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Parasocial

Summary:

Eddie spends all his free time watching TikToks two kids keep posting of their incredibly hot babysitter, and Gareth has had enough.

 

Submission for Steddie Bingo R3 - Star

Notes:

This fic was inspired by cosycryptid on Tumblr. I absolutely could not let go of this idea once I saw it! (It took a minute to finish, but it's here 🙈)

(See the end of the work for more notes.)

Work Text:

"Are you for real, Munson?"

Eddie glanced up from his position sprawled across the cushy seating area at the back of the tour bus to find Gareth eyeing him judgmentally, arms folded across his chest. "About what?"

Gareth's expression flattened, jabbing a finger in the direction of Eddie's phone, cradled in both hands and softly playing the audio of the video on-screen into the silence.

"What?" Eddie frowned, holding his phone closer to his chest.

"You're still watching TikToks of that guy," Gareth huffed, shoving Eddie's legs off the seating to make room for himself, settling into the opposite corner. "He's just some babysitter, get a grip."

Eddie threw an offended hand over his heart. "Slander!" he exclaimed. "He's not just a babysitter. He's an incredibly hot, caring, funny, and capable babysitter. But especially the hot part."

Shooting Eddie a look, Gareth deadpanned, "He's a guy on TikTok."

"Technically, he's not on TikTok. The kids he babysits are."

Gareth dropped his head back with a groan. "Ed! He's a babysitter in the Midwest who wears polo shirts and has a mom stance that rivals my actual mother's!"

"And he's hot," Eddie shrugged, turning his eyes back to the video of a man in sinfully ass-hugging jeans as he bops along to Madonna while making sandwiches.

"Mama Steve loves his old-ass music," chirped a girl's voice from off-screen.

Steve turned to shoot the camera one of his patented motherly looks. "It's not my fault you can't appreciate genius, Max," he shot back, earning disembodied snickers.

"They guy thinks Madonna's a genius," Gareth whined, waving his hand at Eddie's phone as if it were further proof of his point.

"Madonna was revolutionary for women in music, Gar," Eddie warned. "For music in general. She's the best selling female artist in history; put some respect on her name."

Gareth grumbled, rubbing his hands down his face. "He's so not your type."

That, Eddie had to admit, was true. All of his previous romantic endeavours had been a little left of centre, somewhat anarchic, much like he was. Hell, his last boyfriend had been mistaken for a member of the band several times over.

Perhaps that's what made Steve the Babysitter so appealing. He was so... normal. Clean-cut. Preppy. Perfect.

Eddie wanted to eat him.

"Ed, if you start drooling, I'm throwing you under this bus," Gareth muttered, shoving his foot into Eddie's thigh.

Whacking Gareth's foot away, Eddie asked, "If I died in a bus-related accident, would you take my unused guitar solos and release them as a song in my memory?"

Gareth rolled his eyes. "You're no Cliff Burton."

With a gasp, Eddie flailed his legs. "I'm wounded!" he wailed, swallowing a laugh as Gareth curled up to defend himself from Eddie's feet. "I thought you loved me!"

"Would you guys shut up?" Jeff groaned from further into the bus, his head poking out from behind one of the curtains across the bunks. Glaring blearily at them, he grunted, "Gar, let Eddie thirst for his Midwestern mama and let me get some fucking shut-eye."

With mumbled apologies, Eddie and Gareth watched Jeff disappear behind his curtain again.

"You heard the man," Eddie smirked, settling more comfortably with his phone in front of his face again. "Let me thirst."

Gareth huffed, sinking into his corner and rolling his eyes when Eddie's TikTok viewing resumed.

 

"Y'know," Gary commented, slumped in a recliner in the corner of the hotel room, "it's prob'ly weird you watch so many TikToks of these kids."

Eddie flipped him off, eyes glued to the clip of Steve ranting at two thirteen-year-olds over why they weren't allowed to fly - unattended and on a school night - to LA for an influencer convention.

"At least they've got someone looking out for them," Jeff shrugged, stretched out beside Eddie on the hotel bed, peering over his shoulder at the video.

"Where are their parents?" Gareth frowned, practically wearing a hole in the carpet as he paced back and forth at the foot of the bed.

"Both single moms with strong-willed, freshly-teenage children," Eddie answered easily, eyes never leaving his phone. "They both work a lot, and they know Max and Dustin like Steve, no matter how much shit they give him."

"Oh, I thought they were siblings," Jeff hummed, watching as Eddie scrolled to the next video in his likes.

