After All This Time (Steddie)

Ch. 14: Ours

TW; suggestive dialog. 😏

Letting out a long yawn I lean into Eddie's arms. "Hi." He breaths out heavily, pulling me closer. "Hi."

"How're you feeling?" He runs his hands through my hair softly. I close my eyes again, cherishing his touch.

"Uh. Sore." I laugh a little but honestly I am in a lot of pain. I've never felt something so incredible that at the same time makes me feel like I'm splitting in half. I inhale sharply as trying to get myself out of bed. "Oh no baby, here, let me help." He gets up quickly and hurries to my side of the bed, out-reaching a hand to help me stand up. He also helps me slide some sweats on, and a shirt. "Sorry again I should have-" he tries to say while also getting some clothes on, sweats and a cropped band tshirt. Leaving a bit of his mid-drift exposed.

"Munson shut it. I'm fine. I'm- ow. I'm okay. I think I need to sit on a pillow." He laughs and wraps an arm around me to help me hobble into the living room. He puts a pillow down on the couch and I sit, carefully. "Tylenol?" His smile is annoyingly proud. "Stop looking at me like that!" I hear him giggle all the way to the kitchen before he emerges with the medicine and a glass of water.

"I can't help it I'm sorry. You're just so cute."

"You're a jerk. You know that?" He laughs again and cuddles up next to me on the couch. "So I take it we're not going anywhere today?"

"Not until this Tylenol kicks in." I shift slightly to get more comfortable. It's to no avail. No matter which angle I adjust myself too I'm still in a decent amount of pain. Hopefully I don't feel like this after every time. Fuck.

"Don't worry it gets uh... less painful." Eddie's hand wraps around mine, squeezing it lightly. "Can you read my mind or something? I was just thinking... I am not doing that again if this is how I'm gonna feel every time." He lets out a low laugh "no no. Not every time. I swear. I told you I should have been more gentle on you I just.. I got excited." I shake my head, laughing with him.

"Let's start calling apartments, yeah?" Eddie gets up, grabbing the phone off the wall, pulling the long cord over to me. The newspaper is still conveniently open on the coffee table in front of me. "Okay let's see..." I point to one, it reads 'Just south of Greenwich Village. One bedroom, open floor plan lots of natural light. One bath, updated recently. $250 a month. Call for more info 555-123-4567'

I dial the number waiting anxiously on the line. Someone answers, it sounds like some sort of management company. "Uh hi yes, my name's Steve Harrington I'm calling about the apartment you have listed...Yes I'll hold..." Eddie is watching me eagerly. "Okay, and when is it available? Sure, sure... mhm. And that's for each month, correct? Okay... how long would the lease be? And that's starting in June? Right. Okay... Yeah sure we would be able to come see it in a couple of weeks if that works... Mhm. Sure okay... perfect. Thanks so much! Bye!"

"Your customer service voice is hot." He grins. "Shut it. Okay so, we have an appointment in 2 weeks to look at this place. Could we make that work? I can take a couple of days off so we can drive there."

"Of course. Open schedule and all that. The people of Hawkins can wait on their DOC's for me to look at a place with youuuu." Eddie flutters his eyes playfully at me and touches my nose. I shoo his hand away. "Should we try to look at any others while we're there? I mean.. from what gather it seems pretty nice. Newly renovated, affordable for the most part." He shakes his head. "I uh.. I have a good feeling about this one." My smile spreads quickly. This is really happening. We're going to get out of here. "Yeah me too actually... okay great we'll get a hotel or something and go around the city a bit too to get some bearings." I tear the add from the paper and put it down on the table.

This is real. It's all hitting me at once. We're gonna get out of here, just me and Eddie. Our own place in the city. No one knowing us, no one to follow us around and leave a looming evil presence. New memories to be made. It's all almost too perfect.

"Oooh a hotel eh? Wonder how many noise complaints we can wrack up..." I feel my face heat up. "Jesus Christ Eds" I put my hand on my forehead. "I'm sure the whole hotel will know me by name by the time we leave." Does he ever turn off? Fucks sake. I'm practically on fire from how red I can feel my face turning. Breath. In, out.

"How are you so sure about that? Maybe they'll know mine." Bold, good. Maybe a taste of his own medicine will pull his ego out of the clouds. Glancing over to him he seems almost stunned a bit. I smile, giving direct eye contact now, "There might be a thing or two you don't know about me, Munson. But uh, I'll tell you now-" I lean a little closer, trying to ignore the pain I'm feeling just from the slight amount of movement. "I'm not used to being bossed around. I can't wait to here my name coming from that beautiful mouth." I kiss his cheek softly, and sit back again.

His face is precious. Completely flustered, and much redder than mine was. I take it he's not used to not being the dominant one. Perfect. Just perfect. "You're adorable. Look at how red you are."

"Harrington I swear to god..." he's still stunned, eyes closed and attempting to get a good handle on his breathing. "If you weren't so sore..." he mutters.

"A shame really." I smile to myself, pulling my legs up to sit cross legged. The pain is starting to subside a bit thank god. Not enough to do anything about what I may have just started but, bearable enough to move a little.

"So, dinner? Movies? What we doing?"

Eddie shakes his head, which I'm assuming is trying to get his mind out of the gutter I helped push there. "Oh! Yeah uh. Pizza? You pick a movie this time, since I got to pick before." He calls the pizza place and I try to wobble over to the tv, putting in Teen Wolf. Terrible movie, but I think we both need something funny to watch to wind down.

The pizza arrives a little through the movie, and we eat most of it and share a joint between us. Feels like old times a little. But, instead of there being a space between us his head is laying in my lap and I run my fingers through his hair.

"I love you. You know that?"

"Mm. I do know that. I love you too Darlin. I can't wait to go see the apartment. I'm so excited. We'll have to go furniture shopping, get a couple of new things that will be ours and not just yours or mine."

I sigh contently. "We will have to do that. I like the sound of that. Ours."