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“Chrissy!” Jason howled in anguish as he stumbled towards the door of the single-wide in the dilapidated trailer park. The trailer with Eddie Munson’s van parked out front.
“I know you’re there!” he cried as a little dog in a yard across the gravel road barked up a frenzy at him. He turned and growled at the stupid little mutt, “Shut up! I know she’s in there. She’s with him…”
He was certain that she was in that stupid trailer doing it with the freak. And no, this wasn’t some drunken hallucination. The bottle of Jim Beam just gave him the courage to actually do something about it no matter what dog that kept barking at him.
That dog didn’t know shit, so he roared back, “Because of the way she looks at him and the way he looks at her! And all the excuses she makes and… and… Damn it, I’ve gotta do something about it!”
Earlier that night, after the fifth shot of whiskey, he resolved to do something about it, but it was something he had to do alone. The other guys… damn it, he didn’t want them to know. They would never respect him again if they knew that the King’s queen was hooking up the freak of the school. It’d be that Harrington/Wheeler/Byers debacle all over again, so he snuck away from the circle of cars and made his way down Kerley Blvd to the scene of the crime.
And that’s where he was, Forest Hills Trailer Park. Standing in front of a trailer, staring at Eddie Munson’s stupid van that was parked out front. The van where the freak and Chrissy probably made out or even…
God, he frowned as he swallowed the bile in his throat and tried not to think about it. He tried not to think about the metal head holding his beautiful girlfriend in his arm. He tried not to think about Munson kissing Chrissy the way that she should be kissing him, her boyfriend…
The ungodly amount of liquid courage he had consumed earlier and the thought of Chrissy with Eddie combined to set fire to his veins and he roared up the three steps to the trailer’s front door and pound on it with the sides of his fists as he bellowed again, “Chrissy!”
He hammered repeatedly on the door yelling for her to come out while the little dog continued to bark out that he was a drunken fool. Barking out to all the neighbors that the King of Hawkins High was a loser who had lost his girlfriend to this Hellfire loser.
Out of the corner of his eyes he saw lights flickering on in the other trailers in the park, but he didn’t give a shit about those people or what they or that stupid dog thought about him, he only cared about the people in this one trailer, so he pounded on the door again, “I know you’re in there, Munson! I know that Chrissy’s—”
A light blinked on inside of Munson’s trailer right before the door that Jason had been pounding his fists against swung open, sending the high school basketball star tumbling down the steps and barely keeping upright as he stumbled onto the gravel path.
As soon as he got his bearings Jason looked up to see Eddie Munson, dressed only in a pair of dark boxer shorts, scowling down at him, “What the fuck, man!?”
“I…” was all Jason could say as he stared at Eddie’s torso. He had seen the tattoos on the metal head’s arms, but he didn’t know that he had more on his chest. His eyes blinked rapidly as he gaped at the floating demon head on his left pectoral. His eyes roamed up to the spider on Eddie’s collarbone and then across the rest of his body wondering if there were more tat—
“What the fuck are you doing here?” Eddie hissed through his scowl, “It’s after midnight and I have fucking neighbors…”
“I…” Jason shook his head in an attempt to loosen up the drunken haze that had him fixating on Eddie’s tattoos. He stood up tall and squared his shoulders and told that loser with as much authority as his alcohol addled mind could muster, “I’m here to get Chrissy.”
“What!?”
“I know she-sh here,” he winced at his slightly slurred speech.
“Are you drunk!?” Eddie’s scowl deepened.
“I’m not… Okay, I’m a little drunk but I know she’s in there!” Jason pointed at Eddie accusingly, “I know Chrissy’s here, so I’m here to—”
“Who the fuck is Christy?” Eddie’s brow knitted, less questioning and more annoyed and that really made Jason annoyed.
“She’s… no, not Christy, Chrissy… Chrissy Cunningham…” Jason’s mouth gaped open, “My girlfriend. The one you’re cheating on me with… no wait. My girlfriend who’s cheating on me with you with…” His brow knitted as he tried to parse out who was cheating on who and who with—
Eddie barked a laugh and Jason looked up to see a huge grin on his face as he leaned against the door jamb, “You think that Chrissy Cunningham, the queen of Hawkins High, is here—” his grin grew wider “—at Forest Hills Trailer Park and she’s sleeping with me?”
