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Steve could feel his stomach sink as he stared up at the metal monstrosity before him. No matter how high he tilted his head back, it just kept going up and up and up and…he was totally going to be sick. The clicking sound of steel on steel only made his anxiety worsen. Wasn’t it like, illegal or some shit to make roller coasters this tall? Dustin was scoffing and rolling his eyes a second later, which could only mean Steve had accidentally voiced his thoughts aloud. Kid seriously needed an attitude check.
“Don’t be a pussy-”
“First of all, you shouldn’t even know what that means-,” Steve’s hands were on his hips in an instant, anxiety momentarily forgotten.
“You’re joking right? I’m eighteen, Stephen-”
“Not my name, and secondly-”
“ANYWAY. It’s not even that tall. The Mindflayer - which we’re going on after this is way sicker . It currently holds the record for tallest coaster in America,” Dustin said with a toothy grin.
“Great,” Steve muttered with a frown, wondering just when Dustin added ‘sick’ to his everyday vocabulary. Speaking of sickness, his stomach was twisting up into knots again. He was thinking about those loaded Upside Down fries he’d just eaten ten minutes prior. He hadn’t been looking to be reacquainted with the taste of them so soon.
He was going to kill these brats. Matter of fact, he was going to kill them and then himself for allowing them to talk him into this bullshit. He hadn’t ridden a roller coaster since he was twelve years old. When he’d taken little Tammy Thompson on a “date” to the town fair where they had a brand new wooden coaster. Needless to say, little Tammy needed a new dress and pair of shoes when she went home that night. It wasn’t his best moment. And here Steve was, 24 years old, a grown ass man, shaking in his proverbial boots at a nerdy interdimensional themed amusement park.
Steve was snapped out of his musings when El, Max, and Erica had come back from the restroom. Robin should have been with them but he didn’t see her following behind them. He frowned. She wasn’t one to stray away from the group, especially in a place as crowded as this. Before he could ask where she went, Lucas, Will, and Mike were also jogging up to them, drenched head to toe.
“What the hell happened to you three,” Erica asked, stepping neatly to the side to avoid getting hit with any stray water droplets. Lucas was already inching his way over to Max with his arms spread wide open. Her eyes went from wide to threatening in seconds, but that didn’t seem to deter Lucas in the slightest.
“After we hit the restrooms, we saw that the line for Vecna’s Haunted Log Ride was super short, so we went for it,” Will piped up, smiling shyly. His sandy brown hair was plastered to his forehead. He’d finally ditched the bowl cut last summer, but he hadn’t yet found a style that suited him, so right now it was in a weird, awkward length that stuck up in odd places. Mike had taken to smoothing it down for him when any crazy cowlicks popped up. No one mentioned it when Will’s face would go red as a tomato.
Max was shrieking now as Lucas was chasing her around their circle of friends. Dustin was yelling about being left out, while Erica gave her two cents about how that ride was a baby ride anyway, just the facts. El was smiling fondly at everyone while she stood quietly next to Steve. He’d been checking in on her periodically during their little outing. Her social anxiety had gotten much better over the years, but she still had bad days. She was doing fairly well at the amusement park today, probably something to do with the way her friends huddled around her like bodyguards whenever they were walking to a new attraction. Steve smiled to himself. He had been the same way with Robin after they became friends during Steve's senior year.
Oh right. Where the hell was his girl?
“Where the hell is my girl,” he asked loudly over Max’s banshee screams (he ignores Dustin’s loud cry of SO YOU ARE DATING??? ), directing the question towards Erica, who was a chaperone in her own right. Max was now taking cover behind El, but that plan looked like it was going to backfire, because Lucas was just spreading his long arms even wider to accommodate both girls. El looked positively delighted.
Erica crossed her arms and pointed a finger at a cotton candy stand a little ways away from them. There Robin stood, pale blue cobwebby cotton candy in hand talking to a leggy strawberry blonde in a cropped cheer jersey. Robin detested cotton candy; Said it made her feel like she was eating translucent Brillo, which didn’t make any goddamn sense. She also detested cheerleading, but a nice pair of legs could also make Steve look the other way if the situation called for it. Huh. Well, good for her. All on her own. Steve was so proud.
