Dustin's not panicking, but he's also not not panicking. Steve just looks so small and hurt, laying there motionless in the hospital bed. One of his eyes is swollen shut, his lip is split and bleeding, there's bruises on his neck like someone tried to strangle him, and his wrist is broken, badly enough that he might need surgery. That's not even the worst of it. The doctor told them that Steve has to stay overnight for observation, in case there's internal bleeding. Because Steve was so badly beaten that it's something they need to watch for.
“It was Billy, wasn't it,” Max says next to him. The hospital wouldn't allow them all to crowd into Steve's room together, so it's just him and Max here while Lucas and Mike are down in the lobby. Will already got picked up by Jonathon.
“We don't know that,” Dustin argues. “It could've been anyone.”
“Billy hates him,” Max says softly. He looks over, but she's staring at Steve. “He did this.”
She's probably right, but Dustin doesn't want to admit it. There's no proof. They need to gather the facts, look for evidence, and make a logical conclusion.
Steve shifts and mumbles something, eyes still closed. Dustin darts over to his side.
“Steve?”
“Eddie,” Steve mumbles.
Eddie? Who the hell is Eddie? He exchanges a glance with Max, who looks just as confused as he is.
“Is that who hurt you? Steve, c’mon. Talk to me.”
But Steve's out again, sighing in his sleep, face going slack.
“Do you know any Eddies?” he asks Max.
She shakes her head. “Sorry.”
That's okay. They can get the phone book, write down the name of every Eddie in Hawkins, eliminate unlikely suspects and go from there. It's not much, but it's a start.
The door opens and a nurse walks in, followed by a man Dustin’s never seen before. He's old and mostly bald, with a salt and pepper beard, dressed in worn-out jeans and a flannel shirt open over a white tee. Probably not a secret government agent. Definitely not Steve's dad.
“Who are you?” Dustin says, rudely cutting off the nurse.
The man raises an eyebrow.
“I'm Steve's emergency contact,” he says. “Who are you?”
“I'm his friend.” Dustin’s not going to be cowed by this stranger.
“I see,” says the man, and reaches his hand out. “Wayne Munson.”
Dustin shakes it. “Dustin Henderson,” he says, because he can hardly withhold his name after the stranger shared his.
Wayne nods politely and turns back to the nurse and gestures at her to resume her spiel. Dustin’s heard all this before, so he tunes her out and huddles with Max in the corner.
“There is something seriously weird going on here,” he says. “Is Steve living some kind of double life?”
Max rolls her eyes at him. “Not everything's a conspiracy. That's probably just his uncle or something. Didn't you say his parents are never around?”
“I don't think Steve has any uncles,” he says doubtfully.
His attention snaps back to Steve, who’s moving fitfully around while the nurse checks his vitals. His good eye slowly opens and fixes on Wayne.
“Eddie?” he asks. His voice is rough and strained, like it hurts him to talk.
“Wasn't home when I got the call,” Wayne tells him. “I had to leave him a note.”
Steve nods and closes his eyes again. It's worrying that he can't seem to stay awake for more than a minute at a time. He thought you were supposed to keep people awake if they had concussions.
And okay, so maybe this Eddie isn't a suspect. How does Steve know all these people that Dustin's never heard of?
The nurse leaves and Wayne settles into the chair by Steve's bed, like he intends to stay for a while.
“So,” Dustin starts. He's going to get to the bottom of this. “Why are you Steve's emergency contact?”
“He asked me,” Wayne says, like that answers anything. He's good under interrogation, Dustin will give him that.
“Okay, but how do you know him?” There's no way this guy is Steve's uncle.
“If he wanted you to know, he would've told you.”
That stings. Steve is his friend, even if he is older than Dustin. He's gonna chew Steve out for keeping all these secrets, once he gets better. Dustin beats a strategic retreat to the other side of Steve's bed, dropping into a chair by the window.
Max only stays a few more minutes and then she has to leave to get home for dinner.
“I'll send Mike up,” she says on her way out.
So it's Mike that Dustin’s expecting to see, but it's another stranger who bursts into the room a few minutes later. He looks like he's about Steve's age, with wild curly hair, ripped jeans and a definite air of panic.
“Holy shit,” he says when he spots Steve. “I got your note. What the hell happened?”
This must be Eddie. Wayne's already standing up to let him take his chair.
“I don't know any more than you do,” Wayne says. “Hospital called me up, said he was in a bad way and I should come down.”
“Jesus, he looks beat to hell,” Eddie says, pale-faced. “Is he…is he gonna be okay?”
Wayne rests a hand on Eddie's shoulder and squeezes. “Should be. They're keepin’ him overnight, to be sure. He's got a concussion and a broken wrist.”
“Shit,” Eddie says again, and brings a hand up to wipe at his eyes. Who is this guy? He's acting like he's Steve's best friend and Dustin's never even heard of him until now.
“He was askin’ for you,” Wayne says, and Eddie's head snaps back up. “Why don't you try talkin’ to him?”
“Okay,” Eddie sniffles. “Um. Steve? It's me, Eddie. I'm sorry I couldn't get here faster, I—”
Steve's blinking awake already.
“Eddie,” he says. Is that all he knows how to say now?
“Yeah, it's me,” Eddie says, and takes Steve's hand in his. “How do you feel, baby?”
Baby.
“Hurts,” Steve says, and to Dustin's horror he starts to cry. He didn't think Steve knew how to cry, but he's holding Eddie‘s hand and tears are rolling down his cheeks and Dustin might as well not be there, the way Steve's completely focused on Eddie.
Eddie, who can only be Steve's boyfriend. Eddie, who seems to have abruptly remembered that Dustin’s there—he's looking over at Dustin with wide, scared eyes, but he doesn't let go of Steve's hand, and Dustin likes him more for it. Eddie turns his attention back to Steve almost immediately.
“I know, I'm sorry,” he tells Steve. He reaches out and carefully pushes Steve's hair out of his face. “I'll fucking kill whoever did this to you.”
Dustin's on board with that, but Steve gets agitated.
“No,” he says loudly. It sets him off coughing and it must hurt like hell, by the way his face goes drawn and pale. Eddie's quick to grab a cup of water off the side table and hold it up so Steve can take a sip.
“Promise me,” Steve demands as soon as he can talk again. “Don't…go looking.”
“Okay,” Eddie says, clearly put out about it. “I promise.”
“Staying?” Steve asks. He's running out of steam, sagging back against his pillows.
“Of course,” Eddie says, so tenderly that Dustin has to look away. “I'll be right here when you wake up.”
Warning: Steve makes some really bad decisions re: sex with Eddie, and he and Eddie have to deal with the fallout
Eddie had been more than patient with him in the three months since they started dating, but Steve knew it couldn't last. Knew Eddie would only wait around for him for so long.
They'd been kissing a lot, so it wasn't like he was leaving Eddie completely wanting, but maybe that was worse, because Eddie would get hard every time, and then they'd just…stop. Sometimes Eddie would have to go into the bathroom to take care of himself if he got too worked up. He said he didn't mind, but Steve was sure that was a lie. He hated sitting there, knowing Eddie was jerking off down the hall, needing something from Steve that Steve wasn't able to give him.
Steve would never have waited as long as Eddie was for a girl to put out. When Steve used to date, his main objective was always to get the girl into bed and on his dick as soon as possible. He wasn't completely heartless—he did always care for the girls he dated, on some level—but he also liked the challenge of convincing them to let him fuck them.
But then Steve's popularity at parties had gone through the roof and those kinds of girls had stopped wanting to go out with him, and Steve had gradually lost almost all interest in sex. Which was sort of his just desserts, if you thought about it.
And now here he was, with some kind of mental block preventing him from letting Eddie touch him. He didn't really understand it, because he did want to have sex with Eddie. It was just that any time they tried to go further than making out, Steve got this overwhelming sense of dread that threatened to suffocate him if they didn't stop. It was a sort of dull panic in his stomach that rose up into nausea in the back of his throat. Eddie always seemed to notice, even if Steve tried to push though, and that would be the end of that.
