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Eddie and Gareth didn’t get the chance to hangout much one on one anymore. Between Eddie’s second senior year, Hellfire preparations, and trying to sell enough to maintain clients, Eddie was difficult to catch alone. The first time they managed to snag any in months was winter break, during the week after Christmas and before New Years that feels like it exists outside of time. Gareth’s Dad had gone out of town on a “boys trip” the day after Christmas with the promise to be back before the New Year, and his Mom had decided to take the opportunity to plan an overnight get together with her book club. She told him that she would be back sometime in the late afternoon, and left some money for him on the counter for takeout and a note that warned him to clean up after himself. She was well aware he would invite his bandmates to spend the night with his sister spending the holidays with her boyfriend a few towns over.
They had horror movie marathon, but at this point both Jeff and Gabe had already wandered home due to respective family obligations. It was around 9 AM, otherwise known as “too fuckin early” according to Eddie, who was currently pouting with his head propped on his crossed arms, leaning onto the bar counter and clinging to his coffee like he would die without it. Gareth snorted as he continued making toast for the both of them. He silently knocks Eddie’s head with the cinnamon sugar he held in his hand, just enough for a solid tap, before shaking it in question once he sees Eddie look at it. Eddie nods, before shoving his face into his arms and begins to grumble again. Gareth rolls his eyes, but continues his ministrations without saying much. Eddie had never been a morning person, but it didn’t help that the boys had been up well into the night drinking and messing about. Gareth only had a couple of beers, so his hangover was limited to a small ache just behind his eyes, meanwhile Eddie had taken the liberty to trade some of his stash for a decent bottle of moonshine and had managed to down about a quarter of it by himself. Gareth knew he had to have a killer hangover, and probably wouldn’t be able to stomach more than the toast he was about to offer to him.
Gareth and Eddie had known each other since Gareth’s freshman year. Eddie was a junior at the time, but was the same year as Gareth’s older sister. His sister had a friend in Hellfire and recommended he joined, mentioning the head of the club was “into that weird music you like”. He avoided the club the first two weeks of class due to intimidation, Eddie looked cool, looked like he listened to metal. Meanwhile Gareth was still stuck in the wardrobe his mother bought for him. His sister bugged him about it the entire time, repeatedly telling him “Gare for the love of god, he’s a DND nerd. I don’t think he’s gonna be phased by a freshman with a dorky wardrobe, especially if he’s into the same shit as you.” What finally forced him to go to a Hellfire meeting was meeting Jeff in his HomeEc class. They were paired together for a cooking assignment, and Gareth made a joke about what modifiers to add for various cooking utensils when he absolutely lit up.
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“You play DND too?!” Jeff whisper yells, cutting Gareth off slightly, but he quickly smiles.
“Yeah! Well sort of? I have the books and a character made! Just never had the chance to properly play…” Gareth’s voice trailed off towards the end of the last sentence, slightly embarrassed. Jeff shakes his head with a visible smile on his face.
“Come join our group then! Our DM is always open to new members, we’re actually having a meeting later today. I could give him a heads up you were coming at lunch if you wanted to join us?” Jeff says quickly. He pauses a second before saying “No pressure obviously, but we’re pretty used to inexperienced players so you’d probably fit right in.” He gives Gareth a slightly nervous smile.
“Oh- Yeah! I should be free, I just might need a ride home afterwards? My sister normally gives me a ride home, but I dunno if she has plans or anything-“ He feels his cheeks flush, feeling the awkwardness that had just receded come rushing back full force. God being a freshman sucked ass.
“Oh that’s okay! Eddie has a van and actually drops me off at my place too, we could easily take you home afterwards too.” Jeff says easily, completely ignoring Gareth’s embarrassment. “I only have my permit and don’t have a car yet, Eddie’s pretty used to being the group driver so don’t even worry about it.”
Gareth let out a breath, laughing slightly. “Okay you’ve convinced me, what room should I meet you guys in?” He says while ripping out a piece of notebook paper, scribbling down the room number along with the time the meeting officially started, trying to swallow the nervousness and the preemptive annoyance of the “I told you so” earful he would inevitably get from his sister later. He and Jeff part with a handshake, and a small see you later as they part ways to their next classes.
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Gareth finds himself finishing the toast as he snaps out of the memory of the day he and Eddie met. He had Eddie to thank to the confidence improvements over the course of the last 2 1/2 years. He had become a solid part of the little ragtag group that ended up forming outside of Hellfire not long after he joined, becoming the drummer for Corroded Coffin after the previous one left for college. He snorts at the thought of how terrified he was of Eddie that first meeting, especially with the image that currently resides in front of him. He shoves a piece of toast on a napkin in Eddie’s direction, before taking a large bite of his own.
