting that sweet, hidden spot that made you see stars, your hips buckling against his hand. His fingers kept gliding in and out of your slick heat at a torturously slow space that made your brows pull tighter and tighter together.

“More, Eddie,” you moaned shakily as you forced your heavy eyes open, taking in the way his curls had fallen around his face, the flush spreading from his cheeks down the length of his neck, and the slow bob of his Adam’s apple as he looked down at you.

“Yeah?” he murmured back, wetting his lips as his gaze lingered on your sparkling, heavy eyes before slowly drifting down to your slick heat. “You want more, Sweetheart?”

Gradually, he began to increase his speed, his fingers pumping in and out of you with the same urgency as your request. He angled his hand just right, hitting that sensitive spot again, and again, with each thrust.

“That’s it, baby” he mumbled almost absentmindedly as his eyes kept staring at his relentless assault on your pussy, his fingers moving faster and faster, driving you towards the edge with the steady rhythm he had set.

Your hips bucked against his hand, seeking more of his touch, his fingers pumping into you with a renewed vigour. Eddie added a third finger, slowly stretching you wider, and filling you deeper as his thumb continued rubbing firm circles on your clit until you were a babbling, moaning mess.

“You gonna cum for me, Sweetheart?”

He curled his fingers, hitting all the right spots as he pushed you closer, and closer to the edge.

Eddie soaked in every moan slipping past your lips as each thrust of his fingers pulled something louder out of you. And with the way you trembled under him, looking up at him like that, he knew he had you completely undone.

Ever the people pleaser, he barely cared that his clothed dick wasn’t getting any relief – not when the sight of you tilting your head back and squeezing your eyes shut was enough to completely undo him anyway.

With another curl of his fingers, and a particular hard thrust, your pussy clenched tight around him, squelching sounds filling the space, as your body shook and trembled.

“That’s it, atta girl,” he mumbled as he leaned in for a quick kiss before pulling away again, unwilling to miss the way your face twitched as you clenched hard around his fingers, until you finally tipped over the edge.

“Fuck, fuck, fuck.”

Eddie worked you through your climax, drawing out your pleasure until you felt like a boneless, quivering mess.

He slowly pulled his fingers out of you, all wet and sticky, bringing them to his lips to lick off your essence with a shaky moan.

You let your thigh slip from where it had been hooked around his hip, a shaky breath leaving you as you did.

When you finally forced your eyes open, you were met with the heavy sight of Eddie already watching you, his tongue dragging one last time against his tainted fingers.

“I…” you trailed off, your thoughts now closer to a puddle than anything useful. “Fuck, Eddie.”

“Yeah?” a soft, knowing smirk tugged at his mouth as his gaze flicked over your swollen pussy one last time before settling on your eyes again.

Then he leaned in again, kissing you hard enough to steal the rest of your breath – the lingering taste of your slick still warm on his tongue. Eddie kissed you like a starved man, all teeth and tongue, as he grabbed your hips to pull your soaked, twitching pussy against his rock-hard dick. He ground against you, letting you feel how hard you made him, how desperate you made him feel.

“You feel that, Sweetheart?” he mumbled against your lips. “How you make me feel?”

You brushed your forehead against his and let your hand trail down his thigh, but before you could get any further, his ringed fingers wrapped gently around your wrist, stopping you.

“It’s okay,” he whispered, his brows pulling together like stopping you physically pained him. “That’s enough firsts for tonight.”

A second passed, and Eddie’s cheeks somehow flushed even warmer.

“I– I mean…” he mumbled, suddenly far too aware of himself. “Uh…”

That pulled a tired chuckle out of you.

“Yeah,” you murmured softly. “You were the first to… do that.”

Eddie slowly wet his lips, his eyes drifting across your face before darting away again. His throat felt suddenly too tight, too dry, and without thinking too hard about it, he reached for one of the glasses on the nightstand and tipped it back in one go, pretending the rum didn’t burn on the way down.

He set the empty glass aside and let his gaze wander aimlessly around the room like he’d become too nervous to look at you directly after your confession.

“You, uh…” he started, rubbing the back of his neck. “You wanna borrow something to sleep in?”

Your hand came up to cradle his cheeks, gently pulling his attention back to you.

A soft, exhausted smile tugged at your lips before you leaned in and pressed a soft, lingering kiss to his mouth.

“Yes, please,” you answered quietly.

He nodded once, and then again.

Finally, he pushed himself off the bed and crossed the room towards his closet, pulling out something clean for you to wear.

But the second he turned back around, his steps slowed.

Your hair was completely wrecked now, your legs still twitching faintly as you sat upright on his bed, and there was something dazed about the way you looked at him – still wrecked, and a little drunk off him.

Eddie stood there for a second longer than necessary, his grip tightening around the clothes before loosening again as he handed them over.

“I, uh…” he mumbled, his brain visibly short-circuiting when he caught a quick glance of your glistening pussy when you moved again. “I’ll…”

He swallowed hard, trying to gather whatever coherent thought he still had left.

“Fuck,” he breathed out, almost nervously this time. “I need a joint.”

You laughed quietly under your breath at the way his words kept failing him, his hand – the same one that he’d buried in you just moments ago – dragging helplessly through his hair.

“Go roll your joint, Munson,” you murmured teasingly as you slipped off the bed, the change of clothes he’d handed you hanging loosely from your fingers.

Eddie watched you stand for maybe a second too long before forcing himself to look away with a muttered curse under his breath.

The linoleum floor creaked softly beneath your socked feet as you disappeared into the bathroom, shutting the door behind you with a quiet click.

The second the door closed, you finally let yourself take a proper breath now that the air around you wasn’t nearly as thick as it had been in his room.

Meanwhile, Eddie dropped heavily into the chair at his desk, elbows resting against the hard surface as he let out a long breath through his nose, trying to steady his heartbeat.

Didn’t even come close to normal.

He dragged both hands down his face before reaching for the little tin shoved beneath the pile of cassette tapes. His silver rings clicked softly together as he pulled out a paper and pinched some weed between his fingers, trying to focus on the familiar routine instead of the fact that you were only a few feet away, changing into his clothes.

It didn’t help that his room still felt thick with you even after you’d left it.

By the time you stepped back out, Eddie already had an unusual, horribly rolled joint hanging from the corner of his mouth while he leaned back in the chair, trying – and completely failing – to look normal and composed.

The fabric of his tank top hung loosely from your frame as you wandered back into the living room, still needing a few more seconds of cool air.

You still felt that soft throbbing between your legs when you crouched in front of the vinyl crate again, your movements softer now that the tension around you had settled into something quieter.

The trailer felt lighter than it had nearly an hour ago. A warm amber glow spilled from the kitchen light while the faint ticking of the clock above the entrance filled the silence as your fingers drifted lazily through the records.

The faint smell of weed followed down the hallway just as you settled on another sleeve, the soft crackle of the joint blending into the quiet when you lowered the needle onto the record.

You stood up again and slowly made your way back down the hall, stopping in the bedroom doorway just as Eddie had done earlier.

Your gaze drifted towards him, taking in the soft pink flush that still refused to leave his cheeks while his lips closed around the paper filter. His chest still rose and fell a little too fast, but he looked calmer now – softer somehow.

Smoke curled lazily through the room in pale blue-grey ribbons, thickening the air in an entirely different way than before.

Eddie’s gaze finally lifted from whatever nothingness he’d been staring into, immediately settling on you instead – on the way his tank top hugged your breasts, your nipples softly peeking from underneath the fabric, and how the loose waistband of his boxers resting around your hips.

“Hey there,” he said after swallowing around the dryness in his throat.

Then he extended his arm towards you, offering his hand.

The dark, almost comically narrative of Warren Zevon’s voice drifted softly from the living room, the steady piano groove following behind you as you stepped closer to the metalhead.

Eddie pushed his chair back a little to make room for you on his lap. His fingers brought the joint back to his lips, filling his lungs with more smoke than necessary before he slowly exhaled again. His free hand curled around your waist as he pulled you closer against his chest, quietly soaking in the warmth radiating from your body.

You pressed a soft kiss just beneath his eye before letting your gaze drift down his tattooed arm, really taking in the details of the demonic puppet master for the first time.

Your fingertips followed slowly after your eyes, brushing lightly over the healed ink.

“It’s kind of a…” he started, pausing to exhale another stream of smoke towards the ceiling. “A tribute to Metallica’s new album.”

You hummed softly in response, letting yourself melt fully against him while your fingers continued tracing over the tattoo.

“It’s a little creepy,” you joked softly. “But I like it.”

This time, Eddie hummed faintly in response as he lifted the joint towards your lips in a silent offer.

You took a small drag just for the hell of it, exhaling the smoke slowly before it had the chance to burn too much in your lungs.

“Do you have more?” you asked, glancing back up at him.

“Mhmm,” he hummed in agreement, his gaze still lingering on his arm. “Yeah. Got a couple on my chest.”

Your cheeks warmed instantly – which was silly, considering he’d just made you cum – and your fingers stilled for a moment against the pale skin of his arm.

“Oh?”

That finally pulled Eddie’s attention away from his tattoo. His eyes glimmered when he caught your shy reaction.

“You know,” he smirked, leaning back slightly in the chair to take a better look at you, “if you wanna see me without a shirt, all you gotta do is ask.”

Not waiting for a reply, Eddie passed you the joint before hooking his fingers under the hem of his shirt and pulling it over his head in one smooth movement, making his curls bounce as he tossed it somewhere onto the floor without much care.

You took another drag mostly because you suddenly didn’t know what else to do with yourself while openly staring at him, before passing it back again.

Your gaze drifted slowly across his pale skin, catching first on the spider inked beneath his clavicle before lowering further, taking in the demonic face resting just above his left nipple.

His chest rose slowly with another silent drag as he let himself take in your completely undisguised staring, while a faint smirk tugged at the corner of his lips when your eyes lingered a little too long on his chest.

You ignored the teasing glimmer in his eyes and let your fingertips brush softly over the demon head instead, tracing the healed black-and-grey lines while the record kept spinning somewhere in the living room.

The silence that settled between you felt easy, and warm – not like something either of you needed to fill.

Eddie leaned back further in the chair, his arm tightening around your waist as he took another drag, and somewhere along the way the cramped seat stopped feeling comfortable anymore.

“C’mere,” he mumbled softly, his voice roughened equally by smoke and sleepiness.

Before you could properly react, both his hands had already found your waist, lifting you easily from his lap as he stood.

You chuckled quietly under your breath when he waddled the both of you for the few short steps back towards the bed, still clutching the half-smoked joint between his fingers.

The old mattress dipped beneath your combined weight – without any urgency this time.

You ended up half sprawled atop of him, your cheek tucked against his warm chest while one of his arms rested lazily across your back. The joint stayed trapped between his fingers as he brought it back to his lips every now and then, the amber tip glowing softly in the dim room.

Meanwhile, your fingertips kept tracing absent patterns over the demon head inked onto his skin while the record continued playing faintly somewhere in the background.

And before you knew it, the events of the night finally caught up to you.

Your eyelids grew heavier, your tracing slower and softer until it eventually stopped altogether.

Eddie blew a loose curl away from his face when he tilted his head down to look at you properly, his eyes drifting across the softened features resting against his chest.

And for once, when his gaze wandered towards the warm kitchen light still glowing faintly down the hall, Eddie ignores Wayne’s usual nagging about the electricity bills somewhere deep in his mind.

Your comfort felt more important.

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The TV hummed softly in the background, filling the otherwise quiet trailer. The two of you were sprawled across the couch – well., you were. Eddie was sitting like a normal person, while you had somehow managed to claim every single cushion and half of his lap in the process.

“Uh…” he said, sounding far less casual than he had intended. “Yeah, sure. Whatever you want, baby.”

The faint furrow between Eddie’s eyebrows only deepened when you quietly climbed off the couch and knelt in front of him, your knees pressing into the cold linoleum floor. He didn’t dare comment on it, though.