Jason winced as Eddie cackled, but… “But the way you look at her and she looks at you and…”
Eddie’s grin morphed into a sneer, “So what!? Yeah, I’ve checked her out, who… hasn’t…” Eddie’s voice broke off as he cocked his head, and the sneer faded from his face as he looked at Jason.
It was probably because Jason was crying. Not just crying, blubbering and babbling uncontrollably between sobbing hiccups, “I know she… She ne—ever looked at me like… And she makes excuses not to see me and… I know she’s not staying the night at Jenny’s and…”
“Jesus,” Eddie breathed out, shaking his head in pity which just made Jason feel like a damn loser.
“I just want to find her and tell her—” his voice choked off in another sobbing hiccup.
“Fuck me,” Eddie muttered to himself before he moved aside and told Jason, “Get in here.”
“What?” Jason gulped a sob.
“Get inside,” Eddie rolled his eyes, “You’re fucking crying louder that you were yelling, and I don’t wanna explain this shit to my neighbors…”
Jason looked around to see most of the formerly dark trailers lit up and faces peeking out through gaps in curtains and blinds, so he nodded and wiped his cheeks off on the short sleeves of shirt as he trudged up the steps and slipped past Eddie and into the trailer.
He wasn’t sure what he expected the inside of the trailer to look like, but he didn’t think it would look cozy. It felt comfortable, not like the living room at his house with the furniture that you couldn’t sit on because it was “saved for company”. It was more like the rumpus room in his basement where he and his friends would watch movies and play Atari and eat pizza rolls.
“Wait here,” Eddie motioned towards a couch with an Afghan draped over the back and turned towards the back of the trailer, “I’m gonna go put some clothes on—”
“Or!” Jason pointed his finger at Eddie accusingly as his fire returned when he realized, “You’re gonna go tell Chrissy to hide—”
“Why the fuck do you think she’d be here!?” Eddie turned back towards Jason, his eyes narrowed, brow knitted, mouth sneering as he enunciated each word, “She’s A Cheerleader.”
Jason shook his head trying to figure out what Eddie was getting at…
“Cheerleaders date jocks,” Eddie’s sneer morphed into a mocking smile as he explained in a way that if Jason wasn’t slightly woozy from booze and crying, he might take offense, “And I’m not a jock.”
Jason nodded slowly as he looked Eddie up and down. Yeah, the freak wasn’t a jock but he still kinda had an athletic build. His muscles weren’t as cut or defined as Jason’s were, but he looked pretty fit. Soft planes of muscles on his chest and abdomen, soft and smooth like those sculptures of Greek gods that were in museums. His arms and legs were lean, but the tattoos really highlighted his musculature…
Jason blinked quickly, trying to snap himself out of… whatever happened and back to righteous anger. There was no way he would let Eddie fool him into thinking that Chrissy wouldn’t want to be with him with his plush lips and wavy hair and mahogany brown eyes…
“No…” Jason blinked quickly again before he told Eddie in no uncertain terms, “No, you’re not gonna go in the other room and help her escape or hide or—”
“Are you fucking serious!?”
“Yeah, I am,” Jason squared his shoulders and poked his finger into Eddie’s chest just below the demon head tattoo. Into his soft skin with surprisingly hard muscle underneath, “If you go into the other room, I’m coming with you.”
“You’re gonna watch me get dressed, “Eddie deadpanned as he looked down at Jason’s finger that was still touching his chest.
“Yeah, and no funny stuff,” Jason smirked as he pulled his hand back, “No warning Chrissy or helping her jump out a window or—”
Eddie shook his head and turned towards the back of the trailer. As he walked back, he raised up his hands and shook them dramatically and exclaimed in an equally dramatic and mocking voice, “Run and hide, Chrissy. Your fucking boyfriend is on to us…”
“Very funny,” Jason mumbled under his breath as he followed Eddie into the back room after he turned on the light and this room was exactly what he expected. Heavy metal posters on the walls. Dungeons & Dragons books piled up on a dresser. An unmade bed. An acoustic guitar with dark sweatpants draped across them that Eddie snatched up before he sat on his bed and pulled them on.