“They bumped into each other in the bathroom, at the sinks. Robin was making heart eyes at her in the mirror the entire time,” Erica complained. She stuck her finger in her mouth and pretended to gag. Steve rolled his eyes at her, but couldn’t help the uptick at the corner of his mouth. He glanced back over to Robin to find her gesturing wildly at her cotton candy which was now on the ground. The strawberry blonde was giggling behind her hand. Oh Robin, Steve thought, never change.
“Alright! Noble Party, we must make our way on to the next challenge: The Demogorgon’s Lair,” Dustin declared dramatically. For emphasis, he had turned and spread his arms out in the direction of the coaster. The rest of the party cheered from their positions, except for Max who was sandwiched between a wet Lucas and a grinning El. The redhead was definitely going to exact revenge at a later time, and Steve just hoped he’d be spared from the line of fire. Actually, could she just kill him now? That way he wouldn’t have to march to his death.
“Diamond formation,” yelled Dustin, a little loudly, if the looks from people standing around them were anything to go by. The group shifted around until they were in the shape of a diamond, with a giggling El standing right in the middle. Steve couldn’t help but be a little embarrassed as he took up the point at the rear of the formation. This was such nerd shit, but he couldn’t begrudge them having fun while trying to make El feel more comfortable.
Their little diamond was still missing one person though.
“Robbie,” Steve yelled and flapped a hand around in the air, signaling that they were headed to the coaster. She flapped an arm back, giving two thumbs up in response while saying something to her new lady friend. If she wasn’t behind him on line Steve was so leaving her stranded at the park. She’d better hope her little date had wheels. Steve didn’t turn back around until the girls started heading over in their direction (Robin could probably feel his laser eyes).
Had he waited a second longer he would have noticed the man jogging up to Robin and her new friend.
– -
Steve was nearly spiraling again. It was almost their turn to get on the ride and he was so close to panicking that he had to close his eyes and count backwards from one hundred. He could hear Robin still chattering away somewhere behind him. He felt a little bad that he still hadn’t introduced himself, but he didn’t want to ruin the vibes with his dramatics. He did have the presence of mind to be a little hurt that no one had noticed him freaking out, but then again, he’d always been a little too good at hiding any negative emotions. Thank you distant parents!
Somewhere around number thirty-seven, he felt calm enough to release a slow breath and check back into his surroundings.
The people in front of them in line were stepping through the gates and into the corresponding coaster seats. He tried not to notice the incoming wave of riders stopped on the track a few feet away, waiting to be brought back inside and released.
The Party all stepped forward towards the metal gates. Dustin was a few rows away from him, in the line for the front seat, which sat up to three people. Steve gave a big fat fuck no when Dustin asked if he would ride with him. Steve couldn’t even be bothered to argue when Dustin tried to get on him about his language. Erica and Lucas ended up taking his place.
“You’re not gunna puke are you?” Mike asked from the row beside Dustin, arm slung over Will’s shoulder. Okay so maybe Steve wasn’t as subtle as he thought. His dark eyes glared out at Steve from under floppy bangs. He was clearly asking out of concern for possible future embarrassment rather than any actual regard for Steve’s well being, and didn’t that just warm Steve’s little heart.
“No, Mike, I’m not going to puke,” Steve answered, knowing full well that he was only half telling the truth. Max didn’t look like she was buying it for a second, as she gazed at him from over her sunshine yellow rimmed sunglasses. She and El stood in the row between Steve and the two boys.
Will leaned forward over the metal bar towards Steve, big brown cow eyes all sympathetic and understanding.
“It’s okay if you don’t want to get on with us, Steve. We won’t judge,” said Will with a soft smile, voice pitched a little lower in semblance of privacy. It was nice of him, even though he was leaning right between Max and El as he spoke. They giggled.