"Nah... They're basically siblings when they're ganging up on Steve, though," Eddie snickered, watching the clip of Steve berating two giggling teenagers for almost setting the kitchen on fire.

"It's weird how much you know about them, Ed," Gareth muttered, still pacing.

Rolling his eyes, Eddie finally glanced up. "It's weird how you can't relax in a hotel room for an hour between press and sound-check, Gar, sit down."

Gareth shook his head. "Been cooped up inside all day, I'm going nuts."

Eddie's phone buzzed, earning a snort from Jeff. "Dude, you've got notifications on for these kids?"

"Fuck off," Eddie dismissed, no venom in his voice, tapping the notification from MadMax2012.

POV you remember just how good of a guy your babysitter is and how grateful you are he's in your life

Beneath the caption across the screen was a compilation of clips; the first of Max dancing on what looked like a roof; the second from the ground, clearly showing her foot slipping off the edge; the third of Max screaming, camera shaking as she fell; back to the camera on the ground as Steve rushed to catch her, Dustin's voice yelling panicked in the background; back to Max, breathing hard, Steve rambling, voice carrying a heavy mixture of anger and fear; and finally a selfie angle of the three of them huddled together on the couch, Max subtly recording as she glanced fondly up at Steve, who had her tucked into his side with an arm around her, fast asleep, Dustin dozing on his other shoulder.

"Holy shit..." Jeff muttered, eyes wide as the video restarted.

"Jesus..." Eddie agreed.

"Why'd it sound like something went wrong?" Gareth frowned, finally still as he waited for an answer.

"That Max girl was on the roof and nearly fucking killed herself when she fell off," Jeff explained, unable to look away as Max screamed in the video again.

Gary sat up straight. "She what?"

"Eddie's Midwestern mama caught her," Jeff clarified, "but they've both gotta be bruised after that. Christ... I'd hate to be her mom."

"I hope her mom didn't find out through this." Eddie lifted his phone.

Shaking his head, Jeff pointed out, "Mama Steve seems like the kind of babysitter who's telling their moms everything."

With a roll of his eyes, Gareth huffed, "Are we really gonna overlook you calling him Eddie's Midwestern mama?"

"Don't think she'll be getting on the roof again anytime soon," Eddie continued, ignoring Gareth's annoyance in favour of revelling in the warm feeling Jeff's nickname gave him.

"Christ, this is some parasocial bullshit," Gareth grumbled, returning to his pacing.

 

"Uh... Eddie?"

Busy scribbling lyric ideas in his notebook, Eddie just hummed in acknowledgement.

"Ed... Interview..."

Right. They were sacrificing some of Eddie's most creatively charged time before a show to talk to some influencer. Chrissy had organised it a week prior, arguing that they could use the boost on social media.

"Fine," Eddie huffed, slamming his pen down and shooting Jeff a glare.

In the doorway, Jeff raised both hands. "Not my idea, dude."

"There's only three TikTok accounts I care about," Eddie stated clearly, shoving to his feet. "MadMax2012, Dustbunny12, and that one with all the thirst trap edits of Steve the Babysitter."

"Yeah, we know," Gareth grunted, pushing into the room and grabbing Eddie by the arm. "But we gotta do some promo, so wipe your drool and put your adult diaper on."

Shaking Gareth off, Eddie huffed, "What's your problem, man?"

Gareth flicked him a glare as they walked. "You're obsessed with a stranger, Ed. And not even a celebrity; just some random babysitter in the Midwest. How do you not see how fucking weird that is?"

"Actually, what I don't see is why you're so fucking worked up about it," Eddie glowered. "I'm just watching TikToks, I'm not stalking the guy-"

"He's not your type!"

"Maybe I realised my type isn't actually assholes who only give a shit about me because of the band!" Eddie snapped, stopping so suddenly Jeff almost walked into the back of him. "Maybe I like the idea of someone caring! Who takes care of people because they actually believe they matter, doesn't just show up when it'll look good for them. All the guys I thought were my type suck at being boyfriends, so maybe my type has changed. Maybe I've found some fucking self respect since the last time I was cheated on."

Gareth just stared back at him. "Josh was my friend."

With a snort, Eddie shot back, "He was supposed to me my boyfriend, but I guess a dozen bartenders were more interesting."

"It wasn't that many," Gareth scoffed.

"It shouldn't have been any!" Throwing his hands up, Eddie turned on his heel. "I'm not doing this shit. Tell Chris... Actually, no, just tell her I'm not fucking doing it." Without another word, he marched back towards his dressing room, slamming the door shut behind him.

