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Chapter Text

The video opens to a shot of Eddie Munson attached to a lie detector machine. He is leaning his chin on one hand and grinning at the person behind the camera. From offscreen the voice of Corroded Coffin bandmate Gareth speaks:“Would you ever flirt with a fan in the interest of sleeping with them?”
Eddie’s smile drops and he gives the camera, Gareth and the polygraph examiner each a flat look before looking back towards Gareth and replying, “....No, I would never flirt with a fan in the interest of sex. What do you take me for? Some sort of deranged rock star taking advantage of people? You’re starting to sound like all those people who think we’re corrupting the youth.” By the end he is grinning again and leaning forward about to make another joke when the polygraph examiner interrupts, “He’s lying”.
“I AM NOT!” Eddie whips his head towards the examiner who simply shrugs and gestures at the machine. He turns back to Gareth who is giggling into his closed fist. Eddie levels Gareth with a look before sitting up straight and placing his hands flat on the table. He inhales, making Gareth laugh more, before looking at him head on, “Rephrase the question please.”
“Would you ever flirt with a fan that you wanted to have sex with… again?”
Eddie looks straight at the camera, blinks once and replies, “No.”
“He’s telling the truth.”

***

“All I’m saying is that this is not great publicity. You all have always had a fraught relationship with the public but this looks bad. Actually hitting on someone because you want sex is a really bad look for a performer.”
Eddie turns his head to look at his band manager Nancy. She is sitting across the table from him and looks as presentable as ever. Her hair is clipped back on one side and she is going through the papers laid out in front of her and does not even notice him looking at her. He throws up his hands and lets his head fall to the table, grumbling into the wood surface, “It’s not as if that was even what was actually going on at the time.” He picks his head up and points at Nancy, who is finally looking at him and then shifts to point at each of the other members of the band sitting around the table as well as the band photographer Jonathan who is also there for some reason. “And you ALL know that!” He lets his head fall back onto the table and creates a cave with his arms.
“Eddie, you and I both know that you aren’t taking advantage of your fans but the fans don’t know that,” Nancy admonishes, her voice softening ever so slightly.
“Though,” replies Gareth from the end of the table, looking completely unbothered, “it doesn’t seem like our fans have a problem with the idea of Eddie taking advantage of them.” Everyone at the table looks at him with flat expressions and Eddie lets his head fall back down after just being able to raise it slightly. “What? I’m serious, I have seen a lot of Tiktoks just today of people planning their outfits for the upcoming tour with the express intention of getting Eddie to flirt with them in the interest of sex.”
“I swear to God…” muttered Eddie, though no one was listening to him at all by this point.
“It matters more to me at this point what the news outlets are doing with this information and how that will affect the tour.” Nancy replies dryly. “Which reminds me, I know for a fact that that question was not cleared by the team before the lie detector interview.”
Eddie picks up his head from the table to see Nancy staring Gareth down before he eventually looks away, seeming slightly cowed. Gareth sighs before looking back up at Nancy, “The guys and I thought it would be funny to throw Eddie off in the interview. Make it more interesting. You know we’ve been having interview wars for years now!”
“I am well aware,” Nancy said looking over all of the other members of Corroded Coffin, looking as if she was regretting her life choices that had gotten her to this point. “However, in this case I don’t think you were thinking hard enough about who was going to get affected by this little prank.” She looked at all of them slowly. As she did, realization seemed to dawn on each of them. “Understood?”
All of the guys muttered agreements or apologies and Jeff, who was sitting next to Eddie, bumped his shoulder lightly. When Eddie looked over Jeff was looking appropriately chagrinned. “Sorry man, we really weren't thinking.”
Eddie just shrugged back at him and smiled a little bit. It wasn’t as if he was going to stay mad or had ever really been mad to begin with. The band had withstood worse scandals in their last nine years of being in the public eye and they had managed to bounce back from everything so far. This wasn’t really going to be any different. And, as Gareth had so helpfully pointed out, it wasn’t like they were really getting any negative press from their actual fanbase, just more people thinking about how they were going to try and get into Eddie’s pants. There were worse things. But he wasn’t the only one who was going to feel the effects of this little prank and that was the problem.
Eddie was pulled back from getting too in his head by Nancy’s voice, “Eddie, did you hear me?”
“No, sorry Nance, got lost in thought.”
She looked at him levelly. “I said that from my perspective as your manager and friend, I am fine with fielding this however you would prefer.”
He looked at her with confusion, “Meaning what exactly?”
She tidied her papers in front of her, looking down over her nose before looking back up at him. “I mean, if there was any part of you that wanted to be more public about certain areas of your life then you have the support of your team. I would only ask that you make sure that everyone involved in this situation is on board with the plan before you do anything.” She gave him a significant look that he did not have to reach to grasp the meaning of.
He nodded at her once before plastering a grin on his face and spreading his arms out to the side, “When have I ever left you out of the loop dear manager?”
She snorted before standing up and gathering her papers and bag, “Many times but don't let that happen with this.” She looked around at all of them, “Pleasure as always, you’ll all be getting my notes about the pre-show interview for Sunday. And please actually read them this time. I do not want a repeat of last year’s cosmo interview. Gareth was in the press for weeks after that.”
The guys all exploded with complaints and jibs towards Gareth and questions about the timing for the interview before the show. Eddie slid down in his seat slightly, his mind working at warp speed. Being more public… it had never even been something he had entertained as an option. He hadn't even thought of wanting it but it could be nice. He felt a presence beside him and looked over to see that Jonathan and crouched down beside his chair. “Hey man,” he said with a small smile, “I saw something online earlier that I thought you might be interested to see. I sent it to you privately but,” and he trailed off slightly before looking back at Eddie and clapping him on the shoulder. “Watch it, I think it’ll make you feel a bit better.”