The point was, even if Eddie was all respectful and shit and wasn't going to pressure Steve into sex, he still was a guy, and there was just no way he was gonna hang around forever in a sexless relationship on the off chance that someday Steve got it together. Steve was frankly surprised he was still here.
He liked Eddie, more than he'd ever liked anyone else, and he didn't want to lose him. And he was sure that if he could get through the initial discomfort, he'd like sex with Eddie too.
So he'd come up with a plan. He didn't get sloppy drunk, because Eddie didn't seem like he'd be into that, but he drank enough to get a good buzz going on. Then he brushed his teeth and used mouthwash, so he wouldn't be gross to kiss. He'd timed it perfectly and was still feeling warm and relaxed when Eddie showed up at his door. Ostensibly he was there to watch a movie, but their movie nights always devolved into making out on the couch and missing half the plot.
Steve gave him some time to get settled in and then he made his move, putting an arm around the back of Eddie's shoulders and pressing a kiss to the side of his mouth. Eddie immediately turned towards him and slid their mouths together. It would be easy to get lost in kissing and forget about the rest of the plan, but Steve couldn't let himself. He was going to do this, and then Eddie would see that Steve wasn't a hopeless case, that he was worth sticking around for, and then Steve could stop worrying so much.
Eddie balked when Steve tried to get in his lap. His hands came up to grab Steve's hips, holding him back so Steve was sort of hovering there. Of course Eddie would try to cockblock himself, that was par for the course.
“What are you doing?” Eddie said, frowning.
Steve fought the urge to roll his eyes. “What does it look like I'm doing?”
“I know, but—you really want to?”
“Yeah,” Steve said, ignoring the slight uneasiness he could feel somewhere deep inside. He was still cradled in the fuzzy cloud of the drinks he'd had and that made it easy to shove the bad feelings away out of sight. He pushed at Eddie's hands. Eddie didn't let go, but he relaxed enough for Steve to sit down.
Eddie's dick was hard, which he had been expecting, but it was still unsettling to feel it pressed up against his ass. He did his best not to let it show—Eddie was watching his face carefully, looking for any signs of discomfort. He leaned into it instead, and rolled his hips down so his ass rubbed over Eddie's hard-on.
“Oh my god,” Eddie said faintly, and pushed up just when Steve ground down, the thick line of his dick slipping between the cheeks of Steve's ass, easy to feel through his thin sweats.
This was fine, Steve told himself. This was what he wanted. He was doing it for Eddie. Eddie obviously was into it and that was all that really mattered.
He put his mouth back on Eddie's and the kisses Eddie gave him soothed his nerves enough to keep up the motion of his hips, and kept him from panicking at the way Eddie's grip on him had tightened.
“Okay?” Eddie mumbled between kisses, and Steve nodded. “Fuck, you feel good.”
They kept kissing and grinding, and the next time Eddie pulled back he was panting, eyes wide, his hips jerking up like he couldn't help it.
“Steve,” he said. “Is this—I’m getting close, you gotta tell me if you want me to stop.”
“You should probably get your dick out,” Steve said, swallowing hard. He thought maybe the alcohol was wearing off. “If you don't wanna come in your pants.”
Eddie stared at him for a long moment and then went for the waistband of his sweats. A little rearranging, and Eddie's sweats and boxers were around his thighs and his bare dick was just right there, hard and wet at the tip. Steve liked how it looked—it was long and thick, flushed red, with Eddie’s balls nestled up under it—but it was difficult to appreciate it when Steve's stomach was tied up in knots.
Eddie was touching himself while Steve watched, long slow strokes from the base to the tip. That was wrong, that was—Steve was supposed to be doing that, Steve was supposed to make Eddie come. That was the whole point of this, to show Eddie that Steve was worth sticking around for.
He batted Eddie's hand aside and took over. At least like this he could pretend that he was just jerking himself off. Except for the part where Eddie's hands were hot on his thighs and Eddie was gasping and trembling under him.
“Steve, I'm gonna—” Eddie said, and his mouth fell open and he dropped his head back as his dick pulsed in Steve's hand and went off. Steve stroked him through it and wiped his hand off on his shirt when he was done. An exhausted sort of relief went through him because he'd done it, he'd gotten Eddie off, and next time it’d be easier, he was sure of it.
“That was so good,” Eddie said with a dopey smile. His hair was a frizzy halo around his head and his cheeks were flushed and he looked impossibly cute. “Can I…I wanna make you feel good too.”
It was stupid of him, but he hadn't been expecting Eddie to reciprocate.
“Yeah, sure,” he said. His heart started to pound when Eddie dipped a hand into his sweats and wrapped it around his dick. The actual physical sensation of Eddie touching him felt good, but the sick feeling inside him was growing. He'd been too nervous to eat much before Eddie came over and now his stomach was clenching down on nothing.
Everything abruptly got to be too much and Steve shoved Eddie’s hand away, clapped a hand over his mouth, and ran for the bathroom. He was puking as soon as his knees hit the floor, vomiting up mostly bile and liquid.
“Steve?” Eddie said from somewhere nearby, and then his hand settled lightly on Steve's back, between his shoulder blades. “Are you okay?”
“Yeah,” Steve croaked. His throat hurt. His stomach spasmed again, and he gagged.
“I'm gonna get you some water. I'll be right back.”
Eddie was gone for a few minutes, long enough that Steve got tired of hunching over the toilet and slid down to the floor, resting his cheek against the cool tiles. Maybe he could still salvage this, explain it away as something he ate not sitting right.
He was trying to figure out what to say when Eddie came back and set something on the bathroom counter with a definitive clink. Steve looked up to see what it was and his stomach dropped all over again: it was the bottle of whiskey he'd left sitting on the kitchen counter, having forgotten to put it away.
“Were you drinking before I came over?”
“No!” Steve protested, and then when Eddie kept just looking at him, “Only a little.”
“Did you—please tell me this isn't what it looks like. That you didn't drug yourself in order to—to suffer through having sex with me.”
Steve couldn't tell him that, so he didn't say anything at all. Eddie sat down all at once on the edge of the bathtub, like his legs had been cut off from under him, put his head in his hands, and said faintly, “I feel like I fucking raped you.”
“No,” Steve said, horrified, pushing himself up off the floor. “No, Eddie, you didn't.”
“But you didn't want it,” Eddie said, very quietly. “You didn't want it, and I did it anyway. God, how could I not notice—”
“I didn't want you to notice,” Steve blurted out, because he couldn't handle the self-loathing and blame in Eddie's tone for another second. “It's not your fault!”
Eddie lifted his head up. His eyes were wet with unshed tears. “It feels like it is,” he said. “You…you were touching me and it felt so good and I just let you do it. I should’ve stopped you, I should've told you no, but I was too fucking selfish to realize what was happening.”
Eddie's hands were shaking as he wiped roughly at his eyes. Steve instinctively went to comfort him, but Eddie flinched away when Steve reached for him.
“Don't,” he said unsteadily. “Just tell me what I did to make you think you needed to do that.”
“Nothing,” Steve said. It was the truth. “You didn't do anything wrong.”
“Then why,” Eddie said, pleading. “Why would you do that to yourself? Why would you let me hurt you like that? Why—”
He broke off into a sob and Steve scrambled up to sit next to him on the edge of the tub and when Eddie didn't push him away, put his arms around him. Eddie sort of collapsed into him, his face hidden in Steve's neck, his own arms loosely clasped around Steve's waist.
“I'm sorry,” Steve said into his hair. “I fucked up. I'm sorry.”
Eddie didn't respond. Steve couldn't tell if he was actively crying or just close to it. Either way, he was trembling against Steve, his breath hot on Steve's skin, and looking as miserable as Steve had ever seen him.
