just dropping in to say hi, i’m still here and i’m still writing. hope all you lovelies are doing good, and hopefully i’ll have something new to share with you soon ✨
max keeps this photo in her wallet until it's old and torn and so bleached out that u can barely make anything out- but u can still see el's smile long after anything else.
Lucas has never really warmed to Steve. He likes the guy fine or whatever but he can't quite trust him, for some reason. The others are confused because, in theory, he has the most in common with Steve. Max has tried to change his mind, which would normally work on Lucas. Dustin accuses him of being anti-jock ever since the whole witch hunt incident, but Lucas doesn't think that's it at all. They operate as acquaintances. It's fine.
Lucas would therefore like it on the record that he did not volunteer for this.
He did not wake up one morning and think You know what would really enrich my life? Helping Steve Harrington romance Eddie Munson.
No, Steve had just showed up at their weekly shakes and fries night one random Tuesday looking like a kicked puppy, pathetically confessing a hopeless crush to Dustin, who'd panicked and immediately decided that it was everyone's problem.
Which is how Lucas finds himself here.
“Okay,” Steve says, leaning across the diner table like they’re planning a bank heist. “But does he like...y’know. Flowers?”
Lucas stares at him. Blinks. Beside him, Dustin makes a helpless face, insisting Lucas step in.
“Eddie,” Lucas says slowly. “Eddie Munson? Yeah, no, safe to say he's not a flower guy.”
"Were you going to, like, show up with a dozen red roses?” Dustin adds. "He'd think you’re making fun of him."
Steve deflates. “Right. Yeah. Sorry. That was dumb."
Lucas rubs a hand over his face.
This whole thing had started three weeks ago when Steve began hanging around Hellfire in the basement more than usual. At first Lucas had assumed it was Dustin-related. Dustin’s gravitational pull for weird situations and weird people. Steve hovering in the doorway during D&D, pretending to be interested in campaign maps, felt like standard Dustin collateral damage.
But then, Lucas noticed Steve was watching Eddie.
Not subtly.
Not creepily, exactly, but not...not creepily, either. Harrington's focus was intense, like Eddie was speaking a language Steve was desperately trying to learn on the fly.
Lucas clocked it in about five seconds, but, unfortunately, so did Eddie.
Which meant Eddie immediately did what he always did when he noticed attention. He turned it into a bit.
Steve had lasted two meetings before Eddie started calling him “Harrington, my most loyal courtier.” Three meetings before Eddie began bowing every time Steve walked into the room. Steve had blushed so hard at that that Lucas had thought he might pass out.
But he'd been planning on ignoring the entire situation. First of all, he didn't give a single fuck who Harrington dated. Second, Eddie flirted ridiculously with anyone who held eye contact with him for more than ten seconds. It didn't mean anything.
But. Dustin had trapped him.
“Okay,” Steve says, rallying. “So not flowers. That’s fine. I can pivot.”
“You can’t pivot into a personality,” Lucas mutters.
“What was that?”
“Nothing.”
Dustin kicks Lucas under the table.
“Look,” Dustin says, leaning in. “The problem is Eddie thinks this is a joke.”
“Because Steve keeps acting like it is,” Lucas says.
Steve straightens. “I do not.”
“You laugh every time he flirts with you.”
“That’s because he’s…he says stuff like ‘my liege’. What am I supposed to do with that?”
Lucas opens his mouth, then closes it again.
Unfortunately Steve has a point.
Eddie flirts like he’s narrating a Shakespearean tragedy performed by a metal band.
Lucas sighs.
“Okay,” he says reluctantly.
Both of them lean forward.
Which is weird. Lucas does not like being the person with the plan.
But the thing is, now that he's paying attention, he knows the problem isn’t Eddie.
The problem is Steve.
Specifically, that Steve Harrington, former king of Hawkins High, cannot seem to believe that Eddie Munson might actually want him back.
Which, Lucas will admit privately, is kind of insane.
