[ semi-closed ]

[hairington]

Who: steve and closed starters
When: after nero's death, approximately end of march/beginning of april
Where: solvunn, horizon
What: the aftermath of nero's death
Warnings: mentions of death, probably swearing, trauma, violence, blood, dealing with death, etc.

Comments

[hairington]

[ steve doesn't know how it is he's feeling, and that leaves him a bit listless where they stand. he's noticed that eddie is still here, that it's the middle of the night and they should both be asleep, but the thought of sleeping, the thought of going to bed, the thought of trying just fills him with dread. and, wait, shit, does he need to find dustin? does he need to tell dustin? is that-

hey-

he blinks, and doesn't realize how long it's been. eddie is looking at him, not expectantly but definitely like he's about to break, like he's about to do something off, and steve doesn't disagree with him. doesn't think he's wrong. but god, he feels like such a pathetic- ]

I- [ there is the responsible voice in him that's saying he needs to get over himself and sleep. no good will come from him staying up, no good will come from any of this, but god damn he's not prepared to go at it alone.

so when eddie continues, when he says sit for awhile, when he says they don't have to talk, steve feels something like anxiety unclench from his ribs. ] Yeah. I...yeah. That. I can do that.

[ steve looks around, somehow looking lost in his own home, in their home. ]

[satanicpanics]

[ Steve just looks lost. Eddie has never seen him quite like this, not even when he’d returned from the island. That had been concerning, and it still is, but this is…just sort of heartbreaking. If Nero weren’t dead, Eddie might find a reason to be pissed with him, but there’s really no point in starting beef with a dead man.

For a moment, he wonders if it’s worth saying that he knows what Steve is feeling, that he lost his mom when he was a kid and that it fucking sucks, and nothing anyone says is actually helpful in the moment, but it does get easier with time. But he knows Steve, and he knows he’s going to turn it right back to him with sympathy for a wound that’s no longer fresh. Empathy is a wonderful trait to have, but this isn’t about Eddie and he’s not going to give Steve a single opportunity to apologize for something out of his control.

So he says nothing. He just reaches out to take him by the arm, to lead him out of the dark hallway and into the refuge of their shared room. Eddie makes sure Steve actually makes it through the door, and his gaze falls upon the walkman and headphones still strewn across his own bed. ]

Hey, listen—I know loud music is probably like…the last thing you wanna hear right now, but uh…most of this stuff— [ He picks through the small collection of tapes and holds one up ] —is actually pretty chill. If you just wanna tune the world out for a good thirty-six minutes…?

[ Sometimes, it doesn’t really matter that you listen to. Anything to cut through the buzzing of the rest of the world is enough, and the sweet sounds of Dio might even be enough to lull Steve to sleep if it’s turned down low enough. ]

But I won’t be offended if you say no.