Chapter Text
Eddie exhaled sharply through his nose as Chris left him alone in front his apartment, still annoyed. He climbed into his car, flipping the radio on and turning it to max volume, hoping to drown out his troubles with The Who. As his frustration faded, it was replaced with worry.
It was only their second date, and they were already fighting? Would their relationship even work at all?
When he got home to his apartment, Eddie decided to wash away his sorrows with alcohol. He didn’t know how many beers he had before he passed out on his couch.
Eddie woke up with a nasty hangover. He groggily got up and off the couch. He was quickly snapped out of his hungover daze as he saw the time. He needed to be to practice in 15 minutes, and it takes him about 10 to get there. He rushed to change into some new clothes and practically inhale a bottle of water before getting in his car.
By the time he got to their practice space, it was already a few minutes past when they had scheduled it to start.
As he quickly stepped into the room, Mike spoke “nice of you to join us.” There wasn’t any annoyance in his voice, he was just teasing.
Eddie let out a yawn, “no problem.”
Out of the corner of his eye, Eddie saw Jeff and Stone smiling. He wasn’t sure at what, maybe the situation, maybe an inside joke.
The first part of practice went fairly smoothly despite Eddie screwing up a few times. A little out of the ordinary, he blamed his hangover.
Halfway through practice, the band decided to take a break, somebody brought cheap beer. Since he wasn’t preoccupied with singing and writing, Eddie’s thoughts soon drifted to the night before.
Would Chris hate him now?
He realized that he might have overreacted a little bit.
Should he apologize?
He really hoped that Chris wasn’t that mad at him.
The beer that had been handed to him turned warm as he got lost in his worries. He didn’t notice when the rest of the band filed back in from a smoke break.
He was pulled out of his thoughts when Stone tapped him on the shoulder.”You good, man?”
Eddie was a little surprised as Stone rarely checked in on him like that, managing a nod as he stood up. Stone pushed his long hair back away from his face, and Eddie couldn’t help but sneak a glance at him every now and then.
The rest of the practice went slightly better than the first half, Eddie’s thoughts were pulled away momentarily from Chris and replaced with Stone.
Since being introduced, Eddie had really sought out any form of approval from Stone, as he seemed to be the unofficial leader of the band. Until recently, he pretty much failed. Now that Stone bothered to pay him attention, Eddie couldn’t help but notice things about him. Things he thought were nice…
Eddie snapped himself out of it. He was already dating Chris Cornell, the crush of half the Seattle population, men and women.
Plus, Stone was probably with Jeff. He didn’t know if they were committed, but they certainly weren’t “just friends”.
When practice wrapped up and Eddie was collecting his things, Mike gave him a little nudge with his guitar to get his attention. “Hey, we’re planning on hanging with the Soundgarden guys at the bar by Kim’s later. You up for it?”
Eddie felt his throat go slightly dry at the thought of seeing Chris again. He could feign sickness and stay at home, and let the terrible nervous feeling in his stomach grow.
On the other hand, maybe Chris wouldn’t be pissed, and his worrying would be over. “Yeah, I’ll see you guys there, what time?”
“Around 7, I think,” Mike replied. Eddie swore he saw his eyes narrow, detecting that something was slightly off with Eddie. Thankfully, he didn’t say anything.
Eddie wanted to go before he got too suspicious, “sounds good, see ya then.”
When Eddie got home, he could not wish for 7:00 to come any sooner. He distracted himself by watching MTV and doing some house chores for once.
Soon enough, 6:40 rolled around and he hopped in his car, heading to the bar. In the parking lot, he took a moment to prepare himself, or maybe he was just procrastinating even more.
Upon entering the bar, he quickly spotted Stone, Jeff, Kim, and Ben in one booth with Matt, and Mike in the other.
Matt noticed him and waved him over, “Hey man, what’s up?” Matt greeted Eddie.
Eddie smiled, “not much, good to see you.”
Looking around, there was no sign of Chris. Turning to Mike and Matt, he asked “where’s Chris?”
“Went to the bathroom, I think.” Mike responded, giving Matt a side eye.
Great, somehow he must know.
As if on cue, Chris appeared from the side of the bar. When he saw Eddie, he stopped a moment, then sat at the high-top table and motioned for Eddie to join him. His expression was neutral. Eddie didn’t know if he should be comforted or scared by that.
With a nod and awkward wave at Mike and Matt, he joined Chris, who greeted him with a small smile.
“So, how’ve you been?” Chris asked, breaking the awkward silence.
Eddie finally met his eyes momentarily before looking down again. “Been fine, I guess.”
Chris gently reached forward and took Eddie’s hands in his, carefully watching for any signs that Eddie did not appreciate his actions. Eddie’s eyes snapped to Chris’s blue irises but didn’t protest.