With all the crap in his room, there was one thing that really stood out to Jason, the electric guitar hanging on the wall. He cocked his head to the side as he stared at sharp edges and sloping curves and felt pulled towards it. He raised his hand as he stumbled towards the guitar—eager to touch the red crackle paint that looked almost too hot to touch, like it was birthed in the fires of hell—but suddenly his hand was quickly shoved aside.
“Hey!”
Jason looked at Eddie who had just pushed his hand away from the shiny guitar and was scowling at him, “This is like a museum, you can look but no touching.”
“Sorry,” Jason muttered and looked at the guitar again, a wistful smile on his lips, “It just looks really cool.”
“Yeah, thanks,” Eddie muttered back as he opened up a drawer and got out a Quiet Riot t-shirt and after he pulled it on, he motioned towards the door, “Field trip’s over, back to the living room.”
“Hey, I need to search this room,” Jason started to spin around—which was kind of a mistake—and grabbed Eddie’s shoulder before he tipped over, “I know she’s in—”
“Where?” Eddie shoved Jason away, “Where the fuck is anyone gonna hide in here!?”
“Umm,” Jason looked around at the closet that had one sliding door open with a hamper on the floor and shirts hanging above it. He looked at the bed frame that maybe a person could fit under and pointed, “There!”
Eddie folded his arms across his chest as he leaned against the dresser, “You wanna get down on the floor and look under there? Be my guest.”
Jason eyed the old carpet that looked like it hadn’t been vacuumed in a while and sighed, “I guess not…”
“Yeah, that’s what I thought,” Eddie smirked and then pointed to the door, “Back to the living room, ball boy.”
“Don’t call me that,” Jason sighed in a voice that was whinier than he would have liked as he made his way out of the bedroom and towards the living room but stopped at the kitchen counter when Eddie walked past him and opened one of the kitchen cupboards, “You gonna try to sober me up with coffee, cause I’m not that drunk anymore…”
“No,” he huffed a laugh as he pulled out a glass and filled it up with water from the sink, “Coffee doesn’t work like that and the last thing I fucking need is you drunk and wide awake at my place, so here—” he handed Jason the glass “—drink up.”
Jason drank down the water in one go and handed the glass back to Eddie. As he filled it up again, he asked, “How the fuck did you even get here?”
Jason gulped down half the glass of water, “Me and some of the guys on the basketball team were drinking at the quarry and—”
“Fucking shit,” Eddie shook his head in disgust, “I’m not gonna have those pricks showing up at my door too, am I?”
“No,” Jason frowned, “I snuck away. They don’t know about… the cheating…”
Eddie sighed, “What makes you think Chrissy’s cheating on you anyway?”
“I dunno,” he frowned at the lie that slipped out of his mouth, “Actually… it’s a lot of stuff…”
Eddie folded his arms across his chest and leaned against the kitchen counter. He didn’t say anything, but Jason took it as it would be okay to tell him even though it would be insanely stupid to tell his rival anything about him and Chrissy and his feelings and—
“She never wants to be around me,” Jason looked at the glass of water, preparing himself for Eddie to mockingly ask him who in their right mind would want to be around him, but he didn’t so Jason continued, “It’s like… We start to hang out and then like 15 minutes later she has to go, and we barely even talk on the phone anymore and we still hold hands at school and stuff but that’s it. We don’t—”
Jason’s voice choked off, afraid to say the truth out loud, but he’s already in it so… “We don’t even kiss anymore…”
“Shit…” Eddie breathed.
“Yeah,” Jason set the glass down on the kitchen counter, still staring at the water, “We haven’t kissed for weeks. I mean, there’s little pecks on the cheek and stuff like that but only when people are around, like it’s all for show. Like she’s just doing it so everyone else will think things are okay… And maybe even so I’ll think everything is okay, but it’s not, it’s…”
Jason looked up at Eddie, who actually looked sympathetic, and admitted, “Our relationship, hers and mine, it’s dying slowly and I dunno, it might be dead already…”
“Fuck man…”
Jason nodded and felt a bit of comfort in the profane sympathy.