***
Later, after a costume fitting and meeting with the set designer, Eddie settled back into the back seat of his driver’s car. He had been asked to stop driving himself after moving to LA because some had said that he couldn’t be trusted on busy roadways. And maybe those people had been right though Eddie would never admit to that fact. He pulled out his phone, remembered what Jonathan had mentioned earlier and checked his messages. Jonathan had sent him a tiktok and Eddie couldn’t help the sigh that escaped him. He trusted Jonathan’s judgement but he had frankly been seeing enough about his own sordid life since the lie detector interview had been released. He looked at the screen for a moment more before letting out another sigh and clicking in the video.
The video started with a kid, maybe 18 by the looks of him, in a very emo coded bedroom wearing black Corroded Coffin band tee and bleached hair. He can’t help but smile at the kid. The kid takes a breath and spreads his hands slightly. “Okay, so this is going to be a bit of a long one so stick with me. If you are a fan of my page then you are probably also a fan of Corroded Coffin and if you are a fan of the band then you have seen the news over the last 48 hours.” The video cuts to the infamous clip of the interview before going back to the kid. “Now this has caused a lot of uproar in the community for many reasons ranging from people thinking that Eddie is gross to people planning slutty concert outfits for the upcoming tour.” The kid grins at that and holds up his hands in a surrender type gesture. “Go off on that last one I guess. But anyway with everything going on I think people are missing the main point here. Later in the interview Eddie asks for the question to be rephrased.” The tiktok again stitches the interview when Gareth asks if Eddie would ever do it again and he says no. The kid appears back on screen. “Now, to me this indicates that Eddie may have flirted with a fan but that it might have been a long time ago and led to a relationship. A relationship that he is possibly still in. Eddie has been incredibly private through the entire nine years that Corroded Coffin has been in the public eye. The other guys have been spotted out at bars with hook ups or on dates with partners but Eddie never has been. And I know what you all might be thinking, that I literally have nothing to back this up.” The kid grins at the camera, clearly giddy. “Wrong! My cousin was lucky enough to catch a show that CC did eight and a half years ago when they were just starting to gain traction in the metal scene.” The video cuts again and Eddine sucks in a breath.
In the admittedly very grainy video he can see himself on a small stage with the rest of the band arrayed behind him. The video version of himself leans into the microphone grinning and looking around the audience. “Beautiful, beautiful people make some noise!” The crowd in the video responds with a wall of noise before video Eddie holds out his hands to quiet them. “Thank you thank you! You all have been amazing! We just have a couple more songs for you tonight but before the next one I wanted to make a little dedication.” Video Eddie pauses for effect and even through the grain of the camera he can see his own eyes zero in on someone in the audience. “This next one goes out to a special someone in the audience. Someone who is looking really very fine right now and who, I can imagine, is very good with their hands. Baby, if you ever want to take the plunge,” and here Eddie grinned wolfishly and leaned further into the microphone, “I’m an excellent swimmer.” The band then kicked off into the next song and the kid was back on the screen. Eddie couldn’t help but blink dumbly at the screen. He didn’t know that had ever been caught on film.
“So, all I’m saying is that that looks like flirting with a fan and maybe it just ended badly and that’s why Eddie said he would never do it again or maybe they're still together. It would explain why Eddie never dates. I don’t know, I’m probably way off base but it honestly just feels right to me. Let me know what y’all think.” The video ends and something nonsensical pops up on Eddie’s screen. He quickly closes the tab and stares at the headrest in front of him. He needs to get home now.