“I don't know if we should do this anymore,” Eddie said at last in a small voice. He pulled back from Steve and wiped his hand under his nose. “I wanna be with you but not like this, not if you can't be honest with me about what you want.”
Steve's heart felt like it stopped.
“I don't want to break up,” he said, swallowing hard against the threat of tears. “I was an idiot and I'm sorry. I won't do it again.”
“How am I supposed to trust you?” Eddie's voice cracked and now he really was crying, tears running down his face and dripping off his chin. “You could lie to me and I wouldn't even know.”
“I won't, I swear. Eddie, please.”
Eddie searched his face. “I really like you, Steve,” he said. “But the way I feel right now…I just want to go home.”
“Wayne's off tonight, right?”
Eddie nodded. That was good. Eddie and Wayne were close—he'd be there for Eddie, if he needed him.
“Okay,” Steve said. “Can I call you tomorrow?”
Eddie nodded again, and then he got up and left without looking back. Steve could hear Eddie getting his stuff and putting his shoes on, the sound of the front door opening and closing. The noise Eddie's van made as he started it. Eddie drove off and the noise faded into the distance and then there was just Steve alone in the bathroom, the house empty and quiet.
The whiskey was still sitting on the counter. If there was ever a time to get drunk, this was it. He grabbed the bottle on his way out of the room.
"Look, Steve, I don't have any bad feelings towards you," Eddie says, has been saying, talking nonsense, like he and Steve weren't anything more than fuckbuddies, like he isn't breaking Steve's heart. "I used you too, y'know?"
It's then Steve rears back like he been slapped. Or punched. It feels more like a gutting. Joke's on him, he supposes. Once again, he wants more than the other person. He wanted a boyfriend, Eddie'd wanted sex. Why does he keep trying? When Steve finds his voice to speak, it comes out flat and dead and not really like a question at all. "Used me. Like you think I've used you?"
Eddie shrugs, looking for all the world like he's not bothered by that statement. "We had fun, right? So it's all fine in the end."
"Fine," Steve repeats, hollow. They're in his house but Steve feels the need to leave, to run before the reality of how unlovable he truly is sticks inside him forever.
"But I think we should stop while we're ahead," Eddie continues and Steve wonders if Eddie is listening to him at all, or just saying his piece before he goes. Can he not hear Steve's heart breaking? "I want to... I want to find someone to love."
If Eddie's previous words felt like being gutted, these ones feel like cement. Heavy and solidifying. Trapping in the truth of Ever Unlovable Steve. He doesn't even feel heartbroken anymore. Just numb. Dead inside. He should say something encouraging. Let Eddie know that all he's wanted was for Eddie to be happy and loved. But words seem impossible, so he gives one jerky nod of his head. An understanding.
"Right," Eddie says, returning the nod before turning away, towards the door, "I'll just go now. Umm, see ya later, Harrington."
Facing the horrors of the Upside Down should feel like the scariest thing he's ever done but it doesn't. Watching Eddie walk away does. Steve should be able to hold it together long enough for Eddie to leave. He's the tough one. He can hold himself together no problem-
"Why can't you love me?"
Eddie whips back around, an expression on his face like confusion and anger mixed.
It's only then that Steve realizes he spoke. He hasn't meant to. He was going to let Eddie walk away but now his voice has been freed from the cement. His heart has shut down his brain it seems because he just keeps talking, voice flat and hollow, "why can't you love me the way I love you? What is so broken and wrong within me that no one loves me back? My parents, Nancy, now you. Why can't- I thought that we were- where did I go wrong?"
"What?" Eddie asks, and the anger is gone from his face but now he just looks horrified. Which is understandable. It's horrifying to be loved by Steve Harrington. "What did you think we were?"
Boyfriends. Together. Going steady. At the very least, dating without labels. But none of those very reasonable, normal answers come out of Steve's treacherous mouth. Because Steve can't seem to be a reasonable, normal person. He's got to be too much, too soon, too clingy. So, instead, he says, "In love."
Eddie looks like he's just received the worst news of his life. In fact, he looks a little sick. "Oh fuck. Jesus Christ. I can't- I thought- Fuck!"
Steve just nods along. He hadn't actually said I love you to Nancy that night at Tina's Halloween party, but he imagines if he had, the beginning of the bullshit conversation would have sounded much the same as Eddie does now; like anger and regret, the starts and stops. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have- if you want to go, you should go."
Eddie crosses the room back to Steve in half the steps he took when he first walked away, hands reaching to grab Steve's face between them. He speaks quickly and sounds panicked now. "No, no no no. I fucked up, misunderstood. I don't know how I got it so wrong. I don't want to go. I never did."
"What?"
"I am in love with you, sweetheart. I just- I didn't know you loved me back. I thought you didn't- that we weren't..."
"I thought we were boyfriends."
"Jesus, please let me fix this. Let me stay and make it up to you. I'll be the best fucking boyfriend you've ever had."
Steve thinks if he had any shred of self-worth he might step back, make Eddie explain himself, but as it is, he steps into Eddie's space and kisses him, hands pulling him as close as he can get. He doesn't want to think about the cruel things Eddie's said, about using each other. Maybe one day they'll have to hash that out, have that conversation, but Eddie says he loves him too, and that's all Steve's wanted.
I think when Eddie is out of town, which happens with a degree of frequency given that he's a musician, Steve is sad, but fine. He has a routine. Running every morning, work, going to the local park and cafe on his off days.
He misses Eddie like a limb, but he knows how to be on his own.
If, for any reason, Steve has to be gone while Eddie is home, it's another story. Eddie is a feral, wilted chihuahua. He's showing up at everyone's house, lamenting about being left alone. He sleeps on the couch just to be dramatic. He sends Steve postcards every day, even if most of the trips are too short for any of them to actually reach him.
Steve has learned to brace himself when he opens the door, ready for Eddie to leap into his arms and, more than likely, lick his face.
Eddie: My friends are asking why I suddenly go to the gym every day after years of calling it stupid
Eddie: Respectfully, my boyfriend is a former jock smokeshow. He’s dated some of the hottest guys in Hawkins. I can’t be walking around looking like his emotional support goblin
Sometimes I think about how everyone Steve loves the most hated him at one point. He looks at Dustin laughing in his passenger seat and remembers they only hang out because he was the last option available in an emergency. He’s having platonic soulmate time with Robin and remembers that she spent the whole course of their Scoops time absolutely hating him and thinking he was the annoying popular guy who peaked in high school, and they’re only close because they got kidnapped together that one time. Eddie tells him he loves him and all he can think about is the terrible things Eddie used to say to his friends about Steve Harrington back in high school, and knowing that he meant them
Eddie thinks it odd that it seems like he's the only one who remembers that Steve was bullied in middle school. Watched it happen in the hallways, as he was a year ahead of him. Steve was scrawny, had braces, and was called "Headpiece Harrington".
It only took the summer before Steve entered Hawkins High to turn it all around. He'd had a growth spurt, had his braces removed, and got absolutely plastered at a party (that Tommy convinced him to throw in his big, empty, house.)
It was like everyone else forgot there was a version of Steve that even existed before he was King Steve, but Eddie never did. Could never forget a lost sheepie.
Steve learns how to crochet mostly to cope with the stress of feeling responsible for the safety and wellbeing of so many kids who never seem to want to listen to him.
The first person to find out about this secret hobby is Robin. His parents stop helping him out financially when they realise he's not just taking a gap year to figure things out and has in fact decided not to go to college. Steve doesn't have the money to get her something fancy for her birthday so he instead buys wool and buttons in her favourite colour and crochets a cardigan. He's never seen someone react so enthusiastically to a present he gave them before and every time he sees her wearing it he feels a surge of pride at the fact that he created something she loves so much.
