𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐦𝐢𝐭𝐡𝐬

TWENTY-ONE: comforting.

   

     RHYS AND EDDIE stood out in the hallway, waiting as Steve was standing at the end of the bed, waiting as James was getting dressed in the bathroom. "You almost done in there?" The Harrington calls out and the door opens. "Yeah." James says, a tanktop tucked into his pants, his shirt unbuttoned. Steve quickly straightened out his posture as he smiled softly. "You doing okay?" He asked quietly.

"I think so..." James murmured, making his way over to Steve who just nods, tilting his head to the side a bit. "Chrissy says you can take as much time off as you want--" "No, I--I wanna go back to work on Monday..." James quickly interrupted, looking away. "Okay." Steve muttered and then held out his hand. "What?" James says, slightly confused. "I wanna hold your hand." Steve whispers and James is taken back by such a middle school couple thing, blushing slightly.

"Oh, okay..." He says quietly, then slipped his hand into Steve's before quickly interlocking their fingers. "It's nice." He whispers then and Steve nods. "Comforting..." He says and James just smiles at him. "Yeah. It's comforting." He agrees, glancing away and Steve smiles even more. "Ready to go?" He asked and James nodded quickly.

But even when they joined Eddie and Rhys in the hall, James' nurse had follow up questions who kept glancing between Steve and James. "Oh, sorry, I almost forgot to ask if I should put your boyfriend as your emergency contact?" He said and James raised his brows. "Wait? What?" He said and the nurse gestured to Steve. "Oh, we--we're not--" "not together." Steve added and glanced at James, "my apologies..." The nurse then glanced down to the connected hands between the two men as Rhys looks at Eddie, a bit confused as the Munson just shrugs, not even sure what was going on. "He's a really good friend." James explains and the nurse just nods his head.

"Okay, well... your mom and dad will remain the emergency contacts then. And, uh, you can call the police department for the... the assault your friends mentioned, it's all up to you to come forward with it or not." He added and James just softly nodded, looking down. "Get some rest, James." He then says before walking away, waving at the four men.

James sighs, looking at Steve, "could you drive me home?" He asked as Eddie was about to offer that, glancing between them. "Yeah, of course." Steve whispers then looked at Rhys and Eddie. "Thanks for today, guys." James said, looking at them. "Uh, I--I'll think about the... the, what, um, happened for now. If I'm being completely honest, I--I don't remember much so I don't know if I should report it to the police." He whispers and Eddie nods.

"Like I said, we all got your back..."

Rhys and Eddie headed out and Eddie told him he'd see him later, gave him a quick tight embrace before leaving with Rhys as Steve and James now sat in Steve's car. "I'm sorry... about earlier, my nurse practically had no filter." The Hopper quickly apologized, pulling on his seat belt and Steve looks at him.

"It's fine..." He merely says, glancing away and James sighs. "I don't really feel like heading home." He murmured and Steve looks over at him, his head leaning back. "We can go to mine... my parents are barely living in their house ever since I moved out. It's like they don't even live there." He says and James turns to look at him. "Got any booze or weed?" He asked and Steve just chuckles.

"Oh, you're serious," he said then cleared this throat, sitting up straight, "uh... we got booze, yeah, well my dad does but I don't touch it because well, you know..." He paused and James nods. "And what about last night?" He asked and Steve shrugs. "That was, like... beer, I only drink beer, I'm worried about drinking the hard stuff will send me back to square one, you know?" He says and James nods. "Then weed, it is?" The Hopper asked and Steve merely nodded his head.

"Yeah, weed is okay with me..."

At the Harington home, the two are sitting side by side in the backyard by the pool, passing a joint back and forth until James denied his next turn, but rather took out a cigarette and lit it. "Are you sure smoking weed will be good for you after last night?" Steve asked quietly and James shrugs. "We'll wait and see." He said then flicked his cigarette butt, making the ashes fly off. "I'm just saying, is it a healthy coping mechanism?" He asked and James shrugs, turning to look at Steve.

"I--I don't wanna remember." He whispers and glanced down between them. "I'm sorry. I sh--shouldn't have asked." Steve murmured, looking away as he took out the joint onto an ashtray. "It's--it's a really... I don't know how to feel about it, I mean it just happened and I literally can't remember anything." James looks at Steve who glanced back at him.

"It'll take a while to get back to normal..." He said as he slowly sat up and Steve watched him intently. "Well, yeah... because it was scary. And... they were such assholes for what they did to you, and I--I should've known better. I mean, I used to be friends with them." Steve sighed as he leaned back, looking up at the sky and James followed his actions, also staring up at the stars and thinking.

"Did... did they ever do that before?" James asked quietly and Steve shrugged. "Not that I knew of... but honestly it is never surprising the type of shit they pull, they're the biggest dumbasses on the entire Earth." He says and James turns his head to look at Steve. "I think I will go to the cops... it'd be a bit of comfort knowing they can never step foot near me ever again." He tells the Harrington.

"It'd be a lot of comfort to all of us... Robby called me crying saying she felt bad she didn't want to come see you." He says and James glanced away, frowning. "It wasn't you. She--she just... she has her own shit to figure out. It was kind of triggering for her." He says and James just sighs, taking out another cigarette. "Those are so bad for you, Jamie." Steve says and James merely glanced over at him.

"Everyone's practically slowly dying by aging, Stevie." He says and Steve glanced at the cigarette in his hands. "That speeds it up." He says and James flicked the unlit cigarette at him. "Don't you smoke them too?" He says and Steve takes the cigarette. "Yes, and thank you for the free one." He said as he lights it and James just rolled his eyes at him.

 

 

authors note
live laugh love hoppington

also, i compared heights...

slay. 😍