First of all: Go you! You're writing! That's amazing! Keep! It! Up!
Secondly: I don't give a shit about research. I hardly do any myself, except when it comes to important things. And when it comes to writing in the past, it often becomes important because we don't always realize how old/young certain things are.
Which brings me to point 3:
DVDs are not as old as you think they are.
Steve and Robin at Family Video? They don't rent out DVDs. They rent out video tapes. VHS. The first movies on DVD came out in 1997.
That's a whole ass 11 years after 1986.
In 2003, DVDs rentals surpassed VHS rentals for the first time.
I literally saw a tag say the timeline was ambiguous because they 'use Instagram but also own DVDs'. Sure, it's ambiguous in the sense that it could be anywhere between 2010 and today, but they clearly meant a much larger time frame than that, because according to what is apparently the popular belief, DVDs are no longer a Thing.
I can promise you that they are very much still a thing.
Netflix started streaming in 2007 (which is the same year VHS went out of production, coincidentally); that gives 3 years before Instagram in which apparently according to some DVDs were replaced. Netflix still sends out DVDs to this day in some places. DVDs are very much alive, and it's incredibly jarring to either see DVDs in fics over a decade too early, or to see them dismissed as no longer a thing (though the former is the absolute worst).
Imagine seeing a character use TikTok in a fic that's clearly not set in modern times, how jarring that would be.
Thank you for coming to my TED talk.
TLDR: DVDs were not a thing in the 80s, and not popular until early 2000s.
Derek Hale/Stiles Stilinski (Teen Wolf) vs Steve Harrington/Eddie Munson (Stranger Things)
Derek/Stiles
Steve/Eddie
Voting ended onOct 5, 2023
This poll is a celebration of fandom history; we're aware that there are certain issues with many of the listed pairings and sources, but they are a part of that history. Please do not take this as an endorsement, and refrain from harassment.
Derek Hale/Stiles Stilinski (Teen Wolf) vs Steve Harrington/Eddie Munson (Stranger Things)
Derek/Stiles
Steve/Eddie
Voting ended onOct 5, 2023
This poll is a celebration of fandom history; we're aware that there are certain issues with many of the listed pairings and sources, but they are a part of that history. Please do not take this as an endorsement, and refrain from harassment.
Steve Harrington/Eddie Munson (Stranger Things) vs Ranboo & Toby Smith | Tubbo (Dream SMP/Video Blogging RPF)
Steve/Eddie
Ranboo & Tubbo
Voting ended onSep 24, 2023
This poll is a celebration of fandom history; we're aware that there are certain issues with many of the listed pairings and sources, but they are a part of that history. Please do not take this as an endorsement, and refrain from harassment.
Headcannon that Steve is actually smarter than he let's on because he's so used to pretending to be stupid in front of his dad. Even though he never said, his dad always hated it when a kid was smarter than him. When he got mad at him for not getting into college, Steve figured that it wasn't him that was the problem but his dad. No matter what Steve did, he wasn't good enough for his father. Steve figured out D&D pretty quickly, not that he would tell Dustin that. It was always hilarious when Dustin got mad when Steve called it anything other than Dungeons and Dragons. He was so used to hiding the fact that he understood more than he let on. He even hid it from the party, even though they had been through so much together and they were more like a family than his own family had been.
It was Eddie who had caught on to the fact. He was always watching the former king of Hawkins High, curious to know about the mysteries he hid deep within. The kids always scoffed when he called him that: a mystery. They saw what they wanted to see on the surface: a man with no hidden depths. He was exactly who he said he was. Eddie knew differently. He watched him out of the corner of his eye and watched him smirk at every joke Steve Harrington shouldn't have understood. Eddie knew exactly what he was hiding. He decided to test his theory.
Steve hadn't been expecting it. They were holding Hellfire at his house since the school wouldn't allow them to host it on the property anymore. Steve didn't play, but Eddie allowed him to sit in to watch. While Steve was watching the game, he didn't know that Eddie was casually watching him. When the game wrapped up and Eddie called out to him while he was cleaning up, Eddie asked him a question that Steve shouldn't know.
