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Chrissy couldn’t believe that the day finally arrived, she was moving into her own place. Sure it was just a small rented apartment, but it was hers, her own space, no roommates, no parents, just her. She was 25 and needed a new start away from her annoying younger brother, her manipulative and controlling mother and Jason, her shitty ex. She'd moved to Chicago to start a new life away from all of those and of course, starting a new career as a cheer coach at a local high school, she was finally living her dreams.
She didn't own much, most of her stuff could fit in the trunk and backseats of her car and she'd already gotten Ikea furniture a few days before, the landlord kindly let her store in the apartment until she officially moved in. Right now she was just trying to get the last box out of her car, it was the heaviest and obstructed her view so she couldn't see what was in front of her, she was struggling to carry it into the building when she suddenly felt the weight disappear.
"Hey, let me give you a hand with that" A man's voice spoke, when she let go of the box and her view became unobstructed she saw the face that the voice belonged to. The man was tall and pretty well built, and his face was beautiful to Chrissy, his jawline was sharp and his face could be found on MTV or the cover of playgirl. His dark brown eyes were like melted chocolate and Chrissy could just get lost in them. His dark hair was wild, clearly, he was a metal head, and it fit perfectly with his face, as did the bat tattoo that decorated his right arm. The smirk on his face right now was just sending Chrissy's breath away; He was beautiful, presumably kind and definitely around her age, Chrissy felt like she'd just hit the jackpot.
"Oh, thank you so much" Chrissy said as she opened the door for both of them to enter the building "I've already done this trip like fifty times and for some reason, I decided to leave the heaviest for last" Chrissy could sense herself being awkward around this beautiful angel of a metal head, but he didn't seem to mind. "Clearly, jesus, what the fucks in this? Bricks?" He joked. Chrissy giggled at the joke "It's just some books, I'm Chrissy by the way" She said awkwardly as they made their way over to the elevator. "Nice, I'm Eddie. Guessing you've just moved in" Eddie remarked, Chrissy pressed the elevator call button, "Yeah".
They took the elevator to the third floor, Eddie mentioned how he also lived on the third floor, sending flutters through Chrissy, the pair talked about the books they enjoyed reading and Chrissy’s new career. Before they knew it they had arrived at Chrissy's front door "Well, thank you so much for helping me, I'm sure I can take it from here" She nervously said, "It's alright, I live literally opposite you" Eddie placed the box down and motioned to the door opposite Chrissy's. "Still, thank you, would you like to..." She was about to invite Eddie into her apartment for a cup of coffee when she was cut off by someone yelling at Eddie from down the hall.
"Hey, Munson! You got the keys, I forgot mine" The voice said, it belonged to a man that had his hands full of grocery bags, as he got closer to Chrissy and Eddie she took in his appearance. He looked to be around the same age as herself and Eddie, his hair was clearly one of his defining features it was perfectly sculpted, yet looked so soft. The way he is dressed directly contradicted Eddie's style, whilst Eddie was currently wearing almost all black, besides his denim vest, this guy was wearing a more preppy style with blue jeans and a yellow jumper. “Yeah, Harrington, I'm coming!” Eddie yelled back to him, even though he was standing next to his and Eddie's front door “I gotta go, Steve forgot his damn keys, It was nice meeting you Chrissy” he winked and moved to open the door for who Chrissy assumed was his roommate, who she now knew was named Steve.
Chrissy also went to open her front door, IKEA furniture could be seen when she opened the door and Eddie noticed "Let me know if you need a hand with those as well, I'm pretty good with my hands" He mentioned, Chrissy blushed slightly and her eyes darted to his hands, his left hand was covered with rings that were complimented by the lone ring on his right hand and both of his hands look rough and calloused, clearly he was someone who used his hands a lot. "Thank you so much for your help though, Eddie, I might take you up on that offer" She giggled and they both disappeared into their apartments and all that occupied Chrissy's mind was the handsome metalhead that lived across the hall.
It took Chrissy exactly one day to realise that she actually needed a strong pair of hands to help her build the furniture, this IKEA bookshelf was just too tall to build herself. She made her way out of her apartment and knocked on the door across the hall, it was only eleven in the morning on a wednesday, so Eddie was probably awake. She knocked on the door, hoping Eddie would answer, but her hopes were instantly killed when Eddie's roommate opened the door. "What the hell?" Chrissy recognised the guy as Steve, Eddie's roommate and he clearly wasn't happy about answering the door, his hair was slightly ruffled and his clothes consisting of a David Bowie shirt and basketball shorts, looked as if they had just been haphazardly thrown on.