Warm amber light spilled from the kitchen into the living room, catching in your already glimmering eyes when you lifted them to his. Your hands came to rest gently on his knees.

The crease between his eyebrows softened, giving way to a look that was still confused but far gentler than before. He felt your fingers twitch against him before they slowly trail higher along his thighs until they found the zipper of his jeans.

Eddie’s heart rate spikes as your hands continued twitching in anticipation, pulling down his zipper and tugging his pants down. He blinks down at you, his thoughts slowly turning into mush the more you tug down his pants. He then inhales sharply when your deftly hands reach for the elastic band of his boxers, curling your fingers into the fabric and pulling it down. The warm trailer air felt cool against his exposed skin, sending a shiver down his spine.

He can’t tear his eyes away from you as your face comes level with his soft cock, completely transfixed by the sight of you burying your nose in his trimmed balls. The faint scent of sweat mingles with the musky aroma of his skin, creating a heady fragrance that fills your nostrils. You breathe it in deeply, your mind turning into mush by the primal and raw essence that was so uniquely Eddie.

The crease between Eddie’s eyebrows returns, and a sharp breath escapes him when you nuzzle closer, the warmth of your breath sending a shiver racing across his silky skin, tracing delicate patterns that make his balls tighten slowly. The sensation leaves his fingers curling tightly against the couch cushion beside him.

Then, with a confidence that steals the air of his lungs, you rest your cheek against the underside of his cock and draw in a slow breath. The familiar scent of him settles around you – clean skin, traces of soap, and something unmistakably Eddie beneath it all.

Eddie wasn’t the first boyfriend you’d ever had, nor the first guy you’d been involved with, but he was the first one who genuinely seemed to care about his hygiene. Daily showers, the occasional spritz of cologne, and a level of self-maintenance that never went unnoticed. How could you not be obsessed with him?

His cock twitches against your face, betraying his nervous anticipation. For now, though, you ignore it, content to linger exactly where you are, committing every detail of the moment to memory.

“You always smell so good, Eds,” you hum against his skin, sounding soft and content. Your eyebrows knit together ever so slightly as you nuzzle closer, eyelashes fluttering when you draw in another slow breath.

Eddie’s breath hitches as your lips trail feather-light kisses along his hardening length. Each touch sends tiny sparks of pleasure racing through his veins, stoking the fire burning low in his belly. When you reach his balls, lavishing them with tender pecks, he can’t hold back a low groan.

Your fingers dance across the silky skin of his sack, exploring and caressing. The dual sensation of your lips and hands working in tandem is maddening, driving him to the brink of desperation. His cock throbs urgently, now fully hard, aching for more direct attention. But he doesn’t dare voice the plea lodged in his throat – not yet. He needs to see how far you’ll take this teasing exploration.

Your eyes are glossy with anticipation as they trail up to his face, watching every flicker of emotion that crosses his features. Your lips continue to brush soft kisses against the sensitive skin of his cock, lingering just enough to make his breath hitch again. Slowly, you part your lips, wetting them with a swipe of your tongue before lowering your mouth back to his balls. Spit glistens against his skin as you pull away, your gaze never quite leaving his as you bring your lips back to him, this time giving him a delicate yet determined suck.

He’s so captivated by the sight of you – so enraptured by his scent and his taste, your pupils are blown wide and cheeks warm with arousal against his sack. Eddie’s hips twitch upwards, seeking more of that delicious friction you teased him with. His cock juts out proudly, flushed an angry red and leaking with pre-cum. He’s aching, desperate for you to just do something, but holds himself back, wanting to prolong this moment you for as long as you needed.

Eddie lets his head fall back against the couch for a brief moment before straightening up again, unable to keep his eyes off you for long. His curls shift with the sudden movement, and his chest rises and falls with a slightly uneven rhythm. Slowly, he brings a ringed hand to your cheek, his thumb brushing gently across your skin.

“Jesus, sweetheart,” he murmurs, his brows pulling together as he looks down at you. “You’re killing me here.”

“’M sorry, Eds,” you mumble with a small, shy smile tugging at your lips before pressing another kiss to his cock.

He lets out a shaky breath when he notices the way your eyes turn glossy, almost as though you were getting drunk on his scent alone. The sight sends a warmth curling low in his chest that spreads all the way down to his feet.

Your fingers twitch against him before drifting across the base of his cock, slow and absent-minded. Then you lean in again, pressing another sloppy kiss to him, your attention fixed entirely on him.

Eddie lets out a shaky breath when he notices the glazed, almost dreamy look in your eyes, like you’re getting drunk on nothing more than him. You rest your head against his thigh and slowly open your lips to take him into your mouth, the wet heat engulfing his sensitive tip. A deep, guttural moan rumbles from his chest at the sensation, his lips twitching and accidentally pushing more of his length past your lips.

“Sorry, baby,” he breathes out, dragging his free hand through his messy curls.

You hum as your tongue swirls around him, lapping at the milky pearl of pre-cum beading at his slit. Each lazy suck and pull sends jolts of pleasure shooting down his spine as he tangles his fingers in your hair, gripping lightly but not urging you to quicken your pace.

You shift awkwardly between his legs, almost wincing at the uncomfortable pool of arousal that started to seep into your panties. Reaching for him, you trail your free hand across the couch until your fingers find his, quietly threading them together as you take him deeper into your mouth with a deep sigh leaving your nostrils.

“You’re taking me so well, baby. So good f’me, hm?”

The grip on your hair tightens just slightly with your lips stretched taut around his girth, fighting the urge to thrust into the velvety confinement of your mouth. With a broken moan, he arches into you, chasing the pleasure without shoving more of his cock into your throat. The coil of tension in his lower belly winds tighter with each pass of your mouth, threatening to snap at any moment.

Eddie watches, transfixed, as you let go of his hand to trail it down your body until it disappears beneath your — his, actually — oversized shirt. The sight of you touching yourself, lost in the pleasure of his cock, is almost too much for him to bear. You slowly circle your clit a few times before you trail lower until your fingertips find your sloppy slit. The obscene squelch of your fingers dipping into your messy cunt fills the living room, mingling with the lewd pops and slurps and sighs of your mouth on his cock.

“Are you–” he groans and closes his eyes for a split second. “Jesus, baby. Are you fucking yourself?”

God, you looked so pretty like this – cheeks warm, your eyes glossy as they stares up at him, your hair slightly dishevelled from the absentminded grip he still had on your hair, drool and affirmative whimpers trickling down on his sack while you desperately fingered yourself. You’re so high on his smell and heavy cock, you grind down on your hand until your velvety walls flutter around your fingers.

Eddie lets go of your hair, petting the crown of your head as his thighs twitch under your face while he lets you work his cock in lazy yet greedy sucks and licks.

“Fuck, baby. I’m– I’m about to cum,” he manages to groan out. “Where do you want me, sweetheart?”

You maintain your pace for a few sucks more before you gently pull your head back, breathless from having him down your throat while your fingers continue pumping desperately in and out of your sloppy cunt. Your glossy eyes are still glued to his when your hand wraps softly around his cock. Your fingers look so small around him while you lazily jerk him off.

Eddie doesn’t last long at the vision of you between his twitching legs, one hand tightly wrapped around him while the other still thrusted desperately into yourself, expectant eyes looking back at him and drool pooling under your cheek and onto his thigh.

“Fuckfuckfuck,” he moans out desperately, refusing to close his eyes as he watches each milky white spurt he gave you painting your face until your nose and chin is dripping with his cum.

You straighten yourself up just a little bit and open your mouth, sticking your tongue out to catch the last few ropes of cum and swallowing it down. You place soft kisses against his overstimulated and already softening cock as you let go of him.

But what really gets him is how you remove your sodden fingers out of your pussy and lick them clean, before wiping off his seed from your nose and chin, and bring your cum tainted fingers back into your cunt.

“Jesus, sweetheart,” he groans out almost painfully, his sensitive cock twitching at the sight of you fucking yourself and pushing his cum deep into your pussy. “Look at you; so beautiful and desperate. Are you gonna cum f’me, hm?”

“Fuck, Eddie. I’m–” you cut yourself off as high-pitched whine escapes from your lips.

You don’t dare to look away from him, eyes wide and shiny with desperation, as low curses fall out of your swollen lips when the heat in your lower stomach begins to become too much. Your slick walls clench hard around your fingers, almost hard enough to halt your movements when you finally push yourself over the edge.

With one last high-pitched whimper, you fall back onto his lap, nose brushing against his cock while you try to take deep breaths. His hand finds your hair again, softly brushing strands away from your eyes.

“Pretty baby likes sniffing my cock, hm?” Eddie purrs, his chest still heaving heavily. You blink shyly and hide your face against his cock. “C’mon baby, don’t be shy now.”

His ringed fingers trail down your face until they come to rest beneath your chin. Gently, he tilts your head back, the tip of your nose brushing against his cock as he guides your gaze upwards until your eyes meet his once more.

“You know you could’ve asked me for this sooner, right?” he whispers as his fingers brush down your face.

“I-I didn’t know if you’d be up for it,” you whisper back.

Eddie’s dark brown eyes glimmer with affection as he looks down at you. A soft smile tugs at the corner of his lips, warm and impossibly fond.

“I want everything that you want,” he murmurs, his gaze lingering on your face. “I love you.”

The confession makes heat bloom across your cheeks. Unable to hold his gaze for long, you hide your face against his thigh again.

“I love you too, Eds,” you mumble, your words muffled against him.

Eddie lounged beside you with his arm draped casually over the back of your chair while he disappeared into a deep conversation with Jeff across from him. Meanwhile, you, Robin, and Gareth had drifted into your own chaotic little world entirely.

The jangly electric guitar chords and tight snare beats of Girl Can’t Help It drifted softly through the Hide Out in the rare moment Doris decided to keep the radio tuned to something vaguely mainstream.

The music settled comfortably into the guitar lull that had taken over your side of the table after the earlier wave of drunken laughter had finally left all your stomach aching.

Robin had clumsily shoved her chair back a few minutes earlier to disappear towards the bathroom while Gareth let out a deeply satisfied sigh before leaning forward onto the table, elbows planted against the sticky wood as he took another sip of beer.

“Tell me something,” he started casually between swallows while squinting jokingly towards you, “has he told you yet?”

Eddie snapped his head towards the two of you so fast he practically abandoned whatever conversation he’d been having with Jeff mid-sentence, and shot Gareth a sharp look that could only really be translated as shut the fuck up.

“Told me what?” you asked while furrowing your brows softly in confusion before lifting your beer for another sip.

“About the show we’re playing in Ashwood,” Eddie answered quickly the second he noticed the dangerous glint of mischief flickering across Gareth’s face.

“Ashwood?” Your attention immediately turned towards him instead, eyes lighting up almost instantly. “The one with the esoteric shop?”

Eddie couldn’t help smiling a little at that. “Yeah.”

“Eddie!” you laughed, immediately beaming at him across the table. “Why am I only hearing about this now?”

“Hearing what?” Robin mumbled after a small hiccup while dropping heavily back into her chair again.

“Oh, y’know,” Gareth started with a grin already spreading across his face.

“About our show in Ashwood,” Eddie cut in immediately for the second time.

Jeff snickered quietly behind the tall beer glass in his hand while flicking ash from his cigarette into the already overflowing ashtray closest to him, exchanging a knowing look with Gareth across the table.

“Oh, that’s sick,” Robin mumbled while wrapping her fingers around her glass before immediately frowning down at it after realising she’d already finished the whole thing. “But yeah, why are we only hearing about this now?”

“Eddie wanted to wait until the flyers were ready,” Jeff supplied casually before taking another drag from his cigarette.

Your brows immediately shot upward while you slowly lowered your beer back onto the table.

“Flyers?” you repeated while turning fully towards Eddie again. “This is, like… an actual big deal, then.”

Eddie pursed his lips for a second like he was debating how much he wanted to admit.