Steve froze when he answered and looked up to see Eddie looking at him gleefully. Eddie pressed him, and eventually Steve broke, telling him all about his father. He told him how his father hated that he read so much. He hated that his son was such a nerd. He told him how his books had been his only source of comfort growing up because he had been left alone so often. He told him how he had to let that go in favor of sports, but he did eventually love basketball, but he hated being an asshole like his father. When he stopped crying, a thing he was taught never to do, he realized that Eddie was holding him in his arms.
"What else are you hiding from us, big boy?" Eddie asked softly.
Steve leaned over and kissed him. He pulled back, afraid that he had messed things up, but Eddie was smiling. The other man moved forward and kissed him so sweetly that Steve’s legs nearly gave away. It was a good thing that Eddie was holding him up.
"You don't have to hide yourself away, Stevie, not ever. Not with us, okay? And I know I made a big deal about it before, and I apologized to Lucas for it. It's okay to be a nerd and a jock. It's okay to like both."
Steve and Nancy's relationship didn't work out because they had different wants and needs so when Steve starts dating Eddie he tries really hard not to have wants and needs of his own. Knowing that Eddie didn't reschedule Hellfire for Lucas doesn't help with this.
He goes to a few metal concerts even though he always gets migraines the next day from the volume, he lets Eddie talks about all kinds of nerd stuff even if it makes him feel stupid when he can't keep up.
It's not even like he's dragging Steve into things that are actively detrimental to him all that often. Just a couple activities things a week. But Steve also feels the need to hide some of his own interests, knowing that Eddie hates them.
Not that he doesn't love being around Eddie, but now that they're dating he's hardly not around, and it's hard to find time to keep up on the teams that Steve roots for. But it's... it's fine. He's happy with Eddie, so he can make the sacrifice to hide these parts of himself. It's fine.
Eddie doesn't realize this is going on because he's aware that he's pushing Steve out of his comfort zone, what he isn't aware of is how Steve far out of his comfort zone he really is, and how he doesn't want to bother Eddie with it, afraid they'll break up over it.
Then he slips up, just a little bit, when Eddie invites him to a concert on the same day he plans on watching a game. This isn't even the first time this has happened, but Eddie usually gives him more of a heads up for this kind of thing. He thought he was close enough to the date that he wouldn't have to worry about it getting disrupted, and it was a pretty big game, so his disappointment is higher than usual.
Eddie is talking about a metal band and is going on a small ramble explaining the context of where they sit in the metal scene.
"And they have a concert in Indy tomorrow," he grins, "and I really want to take you."
"Oh, I was gonna... Yeah, we can do that."
"You were gonna what?"
"It doesn't matter. It's stupid."
"Steve, it's not a big deal. It's not like I'm taking you to a Dio concert. These guys are actually pretty small and relatively local. I'm sure we could catch another one, it would just be kind of down the road."
"Eddie it's fine. We can go to your concert. Whatever you want."
Eddie gives him a look. "I don't want it to be 'my concert.' If you wouldn't enjoy it, I wouldn't want to just be dragging you with me. And I don't want it to be 'fine' I want it to be enjoyable!"
"I enjoy spending time with you."
"Ok, so what were you going to do tomorrow?"
"It doesn't matter."
"Obviously it does!"
They're fighting and this was exactly what Steve was worried about. If Steve could have just gotten over himself, cut the bullshit, they wouldn't be fighting right now.
"Eddie, it really doesn't. Can we just go to the concert and forget about this?"
"No. If you don't want to go, you don't have to."
"If I don't go, will you go without me?"
"Unless you don't want me to."
"I want to go with you, wherever."
"Ok, you know what, I just remembered I actually have to help Wayne with something on tomorrow."
"No you don't. Look, I wasn't gonna do anything. Can we please just go to this concert you want to go to?"
"Look, I have to go to school. I'm already over 2 hours late." With that, he's out the door.
↞⬡+¤+⬡↠
Steve's not sure what time the concert was even meant to be at, but if he could just get a hold of Eddie and convince him he wants to go, maybe they won't miss it. It's already fairly well into the afternoon and he hasn't heard from Eddie all day.