Chapter Text

Eddie slipped through the front door of his apartment and toed off his shoes before bending to line them up with the other shoes filling the entryway. He couldn’t help smiling at the array of footwear cluttering the front mat. A collection of varying types of Doc Martens and beat up sneakers for running and fashion and one pair of converse covered in doodles that definitely didn’t belong to anyone who actually paid rent in this house. He tipped his chin up, “Baby?”

“In here!” a voice called from down the hall in the direction of the bedroom. A voice that definitely did not belong to his baby. He sighed, biting his lip to keep from smiling as he walked into his bedroom to find Robin Buckley sitting upright on his bed holding a remote and facing the TV mounted on the wall.

She looked over and grinned at him when he entered. He pointed one finger at her, “You are not my baby and you have no right to impersonate him as such.

She laughed and shrugged, turning her attention back to the TV, “If anyone has a right to, it's me and we both know that.”

Eddie just rolled his eyes and, as he shrugged off his leather jacket, he turned his attention to the other person on the bed who was leaning back against the pillows and smiling softly at the argument. Said person finally turned his full attention to Eddie and smiled up at him, “Hey, baby, how was the meeting?”

Eddie let out a long groan and let his body flop onto the bed and crawled up to bury his face next to his favorite mole on his boyfriend’s neck. “Stevie, I don’t ever want to go to another meeting again. Please don’t make me.”

Steve laughed gently which Eddie felt more than heard and shifted to circle his arm around Eddie’s back and begin playing with his hair. “Babe, you and I both know that that is not up to me.”

“Plus,” supplied Robin helpfully from where she had finally turned away from the TV - the streaming service she had pulled up was on the page for Teen Wolf- “Your meetings would be a lot less annoying if your bandmates thought before trying to prank you in a very public manner.”

“You’re telling me,” Eddie grumbled, burning his face back in his boyfriend’s neck.

“Hey,” Steve said, leaning over and pressing a kiss to Eddie’s head. “Rob and I were gonna watch an episode or two of Teen Wolf before she has to head out. You wanna watch with us and then we can talk later about your meeting?”

Eddie looked up to find Steve’s eyes soft and his eyebrows drawn together in concern. “You're still sure you aren’t mad about all of this?”

Steve shook his head, “Nah, I’m not mad.” He smirked slightly and his eyes flicked over to Robin who snorted before settling against Steve’s other side. “Rob is though and will probably glare holes into the side of Gareth’s head next time she sees him but I’m all good.”

