Take on Me

Chapter 13: Slowly Learning That Life Is Okay

As the sun rose in Hawkins, Steve's alarm began to blast through its small speakers on his nightstand, bringing the boy out of dreamless sleep.

Steve blindly swatted at his clock to turn it off. When he achieved this action, he finally cracked open his eyes following a yawn, trying not to let the sun blind him. As his eyes adjusted to the light in his room, he felt warmth from beside him, underneath the covers. Eddie. Steve realized the two of them were still naked after lifting the covers to check.

Wow- Steve Harrington is no longer an Eddie Munson virgin. He couldn't believe it. He had longed for the previous night for so long, and finally, it happened. Steve smiled as he thought back to Eddie's face from above him- sweaty, swollen lips and eyes squeezed shut as he just... felt him.

Steve brought his hand up to his neck and ran his fingers over the hickeys Eddie left. He closed his eyes and laid there, taking in the feeling. He'd hoped this would never go away- that Eddie would never go away. The man had become such a positive force in Steve's life.

Steve never thought he'd say that Eddie "The Freak" Munson positively influenced him.

Steve opened his eyes with a chuckle as he sat up finally, putting a pillow behind his back so he could still lean. He rubbed the sleepiness away from his eyes the best he could. When he felt like he got the job done, he turned to look down at Eddie- his snoring boyfriend- who was asleep on his stomach. Soft little snores escaped Eddie's mouth as he cuddled into one of Steve's feather-filled pillows.

After a moment, Steve placed his hand in Eddie's hair and began to massage his scalp.

"Mmm." Eddie hummed as he seemed to twitch awake.

"G'morning, Eddie." Steve softly spoke as his fingers continued to scratch at Eddie's head.

"Mmm." the metalhead hummed again, bringing his fingers up to rub his eyes.

Steve continued to massage the curly-headed man until Eddie rolled over onto his side to look up at Steve. "How do you feel?" was the first thing to come out of the metalhead's mouth- and god- did Eddie's raspy morning voice make Steve want to go for round two.

"Surprisingly okay." Steve shrugged as he rested his head back, still sitting up.

"You don't feel sore or-" Eddie tried, but Steve stopped him with, "I'm okay, Ed. Really."

"You look like I choked you out," Eddie spoke as he brought his fingers up to Steve's neck, softly touching the bruised skin. Steve leaned into the touch. "Like seriously, I could've been a little more gentle."

"I think it matches the ring around my neck that the bates gave me." the jock joked, causing Eddie to roll his eyes as he brought his hand back down to his side.

"I don't like to think about that." Eddie sighed, his eyes falling onto Steve's scar. Nobody liked to talk about their wounds from their fight with Vecna. Steve's ring around his neck, Eddie's bubbled-up scars around his stomach, and even Max's scars from her surgery to recover her broken limbs. The others, who had emotional scars, were the same as well- silent about their pain. Sometimes, the group looked over the wounds so much that they forgot about them completely, not even noticing the blaring red signs of hurt that clouded everyone's minds.

"No one likes to think about it, Eddie, but, it's a part of us," Steve spoke, hand reaching over to touch Eddie's side gently. The side that one of his wounds embedded.

"It is a part of us- forever." Eddie sighed. His eyes looked sad and dull as he thought back to their fight. It was long ago, but it still felt like it happened yesterday. It would always feel like that, Eddie thought.