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"Are we ready?” Eddie says while holding a carton box.
"Uh... think so, the van's ready, not sure about you, man" A handsome and bright Steve Harrington stands up after checking something inside the van. He smiled and posed his hands on his hips.
Eddie smiles at him as he stares at Steve's face. There is something very charming about seeing Steve in some kind of normal and everyday activity like just checking the car. Eddie liked having Steve in his everyday life.
"I'm more than ready, man" Eddie answered back, and Steve nodded two times to then open the door of the van to get in.
Once Eddie was inside the van too, he placed the box in the back of the van and before turning back again, Eddie took a mixtape from the box and put it on the van's radio. A melody Steve recognized started playing even before he could run the van.
"Are you serious, Eddie?" Steve says once the song started. Eddie turned to look at the man beside him not knowing why Steve was asking that, and when he saw his face, he looked annoyed.
"What? You don't like it? I thought you might like it..." The long-haired boy said looking at Steve. "I have other mixtapes, you can pick if you want".
"Wait, wait, wait... Is that box full of mixtapes?" Steve pointed to the box in the back.
Steve knew how Eddie was with road trips and music, he just couldn't go on a road trip without music, and every time both boys took a trip, he had to listen to those metal songs Eddie liked and he would be pissed all the way. But now, Eddie had brought a full box of mixtapes just so Steve could choose. Did he really do that?
"Uh... yeah. I mean... It's cool music, I made them a few weeks ago so we could..." Now, Steve started laughing out loud and Eddie was the one annoyed. "What? What?"
"No, is just... You really did all those mixtapes for me to listen to?"
Eddie simply nodded and then Steve turned his gaze to the front and turned on the radio's volume, making Any Way You Want It by Journey sound through the van's speakers.
Eddie opened a drawer in front of him and took a map then closed the drawer. He started to look through the road they were going to take.
“Lead the way, my copilot” Steve said once he was driving.
“Alright then… so once we're out of Hawkins we are taking the road straight for fifteen minutes, key"
Steve was the kind of guy who liked to give orders and be mostly in front. Be some kind of leader, he was like that naturally, and he accepted it, he even enjoyed it and still, there was something maybe special every time Eddie gave Steve orders. He didn't mind it at all while one would think that a natural leader would be a bit mad if someone else took their place. With Eddie it wasn't like that, he even wanted Eddie to lead him, and he trusted him in that, he would let Eddie lead him wherever it was, if it was just to the record store, or if it was to mars.
"Are you listening? Steve?" Steve took off his view from the front and looked at Eddie, with the map in his hands.
"Yeah, I just... I was just thinking, y'know" Steve answered.
"Nope, I don't know man".
Steve laughed and turned back his gaze where it was first and continued driving slowly, but trying to make up his mind where to tell Eddie about what he was thinking or not.
"How long have you been driving? Is it the fifteen I told you already?" Eddie looked at his watch on his left wrist "Not yet, just keep driving"
"You know what I was thinking..." Steve started once Eddie had gone silenced "Is that, you actually are a very good leader"
The sky was a little foggy and there weren't many other cars on the road, the music in the van wasn't loud at all, but they could still listen to it, Eddie was wearing his leather jacket and had tied his hair before. Steve had a sweater on and he smelled like fragrance, Eddie could smell it at least. There was something kind of somber about mid-October that made both Eddie and Steve feel a little dizzy, in his part, Steve remember that autumn when he became part of a heavy mess bigger than he could ever imagine. Something that he only can remember but not really tell. And, on his own, Eddie remembered October as that cool month of the year where he could play dress-up outside and ask for candy, but that autumn nights changed to some kind of melancholic and teary days where he couldn't stop thinking about his mother. Then, in the middle of the road, with nothing else but each other's presence, Eddie felt warm beside Steve, almost as if those memories had died just to give space to new ones like this, and Steve, well, he only admired the silence he had caused inside the car.
"Do you think I'm a good leader... or do you just like me to give you orders?"
Now, that was the actual question, but Steve couldn't answer it just yet.
"Ok, man, just give me the directions," Steve says abruptly "God! I can't even tell a compliment because I get..."