Eddie sighed and shifted so he could more comfortably see the TV and said, without much venom in his voice, “Have at it, the bastard deserves it.”

***

Three episodes of Teen Wolf later Robin was sitting up and stretching her arms above her head. “What’s on the docket for you tonight, Buckley?” Eddie asked, watching and she swung her legs off the bed to stand up.

“I have a date with that girl that I’ve seen a few times,” she paused, looking a little distressed.

“And this is a bad thing because…” Eddie questioned sitting up slightly and glancing between Steve and Robin. Robin looked at Steve with a plaintive expression and he rolled his eyes back which launched them into a fully silent conversation. Eddie sat up more fully to watch the exchange, narrowing his eyes to try and pick up on what exactly they were communicating. He had been working for years to translate their silent conversations and still only had a middling success rate.

Seeming to come to some sort of stand still in the argument Robin sighed and looked down to the side, still not answering Eddie’s earlier question. Eddie glanced between the two of them before holding up his hands catching both of their attentions. “Okay, so can I try and guess?” They both nodded, Robin looking dejected and Steve looking amused. “Okay so obviously Robin is not necessarily excited about this date.” He looked between them, receiving nods from both sides. “And you,” he said pointing at Robin while she grimaced, “are looking for sympathy about this from you,” this time pointing at Steve who inclined his head in ascent, “But you” he said this time poking Steve in the shoulder to which Steve responded by slapping Eddie’s hand away good naturedly. Eddie responded by over exaggerating how hard the hit was and flailed, falling away from Steve on the bed. Steve just rolled his eyes and let his head rest against the wall as Eddie continued his statement like nothing had happened, “are for some reason not willing to give sympathy to the person that you almost always have time and sympathy for…” He glanced between his boyfriend and his boyfriend’s platonic soulmate for a moment, “Which means,” he said rounding on Robin, “that you did something wrong!”

Robin pouted and then put her hands on her hips in a way that mimicked Steve’s motherly mannerisms perfectly and seemingly without meaning to. “I didn’t do anything wrong! I mean I didn’t do anything wrong necessarily! Who is even out here saying what is right and wrong?”

Steve sat up from where he had been leaning to look levelly at Robin. “True or False? Is it wrong to go on a date with someone when you can’t stand the sound of their voice?”

Eddie clapped a hand over his mouth looking between Steve and Robin who were having a stare down. Robin finally deflated and dropped her hands to her sides, “You can’t just say that, it isn’t the whole story.”

“True or False?” Steve parroted again, “Is it wrong to go on a date with someone when you can’t stand their voice or topics of conversation but you think they are smoking hot? You know, when they aren’t speaking.”

Robin groaned and buried her face in her hands. “Don’t say smoking hot.”

Eddie cackled on the bed, glad to finally have someone else take the brunt of someone’s dissatisfaction. He held out his hands in a placating way towards Robin, “Look, Rob, plenty of people go on dates just to have sex. As long as you admit that to yourself and to the girl you’re dating and everyone is cool with that then it isn’t a problem. I mean, other than the fact that you have said many many times in the nearly ten years that I’ve known you that you don’t like hook ups and sex without feelings.” He shrugged and looked at Steve who was nodding and giving Robin a pointed look.

Robin looked between them and frowned, “As if I could ever take dating advice from either of you.”

Steve made a squawking noise and put a hand to his chest. “What does that mean? We’ve been in a healthy relationship for nearly a decade!”

“Exactly!” Robin replied, flailing her arms at Steve. “Neither of you remember at all what it is like to date. You happened upon each other early on and that was it!”

“ ‘Happened upon’ makes it sound like no one was putting in the work,” Steve grumbled. “I was putting in the work.”

Eddie, who was still deeply charmed by Steve’s bitchy moods, flipped his position on the bed to lay his head on Steve’s thigh and rub his calf gently. “Of course you were a baby.” As he said it, Eddie felt Steve’s hand come down and run through his hair.

