#more importantly

It was mutual and amicable, as much as it had hurt them both. Eddie needed to leave, to get out from under the thumb of Hawkins, Indiana, and Steve wasn't ready to go. Maybe someday, when he could be absolutely sure that things were settled here. But in the end, Eddie needed to go, and Steve needed to stay.

Three months before he left, because he'd known even then that he would never get over Steve, he gave him his necklace. He'd never fully explained to Steve what it meant to him, but the other man had accepted it like he had.

Eddie didn't ask for it back when he left. He didn't know how. Wasn't sure he wanted to. He was going to try to move on, just like Steve asked, but how could he give his necklace to someone else?

The months and years pass them by. They keep in touch, making time to talk to each other on the first of every month, even as Eddie's career starts to take off and Steve starts taking classes at the Roane Community College, trying to find his purpose.

Eddie's one guilty pleasure, even as he starts and stops other relationships. Even as he finds success with his friends, not selling out stadiums around the world but selling out real venues around the country. Even as they trudge their way through the 90s, are the pictures Johnathan sends him once or twice a year in the mail.

It's always a small stack of candids. They're taken throughout the year in the little pockets of time the gang finds to meet up. Eddie has been to a small handful himself, but never all the way to Hawkins, and never more than once a year.

What makes them special, important, vital, is the glimpse of that old chain still wrapped around Steve's neck, tucked under his shirt.

Every time the thick envelope finds its way into his hands, Eddie has to hold his breath. Maybe this time it won't be there. Maybe Steve has finally taken it off.

Every time he gets to breathe again, because his guitar pick is still nestled right over Steve's heart.

It's usually not long after he gets those pictures that whatever relationship he might have been in ends. No matter how successful. No matter how much he truly cares for them. It's always a guilty reminder that someone else hasn't let go of his heart.

It's five, almost six years since he left, and he feels the change coming. Steve graduated with an associate's degree in the culinary arts in June and is one month out from graduating from an intensive four-month culinary program. Eddie's life has settled. His schedule has fallen into neat boxes of touring seasons and non-touring seasons, two-month stretches of chaos followed by several months of writing and recording, coming home before the sun sets.

The kids have moved on. The adults are settled. They're all safe.

Steve was wearing his necklace at graduation. The cheap chain looked freshly polished.

(Part 1.)

Like okay so uhhhhh XF’s in college (writing’s his side gig) and he’s joined a few programs to put on his resume--mostly things with just enough wiggle room in the scheduling for him to be able to be able to take a break. Anyways so XF ends up in this marine life studying program. He ends up getting lucky and ends up winning a draw for an "all expenses paid" trip across the country to get some hands on experience. Well obviously XF takes up on this trip because who would pass a thing like that up?

So he packs his bags and goes to meet his roommate (another lucky person that won the draw for the trip) and move into one of the coziest sea-side places he's ever seen. The trip's only for 6 months and during the 6 months they have to collect various samples and photographs of the sea life there. This of course means that they have to venture out to sea and go diving.

Anyways so XF meets his new roommate and it's SY ofc, and they become friends after a bit of living together. The identity reveal happens somewhere after a month and XF is surprised that he doesn't hate SY for all of the rude shit SY's said in the comment section of his works (works plural, SY has read more than one of XF's works. Despite the spiteful comments SY believes that XF is a talented writer and enjoys the worldbuilding XF does in his other less-smut-driven works). Instead of genuine resentment all they do is bicker like an old married couple for like a good chunk of the trip.

Anyways so moving past that one of these days, XF goes out like super late at night for a walk on the beach because he has really bad writer's block and is also a bit stressed because of some lingering family issues. While on this walk he trips over a little lump and he's like "what the hell is that" and it's a small child--thing that's washed up on shore. XF freezes because what the fuck, is this a genuine mermaid? even if it's not why the hell is there a child washed up on shore like this? The mermaid(?) is bleeding and XF knows that there are some fish in the water that'd probably snap this little guy up if XF were to return it to the water.

Ssssoo... XF dunks the jacket he'd worn out into the sea water, wraps it around the weak body of this merchild (?) and books it back to the condo. SY is awoken by the sound of XF slamming drawers open in a wild search for salt. When he groggily gets up to question why the fuck XF is being this loud at like 12 in the morning, XF motions to the kitchen sink, where he's temporarily placed the bundled up mermaid.

SY's all like, "holy shit" and the two of them rush to get a tub of water filled so they can check up on this merbaby. They treat the wounds they best they can and then freak out about the fact that they found a real like honest-to-god mermaid.

They stay awake for a good while before they're like "okay we've done what we can, all we can do is wait" and go to sleep. Well SY wakes up first--completely forgetting about the fact that they kept the injured mermaid in the bathroom--and heads to the bathroom to brush his teeth. He opens the door and it's like a warzone. There's a few cracked tiles on the floor, shampoo bottles that've been bitten through, a bunch of products have been knocked to the floor, the hand towels have been shredded to bits, and the mermaid is nowhere in sight. Shen Yuan's jaw drops.