“So…” Eddie’s brow knitted, “What made you think that Chrissy and I…”
“The way she looks at you,” Jason huffed a laugh, “No one else sees it, but I do. I’ve never seen her… She’s never looked at anyone the way she looks at you and the way she tries to hide it, well… I thought that maybe…”
Eddie’s head cocked to the side a bit and at that moment, Jason could see it. What Chrissy saw in those handsome features that were hidden behind a veneer of mocking scorn. The warm brown eyes, plush lips, wavy hair…
Jason surged forward and wrapped his hand around Eddie’s head, fingers carding through his wavy brown hair as he pressed his lip against Eddie’s plush lips that were so pillowy soft. A moan escaped Jason’s mouth, and his tongue teased at the seam of Eddie’s lips as he grabbed his arm.
Oh yes, he understood now what Chrissy wanted. What she had lusted for. The softness of his lips. The scratch of his stubble on his upper lip and chin. Holy Christ, he had never felt so turned on before…
Jason’s eyes snapped open when Eddie grabbed his shoulders and pushed him back and their lips separated with a wet pop. He looked quickly between Jason’s eyes, “Jason—”
“Sorry if this is messy, but it’s the first time I’ve kissed a guy,” Jason gasped out.
“Wha—”
Eddie’s words were cut off when Jason smashed his lips back onto his and pushed his tongue into his mouth and oh good lord! The feeling of another man’s tongue against his made him moan an incoherent, “Eddie,” into his rival’s mouth.
He needed to feel Eddie’s skin again, so he grabbed at the hem of his shirt to pull it over his head just as Eddie gripped Jason’s shoulders tighter and pushed him back again, “Jason!”
Jason huffed a lust-drunk laugh as he stared at Eddie’s soft and slightly parted lips, not bothering to look into his eyes until Eddie shook him by his shoulders and the sex haze cleared momentarily from his mind. He looked up at Eddie’s confused and not-turned-on-at-all expression and…
“Oh…” Jason’s smile dropped away from his face as he realized, “Oh shit…”
He had just kissed a guy. No, not just that, he’d kissed Eddie “the freak” Munson. His rival for Chrissy’s affections. A guy who would have no problem turning Jason into a pariah by telling everyone that the King of Hawkins High was a fag—
“Jason, I’m gonna let go of your shoulders,” Eddie stated calmly as he looked intently into Jason’s eyes, “And when I do, you’re not gonna kiss me again, okay?”
“I…” Jason’s mouth gaped open, “…okay.”
Eddie smiled and nodded as his hand dropped off Jason’s shoulders, “Okay, so uh—”
Jason’s mouth moved of its own accord, babbling out an apology, “I’m sorry, I don’t know why I did that. I’m not like this. I’m…” He could feel his face heating up, not with embarrassment but with fear. No, not fear, terror. Terror as to what could happen to him, to his reputation, his life if—
“It’s okay, you’re just a little drunk and…” Eddie snorted a laugh, “I’m pretty irresistible…”
Jason huffed a relieved laugh in spite of his fear.
Eddie smiled back as he handed Jason the glass of water and motioned towards the living room, “Go have a seat.”
Jason nodded and sat down at one end of the couch and Eddie sat at the other. Jason kept the glass of water clutched in his hands like some sort of safety device to keep him from lunging across the couch to kiss Eddie again as though his fear and embarrassment weren’t going to be enough to keep him firmly in his seat.
Eddie grabbed a pack of Camels off the coffee table and pulled out a cigarette. As he put it in his mouth, he held the pack towards Jason.
Jason shook his head, “No, I’m good.”
“You sure?” Eddie lit the cigarette and smiled, “Cause a kiss like that, you kinda need a cigarette after.”
Jason huffed a laugh but then looked down at the glass held between both of his hands, “Sorry man…”
He looked up to see Eddie waving his hand, smoke dancing off the end of the cigarette as he told Jason, “Don’t even worry about it."