Robin, who had been watching this entire exchange with growing irritation, threw up her hands, “See! This is exactly what I mean!” She walked a circle around the room before facing Eddie and Steve again. “Okay, I am going to go on this date and I’m going to try to have fun. If I do not, I will not see her again, despite the fact that she is one of the hottest people I have ever seen.”

Steve laughed but immediately sobered when Robin shot him a quelling look. He held up the hand that wasn't currently in Eddie’s hair in surrender. “I think that’s an excellent plan and I look forward to your phone call later this evening to update this entire situation.”

Robin rolled her eyes but leaned over to tap Steve on the head and then, seeming to consider her actions for a moment, leaned over and also tapped Eddie on the head. “Bye Dingus,” she said, directed at Steve. “Bye Dingus’ gremlin.”

Eddie cackled at that, always taking joy in Robin’s attempts to pretend she didn’t love him, and twisted his body to crawl over Steve’s torso and bite his neck. Steve exclaimed and tried to push Eddie off but Eddie wrapped his arms tightly around Steve’s middle and pinning his arms. Steve had always been stronger than Eddie but Eddie made up for lack of strength with sheer will power and the overwhelming desire to be wrapped around Steve Harrington a majority of the time.

From the doorway Robin groaned, “See this is exactly what I mean! You two are useless to me!”

She headed out of the room and down the hall calling out a last goodbye. Steve disentangled himself enough to call out after her, “Have fun chatting with your date!”

“Shut it Dingus!” Robin called from down the hall but there was no malice there. There never was when her yells were directed at Steve.

Eddie looked over at Steve to find him smiling softly as they heard the door bang shut. Eddie, content with where they had ended up - Steve mostly underneath him and at his mercy- moved his head to nuzzle back into Steve’s neck before biting down on the same spot he had latched on to when Robin had called him a gremlin. Steve exclaimed in surprise at the sudden attack and once again tried to throw Eddie off. This time Eddie let himself be moved and they ended up with positions mostly reversed with Steve on top of Eddie, his knees on either side of Eddie’s hips. Steve got a hold of Eddie’s wrists and pushed them above his head, pinning them to the pillow above and only then did he stop moving and look down at Eddie. Eddie grinned up at him and jutted his head forward quickly, snapping his jaw in a biting motion.

Steve, who Eddie could tell was trying to be serious, couldn’t stop the grin spreading on his face. He shook his head and pressed down on Eddie’s wrist with a little extra force before sitting back on his heels. Eddie could immediately pull to mind many other days where he and Steve had ended up in similar positions. He had a feeling though that Steve was not going to let himself be distracted this easily. Worth a try though.

Steve rubbed the side of his neck where Eddie had bit him. “Dude, seriously I think that's going to bruise and not in the ‘you could miss it if you don’t look too hard’ hickey kind of way. Like in the, ‘how did this guy get a literal bruise on the side of his neck’ way”.

Eddie, sensing a chink in Steve’s armor, sat up putting a hand to Steve’s hip to steady himself. “I’m sorry, baby. I didn’t mean to bite so hard. Let me see if it's bruised at all.”
Steve looked at him doubtful for a second so Eddie put on his most innocent face. Steve sighed but then he raised his chin and tilted it to the side so Eddie could inspect his neck. Eddie leaned forward, pressing a thumb against the side of Steve’s neck and rubbing gently. There was no bruise, maybe a light one would form but nothing yet. That didn’t mean he had to say that though. He looked up at Steve, making his eyes as wide and contrite as possible. “Baby, I’m so sorry there is a bruise, don’t worry though, I’ll kiss it better for you.” Eddie then leaned forward, his hand that had been on Steve’s neck sliding up into his hair and gripping gently on the shorter hairs near his nape.

“Eddie,” Steve warned. “Are you trying to distract me from talking about the meeting earlier?”