The second person is Eddie, who complains everyone's ears off about how thin the hospital blankets are and how cold his room is while he's recovering from the demobat attack. Steve crochets a blanket for him. It's basic, black with thin red stripes, and the entire time Steve is wondering why he's even spending so much time making it when Eddie will be discharged before he knows it. He hands it to him one day when he's visiting with Dustin and Robin.
"Oh nice, you bought me a blanket," Eddie says, immediately opening it and spreading it out over his lap.
"Actually I made it," Steve corrects. "I'm still a beginner so it's not the best but it should be pretty warm for-"
Eddie's gaze snaps up from trailing over the intricate little knots of wool.
"You made this?" Eddie asks, his eyes wide.
Steve nods.
"You made this?" he repeats, holding up the corner of the blanket and pointing at it as if it wasn't obvious what he was talking about.
"That's what I just said, yeah," Steve responds.
"Sir Steven Harrington," Eddie grins. "You continue to surprise me. Who knew jocks could knit?"
Steve rolls his eyes and lets out an exasperated huff.
"It's crochet not knitting. And if you don't like it I can-" he reaches to take it back, but Eddie snatches it away in a tight grip, pulling the edge of it to his chest like he's protecting something sacred.
"No way, Big boy." He refuses. "You've bestowed this precious gift upon me and I have accepted it. No takebacks. I will take care of it and protect it with my dying breath." His expression changes to something unsure. "Wait, is it okay for me to keep this or did you want it back when I leave?"
"Please don't talk about your dying breath when you're sitting in a hospital bed after almost bleeding out," Steve chastises, crossing his arms, unimpressed. "And yes you can keep it. I made it for you."
Before he can say anything else, Eddie drags him down into a crushing hug, not giving a shit about the tube attached to his wrist or his fairly recently stitched sides. Dustin later describes the noise Steve made as sounding like a cat having its tail stepped on. Robin points out in a teasing way that it took Steve a suspiciously long time to disengage from that hug, just making a perfectly casual observation.
The next one to get a handmade gift is Dustin. He wouldn't let go of the fact that Steve had made something for both Robin and Eddie before him even though he was supposed to be Steve's best friend. That christmas Steve gifted him a handmade sweater with a lightsaber design on the front, which meant he had to make things for the rest of the teens not long after because of course Dustin went around wearing it and bragging at every possible opportunity.
Soon all the people Steve cared about the most had something made by him.
Then one day Eddie asks him to teach him how to crochet so he can make something for Wayne to show how much he appreciates him. Steve thinks it's a really sweet idea, so he agrees. Eddie found a photo of a sweater he wanted to try and make for him, but he's finding it really tricky even with Steve's help. So in the end, Steve makes the sweater and they both work on a much easier blanket pattern together.
Steve's spending a lot of time in Eddie's room, sitting very close to him and occasionally gently taking hold of his hands to guide him when he gets stuck. This is how he finds out that Eddie still sleeps under that blanket Steve made for him over a year ago. It's also how he ends up making out with him on top of said blanket.
Wayne is so touched when he gets his handmade gifts that Christmas that he cries. Eddie teases him about it until Steve, who's spending his first Christmas with the Munsons as Eddie's boyfriend, reminds Eddie that he practically ripped Steve's hand off at the hospital when he tried to take that first blanket back.
"Yeah, well, it was important to me. You made it." Eddie shrugs. Then he picks up a large, slightly lumpy present and shoves it into his hands. "And you still haven't opened your gift. Less talking, more opening."
After that Steve is the one trying not to cry, because the second he pulls back the wrapping paper, a blanket pours out onto his lap, navy with white stripes. It was clearly made by Eddie because it smells like him, and some of the stitches show mistakes that he made when they were working on Wayne's gifts together.
He gently takes the material into his hands and runs his thumbs over each bump in awe. No one's ever put this much effort into a gift for him before. "I love it," he says, his voice slightly shaky.
"Are you sure?" Eddie replies, self-conscious. "I made a few mistakes, and I ran out of wool at one point, but the store didn't have any left in the same shade of blue so there's a small part at the bottom that looks slightly different. I can get you something else if you want. I know it's not as good as yours."
Steve leans over and shuts him up with a kiss on the lips, something he's learned is extremely effective over the course of their relationship.
Dramatically following up on @nancywheelesbian and @precioussteveharrington’s additions to this post, because in the end I couldn’t just leave it alone. Insert “Steve really crammed for that pop-quiz” joke here.
(Also on ao3.)
Eddie spots Steve Harrington crying in his truck on a fucking Tuesday and can’t shake the certainty that it’s his fault. The knowledge stabs at something squishy and weak on the inside regardless of how desperate he is to protect himself, how many times he’s told himself he has to let go and stay away because it’ll hurt less in the long run—hurt less than Steve inevitably getting bored, realizing he isn’t worth the effort, and moving on. So, after some loitering, he slouches over and taps on the driver’s side window.
Steve startles so hard he bangs his head on the ceiling. His face is red and blotchy but he’s caught, and rolls the window down while still wrestling his breath under control, clearly trying to play it cool and it’s honestly just not his fault that he’s failing, no one could shine this turd of a situation. “H-hey Eddie,” he manages, and then it’s either sniffle or let snot run down his lip. “S’up.”
“Are you okay, man?” Eddie asks heavily. He can’t help it, he’s tired; he’s had his own shitty time since pulling away, miserable that he’d attained his unattainable crush only to realize that he can’t possibly maintain, could never live up to or keep up with. It’s shitty, getting exactly what you want and then realizing that continuing to have it just isn’t realistic. And now he has to watch Steve sniffle again and put on a painfully forced facade of I’m Fine What Are You Talking About, brick by shitty brick in real time.
“Why, uh. Why wouldn’t I be?” Steve puts on a smile that looks like it physically hurts. “I’m. Cool. Right? Totally casual. Super chill. Did I say casual? And, like, obviously you know this, but you don’t have to call. Because. We’re casual, right? It’s all good! Just. Whenever. If you want to reach out. Or not! Could be never. I’m cool with it. Staying the other night was just, just a glitch. I was just super tired. Not a big deal. I get like that after practicing a lot and then finally, you know, doing the thing. Like a big game! Not, not that you’re a game. More like, studying for a big test. Except, uh, not big! I-I mean, you’re not small, but, um. Casual. Like a pop quiz? We’re totally casual. If you don’t want me—I mean, don’t want to again that’s… totally fine, no harm no foul. Test drives to take this guy for a spin and decide if you wanna keep him are totally allowed, that’s what dating is for, people do it all the time, it’s fine. We can go back to being friends, it’s fine!”
Eddie had never seen a more pathetic coverup for hurt—nay, utterly devastated—feelings in his life, which is… confusing. Why does Steve get to be the one who's hurt, here? But the bricks in the facade have gaps Eddie could fit his entire body through, and he’s almost too weary himself to actually do it, except—
“You practiced for me?”
If possible, Steve goes even redder. “No! Well—yeah, but. Just because it was my first time. With you. Or a guy. Any guy. And I wanted to be… not bad at it? But I guess I got carried away and forgot that not everyone wants—I mean, I’m sorry for being a lot. After. If you ever wanted to go for a second round I swear I don’t have to stay after, I can get out of your hair, it’s not a big deal. But no pressure! Like I said, I’m cool with just going back to being friends.”
It’s so obviously a big deal that Eddie wants to throw up a little, and at the same time he’s baffled by what Steve seems to be saying. Eddie knows he’s not enough—so why does Steve seem to think that he is too much?
“How,” he asks instead, “was that possibly your first time? Steve, you—” And, okay, they’re in a public parking lot in fucking Hawkins, he can’t just say ‘you took my dick in your throat and ass like you do that sort of thing every day’ out loud in a normal voice without getting them both run out of town. They’re already pushing it, and just lucky that no one is particularly in earshot. “… How the hell do you practice all that by yourself?”