“I might,” Mike muttered, earning him a sharp elbow jab from his row mate. Mike grumbled and rubbed at his rib-cage, eyes rolling so hard Steve hoped they’d stick.
Steve didn’t have time to respond as the metal gates were opening again and this time it was his turn to step through. Oh god, oh God. Please don’t throw up , he begged himself. He stood frozen until he felt a warm hand on his left shoulder, jolting him out of his stupor. El’s friendly gaze met his own and he couldn’t help but stand a little straighter. God, he was behaving like a total wuss in front of his juniors. Jesus, they wouldn’t ever let him live this down.
“You will be okay, Steve. I will be right in front of you,” she said with a cheeky smile. Steve could feel his heart melt a little. These little twerps definitely didn’t deserve El. She was too good for them. Shit, okay, he had to pull it together.
“Thanks, El.” He smiled back at her and finally took a step onto the platform. He had to scrunch his legs up a little as he slid all the way to the right of the seat. Why the hell were the seats so small? You’d think they’d try to make you a little more comfortable when you were on your way to a possible quick death. He felt warmth against his side as Robin slid into the seat next to him. At least he could squeeze Robin’s hand the whole ride knowing she wouldn’t give him shit for it.
He was halfway through putting on his seatbelt when he heard Robin’s voice mid-sentence. Decidedly not beside him.
“-definitely won’t mind. He’s a big boy.” Steve whipped around and realized that Robin wasn’t in fact in the seat next to him, but sliding into the seat behind him, next to the dimpled honey blonde bombshell she’d been schmoozing for the past 30 minutes. And wow, he’d have to give her a high five later, after he dies and comes back as a ghost to throttle her.
“Wha- Rob, you can’t-,” and Steve didn’t even get to finish his sentence as the lap bar was suddenly pulled down over his squished legs. That’s when he noticed the clunky black boots pressed against his battered Nikes. His gaze trailed up long legs clad in black denim, a red and black checkered flannel tied snugly around angular hips, then up an even longer torso barely covered by a sleeveless Dio crop top, to wiry arms covered in tattoos. Steve’s eyes were caught on the guitar pick necklace around the guy’s neck.
“Oh, is that so,” came a smooth voice, sounding highly amused. Steve was almost afraid to look. He could see stray dark curls dusting the tops of the man’s shoulders.
“Don’t mind being my seat partner do you, Big Boy?” the guy crooned.
And Steve really could just die now. He looked up into pretty, chocolate brown eyes, framed by thick dark lashes. The stranger had his hair pulled up into a bun, with curling strands framing the sides of his face. Bangs. This guy had bangs , and he still made it work. God, this was Tammy Thompson all over again. He was about to puke on the hottest guy he’d ever laid eyes on. He was so grounding everyone from his pool for at least a month.
Steve just stared dumbly at the guy, probably with his mouth open -fuck- until he was scared half to death by one of the ride technicians coming to check that their seatbelts were secure and that their lap bar was down all the way.
“Shit shit shit shit,” Steve chanted under his breath. He was gripping the lap bar so hard his knuckles were turning white. His eyes flew open at the jolt of the coaster moving forward - and when had he even closed them? His heart was in his throat, and all he could do was stare ahead at Dustin’s mop of curly hair in the front seat. He was already screaming in pure joy. Steve wanted to strangle him.
“You okay there, sweetheart? You’re looking a little green,” came the guy’s smooth tenor. If Steve didn’t feel like his head was turning into an air balloon, he might have blushed up to his hairline at the endearment.
Steve tried to look at the guy from the corner of his eye, but his gaze instead fixed on the ground below. With every slow inch forward, the people on the ground were turning into small incomprehensible smudges of color. Involuntarily, one of Steve’s hands shot out and gripped one of the man’s wrists. He would be mortified over it later, but right now he needed the extra support.
