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hammity-hammer · 11 hours

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Feel it in your Guts

eventual E rating (this part T/M for language and some themes). sapphic!steddie, horror movie meet cute, eventual smut, slight age gap (just saying that even though 6 years isn't insane). AU still set in the 80s, I honestly have no clue where this rummaged up from.

title from Overkill, Motörhead

But here it is (complete with a pt. 2):

The digital clock in her car was edging closer and closer to midnight. Stevie knew she had to stop for gas but some of the towns between Indianapolis and Hawkins were creepy nothing towns. Not like abandoned ghost towns but just some weird places on the map from point A to point B.

Fuck it, she thought to herself as she saw a gas station lit up like it was open. Her gas meter was teetering dangerously close to empty.

It would be worse to run out of gas at this hour because she was being too much of a baby to just stop and get some. She pulled into the lot and to the pump nearest the entryway of the gas station. Rummaging through her purse she procured her cute daisy print wallet and made her way inside.

The radius of area she catered to with her pet sitting business were all nicer suburbs. She was in some bumfuck town on the outskirts of her last job, and during the day it probably just looked like some sleepy boring place- but at this hour? The street lamps flickered ominously, it had been awhile since she saw another car pass that fact felt eerie, as she steeled herself to get out of her maroon BMW and go pay the attendant for twelve bucks worth of gas.

She walked with a forced air of confidence as if she was unbothered. She reminded herself there was nothing to be bothered about. She spit out her now tasteless gum in the trashcan by the entrance and walked in. The fluorescent lights a jarring brightness coming in from the night.

The attendant was a nondescript man in his forties thumbing through a magazine to whittle away the late night hours. He looked up at her and nodded, eyes lingering a moment too long on her tan toned legs- it was mid July and still hovering over eighty-five degrees without accounting for the humidity. She knew her cut off jean shorts showed a lot of leg.

The bell to the station jingled again as another patron entered.

Her skimpy summer clothing felt obscene in a place like this without the sun shining and daytime commotions. She took a moment to recount if she had locked her car before entering the gas station.

I think I did-

Christ, I hope I did.

She pulled the baby blue scrunchy from her hair and fluffed her coppery locks over her shoulders to obtain some sense of covering herself; a security blanket from wandering eyes. Her shoulders were sun-kissed and mole dotted in her spaghetti strap tank top. She felt next to naked in the establishment.

Stevie still had about a thirty minute drive back to her and Robin’s apartment. She gathered a water bottle and some twizzlers to munch on as she drove before making her way to the counter to pay. Putting the rest of the money towards filling her tank.

She laid out her treasures in front of the attendant, “And twelve on pump two.”

Her smile was of practiced blandness as she tried to finish up the interaction as quick as possible. A low whistle sounded behind her.

She felt the hair on the back of her neck raise as she turned slowly and caught sight of a larger guy in a baseball hat he gave her a salacious grin something about it infused with a lewdness she’d rather not be confronted with. He looked like he wanted to reach out and touch her, like she was some test product on display.

On her best days Stevie was one to run her mouth, tonight, here, she knew better. She clenched her jaw tight.

“Pretty young thing like yourself all alone driving a car like that? Better be careful out there darlin’.” The man drawled.

He didn’t look to be much older than his thirties. Stevie wasn’t always great at guessing someone’s age, she was twenty-two and could easily get lost in her own world. He’s someone she wouldn’t look at twice on the street. He smelled of chewing tobacco and stale liquor as he wavered closer into her personal space.

She blinked her doe eyes and lied through her teeth, “Good thing I’m meeting up with my husband.” Her smile was sharp as the attendant handed her the change.

The man rumbled out a laugh. It sounded a lot like, I know there’s no husband, the tone of it a rotten thing. The sound of it trailing behind her as she high-tailed it out of the gas station.

She eyed the payphone as she went to refill her tank, should I call Rob? She said she’d be back at her parents this weekend for a barbecue …No one knows where I am.

The fine hair on her arms raised as she broke out in goosebumps upon seeing the baseball hat wearing man eye her as he made his way back to his black truck, or was it navy blue? It was massive and gleaming, an imposing vehicle on the lot. Abundantly clear it was just the two of them out there.

The scene felt like a tumbleweed should roll past, cartoonish in how desolate it was.

He made a show of looking around before pinning her with another stare, the look said, where’s that husband of yours gone off to?