“Yeah,” he finally muttered. “I guess.”

“Oh, don’t start acting all humble now.”

Eddie only snorted softly at your remark before taking another long sip of beer instead of answering properly.

Then he lifted a hand towards Doris for another round.

In the background, Journey had long since been replaced by ZZ Top while the conversation around the table settled into a brief comfortable lull beneath cigarette smoke and the steady drumming rain outside.

A few moments later, Doris’ familiar complaints drifted closer towards your table alongside the rattling sound of a full serving tray balanced against her palm.

Gareth snorted at her complaints while helping her stack some emptier glasses back onto the now-cleared tray.

“You really should’ve told her, man,” he added with a deeply suspicious grin aimed directly at Eddie.

Jeff snickered from across the table, trying – and failing – to hide the grin tugging at his lips behind the fresh glass of beer in his hand.

“Yeah, man,” he mumbled before taking another sip.

Robin’s head immediately snapped between the three boys before she shot you a deeply suspicious look, her brows furrowing tighter the longer Jeff and Gareth continued quietly snickering while Eddie sat beside you with his lips pressed together in growing irritation, as she leaned closer towards you, whispering a soft, confused what?

You only shrugged back just as helplessly.

After another second, Robin gave up entirely with an exaggerated little scoff before reaching for one of the newer beers instead like she’d decided she no longer cared enough to investigate whatever weird male telepathy was happening across the table.

“You’re all acting incredibly weird right now,” Robin informed the table while narrowing her eyes suspiciously before taking another sip of her beer. “More than usually.”

“We’re not acting weird,” Eddie muttered immediately, shaking his head a little too much.

“That was a weirdly defensive response,” Jeff snorted.

Gareth leaned back in his chair with a proud grin stretching wider across his face while Eddie closed his eyes for a second, visibly preparing for the worst.

“Oh my god,” Robin gasped suddenly after almost choking on her beer when something finally clicked in her head. “Did Eddie finally confess to that thing?”

“Robin,” Eddie warned instantly, nervously flexing his fingers in and out of a fist behind your back.

“What did he confess?”

Gareth looked – to Eddie’s distaste – a little too delighted as his fingers started thrumming against the table. “Should we tell her?”

“Fuck’s sake,” Eddie sighed as his hand immediately reached for his already half-empty glass of beer.

While Velcro Fly reached its end in the background, your eyes drifted around the table, noticing the glimmering eyes and knowing grins being exchanged between everyone except you.

A sour feeling settled heavily in your stomach when you realised you were being left out of something. And before your expression could twist into anything too pathetic, you quietly muttered something about going to the bathroom while pushing your chair back from the table.

You vaguely heard Eddie say your name somewhere behind you while you disappeared down the hallway.

A ringed hand curled around the bathroom door before you could fully shut it behind yourself, and Eddie slowly pushed it open again before slipping inside.

“You couldn’t wait one minute?” you mumbled tiredly, though the joke fell flat before it could properly land. “I’m just gonna pee and come back.”

“I’m sorry,” Eddie whispered instead while absently twisting one of his fingers around his finger.

A deeper furrow pulled between your eyebrows. “For what?”

Eddie sighed heavily before dragging a hand through his hair as he leaned back against the closed bathroom door.

“For…” he exhaled sharply through his nose. “Whatever the hell that was.”

Your hand curled around the handle of one of the bathroom stalls just as another deep sigh slipped from his chest.

“I just…” he muttered quietly, his eyes flicking up towards you before dropping back to the tiled floor again.

Eddie swallowed hard, crossed his arms, and then uncrossed them again.

“I just…” he trailed off once more like he was physically pulling himself back from saying whatever had been sitting in his chest for weeks, before finally continuing softly, almost too quietly, “I like you.”

You blinked at him a few times before slowly letting go of the bathroom stall handle.

“And?”

Eddie’s brows furrowed instantly. “What do you mean, and?”

A softer laugh slipped from your lips while you shook your head lightly at the deeply confused look on his face.

“I already know that.”

“What?”

“I mean,” you started softly before briefly glancing away, “you let me spoon you whenever you sleep over, and you know I hate red apples.”

That immediately pulled another bewildered blink from him.

“I know that you hate sweet things unless it’s my lemon cake,” you continued while moving your hands absentmindedly like it helped organize your thoughts. “And I know you’re allergic to that cheap fabric softener.”

Eddie’s gaze slowly lifted from the floor back towards you; yours never really left his.

“I like you too, stupid,” you murmured while stepping closer towards him. “I’m honestly surprised you didn’t already know that.”

For a second, Eddie only stared at you like his brain had completely short-circuited before a breathless laugh finally escaped him.

“You for real?”

That pulled a quieter laugh from you too.

His eyes lingered on your face for another long second before something softer settled there – relief, disbelief, maybe both tangled together beneath the dim bathroom lighting.

“I mean,” you scoffed lightly while stepping closer towards him, your fingers slowly finding his cheek, “we’ve basically been in a relationship this whole time. Minus the obvious part, of course.”

You tilted your head slightly while a softer chuckle slipped from your lips, your thumb brushing gently across his cheekbone.

“Unless you’ve secretly been living with other girls whenever you’re not with me.”

Eddie’s hands immediately lifted to cover yours, his thumb brushing absentmindedly across the back of your hand while he leaned further into your touch.

“Wouldn’t dare,” he whispered softly before briefly shutting his eyes like he physically couldn’t look at you while saying what came next. “You’re it for me.”

Your expression softened instantly.

“Good,” you whispered back with a smile tugging at your lips. “‘Cause you’re it for me, too.”

Eddie slowly opened his eyes again, something quieter and more vulnerable flickering beneath them while he looked at you.

Then, carefully – almost hesitantly – his hands found your hips like he still wasn’t fully convinced this was actually happening. His ringed fingers tightened on you for a brief second before relaxing again while he slowly pulled you closer against his chest.

Your thumb continued brushing gently against his cheek for another moment before your other hand rose to his face too, softly guiding his head down towards yours.

Eddie’s lips felt impossibly soft against yours, and the second you kissed him properly, his grip on your hips tightened all over again as a quiet, content breath escaped through his nose while he tilted his head slightly to deepen the kiss.

You parted his lips and lightly brushed your tongue against his bottom lip just before multiple loud knocks suddenly slammed against the bathroom door hard enough to force the two of you apart.

“You guys fuckin’ in there?”

“Classy, Gareth,” Robin muttered from the other side of the door while Jeff completely lost it laughing drunkenly beside her.

Eddie groaned quietly before dropping his forehead against yours.

“No, seriously,” Gareth groaned. “I think I need to throw up.”

The closer fall drifted towards its end and slowly gave way to early winter, the shorter the days seemed to become.

The weather outside had been acting up again too – dark moody clouds swallowing the night sky whole while the wind violently rattled the electrical cables and shook the balding tree branches outside your trailer hard enough to make them scrape against the roof every now and then.

Unfortunately, it had ruined the plans you and Eddie had made for the evening.

So, instead of making the drive to the library to look for books about pagan gods and Luciferianism, the two of you had ended up stranded inside your trailer together instead.

Eddie lounged lazily across the couch while rummaging through your extensive collection of incense boxes, carefully reading the labels one by one while trying to remember the exact properties you’d explained to him over the last few months before eventually picking one that simply felt right for the mood outside.

Meanwhile, you sat curled sideways on one of the barstools by the kitchen counter while carefully flipping through one of your grandmother’s old grimoires.

Your eyes scanned lazily across the pages searching for something specific while simultaneously getting distracted by the soft curls of her handwriting scattered between the notes and illustrations, until your gaze eventually landed on one of her intricate gouache paintings decorating the yellowed page.

Your fingertips hesitantly brushed across the paper, touched suddenly by a strange kind of longing you hadn’t allowed yourself to feel in a very long time.

Letting your eyes linger lazily across the page for another moment longer, you eventually pushed yourself away from the kitchen counter before wandering around it towards the cupboards.

Eddie’s attention briefly drifted away from the overwhelming pile of incense boxes scattered across his lap at the soft clinking sound of glass jars landing carefully inside your old brass bowl before his eyes slowly dropped back down again.

Balancing the bowl against your hip with one arm, your other hand tugged open one of the drawers while you searched around for your scissors before eventually placing everything neatly onto the counter.

Your socked feet padded softly across the linoleum afterward while you wandered towards the dresser behind the couch, pulling a pen and a few loose scraps of paper from one of the drawers before returning towards your barstool again.

“Watcha doin’ over there?” he asked distractedly while turning one of the red incense boxes in his hands, carefully reading the intricate gold lettering printed across it.

“Oh, y’know,” you murmured vaguely while beginning to scribble something down onto the torn piece of paper in front of you.

Eddie narrowed his eyes slightly, already knowing that tone alone sounded suspicious.

He finally looked up properly from the incense boxes sprawled across his lap, his brows furrowing deeper while he watched you carefully fold the small piece of paper in your hands.

“Why do I suddenly get the feeling you’re plotting something?”

A quieter laugh slipped from your nose. “I’m literally sitting at the kitchen counter, babe.”

“Yeah,” Eddie nodded immediately. “Exactly. That’s where all the dangerous things happen.”

You rolled your eyes lightly while reaching for one of the jars instead of replying.

He shifted slightly on the couch before finally setting the incense boxes aside altogether, curiosity clearly winning over whatever he’d been doing before.

When the soft rhythmic clinking of crystal chips against glass filled the quiet trailer, he pushed himself up from the couch and wandered over towards you.

Warmth spread across your back the second he stepped close enough behind you, his chest brushing lightly against your shoulders while his chin settled comfortably on top of your head. His eyes wandered slowly between the scattered herb jars, the folded paper already resting inside the brass bowl, and the little pile of clear quartz chips sitting beside it.

His brows slowly furrowed tighter while he pieced everything together, and then his expression suddenly changed.

“Hold on,” he mumbled suspiciously. “Why are you making a love spell?”

The accusation came out sounding equal parts scandalized, intrigued, and faintly concerned.

“What?” Your head snapped upwards immediately, forcing him to lean back slightly. “I’m not.”

“Yes, you are,” Eddie argued immediately while pointing towards the jars spread across the counter. “Rosemary attracts love and ensures fidelity.”

He blinked quickly, clearly trying to remember the rest before you could interrupt him.

“Lavender’s for affection and harmony in relationship,” he continued quickly. “Cinnamon’s for desire and intensity, and rose petals are literally for passion.”

You blinked at him silently while he continued pointing towards your setup like he was presenting evidence in court.

“And the folded paper,” he added, nodding towards the bowl. “Plus the clear quartz chips to amplify it all.”

The mortification that had immediately climbed up your spine slowly started melting into something softer instead – quiet amazement.

“I mean…” you trailed off gently while glancing back down at the ingredients spread across the counter. “Those are just some of the things they’re useful for.”

You tilted your head back until your gaze found his.

“But they all have multiple meaning too,” you murmured while reaching for the lavender jar again. “This one’s for inviting peace and protection into our lives.”

You pulled the cork free before carefully sprinkling some of the vibrant lilac buds into the bowl.

“Rosemary for clarity,” you continued softly while reaching for the next jar. “Cinnamon for abundance.”

Your fingers brushed lightly through the dried rose petals.

“And these are for emotional healing.”

He blinked heavily down at the bowl after you finished explaining before eventually reaching into the front pocket of his jeans to fish out his lighter.

“That…” he trailed off while tilting his head thoughtfully to the side, “actually makes a lot more sense now that I think about it.”

You picked the folded paper back out of the bowl before carefully lighting the corner of it on fire and dropping it back inside.

Eddie’s hands settled gently onto your shoulders almost immediately afterward, slowly massaging them while you curled your fingers around the warm brass bowl and closed your eyes to focus on your intentions.

The soft pale smoke rising from the herbs slowly shifted colour as it spiralled upwards in delicate curls, fading from light grey into something closer to haint blue before disappearing near the ceiling.