Eddie watches Steve like he's the last person on earth who hasn't figured out he's worth something. It's extremely embarrassing to notice and Lucas would really just like it to stop.
He clears his throat.
“You have to stop acting like he’s joking.”
Steve frowns. “But he is joking.”
“No,” Lucas says. “He’s hiding.”
Steve blinks at him like he'd just been handed a puzzle piece he didn’t know he was missing.
Dustin grins.
“Lucas,” he says proudly, “is our resident relationship translator.”
“I am not.”
“You absolutely are.”
Lucas ignores him.
“If Eddie says something weird,” Lucas continues, “you just… respond like it’s normal. Make conversation. Stop laughing."
Steve nods slowly.
“Like if he calls you, I don't know, 'my lord knight Harrington'?” Steve groans. “You say something like ‘Hi Eddie.’”
“That’s it?”
“That’s it.”
Steve considers this with the intensity of someone being given instructions to defuse a bomb. Then he nods again.
“Okay,” he says.
Lucas feels a weird flicker of satisfaction.
This might actually work.
------
It works immediately.
Which is the part Lucas finds most annoying.
Two days later they’re all in the Hellfire room again. Eddie is halfway through explaining some insane trap scenario when Steve walks in late.
Eddie doesn’t even look up.
“Ah,” he says dramatically, “the prodigal Harrington returns to grace us with—”
“Hey Eddie.”
Silence.
Lucas actually hears the moment Eddie’s brain short-circuits.
Slowly, Eddie looks up.
Steve is just standing there. Hands in his jacket pockets. Slightly nervous, maybe, but not laughing. Not brushing it off.
Just looking at Eddie. Eddie stares back.
Lucas feels Dustin vibrate with excitement beside him.
“Okay,” Eddie says finally, voice a little thinner than usual. “Well.”
He clears his throat.
“Take a seat, Harrington.”
Steve does. The campaign continues.
But Eddie keeps getting distracted. His eyes keep drifting back to Steve like he’s trying to solve a problem. Lucas pretends not to notice.
Across the table, Dustin scribbles something on a piece of paper and slides it over. PHASE ONE SUCCESSFUL. Lucas shoves it back.
He is not part of this operation. He is simply…adjacent to it.
Which is why, when Eddie corners him by the lockers looking suspiciously rattled, Lucas absolutely refuses to feel responsible.
“Your jock is acting weird,” Eddie says.
Lucas sighs.
“He’s not my jock.”
“Well, he’s not my jock.”
“Give it time,” Lucas mutters.
Eddie squints at him.
“Out with it, Sinclair. What's he doing?"
Lucas shrugs. Says nothing. Eddie studies him for a long moment. Then, unexpectedly, his shoulders slump.
“He’s gonna change his mind,” Eddie says quietly.
And there it is.
Lucas exhales.
“No,” he says.
Eddie snorts. “You don't know that.”
Lucas thinks about the way Steve’s been hovering around Hellfire for weeks. The way he listens to Eddie, like every word matters. The way he sought out Dustin, pretended he wasn't embarrassed, asked for help.
Lucas meets Eddie’s eyes.
“Yeah,” he says. “I kinda do.”
Eddie goes very still.
Lucas immediately regrets everything.
“Anyway,” he adds quickly. “If you blow this because you can’t stop doing medieval flirting, that’s on you.”
Eddie barks out a laugh.
But he looks a little less scared. He's smiling. It's...kind of nice. He's sad so often. It's nice to see Eddie genuinely enjoying some curiosity.
Lucas walks away before anyone else can ask him for help. He is absolutely not gonna keep running point on Steve Harrington’s love life.
But.
If Steve happens to ask him tomorrow what kind of music Eddie likes…
Hi! Just came here to say that I love your emperor Geta series.
Are you open to write more?
-✨
Thank you!! 🫶🏼
I don’t have any immediate plans to write more for Geta, but I’m open to it. I had so much fun writing that series and I’m proud of it. I might do a one shot in the future based on Violent Hearts or just try something completely different for Geta, who knows