Stevie ignored it and made quick work getting the lid tightened back over her gas tank and shutting the little door. No time to scrounge up change and make that payphone call. She slid into her driver’s seat and turned the engine on much to her relief.

Fuck this creepy little town, she though as she made her way back onto the main road. She promptly killed the radio to keep her senses more alert.

Within two minutes there was a car following behind. Headlights dancing in her rearview mirror as she kept glancing back. It looked an awful lot like the truck from the gas station.

Coming ever closer behind her.

Stop riding my ass-

The headlights flashed at her.

A lot of people go the same way, the major interstate and roads are all this way, she rationalized. Maybe he hadn’t flashed his headlights? It could’ve been a pothole.

Paranoid, she chastised herself.

The car started following closer.

Stevie’s hackles were up. She tried changing lanes, a beat later and the truck changed lanes too. The headlights a quick on/off again in her rearview mirror.

She sped up a bit-

The truck did too.

Even closer than they were before. If she tapped her breaks there’s no way that wouldn’t rear end her car.

She took an exit that wasn’t actually her exit.

So did the truck.

She could feel her heart beating in her throat.

The sinking realization that she was being followed as the truck drove even closer. He was trying to clip the back of her car. Stevie felt a mixture of rage and helplessness as she let her eyes travel the line of road she was on for any kind of reprieve or escape.

She just knew she couldn’t let him run her off the road somewhere isolated- who would know I was gone? Robin’s not expecting to see me for another two days.

She was about fifteen minutes out from the gas station, so so very close to Hawkins when a motorcycle bar she’d only ever noticed in passing caught her gaze. It looked to still be open at this hour. People were outside, bikes were lined up-

People-

It was her best chance.

She sped to create more space before taking a sharp turn without signaling into the parking lot of the bar. She cut the engine and grabbed her wallet that she’d left on the passenger seat.

She knew the truck turned in after her as she raced toward the front door. She didn’t need to look over her shoulder to confirm it. A few of the people outside were watching the commotion.

She made her way to the bar quickly thankful she had opted to keep her high-top converse on and not switch over to sandals for her drive home. She hauled it to the long bar past the pool tables before the man could make his way inside.

The bartender had rings on most fingers in the way Robin liked to wear jewelry too; this woman’s were a chunkier silver than Robins’ baubles of thin stacked and mood rings. She had dark curls and large brown kohl rimmed eyes,

“Well aren’t you a peach?”

Her tone was light and teasing before she saw the panicked look on Stevie’s face, “There’s a man following me.” She breathed out and looked at the entrance as the guy came into the bar.

The bartender nodded to her coworker as she guided Stevie in the back,

“Come with me princess.” She said as she led Stevie to a quieter place.

She closed the door behind them and looked at Stevie. The deep pools of her eyes traveled over Stevie taking in her summery appearance and her heavier breathing, “You’re okay, you’re safe in here.”

She made to lift her hands to rub Stevie’s arms. She smirked with a hint of dimples and flashed a pocket knife in the waistband of her ripped up black jeans. She had on a simple black tank top with her arms covered in an array of impressive tattoos. Stevie focused on the hoop in one of her nostrils as she worked to catch her breath and calm her heart.

She let out a shaky laugh.

“Some of these nowhere towns are creepy as shit at night.” Stevie rasped out.

The woman gave her a soft smile, “Mind me asking what happened?”

There was a knock at the door,

“Give us a minute!” she yelled.

“Eddie, the guy said his daughter ran off, she’s with you.” The unfamiliar voice said.

Stevie shook her head, clear amber eyes wide. Her heartrate was starting to ramp up again. She grabbed Eddie’s wrist and found her voice, “He saw me at the gas station the last town over- he, he’s, I’ve never seen him before.”

She tripped over her words her voice barely a whisper.

“I don’t think so Garebear!” She called through the still closed door.

There was a scuffle behind it and then another voice yelling. Eddie’s brows furrowed, “I hate missing a good fight.” She remarked.

***

Eddie couldn’t help but notice her coming in the front door of the grimy biker bar. The people were all working class sort of folk, and they did have live music weekly- it was a scene for people like Eddie. They didn’t often have someone so clean cut coming through.