The first few times he calls, there's no answer, but when he finally gets an answer it's Wayne that picks up.
"You almost missed me," he says. "Make it quick, I gotta to get to work."
"Is Eddie there?"
"Nah, he should be in Indy by now. Did he not tell you? There's some concert down there."
"Yeah, I, uh... Thank you Mr. Munson."
So Eddie went by himself even though Steve told him he wanted to come, and he'd pretended that he didn't even want to go.
Steve watches his game that night, kind of miserable and guilty. He debated not watching it, almost as a point of honor, since he lied to Eddie and told him that he didn't really have anything planned today. They'd both lied about their plans last night and Steve is so ready for Eddie to come back and say that he had a much better time without Steve and it's time they go they're separate ways.
His team loses and he falls asleep on the couch soon after, the tv still playing in the background.
He wakes up in the morning to a knock at the door. Eddie stands on the other side.
"Hey, baby. Did I wake you up?"
"Um... yeah." He wants to bring up what happened yesterday, that Eddie went without him, but he's afraid it will just make things worse. He obviously wanted to go without him if he did so, and bringing it up might just start an argument about how Eddie doesn't need Steve's permission to do things (and he doesn't) reinforcing why he didn't want Steve to come in the first place. He wants to stay with Eddie forever and he's worried the relationship is starting to fall apart. "It's fine. I should be up by now anyway."
Eddie hums almost suspiciously. "Can I come in?"
"Of course." He moves out of the way.
"'Whatever I want,' huh?" he asks, as he walks through the doorway.
"What?"
"Nothing. We'll talk about it in a minute. A few things first. Come on." He drags Steve over to the couch. "So what did you do yesterday?"
"Tried getting a hold of you, mostly."
Eddie chuckles nervously. "Sorry. But did you do whatever it was you planned on doing before?" Steve tenses just a little bit. Is Eddie going to accuse him of choosing baseball over their relationship? He kind of almost did when he first opened his mouth after Eddie first suggest the concert. Is he going to call him out for that. "Relax baby, you don't even need to tell me what it was, as long as whatever it was you were doing wasn't a person."
"No, never!"
"I know, Stevie. I know you're history; I know you would never do that. So I'm not upset. So did you carry out your plans, whatever they were?"
"Yeah. It was disappointing."
"Well, I'm glad you did what you wanted anyway. And since you were busy and couldn't come to the concert, I went and brought you back a tape." He pulls a cassette tape out of his pocket. "You obviously weren't going to admit you didn't want to go, but I still wanted to share this with you, so here. This is yours."
Eddie's more attentive to when Steve seems hesitant to do something after that. Eventually Steve gets comfortable enough to bring up where his reservations stand regarding a lot of these things. Eddie switches up how he talks about his interests, trying to make it more coherent and gets Steve earplugs for concerts. He encourages Steve to talk about his own interests, even when Eddie doesn't fully get the appeal himself. He can go a little outside of his comfort zone too. For Steve, it's always worth it.
One day, seemingly out of the blue, Max starts calling Steve "Skippy".
No one knows why, no one knows where it comes from. And no matter how many times they all ask her to elaborate, she never does. She never tells them why.
They look to Steve for clarification, but even Steve is confused where it comes from.
Until one day she calls him "Skippy", then pointedly looks between him and Eddie, that mischievous quirk of her lips growing and one eyebrow arching slyly. It clicks then, for Steve, and he sinks back into the couch, blushing and grumbling under his breath about not having any privacy with these kids, jesus christ.
Because.
Max got the nickname from that one night a few weeks ago when she hadn't been able to sleep, so she'd wrapped herself in her blanket and slipped out of her front door to sit on the porch. She found that breathing in the shock of the cool night air helped ground her. Helped give her something else to focus on.
So that night she'd snuck outside, quietly so she didn't wake her mother. The Munson trailer was just a hop, skip, and jump away, and from her perch on her front steps she had the perfect view of it. And of the maroon Beemer parked right out front (as it so often was these days).
And of Eddie and Steve where they stood just outside the door. Where Steve's hands cradled Eddie's face, and Eddie's arms embraced his waist.
Where they were kissing.
