#hellbike

he listens, though, when eddie talks about music—and eddie talks about music a lot. rambling about metal vs punk vs rock vs grunge, ranking different bands and their albums. he’s also very loud with his complaints about the “top 40s bullshit” steve and robin play at family video. he’s got a lot to say, which mike usually just smiles at.

but then one week eddies got too much going on to dm, so mike agrees to run a side quest. eddie decides to come early and help mike set up, bringing him some pizza as a thank you for stepping in

but when he gets to the wheelers place, just at the top of the basement stairs, he hears there’s music blasting

and there’s a voice singing along: off key but very passionate, and so incredibly endearing eddie thinks he might actually physically melt

mike is downstairs absolutely belting along to foreigners “I want to know what love is”. eddie watches through a crack in the door as bambi legs mike wheeler does a clumsy little dance across the room to the verses. then mike, in his hellfire t-shirt and his black skinny jeans, all 5’11 of his baby punk self, draped head to toe is eddie’s metal influences, pauses everything he’s doing and holds his hands out to some invisible audience as he sings about his life of heartache and pain.

just as he sings about changing his lonely life, eddie throws the door open as wide as he can while still respecting karen wheeler’s home and bellows the chorus down the stairs

mike jumps, his cheeks redder than the demon on his shirt as he stutters out eddies name and scrambles to turn the music off

eddie laughs and saunters down the stairs. “aw, but i really do wanna know what love is!” he teases, ruffling mikes hair. “aren’t you gonna show me, wheeler? I know you can show me”

mike shoves him away grumbling, but his cheeks are still pink, and eddie doesn’t think he’ll get over how cute that little performance was for a while

he encourages mike to pick the music as they continue setting up. he even sorta likes a few of the songs that come on, even if what he mostly likes is learning something new about mike, seeing him having genuine fun, seeing him nodding his head to madonna as he flips through his notes

mike likes the music, he's usually more of a pop music guy honestly but if dustin thinks it's cool he's down to listen to it with him. he's not super looking forward to the show, as he's not the biggest fan of crowds, or strangers, but he doesn't want dustin going alone, and it's not like he's doing anything better with his time on a friday night.

sure enough, it's super crowded, and mike is holding his drink to his chest trying desperately not to spill it. at least dustin agreed to stand near the side with him so neither of them would get crushed in the mosh pit---dustin may have been able to handle that, but neither of them were under any illusion that mike would do well in one, so dustin mercifully agrees to stay around the edges of the crowd. they manage to get right up against the stage while still remaining outside the pit, which has a ring of people well over six-foot standing shoulder to shoulder, ready to throw people back in or pick people up if they fall, as well as serving to make sure no unwilling participants would be pulled in.

dustin starts freaking out as soon as the band comes out, which at least makes mike feel like standing here surrounded by all these people is worth it. mike's only heard their music, never seen them, and he figured they'd look about like that, all decked in black denim and ripped t-shirts and leather jackets. the front man, he had to admit, was pretty cute, and he was doing a whole shtick that was surprisingly theatrical, and, even more surprisingly, kinda hot.

mike is so deeply into him by the second song. he can barely tell what words he's saying half the time, but the long frizzy hair works for him, and the way he talks between songs just does something to mike. it doesn't hurt that occasionally he'll grind against the mic stand in a way that had mike's breath catching in his throat.

after the third song, the singer---eddie, as he's introduced himself---shrugs off his leather jacket and tosses it onto the side of the stage, right where mike and dustin are. but mike only knows that because he hears it land; his eyes are glued to eddie, glued to the shape of him that's just been revealed with the ditched layer, and when he looks up at eddie's face again, the guy winks at him. which strikes mike absolutely dumb, his cheeks bright red.

eddie works the stage for the rest of the night, occasionally making eyes at mike, and mike catches him every single time, because he can't stop staring at him. and when they leave the stage, the drummer tosses his drum sticks into the crowd, but as eddie's leaving, he takes the bandana from his back pocket, wipes the sweat off his face, and shoves the bandana right into mike's chest as he walks off the stage. mike would've been so grossed out in any other instance, but with eddie looking at him like that, it just gives him the most confusing boner of his life.