𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐦𝐢𝐭𝐡𝐬

THIRTY: you can talk to us.

ALL WHILE AT Rhys' apartment, Eddie was seated at the foot of the mattress in the livingroom, staring at Rhys. "I'm not doing it." He says and the blond frowns, leaning back with his arms crossed. "It's fun, come on." He says as he grabbed his. "No, it's not. It's just gonna spray everywhere." He says and Rhys' brows raised at the brunette who sighed.

"Fine. You have to do it for me then," he sat closer, extending out his beer can which is taken qiickly by the older who's grinning. They had picked up some beer on the way back, Rhys grabbed a shit ton of king can sized beers to shotgun, making it into a competition. The cans are each 16 ounces. "Oh, come on, you're a big boy, Eds." He said as he handed over a bottle and can opener which the Munson reluctantly takes, sighing.

"I don't know why I let you drag me into shit like this." He mumbled as he got his can ready at the same time as Rhys before they put their mouths at the bottoms of their cans, chugging them as they open the top parts of the cans. Rhys finished his first of course.

They finished probably three cans each before they started to feel a buzz but Eddie wasn't letitng up, he wanted to beat Rhys and he did at some point, probably by their fifth cans, tossing his empty can to the side now with victory before he laid down and Rhys followed, sighing as he finished up his own can.

"What else can we drink?" Eddie said and Rhys grins, pointing towards the bottle of vodka on the side. They ended up doing shots then at some point literally drank from the bottle until Eddie laid onto his back, staring up at the ceiling. "Hey," Rhys said as he laid down beside the brunette on the mattress.

"Hmm?" Eddie hums, turning his head just the slightest to look at the blond. "What's your favourite colour?" Rhys asked quietly, and Eddie looks away. "Green." He says in response and he knows exactly why.

Dark green. It represented the woods after a cold stormy night, it represented James. It felt like James, everytime he saw green. Not to mention the colour sometimes matching the Hopper's darkening gaze whenever he looks at Eddie. But he prefers sage green.

And he knows why. It represents warmth like a cup of matcha tea. It reminds him of the way Rhys' eyes look when he's staring at Eddie, much like the way he's staring at him now. "Mine is brown." Rhys leans closer, "like warm hot chocolate on a nice cold day in Winter." He said, smiling before laying down.

"Would you have kept me happy?" Eddie suddenly asked, staring out the window before glancing at the blond who's staring up at the ceiling. "I'd like to think that I would've tried my best." He says quietly, sounding unsure ofnhow to answer. "I think you were right." Eddie also looked up at the ceiling.

"Nothing James and I ever do seem good enough for the other... it's like we're just lying to ourselves at this point." He sighed, raising his hands to rub his eyes. "James was right. He was right and I should've left it there." Eddie is pretty much weeping at this point.

"Right about what?" Rhys had moved to lay onto his side, watching him carefully. "The stupid red string. It's not us." He's crying more and Rhys is confused. "Hey, it's okay..." He just moved closer, pulling Eddie into his arms and rubbing his back to comfort him. "It's okay, Eddie." He kept repeating to the Munson like a mantra all while comforting him and Eddie pulls back, sniffling and wiping his eyes.

"Such a stupid thing to cry for," he said and let out a choked out laugh as Rhys chuckles with him, wiping away his tears until there was no evidence of him ever crying to begin with except for the bloodshot eyes and puffiness around them. Eddie glanced up into the blond's green eyes, smiling softly, "thanks." He says quietly as Rhys just smiled back at him. "No problem, Eds." He says as Eddie's eye gaze dropped down for a moment.

Then their eyes met again and Rhys quickly realizes the brunette leaning in so he just turns away, clearing his throat. "I'm gonna... head to bed. You're welcome to spend the night, that mattress is Nora's and I'm sure it's very comfy!" He said as Eddie just merely smiled and turned his head away, laying down. Both of them were externally grateful for that, neither wanted to ruin everything by what was about to happen between them before Rhys looked away and said that he was "going to bed".

Meanwhile at Weathertop, James was so close to falling asleep on Steve's lap as they watched the sunset. "Jamie?" Steve whispers as he leaned over, peering down at him and James opens his eyes. "Hmm?" He hums and Steve nods. "We should get going, yeah?" He says, a small smile on his face. "Yeah, sure..."

James drove Steve home where they sat in silence in the car for a moment. "Hey, James?" The Harrington looked over and the Hopper quickly glanced over. "Yeah?" He says and the shorter fidgets with his fingers, a bit of a habit Eddie gets when he's angry or frustrated, sometimes mostly jealous, but this showed anxiousness from Steve.

"I... I just want you to know you can talk to me, you know? About anything." Steve says and James wholeheartedly felt terrible all of the sudden, but he's unsure why. They were never a thing and never would have been, they just got along surprisingly well as co-workers, friends, nothing more. But the way Steve's staring at him with concern pangs at his heart with anger and frustration. Because the reason Steve felt like James couldn't talk to him was because of Eddie and him being back together. He can't tell Steve that, or anyone else.

"Yeah, I know." James smiled and Steve nods before leaning over, slowly at first so James closed the gap between them to hug Steve, gently caressing the back of Steve's head as he did before pulling back. "Thanks for being a good friend." Now that tugged at Steve's heartstrings but smiled anyway. "Of course, Jamie..." He says, smiling wider.

Friend. Yeah. Just a friend. Steve reminds himself as he heads inside and James sighed before driving off once he knew the Harrington had gone inside. When he goes home, James watched his mom and dad in the livingroom for a brief moment from the foyer when Jim finally took notice of his son, bringing his attention away from his lover by his side.

"What's wrong, James?" He asked and the young man just timidly plays with the fabric of his jeans, glancing around. "Can I talk to you guys?" He asked, a bit coyly as he clears his throat softly, looking away. The couple glanced at one another, obviously concerned before looking back at their oldest son. (Older by four months that is, Jonathan always reminds him of this little fact of their age.)

"You didn't get a girl pregnant, did you?"

"Ew, dad, what the hell."

"I'm joking! Of course you can talk to us."

authors note
a bit of jopper and james bc i love jopper and they'd be such good parents to james i know they would be 🥹🥹