“Ehm… Hi, uhhm is Eddie in?” for some reason she felt slightly intimidated by Steve, she could see the well-built muscles he had under his shirt and could sense the annoyance that was radiating off of him. "Sorry, who are you?" he asked as he looked her up and down, Chrissy felt self-conscious as he checked her out, "I'm Chrissy, I just moved across the hall from you guys, Eddie said he'd give me a hand with some IKEA furniture" She explained. Steve just smirked and turned around "Hey, Eddie, Chrissy from across the hall wants you" At the moment Steve finished speaking Eddie emerged from what Chrissy assumed was his bedroom, slipping on a shirt in the process and allowing Chrissy to momentarily see his pierced nipples and chest tattoos.
"Hey Chrissy, I see you met Stevie" Eddie smiled fondly at the slightly annoyed man, who just rolled his eyes and made his way away from the door, "I hear you need some help". Chrissy blushed slightly "Yeah, I-I have all that furniture and I kinda need some help with putting it together, I don't think it'll take too long, I just need an extra hand and I'm not super tall", Eddie just smiled and nodded "It's no problem, I said I'm pretty good with my hands," Eddie said and slipped on his checkered vans that were right next to the door.
"I'll be back in about half an hour or forty-five minutes, Steve" Eddie yelled, "Okay, see you then, ya freak" Chrissy heard Steve yell from what she assumed was the bathroom, Eddie locked the door behind him and they made their way into Chrissy's apartment. True to what Eddie said forty-five minutes later they'd finished assembling the shelf and the other flatpack furniture and now they were chatting and sipping coffee. "So how long have you and Steve been living in the building?" Chrissy asked, "Uhh, Steve and I moved in about two years ago, Steve had gotten a job coaching basketball at Kings Collage Prep and I'd just inherited the music and record store a few blocks away" Chrissy nodded, she was impressed that Steve and Eddie had achieved so much when they were so young, "We used to live with Steve's parents in Indiana before we moved here, my god trying to maintain undisturbed sex lives without his parents busting in was impossible, his mom was just so nosey".
Chrissy looked wide-eyed at Eddie and blushed slightly, she was no virgin but she wasn’t used to openly talking about sex with people either, she'd been brought up in a pretty religious home.
“I guess it is better with just him now, huh? You’ve got your bedroom and stuff,” she couldn’t believe she'd allowed herself to maintain the subject. "You have no idea" He chuckled looking down at his watch "I gotta go anyway, business calls", Eddie put down the finished cup of coffee and Chrissy swallowed her sadness, she and Eddie were having such a nice time talking and now it was over. "Have some kinda plans?" She curiously asked, Eddie just smirked and played with his long hair "Something like that, it was nice talking to you", "Yeah, you too Eddie, and thank you so much for your help again" She replied.
Eddie made his way toward the door and turned to say something "We should hang out sometime, maybe next time at mine?” he winked at her yet again during that short time she knew him, and she felt like her knees were about to give out "Steve and I have a lot of weed and an atari that you're more than welcome to come and play" Eddie said and left Chrissy's apartment, she watched as he made his way across the hall and into his apartment and it was in that moment that she realised Eddie must've been some kind of player, he was definitely sexy, probably a bad boy that smoked weed and Chrissy was just flustered by the gorgeous man that lived across the hall from her.
Chrissy didn't see Eddie for almost a week, she thought that was a little odd because he lived right across the hall from her, but he seemed to be a pretty busy guy due to owning his own store, Chrissy intended to visit the store at some point, but just never found the time between starting her new job and making her apartment comfortable for her to live in. She was making her way back to her front door after taking some garbage to the trash shoot when she spotted Steve, Eddie's roommate, holding hands with a small curly-haired child excitedly talking about Star Wars. She was thrown aback by the sight, Steve a guy Chrissy felt slightly intimidated by for no reason was softly speaking to who was presumably his kid, Chrissy could only guess Steve was raising the child without his mom since she didn't live with Steve.