“I don’t know why I did that,” he looked back down at his glass but looked at Eddie when he spoke.
“I think you did it because you like guys,” Eddie took a drag off his cigarette and watched Jason with studying eyes.
“N-no,” Jason shook his head, “I’m not gay. I like girls—"
“You can like both.”
Jason’s mouth opened, ready to repudiate what Eddie said, but suddenly it was like trumpets were blaring at the epiphany that was hitting him like a wrecking ball. That it was possible that he could feel this primal, physical attraction to both girls and guys, just like in basketball where he’d play both offense and defense, switching seamlessly. Holy smokes!
His realization had him wondering, “Do you? Like both, I mean?”
“Me? Nah,” Eddie shook his head and before he took another drag of his cigarette, “But I’ve known a few guys that do.”
“Really?”
“Yeah, I mean, not any guys that’re around here in Hawkins,” he knocked the ash from his cigarette into the ashtray on the table, “They’re all at college exploring who they are. Kissing guys, kissing girls, fucking everything that moves...”
Jason laughed as Eddie grinned at him, but the smile dropped off of Jason’s face because even if this guy knew other guys who kissed guys, he could still destroy him with a few words so he asked, “You’re not gonna… tell anyone about—"
“No,” Eddie shook his head and exhaled smoke as he crushed out the remains of his cigarette, “I’m not gonna tell anyone about anything. Not you showing up here, not you yelling for Chrissy—” Jason bowed his head and pinched the bridge of his nose in embarrassment as Eddie continued “—Not you being my first kiss from a guy… The only people that are gonna know are the people in this trailer right now.”
“Thanks,” Jason nodded, “And I’m umm, sorry… for all of it—”
“Except the kiss,” Eddie grinned, “Don’t be sorry about that, ‘cause it was a good kiss.”
“Yeah,” Jason laughed then let out a sigh, “I think… I need to think about everything. Not just the kissing thing but about Chrissy too.”
“Oh yeah?”
“Yeah,” Jason nodded, “I think she’s only staying with me out of obligation or pity or… I dunno. Whatever the reason is, it’s probably the wrong reason to stay together and I think maybe we shouldn’t...” He shrugged.
“Well, the sooner you break up,” Eddie grinned, “The sooner Chrissy and I won’t have to sneak around behind your back.”
“Yeah,” Jason huffed a laugh at Eddie’s joke and then stood up, “I better get going.”
“You need a ride home or…”
“Nah,” Jason shook his head, “My car is at the quarry and… honestly, I really wanna walk. Give me time to sober up and think about things.”
Eddie nodded and walked Jason to the door. As he opened it, he smiled, “See ya ‘round, Carver.”
“Yeah,” Jason stepped out into the quiet night. After he was down the steps, he turned and looked at Eddie, “See ya ‘round, Munson.”
He headed down the gravel road to Kerley Blvd and for the first time that night he didn’t feel like a loser. Of course, he still had a lot to think about. A lot to change. He wouldn’t tell anyone about kissing Eddie or that he liked it. He’d wait until he was out of this small town and in college before he’d try something like that again.
But he did need to talk to Chrissy. They needed to decide if their relationship was worth working on or if they should go their separate ways. The more he thought about it, the more he thought they needed to split up and if they did, maybe he’d tell her to talk to Eddie because that guy was a pretty decent guy.
“Holy fucking shit mother fucker…” Eddie cursed under his breath as he watched Jason through a crack in the curtain. Walking down the gravel road and finally turning down Kerley towards the quarry and disappearing behind the trees.
He let out a breath as he went to the bedroom and pulled the hamper out of the closet, “He’s gone.”
Chrissy emerged from her hiding spot behind an overcoat, holding a bundle of her clothes along with her shoes, “He’s gone, gone?”
“Yup,” he popped the p as he took her shoes and put them back on the floor next to the bed and she put her bundle of clothes on top of his dresser. He watched as she sat down on his bed and pulled her legs up against her chest. Her fingers nervously rubbing along the seams of the shirt—his Hellfire Club shirt—that she had put on to sleep in after they had made love that night.