“Eat something or it’s gonna make the nausea worse.” He says dully after several moments of Eddie remaining buried in his arms groaning. “I don’t know why you always insist on liquor, you always end up wanting to hurl your stomach up the day afterwards.”
“Don’t knock what you refuse to try Gare-Bear.” Eddie mumbles from in his arms, smacking his hand on the counter while blindly reaching for the piece of toast, barely lifting his head enough to get the worlds smallest bite in, before immediately collapsing back into his original position. Gareth huffs, while silently going for a couple of glasses of water. He wasn’t a big drinker, it tasted like shit and then you felt like shit afterwards. He didn’t mind the buzz, and often found feeling of being tipsy on a handful of ciders pleasant. But he never enjoyed being truly drunk like Eddie seemed to.
“I just don’t see the need to get absolutely sloshed when I drink, sue me.” He jabs back, he returns to Eddie’s spot at the counter and hands him a glass of tap water. Eddie squawks indignantly.
“Excuuuseee me? I know how to hold my alcohol thank you very much.” He shoves more of the toast into his mouth after, finally sitting up, but leaning one arm heavily onto the counter to support his weight. He’s squinting with visible bags under his eyes, and Gareth can tell by the size of his bites and speed of his eating that he’s trying REALLY hard to not gag on the toast as he eats.
“Christ Eddie, stop before you upchuck all over me.” He smacks the arm holding the toast and shoves the glass of water closer. “Drink slow, don’t guzzle. I feel like your damn mother.”
“Yes Ma.” Eddie snorts out as he sits the piece of toast on the napkin, before grabbing the glass and sipping slowly. Gareth rolls his eyes at the name, but resumes eating his own. They finish the rest of their mediocre breakfast in silence before thinking about the night before. As the last movie’s credits rolled, the boys had started talking about everything and anything that came to mind. When the topic of girls came up, he couldn’t help but notice Eddie slightly stiffen on the couch next to him.
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“I’m just saying that Signory Weaver could insult me to my face and I would probably apologize to her.” Jeff says as he’s splayed out on Gareth’s floor, having helped himself to some of Eddie’s moonshine earlier and couldn’t sit up without the world spinning. They had just finished the first Alien movie and Gabe was in front of the TV, fiddling with the VHS player while trying to get the tape to eject.
“I don’t know man, Veronica Cartwright in this movie…” Gareth starts. He agrees with Jeff if he’s being honest, but he knows it gets a rise out of the other boys when he argues just for the sake of arguing. The more they hate it, the stronger the urge Gareth gets to do it.
“Gareth I swear to god I am way to drunk to do this right now.” He hears Jeff say from the floor. “Eddie” Jeff smacks Eddie’s ankle which was sitting next to his face. “Eddie you gotta back me up here man, Gareth’s doing the thing.”
Gareth doesn’t miss the way Eddie’s shoulders tense ever so slightly prior to a flash of.. something in his eye that Gareth couldn’t quite catch in the dim lighting. Eddie has a quick recovery, replying smoothly with a “I dunno, Cartwright isn’t half bad in this.” And grinning manically at Jeff’s screech in reply, laughing as Jeff begins to smack his legs with as much force his drunken state could muster, which was a couple of light smacks before plopping into the ground again. Gareth looks at Eddie carefully as he sees Eddie practically melt with what appears to be relief as Jeff becomes distracted with Gabe’s small “yes!” As he manages to get the tape of Nightmare on Elm Street into the slot and the trailers start up. He doesn’t say anything, but simply files it away for later.
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Gareth wasn’t an idiot, Eddie literally never talked about girls. He didn’t want to make any assumptions, but honestly what else was he supposed to think? Even in their DND sessions, the way Eddie describes his female NPCs is just… different. He rarely had them in the first place, but on the off chance they did encounter one, the way he details them is just not the way he’s ever heard a guy their age describe a woman. It was almost too respectful, he thinks with a slight hint of shame, knowing his own tendencies as well. Gareth looks at Eddie again as he’s scarfing down the last of his toast, taking small sips of water to keep himself from choking. He thinks back to the look he saw on Eddie’s face before, and it suddenly clicks into place that the look he noticed in his eyes earlier was terror. He swallowed thickly, Gareth loved to be an asshole, but he knew bringing up last night would be too far. He scans the room to look for a different conversation topic and notices a small stack of records next to the player in the dinning room.
