for winnebagos

[thefreak]

[ Moving to the city was supposed to be the beginning of a new chapter of Eddie's life. He had spent the past ten years being ridiculed by the rest of his school, between his interest in Dungeons & Dragons, his fashion sense, and his familial history. So graduating (a couple years too late, but better late than never) from high school and packing all his things up to move out of the hick town and into the big city should have been a turning point, should have led to much happier experiences.

Instead he's crashing with a friend of the family before his lease on his new studio apartment and before he starts his new job at the record store in town. He tells himself it's just until he can get his demo listened to by some A&R schmuck that'll sign him a deal and get him some radio play, but he's got the funniest of feelings that this is where his dreams go to die, once again.

His decision to go out that night was made impulsively. He should have gone to sleep, really, but he needs to get out of the apartment and get some fresh air before he snaps. He doesn't even have a destination in mind, nor is he really paying much attention to his surroundings. Why should he? The small town he's from was safe, and he's only ever been jumped when he dared to go to the whopping one gay club.

It's easy to understand, then, how he managed to miss the fact that he is very much not alone. It's easy to understand how, if he didn't have seemingly divine intervention at the exact right moment, Eddie Munson might have just been another casualty, another name in the paper, another statistic for the mayor to use for his re-election campaign. ]

Comments

[winnebagos]

( once again, steve has to pretend that this is all brand new information. he has the sense to look mildly surprised, eyebrows slightly raised. ) Oh, he did, huh? No, that doesn't sound ridiculous at all. It, uh. Sounds exactly like something he'd do.

( steve would know. he clears his throat. ) But yeah. I mean, I've lived here long enough. I can give you some recommendations. You know, places that won't break the bank. That way you're not buying a mattress from some creep online.

( not that he's giving an inordinate amount of thought to eddie and mattresses, or anything. steve wets his lips, shifting his weight from one foot to the other. he wants to ask more about spider-man. mostly he wants to ask about what eddie thought about spider-man. but he also feels like maybe it's not the kind of conversation to be having in the middle of the hallway in the early morning. the neighbors can get a little testy. )

Hey, you wanna come over for breakfast, or something? After you're done moving boxes, I mean. ( that's not weird, right? god, he hopes it's not weird. ) I just—I know what it's like, when you're in a new place, and you haven't gotten to the grocery store yet.

[thefreak]

[ no matter eddie's thoughts on steve or spider-man, he can't deny that it would be nice to have a friend nearby. he's not stupid enough to pretend he can get by without some kind of support system, and even though he would rather throw himself at spider-man than steve, a masked superhero probably can't really afford having too many friends. something about putting them in danger.

besides, it's not that steve isn't nice to look at in fact quite the obvious, he is nice to look at, he's just...

it's difficult to compare to someone who can shoot web at criminals and look fucking amazing in spandex to boot. ]

Breakfast would be nice. All I've had was coffee, so. [ he smiles, almost shyly, moving a hand to rub behind his neck, his shirt lifting a little in the process to reveal a sliver of skin, and the barest hint of ink. ]

Let me just, like, figure out where my essentials box wound up so I know I'm gonna be able to sleep on a mattress tonight and I'll swing by in a minute, yeah?

[winnebagos]

( it's tough when your alter ego is arguably cooler than you'll ever be. how do you compete with someone who has actual super powers? steve is halfway bracing himself for a rejection, so when eddie agrees, steve's posture changes. he stands slightly taller, squares his shoulders, and a smile pulls the corners of his mouth up. he takes a step back, clasping his hands in front of him and rubbing his palms together. )

Cool—yeah, sounds good. I'll just, uh. Go actually see what I've got.

( he feels a momentary flash of panic as he tries to remember what he has in his fridge and draws a blank. but he's pretty sure he has something. at the very least, he probably has more than eddie. and if he's wrong—well, they can always head down to the local greasy spoon, benny's. )

See you in a minute.

( with that, steve turns on his heel and crosses the small distance to his own door. he slips inside and makes a beeline for the kitchen, muttering to himself, ) Shit, shit, shit...

[thefreak]

( for as much as eddie's interest has been monopolized by spider-man, he has to admit that it is at least a little endearing the way he perks right up when eddie agrees. it might even be -- dare he think it -- cute. but he has to focus, because the unpacking process is still very much a work in progress.

and if he has any hope of getting any sleep that night he's going to want to at least make sure he has the essentials squared away.

so once he waves steve off, he gets to work, finishing up the beginning of the process, with moving all the boxes into the apartment, and rearranging them so they are based in the room the contents are meant for. it's an arduous process, especially on his own, and he hasn't even gotten to the difficult part of actually putting things away, but it's nice to feel like he's actually claimed this space for himself.

and who knows, maybe after he wrangles up some furniture, he can con steve into helping him unpack. but first, breakfast. he locks up his apartment and then walks the short distance to steve's apartment, giving a gentle knock to the door. )

Hey-o, it's me. ( he cranes his head forward so that his ear is pointed towards the door and tries to see if he can hear if steve is still in the process of throwing together breakfast. )