Frankie said 'Relax'

[farrahfawcetts]

WHO: Steve Harrington, Eddie Munson, and YOU! 
WHERE: Party at the PEANUT PARTY
WHAT: Steve chilling out and exploring his new home 
WHEN: During the mandatory ship bonding time
WARNINGS: SMUT


Gym Rat
  Steve, after all the shit that's been going on, has a renewed interest in keeping himself in shape. He has to be ready to fight at the drop of a hat, it seems. And now being dragged onto this ship without any warning? Yeah. He wants to make sure he's in top form. Unfortunately, Gladio is on the other ship so getting the daily workouts done with him is more of a challenge than it usually is. But they do have a pretty legit gym now. So that is going to work at least.

Especially with a device to help him work on sparring.

Steve's been here for awhile at this point, working on both his new Security knowledge gains and his existing fighting skills. He's coming to the end of the latest sparring routine and getting sloppy with exhaustion. It means a few more punches miss than normal. A few more strikes make it through than he would like. In the end he has to just call it quits and take a few steps back to catch his breath. How long has be been here? An hour? More? He pulls his shirt up to wipe the sweat away from his face and considers.

He could call it a day. But had he really done enough? The pilots said there was a sign saying '<i>Soon</i>' in the cockpit. Was he ready for that?

Steve sighs and looks around the room for whatever else he can manage right now. Maybe running? Yeah. He can do that...



Merman

Steve is pretty thrilled to know, if he is going to be trapped somewhere, it's somewhere with a pool. Sadly, he doesn't have a bathing suit to change into, but that's just fine honestly. It's been a long month or so and he deserves to have some fun. Besides, boxers and swimming suits cover the same area. It's all fine.

Steve is almost giddy as he makes his way to the "beach". It really is hard sometimes to remember this is a ship and not just another planet. At the moment he's just happy to not have green lobsters poking at him as he strips off clothes. He goes wading into the water with a grin and immediately dunks his head under. God, he misses swimming. And this one here is guaranteed free of Upside Down gates, dead girls, or anything else to worry about.

Steve smiles to himself and floats up on his back, happy to relax at long last.


Horndog (Closed to Eddie)

One of the great things about being Security turns out to be control over room assignments. Steve is pretty pleased to find out about this power once he looks up where rooms are and which ones are his and Eddie's. Turns out he can just assign himself to Eddie's room, easy as that! Which, of course, he does.

Did you see that bed? C'mon. Having separate rooms is just going to waste time.

Steve grins as he makes his way to Eddie's (and now his) room and opens the door straight away. When he was dragged onboard the ship by the music, he hadn't had time to pack anything so all he has is himself and the bat he'd taken to carrying around more often than not since the Upside Down incident. He sets it beside the door as he goes in and immediately goes to flop onto the new, bigger, more comfortable bed.

"HEY, BABE! I'm moving in! Hope you weren't suddenly excited about privacy, here!"

Comments

Horndog

[the_freak]

The sudden entrance takes Eddie by surprise, briefly looking like he's going to huck the nearest object at the intruder before he sees that it's Steve. Who then gets a pillow to the face and a laugh as Eddie moves in to crowd him despite the spaciousness of said new bed.

"Damn, well- you better not tell my boyfriend, he'd kick your ass," he teases with a smirk, ducking to steal a kiss.

[farrahfawcetts]

Steve squawked at the pillow, laughing at the same time. By the time he comes out from beneath it, Eddie is close against him and angling for kisses. Steve's more than happy to accommodate.

Steve pulls Eddie's shoulder to yank him on top of him and loop his arms around his waist to keep him there. "Oh yeah? I bet I could take him." He grins and kisses Eddie again before finally giving him a little slack.

"Think we have time to fool around before he's back?"

[the_freak]

"I duuunno. He's pretty tough when he wants to be," Eddie counters with a cheeky grin, happily settling over him. He sneaks a theatrical glance towards the door with the small bit of slack he's granted.