He sighs, recalling the week before when they had gone to Indy to check out some record shops. There was a specific store that he went into, he had been there with the boys a few times during their trips. He had gone in alone this time, the others had wandered into a thrift store that Gareth had gotten bored in after about five minutes of scanning the isles filled with what was clearly from retirees downsizing or church donations. He had told the boys he was going to window shop down the street, and made his way down to the record shop. The second he walked into the store though, he noticed the owner glaring daggers at him with the most venom he had ever seen in his life. He hightailed it out of there, not even bothering to stop and wonder why. By the time he made it back to the thrift shop, Gabe had managed to find a painting of what was apparently supposed to be a cat, but looked more like a tortured infant, and the short interaction was quickly forgotten about. Gareth turns back to look at Eddie, small smirk on his lips.
“Hey, Eddie? Random question.” Eddie looks like a deer in headlights for an almost imperceivable second before recovering and smiling lightly.
“Shoot.” Gareth clears his throat.
“So when we were in Indy last week and I went off on my own? Stopped by that record shop you introduced to us. I wasn’t able to stay for very long though, because the owner randomly started glaring at me like I took a piss on his first born. Ended up leaving pretty much as quickly as I got there.” He raises an eyebrow. “Now I somehow have a hard time believing Gabe or Jeff managed to do anything to piss of the owner bad enough to remember my face well enough to want to crucify me on sight so… the hell did you do Munson?”
Eddie squeaks before smacking a hand over his mouth. “Shit I didn’t think he’d recognize you guys…” before a light flush managed to settle over his face. Oh Gareth REALLY had to know what happened now.
“Oh now you gotta spill, what did you DO?” Gareth said with bordering on manic glee. Eddie never gets embarrassed about anything, he must’ve gotten caught doing something BIG for him to be turning the shade of crimson he was. “Did he catch you pissing on a Blondie album or something?”
Eddie manages to squeeze out a laugh, sounding more like a depressed wheeze due to the strain. “God I wish.” I buries his face in his hands, refusing to look anywhere in Gareth’s direction. Oh this was simply too good. Gareth has literally never seen Eddie so flustered before.
“Did you get caught stripping in the bathroom or something? Christ Eddie, you’re a literal tomato right now.” Gareth is trying to stifle his laughter as best he can, but small giggles keep managing to burst through every time Eddie refuses to make eye contact. Eddie mumbles something into his hands that is entirely illegible, and Gareth leans closer with an exaggerated “One more time Mr. Mumbleton?”, smirk clearly visible on his face. Eddie smacks his hands into his lap with a frustrated huff and said in a voice that was bordering on too loud. “I hooked up with one of the employees and he caught us with both our dicks out, you happy?” Both Gareth and Eddie freeze the second the last word leaves Eddie’s lips, fully processing what he had just said. Eddie smacks a hand over his mouth, looking completely mortified while Gareth just stares at him dumbfounded.
Gareth’s mouth is moving before he can even process what it’s about to say. In arguably the smallest voice he’s heard from himself in years, he gives a little “Both?” While staring at Eddie for confirmation, not moving a muscle.
Eddie looks like he’s having a melt down, his shoulders are ridged with his arms stiff at his sides, mouth gaping after his hand fell from it. It snaps shut, opens again, snapping shut again, before Eddie manages a quick “Well anyways, I gotta get going. Wayne gets off early and I wanted to cook something for us. See you at practice! Bye!” Before absolutely sprinting to the door, barely managing to grab his keys off the counter and slamming the door shut behind him as he leaves Gareth there to process what the hell just happened.
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Gareth stares at the entryway from his spot in the kitchen. He finally finds it in himself to move when he hears the screech of Eddie’s van as he peals out of his driveway as quickly as possible, Gareth barely getting a glimpse of it as it blows past the stop sign at the end of his street once he manages to wretch the door open. He stares outside for another minute, hoping for the off chance Eddie changes his mind and loops back around. Shit. Holy shit he didn’t see that coming. He thinks back to the night before and mentally kicks himself, so much for avoiding that topic. In his own defense, there was not a universe where he expected “getting caught hooking up with an employee on property” would be the reason the record store owner hated Eddie’s guts. Eddie was an insane guy, but he has never brought up his... exploits before now. Teasing others? Completely fair game, would join in and tease with absolutely no mercy. Gareth recalls an incident around halfway through his sophomore year when Gabe forgot to properly hide his porn mags when he invited the guys over and Eddie ragged on him about it for months. But the second anyone asked any questions about Eddie’s interests or ventures? He’d make a joke about a kink or two before immediately find a way to change the subject as quickly as possible. He’d never thought to question it much prior to last night either. It wasn’t like girls were openly lining up outside their doors. If anything, he was expecting Eddie to say he had stolen some shit and managed to eat absolute ass during his escape, prompting the embarrassment. But no, Eddie had said him and en employee had gotten caught with their dicks out. Plural. Eddie had been caught hooking up with a guy.