"Dadddy, what's for dinner?" The boy asked, Chrissy could hear the kid had a lisp, "I'm not sure Dusty" Steve replied in a playful manner "We'll have to see what Eddie gets for take out, it could be Chinese, it could be pizza or it could be ice cream" Steve said as he playfully ruffled the child's curly hair and placed a baseball cap onto his head that Chrissy didn't notice he was holding, the kid was giggling the whole time and Steve unlocked his front door and lead the kid in. Chrissy made her way into her own apartment, confused at the fact that Steve had a kid that looked to be about six years old and also thinking that she must've looked a little bit like a stalker due to the way she was watching Steve and the kid.
A couple of hours later she heard a knock on the door, looking through the peephole and being met with Eddie's face made her instantly happy and she quickly opened the door, seeing Eddie and the same little kid Steve was with earlier. "Hey," Chrissy said with a smile, Eddie reciprocated the smile "Hi, Dustin saw you earlier and wanted to greet the lady that lives across the hall" the young boy just nodded as Eddie spoke "What do you say, Dusty?" the metalhead looked at the child with just as much fondness as Steve was earlier, stunning Chrissy that a man could care for a friend's child like his own son.
"Hi, I'm Dustin," Dustin said with a toothless grin "I'm four years old and I live there with my Daddy and Eddie and I just visited my uncle Wayne" Dustin finished speaking and a huge toothless smile came upon his face and Chrissy just found him so adorable. "That right, kid" Eddie smiled as he ruffled Dustin's hair over his hat, clearly Eddie was proud of Dustin being able to speak to a stranger. Chrissy knelt so she was on Dustin's level "Hi, Dustin, I'm Chrissy" She smiled at the little kid, Chrissy hadn't interacted with many children, but Dustin seemed like a pretty easy kid to talk to. "Eddie brought us loads of pizza! Would you like to come for some?" that question seemed to throw both Eddie and Chrissy off and they were both equally surprised by the kid's boldness.
Eddie put his hands over Dustin's ears for a moment "You don't have to if you don't want to, he's working on his social skills" Eddie awkwardly chuckled "but, I did accidentally pick up three pizzas on the way home from work". Chrissy was unsure what to say, was Eddie asking her on a date and using Steve's adorable son as a wingman and she was also pretty curious to see what the inside of Eddie's apartment looked like "I mean, I wouldn't want to disturb anything" Chrissy said, "It's okay, Steve and I are pretty used to having people over a lot and I did accidentally buy three large pizzas and me, Steve and this little guy aren't gonna eat them all".
"Sure, I'll come then" Chrissy giggled, slipping on her shoes and locking the door behind her and the three of them made their way into the apartment across the hall and Eddie opened the door and yelled "Harrington, get another plate out, you're son's invited Chrissy over for dinner, cause he's such a little flirt" Steve just laughed from the kitchen, "My son, being a flirt huh?". "Anyway Chrissy, welcome to casa Munson and Harrington" Chrissy just nervously laughed and took in the sight of Eddie and Steve's apartment, the entrance of their apartment was similar to hers, it lead directly into the large living room and dining room, with the kitchen to the right of the apartment entrance and a closed door Chrissy assumed, was a bedroom next to the kitchen; to the left of the entrance was another closed bedroom door and the open bathroom door next to it.
Steve and Eddie's apartment only had two bedrooms, which made her think for a moment until she realised that Steve must share his bedroom with Dustin, after all living in Chicago was expensive and Steve was only a teacher and she knew from her own job that teachers didn't always make the greatest amount of money. Eddie lead Dustin and Chrissy to the dining table where, as Eddie mentioned earlier, were three large pizza boxes proudly displaying the pepperoni, Hawaiian and plain cheese pizzas. Eddie pulled out a chair for Chrissy to sit down "Oh thank you" She said, trying not to blush, Dustin sat down next to her and Eddie sat opposite Dustin; just as Eddie took his seat Steve came out of the kitchen and placed a plate in front of Chrissy.