"Mmmm. If we're fast," he agrees, lips quirking.

[farrahfawcetts]

Steve grins wide and buries a hand in Eddie's wild hair before bringing him down for a kiss. One that bleeds into a second. That Steve gently coaxes into something deeper as though he were desperate for it. He kind of is.

He always is when it comes to Eddie.

"You see this bed? Sorry, but I wanna take my time with you on this thing."

[the_freak]

"I could be convinced," Eddie says, far more cooly then he thinks he could ever manage again, and he grinds himself absently against Steve with a breathless groan.

"Who knew all I needed to do was upgrade our bed?"

[farrahfawcetts]

Steve, ever the romantic, can't help but take his time brushing Eddie's hair out of his face and behind his ear. Even as he lets out a moan at that delicious friction, he's brushing his hands over Eddie's face and through his hair. Steve buries the rest of his sounds into Eddie's mouth as he kisses him nice and firm. He pulls back with dark eyes and a playful smirk.

"Taking some clothes off might help too. I am feeling pretty inspired."

[the_freak]

Those gentle and romantic touches never cease to make Eddie flush, where he might have rolled his eyes at seeing him try it on anyone else. He can't help it. Steve's like a knight straight out of fiction sometimes, how could Eddie not fall so hard?

"Mm- clothes," he mumbles in agreement, trying to recapture that kiss and laughing softly when Steve evades him, shifting back to hurriedly tug off his shirt and start working on Steve's.

"No one else is going to come try and move in with us, are they?" he adds with an arched brow, "Do I need to go block the door?"

Merdog

[stitch_witch]

There's loud, delighted barking, and moments later, splashing. Don't worry Steve, there's rescue from your watery doom on the way.

"Little Bear, Heel!"

Lark's words aren't enough to keep the dog from paddling quite vigorously toward the teen so he can rescue the boy.

[farrahfawcetts]

Steve flails out of his float and goes under a moment as he's surprised by the barking. Surfacing, he glances around, lost, until his eyes land on the dog swimming toward him. And, yeah. Okay. That's pretty cute.

"It's all good! So long as he's not gonna bite me or whatever to drag me in."

[stitch_witch]

"I don't think he'll know what to do when he gets to you," Lark admits with a smile. "But he doesn't bite anyone not threatening people. You should be safe. Just be prepared for him to perhaps try and push you?"

The dog was quite affectionate after all.

[farrahfawcetts]

Steve laughs and waits for the dog to come and indeed start pushing him to shore. It's a big enough dog that Steve sort of just lets him. "His name is Little Bear?" It's cute. And Steve likes dogs so this isn't so bad.

"He's definitely a pretty good lifeguard."

[stitch_witch]

"The children named him that. Though in their defense, when they found him as a pup he was quite small. I don't think anyone expected him to be part wolf-hound."

The dog was a massive one now, and quite affectionate.

"He really is."

[farrahfawcetts]

The dog is huge but also sort of adorable. Steve lets it herd him toward the shore and then wades out of the water. He gives the animal some pets and a scratch behind the ears as thanks for the 'rescue'.

"Wolf-hound, huh? I think Little Bear works for him now, too. Pretty much the size of a little bear."

Don’t Treat Me Bad by Firehouse

[playingtough]

Steve isn’t the only one who’s upped their training lately. Ever since the disaster of communications (with various people), and then after Max and Robin‘s intervention, Billy had thrown himself into being occupied. Chopping wood at the fringe of the woods, and hauling it to the diner; working out at the civic center; trying to make his hotel room feel a little more like a home.

But now, lured to the ship (holy shit the ships are real) with only his axe (with the blade guard on it) and his Walkman, Billy was now another occupant of the Peanut Party. Holed up in the cockpit and getting more familiar with the setup, or holed up in his room (that was far from everyone else‘s as he could get), he was being… good.