Steve couldn’t utter a sound. He was completely frozen as they finally hit the zenith of the coaster. It felt like time was slowing down around him as they started to pitch forward. Steve caught one glance at the steep drop below before he slammed his eyes shut. He hadn’t realized he was holding his breath until he was letting it all out in one high pitched scream. He didn’t care if the little twerps made fun of him for the rest of his life as long as he made it off of this ride alive.
Steve’s stomach dropped as they plummeted down the tracks. He could feel his hands balled up tight in fabric, and his forehead was pressed against something solid and warm, but if he opened his eyes he would surely pass out. His body was jolted left and right, up and down, through loopdeloops galore. He couldn’t even tell if he was still screaming. Distantly, he could hear laughing beside him.
How fucking long was this going to take?
It felt like a century had passed when Steve finally felt their track of cars come to an abrupt stop. He could hear whooping and laughter all around him, but he still couldn’t manage to open his eyes. He leaned back in his seat, and took stock of himself. He was worn out and exhausted all at once. His throat was sore, and his palms felt tingly from being scrunched up for so long. He could hear Dustin yelling entirely too loudly, that this was his favorite ride of all time, even though he’d said that about the last four rides they’d gone on.
“Steve, are you alright,” he hears El ask from somewhere in front of him. His arm feels heavy, but he lifts it anyway and gives a weak thumbs up. The sun beats down on his face, warming his skin, and it feels nice after feeling the wind whip at him for what surely was hours (60 seconds).
“I’m proud of you, Dingus,” Robin says from behind, cackling. The witch. Suddenly Steve feels like he has enough energy to reach back and strangle her. Instead, he turns his thumbs up into a sharp middle finger. He hears hot guy chuckle beside him, and Steve’s frozen all over again. God, he must have been so embarrassing, screaming his lungs out. He couldn’t even remember if the guy had even reacted to the drop.
Their cars pull back into the loading dock where other amusement park goers are waiting their turn. Steve opens his eyes slowly, his lashes wet and tacky from keeping his eyes shut for so long. He feels the lap bar raise, and his seatbelt being unbuckled before he even has a chance to do it himself.
“You need help getting up, doll?” He hears beside him, and that gets Steve moving more than anything else. No need to embarrass himself any further.
“No, uh, thanks,” he clears his throat and mutters, finally hopping out of the seat. Dustin, Lucas, and Erica are already waiting by the exit, and he stumbles over to them, not waiting for his seat partner, or Robin to make their way out of their own cars. He pushes the three teens forward down the exit ramp. They’re talking over one another as they’re joined by Max, El, Will, and Mike. Despite his misery, they all seemed to have enjoyed the ride, and surprisingly, not one of them cracks a joke at his expense. Possibly something to do with the way El is walking beside him like a guard dog, rubbing a hand up and down his back.
“Oh! We should go look at our photos,” Lucas suggests and Steve inwardly groans. Hell no, he does not want to see that. Experiencing it firsthand was enough.
“I’m gonna go wait over on the benches. You guys find me when you’re done,” Steve says. They barely even acknowledge him before running in the opposite direction towards the little nook of TV screens with their reaction photos on them.
Steve just sits there for a while, recovering. He pulls out his phone and scrolls a bit until a water bottle is suddenly pushed in front of his screen. He looks up and there’s hot guy standing over him in all his glory. The sun shines down behind him, making him all glowy around the edges. Steve finally gets a good look at him. He’s smiling, and wow, he’s got gorgeous dimples too. His right eyebrow is pierced, as well as his septum and left nostril. Steve hadn’t thought he was into piercings, but if he wasn’t before, he surely was now.
“I figured you might need this. You were screaming pretty hard,” he says, his tone laced with amusement. Steve can feel the blush rising on his cheeks. This is exactly what he wanted to avoid. It wasn’t exactly a Tammy Thompson situation, but it was close enough.
“Thanks,” he says, putting his phone away and taking the proffered water bottle. He takes a sip, just to have something to do, when he notices the tiny little booklets the guy’s holding. The guy catches his line of sight, and his smile widens.