"Alright, alright, dude. Chill out, 'kay?" Eddie turns to look at the map, then gives Steve some directions. A turn to the left and then take road 65.
Steve was listening closely as he drove. Time passed rapidly when they had to be taking directions and turns and stuff. It had been two hours on road, they had played already a few cassettes. Eddie sang and pretended he was playing the guitar, giving Steve a whole set show where Eddie was the artist and Steve the fan in the crowd. Then, Eddie handed Steve a bag of M&M's, and both ate it up. Eddie was a big fan of M&M's for some weird reason Steve didn't understand, but still, he ate the candy.
"How long are we going straight?" Steve asked, without taking his eyes off the road.
"Uh, according to my calculations... about an hour and twenty minutes more" Eddie was looking at his watch and then looked at Steve, who was rubbing his eyelids, maybe expressing desperation. "What? Don't you like the view? Eddie pointed out the sunset view from outside the car.
"No, is just, I'm kind of tired" Steve looks back into the front.
"Well, there's a motel nearby, like about forty minutes, and it's about the be dark so we should..." Eddie suggested, again looking at his watch.
"Yeah, yeah, I think we should go, right?" Steve mentions then, in a slow and tuned down voice tone.
"Right."
Steve drove for about other fifteen minutes when out of nowhere, they hear an awful sound from outside, and soon Steve realizes that the van is tilting toward the front right tire.
"Perfect. This is the perfect combo" Steve ranted. "It's getting dark, we're in the middle of nowhere, I'm fucking tired, and this! A fucking flat tire. Classic man. Classic." Steve pulled over the van so he could go check it out.
While Eddie was outside, Steve thought about Robin, and how excited she sounded on the phone to have Steve and Eddie over to her house in California, and both Eddie and Steve were willing to spend thirty-one hours in a van together just to go see her, and out of nowhere, a flat tire? Maybe it was just their bad luck or something.
Eddie looked at Steve from inside the van just checking all the tires, and then making sure the van was okay and only that one tire was damaged. Eddie rolled his side window down and shouted at Steve: “Want a hand on that?”
Steve incorporated once again in his previous position and just looking annoyed outside said “well, that won’t be the worst idea you’ve ever had, am I right?” Eddie then took some tools from the back of the van and went outside, noticing that absolutely no other car was driving by.
“Here is some fixing-car stuff I found in the back, I hope they help,” Eddie said showing Steve what he had on his hands.
“Uh uh, that’s not going to help if we don’t have a new tire,” Steve said, completely annoyed “this is so fucked up…"
Eddie rubbed a bit on Steve's back and then, Steve felt something he had only felt with Eddie, he felt his hands numb, and his stomach empty. Not because he felt nervous or anxious, even though he had felt nervous and anxious before and he had a similar feeling, but this time, it didn’t bother him in some odd way. Almost like he enjoyed that numbness on his body. He looked at Eddie’s hand on his back, and then he looked at Eddie. The guy with the leather jacket had dilated eyes that spoke more than simple words. Eddie took his hand off Steve’s back fast enough to take the other guy by surprise.
“Uhm, I’m gonna go check if my uncle marked someplace that could help us or anything” Eddie walked back to the van leaving Steve outside watching the flat tire like it hadn’t ruined their trip.
“Did you find anything?” Steve asked Eddie after a few minutes. Steve walked closer to Eddie and the boy was looking through the map his uncle had given him.
“Nothing that could help us”
Both looked into each other's eyes and Eddie smiled kindly, trying to mend the situation. Both got in the van again, and Eddie turned the volume of the radio up to have some background music anyway.
“What now?” Steve whispered.
In front, the sun was setting down as the autumn leaves fell to the ground and some gentle breeze moved the trees. Eddie and Steve both felt weak in this position, neither of them knew what to do, alone, desperate, stressed, tired, sleepy.
"I guess we are going to have to sleep in the van" Eddie said seconds later. Steve turned to look at Eddie, who had a very serious face. Steve looked down then.