Only now, heading into the gym area, he stops short seeing Harrington in there. A tape of his favorite 80s rock blasts from the headphones slung around his neck and he is absolutely torn. Stay and workout like planned, or head back out and find something else to do. He thinks of Gladio‘s words and Robin inadvertently calling him a coward (she didn’t), so Billy doesn’t run. He hates this, being in the same space again, but he doesn’t turn tail.

Instead, he only glances with a worried gaze at the other before heading over to the training dummies. He has his axe with him, so he instead figure he’d practice. Be out of the way. Even if he is sneaking glances at Steve as he finishes his swing motion each time. Okay maybe less sneaking and more keeping an eye on him. Or, that’s going to be his reasoning if Harrington approaches him about it.

Swing. Hit. Swing. Hit.

Again. Again. Again.

"…Miss seeing me, Princess?"

[farrahfawcetts]

Steve sees Hargrove come in and instinctively tenses up. But before he reacts more than that he remembers the words of Robin and Gladio. He remembers that Max is here and that, at the end of the day, Billy will always try harder for her. So instead of leaving or causing a problem, Steve just tries to ignore the fact that Billy is here at all. Like a real gym, right? No one is there to shoot the shit.

Except then Billy talks to him and...yeah. Okay. Maybe that was a stupid thing to think.

He turns to Billy and rolls his eyes good-naturedly. He even smirks a little. "Not the word I would use, honestly. But I'm glad you're in one piece after everything..."

He looks at the axe.

"That from Gladio?"

[playingtough]

Billy will always try harder for Max, because she deserved some semblance of a brother he couldn't bring himself to be back in their world. She deserved better than anything she got after Neil married Susan and if he could try to be even a little bit better for her, then he could be better for anyone. Even himself.

Even if it was like trying to climb a steep mountain with barely any handholds.

"No you're not," he scoffs out before he can even stop it. Billy purses his lips into a thin line and works at the training dummy harder. Why would Harrington be glad he's in one piece anyways? Probably for Max's sake. "Barely made it through that shit show," he instead offers between hard whacks against the vulnerable dummy before him.

"Yeah. He gave it to me after getting me into the diner. Don't use it much except on lobsters and cutting firewood for the diner and my place."

His...summer home, he supposes.

The blond's motions still and he holds the axe with the blade down to the floor, but he doesn't look at Steve. It seems like Billy wants to say something, but is trying to figure out how to push the words out from being stuck in his throat.

[farrahfawcetts]

Steve nods, not sure how he feels about a weapon in Billy's hands. But he knows how much he trusts Gladio, so that's something for him to work out with himself and no one else.

"I got a club. Helped out a lot with the Upside Down shit. Which, dude, I am glad you made it through that. I don't want you dead, whatever it is you might think. Not just for Max but because watching people I know die isn't my idea of a good Thursday night..."

He pauses his own workout and wipes his face with the bottom of his shirt again, just to make sure he's not a complete mess talking to the other boy. When he's done they're pretty much just staring at each other. Steve purses his lips, words building up behind them. But he's just not even sure where to start.

"So...you're.... Good?"

[playingtough]

"Yeah." Billy clears his throat, hand not letting go of the axe. It feels familiar by now, a good weight that feels like a ready defense in his dominant grip. "I helped Chrissy a little, she and Gladio helped... talk me through shit."

And the twiggy Steve, who wasn't supposed to be twiggy or something. That was confusing. Billy doesn't think about it. Easier to focus on this Steve who was more familiar and right here.

"I figured you wouldn't want me dead. You're not that heartless. Just ruthless and a show-off."

Finally, he hefts the axe over his shoulder with some effort, showing he's clearly been taking his training with the weapon seriously. "But to answer the question, no. I'll never be good, now or home or whatever." Billy finally looks at Steve, his own curls and forehead slick with sweat. There's so much he could say to this guy. To really slam some verbal punches in, but what good would it even do? He was outnumbered here anyways.