"You been inviting girls over now Dusty?" Steve said, patting the young boy on the head and removing his hat simultaneously, Dustin clearly did not like having his hat removed "Daddy, nooo, my hat" Steve just kissed the boy on the top of his head and replaced the hat, taking his seat opposite Chrissy and next to Eddie, which slightly annoyed Chrissy as she wanted to sit opposite or next to Eddie, but she shook of her annoyance quickly and the four of them tucked into the pizza. "Oh, wow, thank you for inviting me Dustin, this pizza is so good" Chrissy remarked and the young boy sitting next to her just giggled and took a bite of the cheese pizza in his hands
The four of them sat and enjoyed their pizza for a few minutes until Steve spoke up, "So, Chrissy, Eddie tells me that you're a cheer coach" Steve said between bites of pizza, Chrissy's mind temporarily thought of Eddie telling Steve about her on the day she moved in, maybe his was talking about the cute girl who'd just moved in across the hall, but she also had to answer Steve "Uhh, yeah, I'm the cheer coach at Hinsdale high" She said "I was a cheerleader in middle, high school and college, so when the opportunity came up for a career like that I decided to take it" She finished speaking and took another bite of her pizza, Steve nodded acknowledging what she was saying "Yeah, there's a lot of stability that comes with coaching, I mean I'm essentially just the gym teacher, but I don't have to do any class prep" Steve chuckled.
When the four of them finished eating Eddie cleared the table and Steve took Dustin to get ready for bed, "Can Eddie read me a story Daddy?" Steve just sighed and looked at Eddie. "Sure Dusty, if you go with your daddy to brush your teeth first" Eddie then disappeared into the kitchen and Steve and Dustin went into one of the bedrooms and Chrissy was alone for a few moments and took the time to look around the living area. The soft black couch was opposite a shelf unit that covered most of the wall, true to what Eddie had mentioned an arati sat next to the TV with a few games underneath it, a few records were also prominently displayed next to a record player. Eddie and Steve's apartment was incredibly well decorated, but what caught Chrissy's eyes the most were the various framed photos and polaroids.
One of the most prominent photos was of Dustin, Eddie and Steve at some sort of amusement park with Steve holding a colourful bear that was bigger than Dustin and Dustin was sitting on Eddie's shoulders and gripping his long hair, Chrissy just smiled at the sweet photo; the picture made her assume that Eddie must've been some sort of uncle figure in Dustin's life. Another showed Eddie, Steve and Dustin sitting in a diner opposite two women, the five of them smiling and raising their drinks-Chrissy assumed that they were either their sisters, their friends or maybe one of the women was Dustin's mom. The last picture was a polaroid of Eddie and Steve both of them shirtless on a beach, Eddie's arm was slung around Steve's shoulders, Eddie's tattoos and piercings on full display next to Steve's hairy chest. In all of the photos they looked so happy and full of joy.
Chrissy's admiration of the decor was interrupted by Eddie coming out of the kitchen and speaking "Yeah, that picture's from last summer" Eddie said, making her jump, "I'm sorry, what?". Eddie chuckled and pointed to the polaroid "That picture, it's from last summer when Steve and I went to California to visit some friends last summer" He happily explained, "It looks so nice there" She retorted, unsure of what exactly to say to him as she admired the shirtless photo, "I should probably get going so you can get Dustin to bed and I've got staff orientation tomorrow as well" she nervously chuckled. "Well, thank you for coming over, I know Dustin's invite was very out of nowhere and ya know out of the blue, but the kid likes making friends" Eddie chuckled "And I also enjoyed hanging out with you".
Chrissy blushed slightly at what Eddie had just said "No, no, thank you for having me. The pizza was really good" She and Eddie silently walked to the door and Eddie opened it. "I would've asked if you wanted to stay and have a beer or some pot, but as ya just said you've got staff orientation tomorrow, I gotta be at the store early tomorrow". Chrissy just waved her hand's jokingly "It's okay, you don't have to explain, it was really nice hanging out with you. I'll see you later". And with that Eddie opened the door and let Chrissy out and she let herself back into her apartment. Naively she was hoping for a kiss from Eddie before he let her out, but she wasn't going to sulk about it, that was the closest thing she'd had to a date since Jason, even if it was pizza with the guy she was crushing on, his roommate and his roommate's kid, so it was a win in her eyes.