When you finally opened your eyes again, the smoke had completely faded.

Eddie leaned back into you almost immediately, this time resting his chin comfortably between your shoulder and neck – his new favourite place to touch you.

“You’re so sweet,” he murmured softly while brushing the tip of his nose against your skin. “Putting protection spells on us.”

 A quieter laugh slipped from your lips while you leaned further into his warmth.

“Who says it’s for us?” you teased lightly.

“The blue smoke told me,” Eddie whispered back before pressing a soft kiss just beneath your earlobe.

The two of you had been lying in bed for a while now, quietly soaking in the rare streaks of sunlight peeking through the soft clouds outside your bedroom window.

You lazily curled your fingers around a strand of Eddie’s hair while lying comfortably across his chest, the syncopated groove of Rare Earth’s Magic Key filling the otherwise soft silence surrounding the both of you.

Eddie’s thumb brushed absentmindedly across the knee you’d hooked over his waist while he quietly let your chosen record – the one you insisted would broaden his music taste – slowly settle into him.

His attention lingered carefully on the lyrics carrying that faint spiritual undertone he didn’t necessarily associate with late-sixties psychedelic rock.

After another drag from the joint between his fingers, he tilted his head towards your nightstand before lazily flicking the ash into the ceramic ashtray sitting there and passing it over to you.

“I was thinking,” Eddie started softly while hooking his fingers beneath your knee and pulling it slightly higher against his waist, “you wanna go to Ashwood today?”

Your brows pulled into a faint furrow while you exhaled the smoke from your lungs, watching it drift lazily towards the wind chime hanging near the window.

“The show’s only tomorrow,” you murmured while passing the joint back to him. “Why you wanna go today?”

Eddie’s ringed fingers curled around it carefully before he tapped the ash into the ashtray again.

“I thought we could make a little getaway out of it,” he admitted quietly before taking another drag. “Go to Moon & Myrrh again, explore the town some more.”

You though about if for a moment while the confident brisk groove of Magic Key slowly faded out and gave way to the rougher blues-rock chords of Tobacco Road.

“Yeah,” you murmured eventually as a softer smile tugged at your lips. “That’d be nice.”

Your fingers curled carefully around the joint before you slowly pushed yourself upright before shifting to sit on his lap instead. You took another drag before passing it back to him and leaning down to press a soft kiss against his forehead while climbing over him entirely.

He pushed himself upright too, adjusting the pillows behind his back while quietly watching you drift around the bedroom already for your trusted travel bag.

Eddie’s gaze followed your familiar movements around the bedroom, quietly taking in the way you immediately opened the drawer you’d recently cleared space out in for some of his clothes before even reaching for your own.

You grabbed his favourite pair of pants without hesitation before tossing them carefully into the travel bag resting it next to his feet. Then, you pulled out two shirts, holding them up for him to inspect.

His eyes flicked lazily between both options before he silently pointed towards the overly washed Black Sabbath shirt while exhaling smoke from his lungs and pulling it right back in through his nose.

“Which one you wanna wear tomorrow?” you asked while folding the other shirt back into the drawer, your fingers already drifting through the remaining neatly folded stacks. “And please don’t say the Hellfire shirt.”

Eddie snorted quietly while shaking his head.

“Nah,” he murmured after another drag. “I wanna wear that Corroded Coffin shirt you designed.”

Your eyes immediately snapped back towards him while warmth crept into the tips of your ears. “You sure?”

Eddie smiled softly around the joint between his fingers. “Never been more sure.”

Your eyes lingered on him for another few seconds, almost like you were still searching for confirmation before you finally nodded and turned back towards the dresser again, reaching for the soft cotton shirt he’d mentioned.

Eddie kept his gaze fixed on your chaotic movements around the bedroom while you opened and shut drawers in search of something that, as you’d put it, looked good enough for their first official show.

After another moment, he finally placed the joint down in the ceramic ashtray before pushing himself off the bed entirely and wrapping his arms loosely around your waist from behind.

“I honestly couldn’t care less what you wear,” he murmured softly against your neck before pressing a gentle kiss against your skin. “Long as you’re there.”

A quieter smile tugged faintly at your lips while your fingers continued drifting through the clothes in your drawer.

“Yeah, well,” you mumbled teasingly. “I still need something that screams I’m with the lead singer.”

Eddie immediately laughed beneath his breath.

“Something that lets every girl there know they don’t stand a chance,” you continued while shooting him a joking grin over your shoulder.

His arms tightened slightly around you while another laugh rumbled warmly against your neck.

You turned back towards the dresser again afterwards before finally putting out the velvet skirt he liked alongside a few different shirt options.

“I can always write taken across my forehead with your favourite lipstick,” Eddie joked back.

You snorted softly. “You literally have bangs, Edward.”

“Aw, c’mon,” he groaned dramatically. “Not the government name.”

That pulled another laugh from you before you finally stepped out of his hold entirely and wandered towards the bathroom to start filling the toiletries bag instead.

He had already dropped dramatically back onto the bed by the time you stepped back into the bedroom.

“You pack like we’re fleeing the country,” he murmured lazily once he heard the familiar clinking of bottles and jars joining the toiletries bag.

“You’ll thank me when you need headache tea the day after tomorrow.”

Eddie blinked slowly at the ceiling, knowing damn well you were probably right.

“You know what?” he mumbled after a second, his eyes drifting back towards the quiet wind chime. “I actually don’t have anything smart to sat to that.”

“You’re welcome,” you chuckled while stuffing the toiletries bag into the larger travel bag before turning around to grab your small pouch of jewellery from the dresser.

And hour later, the two of you were finally pulling away from the trailer park beneath the soft grey skies while the crescent moon slowly began climbing into the evening sky overhead.

The heater rattled weakly beneath the dashboard while Eddie lazily drummed his fingers against the steering wheel in time with the music humming softly from the stereo.

At some point, you’d kicked off your shoes off completely before throwing your legs across the seat beside him, a half-smoked cigarette hanging loosely between your lips while the familiar roads slowly gave way to denser woods and narrower winding streets.

Eventually, the faded welcome sign of Ashwood Hollow emerged once again from beneath the overgrown trees.

Eddie drove further into town afterward until the familiar downtown storefronts finally came into view beneath the dim amber streetlights.

It was a little after four by the time he parked a few blocks away from your favourite shop, a lazy yawn escaping him the second he finally turned off the ignition.

Eddie’s gaze drifted out the window while you slipped your shoes back on beside him, quietly noticing how the darkening skies above Ashwood somehow felt harsher than the ones back in Hawkins – there were no lingering streaks of sunlight left here, only sharp wind whistling through the narrow streets and rattling against the storefront windows hard enough to make the old signs creak softly overhead.

Eventually, his attention drifted back towards you again.

Without saying much, he reached over and gently pulled the lapels of your coat higher around your neck before leaning in to press a soft kiss against your temple – only after that did he finally push open the van door and stepped out into the cold evening air.

“C’mere with that warm hand of yours,” Eddie mumbled the second he rounded the front of the van and reached you, already tugging your hand into his colder one before you could protest.

Despite the biting wind constantly shoving his bangs away from his forehead, the walk towards Moon & Myrrh ended up feeling strangely peaceful. The streets of Ashwood had mostly emptied by now, leaving only the sharp whistle of the wind weaving between the storefronts and the occasional glow of amber streetlights reflecting against wet pavement.

But the second the familiar heavy purple door finally came into view, your steps slowed.

The sign hanging behind the window had already been flipped to closed, the curtains behind it drawn.

Before you could even let out a disappointed groan, or turn around entirely, the door suddenly swung open.

“I’ve been waiting all day for you two,” the owner muttered while pulling the door open wider, a faint scowl tugging at her brows. “Started thinking you weren’t coming anymore.”

Eddie immediately shot her a puzzled look while you simply grabbed his sleeve and tugged him inside behind you, desperate to escape the cold weather outside.

The warmth and familiar smell of incense wrapped around you almost instantly.

“I’m a nosy old woman,” she added dryly after catching his expression. “Spirits keep me entertained when I ask nicely.”

Most of the overhead lights had been turned off by now, leaving the shop bathed almost entirely by candlelight. Warm flickering shadows stretched lazily across the crowded shelves and glass displays while the familiar scent of incense and old paper wrapped itself around the room like a heavy blanket.

You slowly let go of Eddie’s hand before stepping further into the shop.

The tiny bells hanging above the door gave one final chime behind you while he lingered near the entrance a little longer, quietly talking with the older woman about the rune set he’d bought the last time you’d visited.

Moon & Myrrh felt different this late in the evening with the overhead lamps switched off – quieter, and older somehow, like the walls themselves were listening to your breaths and the faint murmur of conversation drifting behind you.

The warm candlelight flickered softly across the shelves while shadows stretched lazily along the floorboards beneath your feet as you walked absentmindedly towards the spines of stacked books somewhere in the corner.

Behind you, Eddie finally stepped fully inside too, the heavy purple door creaking softly shut while the sharp whistle of the wind outside faded into something distant and muffled instead.

Eddie barely had the chance to follow after you – curiosity already tugging at him over whatever had caught your attention – before the older woman suddenly spoke again from beside him.

“Sit down for a minute.”

He glanced towards her in visible confusion but still followed after her anyway towards the small circular table tucked into the far corner of the shop – the one permanently cluttered with candles, stacks of tarot cards, and an enormous crystal ball that honestly looked like a movie prop.

The older woman lowered herself into the chair across from his before quietly lighting the scattered candles one by one.

Warm flickering light immediately stretched across the tabletop and danced softly against the silver jewellery layered around her wrists and rings.

Then her hand reached for the tarot deck resting nearby. The cards shuffled slowly between her fingers in complete silence while the slight furrow between Eddie’s brows deepened further.

The shop suddenly felt strangely quiet – only the soft sound of your fingers turning pages somewhere deeper between the shelves and the distant beginning of a storm outside filled the room around the three of you.

Eddie sat quietly across from her, his arms crossed loosely over his chest while he tried not to look as nervous as he suddenly felt.

You’d drifted somewhat closer too, lingering somewhere beside a display island filled with intricate daggers and little bowls and trays filled with animal bones and herbs that were unknown even to you, pretending not to openly eavesdrop.

“Cut the deck,” the woman murmured eventually.

His ringed fingers carefully split the deck in half before pushing the cards back towards her again after he stared at it for a few seconds too long.

She hummed softly to herself before gathering them once more, slowly laying the cards down one by one across the table in a way he hadn’t seen you do before. Eddie’s gaze drifted across the placement with nervous curiosity, swallowing the dry lump that had settled in his throat.  

“The crow’s eye,” she explained while resting her fingertips lightly against the face-down card. “Something obvious about your situation, but only visible to the trained eye.”

His brows furrowed slightly. “That sound… ominous.”

“It usually is,” she chuckled humourlessly.

You immediately noticed the way his shoulders tensed beneath his jacket before the woman finally flipped the first card over.

Warm candlelight flickered across the illustrated figure holding one hand towards the sky and the other towards the earth – The Magician.

“Well, that’s rather loud,” she murmured, smiling faintly.

“What does it mean?” Eddie leaned slightly forwards despite himself.

“Skill, power, resourcefulness,” she explained calmly. “Learning how to use the tools already available to you.”

Her gaze lifted towards him.

“You’ve already started assembling the pieces without even realising it,” she added softly, gesturing vaguely towards him. “You’ve been practicing intention, protection work… most people spend years refusing to trust themselves enough to even begin with it all.”

A faint warmth into the tips of Eddie’s ears as she simply reached for the second card.

“This one’s the wings,” she murmured while placing two fingers against it, “where there’s room for movement and change.”

Then she flipped it over – Two of Wands.

His eyebrows slowly pulled together again while he stared at the figure illustrated across the card.

“Crossroad,” she explained softly. “Expansion, and choice.”

The hard wind outside had slowly given way to the beginning of a storm, briefly filling the silent shop before she continued.

