Brightside | ✓

33 | no complaints

After the cemetery, everything else in Boston was a blur. Eddie hadn't even been home to grab more than clothing since the flight back to San Francisco because she was too worried about what Boston had done to Axel to leave him alone for more than five minutes. Peter was all too excited to live in a place that was better taken care of than Eddie's apartment, so there were no protests from him that she had all but officially moved out because of her own anxieties.

"Question—ow, fuck." Axel hit himself in the eye with the screw he was trying to get into the bottom of his new dining room table while Eddie held the table top up. He rubbed the sting out for a moment.

Being surrounded by the Princess Leia portraits and his Lego displays and his messy desk tucked into his living room was nice, despite the lingering fear of photos being taking of their comings and goings. Hell, even helping him build a dining room table was nice. It felt like normality. Eddie wasn't sure she knew what that was after fame, but there she sat, on a floor, wearing fabric overalls she'd stolen from August years before, watching the man she was dating attempting to use a screwdriver when she insisted she could've brought her power drill from the home she owned legally but hadn't stayed in for the better part of a week. Axel muttered something under his breath that sounded like he was calling her hot but elected to fight with his screwdriver instead of repeat himself.

"Are you okay?"

"Fine." Axel made a face and picked up the screw again. Stuck his tongue out while he tried to screw it in. Didn't have any more success, but he didn't drop it in his eye again, so that meant he was improving.

"What was your question?" Eddie asked. Poorly attempting not to get distracted by his shirt moving up every time he squirmed on the floor. She could see the trail of hair under his bellybutton and while it was hardly breaking news to her, that didn't mean she knew how to control herself when she had the honour of seeing it. It was so distracting that she even forgave him for the Nobody knows I'm a lesbian t-shirt he was wearing. (She did get a giggle out of imagining what choice words Moxie would have to say if she'd texted her a photo of it, but she'd kept that one to herself.)

"At dinner with... Nicholas. You didn't argue with him when he said I was your boyfriend."

Eddie felt her cheeks redden but hoped he was too focused on the table to notice. "I'm not embarrassed to be with you, he doesn't need to know we haven't really discussed a label. Frankly, he didn't deserve an explanation."

"I think I might like you more knowing you hate him, too."

Eddie scoffed. "I didn't even tell you I told him I'd punch him in the face."

Axel dropped what he was doing and practically tackled her. Straddled her hips and kissed her once. Twice. Three times. He popped off one of the fabric straps of her loose overalls and kissed her neck.

"Axel—" Eddie would've been lying if she'd said she wasn't enjoying herself. But her hands were preoccupied with holding the table top up because Axel had abandoned it. "What happened to building the dining table—"

"Got an idea about what we can do with the table—"

"We are not having sex on a table bought for you—"

"I'm sure Cruella wouldn't mind—"

"Axel—" Eddie laughed. Didn't give much effort into pushing him away with one hand. The table was sturdier than she'd expected.

"What happened to not being embarrassed of being..." Axel pulled away and made a face. "What would you consider us?"

"I'd say we're together," Eddie said. "I hope. Unless you're not on that page—"