𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐦𝐢𝐭𝐡𝐬

TWENTY-TWO: still in love.

    

     AS THE TWO were coming down from their high, James and Steve were sitting side by side in the livingroom, watching a movie. "Is it okay if I sleep here tonight?" James whispered, turning his head to look at the Harrington. "Yeah. You should let your family know though, so they don't worry about you." He says and James just groans loudly at that.

"I don't wanna talk to my dad, after the way I lashed out at him today." He said as he laid down, resting his head onto Steve's lap. "Oh... I--I can text Jon then, let him know." The Harrington reached for his phone and James just hums, staying still.

Steve sent the text quick and returned his attention back to James who's intently watching the movie. "This is nice..." James murmured and Steve gently rested his hand onto his shoulder. "Yeah." He says and James just sighed. "I can sleep on the couch tonight." He says quietly and Steve looks at him again, well, the back of his head. "You can sleep in my room." He says and James just moves to lay onto his back, looking up at Steve.

"I can't just... make you not sleep in your own room. We can both sleep in your room." He says and grabbed Steve's hand in his, interlocking their fingers together. "Oh, okay..." The Harrington glanced away and tried to ignore the fact his face was full on hot.

"Steve..." James mumbled and the shorter quickly glanced back. "James?" He says and the taller just kept rubbing his thumb over the back of Steve's hand. "I'm glad you're... here for me." He glanced up at Steve who felt like he could just explode any minute and just become nothing, that he was content with his last moments just being with the Hopper. He smiled widely, squeezing James' hand in his, "always." He says and James smiles wider, glancing down at their connected hands.

"Can we head to bed now? I'm a bit tired." James sighed softly, sitting up and letting go of Steve's hand. "Uh, yeah, sure." Steve turned off the tv, made sure the front and back doors were locked, closed the last light before finding his way upstairs and seeing James already gotten comfortable in his bed.

His face burns warm and red at the sight, quietly shutting the door before walking over to his bed. "Are you sure this is okay with you?" Steve asked quietly and James looks up at him, humming softly. "Why would I kick you out of your room when it's your room?" He said as he moved to lay on the right side. "Wait, which side do you sleep on?" He asked.

"It doesn't really matter..." Steve said quietly as he crawled into bed then laid onto his back, staring up at the ceiling. James was comfortably laying on his back as well, closing his eyes as he felt the affects of weed but when he did, suddenly Billy was on top of him so he flinched awake. "Hey, what's wrong?" Steve looks at him right away and he backed away quickly, practically on the edge of the bed. "Jamie... it's okay." Steve reached out and James just gulped, glancing around.

"I--I just got that feeling, you know, when you're about to fall asleep, but, uh, feels like you fell from somewhere high, you know that feeling?" He asked, hoping Steve buys it and the shorter frowns. "Yeah, I know it..." He says anyway and James just nods. "Yeah... that." He said and moved back to lay down, sighing. "Oh... okay, I--I thought... nevermind, I've just been too worried." Steve quietly says.

"Good night, Stevie."

"Good night, Jamie."

Meanwhile, Eddie is at home and staring at the ceiling, music played through the small trailer because he liked drowning out his thoughts with his favourite songs. Rainbow in the Dark, For Whom the Bell Tolls, Paranoid, Master of Puppets, whatever worked, whatever helped. But for some reason, it wasn't helping right now. So he rolled over and grabbed his phone, unplugging it from the aux connected to his speaker. He dialled the number pretty quickly then raised it to his face.

He waits patiently, fidgeting with the rings on the fingers of his left hand. "Hm, hello?" Came from the other end and he knew it was Steve from the sounds of it. "Hey, Harrington..." Eddie said a bit too quickly, a bit too awkwardly and Steve slowly sat up. "Hey... James' asleep." He says and Eddie nods softly, looking down. "Oh, okay... sorry for calling so late. I've just been really worried about him." He says and Steve just glanced over at James.

"Well, he looks okay... he probably has a lot on his mind." Eddie just frowned slightly and then sighed. "I'm sorry for the way I was acting last night and today... I just care for him a lot and I know that you do too." He says and Steve just nods softly, glancing away. "I'll admit, I felt jealous... or worried at least, worried because I know that in a heartbeat if you chose James, he wouldn't hesitate to choose you back." He said quietly and Eddie frowns. "We're--we're just friends." He merely says.

"Right." Steve says and it's quiet for a moment as Eddie sighed. "Just... tell him to call me back whenever he wakes up. I'd like to talk to him..." He tells Steve who just nodded, glancing back at James. "Eds?" He says suddenly and Eddie returns a hum in response. "I'm glad we're friends." Steve merely says and a pang hit Eddie straight in the chest. Guilt.

"Yeah, me too, Harrington... me too."

Eddie laid back and sighed before texting Rhys quickly who replied back asking what was wrong. All he did was ask him to come over. Rhys didn't take long, arriving about five minutes after Eddie had asked him. He walked up to the front door and Eddie was already waiting by it, quickly swinging it open.

"Hey, everything okay?" Rhys stepped inside, his hand going to his hip as he slowly shut the door behind him. "Yeah. Why--why wouldn't it be?" He asked and the blond just chuckles. "You... sounded a little upset over text." He said, stepping closer and raising both hands up to either sides of Eddie's face.

"And your eyes look a little red. You been crying?" He chuckles and Eddie furrows his brows. "No, I smoked a shit ton of weed." He merely explains and Rhys just grins, leaning in to press a small peck to his lips. Eddie glanced down when the other pulls away, "sorry... should I have asked?" Rhys asked and Eddie quickly glanced up. "No, it wasn't that..." He whispers as he stepped closer. "I kind of feel like a big fuck up." Eddie says quietly.

"Fuck up?" Rhys furrows his brows and Eddie looks up. "I--I think you were right..." He turned away, fidgeting with his hands and playing with his bracelet. "I was right? Darling, you'll have to be more specific because I'm right about plenty of things." Rhys says, leaning against the counter and Eddie really hates himself, getting that familiar blush appear across his cheeks and feeling butterflies at the pet name from Rhys. Why is his adulthood so much more complicated than his teenage years?

It absolutely made no sense.

"About... uh," Eddie turned around to face Rhys, "about James and I." His voice wavered for a moment and the blond furrows his brows. "Which part specifically?" He said and Eddie tries to swallow the lump in his throat. "I--I think I'm still in love with him." He whispers.

"Oh..."

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  

  

authors note
i love writing summer fics bc they're usually filled with messy shit and like fun and parties and friends and stuff so like... here ya go i guess, some more messy shit 🥳

THE AWKWARD/SHY MAN FROM WORK HAS A GF. </3 but yo he wore a denim jacket, what a crazy coincidence i was wearing one yesterday #soulmates 😍 /j