 

The video was everywhere. Camera peeking around a corner, Eddie's voice echoing down the hall, his heart on display for a world that wasn't supposed to see it.

The only saving grace was that Eddie hadn't gone to meet this influencer, because then he would know who he wanted to punch.

Rumours flew, dark and sour. Talk of tensions, of the band breaking up, of their star falling... of Eddie's love life. While his sexuality wasn't a secret, he'd always managed to keep his relationships mostly to himself, his boyfriends willing not to draw excess attention to them when they were out together, but now... Now every man he had ever been seen with was being scrutinised, and Eddie had turned his phone off to keep from receiving more texts and phone calls from irritated exes whose privacy was now being invaded.

A soft knock on his hotel room door, which peeked quietly open. "Ed?"

Lying on his side with his back to the door, Eddie pushed his face into his pillow with a mumbled, "Don't wanna hear it, Chris."

The door closed, then quiet footsteps approached the bed, the mattress dipping slightly. "I know it's been a rough couple days, but you've still got a show tonight," Chrissy said gently, one hand resting on Eddie's shoulder. "You've only got a couple more, then you can take a break, and we'll talk about what that looks like later."

Breathing a long sigh through his nose, Eddie nodded. "Okay."

Chrissy squeezed his shoulder. "You talked to Gareth?"

A snort. "No."

"Well... I'd like it if you two could be civil on stage tonight... You don't have to make up," Chrissy murmured. "I just want whatever this is to not get in the way of the last few shows of the tour."

"I don't even know what his problem is," Eddie sighed, rolling into his back to stare up at the ceiling. "He's pissed off that I think a guy in polo shirts is hot? That I'm not still dating Josh?"

Shrugging one shoulder, Chrissy pointed out, "That's why you need to talk to him. To find out."

So, when Gareth sat next to him on the edge of the stage as Eddie tuned his guitar ahead of sound-check, Eddie let him. The silence stretched uncomfortably as Eddie picked at his strings, until finally Gareth spoke.

"Hey, Ed?"

Eddie just hummed.

"I'm not mad you think the babysitter's hot."

"Could've fooled me," Eddie muttered, adjusting his E string.

Shifting in his spot, Gareth huffed a sharp breath out his nose. "I just don't want you to change."

Eddie lifted his head with a frown. "What?"

Eyes fixed out across the endless rows of seats ahead of them, Gareth admitted, "I don't want you to change. Or the band. Or how we sound, or anything."

A long pause, then Eddie snorted. "Dude, I'm not about to change our sound just because I think a guy in a polo shirt is hot."

"No, I know, but..." Gareth fidgeted in his lap. "If you start liking guys like that... things change. Some preppy guy will be hanging around backstage. You'll start writing songs for him. You'll be doing things with him you never liked before, like going to fucking baseball games, or having dinner parties, or playing golf..."

Eddie blinked rapidly. "You seriously think anyone could convince me to play golf? Uncle Wayne even tried; there's no way."

A ghost of a smile graced Gareth's face. "I just don't want shit to change," he said quietly. "I was friends with Josh. I don't think you should date him again, because you're right; he sucked. He treated you bad. But I don't know how I'm s'posed to be friends with some guy who has a skincare routine and likes pop music, and I want to be friends with the guys you date."

Turning to stare at Gareth's profile, Eddie frowned, "Why?"

A half-hearted shrug. "Don't want it to be weird for you to have them around us. If you bring a boyfriend to a show, he'll be uncomfortable if none of us know how to talk to him."

Well fuck.

Eddie's chest squeezed. "You're an asshole, you know that, right?" he half-laughed, setting his guitar aside and pulling Gareth into a hug. "Christ... Just say something next time, yeah?"

"Sorry," Gareth mumbled.

"Look..." Pulling back to look Gareth in the eyes, Eddie told him, "I know this parasocial crush on a babysitter prob'ly looks like it came from nowhere. It's just nice to see someone care so openly." He braced himself with a slow inhale. "All the guys I've ever dated haven't wanted kids; it was actually a deal-breaker with some of them." Turning to gaze out across the seating, Eddie sighed, "I wanna be a dad someday. I wanna find someone I can raise kids with." He shot Gareth a lopsided smirk. "So sue me for crushing on a guy who loves taking care of trouble-making kids."

Gareth snorted, knocking Eddie's shoulder with his own. "Sorry, man."