“You’re standing at the beginning of something much larger than the life you originally imagined for yourself,” she watched how Eddie leaned back in his chair and lifted one of his hands over his mouth. “It’s not a warning in your case. It’s encouragement, actually.”

Her ringed fingers tapped lightly against the card as she continued, “You’re finally allowing yourself to explore paths you would’ve mocked or maybe even feared before.”

Eddie looked over his shoulder, his eyes briefly flickering towards you before returning to the woman in front of him, who was already reaching for the third card.

“A hidden treasure,” she murmured as she flipped it smoothly between her fingers – Page of Cups.

The candle flames surrounding the table flickered faintly before she continued. “Emotional intuition, creativity, and sensitivity. Unexpected spiritual openness.”

“You mean feelings,” Eddie mumbled as he stared at her blankly.

“You feel things before you understand them,” she continued calmly, completely ignoring his comment. “You notice energy instinctively, and you trust emotion before logic, even though you pretend otherwise.”

He immediately opened his mouth to argue before stopping halfway through, his brows furrowing when he realised he didn’t actually have a defence for that.

“The underworld,” she murmured quietly. “A message delivered from beyond.”

The storm outside cracked louder overheard while the older woman slowly turned the final card over, revealing the Empress beneath the flickering candlelight before her expression softened almost immediately, her eyes flickered quietly between the card and Eddie.

“This is maternal protection,” she explained softly. “Nurturing. Guidance. Loving pride.”

Your attention drifted away from the jewelled dagger in your hands the second the words left her mouth, noticing how Eddie sat unusually still in his seat.

“You’ve spent a very, very long time believing you were abandoned,” she continued quietly. “But you weren’t, not entirely.”

The candle flames flickered even harder for a brief second while thunder rolled through the streets outside as her gaze lifted towards him again.

“She’s still here.”

Eddie’s breath hitched softly for a second as his eyes immediately flickered towards the woman sitting across from him.

The ringed fingers that had been nervously thrumming against his thigh only a moment ago suddenly fell still too once her words finally settled somewhere deep inside him.

And for a while, nobody spoke.

The otherwise silent shop continued filling instead with the sound of the storm outside and the distressed flickering of the candle flames scattered across the table between them.

Your grip tightened slightly around the jewelled dagger in your hands while you quietly took in the tense line of Eddie’s shoulders from across the room.

For a brief moment, you debated putting it back and walking over him. But ultimately, you decided against it.

This was something he needed to sit with on his own first – in his own time, and in whatever way felt safest to him. But you stayed close enough, just in case.

“I…” Eddie started quietly before the word died in his throat altogether.

His brows furrowed deeper while his gaze slowly drifted back towards the Empress resting beneath the candlelight.

Eddie swallowed hard against the dry lump that had suddenly formed in his throat before nervously dragging his tongue across his bottom lip.

“What do you mean…” he tried again after a few long seconds. “Here?”

The candle flames suddenly stopped flickering for the briefest moment, then they flared upward all at once – large and impossible to miss – before slowly settling back down again like nothing had happened at all.

You quietly placed the jewelled dagger back where you’d found it before finally making your way closer to the table – not too close, just closer than before.

Eddie glanced over his shoulder towards you almost immediately, his eyes slightly glassy now while a deeper furrow slowly settled between his brows.

That alone was enough to make you step the rest of the way forward.

Your hand found his shoulder gently, almost hesitantly so, giving it a soft squeeze that silently told him you had him.

The older woman watched the interaction quietly from across the table before her gaze lowered back towards Eddie again.

“I think you already know what I mean,” she said softly, understanding flickering behind her eyes.

He slowly nodded, almost automatically, like he wasn’t even fully aware he was doing it, while forcing another tight lump down his throat.

Outside, the storm had calmed slightly. The thunder had stopped a few minutes earlier, although the wind still whistled softly through the streets every now and then.

“Hey,” you whispered gently while giving his shoulder another soft squeeze. “You wanna see the book I just found?”

Eddie slowly lifted his gaze towards you, blinking heavily before nodding again – this time with a little more certainty behind it.

You offered him a small smile before wrapping your other arm loosely around him and leaning over the shoulder you still held to show him the thick leather-bound book resting in your hand.

“Found a first edition of that Luciferianism book you wanted,” you whispered softly before pressing a gentle kiss against the top of his head.

His ringed hands curled gently around the book as he took it from you, his thumb absently brushing across the embossed upside-down pentagram decorating the cover.

You pressed another soft kiss against the top of his head while quietly watching the slow way his fingers drifted across the leather before finally opening the book.

“Do you wanna stay here and read for a little?” you asked softly after a moment. “Or do you wanna explore the rest of the store?”

Eddie didn’t answer immediately, his attention stayed fixed on the open page resting in his hands for a few long seconds before he finally gave a quieter nod.

“C’mon,” you murmured gently while brushing your fingers through the curls near the back of his head. “I think I saw a ring to add to your collection, too.”

You quietly took in the way Eddie closed the book and lowered it to his side before finally pushing himself up from his seat.

The second he stood beside you, his fingers instinctively curled around yours and let you guide him towards the glass display island where you’d spotted the velvet ring tray earlier.

Behind you, the owner followed at an unhurried pace, the soft clinking of an overcrowded keychain accompanying her footsteps before she crouched down beside the display case and unlocked it.

She carefully pulled the velvet tray free before placing it gently in front of the two of you. Then, without interrupting the quiet settling around you, she simply wandered back towards the circular table to clean up the cards.

“Here,” you murmured softly while picking up the ring you’d noticed earlier and holding it out towards him.

The aged silver ring had a broad rectangular face set with polished black obsidian, a small engraved silver star resting at the centre of the dark stone like trapped light beneath the candle glow.

Four decorative claws rose around it protectively, the weight of the ring feeling older somehow once it settled into Eddie’s palm.

You offered Gloria a soft smile – now finally knowing her name – before wrapping your fingers around the paper bag filled with the things you’d bought and making your way back towards the entrance.

By the time you stepped outside again, Eddie was already leaning against the brick wall beside the shop with a cigarette resting between his fingers.

The wind pushed softly through his curls while amber streetlight spilled across the wet pavement beneath his boots.

His head lifted almost immediately at the soft chiming of the bells above the door.

He exhaled another slow stream of smoke before silently holding his hand out towards you – the black obsidian glimmering faintly beneath the streetlight before you took his hand.

The walk back to the van two blocks away passed in near silence, but it wasn’t an uncomfortable one.

Eddie’s thumb brushed absentmindedly against the back of your hand while he lifted the cigarette between his fingers every now and then with the other.

The wind had settled somewhat since earlier too, leaving only the occasional whistle weaving through the empty streets beneath the glow of amber streetlights.

By the time you finally reached the van, the cigarette had nearly burned down to the filter. Eddie dropped it onto the wet pavement before crushing it beneath the heel of his shoe and reaching for the passenger door to pull it open for you.

Once you’d climbed inside, he closed the door gently behind you before walking around the back of the van instead of immediately getting in himself, like he needed those few extra seconds alone first.

You quietly watched his silhouette disappear past the rear windows before instinctively pulling out everything you needed to roll him a well-deserved – and badly needed – joint for the drive towards the little motel sitting at the edge of town.

The unimpressed teenager behind the counter barely seemed to care when he glanced over your shoulder and spotted Eddie leaning beside the van outside smoking a joint.

Maybe the extra twenty you’d slid across the counter had encouraged him to mind his business.

Either way, he simply handed over the room key without another word.

Eddie’s free hand curled around the handle of your travel bag while he followed you up the narrow outdoor staircase and down the long hallway past a broken ice machine humming loudly beneath the flickering lights.

The motel room smelled heavily of dust the second you stepped inside, old cigarette smoke still clinging stubbornly to the faded sixties wallpaper and worn carpet beneath your shoes.

Still, for the price, it could’ve been worse.

Eddie passed the joint to you before disappearing into the bathroom almost immediately afterward, barely bothering to shut the door properly behind him as a heavier sigh slipped from between his lips once he finally disappeared from view.

You didn’t think twice before kicking your shoes off near the motel door, placing the joint carefully in the glass ashtray resting on the nightstand, and immediately changing into something more comfortable.

The extra shirt you’d packed still smelled like Eddie beneath the detergent.

Heavy footsteps crossed the room behind you only moments later before a pair of arms wrapped tightly around your frame from behind.

His ringed fingers curled softly into the worn fabric of the old shirt hanging from your body while his nose buried itself against the back of your neck, a slow, exhausted exhale leaving him against your skin.

Your hands instinctively found his forearms, your thumb brushing gently against them while you leaned back into the warmth of his chest without hesitation.

“You wanna lay in bed and smoke with me?” you whispered softly while swaying the both of you in slow gentle movements.

Eddie hummed in quiet agreement after a few seconds before loosening his hold on you long enough to tug off the tight skinny jeans he’d been wearing all day.

You rubbed tiredly at one of your eyes while climbing onto the bed, stretching your other arm towards the nightstand to grab the half-smoked joint before leaning back against the headboard.

A moment later, Eddie stepped closer to the mattress in nothing but his boxers and quietly settled himself between your legs, his fingers curling around your free hand the second you lowered it from your face.

Your fingers flicked Eddie’s lighter open before you brought the joint resting between your lips to flame, taking a long, slow drag once the paper finally crackled back to life. The smoke settled warmly in your lungs for a moment before you passed it down to the curly-haired boy sitting between your legs.

Eddie’s ringed fingers curled loosely around the filter as he brought it towards his mouth, his eyes already drifting shut the second your fingers disappeared in his hair. A quieter breath left him while you slowly scratched your nails against his scalp in that gentle, lazy way he liked.

The tension in his body softened almost immediately beneath your touch.

Outside, the wind whistled faintly against the motel windows while the neon lights beyond the glass mixed with the warm amber glow of the bedside lamp, painting the room in hazy colours.

For a while, neither of you spoke. Only the wind, the soft scratching of your nails through his curls, and the occasional slow exhale of smoke filled the room around you.

Eddie simply leaned heavier into you while smoke curled lazily through the quiet between slow breaths and softer touches.

“The older I get,” Eddie whispered quietly after a long stretch of silence, “the less I remember her face.”

His eyes stayed unfocused somewhere ahead of him, fixed on nothing in particular while the joint burned slowly between his fingers.

Your brows pulled together softly, but your fingers never stopped moving through his curls.

“We don’t really have a lot of pictures of her,” he continued lowly after another moment, absentmindedly tapping the joint against the glass ashtray resting beside him on the bed. “Didn’t really have the money to get a bunch developed back then.”

He passed the joint back to you before leaning even heavier into your touch, eventually turning onto his side so he could loosely curl one of his hands around your calf.

“Freud would probably celebrate if he heard this,” Eddie murmured softly after a moment, a quieter chuckle slipping from his nose, “but that loud, ugly snorting laugh of yours?”

Your fingers slowed slightly in his curls.

“She sounded like that too.”

Your chest tightened painfully at the quiet confession.

“She sounds like sunshine,” you whispered after a while.

Eddie didn’t answer immediately.

His fingers only tightened slightly around your calf before he buried his face further into your shirt.

Outside, neon lights continued bleeding soft colours across the motel walls while the wind whistled faintly against the windows.

“Yeah, she was.”

The first thing you noticed was the half-broken sign above the heavy double doors, a few missing letters leaving awkward gaps in the venue’s name before you stepped inside the venue with Eddie hot on your heels.

The second thing you noticed, once you were finally inside, were the towering dark walls painted in deep oxblood reds, the black rubber flooring somehow cleaner than the sticky floors back at the Hide Out, and the two people working behind the bar who looked like they’d stepped straight out of one of those underground metal magazines Eddie always flipped through.

The hall-wall serving as the bar counter had practically disappeared beneath layers of old band stickers while massive signed posters hung between the endless rows of liquor bottles that made Doris’ cheap collection back home look embarrassing in comparison.