It’s not jealousy. Eddie’s totally not imagining Steve practicing the same way he gained his own rudimentary skills, driving out to Indy over long weekends and trying his luck at whatever gay bar he could fake ID his way into. He’s not hurt by listing in his head all the stuff they could’ve figured out together instead of… whatever the hell Steve actually did. That would be stupid. And he has his high school diploma now, finally, which means he is officially Not Stupid. Or something.
Steve’s eyes are darting around the parking lot now, like he’s finally realized they’re in public and could potentially be overheard. Which—okay, it’s good he’s not just going to announce to Eddie, god, and the entire town how he self-trained to take cock like a pro, but Eddie kinda needs to know this now, so, like. Fuck. Fuck.
“Fine, not here,” Eddie concedes, and his irritation is audible enough to make Steve cringe. “Your place?”
“Uh, yeah. Do you… You could follow me there, or…?”
Eddie sighs and flaps his hands around at the empty parking lot. “I’m on foot today, so yeah, I could use a ride.”
“I can give you one,” Steve blurts out immediately, perhaps realizing he hadn’t actually offered yet. Or maybe that’s what he’d been dancing around with all that trailing off.
The thing is—the thing that pains Eddie so much as he circles the truck and climbs in the passenger side, is—their date before tumbling into bed together had been fantastic. All the ease and comfort and familiarity of being friends first, laced through with the excitement of new beginnings and the thrill of mutual attraction finally acted upon. Now it’s all awkward and pained and ruined, and Eddie isn’t sure if he’s mad at himself or at Steve for that, or just ticked off in general that something so good had crumpled in on itself so quickly.
The short drive to Loch Nora happens in complete silence, no radio and the windows all rolled back up tight for privacy except they’re not talking, are they? Steve is even trying to sniffle as quietly as possible, as though Eddie hasn’t noticed he’s all snotted up, which is just—Fuck.
Steve, for his part, is trying so hard not to lean towards Eddie like a sunflower following the sun and wilting in the painfully awkward silence. He’d put the radio in except he doesn’t think Eddie would like any of the stations he usually listens to, and he’d play a tape except the one in the player is the mix tape Eddie had given him a few days before their date that he’s been listening to on repeat the fast few days, and… that’s it for options, so. Silence it is. But at least that gives affords him the bucket-of-ice-water clarity necessary to pull his shit together. Knit the cracks back together and tuck his raw, heartbroken feelings back down deep inside, letting the tear tracks dry and his face congeal back into a smooth mask that he hasn’t tried to use since his King Steve days.
Once parked he practically throws himself out of the truck towards the house—still living with his parents, because the plan had been to save up for a trailer in Forest Hills but he can’t move into Eddie’s neck of the woods neighborhood now so… new plan pending—and leads the way through the sterile entryway and up the stairs. Yes, it still hurts that Eddie doesn’t want him, but it is what it is. The important thing now is that Eddie, for some reason, wants to know how Steve prepared himself for losing his gay virginity. He doesn’t have to understand the motivation behind it to give the guy an answer, and maybe doing this will prove that they can still at least be friends. That he doesn’t have to lose Eddie entirely and disrupt the greater Party just because things didn’t work out.
“Remember the unit in gym class on weight training?” Steve asks evenly as he leads Eddie into his bedroom. “You start with the smallest ones and work your way up. Robin helped me find the, uh, reading material so I could figure out what to expect, but I did this part… separately. Figured she didn’t need all the details.”
“What,” Eddie starts, baffled, but then Steve has the storage bin out from under his bed frame and dumps it out over the plaid duvet in a thumping rain of butt plugs, dildos, and lube bottles in various states along the full-to-empty spectrum. There’s also a legal-sized notepad that he fishes out of the pile and thrusts in the other man’s direction without looking.
It’s got all his notes: some hastily jotted down quotes or paraphrases from Robin’s zines about shit like fingering your own asshole, breathing techniques, how to find the prostate on yourself and others, what not to do while blowing a dude; other pages are filled with slightly crooked columns of numbers indicating date, duration, and size of certain toys he’d used while… working his way up. Eddie starts flipping through it—not that Steve looks, but he can hear the pages rustling.
“You seriously made yourself a training schedule for this?” Eddie asks after a moment, his tone unreadable.
Resolutely not looking up from the now cluttered bed, Steve nods.
“Going back weeks before we even made the date?”
Steve shrugs defensively. “I figured out what I wanted and I wanted to be prepared. I mean, you’ve known you’re gay for way longer than I’ve known I’m bi, I needed to… catch up, I guess.” His eyes are fixed on his biggest dildo in the pile, the size he had guessed Eddie to be—and he’d been pretty much spot on, something he’d taken a great deal of secret pride in that night.
It was kind of expensive, but he might throw it out. Hasn’t decided yet. Closes his eyes briefly against another wave of sadunlovabletoomuch to keep it from actually leaking out again.
He wishes suddenly that Eddie weren’t here right now. Why had he thought this would be a good idea? Proving they could still be friends or something, but—why?
“What are these squiggles?” Eddie asks, still sounding oddly blank.
Sighing, Steve looks over and squints at where he’s pointing to the rightmost column on the page. “That’s where I marked off that I cleaned them. W for washed, S for sanitized.”
Eddie taps the next column to the left. “The S’s all have an A here, and the other ones all have an… M? Is that an M?“ He blinks, his whole face twitching. “Jesus H. Christ, Steve, is that A for ass and M for mouth?”
Steve’s cheeks are starting to burn, but he refuses to be embarrassed for wanting to make sure he could make it good for Eddie. And for not wanting to be gross while practicing for it. “Sue me for being thorough, I guess,” he grumbles, crossing his arms and finally lifting his gaze to meet Eddie’s head on. “Is there anything else you wanted to know, or are we good here?”
Both corners of Eddie’s mouth are twitching, the dimples that Steve likes so much threatening to pop, which is just—That’s not fair. Eddie is clearly surpassing a smile, maybe even a laugh.
“Your W’s look like sideways S’s sometimes, you know.”
Something in Steve’s chest crumples and his crossed arms tighten. “Don’t.”
“Steve,” Eddie says, and his tone is suddenly readable again. Soft. Quiet and earnest and familiar, the way he’d sounded when Steve had still been full of hope that they could be a them. “Look, all of this is… surprisingly, endearingly nerdy, to be honest. And I’m about to admit to being kind of an idiot about something, so, please, just hear me out?”
“I… Okay?”
Eddie bites his bottom lip and rocks a bit on his heels. “So, the thing is… Sure, maybe I had a bit of a head start in the whole, uh, liking dicks in a sexy way… arena, but. All this?” He waves the notepad to indicate everything on the bed, and possibly all of Steve as well. “You managed to level up way past me. Incredibly efficiently, I might add. This is screaming ‘would be good at DnD actually’ to me, by the way, but that’s beside the point.”
Steve tilts his head, biting the inside of his cheek as he tries to follow through the babble to whatever conclusion Eddie is aiming for here.
“You psyched me out,” Eddie admits, glancing away. Shoulders straight, knees locked, honest but vulnerable. “I mean, I’ve done stuff, but you were pulling out moves I’ve never seen outside of pornos. You made it look totally effortless, but this…” He holds up the notepad again. “This is effort, man. This is the craziest thing anyone’s ever done for me—in a good way,” he adds quickly, seeing Steve’s face twitch again. “You’re already totally out of my league, and after the other night I figured I’d never measure up in a million years. So.” Deep, hiccuping breath, and Steve can’t help but ache and let his crossed arms start to loosen as Eddie stares at him imploringly with those big, expressive Bambi eyes. “This is me saying, officially and like a real adult who’s good at using my words and shit, that I’m really, really sorry for avoiding you afterwards. If you can forgive me for that… can we maybe have a do-over? Sometime? My treat?”