"Yeah, sorry I snapped." Taking a deep breath, Eddie shook his hands out. "Right, c'mon." He climbed to his feet and offered Gareth his hand. "We've got a gig to sound-check."

"You promise nothing's gonna change?" Gareth checked.

Rolling his eyes, Eddie held his free hand up. "I solemnly swear I'll never write a mushy pop song for any future boyfriends."

Gareth's face cracked with a snort, accepting Eddie's hand and allowing him to haul him up. "Sound-check," he nodded.

"Sound-check."

 

As Eddie wrapped up his little writing session before the show, Gareth sidled up beside him on the dressing room couch. "Your phone's still off, yeah?"

"Yeah." Eddie tucked his notebook into his guitar case. "Why?"

Silently, Gareth handed him his phone.

Ready to make Mama Steve watch a metal band!!

The caption was plastered across the top of a short clip of Steve the Babysitter with his arms folded, rolling his eyes, then the camera swung around to show Max and Dustin with their faces squished together, grinning madly and pointing to the band name splashed across the back of a stage.

The stage Eddie and Gareth had been sitting on just a few hours earlier.

"Holy..." Mouth hanging open, Eddie slowly looked up at Gareth. "They're here?"

Gareth nodded, then scrolled to the next video, of Max and Dustin showing off their Corroded Coffin t-shirts and rambling about how close to the stage they were.

Grabbing Gareth's forearm, Eddie blurted out, "Don't tell Jeff. He'll embarrass me."

Gareth smirked. "If anyone's embarrassing you tonight, it's you."

With an affronted noise, Eddie pushed to his feet. "I'll have you know, I can handle myself in front of a crowd just fine, thank you."

"It's not the crowd I'm worried about," Gareth snickered as he followed Eddie towards the door. "It's the babysitter."

Face flushing warm, Eddie muttered, "I can keep it together for a babysitter."

Gareth raised both eyebrows, nodding slowly. "Suuuuuuuure... Because you haven't been glued to TikToks of him for months or anything."

Eddie just pushed on towards the stage, leaving Gareth laughing behind him.

 

The lights and roar of the crowd quickly drowned out any of Eddie's fears. Doing what he loved with his best friends was as easy as breathing, and before long, his hair was dripping with sweat and the show was almost over. It was only as he was doing some very inappropriate hip rolls to Gary's bass solo in their final number that he remembered the children he knew were in the audience, but figured it was too late to backtrack and leaned into it instead. By the time Eddie returned to his mic stand to sing the rest of the song, Jeff was folded in half over his guitar, wheezing his way through his intricate finger work.

When the song came to an end, the band joined Eddie at the front of the stage, Gareth hitting him on the back of the head with a drumstick as he held up a still cackling Jeff.

"Dude." Gary shoved Eddie's shoulder as they made their way back to their dressing rooms, poorly suppressing laughter. "Stealing my thunder!"

"Just highlighting your performance!" Eddie grinned, patting Jeff on the back when he started coughing.

"Please don't kill your rhythm guitarist," Chrissy sighed as they passed her, falling into step as they piled into Eddie's dressing room.

Jeff stumbled over to the catering table and grabbed a water bottle, wiping tears as he attempted to smother his laughter enough to drink.

"The crowd loved it," Gareth snickered, raising his eyebrows at Eddie suggestively.

Rolling his eyes, Eddie sighed, "Shut up, man." He yanked his soaked Van Halen t-shirt off, tossing the offending item towards his guitar case and grabbing a towel to dry his sweat.

"Now can I tell them that your Midwestern mama was in the audience with his kids?" Gareth continued regardless, an evil grin spread across his face.

Jeff's knees hit the floor as he collapsed in a fit of cackles.

"Wait, really?" Gary gaped, eyes wide.

"I forgot," Eddie groaned, burying his face in his towel. "By the time I remembered, it was too late."

"Some kinda fucked up mating dance," Gareth beamed, grabbing a towel of his own to wipe the sweat from his arms and the back of his neck.

"I was just having fun!" Eddie protested, lifting his head enough to glare over his towel at Gareth. "Y'know... letting loose after the past really shitty few days."

"Maybe a little too loose," Gareth snickered as Gary hauled Jeff back onto his feet.

"Shit, we gotta go now," Chrissy rushed out, already ushering the group back out of the dressing room. "Crowd headed to stage door; we need to run."

So run they did, bolting through the backstage halls of the venue; they had been stuck waiting for crowds to disperse one too many times already, they weren't about to wait the hours it would take to get them back to the hotel if they missed this opportunity.