Eddie let out a low whistle beside you before turning towards you with eyes nearly as wide as your own.

“Holy shit,” he whispered while looking back towards the empty venue again. “Please pinched me.”

He immediately yelped and jumped dramatically the second your fingers harshly pinched the tattooed skin of his arm.

“Fuck, what was that for?” Eddie pouted dramatically while rubbing at the reddening spot on his milky skin.

You glanced back towards him innocently. “What? You told me to pinch you.”

That only earned another offended look from him while you wandered a few steps further into the venue, slowly taking in the details of a place that would never survive longer than a month if it had somehow opened in Hawkins.

Your gaze drifted across the stage lights, the sticker-covered bar, the vinyl booths tucked against the walls, and the handful of people already lingering near the back of the room.

“This is, like…” you murmured while your brows furrowed faintly in disbelief. “The Midwestern version of the Starwood.”

Annoyed mumbling suddenly cut through the low hum of the venue after one of the heavy double doors creaked open again and a scowling blonde shoved her way inside with her shoulder.

Robin’s arms were wrapped around a gigantic carboard box that looked dangerously close to slipping from her grip at any second.

“Am I getting some help here?” she complained while the door slammed shut behind her again. “You guys are so buying me the first round for making me carry this heavy ass box by myself.”

Eddie immediately snorted beside you while you hurried towards her before the entire thing collapsed onto the floor.

“How many shirts did you order?” he asked while staring at the box like it personally offended him.

“Don’t look at me,” Robin muttered immediately, still scowling at the both of you while readjusting the box in her arms. “This was entirely her doing.”

A quieter snort slipped from you while your gaze drifted away for a second before reluctantly returning back towards them.

“I, uh…” you mumbled while scratching awkwardly at the back of your neck. “I might’ve ordered three different versions of the design.”

Eddie’s brows lifted higher almost instantly.

“Just in case,” you added after an awkward seconds.

He looked at you with an unreadable expression for a few lingering seconds, his eyes glimmering softly beneath the dim overhead lights, while Robin let out another increasingly irritated groan.

“Hello?” she dragged out dramatically while shifting the heavy box higher against her chest. “My arms are literally dying over here.”

That finally snapped Eddie back into motion.

You and Robin dragged the folding table towards the section of wall one of the venue staff had pointed our earlier while Eddie disappeared back outside to help unload the rest of the equipment from Gareth’s car.

A few moments later, he reappeared through the heavy double doors carrying an amp in his arms while an equally awestruck Jeff followed close behind him with the rest of the cables slung over his shoulder.

Gareth, however… You were pretty sure he had completely abandoned them somewhere around the side of the building to go throw up his nerves before the show.

Robin snorted under her breath while pulling open the cardboard box and handing you stacks of neatly folded shirts that still carried the sharp chemical smell of freshly screen-printed merch.

She leaned closer over the table, lowering her voice dramatically while her eyes flicked towards Eddie struggling with the amp near the stage.

“You know,” she started while aggressively pulling out another stack of shirts out of the box, “if this whole music thing fails, I think we’d absolutely crush it in the world of designing merch.”

A snort slipped from your nose as you lined up another pile by size and colour. “Yeah?"

“Oh, absolutely,” Robin nodded seriously. “Look at us. We already have the emotionally unstable musicians, questionable finances, and a deeply concerning amount of cigarette smoke surrounding us.”

You laughed quietly beneath your breath while reaching over to fix the crooked stack she’d somehow already ruined.

Robin glanced briefly towards the stage again where Eddie was still fighting with the amp while Jeff attempted to help in the least helpful way possible before her attention suddenly shifted towards the entrance instead.

“Oh my god.”

You looked up from the stack of shirts in your hands. “What?”

“There are actual people coming tonight.”

Your eyes instinctively flicked over your shoulder towards the heavy double doors where more figures had started filtering through – leather jackets, heavy boots, patched denim vests, and hairstyles questionable even by 1986 standards.

Robin slowly looked back towards you with widening eyes.

“We might actually have to do customer service,” she muttered nervously. “You’re still buying the first round, right?”

The more the venue filled with people, the thicker the humid air became with cigarette smoke and overlapping conversations until the music pouring from the overhead speakers slowly faded into background noise altogether.

You eventually left Robin guarding the merch table with not one but two drinks – just in case – and made your way towards the small backstage room tucked near the end of the venue with your makeup bag in one hand and one of the shirts slung over your warm.

Not bothering to knock, you simply pushed the door open with your shoulder before stepping inside.

Jeff was lazily strumming at his beloved Ibanez from the couch while Gareth leaned dangerously far back in his chair as he spun one of his drumsticks between his fingers with practiced ease.

Eddie, meanwhile, was apparently on his sixth cigarette in less than thirty minutes while he paced the cramped room back and forth, periodically dragging a hand through his curls with the other.

Judging by the exhausted looks on Jeff and Gareth’s faces, the two of them had already spent the last several minutes unsuccessfully trying to calm down their front man before finally giving up entirely.

You immediately threw the folded shirt towards Gareth the second the door clicked shut behind you.

“Gareth, you are so not wearing that Hellfire shit tonight,” you informed him while pointing accusingly in his direction. “Especially with that tiny vomit stain near the collar.”

“Aw, dude,” Jeff groaned in immediate disgust while finally sitting upright on the couch. “I knew this room smelled way too weird compared to the rest of the place.”

Gareth looked down at the shirt in betrayal. “It’s barely noticeable.”

Putting your makeup bag down onto the coffee table between them, you instinctively reached for Eddie’s hand where it was currently tangled in his gurls again.

“And you,” you murmured while giving him a stern look despite the amused glimmer hiding in your eyes, “stop pulling at your hair.”

Your fingers gently untangled his hand from the mess of dark curls before squeezing it softly.

“You know damn well that’s my job, not yours.”

That finally pulled a lower laugh from him, some of the heavy nausea twisting in his stomach easing slightly the second he snorted at your choice of words.

The lighter, breathier chuckles leaving Eddie slowly faded again until a more worried furrow settled back between his brows.

“But what if–” he started quietly, seemingly forgetting Jeff and Gareth were still sitting only a few feet behind him.

“Absolutely not.”

You shook your head immediately before grabbing his face between your hands and squishing his cheeks together before he could finish whatever catastrophic thought had been about to leave his mouth.

Eddie looked absolutely ridiculous like this; his lips had been pushed together into something vaguely fish-like while the tops of hic cheeks squished dangerously close towards his eyes.

For a brief moment, he felt overwhelmingly grateful the two of you were tucked away in one of the backstage rooms and not standing out in the venue itself – because the way he looked right now?

Yeah, not very metal.

“Listen to me,” you murmured firmly while holding his face still and looking directly into his eyes like you were trying to force the words permanently into his brain. “I’m gonna get you a glass of whiskey.”

All he could really do while you continued squishing his face was blink slowly at you.

“Then,” you continued carefully, “when I come back, I’m gonna do your makeup.”

His brows relaxed slightly as he listened carefully.

“And after you makeup’s done,” you added while a smaller grin slowly tugged at your lips, “we’re gonna make out in a bathroom stall until you finally feel like the rockstar you already are.”

By the time Gareth had finally changed out of his disgusting shirt, Jeff had tied a bandanna around his forehead, and Eddie had nearly finished his seventh cigarette, you finally made your way back down to the backstage room carrying a tray loaded with whiskey glasses – perks of being with the band.

One glass for each of you.

Two for Eddie, just in case one somehow didn’t do the job.

The new obsidian ring glimmered faintly beneath the dim backstage lights the second Eddie reached for one of the glasses, immediately throwing back half of it without even flinching at the disastrous burn trailing down his throat.

You pushed your boyfriend down onto one of the foldout chairs before settling comfortably onto his lap, guiding his free hand towards your hip while your other disappeared into the makeup bag now resting on your lap.

Almost immediately, his fingers started absently toying with the crooked cut-off hem of the Corroded Coffin shirt you’d thrown on earlier before eventually slipping beneath the fabric to rest against the warm skin of your waist instead.

“Watcha want, my love?” you murmured distractedly while pulling pencils and powders from the makeup bag spread across your lap.

Eddie absentmindedly rubbed his thumb against the skin beneath your shirt while he thought about it for a second too long.

“I dunno,” he started quietly before immediately stopping once he caught the look you gave him – the one that wordlessly told him to quit overthinking every little things.

His shoulders loosened slightly.

“Black eyeliner, please.”

He was trying his absolute best not to move too much while you carefully applied the black eyeliner along his waterline – having both learned your lesson after the disastrous attempt before one of the usual gigs at the Hide Out – but the unfamiliar sensation still had him blinking uncontrollably every few seconds anyway.

And the fact the backstage door suddenly flew open definitely didn’t help.

“Holy shit,” a loud familiar lisp echoed through the otherwise quiet room. “It’s fucking packed out there.”

“Henderson?” Gareth immediately leaned forwards in his chair to get a better look. “What the hell? How’d you even get here?”

“Told his mom we were having a sleepover,” Steve’s voice answered from behind the teen in that forced disinterested tone that never fooled anybody anymore. “You don’t even wanna know how much I had to pay the bouncer to get this little shit inside.”

He pressed his hands together dramatically before pointing towards you and Eddie.

“You guys are absolutely paying me back, by the way.”

Dustin barely even acknowledged him before immediately marching further into the room and throwing himself directly between you and Eddie hard enough to force you slightly on his lap, wrapping his arms tightly around Eddie’s shoulders like they hadn’t seen each other in years.

“You didn’t actually think I was gonna miss this, did you?” Dustin asked after finally letting go of Eddie again.

The boy beneath you immediately laughed at that – a real, full-bodied laugh this time, completely free of the nervous shakiness that had followed him around all evening.

“Can’t believe I’m about to say this,” Eddie started while squinting through his smile towards Dustin and the deeply exhausted babysitter behind him, “but I’m actually kinda happy to see both of you.”

Your expression softened slightly at the sight of how much more relaxed he suddenly looked.

“Especially you, big boy.”

Steve was cut off before he could even mutter a response when a series of loud hysterical knocks suddenly rattled the backstage door.

Robin shoved it open just enough to stick her head through, her wide eyes blinking rapidly beneath dramatically raised brows before she finally seemed capable of getting actual words out.

“Hey, so,” she started while her voice cracked slightly. “It’s fucking packed out there, and you guys are up in ten.”

Her mouth stayed slightly open while she blinked another few times like she still hadn’t fully processed it herself.

“Also,” she added weakly, “we’re kinda running out of shirts.”

That immediately snapped your head over your shoulder fast enough that you barely missed stabbing Eddie directly in the eye with the black eyeliner pencil still clutched in your hand.

“What?”

“Yeah, it’s insane,” Robin nodded quickly, her eyes still ridiculously wide. “People are literally buying one of each design.”

She pushed the door open wider so she could squeeze herself fully into the cramped room, her fingers twitching nervously while she shifted her weight from foot to foot.

“There’s also this girl behind the bar – I think it’s a girl,” she added quickly while gesturing vague panicked circled with her finger, “and she’s really hot and I’m pretty sure she just flirted with me.”

Steve listened to Robin’s increasingly frantic rambling with both hands planted firmly on his hips while he slowly leaned his head forwards in growing confusion.

“What does that even mean?” he muttered at first before his voice grew louder with every word. “What do you mean you think it’s a girl?”

Gareth let out a weak snicker from his chair before abruptly pushing himself upright again and hopping anxiously a few times in place like he was physically trying to shake the returning nerves back out of his body.

Meanwhile Jeff – who you strongly suspected had gotten at least a little stoned earlier judging by how suspiciously relaxed he’d been acting all night – simply chuckled quietly to himself before returning his attention back towards his bass, absently fiddling with the tuners.

You turned back towards Eddie to finish up his makeup while Robin continued desperately trying to explain to Steve that whoever had flirted with her had way too many facial piercings for her to confidently identify anything, and a haircut that leaned aggressively towards androgynous than anything else.