By that moment, the sun had disappeared into the sky, leaving space for the moon to shine in a dark blue starry night. From afar, the sound of crickets filled the atmosphere where Eddie and Steve found themselves. Now it was truly dark and they had nowhere to go, so maybe sleeping was a good plan for now. Both boys went outside, then after unpacking some pillows and sheets they were supposed to be using at Robin's home, they got in the back of the van which was spotted at the side of the road. Now, both boys were laying down in the back of the van, with sheets over them.
"It's cold in here" Softly, paced and almost hypnotizing, Steve told Eddie.
Shivers ran through Eddie's spine. He always found Steve's voice very mesmerizing. He would die to hear Steve sing one of his favorite songs.
"A little bit" Eddie answered. And just like Eddie liked Steve's voice, Steve liked Eddie's voice too. He had a very comforting voice.
"You sure we don't have any more sheets?" Steve asked after a short pause.
"Sure, sure!" Then, something really stupid came up to Eddie's mind all of the sudden... "Maybe we should cuddle together and see if we warm up." He said, followed by a playful laugh.
Steve didn't laugh, he was actually considering cuddling with Eddie as a possibility to warm himself up.
"Well, if you say so, that could help us, though"
No way Steve Harrington said that.
No, he really, really did. He really wanted to cuddle with Eddie, or just cuddle? Yeah, just cuddle. Only to warm each other up.
"Ok, so... do you... or I?" Eddie said, in a kind of nervous and shaky voice, that got him, sweating.
"Maybe I should..." Steve just moved around and moved his sheet with him until he was so close to Eddie that he could smell the lotion on his hair. "Are you comfortable like this?"
Yes, he was, both were. God! If they could be just a millimeter closer, the world would collapse.
"Yeah, cool." Trying to keep it normal, Eddie said.
Ignoring the fire that was burning in Steve's hands, he moved just a tiny bit the find the best position possible, but then, almost without even noticing, he touched Eddie's leg, and, oh dear! Butterflies.
Eddie laughed out of nervousness and turned his whole body to Steve's side. "You don't think that two men like us sleeping like this... is a little strange?"
Deep dark brown Eddie's eyes were too much to handle for Steve, now add the fact that his lips were so close to Steve. His mind was blank, really, like, not even a thought when Steve just leans to Eddie's face and softly seals his lips to his.
Eddie gets stuck in motion, time felt like stopping as Steve slowly traced his lips over Eddie's and both enjoyed themselves. The long-haired boy doesn't waste any minute and puts his arms around Steve, holding him like the world was ending, regretting not doing so when the world--or at least Hawkins-- was really ending. And what a pleasant feeling to be held by the ones you love.
In just seconds, the kiss gets heated and the boys couldn't get enough of each other. Steve takes off his shirt, as well as Eddie, still both tangled in the sheets.
"You sure?" Eddie asked Steve, who just nodded his head.
Eddie doesn't answer back, he just moves towards Steve's pelvic zone, unbuttons his jeans, and removes his boxers. Steve throws his head back as Eddie goes down on him, lovingly placing his lips on Steve's cock and he arcs just, just a little bit. After a few seconds, Steve starts to groan softly, and then, moans, which were almost inaudible to Eddie.
When Steve was on edge, he held softly Eddie's head, and little by little, Steve pulled from Eddie's hair, in complete misery.
"Oh... God!" In a rusty, kind of angry way, Steve said once he had come.
Eddie then cleaned himself up and left Steve to do the same too, so they could lay down next to each other. But instead, Steve was ready to make Eddie the same.
"What?" Eddie questioned Steve seeing him approach his jeans.
"What what? You don't...?" Steve paused.
"Do you know how to?
Until that point, Steve hadn't questioned his actions as to he was just so driven by the moment, so much that he forgot that this was basically his first time with a guy. Not that he regretted it, in fact, he was yearning for this moment, but in his mind, it was only a fantasy of his so he never felt the need to learn how to give a blowjob. Fast enough he tried to remember how other girls would do it to him, even imagining Eddie doing it right before, but all his senses had stopped working so he just couldn't remember, not even a little bit. It was time to be sincere.
"Nope..." Steve went back to his place next to Eddie.
"That's fine, Steve, you didn't have to try it at all, and thanks for saying you don't know." Eddie said, with that kind of radio narrator voice who tells romantic stories.