Gareth wanted to smack himself. No fucking shit Eddie was gay. Even before last night’ weirdness, he had always had a staring problem, but he had always assumed the lingering gazes at the jocks were pure hatred. Thinking back on it now, it happened extra often during gym class- okay this is probably not the time to be thinking about what gets Eddie’s rocks off, but it is yet another thing he files away for later. Just because Eddie was gay does not mean he was getting out of getting made fun of by Gareth for his interests, that was a right held by all of the members of Corroded Coffin and he planned to keep it that way thank you.
Gareth’s family was surprisingly progressive despite being from Hawkins. His mother was a nurse, and his dad doing… something in tech that causes him to travel everywhere. Either way, his parents were used to encountering people from all walks of life and taught Gareth and his sister to respect a person based on their character, not what the people of Hawkins thought. He knew why Eddie probably reacted the way he did though, it’s not like their opinions on the matter have ever come up. Everyone in Hellfire had been called a variety of colorful slurs during high school, to the point pretty much everyone will at least say something if they hear someone getting called a fairy. But defending someone from getting called a fag was one thing, how you actually felt about gay people was an entirely different issue. Gareth can’t even bring himself to blame Eddie for scrambling out of here like he did, as much as he wants to be offended. He wishes he had managed to control his facial expressions better. He cringes, thinking about how he must’ve looked like a gaping fish from Eddie’s perspective. He had felt his eyes bug out of his head slightly once he had fully processed what was said. He can’t remember when he finally had managed to snap his mouth shut, but Eddie was already in his van by the time it had happened regardless.
Shit, he needs to make sure Eddie’s okay. He’s not entirely sure what the protocol is when someone accidentally comes out to you, but he’s pretty sure Eddie spiraling and thinking Gareth hates his guts is objectively the last thing he needs. He groans, he’s gonna have to bike to Eddie’s place. He hasn’t had to bike that far since he befriended the Hellfire boys, both Eddie and Jeff having cars means he can get free rides basically whenever he needs. Closing the front door and slipping back into his room to get actual pants on, he goes through and makes sure to grab both the wallet and rings that Eddie had accidentally left in his mad dash to leave. He shoves everything he needs into his pockets before making his way to where his bike was collecting dust in the garage.
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Gareth was exhausted by the time he managed to reach Forest Hills, and thanked every god he could think of when he saw that Eddie had, in fact, come straight home. He had the thought that maybe he would hide somewhere else around halfway to the trailer park, but decided to keep pushing as Eddie’s trailer was honestly his safest bet to check. He had mentally accepted that if Eddie was freaked out enough to properly hide out like a fugitive then the conversation probably shouldn’t happen that day anyways. Propping his bike on the porch, he bounds up the stairs and moves to knock the way he normally would before pausing. Gareth had a habit of being loud, honestly all of the Hellfire boys did. He didn’t want his brash knocking to come off like he was pissed at Eddie or anything, so he settles for a gentle wrapping that he had forgotten he was even capable of. He hears something clatter inside where he knows the living rooms is with a small “fucking shit-“ and a handful of stomps that sound like Eddie attempting to catch his balance. He can’t pick up any sounds afterwards, but he does notice the curtains near the living room windows shift out of the corner of his eye. He waits a minute, but when he still doesn’t hear any movement he lets out an exasperated sigh and throws up his arms.
“Eddie, man, come on. Seriously? You can’t just drop that on a guy and jump ship!” Gareth starts, before realizing he still hasn’t exactly given Eddie a reason to trust he isn’t gonna jump his ass about the whole ordeal. He smacks his arms back down to his sides. “Look man, I promise I don’t hate your guts or anything, but I feel like this is something we should have a conversation about instead of pretending it never happened?” He waits another beat before crossing his arms, huffing. “Alright fine, avoid me forever if you feel like! I just want to make it clear that I’m here when you want to talk and I promise this stays between us, okay? I’m not gonna pretend to know exactly how you’re feeling right now, but I don’t want you to go around thinking you ruined anything.” He pauses, trying to think of what else to say. He really didn’t want to bike all the way back home, but Eddie was a stubborn bastard and if he didn’t want to talk, it wasn’t happening. “I care about you a lot Eddie, and I’m really sorry that I made you feel like you couldn’t talk to me about it. If I ever said or did anything-“ He cuts himself off while biting his lip, don’t go down that rabbit hole. “Just don’t be an idiot okay? I’ll see you on Saturday for practice.” He gives up and makes his way back down the steps. He had just reached his bike when he hears the door slowly creak open and he whips his head up to barely be able to make out Eddie’s eyes from the small crack in the door.