“My name’s Eddie, by the way. Didn’t really get the chance to introduce myself before. You seemed a little preoccupied.” He doesn’t quite hold out the booklets for Steve to take, but he flips them around so Steve can see the cover of them. His stomach drops as he reads The Demogorgon’s Lair Photo Experience. God no, how much more humiliation could he take? To his own annoyance, he couldn’t help but wonder what the photos entailed.
Hot guy, Eddie, stared at him, smirking, and Steve realized he’d let the silence go on a little too long.
“Uh, I’m Steve,” he says, wiping his hand free of the bottle’s condensation before he offers his hand. Eddie takes it and gives it a firm shake. His hands are wide and warm, his fingers littered with silver chunky rings. Steve wants to pull him forward and examine them all, but he lets him go, as that would be extremely weird and creepy. Somehow, this was all Robin’s fault.
“Nice to meet you, Steve,” Eddie drawls, and Steve can feel heat creeping up his neck. Since when was he so easily flustered? Again, somehow Robin’s fault.
His eyes catch on the booklets again, and this time Eddie raises them in offering.
“Wanna see?”
“Honestly, no,” Steve says, mouth finally curling into a smile. “I think I might die of embarrassment if I do.” Eddie laughs and plops down onto the bench next to him. There’s plenty of space, but somehow their legs are pressed against one another once again, in mimicry of how they were sitting on the rollercoaster.
“Don’t worry, Stevie. I think you can take it,” he says, and Steve has to actively not let his mind wander away with that phrasing. Eddie opens the first booklet, and Steve can feel his entire face immediately go red.
In the photo, his head is thrown back, eyes shut, with his mouth wide open in a frozen scream. His fists are balled up in the neck of Eddie’s shirt, not only in the front, but also in the back. Eddie himself, is staring wide eyed at Steve, head pulled down, with a huge grin on his face. He’s got one hand gripping Steve’s wrist at his neck, and the other thrown up in devil’s horns, as if he was getting ready to pose for the photo, before Steve jumped him.
“Jesus Christ,” Steve mutters, hands coming up to cover his face. Eddie cackles to his right, and Steve has the brief thought that he and Robin would definitely get along.
“Don’t shrivel up just yet, princess, there’s one more.” Eddie flips open the second booklet as Steve’s hands come down, and Steve almost puts them back up right away. In this one, Steve still has his hands balled up in Eddie’s shirt, but this time he’s got his face tucked into Eddie’s shoulder, mouth open wide, still screaming. Eddie’s head is thrown back, and his mouth is open, like he was laughing uncontrollably. Which he probably was. Steve vaguely remembers hearing laughter, but he was too caught up in his own head to pay attention to his surroundings.
“Why on Earth are there even two photo stops?!” Steve wails. He’s never been more embarrassed in his entire life. This definitely tops Tammy Thompson. Well, maybe nothing really tops Tammy Thompson, but this somehow felt worse!
He hears Eddie laughing beside him, and almost jumps when he feels warm hands circling around his wrists. Eddie pulls his hands away from his face, and leans forward and down to catch Steve’s eyes. Pretty brown curls fall over his face.
“Don’t stress about it sweetheart, I thought it was cute.” Eddie’s smiling softly at him now, and Steve feels like he’ll never stop blushing at this rate.
“That isn’t the word I’d use,” he mutters, but can’t help but smile back.
– -
Eventually Robin and her new friend, Chrissy, he finally learns, find him and Eddie chattering away on the bench, sitting entirely too close. Robin gives him a knowing look, which Steve dutifully ignores. He finds out that Chrissy and Eddie are best friends, and that they’ve actually ridden everything in the park twice already and were making their third lap. Psychopaths.
They all stand to meet the kids, who come running over with their own photo booklets, voices all scrambled atop one another as they all try and share their ride experience. Steve looks over them fondly and remembers why he loves them so much.
And sure, he may have wanted to kill them all not five minutes ago, but he gets to spend the rest of his time at the park getting on all the kiddie rides with Eddie, holding his hand on every single one, so he’s gotta thank the twerps for something.