Steve feels shaky, his stomach dipping at this second sudden pull of the rug when he’d thought he’d figured out the lay of the land. Part of him just doesn’t understand this hot-cold-hot of whether Eddie wants him or not. Shouldn’t… shouldn’t it be easier to tell if they fit together? Shouldn’t Eddie have just been able to tell, without all this hurt getting in the way? Hurt for both of them, because he’s not blind to the bruise-like dark crescents under Eddie’s eyes or the way he’s worrying his bottom lip waiting for an answer.
“Are you sure?” Steve checks, and he hates how small his voice comes out but apparently that’s what’s happening. “I thought—Staying the night wasn’t too much?”
“I… had a lot on my mind,” Eddie replies carefully, wincing when Steve does as if in apology for saying it at all. “It wasn’t about you being too much, Stevie, I swear. I was too… I got caught up in thinking I couldn’t possibly be enough before we even fell asleep, I didn’t—You staying didn’t, I mean it seemed like… maybe you were just tired or something, I don’t know. It didn’t really… register? I was still stuck on, y’know, how bad I choked when you tried to come in my mouth.” Eddie’s face is red, and he dips his head forward to hide behind his hair. “I mean, you told me it was okay and you were so sweet about it, and then you went down on me and I was like, in your throat like—seriously, that’s porn star level shit! And I couldn’t even last two seconds, and… just…”
Steve feels himself blushing in sympathy. He had done all of that. And he’s been on the other end of stuff like that—not for a long time, but when he’d first lost his virginity to an upperclassman girl who’d been kinda nice but kinda disappointed when he’d turned out to be a two-pump chump. At least Steve had been nicer than that, genuinely taking it as a compliment that Eddie had been too turned on to hold back because he’d thought—well.
He’d expected that since Eddie had more experience with guys… But maybe that’s a different category from having experience with sex in general. Because Steve has been with lots of girls—apparently he’d misjudged how that might, uh. Translate, in bed.
Not that they’d quite gotten to the actual bed before scrambling to get each other’s cocks in their mouths, but. Still.
“Um,” Steve says, suddenly aware that he’s been thinking too long and needs to say something. “I, uh, I. I never thought you weren’t—I mean, it was all great in my book, better than with girls because it… it’s you, and I really. Um.” Why is it so hard to say? (He knows why. The past few days, and Nancy calling him bullshit in a way that still rings in his ears, even years later, sometimes.) His voice drops to a whisper as he forces out, “I really like you, Eddie.”
Immediately, Eddie reaches out, and Steve finishes uncurling in answer to take the offered hand in his. He means to give a reassuring squeeze, but Eddie beats him to it.
“I really like you too, sweetheart,” Eddie says, matching his hushed tone. Drawing closer but hesitating at the last second, as though he’s not sure he’s allowed after being the one to instigate distance between them in the first place.
Steve’s mask—what was left of it by this point, anyway—breaks and he all but lunges forward, curling his arms around Eddie and holding tight. Tucking his face against Eddie’s neck, burrowing just under the leather collar of his jacket-and-vest combo and breathing him in. Melting into it as Eddie hugs him back just as hard, just as relieved.
“I’d say we should sit down,” Eddie mumbles—Steve loves how he can feel the rumble of it, with their chests tight together and his closed lips pressed aside the other man’s throat—“but there’s kind of a lot of stuff that’s been up your ass in the way.”
“It’s all clean,” Steve huffs into his skin, almost laughing.
“Still,” Eddie chuckles back, swaying him from side to side, “it’d be lumpy, you… sex toy shopping spree maniac.”
Steve pulls back slightly, straightening enough to nudge their noses together. Enough to confirm visually why the words sounded a little wet; that it’s happy tears. Jesus H. Christ, he thinks giddily, he’s made Eddie Munson cry happy tears. “I can put them away. Don’t need ‘em anymore.”
This time, Eddie does kiss him. And adds breathlessly, “Don’t you dare put them away for good, I wanna see you in action sometime baby,” before kissing him again, a lot more, clinging the way Steve is afraid to at first but soon enough matches.
Tagging everyone who seems like they wanted a fix-it, apologies if I missed anyone: @matchingbatbites @lost-andstill-lost @mollymawkwrites @tinytalkingtina @itsalmoststrange
Modern Steddie where Eddie is the cool librarian who has a lot of fun helping kids out and rambling with them about books.
He really loves his job. Being able to introduce kids to the wonders of reading, helping them out to find books they enjoy; it's nothing wild, but Eddie likes to think that he's doing something good with his life by making reading fun for these kids.
Also, it's very sweet how the kids seem to love his company and how they're always seeking him out as soon as they step into the library.
This would be the perfect job, really, if not for the one guy who's always hanging out in the library but has never sat down to read a single book.
Steve.
He's always there but he never reads. Instead, he's always playing games on his phone or working on his computer and making so much noise Eddie constsntly finds himself gritting his teeth in annoyance.
Eddie's lost count of how many time he had to hiss at the guy and ask for him to be quiet, honestly. And although Steve does shut up whenever this happens, he never seems very apologetic about it.
He's an asshole, Eddie has decided.
"Oh, sure," Chrissy snorts one day, when Eddie starts complaining about having to ask Steve to be quiet three times before the man finally did it. "He's an asshole. That's why you can't stop ogling him whenever he's here."
"I don't ogle him!"
"Of course you don't."
Eddie doesn't... he just keeps a close eye in case Steve pulls some shit, but he does not ogle.
And what about Eddie getting caught talking shit about Steve by one of the kids, before he finds out about everything, and them getting super protective. I'm thinking maybe Mike???
And that's how Eddie finds out about Steve's disability, when Mike gets all defensive and offended on Steve's behalf and storms out of the library, taking Steve with him... but, of course, first Mike gives Eddie a piece of his mind.
THE DRAMA!!! ESPECIALLY WITH EDDIE GETTING ALL GUILTY. AAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!
@allsteddie (im not overly fond of mike. I would probably pick max or lucas. But i shall allow it because it's your post. Hahahahahah!)
Whichever kid it is, both eddie and steve are BEWILDERED. eddie because oh SHIT he didn't knoooowww! And steve because he was literally IN THE MIDDLE OF SOMETHING MICHAEL!!! so then Mike has to be like "he was shit talking you man!!!!"
And steve is literally like, he moves through things so quickly, his brain is literally like "he was WHAT? RUDE! wait he didn't KNOW that's not his fault i can be loud sometimes without knowing and it IS a library. WAIT A MINUTE THE CUTE LIBRARY MAN WITH THE MESSY BUN AND THE CUTE VESTS AND TATTOOS HAS BEEN ///LOOKING/// AT MEEEEE???" that's what his brain does.
His mouth literally says "the hot librarian has been looking at me AND YOU PULLED ME AWAY FROM HIM!?!?" and mike is like....
"that's all you got from that. Okay." And just gives up. He sends Dustin with Steve next time, he doesnt have time for this gay nonsense. (Max and Lucas come too cuz they've got money on it. 🤭🤭)
Eddie is DISTRAUGHT until the next time steve comes in. He sees him at his normal table and b-lines toward him. Gives his table a little tap and waits til Steve is looking at him, and making sure to very clearly apologize.
And Steve fucks with him for about three seconds before he melts because Eddie's eyes are so fucking wide and earnest and he tells him it's okay. That he appreciates the sincere apology.
And Eddie had even signed "im sorry" cuz he is KNOWLEDGE man, he loves learning things, languages included. So he learned a few things in the maybe ... few days it took for Steve to come back. And Steve is flattered and already so so smitten.
And maybe eddie learned to sign "would you like to go to dinner with me?" Because hey, shoot uour shot right? Just incase the apology went well. And it DOES, and steve is blushing so hard. The only person who's ever learned any sign for him was robin, and maybe dustin. But this cutie is doing his best and signed it perfectly and gosh those EYES. Steve obviously says yes! And gets to pick the date!
Steddie where they meet somewhere around their mid/late 20s and Eddie is convinced he's started dating a single father.