“You swear you’re not mad?” Gareth is floored at how small Eddie sounds. In the years that he had known him, he had always known Eddie to be larger than life. Jumping on top of tables, shouting from the top of his lungs, stomping and smacking into practically everything. Combined with the fact that Eddie has always carried himself and looked slightly older than he actually is, this is probably the first time that Gareth has truly been able to recognize the fact that Eddie isn’t even 19 yet. It’s easy to joke and forget that at the end of the day, Eddie is really only a couple of years older than himself, despite the “older brother” role he has a tendency of taking with the entirety of Hellfire.
“No! No, not at all. I just got caught off guard.” Gareth responds quickly. “I was expecting you to say your pants fell down when you were shoplifting the guy if I’m being entirely honest.” He breaks out into a smile and sighs in relief when the door is tugged open further as Eddie doubles over in laughter, his hair hiding his face but his shoulders had visibly loosened. He’s still attempting to suppress laughter as he looks back up, pushes open the screen, and stands to the side.
“Alright dumbass, you win. You get your talk.” He looks visibly nervous, but still has a small half-grin on his face as he waited for Gareth to make a move. Gareth smiled, repositioned his bike back to its original position, and quickly bound his way inside, tugging the screen door shut behind him as he made his way into the Munson kitchen. Eddie quickly scurries to the living room, tucking himself into the corner of the couch, curling into a ball with his chin propped on his knees and arms wrapped around his legs. He leans forward slightly, holding out a single hand to pat the couch next to him. “Sit.” Gareth was quick to follow, kicking his shoes off out of habit and finding his place next to Eddie, feet planted on the ground and hands curled together in his lap. They sat together in silence for a few beats, just long enough to begin to make Gareth’s ears burn with awkwardness.
“So…” Gareth started slowly. Eddie’s eyes immediately shoot up to look at him from where they were intensely staring at the carpet. “Just to clarify what you said earlier. It was a guy you were hooking up with when the record guy walked in on you, right?” Eddie had started chewing on his thumbnail, going back to stare at the same spot in the carpet. He nods quickly once, refusing to make eye contact as he curls ever so slightly further into himself. Gareth pauses, not entirely sure how to continue. This was a completely foreign situation for him, sure yeah he knew about gay people in the abstract sense. His mom had made it abundantly clear that if any of his friends approached him about this sort of thing, he needed to be respectful and supportive, but he had never actually knowingly encountered a gay person prior to this. He didn’t exactly leave Hawkins often, and on the few trips out of the town he had taken, the topic of sexualities were arguably the furthest thing from his mind. Most of the trips being small gigs in the city once in a blue moon, or the occasional vacation with his family. He tries to think of something comforting to say, but that’s never exactly been his strong suit. He much prefers to show he cares through harsh jabs and mocking tones. Vulnerability has always left him feeling naked and skittish, but damnit Eddie was one of his best friends and he looks as though he’s about to burst into tears. He stares down at his hands, not sure if he could take seeing Eddie cry. “I- I’m gonna be real man, you know I’m shit at the emotions thing. But… you know I don’t care about that kind of stuff, right? I know it’s never properly come up, but like- I honestly could not care less who you decide to knock junk with. Like, I know better than to think you exactly get a choice in the matter, so what’s the point in judging you for it y’know?” He manages with a shrug. “I just care that you’re happy man. This town sucks ass, and I’m not gonna pretend that it’s gonna be much easier in the city, but at least in Indy you could find more people like you? I don’t see you being stuck here forever Eddie, you’ll find somewhere where they’ll see you for you.” Gareth feels like he’s rambling now, he looks up from where he was messing with his fingers to look over at Eddie, he had visibly untensed, but the tears had begun free falling with an almost stunned expression plastered on Eddie’s face. “Shit- did I say something wrong?’ Gareth starts, completely panicking the second he saw the tears. Eddie didn’t cry, frankly none of the guys were big criers. Even during emotional DND sessions, it just wasn’t something that happened frequently. Eddie quickly shakes his head, moving to wipe the tears from his face as he manages to croak out a simple “No.” He takes a deep breath with his face buried in his hands for a moment, appearing to just take one last moment to hide from the world and face reality.