And she was, too well manicured to purposefully be at the bar-

Her glossy hair cascading behind her as she ran inside, her legs were toned but there was still a deliciously feminine curviness to her, she was breathtaking to someone like Eddie who had been accused on more than one occasion of having a type. The unattainable princess, maybe head cheerleader- it didn’t matter they just weren’t usually what wound up in Eddie’s orbit, or her bed.

She was self aware, she knew she was trailer trash.

She didn’t scoff at being called a burnout, she definitely was one, but she wasn’t a freeloader.

Eddie, Gareth, Jeff, and Freak ran the bar they’d bought out from one of her uncle Wayne’s war vet buddies about two years ago. So super senior Eddie was now twenty-eight and one of a few partners in bar ownership.

She had a business, her own apartment, an adorable hound mix named Lemmy, and paid taxes.

They’d pooled their resources and made it kind of an off the beaten path music venue and motorcycle bar. They opted to keep the name The Hideout since it was pretty cool and already established. Even their menu was better than decent for greasy bar food thanks to Freak.

But the girl had run in and Eddie couldn’t help but stare. She came up to the bar and Eddie heard herself say with an infusion of snark in her voice, “Well aren’t you a peach?”

***

Stevie’s heart was hammering against her ribcage. She swore it was more intense than any work out she’d ever done in her life. The thrumming of overworked muscle beneath her breast bone she could almost hear it erratically pounding inside her head.

The handle of the door jiggled, “Darlin’ c’mon out to your old man, don’t embarrass me.”

In quick succession Stevie’s fingers wrapped around the hitch of the pocket knife in Eddie’s waistband as she threw open the door, the man lunged in making to grab for her.

“You fucking pervert, betch’a wish I was your daughter. Sick bastard.” Stevie hissed full of vitriol and adrenaline.

“Feisty little bitch, whatta fire cracker!” The man growled out.

She held the blade close to his face as Eddie moved to wrench his hands away from Stevie. Someone came pummeling inside with a bloody nose and a quick, “Hey man, we hate the fuckin’ cops but we’ll call ‘em on you if you don’t get outta here.”

“Look how angry she gets, such a sweet looking girl, all red in the face and mad. Betcha cry when you get held down to fuck too.” He taunted close to Stevie’s ear as another guy came in with the first and started throwing his weight around to drag the guy out of the small back room.

Stevie let the tip of the pocket knife skim the guy’s cheek as she bit out, “What a turn of events. Looks like I’m penetrating you-“

She let the knife dip deeper and draw blood. The man hollered and thrashed against the three people holding him. Eddie leveraged herself onto her toes, thankful for the platform docs she had worn, to get the man’s neck firm beneath the crook of her elbow.

A tired local cop came walking in. He took in on the scene as his eyes darted to Stevie, “You okay kid?”

The recognizable voice had her backing off with the knife, “Yeah, Hop.” Her voice a little breathless in the commotion.

Hopper was a large guy and one of the parents of the gaggle of kids Stevie had spent years babysitting. He pulled out his cuffs, maneuvering the offender to lock them around meaty wrists, “What’re you on, man?” Hopper gruffly asked as he led him back outside the man trying to resist every step of the way.

Once the creep was locked in the back of Hop’s cruiser he came back to get testimony and whether or not Stevie and the bar owners wanted to press charges. He had punched a hole in the wall of the small back office during the whole fiasco. Disorderly conduct and property damage would be easier to pin on him than whatever he had intended for Stevie.

The interlude had the bar winding down as one of the other bar tenders shouted out for last call. Eddie had grabbed Stevie a water as they properly introduced themselves.

“Hell of a Friday, huh princess?” She said as she slipped the glass into Stevie’s hands.

She had finally been able to will her heart back to a normal rate as she sipped the ice cold beverage, “Princess is nice and all, sweetheart, but I usually go by Stevie.”

Eddie heart skipped over it’s self at the pet name, not too many people called her sweetheart, even in jest.

Eddie felt her cheeks heat up. It was well past one in the morning now and Gareth was finishing up mopping the main room.

“Well then Stevie, I’m Eddie, kinda glad you dashed into our bar. Circumstances withholding- could’ve definitely done without the psycho.” Her voice had a delicate rasp to it.

Stevie’s eyebrows shot up, “Oh, yes, here-“ She handed back the pocket knife.

The way her fingers had grazed Eddie’s bare abdomen when it had happened was a sensation she wouldn’t soon be forgetting. That and the adrenaline high had her worked up in a way that should be downright inappropriate.