Steve is always talking about the kids. About driving them to school and taking them to doctor appointments or trips. It's sweet, actually, how devoted he obviously is to his kids.
There's Dustin, who Steve is always driving everywhere and bragging about how smart he is. And there's also Max and Erica, his girls who have Steve around their fingers.
And, well, maybe Steve is young to have three kids already, but who's Eddie to judge?
But then Steve is mentioning a Lucas too when he talks about his kids, and a Jane, and okay now Eddie is kinda freaking out. He's been trying to give Steve space and time, to let Steve set the pace and decide when he wants to have the 'do you wanna meet my kids?' conversation, but Eddie can't help but blurt out, "Babe, how many kids do you have?"
Steve looks at him funny, as if Eddie is not making any sense. "What do you mean?"
"You've already mentioned at least five different kids. Is there any more?"
"Oh, they are seven in total."
Seven. Seven fucking kids. How the hell is that even possible? Steve is twenty-six!
"Jesus, how old were you when the first of them was born?"
Understanding glints in Steve's eyes and he laughs so hard that Eddie is a little offended. Who wouldn't be a little frantic after finding out their new boyfriend had seven kids?
"Do you wanna meet them?" Steve asks suddenly, unable to hold back a grin.
An hour later, Eddie finds himself meeting not a bunch of kids but a bunch of grown adults, well in their 20s too, who are very nice and cool but also extremely protective of Steve.
Headcannon that Steve does not fuck with DnD but WILL play other TTRPGS and enjoy them.
He's been doing this a while, playing with Robin (gets them at indie book stores) and Erica (makes them herself). He loves them, especially the goofy ones like Erica's My Little Pony epic/horror campaign.
DnD is just too many rules, too many things to remember, too many limitations, and everyone he knows who plays it are sticklers for every little pedantic correction. That's not fun, so he won't play it.
He's really annoying about it, too. Any time someone asks him to play DnD (no one knows but the two he plays with), he always responds with something like "not my thing," or "DnD is lame," with no elaboration. He does not mention that he will play other similar games, because to him, it's not relevant.
Eddie is particularly persistent, always insisting that Steve will love it. He cajoles and makes promises and tells Steve he'll be great at it. Steve always responds with an "I know I would be" which just makes Eddie want him to play more.
When Eddie eventually walks in on the gang playing an epic, psychological horror GMed by a surprisingly in control Robin, he freaks the fuck out.
More of this where eddie meets his stepchildren properly
“Hey,” Steve bounded up to him after class, waiting until the hallway was almost empty. Eddie wondered if the attention would ever stop shocking him. “Missed you.”
“We just had an hour long English class together.”
“Tell me about it, you barely even looked at me,” Steve fake-pouted, before his face broke into a smile and he hooked a finger through the chain on Eddie’s jeans to yank him into an empty hall closet.
“Hi,” Steve let his heart eyes come out in full force once the door was shut, dragging Eddie into a kiss. Eddie caught him around the waist—how was this his life now, Steve Harrington pulling him into hall closets to make out like teenagers between classes.
“Insatiable,” he giggled, bumping his nose against Steve’s.
“I prefer lovingly obsessed with you.”
And what was Eddie going to do but kiss him again. He could feel Steve smile against his mouth.
“Can I come over tonight?,” Steve asked, suddenly looking nervous, “I promised the kids I’d go to their science fair tonight, but later? I want to see you.”
He still couldn’t get his brain around Steve being best friends with a group of children, let alone giving up his Tuesday night to go to a middle school science fair. Damn, this man was adorable.
Steve had come to his show, gone out of his comfort zone for Eddie after one hookup. Would it be going way too fast if Eddie—
“Mind if I join you?”
Okay, his mouth once again worked faster than his brain. Awesome.
But Steve’s face broke out into an absolutely radiant smile. “Really? You’d do that?”
“Hey, you mothering a flock of children is something I’ve gotta see. And I’ve gotta meet them at some point, right?”
Meet them in a way that didn’t involve them threatening his life and limb, anyway.
Steve’s whole face was so sunny, it was as if Eddie had offered him a million dollars and not to go to a middle school event with him. More and more, it seemed like everything he thought he knew about Steve Harrington was wrong.
That was how he found himself in the Hawkins Middle School gym, Steve glued to his side, as Dustin very excitedly showed him the poster board he’d done with the other boy from earlier—Lucas, Steve introduced him. It looked like some kind of quantum physics, which Steve nodded along with despite clearly not understanding, and Eddie followed suit. This kid was clearly smarter than all of them.
Steve looked at those kids so soft-eyed, though—he was so proud of them, and it made Eddie’s heart melt. “This is awesome, guys!”
“You didn’t understand a word I said, did you?” Dustin asked him, but he was smiling.
“That’s how I know it’s awesome!”
“Way better than those baking soda volcanoes,” Eddie volunteered, and the kids smiled again. Good, he wasn’t blowing this.
“And they win every year!” Dustin agreed, face setting into a pout. Lucas and Steve both lowered their eyes in fond embarrassment—this was clearly a discussion that they’d had before.
Eddie had known this kid for all of five minutes, but if no one gave him a trophy for his project he was gonna blow this whole place up. “Hey, based on this, you’ll be the one the government calls to build laser weapons in ten years, so. Possibly an improvement.”
Just when he was thinking “don’t toss in an obscure nerdy reference when you’re meeting someone for the first time, you idiot!”, Dustin’s face was breaking out in a grin.
“You saw that movie too? Steve took us, but I don’t think he got half of it. Too ‘nerdy’ for him,” but it came across as ribbing, not cruelty.
Then the conversation devolved into Dustin grilling him about every sci-fi and fantasy movie he’d ever seen, getting extra excited when Eddie mentioned playing D&D. These were probably the easiest two kids in the world to get along with.
The next two—Mike and Will, he gleaned from the name on their poster—made him a little more nervous. Not in the least when he realized that Mike Wheeler and Will Byers were the younger siblings of Steve’s ex girlfriend and the guy she cheated on him with. How on earth did that dynamic work?
Mike seemed to like Eddie even more then Steve—whatever their relationship was, there was some animosity there, and Will was nothing but perfectly polite to everyone, even as he looked nervous.
Poor kid—he’d gotten at least two “zombie boy”s hurled at him by his classmates in just the five minutes Steve and Eddie had been standing there. (He did crack a smile when Eddie leaned in and told him the nickname was “metal as fuck”).
The last of the kids were two girls—the one who’d threatened him on the skateboard, and one who looked incredibly proud of their experiment about playing music to plants.
Max, the scary one identified herself, looked ready to fight anyone who had something to say about her friend’s science project. Eddie got it—El was the cutest little nugget he’d ever seen.
She was so happy to extend a little hand and introduce herself as “El Hopper”, that even the coldest hearted bastard in Hawkins, which Eddie liked to consider himself, would’ve cracked a smile.
“The chief’s daughter?” He asked, because Steve’s legion of children was getting stranger and stranger. His ex’s brother, a random science nerd, and the chief of police’s kid?
“Yes!” She nodded, way more excited that most middle schoolers would be when talking about their parents.
Once Max seemed satisfied that Eddie wasn’t going to be a jerk, she relaxed too, turning to poke at Steve. “Already meeting the kids, huh?”
They bickered for a bit, while Eddie let El explain in detail every part of her plant experiment.
The popular kid’s baking soda volcano won again, and Eddie shot Dustin and Lucas sympathetic looks as they accepted their second place medal.
Eventually, the crowd thinned enough that Steve could lean against his side without worrying too much. He felt himself go ramrod straight at the contact.
Jonathan showed up to pick up Will, Mike, and El (once again, Eddie was deeply curious how these kids all knew each other), and Lucas and Dustin’s parents were already there. Dustin waved to them both, toothy grin on display, and Steve waved back with so much vigor it made Eddie’s heart hurt with affection.
“Ready to get going,” Steve pulled on his hand, voice full of implication. Eddie almost broke an ankle with how fast he started moving towards the door.