“I just-“ Eddie manages to start as he lets his hands fall from his face before snapping his jaw shut, staring forward as he tries to gather the words. “It just slipped out earlier, I was fully expecting to either take this to my grave or, I dunno, didn’t live in bum-fuck nowhere Indiana?” He barks out a laugh, which startled Gareth slightly but he quickly settles, content to let Eddie take the reigns of the conversation. Eddie stares at the wall for another moment, he inhales and looks over again like he is going to say something, but quickly aborts and goes back to staring at the wall. He appears to decide on what to say after another moment, softer this time. “The only person I’ve ever told was my mom.” Gareth feels his blood run cold. Yet another topic Eddie refused to bring up. He knew the basics, she had passed when he was 11 due to an illness he’s never named. Her name was Elizabeth, and he had overheard Wayne mention in passing that Eddie took after her more than his father. Beyond that, he knew next to nothing about the woman. Gareth chooses his next move carefully. Still unsure what to say, he opens his arms slightly in silent offering. Sometimes there really isn’t anything to say. Eddie collapses into his shoulder, and Gareth quickly wraps him up tightly and they sit in comforting quiet for several minutes, the silence only being broken by the occasional sniffle that neither of them decide to comment on. Eddie shifts, still in Gareth’s space but no longer leaning his weight onto him. He’s quiet for a long moment before starting again in the same quiet voice from earlier. “There was a boy in elementary school that I had told her about. Doesn’t live here anymore, I think he moved away in like 4th grade so you wouldn’t of met him anyways.” He smiles softly, the expression fonder than anything Gareth had ever seen from Eddie before. “We used to wrestle during recess, but he was so… I dunno kind? He couldn’t stand to see anyone cry. Once saw him bring a girl a bundle of dandelions because she had fallen from the jungle gym and scraped her knee.” He lets out a small laugh. Gareth smiles, leaning slightly away to get a better look at Eddie.
“What was his name?” He had never seen Eddie look so light before. It was like a weight had been lifted off of him that he had never noticed before. Eddie had always been so loud and brash, it was hard to believe he had ANY secrets based on how he carries himself. But at the end of the day, the jokes are just jokes, and Eddie had mastered keeping the attention off of himself when it comes to his actual interests. Gareth was pretty sure Eddie knew him down to his bones, he even knew about the first time Gareth had a crush on a girl and didn’t know what to do with himself, so he accidentally shoved her too hard and she ran crying to the teacher. He understood why Eddie hasn’t opened up until now, but man he was determined to even the playing field.
“… Austin. His name was Austin.” Eddie was fidgeting with his hair, not looking at Gareth and visibly lost in thought. “I don’t think I realized what I was feeling until he had already moved away. Somewhere in North Carolina I think? Anyways, not like anything would have come from it anyways.” He lets out a small self deprecating laugh that makes Gareth frown. He knew Eddie was right, objectively speaking, but he still hated to see his friend selling himself so short.
“Hey man, don’t make it sound like you’re not a catch.” Gareth nudges Eddie’s shoulder as he continues, ignoring the scoff and eye roll he receives. “I’m serious! Like, I know you don’t swing that way but I know for a fact part of the reason the jocks hate you so much is because they view you as competition. I dunno if any of the cheerleaders would openly date you because of weird high school hierarchy shit- but you are for sure at least sleepover gossip talk.” Eddie snorts at the last point and flops back to drape himself on the arm of the couch so his head is hanging off the side, likely so he didn’t have to make eye contact. “Eddie. Edward. I’m serious, two weeks ago you held open the door for Chrissy Cunningham and she GIGGLED.” Gareth crawls next to Eddie to be able to cup his face in his hands when he refused to look at him, practically laying on top of him. “Girls don’t giggle at guys they don’t like Eddie!! Not for door holding anyways- at most they’d give a ‘thank you’ out of politeness if they even acknowledge you at all!” Gareth sits back on his heals, crammed between Eddie’s body and the back of the couch, Eddie is only about 2/3rds of the way on the couch in this position. Gareth can’t help himself and pokes Eddie’s side, causing him to screech and flail as he tumbles onto the floor. He snorts but Eddie’s visibly pouting on the floor.
“You know what I meant Gareth…” Eddie sighs, before frowning fully. He manages to sit up and begins picking at the carpet, still refusing to look at Gareth’s face. Gareth sighs, and slides down the couch so they’re sitting on the carpet side by side. This was hard, Gareth wasn’t used to seeing Eddie so uncomfortable. Anytime he did appear to be visibly comfortable in a situation, he always managed to find a way to project and make the other person insanely uncomfortable instead. Gareth was about 90% sure that wasn’t the case here, but he decided to pivot slightly to attempt to take the heat of embarrassing vulnerability off of Eddie’s back, even for just a second to catch his breath.
“Sooo… does this mean that I can’t get you to come to my defense anymore when Jeff and Gabe have objectively wrong opinions about girls?” Eddie pauses, looking bewildered for a moment before a laugh startles out of him. He looks like he wants to say something in response, but begins laughing too hard to be able to get it out. Gareth smiles and begins chuckling himself, was honestly a little serious about the question but hey, distraction worked so he can’t complain too much. He waits until Eddie was laying on his back, breathing deep to attempt to catch his breath as he attempts to subtly wipe tears that had managed to fall down.