[farrahfawcetts]

"Ruthless?" Steve isn't exactly thrilled to have that word thrown at him. 'Show-off' he can handle. Hell, he can agree sometimes. But 'ruthless'? "What makes me ruthless, huh? Looking out for people? Kicking the ass of anything or anyone that wants to cause them problems?"

He can feel his hackles starting to rise and it takes a second for him to breathe deep and settle them back down. No poodle-ing. Not here. Not with the pound puppy.

"Whatever, man. Just... You can be good here, you know? Max is back. Robin seems to like you. So does Gladio. You got shit going for you. It could be good."

Gym Rat

[madginger]

Max wasn't sure about being trained, or ready, or anything like that. She always had her skateboard, before, so if she felt restless, or angry, or depressed, or bored, or anything, really, even happy, she would skate. She doesn't have it here, and she's been feeling the lack of it, especially on a ship.

No matter how big the ship is, it's like she can't explore it enough. There's, also, this never-ending anger and frustration built up behind all of her contentment. She is, after all, happy to be in this place with her friends. Happy to make new ones. But shes not happy about the alien world situation in general, and still seems to suffer from previous hurt and anger. And maybe that whole situation she's facing when she returns.

Eventually, she ends up in the gym more out of boredom than anything, and when she sees Steve, she crosses her arms and just observes him for a moment. Look, Max is young, she sees Steve like a big brother, and she has an ex-boyfriend she very much wants to go home to and reconnect with, but she's not blind. (And maybe a little like brother, like sister counts here.)

"This is what you do all day?"

/give starbucks

[farrahfawcetts]

Steve startles hearing Max's voice but immediately relaxes. "Hey, Max." He swipes his hair out of his face and pats off the sweat with the bottom of his shirt. Feeling mildly more presentable, he shrugs at the question.

"Not all the time but...yeah? Gotta stay in shape in case something goes down. Besides, Gladio will probably take me on a two day training retreat if I slack off too much."

He grins and nudges her shoulder. "Here to work out yourself?"

/shares cookies with

[madginger]

"Right," she says that so cheerfully, like she's truly agreeing with him, "I'm going to lift weights and get all buff like you and Billy. Maybe I'll even grow five inches while I'm at it. Get all big, and scary, then if anyone messes with me - "

Max stops. "...I was being sarcastic, but the more I talk about it, that doesn't sound completely bad." Her eyes flicker around.

"Need something to do anyway. I was just wandering around, bored."

[farrahfawcetts]

Steve brightens up, thrilled at the idea of being a trainer for Max. "Yeah! There's a lot that people can do even if they're smaller than their opponent. Billy...I mean, he could teach you wrestling shit better than me, I guess..." He looks thrilled about the idea of it, let me tell you.

"Let's just start with some punches, huh? They have some sparring machines here. You punch it and it will spin around and you need to block the thing that will punch you." He leads them over and smacks one just to show it. "Wanna try?"

[madginger]

"I," she can't believe she's about to say this but, "will have to get with Billy for training, then."

What had started at some sort of sarcastic joke now sparks, and Max nods her head at Steve.

"Yeah, show me. I...could use practice with that." Anything that gives her an edge against future attackers. And it is something to do and stay busy here, too.

[farrahfawcetts]

Steve narrows his eyes but pulls back before saying he wanted to be there when the training happened. Billy loves Max and wouldn't hurt her. At least he was sure of that now. And it wasn't his place to come between them in any way up until the point where it was needed. Billy deserved the vote of confidence.

"Okay. So first you need to know how to make a fist." Steve shows the proper form and then goes through all the bad ones. "You grab your thumb, you're gonna break it. Put it up on the side, it'll be the first thing to make contact and you'll break it, too. Wrap it around your fingers and then throw the punch more from your like bicep than your fist." He threw a punch to demonstrate and then cleared the way for Max.

He's no Gladio but he can train a little, right?