Eddie pulled his head back slightly to look at Steve in the eyes, once more making his own eyes as innocent as possible. “Of course not Stevie, I’m just trying to be a supportive partner and right my wrongs.” Before he had even finished what he was saying though he had been angling back towards Steve’s throat and pressed his lips against the point he had bitten earlier.

Steve let out a gentle sigh and tilted his head further to give Eddie better access. Eddie also felt one of Steve’s hands come up and slide into his hair and he wrapped his own arm more tightly around Steve’s waist. Eddie let his lips trail up Steve’s throat and along his jaw before pressing a kiss to Steve’s cheek, enjoying the feel of his stubble against his own lips and then shifting to cover Steve’s mouth with his own when suddenly there was a finger pressed against his lips. He opened his eyes to be met with Steve’s hazel eyes looking back at him. “Your tricks will not work on me. We have to talk about the meeting and you are just taking advantage of the fact that you look good today to try and delay the inevitable.”

Eddie looked at Steve and couldn’t help the smirk spreading across his face. “Sweetheart, I know for a fact that I only look okay today so I think you might be projecting something onto me.”

Steve’s cheeks dusted slightly pink but he shook his head resolutely and pushed gently against Eddie’s face and Eddie did what any logical man would do and flopped all the way back on the bed. It had the desired effect because Steve laughed and leaned forward pecking Eddie on the cheek before swinging his leg off Eddie and standing up beside the bed. Not so much the desired effect then. Steve held out a hand to Eddie which he reluctantly took letting himself be pulled to his feet. “Come on,” said Steve, pulling Eddie towards the kitchen. “Let’s get dinner going and then we can talk.” And when it all came down to it, who was Eddie to ever say no to Steve Harrington?

***

Eddie was sitting on the counter in their kitchen watching Steve prepare a pasta bake. When Eddie had allowed himself to be pulled out of the bedroom he had been waffling between the different dishes that Steve would announce he was cooking. Over the years there had been several meals that had been in the heavy rotation specifically on nights where the ideal after dinner feeling was comfort. Eddie had been between pancakes and pasta bake when Steve had turned to him grinning and holding up a box of penne pasta.

Eddie tipped his head back to rest it against the cupboard behind him and admired Steve’s hands and forearms as he sprinkled the last bit of cheese on top of the dish and covered it with tin foil. As he bent to put the dish in the oven Eddie tilted his head to admire a different part of Steve’s anatomy. “Take a picture Munson, it’ll last longer,” Steve said over his shoulder as he straightened up and set a timer.

Eddie grinned at him wolfishly, “If only I had my polaroid on hand…”

Steve rolled his eyes and moved across the kitchen until he was standing between Eddie’s knees. Eddie, ever the gentleman, widened the space between his thighs so Steve could fit more comfortably. The second Steve leaned into the space Eddie offered him Eddie wrapped his ankles around the backs of Steve’s legs, holding him where he was. He grinned down at Steve and put his hands on either side of his face. “Ha, you're mine now.”

Steve set his hands on Eddie’s thighs and squeezed gently, “I already was.” Eddie felt himself begin to melt at the words before Steve followed it up with, “But now that you’ve trapped me here it seems a perfect time to talk. We have fifty whole minutes for it while our dinner bakes.”

Eddie groaned and dropped his hands from Steve’s face and let his head fall back against the cupboard. “Sweetheart…”

“Come on, Eddie. This is a big deal. It's a big deal for your career, and mine indirectly. It’s a big deal for us and our friends. I promise I’m still not mad. However, I might have to be if you don’t start talking about your feelings right now.”