“Nah, I still have eyeballs. I can tell when they just objectively have bad taste.” Eddie snorts out. He pauses, a small smile still present on his face but clearly lost in thought. Gareth sits and waits, this was Eddie’s moment after all. “You promise you don’t feel weird about it at all? I mean, you know…” Eddie’s brows had furrowed slightly, worry reappearing onto his face. Gareth wanted to slap it off of him. He knew what he was getting at, and it was stupid. It’s not like Eddie had a whole lot of choice in the matter regardless. Not to mention, despite what majority of the school had to say about Eddie Munson, he was actually a relatively polite guy when it came down to it. He was loud, brash, and unapologetically himself (about most things, at least) but at the end of the day he was the type of guy to always hold the door open for people. If someone is visibly uncomfortable in a situation, Eddie is always the first to notice and attempt to break the tension by doing something ridiculous. Gareth knew that even if Eddie, for whatever reason, got a crush on him or one of the other guys then he wouldn’t be a creep about it.
“Feel weird that I might be your type? You flatter me Munson, but I think you know I don’t play for that team.” Gareth says with a wink. Eddie snorts, rolls his eyes, before muttering “jerk” while shoving Gareth’s shoulder. Gareth shakes his head while smiling, before saying in a more serious tone. “Seriously though, you’re still you at the end of the day. I know you Eddie, and even if I WERE your type, I know you wouldn’t be… for lack of a better term a freak about it?” He looks over at Eddie as he says it, who is watching him carefully as he’s talking. He smirks, finally seeing his opportunity. “You’re a good guy, I’d honestly be flattered. Also I’m not delusional, I’ve seen you staring at the jock table.” Eddie turns bright red at the last comment, but doesn’t say anything, electing to grab a pillow from the couch and shove his face into it. Gareth starts to laugh hard enough he doubles over onto the floor.
-+-
Several hours later, Gareth and Eddie were now smoking on the top of Eddie’s van in the outskirts of town. After deciding to hang out with Eddie for the day, Gareth made sure to stop by his house to leave a note for his mom for when she got home. They were now passing a blunt back and forth, staring off as the sun began to set in the horizon. Gareth’s mouth felt slightly numb from what they were smoking, and the nicotine was combining with the weed in a way that made it feel like there was only air between his ears. They had been in a comfortable silence since they started smoking, but a thought had supplied into Gareth’s brain.
“Is there anyone?” Eddie‘s eyes snapped to look at him, blunt nearly tumbling from his lips as he is visibly thrown off guard.
“What?”
“Is there anyone you like right now? I’m not saying there has to be or anything, just curious given that you’re always the first to know about any of my hopeless dreams.” Gareth says with a shrug. He looks over at Eddie, and he plucks the blunt out of Eddie’s hands as he’s staring at him, a little dumbfounded. “What? You look like a randomly grew a third head, and that feels like objectively the most normal question I’ve asked you so far.” Eddie scoffs, shakes his head, before staring out into the darkening horizon yet again.
“I didn’t think you would want to hear about it.” Eddie sounds small again, but Gareth is confused.
“Why wouldn’t I? I didn’t make you feel uncomfortable when you were talking about Austin did I?” Gareth panics slightly, he’s too high to remember what exactly he said during that conversation, but he didn’t remember doing anything that made Eddie seem upset.
“No! No, you didn’t.” Eddie says quickly, gesturing wildly with his hands as he speaks. “It’s just- well it’s one thing to talk about a childhood crush. I guess I figured you probably didn’t want to hear about my more, uh, adult interests?” Eddie squeaks out the last part, and Gareth can’t help himself but giggle a little bit. “What?” Eddie snapped at him, which only makes Gareth begin to giggle harder.
“Eddie.” Gareth manages to get out between giggles, still managing to sound a little exacerbated. “You have let me go in detail about my fantasies and I know for a fact that you don’t like women that way, how is this any different?” Eddie huffs, raising an eyebrow disbelievingly.
“You know exactly why it’s different, don’t play stupid.” Gareth rolls his eyes and shakes his head. Yeah, Eddie is sort of right, but is he?