"Have I ever told you," Eddie panted, slumped in the back of the van that would take them back to their hotel, "how much I hate exercise?"

"You jumped around onstage all night just fine," Chrissy pointed out, barely a hair out of place, sitting in the front passenger seat.

Eddie began squeezing the damp from his hair with his towel. "That's not exercise, Chris, that's fun."

"Exercise is fun!"

The bickering continued all the way to the hotel, where security helped them safely transfer from van to lobby.

"Need a shower," Eddie sighed, his sweat towel wrapped around his shoulders.

"Yeah, you stink," Gareth nodded, smirking at Eddie's half-hearted scowl.

"Thanks," Eddie huffed, shoving Gareth, warm spreading through his gut when his friend threw his head back laughing.

"Max!"

Eddie froze, then whipped his head around in time to watch as a red-haired girl was snagged by her arm just a few feet from them, pouting her bottom lip up at the man who had stopped her.

"You can't just run at strangers," the man hissed. "Especially not ones with security guards." He stood up straight, flicking his hair back from his face with a jerk of his head. "Sorry, guys."

And Eddie found himself face with face with-

"Steve the Babysitter!" Jeff exclaimed, face alight with glee.

Startled, Steve nodded slowly, tugging Max a little closer. "Yeah...?"

"We're big fans," Jeff clarified, gesturing to the group.

Eddie tugged his towel closed over his chest, certain he looked like a baby deer as he blinked at Steve, stunned.

"Wait!" came a familiar voice, followed by several pairs of feet, then Dustin stuck his head out from behind Steve. "You've seen our TikToks?"

"More than a few times," Gary smirked, eyes darting to Eddie.

Gareth poked Eddie's ribs with his elbow. "Yeah, Ed's a big fan," he grinned wickedly.

"Uh..." Heart pounding, Eddie tore his gaze away from Steve and forced himself to focus on Max. "Your skateboarding tricks are metal as hell, kid. And all the D&D clips Dustin posts-"

"I'm dungeon master!" piped up a voice Eddie had never seen the face to, hand shooting up and smile wide. "I'm Mike!"

"Hi, Mike..." Eddie cast his eyes over the gaggle of children gathered around Steve, who had protective hands hovering around them.

Jeff tipped his head curiously. "You running some class trip or something?" he laughed, counting heads. "How'd you end up with seven of them?"

"Will's brother Jonathan was s'posed to come, too, but he bailed last minute after Mike's sister dumped him, so Steve said he'd bring us anyway if we promised we'd behave," Dustin explained dutifully, his grin showing off several missing teeth at the front of his mouth.

"Yeah, which doesn't include running off." Steve gave Max a stern look, simply earning an eye-roll in return.

Clearing her throat, Chrissy piped up, "We really need to get out of the lobby..."

"Right, yeah," Steve nodded, herding his gaggle of children back a few steps. "Sorry about that."

Eddie found himself being maneuvered through the lobby and into an elevator, only losing sight of Steve when the doors slid closed.

"You're gonna catch flies," Jeff snickered, poking Eddie's slack jaw.

"You didn't even talk to him!" Gareth spluttered. He grabbed Eddie's shoulder with both hands and shook him. "You idiot!"

Waving a hand at Gareth, Chrissy suggested, "Let him reboot. I think he's short-circuited." She linked her arm through Eddie's. "Ed?"

Blinking slowly, Eddie whispered, "I just stared at him like a stunned fish..."

"You did," Chrissy admitted.

Eddie slumped back against the wall of the elevator with a long, groaning, "Fuuuuuuuuuuuuck..."

"And you danced like a whore in front of seven children," Gareth laughed, setting Jeff off cackling again.

"I'm not even mad," Gary snickered.

Turning his eyes to Chrissy, Eddie pushed out his bottom lip and whined, "Chris..."

"It's okay, babe," Chrissy sighed, wrapping Eddie in a sideways hug when he dropped his head on her shoulder. "You can't be cool all the time."

Eddie grumbled a pathetic noise. "He's so hot."

"You're not wrong."

"And I looked dumb."

"Also true."

Smothering his laughter with his hand, Jeff prodded Eddie's shoulder. "This is why you're single."

Eddie folded his arms with a huff. "I'm single because my type is assholes, or people so hot I can't function around them."

"I don't see the big deal about him," Gareth shrugged.

Giving Gareth a gentle shove out of the elevator when the does opened, Gary pointed out, "You don't get the big deal about anyone."