“Thanks.” She slid it back into the waistband, “You sure you’re safe to drive?”

Stevie gathered her hair off the back of her neck and shoved it into a high ponytail. The baby blue scrunchy catching Eddie’s eye as well as the column of Stevie’s throat.

Eddie stop, she admonished herself, so inappropriate.

Stevie bit her bottom lip and caught Eddie’s eye, “I’ll be fine, I’m a big girl. I’ll get home safe.”

“I don’t doubt it.” Eddie smiled.

The kid up close looked young now that she’d had time to take her in. Pretty, very youthful, and so mouthwatering. What was that saying? If you love something let it go-

She was positive she’d never see the girl again.

“Drive safe princess.” She pushed out as Stevie made to stand up.

Stevie snorted at the nickname and shook her head fondly, “Sorry about…all of this. Oh, and thank you.” She surged forward on her thanks and hugged Eddie.

“No joke, I think you kinda saved my life tonight so, yup, thank you.” She pulled away.

Eddie could still feel the warmth of her skin and the soft lingering of her perfume.

She waved and made her way back out to the car.

Gareth leaned against the bar top, “Easy, Eds. Looks almost like jailbait.”

She tossed a wet rag at his face and went about her closing tasks.

***

It had been a couple weeks since Stevie’s horror movie drive home. After telling Robin everything including her sort of savior Eddie and how the notion that she might not be completely straight felt fully unleashed after that interaction.

Robin had asked if maybe it was the adrenaline and the trauma of the event; and Stevie wasn’t sure how the adrenaline and trauma still had her picturing Eddie’s hands when she touched herself.

Robin had thrown a pillow at her and cackled with that information.

She had started the following Monday with another in home pet sitting job. It was easy to push things into a neat little box for later when she kept busy.

She’d almost convinced herself it wasn’t worth delving into until she got the phone call on her business line-

***

Eddie needed a long weekend out of Indiana. She and the boys had toured a bit with Corroded Coffin in their early twenties and she knew she had a few couches to crash on out in California. She needed a mental reset.

Gareth and Freak were calling it her midlife crisis, which, rude. She wasn't even thirty- atleast Jeff wasn’t saying it to her face.

So yes, travel, get laid, let loose- it was all on her docket.

She just needed someone to watch Lemmy her faithful, floppy eared, found hound. He’d been skin and bones when she’d spotted him behind the dumpsters of the bar and he’d been hers ever since.

A regular patron had slid across a phone number of someone they highly recommended, “She’s young but super responsible. Our two labs were heartbroken when she left!”

Eddie had made the phone call the following day.

***

“Platinum pet sitting, where we treat your pets better than gold.” The bright voice greeted her.

“Better than gold? Well that sounds high end.” Eddie couldn’t help but tease.

“Sometimes you need a good tag line, what can I help you with?” The voice mused back not taking Eddie’s words to heart.

“I know this is last minute, but I got your information from Patty Lyon- I was wondering if you’d be available two weekends out for three days, two nights, with my hound Lemmy.” Eddie asked.

“Oh? Patty’s great, Rocky and Leo are such sweethearts. Let me look at my planner, usually weekends are tough, I book out in advance, but it looks like I can make that work! New clients I do require a quick meet and greet to make sure your pet’s comfortable with me and it’s a good fit for all of us, does this sound agreeable?”

She did sound young, but she conducted herself confidently and Eddie felt at ease. She knew those Labradors were Patty’s entire world.

“Yeah sounds great. I work a later schedule so maybe if we could plan sometime mid morning for you to stop by and assess?” Eddie offered.

“That actually works well, would this Thursday at…ten work for you?” She said thoughtfully.

Ten was a little early as far as Eddie’s nocturnal lifestyle went but she agreed to make sure she’d have this aspect squared away for her trip.

“Perfect, I just need a last name and an address-“

Eddie rambled it off before they said their goodbyes.

Stevie hung up and realized she never got a first name in her haste to get the information. She was on the cusp of being late to one of her week day afternoon dog walking gigs. No alarm bells had gone off so she figured she’d get a full introduction when they met in person.

***

well they're going to have to meet again right? I think this'll just be a 2 part little thing 🥰 spicier in the second half (tagged as 'in your guts steddie').

Part Two

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