As they were leaving, they saw Max getting on her skateboard. She waved goodbye to them, and Eddie looked at the completely dark sky and the January chill you could almost see in the air and narrowed his eyes.
“Is that how you’re getting home?”
“I’m fine.”
“Don’t be silly, it’s freezing. I drove us here, I can give you a lift. That okay?” he directed the last part at Steve, realizing he should’ve checked in before delaying their date to chauffeur a kid who seemed very capable of fending for herself. But Steve looked even more lovestruck than usual at the suggestion.
“Yeah, of course! Come on, kiddo, you aren’t skating home in this weather.”
She looked like she might protest, but followed them to the car anyway and hopped in. “So I can’t skate home, but I can get in a drug dealer’s van?”
“Did you background check me?” Eddie asked, more impressed than anything else.
“Amazing what you can learn when you’re determined and have binoculars.”
“We don’t *need* to treat my boyfriend like FBI’s most wanted, you know—“
The conversation went on like that until they reached Max’s house, where who he assumed was her dad was standing on the porch. For a second, Eddie worried he’d come over to the van and question who they were, but he just motioned her inside and shut the door.
He started driving to the trailer, and immediately, Steve reached over the intertwine their fingers. “You’re so good with them?" he sighed dreamily, rubbing his face against Eddie’s shoulder.
“Me? Those kids adore you, Steve, I’ve never seen anything like it. Never would’ve expected this side of you.”
“I’m full of surprises,” Steve teased, “now, why don’t we get home?”
I forget everyone who was into this but uhhhhh @jinkies-brooms-scoob @novacorpsrecruit @precioussteveharrington @scoops-aboy86
After getting dragged by Dustin to see Project Hail Mary, Steve comes back home a teary, emotional mess. Eddie keeps asking what this is about, did something happen with his parents or Dustin, was it really just the movie? "Come on, Stevie, talk to me about what's happening in that incredibly hairy head?"
Steve gets all teary-eyed again, hugs Eddie tightly. He whispers something, Eddie thinks it's something serious, but then he hears it.
"Would you still love me if I was a blind five-legged rock spider and you had to wait for me for decades before I came home?"
The answer is yes, of course, but what the hell was that. The next day, Eddie sneaks out to watch the movie, even though sci-fi isn't always his thing, but he needs to understand, damn it!
Steve is washing the dishes when Eddie arrives home, more quiet than usual. Before Steve can turn around, Eddie hugs him from behind like an octopus, squeezing his waist and sniffling into Steve's shoulder.
And Steve gets worried for a second, sure, but then he hears Eddie whisper "yeah, Stevie, I'd be your Adrian."
based on this ficlet by @novacorpsrecruit which is in turn based on a post. inspo-caption lol
So, Steve came to the show. Early, earplugs in, and, just to shock Eddie’s system, in an outfit that was the opposite of his usual preppy polos.
He took the “metal show” description to heart, and must have really wanted to fit in—cut off jeans, an oversized band t-shirt, and, fuck, eyeliner. If he wanted to make himself even hotter, mission accomplished.
Gareth’s eyes narrowed when he caught sight of Steve, not trusting it, but Jeff leaned over Eddie’s shoulder and giggled. “Awww, guys! Eddie’s boyfriend wants to impress him!"
“He isn’t my boyfriend,” Eddie grumbled, even though he was becoming less and less sure. He didn’t know what he’d done during that hookup which had made Steve so eager to stick around, but every theory swirling around his head about some long con was starting to make less and less sense with each passing day. Surely the golden boy of Hawkins wouldn’t slum it at a dive bar all for the sake of a joke.
Eddie barely remembered the show. His eyes were fixed on Steve the whole time, who seemed to actually be enjoying himself. It was a relief when the set ended, until he realized he’d need to think of something to say to Steve.
He opted for keeping his cheesy, performer smile on as he strode over, ignoring the way his heart flipped when Steve saw him and beamed back.
“Hey!” Steve was running up to him, throwing arms around his neck excitedly, “that was awesome! You’re….you’re amazing.”
That glow in Steve’s eyes….Eddie had never been looked at that way before. He couldn’t help but blush. “Thanks for coming. You look *really* good.”
He hoped that wasn’t crossing a line, but it needed to be said.
Steve honest-to-goodness giggled “really? I wanted to fit in, so my friends helped me put this together, but I wasn’t sure if it looked stupid—“
“Wait, really? Tommy helped you with this?”
“Not exactly,” Steve stared at the floor, “uh, there’s these kids. That I babysit. And they’re way better at this kind of thing than me, actually, so I kinda recruited them. I think I’ll be buying them ice cream until I’m forty, honestly, but if you like it—“
Steve couldn’t seem to stop shocking him—the hottest guy in Hawkins, not only wanting to date the school freak, but good with children? Enough that he had a band of them who would get him ready for a date?
“Wanna get out of here?” he was asking before he had time to think about it, and Steve took his hand immediately, already moving to the exit.
"Thought you’d never ask.”
—
That Monday, Jeff was waiting for him by the doors of school.
“Ducked out pretty early after the show,” he said with a knowing smile, “still sure he’s not your boyfriend?”
“We went back to my place,” Eddie whispered under his breath, “we made out, he stayed the night and made breakfast in the morning. I don’t know anything anymore.”
“Do you even like him?” Jeff suddenly got serious, “because we’re having fun laughing at you and all, but you might really hurt him if you aren’t careful.”
Of course Eddie liked Steve—who wouldn’t? But having his image of the man go from untouchable straight jock who’s probably a bit of a dickhead, to the guy who sits at his lunch table and gives him heart eyes at his shows was a bit of an adjustment, okay?
Before Eddie could voice any of that, he felt a tap on his arm.
He turned around, and saw some kids coming from the direction of the middle school. A curly haired boy, a girl on a skateboard who could probably kill him with the look she gave him, and another boy whose hand she was holding, and who looked like he’d rather be anywhere else.
“Eddie?” the curly haired kid asked, and Eddie raised his hand as if he were in trouble. Maybe he was, these kids looked like they didn’t fuck around.
“That’s me.”
“I’m Dustin. Steve’s friend?”
Eddie wasn’t as shocked as he should have been, but this wasn’t what he’d expected when he heard about the kids Steve watched. The kid was cute, but he was clearly more comfortable in Eddie’s social sphere than Steve’s. Not only did Steve have a small army of children, but he’d taken people no one would ever expect him to notice under his wing.
Lost sheepies, Eddie’s mind supplied.
No matter how cute, though, they were still kids, and Eddie wasn’t going to give anything away. “What’s up?”
“Steve told us about his date at a metal bar, and he was cagey with details. We did some investigating and worked backwards.”
Shit, shit. A chill went down Eddie’s spine—were these kids here to threaten him with blackmail, to leave their friend alone.
“You don’t have to admit anything!” the other boy spoke up, clearly sensing the tension. “We don’t want to tell anyone, or get you guys in trouble! It’s just that Steve was so nervous the other night, and he really is a good guy. He doesn’t have anyone else to do this, so we thought—"
“This is a threat,” Eddie laughed, catching on. It was actually adorable, that they cared about Steve so much they’d track down his date and make sure he was a good guy.
“This is us sizing you up,” the girl corrected, “if we wanted to scare you, we’d have brought Mike. Don’t make me do that.”
Damn, this kid was a firecracker. Eddie was impressed and scared of her in equal measure.
With that, she turned on her skateboard and waited for the boys to follow her.
When Eddie recovered his senses, he turned around to see Jeff laughing. “What was that?”
Dustin, who wins the chance to have lunch with his favourite band and watch them practice for the upcoming tour, but he is a minor so it's a big no no for him to go alone. It would be very lame to take his mother with him so he goes with the best option: Steve.
Suddenly the day is less nerding out with his favourite band and more watching Eddie Munson try to get into Steve's pants
