Modern-ish fake dating Steddie AU where Steve is still the king of Hawkins High when the party enters their freshman year.
He used to babysit them when he was with Nancy but became friends when they started to teach him how to be less of a jerk and remained friends after they broke up.
He loves them, and he is excited, although begrudgingly, to have them in high school. He expected the bunch of kids to bother him at any minor inconvenience, get the perks of being friends with someone "popular," like they continually pointed out. But none of them does.
Which comes as a surprise because Steve finds out that they are being bothered.
At first they brush it off; they say that it's to be expected, they are nerds after all, that Steve wouldn't understand because he is popular.
But Steve doesn't buy it; he knows there's more to it by the way everyone immediately closed off about it. Repeating like a broken record that he wouldn't understand. Steve's hunch is right, as he later finds out they are specially bothering Will and Mike, calling them slurs and such.
He hates it, he hates it so much and wants to intervene, but Mike tells him to "mind his own business."
Steve figures out that maybe that was the thing he "wouldn't understand" that the kids were so adamant on telling him.
He doesn't know what the right move to do is, but he knows he has to do something. He looks for help, for someone who does understand and can help him do something for his kids. And he meets Robin.
He found her in the library while he was investigating one day, she was reading some language book, and he just happened to see a pin on her jacket. Barely inconspicuous, but those who knew, knew.
He shot her with one of the lines he had learned in a zine about finding community, and she looked at him with wide eyes. Needless to say, she questioned the shit out of him about his knowledge and why or how.
She admired his desire but still thought he was out of his mind. Telling him the kids were right, he couldn't understand their struggles, and aside from supporting them, there wasn't much to be done.
Steve told her how he just wanted them to feel secure, to have something to look up to, and to show them and all the other people that it was possible.
Robin telling him that of course it was possible, and although the town wasn't as bad, it was little, and not many people wanted to be the first to be out and deal with the nasty comments and the looks that everything that was 'different' brought while people adjusted to it. While they decided to either accept it or ignore it.
And that's when the idea came to Steve.
What if he was the first one to be out? What if he dated someone publicly?
"You're not gay, Steve," she said simply.
"Well, no, but people wouldn't know that, and I don't mind them thinking that of me."
And Robin hated the idea so much, it was dangerous and crazy and absurd, and it was simply bad. She knows it, but, god, what if? What if it works? Maybe it was just her delusional side that wanted it to work, but who cared?
"Ok, ok, god, I can't believe I'm saying this, but Steve, we need to get you a boyfriend."
They spend weeks looking for someone to be Steve's fake boyfriend, but they can't seem to find the perfect match. Robin scolding Steve for rejecting candidates because 'there was no way he would date a guy like this or like that.'
Steve claiming that it had to look real and that he would never go for a guy whose whole personality was hitting the gym and drink proteins.
Steve reassures Robin that they will find the perfect match. She has to trust him.
And they do find the one.
Steve takes one look at Eddie Munson stepping on people's lunches and ranting about nonconformism and the big man, and he just knows it has to be him.
It helps that Eddie displays his handkerchief in his back pocket, a patch on his vest, and a pin on his backpack that loudly call to Steve.
His lips are parted, and his heart is beating rapidly as he watches him.
"Robin" he calls her. She was mildly listening to Eddie, more preoccupied with eating her lunch. "I think I found him."
Robin had never moved as fast, turning to see Eddie loudly yelling at the jock's table. Looking back at Steve, "Him?" she whisper-yelled, but finding only amusement in Steve's face, "Munson? Really?"
So it's settled: Steve meets with Eddie at the beat-up picnic table where he deals and tells him the whole plan.
Giving the whole speech he practiced with Robin, telling him the situation bar the names of his kids, what he wanted to accomplish, what he could do for him to ensure he was safe, everything.
If he still wanted deniability, he just needed to let Steve be the one to approach and take care of things. If anything turned ugly, he would take the brunt of it.
Eddie at first laughs, thinking it's a joke, but when he sees Steve's confused puppy look, he knows it's for real.
He immediately tells him he can't help, but he sees Steve's face fall with his answer.
"Not that I don't find your quest admirable, Harrington, but do you even understand what you are asking? Like, seriously?"
And well, Steve knows he could never really fathom it; he understands why the thing he is asking for is hard but never really understands going through it the same way his kids or Robin and Eddie do, but there's not a thing on earth that he wouldn't do or try to ensure his kids were happy and safe.
"I do know, Eddie," Steve said, almost a whisper. "I do know, that's why I was asking you."
But it didn't matter anymore; Eddie had already said no, and he swore to Robin he wouldn't press.
But that gets Eddie's attention.
Suddenly stopping him to ask what that meant, why the King of Hawkins High and apparently mother of some freshman kids chose him?
"You like the Dragons and Dorks game that my kids play," Steve tells him. He wanted someone the kids could relate to, someone who liked the things they liked and understood them better than Steve ever could. He wanted someone that they could look up to.
Eddie seems confused with his answer, holding onto Steve until he explains, and Steve only wants to get out of there, feeling rejected, so he just blurts his thoughts out, wishing any of it makes sense to Eddie so he lets him go.
"You are always yelling about not letting other people dictate your life and breaking the expected. You rant endlessly in the cafeteria about not conforming to the system and openly enjoy the things you like, even if they are strange or not popular. You are just so unapologetically yourself, man. I was sure that if anyone would understand and want to actually do something about it, it would be you."
Steve pursed his lips but ultimately slumped his shoulders, defeated. "I guess I was wrong"
Steve was slumped after that, he didn't realize how high his hopes were about Eddie accepting that when he didn't, he felt really hurt. A constant pang in his chest every time he thought of their conversation. He called Robin and told her everything, she saying that it was expected and that they would try to find another person.