“Are you okay, baby?”
He sat down next to her. He ran his hand up and down her back and smiled when he finally saw her shoulders relax and she let out a little sigh.
“I think so…” she looked over at Eddie. Her big blue eyes sparkling in the lamp light, “I was just… I was scared because I didn’t know what he’d do to you if he found out that we…”
He nodded and wrapped his arm around her shoulder, and she leaned into him, saying quietly against his chest, “I really didn’t expect that…”
“Yeah,” Eddie chuckled and pulled her tighter against him, “I didn’t expect him to kiss me either.”
“He kissed you!?” Chrissy pulled back so she could look into his eyes with her surprised eyes.
“Yeah, I guess you might not have heard that,” he snorted a laugh, “But yeah, full kiss on the lips with tongue and everything.”
“Oh my god…”
“It wasn’t half bad—”
“Eddie!” She swatted playfully at his chest.
“It wasn’t as good as your kisses…”
“It better not have been,” she smiled sweetly and then got a thoughtful expression, “You know, I’m really not too surprised that he did that…”
“Yeah?”
“Yeah, I mean,” she bit her upper lip for a moment before she explained, “Well, he looks at you a lot. I mean, more than just in a rivals sort of way. It’s… yeah…”
“Huh…”
He’d never even considered that—maybe because he doesn’t swing that way—that the looks Jason gave him were anything more than staring daggers or wishing for his untimely demise. But he never considered it even remotely close to friendly, let alone lustful, simply because he had been pretty sure that Jason must have figured out that he and Chrissy were hooking up behind Jason’s back.
It wouldn’t take a genius to figure it out. He and Chrissy hadn’t been as careful at maintaining their façade of indifference to each other lately. It had only been a matter of time before Jason put two and two together and honestly, he was shocked that Jason bought into Eddie’s reasoning that he and Chrissy couldn’t possibly be sleeping together behind his back. Especially with Jason and Chrissy’s relationship seemingly falling to pieces, which reminded him…
“So, you haven’t kissed Jason in weeks?”
She shook her head no and looked up at him, “I… I know I should have, to try to keep him from suspecting us, but…” she bit her lip in that way that made everything inside of him melt into warm goo, “Every time I thought of kissing him, it felt… like cheating…”
“Baby,” he grinned even though he felt a stabbing pain in his gut to admit that “We are cheating…”
Fuck, he hated saying that, but it was true. No matter how much they played boyfriend and girlfriend in private, in public she was Jason’s girl and fuck that killed him. Every time he thought about Jason touching her or kissing her or telling her that he loved her, it felt like someone was driving a fucking knife into his heart.
It hurt even worse at times like this. When she slept over and he’d hold her all night. When she’d look at him like she was looking at him now, with shimmering eyes and trembling lips—
“No Eddie, that’s not what I meant,” she shook her head again and quickly licked her bottom lip, “It would have felt like I was cheating on you and… I don’t want to cheat on you.”
He stared into her eyes and felt his lips part. Holy fuck…
“I feel like…” She looked down at the Hellfire logo on his shirt that she was wearing and said quietly, “I feel like you’re my boyfriend…”
“You…” he breathed out even though he felt like all the wind had been knocked out of him, but when she looked up at him with shimmering eyes, he got his breath back enough to tell her, “Fuck, I wanna be your boyfriend.”
“You do?” She pulled away from him to face him. She grabbed his arms as she laid back on the bed, pulling him down on top of her. Nestling his crotch between her gorgeous legs.
“Yeah,” he nodded as he hovered over her. Mere inches above her, looking quickly between her eyes, “I wanna be your boyfriend and hold your hand and kiss in front of everyone so that everyone knows that I belong to you and—”
“I belong to you too,” she huffed a joyous laugh, and her hands clutched at his cheeks as he pressed his lips against hers.
Her hands went to his chest and pushed him up as she smiled, “I’m gonna break up with Jason because I want that too.”
“Actually,” he smiled back, “I think Jason wants to break up with you—”
“I’ll let him,” she said quickly and pulled him into another sweet kiss from her honeyed lips after she told him, “It’d be nice for him to think he won.”