Chris started to say something but Eddie beat him to it. He blurted out, “I’m sorry about getting mad at you, I overreacted.” He felt his hands begin to get gently massaged by Chris’s.
A smile of relief formed on Chris’s face, “I’m the one who should be apologizing, I was being irrational.”
Eddie returned his smile, “maybe we were both a bit in the wrong?”
Chris chuckled and agreed.
“So, we’re good?”
Eddie nodded.
“C’mere,” Chris mumbled before leaning over on his chair to hug Eddie, stuffing his face in the crook of the smaller man’s neck momentarily before pulling away.
Chris’s hand remained, now gently rubbing up and down Eddie’s arm. Eddie felt relief wash over him as Chris gazed at him like he was the only person in the whole bar.
Chris’s gaze flicked down to Eddie’s lips for a second, causing Eddie to blush when their eyes met again. Chris didn’t know how okay Eddie would be with PDA around their friends, but Eddie didn’t mind at all. Eddie leaned gently in before a loud thud, followed by a string of profanity, ruined their moment.
Eddie craned his neck to see what the commotion was. Stone was trying to pick himself up off the ground, drunkenly glaring at the chair that he had apparently tripped over. Around him, their friends were poorly trying to stifle their laughter for Stone’s sake.
Jeff pulled himself together long enough to hook his arms under Stone’s and pull him to his feet, pressing a chaste kiss to his forehead in the process. There was a small chorus of “awwws” from their friends, while Stone shot everyone a nasty look.
Well, maybe he just hates everyone but Jeff.
It seemed that the Pearl Jam/Soundgarden group were moving into a now vacated corner booth where everyone could squeeze in. Jeff and Stone were at the end, lest Stone’s drunken state got worse, and Eddie found himself squished in between Chris and Mike.
Drinks were brought to the table and passed around, cheers were cheered and bottles were clinked. Eddie felt himself relax as conversation, jokes, and laughter filled the corner of the little bar. Chris’s hand found his, thumb gently rubbing over his knuckles.
After some random conversations with their friends, Eddie and Chris’s attention fell back to each other. Chris wordlessly asked permission to kiss him with his eyes. Eddie’s eyes nervously flicked around the table, but everyone seemed pretty preoccupied with their drinks and talk. And Stone incessantly trying to kiss Jeff, which was pretty funny to see the stoic guitarist all needy.
Eddie motioned subtly to them, prompting an eye roll and smile from Chris. “He’s not a heavy drinker, he’s just had 2,” Chris whispered in his ear.
Eddie chuckled at that, leaning his head on Chris’s shoulder. The older man smiled and wrapped one arm around Eddie’s shoulders.
Mike, of course, saw this and smiled at Eddie, not a mean or snarky smile, a genuine ‘I’m happy for you’ smile.
For the first time since moving to Seattle, Eddie felt at home. All his friends seemed to support him, he had Chris, and the entertainment of Jeff trying to fend off a drunk Stone.
Soon, more beers were ordered, with some of the guys on their 5th or 6th beer. Eddie kept his consumption reasonable as he had to drive home, but some of the others lived nearby and walked. It seemed Chris had drunk a little more than normal, his eyes were lidded with a droopy smile on his face.
He buried his face in the brunette’s curls, mumbling “pretty.”
Eddie laughed quietly at Chris’s very open affection. Chris’s hands moved to card through his hair while peppering kisses all over Eddie’s face.
Eddie was not going to lie to himself and say he didn’t enjoy all the unfiltered attention from Chris. He hummed appreciatively as Chris kissed him, slightly biting his lower lip. Eddie opened his mouth to allow access before suddenly remembering that they were in a very public space.
He then also remembered that most everybody was too far gone to remember anything that they saw tonight anyway.
They continued until they needed to breathe. By then, it was getting pretty late and the bar was slowly clearing out, so Eddie dragged Chris out of the bar, with some difficulty, and into his car.
Once they arrived to Chris’s apartment Eddie guided him gently inside and got him sat on the couch. By now, Chris was pretty tired and just wanted to sleep, still mumbling about how pretty Eddie was.
Eddie couldn’t resist occasionally pressing kisses to Chris’s lips as he worked off his boots.
Apparently Chris had had enough and batted Eddie’s hands away. Eddie looked at him with confusion as Chris clumsily grabbed Eddie’s arm and pulled him towards his figure, which was now laying along the whole length of the couch.
Understanding what he wanted, Eddie smiled and grabbed a blanket before carefully laying on Chris’s chest, feeling his heartbeat.
Only when he felt the man below him slip into deep sleep did he also close his eyes and fall into a deep sleep.