He leveled Eddie with a serious look that Eddie knew better than to ignore. Eddie sighed and sat up straight. He let his fingers trail up Steve’s forearm as he thought about what to say. Steve squeezed his thighs again to prompt him. Eddie looked up to meet Steve’s gaze. His eyes looked the same as always. Soft and kind and a little bit like he was always about to cry but the reasons for the tears always changed. God, he loved him so much. It was hard to remember a time before he had loved Steve. Eddie reached up and let his fingers trail through Steve’s hair. Steve leaned into the touch but didn’t break eye contact. Eddie could talk a lot almost always but sometimes he felt pinned down, as if no words were possible. He sighed again, giving himself one more moment before he had to speak. “You know, I’ve been thinking a lot about the start of everything.”

“The start of everything?” Steve questioned eyebrows drawing together.

“Yeah, the start of it all. The band. Us. Touring. Everything that led us here.” Steve nodded, slowly, as if the memories were flowing back to him as well. “I mean, we were really young and I at least didn’t know anything and it still feels crazy that we ended up here.”

Steve smiled at him and leaned forward to kiss him on the cheek. He had always been affectionate, always leaning into Eddie or holding his hand or kissing his forehead. It still never failed to make Eddie ache. “I’ve been thinking about it too,” Steve admitted. “Like back then I didn't even think about this, the whole interview thing, being a problem we could have.”

“You were too focused on getting a hand on my dick,” Eddie said, nodding sagely.

Steve snorted and gently slapped Eddie’s thigh, “Sure, yeah, that's the reason.

Eddie grinning at him before sobering once more. “Do you remember though baby? I mean I thought I was going to die at any given moment and then you showed up and it felt like some beautiful angel had fallen upon me.” He looked down as Steve whose face had gotten more skeptical. “What? What is that face for?”

“Nothing!” Steve said, holding up his hands in surrender. “It’s just, I don’t think you would have necessarily described me as angelic at the time, that’s all,” he said ending with a slight shrug.

And, fair, Steve had a point. At the tender age of 21, Eddie Munson would not have been caught dead calling Steve Harrington beautiful.

***Almost ten years ago***

Eddie grunted as he hauled the last amp onto the very small but weirdly tall stage in The Hideout. Corroded Coffin had just gotten back to performing after Eddie took a small break to finally finish out high school, which he had done and it hadn’t even been awful at all. Then he had had to find a job and the other guys had been busy and one thing had led to another so it had been almost a year since they had last performed and he was really excited to be back. Well, he would be excited if he could manage to get all the wires hooked up correctly and tune his guitars.

He was kind of touched to see that they even had a few regulars in the audience. Mostly it was just people who regularly drank at the bar and had been drawn into Corroded Coffin’s orbit because of that but it was still nice.

But, he had to focus. He turned around to try and move the amp into the correct position without bumping any of the other equipment around him when he felt a tap on his leg. He turned around expecting to see the bartender or even the owner but instead his brain stuttered to a halt when he realized who was standing in front of him. Steve Harrington, former king of Hawkins High was standing in front of Eddie in a dingy bar with a girl Eddie vaguely recognized from the high school band standing behind him.

“Hi,” Steve said, wiggling his fingers in a small wave. Eddie just stared back at him blankly. “Um,” Steve said, his hand coming up to the back of his neck. “We were wondering if you needed any help.”

“You were wondering if I needed any help.” Eddie replied dumbly, his eyes lingering on Steve’s very puffy, very shiny, very out of place hair.

Steve, seeming to grow tired of the halting back and forth they were engaging in, dropped his hand from his neck and rolled his eyes slightly. “I mean, it kind of looks like you need it.”

The girl behind him hit it arm lightly and he flinched away shooting her a dirty look. And Eddie, well he couldn’t stop the grin spreading over his face. If the king was offering his assistance to a lowly jester such as Eddie it would be wrong to turn him away. Eddie stepped back from the edge of the stage and bowed, spreading his arms wide and grinning at Steve like he was a meal. “Well, by all means my liege, if you deem this jester as deserving of your help, come on up.”

Instead of being disgusted or thrown off by his dramatics Steve just smiled and hauled himself up on stage. Alright, thought Eddie, this could be fun.