Eddie snapped his fingers towards Dustin before roughly pointing towards his second glass of whiskey sitting on the table nearby, clearly unwilling to rick moving his face too much while you worked.

“Can I have a sip?” Dustin immediately asked while reaching for the glass.

“No,” every single one of you answered at the exact same time.

Robin and Steve immediately resumed their increasingly confusion conversation while you carefully dragged the eyeliner pencil beneath Eddie’s waterline one final time before finally pulling away from him.

“Aw, c’mon,” Dustin groaned dramatically.

The second you started standing up from Eddie’s lap, his free hand immediately curled around your waist and tugged you back down long enough to press a slow kiss against your lips, a quieter thank you brushed against your mouth afterward before he leaned back just enough to finally take a sip from his drink.

The silver Casio wrapped around Robin’s wrist suddenly let out a soft, electronic beep loud enough to quiet the cramped backstage room almost instantly.

For a brief moment, nobody spoke.

You leaned back towards Eddie, a grin already tugging at your lips while you pushed yourself up from his lap and started packing everything back into your makeup again.

“Well,” you sing-songed lightly while zipping it shut, “I think it’s time, boys.”

Jeff immediately stood up from the couch while Gareth inhaled one sharp nervous breath before bouncing on the balls of his feet again.

Before Eddie could fully follow after the others through the backstage door, you gently tugged him back by his arm long enough to press one final kiss against his cheek.

“For good luck,” you whispered with a cheekier smile spreading across your lips while admiring the deep red lipstick stain you’d left behind on his skin.

You gently shoved Eddie towards the door before cheekily smacking your hand against his ass as you followed him down the long hallway leading back towards the front of the venue.

A dense cloud of cigarette smoke drifted through the corridor while muffled music and crowd noise grew louder with every step closer towards the stage.

Faint red and orange stage lights sliced through the darkness in hazy beams, painting faces in bruised theatrical colours while turning sweat into tiny glittering flames beneath the heat.

When Robin had said the place was packed, you definitely hadn’t imagined this.

The crowd had become a heaving shoulder-to-shoulder mass of leather jackets, raised glasses, elbows, cigarettes, and lighters all moving hazily in time with the final song of the mediocre opening band stumbling through the end of their setlist.

The stage itself dissolved into smeared movements as dark silhouetted figures gave something vaguely resembling a bow before disappearing off the platform to scattered cheers and whistles.

Robin stopped near the end of the hallway almost immediately after realising actually moving through the crowd now required a level of sidestepping and practiced body squeezing she simply did not possess.

So instead, she stayed behind waiting for you while Eddie and the others continued weaving towards the stage.

You quickly grabbed Robin by the wrist before dragging her into the sea of sweaty metalheads yourself, skilfully manoeuvring through the shifting bodies with an ease that immediately told her you’d clearly done this before.

By the time the two of you finally managed to squeeze your way towards the wall beside the stage, Steve’s painfully uncomfortable expression had already come into view as he did his absolute best to keep a protective distance between Dustin and the increasingly excited crowd of leather-clad strangers surrounding them.

The four of you had managed to find the perfect spot – close enough to clearly see the stage once the boys stepped out beneath the lights, but still far enough away to avoid getting swallowed by a potential mosh pit if one suddenly broke out.

Jeff softly bobbed his head to a rhythm only he could hear while plugging his bass into the amp, as Gareth absentmindedly spun his drumsticks between practiced fingers sitting diagonally behind him.

Eddie still hadn’t stepped onto the stage yet, but his beloved guitar had already found its place waiting for him beneath the dim red lights.

The second his frizzy curls finally appeared beneath the dim stage lights as he hesitantly climbed up the few steps onto the platform, you immediately caught the nervousness still lingering across his face.

His fingers twitched faintly at his side while his gaze flicked anxiously across the crowd searching for you somewhere amongst the sea of bodies.

Your hand instinctively slipped into the front pocked of your skirt, fingers curling around a tiny ziplock bag that admittedly looked incredibly suspicious once you pulled it out – enough to immediately earn a deeply concerned look from Steve when his eyes darted sharply between you and Dustin.

Ignoring the increasingly stressed babysitter entirely, you quietly spilled the contents into your palms before murmuring something low beneath your breath and gently blowing it towards the stage.

And just like that, something in Eddie finally settled.

He rolled his shoulders back, cracked his neck once to their side, and then finally wrapped his ringed hand confidently around the neck of his guitar before throwing the strap over his head.

After Jeff passed him the cable, Eddie plugged the guitar into the amp before experimentally pulling at a single chord with practiced fingers and letting the sound bounce through the deep red venue walls and out into the crowd.

The loud overlapping conversations filling the club softened almost instantly before giving way to whistles, cheers, and excited hollering directed towards the three-man band now standing beneath the stage lights.

The lipstick stain you’d marked him with briefly disappeared beneath the spill of deep red stage lights when Eddie turned towards his bandmates with a grin stretching across his face before giving them one final confident nod.

And then, before you could even fully process it, jagged palm-muted riffs suddenly tore through the venue.

Razor-edged distortion immediately followed beneath Eddie’s practiced hands while the thick percussive bassline rolled effortlessly beneath Jeff’s fingers and Gareth’s double-kick pedals and sharp snare hits punched through the air with relentless force.

The sound pouring from the amps swallowed the venue whole in seconds, filling the crowded room with the familiar predatory urgency and high-adrenaline aggression Hammerhead carried so naturally.

Deciding that whatever damage he might do to his neck tonight was entirely Future Eddie’s problem, he threw his head back and forth beneath the stage lights with his eyes squeezed shut behind already damp curls while his fingers followed the quick and raw chromatic runs across the strings effortlessly.

By the time the earlier hollering had fully dissolved into spilled drinks, shoving bodies, raised fists, and overlapping shouting from somewhere inside the crowd, Eddie finally forced his eyes back open again.

And for the first time since stepping onto the stage, he actually let himself fully take in the packed venue in front of him.

Even from where you stood only a few feet away, you caught the exact second his dark eyes widened slightly before he swallowed hard and let out that familiar scoff – the specific one he always did whenever he way trying very hard to act unimpressed despite secretly feeling proud of himself.

Beside you, Steve crossed his arms tightly across his chest while that very specific expression settled across his face – the exact one disappointed parents gave their rebellious teenagers the first time they heard the aggressively screechy music blasting from their bedrooms – while Dustin had apparently already lost his cap somewhere in the crowd after nearly giving himself a concussion headbanging the second Eddie stepped up to the mic.

Robin attempted to scream the lyrics along with Eddie, but somewhere between the noise and excitement, the words leaving her mouth mostly tangled into nonsense instead while her fingers stayed busy repeatedly snapping pictures with the disposable camera she’d bought specifically for tonight.

And you? Well, Eddie had taken your breath away, like he always did when he performed.

The way he moved around the stage like he belonged there, the veins rising along his throat while he aggressively shouted into the mic, the effortless slide of his fingers across the strings, the way he somehow commanded an entire room without even realising it himself.

Somewhere around the middle of the set – shortly after Eddie had aggressively screamed for the crowd to get louder with a crooked grin pulling at his lips – his attention suddenly caught on the familiar skeleton design stretched across the chest of a bald guy somewhere near the front of the crowd.

The screen-printed figure climbing from the coffin was unmistakable.

His fingers tightened slightly around the microphone as his words momentarily faltered before he quickly caught himself again, though not before a different kind of warmth spread through his chest entirely unrelated to the sweat dripping beneath the stage lights.

“Fuck, Ashwood,” he laughed breathlessly while his brightened eyes briefly found yours somewhere near the side of the stage before flicking back towards the crowd again. “Y’all looking fucking bitchin’ wearing my girl’s design.”

That immediately earned him another round of loud whistles, cheers, and chaotic hollering from the crowd while Eddie licked slowly across his chapped lips and casually leaned an elbow against the microphone stand, still gripping it with his older hand.

“Can’t fucking hear you,” he sing-songed into the mic with the smirk stretched wider across his face beneath the stage lights. “Make some fucking noise for my girl, Ashwood!”

The reaction from the crowd somehow grew even louder and, with it, the heat across your cheeks spread down your neck while your eyes stayed helplessly glued to Eddie standing beneath the deep red lights.

Still wearing that dangerously confident smirk, Eddie turned towards Gareth while absently sliding the microphone back into its stand.

You could practically smell the sweat clinging to Gareth’s loose curls when he suddenly lifted both drumsticks into the air and slammed them together loudly to count them in.

A sharp screech of feedback immediately tore through the venue when Eddie accidentally tugged against the plugged-in cable while his fingers found the strings again, his dark eyes still glued to the steadily growing mosh pit near the front of the crowd.

Somewhere between the overdriven ringing notes and the sharp nasal timbre of Eddie’s controlled vibratos, Steve suddenly turned around in absolute horror after finally realising he’d been too distracted watching the boys onstage to notice Dustin disappearing entirely.

Meanwhile, while you and Robin screamed the lyrics badly into each other’s faces with the disposable camera now clutched in your hands, Jeff’s closed eyes finally opened again before immediately landing on the familiar mess of tight curls bouncing wildly somewhere inside the pit.

A warm laugh escaped him beneath all the noise as he stepped closer to Eddie during the brief second the singer leaned away from the microphone before jerking his head towards the crowd where Dustin had somehow ended up hoisted onto somebody’s shoulders in the middle of the chaos.

The exact second Eddie’s bright eyes landed on the familiar curls bouncing above the crowd, Steve – still standing on his toes with absolute horror written all over his face – muttered something deeply distressed beneath his breath before dragging a frustrated hand through his hair and disappearing directly into the sweat-drenched sea of leather jackets and flailing limbs.

The scoff leaving Eddie’s mouth was quickly followed by the faint sound of laughter accidentally echoing into the microphone before he shook his head once and forced himself fully back into his frontman persona to finish the song properly.

As his ringed fingers sustained the chiming final chords and his voice stretched through one last emotional phrase before easing into a softer harmonized close, the venue slowly filled with restraining ringing melodies while you screamed something incoherent directly into Robin’s ear.

A second later, her sweaty hands suddenly curled around your thighs before she hoisted you upward so you could get a better angle for the final few pictures with the disposable camera.

You shouted the last few lines of How Many Tears along with the crowd while one fist stayed raised triumphantly in the air and an almost childishly wide grin stretched across your face.

When the final reflective melody slowly faded towards its end, Eddie’s fingers slammed against the strings a few final times, letting the dramatic ringing chord vamp fill the venue while the chaotic hollering from the crowd slowly blurred into nothing beneath the violent pounding inside his ears.

His chest rose and fell rapidly while his uneven heartbeat thundered beneath the lingering screech of feedback and excruciating ringing still buzzing through his head.

Sweat clung damply to his curls when he finally dragged them back away from his face and let his gaze slowly drift out across the crowd standing beneath the stage lights.

Eddie barely even realized he’d gone completely still until Jeff suddenly threw an arm around his shoulders and screamed an overly excited thank you directly into the microphone before roughly smacking him across the back and disappearing down the stairs again.

An exhausted breath finally slipped from Eddie’s lips when he spotted Robin leaning towards the edge of the stage so you could carefully climb down from her shoulders and onto the platform.

Before he could even react properly, you stepped closer and gently lifted the guitar strap back over his head while carefully taking the instrument into your own hands.

“C’mere,” you whispered softly while intertwining your fingers with his free hand. “Robin’s getting us drinks.”

You flashed him another toothy grin while his eyes lingered on the unmistakable pride still shining across your face before you softly tugged him towards the stairs leading back down from the stage and into the quieter backstage hallway again.

Before pushing the backstage door open with your shoulder, you carefully turned back towards Eddie – mindful of the guitar still balanced in your hand – and pressed one long kiss against his drenched temple.

The cramped room smelled heavily of weed, spilled beer, and sweat mixed in with cigarette smoke by the time you finally stepped back inside with Eddie trailing closely behind you.

