stranger things? no that’s the eddie munson show

Yay! Thank you!

Steve was annoyed at the kids, even though Eddie tried to talk him down. He knew they were used to uncovering grand government conspiracies, but would it have been that hard for them to respect their friend’s privacy?

He looked at Eddie, in a fitful sleep on the couch, and his heart hurt. He always knew his home life hadn’t been the best, but he could never have expected that the most gentle man he knew came from such a monster.

Yeah, that was too optimistic.

He’d been weird looking before, but now he was an absolute horror show. At least, in the pre-Upside Down days, getting naked just meant proving to everyone that he was scrawny. And it wasn’t like he had many occasions to strip in front of other people, so it was fine.

Now, his entire stomach was taken over by scar tissue, that also encroached all the way up to his chest. And, just as a little ‘fuck you’ to him from the universe, an entire nipple was in a bat’s stomach somewhere. In case he still looked too normal.

If that was the only change in his life, he could’ve lived with it. But somehow, with the Upside Down came a boyfriend. A boyfriend who for some reason couldn’t keep his hands off him.

He worked around it pretty well—lights off and shirt on during sex were absolute musts, even if Steve pouted every time in a way that was frankly too adorable to be fair. He tried not to smack Steve’s hand away too obviously when it crept under his shirt, and found that redirecting him with a kiss usually did the trick.

So, he adapted, and he was pretty proud of himself. But Steve seemed to be on a never ending crusade to get him naked.

“The kids are demanding a ride to the pool,” he said one morning as they woke up, him still curled on top of Eddie, “I told them we’d take them.”

Eddie nodded, even if the idea sounded awful—90 degree heat and the general public of Hawkins were two of the things he hated the most. But fresh air was good for him, or some shit.

And, the pool meant Steve in swim shorts, apparently, which had Eddie feeling a lot better about the whole thing.

He’d gotten dressed in his usual outfit, band tee and a leather jacket, and Steve shot him a look.

“It’s almost a hundred degrees outside. You can’t go to the pool like that.”

“It’s my brand.” He argued, not liking where he sensed Steve going with this.

“You’ll get heatstroke and die.”

“Sounds festive.”

Steve glared again. “You promised no more dying in front of the kids after you traumatized Dustin.”

Damn. That was a low blow, but fair enough.

“I’m starting to think you have ulterior motives,” he snarked, rather than respond to the point.

Steve’s lips curled in a smirk. “Who, me? I just don’t want my boyfriend to perish in the Indiana humidity, so I have to tell everyone at his funeral he died being a stubborn idiot. This is absolutely not me trying to get you shirtless.”

By the end, he was giggling, arms draped over Eddie’s neck. Steve was joking, but Eddie had a pit in his stomach. He didn’t seem like he was going to let this go.

“I’ll wear a tank top,” he conceded, hoping he had one that didn’t show the bites on his chest, “and normal length shorts. Okay?”

That smile Steve got whenever Eddie said yes to something he wanted crossed his face, and Eddie tried not to be charmed by it as he went to change.

Steve being like "even Rockstars need to hydrate, Stella"

And Eddie gently steering her away from the crowds like "easy there baby Bambi, you're a little too small for moshing rn"

Eddie: Yeah