“Well it’s not like you’re lamenting about MY dick Edward, plus I’m curious. I’ve never really thought about what makes a guy attractive before, who knows it might help my chances if I know what people are looking for.” Gareth shoves the blunt back into Eddie’s hands, he’s definitely smoked too much. “Not trying to be weird or anything, but I also don’t want you to feel like you have to walk on eggshells around me now or anything? I know you kinda told me on accident, but might as well make the most of it and get some of your big dumb gay feelings off your chest or something.” Gareth throws his hands up and tumbles back onto the roof of the van. He hears Eddie snort before coughing a little hard, being mid hit. Once he recovers, he finishes the blunt before using the side of a shitty BIC lighter to put it out, not really caring about getting scuff marks on it.
“You promise you’re not gonna be weird about it?”
“I can’t promise I won’t say something stupid on accident, but I swear I’m not gonna get grossed out by you talking about dudes. Are you forgetting I am quite literally asking for it?” Gareth snarks out, Christ this was like pulling teeth. “Look, if you wanna be like that, think of this as payback for all the times I’ve lamented to you about girls.”
“God, you’re such a toddler. Fine. Yeah, you were right on the money with the jock thing.” Eddie huffed out. He looked annoyed, and was refusing to make eye contact again. “Not anyone in particular at the moment, most of the guys here are douche bags. But I can appreciate when a dude’s physically attractive, even if their personality is actual garbage.” His fingers are tapping the roof underneath him, he was staring up, looking at the sky as stars began to appear. He’s still tense, like he’s not sure what to say next. Gareth sighs.
“Okay, if you’re gonna make me spell it out for you. What do you like? Say we don’t live in Hell, Indiana and the guy of your dreams is available and interested. What’s he like?” Gareth had assumed liking guys would be more difficult than girls. Obviously girls were terrifying sometimes, but at the end of the day it was a different kind of fear altogether. He tries to imagine being worried about the guy you like constantly being a threat if he ever found out how you felt and felt himself get slightly nauseous. Maybe he was pushing too hard? He’s about to tell Eddie he doesn’t have to answer, they can just forget the conversation and talk about the next campaign when he hears Eddie speak up again.
“The guys I tend to hookup with all tend to be kinda bitchy jocks. I dunno, it’s kinda fun seeing them get surprised when I’m stronger than they’re anticipating.” Eddie bites his lip to glance Gareth’s direction, looking for any sign of disgust. Gareth is keeping a carefully neutral expression on his face, Eddie had barely said anything so far so he didn’t want to spook him. He raises his eyebrows and motions for Eddie to continue. Eddie gives a shaky sigh before starting up again. “Uh… this is gonna sound weird but skin imperfections? I dunno, it just reminds me that everyone’s unique in their own little way. Like with birthmarks or moles.” He’s bright red and had started twirling his hair in one hand out of nervousness. He’s quiet long enough for Gareth to figure he’s done enough pushing for the night, content with the teasing material he has for now before he hears Eddie speak up in the same small voice he’s been hearing so much of today. “I seriously don’t understand how you’re being so cool about this.” This makes Gareth pause.
“I don’t think I’m being THAT cool. I’m honestly not treating you any differently than how I treat Jeff when we talk about girls.” That might have been a fib. Gareth was an asshole when it came to Jeff’s love life, but this was still too fresh for that sort of teasing and Gareth really couldn’t take any more of Eddie’s tears today. He was content to sit on the information for a day when it wasn’t as raw. Eddie had raised an eyebrow at him in the meantime, clearly clocking his bullshit, but deciding to not call him out on it.
“Fine, whatever. Just don’t be weird and think I have a crush on you or anything.” It was Gareth’s turn to squawk out a laugh.
“Ah yes, because I am very clearly your type. I wake up at 6 am every day to go on a run and am a regular at my local gym, clearly.” He motions to himself with a snort, Eddie snorts at the same time, which causes them to dissolve into giggles, the tension dissolving immediately.
“Alright smartass, it’s cold and your mom might kick my ass if I let you get hypothermia.”
“Ughhhhh. Can I at least crash at your place tonight? My mom’s gonna wanna debrief about her book club trip and I am not sober enough to pretend to care.” Gareth shoots up a pleading look that makes Eddie roll his eyes.
“Fine, but you’re calling her the second we get back to the trailer. I don’t need Chief Hopper knocking at my door cause you don’t show up tonight.” Eddie says as they slide down off of the roof and make their way back into the van. Gareth nods, the weed and high emotions of the day finally catching up with him as he slumps into the passenger seat of the car. He smiles as he looks at Eddie, noticing that he seemed less twitchy than he had ever seem him. He wouldn’t bring it up, there’s a lot of things he found out tonight that would be crossing a line to poke fun of, but he was glad to know them. This was a type of vulnerability he knew neither of them were used to, but this was a conversation that was clearly needed. Emotions were exhausting, and he can feel himself start to drift as he contemplates what excuse he could use when his mom asks why he needed to stay the night at Eddie’s.