The high from her win lasted almost a week until Saturday night, Chrissy was staying up late, enjoying a copy of St Elmo's fire that she'd rented from blockbuster and enjoying a few glasses of wine, it had been a pretty tough week settling into her new job and she felt like she deserved it. It was getting pretty close to midnight and she was about to turn in for the night when she heard a pretty loud thud outside followed by someone shouting, almost screaming "Jesus Christ" followed by another thud, Chrissy wasted no time and threw on her shoes and opened her front door, being met with an unexpected and unforgettable sight.
Right across the hall from her lived Eddie and Steve, which was a pretty well-known and established fact to her, Eddie lived across the hall from her with who she thought was just his roommate. The sight that met her right now made her reassess everything she thought about Eddie and Steve, Steve was pinning Eddie against the wall next to the door and roughly kissing him, Eddie's hands were running through Steve's hair and pulling him close. Chrissy felt herself blush slightly at the moaning coming from both men and the dirty talk coming out of Eddie's mouth "Fuck Steve, I'm gonna make sure you can't walk for a week", Eddie was now kissing Steve's neck and Steve was graphically moaning. "Well, Eds, we've got the apartment to ourselves tonight, so you can bend me over whatever surface you want".
Eddie grabbed Steve by the collar and turned them around so Steve now had his back against the wall and Eddie had his back to Chrissy, Steve went to kiss Eddie's neck marking it with hickeys, "Just find the damn keys then Harrington, you said we're alone and I wanna take advantage of Dustin not trying to bust in on us". Chrissy was unable to move away from looking at the pair, it was like a car crash if a car crash was confusing and defeating her chance of getting with the hot guy from across the hall. "I fucking love you Stevie" Eddie said as he pulled the door key out of Steve's pocket, that was when Steve looked up and made eye contact with Chrissy.
"Ummm, Chrissy?" Steve said awkwardly, Eddie turned around and Chrissy was faced with the man she was crushing on, Eddie was about to say something when Steve spoke up, "Oh no no no, you're not interrupting our alone time again, not this time". Chrissy didn't know how to respond and just said "Again?" and then it hit her, the day after she moved in when she asked for Eddie's help, Steve answered the door looking like a mess and Eddie came out of one of the bedrooms pulling on a shirt, the picture of Eddie and Steve on the beach, the chat she and Eddie had about sex lives. Oh my gosh, how could she have ignored something as obvious as the fact that Eddie and Steve were more than roommates?
"Holy shit. You guys are gay? Like together?" The question just slipped out of her mouth before she even had time to register what she was thinking. "Nah, we're just friends that bone" Eddie laughed when Steve said that "Of course, we're together, what else does this look like". Steve was getting pretty annoyed now, Eddie could sense it "Babe, just go inside, I'll be there in a second", Eddie whispered something into Steve's ear that Chrissy couldn't hear, but whatever Eddie whispered made Steve smile, slap Eddie's ass and disappear into their apartment.
Eddie nervously scratched the back of his neck and chuckled awkwardly "I thought it was kinda obvious, Steve's my boyfriend" Eddie chuckled once again. "Huh? you were flirting with me this whole time though" Chrissy confessed, she thought Eddie was flirting with her, instead of just being a friendly neighbour. Eddie looked around and sighed "Chrissy, I'm gay and with someone, who I've been with for almost five years, I'm sorry if I sent you some other signal or something". Chrissy just was flabbergasted "Oh, shit, sorry".
"Yeah, obviously It's not something we tell people right when we meet them, cause ya know" Eddie shrugged, Chrissy just nodded and asked, "I know this is gonna sound super intrusive and I know that I literally just interrupted you and Steve, but how does Steve have Dustin if you guys are gay". Eddie just chuckled once again "Steve's bisexual, he got a girl pregnant during a one-night stand and we got together after Dustin was born". There were a few awkward moments after Eddie finished speaking, both of them just nodding at each other and not saying anything. "We can still be friends Chrissy" Eddie pointed at his apartment door "but for now I'm gonna go in there before Steve drags me in".
And with that Eddie disappeared into his apartment and eagerly closed the door behind him, Chrissy heard a thud against the door a few seconds after Eddie closed it. She sighed, realising that she actually had something good with a guy, he was a similar age to her, good looking and just generally attractive to her and he turned out to be gay and living with his boyfriend. She took one last glance at Eddie and Steve's door before entering her own apartment and pouring herself another glass of wine, how was it not obvious to her? how did she not notice? simple, she just didn't realise.