Gareth waved his hand dismissively. "I'm telling you; being aroace is so much easier. I don't have to worry about any of that shit."

Trudging out after his band, Eddie glanced to Chrissy when she took his arm. "You okay?" she checked quietly.

"Yeah..." Huffing a sigh, Eddie admitted, "It's just a parasocial crush. He looked freaked out that we knew who he was." Dragging a hand through his hair, he supposed, "He wouldn't've even known who I was until today."

Chrissy offered him an apologetic smile. "Probably not."

As his bandmates threw themselves into their rooms, loudly bidding each other goodnight, the sound of the elevator caught Eddie's ear. He glanced back down the hall, his heart jolting when the gaggle of children from the lobby bundled out with Steve behind them.

"He's so hot," Eddie whispered, earning a sympathetic pat on the arm from Chrissy.

Steve ushered the children into a room, muttering something to them before closing them inside, still in the hallway, slumping back against the door and covering his face with both hands.

Chewing his lip, Eddie glanced to Chrissy, tipping his head towards Steve before taking a deep breath and striding over.

Steve must have heard him coming, dropping his hands and eyes opening wide when he saw Eddie stop a few feet from him. "Uh... hi."

"Hi," Eddie breathed, then cleared his throat. "I um..." He squeezed his eyes shut to pull himself together, then met Steve's gaze. "You're really hot, and I'm a big fan. The way you are with those kids... I'm obsessed."

Mouth opening slightly, Steve dropped his eyes, scratching the back of his head. "Oh."

"And I know you probably had no idea who I was until the concert, but you've kinda seduced me with your babysitting skills," Eddie continued, his stomach knotting up. "And I'd hate myself if I didn't say something while I've got the chance."

Nothing for a moment, then Steve breathed a laugh, shaking his head. "Well, then..." He reached out, grabbing each end of the towel around Eddie's neck and tugging him a little closer. "Can we make a deal?"

Head spinning, Eddie nodded dumbly.

"Dustin tells me you're based in Indy. The town we're from's less than an hour away..." Biting his lip, Steve murmured, "If I give you my number, can I get a kiss?"

Eddie's heart thundered in his ears. "And what's in it for you?"

A grin spread across Steve's face. He tugged Eddie closer by his towel, breathing against his lips for a moment before catching them in a kiss.

His knees almost giving out, Eddie grabbed Steve's hips to hold himself steady. Steve's kissing was slow and intense, one hand sliding down Eddie's bare chest and stomach before hooking a finger through his belt loop. When Eddie hummed a moan low in his throat, Steve pulled back, eyes dark and lips shiny.

"I've got kids to watch," Steve whispered, one hand disappearing into his pocket. "But..." He held Eddie's arm still gripping his hip, producing a pen from his pocket and carefully writing his number across Eddie's inner forearm. "Text me."

"Okay," Eddie nodded breathlessly, eyes rolling back when Steve stole another quick kiss.

That grin of Steve's came back. "Okay." Glancing down he hall, he whispered, "You should go, or they'll see you when I open the door and you'll never get away."

A nod, and Eddie rocked back on one foot. His eyes roaming Steve's face, he darted back in, pressing firm kisses to his mouth, jaw, and neck. "Until next time, gorgeous," he murmured, then tore himself away to hurry back down the hall to Chrissy, who was hiding her grin behind her hand. He glanced back in time to catch the pretty flush colouring Steve's face, then ducked into his hotel room and closed the door on Chrissy's giggles.

Blinking a few times to wrap his head around what he had just achieved, Eddie dropped his gaze to the digits neatly printed on his arm. "Phone," he muttered, patting his pockets until he found the item in question. Quickly tapping the number into his contacts, he sent a quick 'hi it's eddie' and tossed his phone onto the bed. "Get in the shower, Munson," he told himself, tossing his sweaty towel aside.

 

Half an hour later, curled up on his bed, Eddie grinned stupidly at his phone screen.

Steve 🔥🥴

Hi Eddie

You need to know I would have dragged you into this room if there weren't seven children in here. I wanna see that thing you did with your hips up close

But duty calls

Please tell me you have some time off to visit a tiny backwards town called Hawkins sometime soon. They'll probably think your a satanist

I might think your a satanist with hips like that

Come scare some small-minded townsfolk with me. And make out. That's an important part

Eddie 😈

It would be my honor to scare a small town by grabbing that beautiful ass of yours when I'm free next week

Steve 🔥🥴

It's a date

Notes:

We got unexpectedly angsty in the middle there oops 😂