Both lay side by side in silence. With a feeling of melancholy in the very best way. The owls outside, the leaves falling down, crickets cricking, and their breathing. In a few minutes, both fell asleep, without any more talking or touching, or so they thought, because, late at night, their bodies looked for each other, for the warmth of each other.
.....
Decaying and weak sunlight woke Steve up, and to his surprise, Eddie wasn't by his side, and his heart almost dropped. We stood up and went outside, looking for Eddie or at least a glimpse of him. Until, two shadows appeared from the north, and it was Eddie alongside a guy with a box in his hands. Steve was a little confused by this, but he let Eddie come up to him, he was talking to the guy next to him.
"Oh, and he is Steve, the best driver in Hawkins" Eddie told the guy next to him, and Steve only waved back.
The mechanist examined the van from the sides, and then he was checking out the back part. Steve got nervous because of the mess he and Eddie had left in the back with the sheets. Was it really obvious that they slept together? Maybe, maybe not.
"Alrighty then, I'm gonna fix this. You guys might wanna walk to the town and eat something at the diner. You should tell Mary I sent you, she might make you a free milkshake or somethin'." The mechanist told Eddie and Steve and they oy nodded, to the walk toward the town, Steve was guided by Eddie.
"Why didn't you tell me you were going to the town when you woke up?" All of the sudden, Stev asks Eddie while walking.
"Well, you looked so tired, I didn't want to wake you up" Eddie answered sincerely.
"You could've told me..."
"It's fine Steve, don't worry, that guy is going to fix the tire and we are going to get back on the road"
It was the early morning, nearly six in the morning, and the sun delicately shined on Steve's hair, making it shiny and brilliant, even though he had almost woken up. And that's the thing with Steve that drove Eddie crazy, really, he had that talent of always looking straight up out of a commercial for guys' shampoo. Steve didn't like it when Eddie told him that for the first time, but after thinking about it, he was actually flattered, in some kind of way. And right there, at that moment, when it was a miracle that the sun came out at least any second, Eddie was looking at a not-so-short-marked-jawline-grizzly-haired-honey-colored-eyes boy, it was like he couldn't resist it anymore, he just wanted to shock his lips over Steve's lips, and he did.
"This is the best trip I've been on" Steve managed to say in between kisses and breaths. Eddie only answered with more kisses.
After continuing walking for a few more minutes, they saw the little town that looked pretty much like a town from a Stephen King novel. They got inside the diner, and just as the mechanist said, they told the waitress Mary that Larry the mechanist sent them to her diner, and indeed, she offered two free milkshakes. To their surprise, it was actually very good. Alongside the milkshake, Eddie ate a french toast and Steve a whole plate of pancakes with a lot of honey on top, maybe too much.
In between laughs and cocky smiles, flirty comments, and awkward memories from school, they spent a nice and calm morning, and not wanting to go just yet, they paid for what they ordered and soon left the diner, walking in laughs toward the van. They had promised Robin they would arrive before down to her home so they didn't visit the town. The mechanist had left the van brand new for a really accessible price. Both boys went back to the road.
After a while back on the road, driving and listening to some tunes, Steve spoke. "Oh! I almost forgot!"
"Oh god! What?" A little bit scared, Eddie responded back.
Steve looks on his jacket for something, with only one hand, and the other on the steering wheel.
"This!" Steve shows Eddie the only cassette he had brought with him. Steve takes the cassette that Eddie had put last to put his own, and after a silence, a song starts playing. It was the most bubblegum pop Eddie had ever heard.
"I-I-I-I-I-I need you, I need you"
"Steve! Are you serious?!"
Steve laughed excitedly and vibed to the beat.
"Two of hearts, two of heart that beat as one" Steve sings "Two of hearts, I need you, I need you" He sang again, pointing at Eddie, who now was laughing alongside Steve.
Steve had put on his sunglasses as he sang and Eddie laughed at his enthusiasm over the song.
"What? Don't you like all kinds of music? Says Steve, once the song had finished.
"You are insufferable, Steve Harrington."
And oh god, how much Eddie love that insufferable not-so-short-so-short-marked-jawline-grizzly-haired-honey-colored-eyes boy.