Steve didn't feel like telling her how little he wanted to find another person. Wallowing the whole weekend.
By Monday he had half his mind to just quit the plan altogether; he couldn't think of anyone other than Eddie who could hit all the marks. He was in the middle of telling all of that to Robin when they made it to his locker, and there, peeking out, was a red envelope and a rose.
He quickly took the thing. On the front, in a chicken-scrawled signature, it read
"For Steve from Eddie <3"
Steve's heart was beating fast. Robin gasped at his side; she was looking over his shoulder, urging him to open it and pulling at his jacket to hurry up.
Steve blinked like he was awakening from a dream and hurriedly opened the letter.
although I still think you're crazy and out of your mind. Your words have moved me, and I accept whatever lunatic thing you have in that head of yours.
But, for someone who apparently has been listening and watching what I say and what I do, you don't know shit about me if you think you will be the one courting.
There will be some rules to discuss later, but for now, enjoy the little gift. Like someone said, 'What's in a name? That which we call a rose, by any other name would smell as sweet' or something romantic like that.
Love, your humble jester, Eddie"
Robin points out how clever Eddie was with the writing of the letter, making sure that if anyone other than Steve snooped around, they would only think they were involved. Like really involved.
And that's when Steve remembers this card is part of the performance, because they are faking it.
And something in there doesn't sit right with him, because this is the first flower he gets in his life, and he doesn't like that it's part of a scheme.
Robin bumps his arm, getting him out of his head, silently asking if he is ok, and Steve smiles at her. This is good news; he is happy.
Just like Eddie said, he takes care of all of it; he constantly leaves notes and poems for Steve. He walks him to all his classes and makes sure to sit (or make him sit) with him at lunch. His hands always finding their way to interlock with Steve's. He is boisterous and knows how to make a show of how infatuated he is with Steve.
They did put rules, but if he wanted the plan to work, there needed to be more than just hand holding. So Eddie kisses his hands, cheeks, and forehead whenever he deems necessary.
Steve is in kind of a shock because he is accustomed to being the one doing the charming, but he can't say it hasn't been nice to experience being on the receiving end of all the affection. Still, he does try to do his part; he asks Eddie to wear his letterman jacket and trade him something in return, he asks the people in the radio club to put on some corny-ass song for him during the morning announcements, and he gets Nancy to include a tiny poem in the school's newspaper for him. Steve is all about the gestures, after all.
Everyone at school is shocked at first, but even if they aren't really friends anymore, Tommy gives shit to others for being in Steve's business, and Carol makes fun of his teammates for being more interested in who he is dating than actually scoring in games, and that seems to calm the waters.
The kids don't believe it right away; this is their Steve! There's no way they didn't know he liked guys; he dated Nancy and a bunch of other girls; he is famously a ladies man.
Eddie didn't know they were Steve's kids, but as soon as he clocks them, he takes them under his wing, inviting them to Hellfire and making sure to keep an eye on them. They are skeptical about it but warm up pretty soon when they see how ruthless he is with the game.
Robin meddles a bit in his favor and lectures them about bisexuality, and that, plus the kids seeing Steve actually blushing with Eddie's words and gestures, makes them buy it.
The plan seems to work just right, better than right. Against every odd, Mike ends up confiding in Steve about him and Will and everything that happened at school before.
Steve understands a bit better, because even though Eddie and him are doing fine, they still receive some hate.
At school it's mostly Billy and his cronies, but Steve is so high up on the social hierarchy that his words fall on deaf ears, and Eddie and his band are 'freaky' enough that they are scared of trying anything funny in case they curse them or something.
But around town, when Eddie and him go on 'dates,' because according to Steve they have to be seen outside of school too, they get sneers and comments that actually make Steve shake.
He tells Mike just that, the good and the bad, and that if he needs anything, he can count on him anytime.
He tells Steve he is happy that he found Eddie and how much they love each other, and Steve is met with the realization that he might not be faking it as much as he though.
Which Robin seconds with a "duh" because she had the thought since he was so adamant on Eddie being the one he wanted to fake date.
Steve feels guilty about it because there's no way he can tell Eddie about his feelings. This was supposed to be fake, and Eddie might not like him in reality, and now Steve has trapped him in an awkward situation. On top of that, if they break up, he will not only lose Eddie but also shatter the illusion for the kids.
Unbeknownst to him, Eddie has been fighting with the feelings he caught for Steve since he told him his crazy but sweet plan to help the kids, along with learning the vision Steve had of him before they even 'met.' They even have kissed! (They agreed they had to do it to keep up appearances, nothing else at all. Nope, they didn't practice at Eddie's van, multiple times).
So they both think there's no way out of it without a heartbreak and try to keep it from the other, but they become so stiff around each other and they miss being close so much that they break.
Steve tells him he was sorry, but he lied, and he enjoyed every date and gift and gesture as if it was real and directed at him, and Eddie tells Steve he is sorry because it was real for him, and he never faked anything because he really wanted it to be so he had been flirting and doing all of it, taking advantage of the plan to be close to Steve.
When they realize what the other is saying, they realize they have actually been dating for months. That the looks and blushes Steve got anytime Eddie would come near were real. The heart-to-heart talks they had on their dates and any smile he gave Eddie were sincere.
As well as Eddie's sweet and encouraging words, the poems he wrote and the way he made Steve feel warm and taken care of instead of being the one taking care of things. It was all real.
They end up telling the kids years later, when the party is on their graduation day, and they give them shit for lying for about two seconds before they reason it wasn't actually a lie if they did end up together.
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