You reluctantly let go of his ringed hand long enough to carefully place his beloved instrument back onto the spare stand tucked in the corner before dropping yourself down onto one of the foldout chairs and quietly coaxing Eddie over towards you.

Without much resistance, he immediately sank down onto your lap instead while wrapping one exhausted arm loosely around your shoulders.

“The big, bad rockstar is actually a giant baby, huh?” Steve joked from behind his beer glass the second he saw Eddie practically melting into you.

“Shut up, Steven,” you muttered firmly while your hand brushed gently up and down Eddie’s damp back. “And pass that joint before you become physically incapable of driving Dustin home.”

The soft blend of exhausted laughter, proud compliments, and overlapping voices filling the cramped backstage room was momentarily drowned out by the loud creak of the door opening again when Robin shoved it closed behind her using her back while balancing an almost concerning amount of drinks across the tray in her hands.

“Can I try a drag?” Dustin immediately asked the second Steve passed the joint to Eddie.

“No,” every single one of you answered in perfect unison once again.

The joint kept making lazy rounds around the cramped room while tired laughter and overlapping conversations slowly softened beneath exhaustion.

Somewhere outside the backstage walls, the crowd still hadn’t fully settled either – occasional whistles and chants bleeding faintly through the venue every now and then, which caused Eddie to bury his face further against your neck each time it happened.

Somewhere between Robin loudly recounting Steve disappearing into the mosh pit after Dustin and Gareth insisting he deserved medical attention after almost getting hit with a flying beer bottle, Eddie’s responses slowly dissolved into quieter hums against your skin.

“You wanna go back to the hotel, baby?” you whispered quietly as your fingers drifted softly through his damp curls while a small smile tugged at your lips.

“Only if you carry me,” he mumbled sleepily against your skin.

After almost an hour, you finally unlocked the door to the motel room and pushed it open so Eddie could stumble inside first while you carefully carried the heavy guitar case in behind him.

The second he stepped into the room, he kicked off his shoes and immediately collapsed face-first onto the mattress without even bothering to take off the rest of his clothes, which instantly pulled a softer chuckle from you.

Before joining him, you changed back into the oversized shirt you’d slept in the night before and grabbed a glass of water from the bathroom sink for him.

“C’mere, baby,” you whispered softly while setting the glass down onto the nightstand before climbing onto the bed beside him.

You gently poked at his arm until he finally rolled over enough for you to carefully tug his still-damp shirt up and over his head.

The vibrant neon lights glowing outside the motel had been softened by the curtains you’d drawn shut earlier that evening, and the only sound filling the room now besides Eddie’s exhausted breathing was the faint endless humming of the broken ice machine somewhere down the hallway.

His ringed fingers dragged through his curls while you worked open the buckle of his belt, carefully tugging him out of the uncomfortable skinny jeans so he could finally get some proper sleep.

Your hands paused halfway through pulling the rough denim down his thighs when your gaze caught the noticeable outline beneath his boxers.

“Baby, you’re exhausted,” you whispered softly, your fingers resuming their absentminded movements as you eased the jeans lower.

“But I want you,” he mumbled groggily, rubbing at one of his tires eyes.

After a brief struggle to free his calves from the stubborn denim, you climbed back onto the bed beside him and propped yourself up on one elbow, your chin resting in your hand.

“Are you sure?” you asked quietly, a faint crease of concern tugging at your brows.

He only nodded, eyes slipping shut for a moment before he forced them open again, heavy with exhaustion as they lingered lazily over your face.

Another small nod followed, and you pressed a gentle kiss to his temple before carefully climbing back down the bed until your knees sank into the carpet beside him.

Eddie’s breath caught softly in his throat as you gently tugged his boxers down, the soft cotton brushing against his cock as you did so.

A soft, tired gasp escaped from his lips when he felt the warm, wet feeling of your spit landing on the angry red tip of his cock right before your hand gently curled around his sensitive flesh.

His eyes slipped shut again the moment your lips wrapped around his leaking cock, and despite the exhaustion weighing heavily on his body, he still had to fight the instinctive urge to thrust his hips forwards to bury himself deeper into the warmth of your mouth.

Your free hand slid gently over the blankets underneath him and intertwined his fingers with yours as soft, sleepy whimpers continued spilling from his mouth the deeper you took him in your mouth.

His free hand curled softly into your hair as another low whimper slipped from his lips at the teasing flick of your tongue against his slit. With gentle care, you bobbed your head and took his cock a little deeper, your gaze fixed on the way his eyes had fallen shut and the slow rise and fall of his chest – calm enough to tell you he was seconds away from sleep.

The grip in your hair loosened slightly when he finally drifted off, though you kept moving in a slow, unhurried rhythm while his sleepy cock twitched against your tongue.

Soft, low snoring soon filled the room around you as you gave one last flick of your tongue against his tip, your fingers moving gently up and down until his softening cock finally slipped free from your mouth.

Carefully, after swallowing everything he’d given you, you pulled the soft cotton of his boxers back over his hips before climbing back into bed beside him.

Then, just before sleep finally claimed you too, you pressed a soft kiss to his temple and snuggled quietly against his chest.

Your eyes stayed fixed on the wooden record crate while your fingers carefully flipped through the sleeves one by one, keeping an attentive eye out for anything remotely interesting.

Somewhere in the back of the music shop, Eddie’s voice echoed through the storage room while he aggressively cursed at whatever new shipment had arrived earlier that morning, the rattling sound of boxes being dragged around followed right after.

He’d asked you to keep an eye on the front of the store and come get him if any customers wandered in, and in return, he’d handed over the sacred privilege of choosing the record of the day.

Naturally, you’d accepted immediately.

Warm amber lights filtered through the dusty glass display counter, catching against the details of harmonicas, rare singles, enamel pins, and patches while casting long shadows across the shelves lined with plastic-wrapped cassettes and music books.

You’d already been there a handful of times by now, but the walls plastered with framed concert posters and overcrowded cork board still managed to amaze you every single time you stepped inside.

The entire store carried a kind of clutter that bordered on tactile – with a cozy listening station tucked into the corner beside a couple of worn beanbags, and the faint lingering smell of coffee and freshly unpacked merch.

“You find anything interesting yet?” Eddie mumbled while pushing through the beaded curtain with his shoulder, a heavy box of records balanced carefully in his arms.

He dropped the box onto the counter before immediately pulling the cardboard flaps open.

“Yeah,” you murmured distractedly after a second once your eyes landed on a particularly colourful sleeve. “I think so.”

Three faces stared back at you from the cover art, looking either like a clown had violently exploded across the design or like the artist had been aggressively experimenting with LSD while designing it.

Soft footsteps echoed quietly through the otherwise empty shops before Eddie’s arms wrapped themselves loosely around your waist and his chin settled into its usual place between your shoulder and neck.

“Cream, huh?” he mumbled while brushing his nose lightly against your skin, breathing in the soft herbal scent clinging to you from whatever oils and mixtures you’d been experimenting with lately. “Pretty sure Wayne saw them live back in the day.”

“Yeah?” you mumbled back, your gaze still lingering across the cover. “They must be good if Wayne spent money to see them.”

Eddie just hummed in agreement as he continued brushing the tip of his nose against your skin.

You turned the sleeve around to take a look at the tracklist, and immediately let out an ugly snort when your gaze fell on the very first song, pulling Eddie’s attention away from your neck to see what was so funny.

“Strange Brew, huh?” he chuckled when he followed your pointing finger under the track. “You’re never beating the witch allegations if everything slightly witchy keeps finding you like this.”

A softer laugh slipped from your lips as you finally tore your eyes away from the sleeve long enough to glance back at him over your shoulder.

“You found me too, remember?” You lifted an eyebrow at him, immediately pulling another laugh from Eddie.

His grip around your waist loosened while he laughed before he leaned down to press a quick kiss against your cheek and finally stepped away from you again, returning towards the cardboard box still waiting to be unpacked on the counter.

“I have absolutely no response to that,” he mumbled while reaching into the box, his fingers carefully curling around the brand new record sleeves before lifting them out one by one.

You rolled your eyes lightly to yourself before turning the Cream album back around in your hands again.

Then you wandered around the counter to join him behind the register, drifting closer towards the beaten-up turntable sitting beside the stacks of freshly unpacked vinyl.

“So, I was thinking,” you mumbled while carefully sliding the record from its sleeve, already waiting for Eddie’s usual little I’m listening hum before continuing, “should we get a cat?”

That made him blink a few times.

His fingers paused halfway through pulling another record out of the box before one of his rings snagged briefly against the cardboard flap.

“You mean,” he started slowly while untangling himself from it, “should you get a cat.”

Your brows immediately pulled into a faint scowl while you carried the record over towards the beaten-up turntable near the register.

“I know what I meant,” you mumbled while carefully lowering the needle. “And I meant us.”

Eddie looked up at you properly then.

You kept fiddling with the stereo knobs while continuing like you hadn’t just casually rearranged his entire emotional state.

“You basically live with me already,” you added distractedly while fighting the stubborn speaker static. “It’s your home, too.”

It took another few tries before the quiet record store finally filled with a lazy blues-rock groove and the fuzzy lead guitar of the opening track – something psychedelic and slow that sounded strangely like a light-night potion brewed from equal parts charm and danger.

“I don’t think I’m ready to become a father,” Eddie finally settled on after a few long seconds instead of voicing the far uglier self-deprecating thoughts that had immediately started clawing their way through his head.

Because, yeah – he basically did live with you already.

Most of his clothes had somehow found a permanent home in the middle drawer of your dresser, and Wayne had recently ended his long-term relationship with the pullout couch in favour of starting a new one with Eddie’s old bed.

And Eddie did feel at home in your trailer.

He liked the small routines the two of you had quietly built together – the late-night grocery runs, shared cigarettes on the porch, records humming softly through the kitchen while one of you cooked.

But besides helping around the house whenever he could and occasionally paying for groceries, Eddie still sometimes felt like he wasn’t really contributing enough to deserve any of it.

“I know what you’re thinking,” you murmured softly while lowering the dust cover back over the turntable. “Stop it.”

Eddie blinked up at you. “Stop what?”

A deeper sigh left you as you turned towards him properly, already reaching for one of his hands.

“I didn’t think I actually had to ask it out loud,” you mumbled while gently tugging him closer until he fully turned to face you again. “But do you wanna move in? Like… really move in?”

Eddie stared at you for a few seconds.

“Are you asking me this because you really want a cat?”

That immediately pulled a softer laugh from you while you closed the remaining distance between your bodies.

“Maybe,” you admitted quietly before smiling up at him. “I don’t wanna be a single mom, though.”

Eddie snorted quietly under his breath.

“And,” you added softly. “I really would like you to permanently move in with me.”

You leaned up just enough to press a gentle kiss against his cheek before pulling back again.

“Plus,” you added with another teasing smile, “I’m pretty sure Wayne’s more than happy to pass the burden onto somebody else.”

Eddie fell quiet for a few long seconds, trying his best to shove aside the familiar self-deprecating thoughts with the warmth of your words instead.

Eventually, another quieter breath escaped him.

“Only if we get a black cat,” he murmured after a moment, his thumb brushing slowly against your knuckles, “and call him Ozzy.”

You immediately snorted – the loud and ugly kind of laugh that somehow only ever came out around Eddie.

“What if it’s a girl?” you asked while a stupid grin already pulled at your lips. “You gonna call her Sharon?”

“Oh, you’re giving me way too many ideas right now,” Eddie murmured while his hands found your hips again, gently pulling you back against his chest.

“Yeah?” you whispered back while leaning your forehead softly against his.

“Oh, yeah,” he grinned. “Ozzy and Sharon Munson. That’s sick.”

You immediately burst into laughter at the look on his face – the one that always made him look like he’d just received divine revelation straight from the Universe itself.

“You gonna give them your last name?” you teased.

Eddie’s smile softened almost instantly.

“Not just them,” he murmured quietly against your neck.