It hadn't lasted long, just a short, sweet little thing. But when they two of them broke apart, they'd shared these shy looks, matching smiles curling their mouths. And, though it was too dark for Max to see, matches blushes painting their cheeks too.
They'd shared a bit more conversation that Max couldn't hear either, then one more fleeting kiss before Steve started to back away. He laughed as Eddie stepped forward, following him, and he'd put his hand between them, pressed it against Eddie's chest to stop him. Steve shook his head, and said something else that made Eddie pout, but reluctantly take his own step backwards.
Steve paused at the top of the stairs, watching Eddie retreat back to his front door. Eddie had blindly felt for the knob behind him, so he didn't have to look away from Steve, and when he found it and pushed the door open, he'd slowly slipped back inside. He paused in the archway, hanging onto the door, and had said something else (another goodbye, Max thought), and he'd waved one last time before the door finally closed.
Steve stayed put through it all, watching with stars and hearts alike in his eyes (not that Max could see those either, but if she knew Steve, and she did, they were definitely there). After the door shut, he lingered still, until he finally turned away.
He'd hopped down the stairs, and then, to Max's shock and absolute delight, god damn skipped the entire way to his car.
She'd had to stifle her laughter into her hand so as to not draw his attention.
Thus, "Skippy" was born.
But, after the initial surprise at finding out that Max had been (unintentionally) lurking in the shadows, Steve found that he didn't really mind the silly little nickname. In fact, he kind of loved it.
Because that night had been the night of Steve and Eddie's first kiss. That night had been the start.
There's something so absolutely juicy about Steve and Eddie secretly hooking up for years before s4. They weren't exactly secret about it either, but everyone just assumed they hated each other.
Oh, Steve and Eddie are both going to the bathroom together? Steve's probably gonna stick his head in a toilet.
Eddie was seen being dragged behind the gym by a very red and angry looking Steve? It's just another fight.
Steve was shoved into the back of Eddie's van in the parking lot? He probably owes Eddie money for weed.
They don't get caught. Ever.
Not until the events of season 4 happen and instead of hanging behind while the others check on Eddie in the boat house, Steve pushes passed everyone to get to him and wraps Eddie up in the most tender hug, his hands running through Eddie's hair as he pulls back to ask, "Are you OK?"
It would explain Steve’s absolutely terrible flirting at Scoops. He’s trying to keep up appearances, but doesn’t want to actually lead someone on as a cover. Also, it makes Eddie laugh whenever he’s at the mall, so Steve cranks up the dorkiness when he knows Eddie is watching
Somehow, Steve is behind on every pop culture reference of this century, even with all the children he babysits.
That's why when Eddie Munson walks into the coffee shop he works at, he has no idea who he is and why he’s whispering. He almost wants to yell at him to speak up, but the way the guy is pulling his hat down over his face, sunglasses planted firmly on his nose, Steve can’t help but to wonder if he’s okay. If maybe he’s trying to avoid someone.
So before he can order, Steve leans in asking softly, “Hey are you okay? Is it someone in the shop you’re hiding from? Because I can kick them out.” His protective streak apparently extends beyond his kids. The guy seems to brighten at this, “I'm okay, honest. Just trying to stay out of the spotlight.” There’s something in his tone of voice that is more serious than it should be, but Steve continues on with the transaction.
It’s pretty dead in the shop, so Steve decides to strike up a conversation. “You new in town?”
“I- What?”
“Oh sorry. I just- usually only regulars come in on Sundays. I was just wondering if you've moved here recently or if… I don’t know, you're visiting or something?” Steve finishes awkwardly. And the guy lets out the most angelic laugh, Steve thinks he’s in love.
“I’m just visiting.”
Steve gets the feeling this guy doesn’t want to talk, so he moves to finish his drink. Handing it to him with a “Well, I’m here if you need someone to show you around!” and a smile, with his instagram handle written in bold, black ink on the side. The beautiful guy smiles at him, more genuine than it had been before, and turns to walk away.
“Wait! What’s your name?”
Beautiful man arches his eyebrow again, and shakes his head, a small smile gracing his lips.
“Eddie.”
And with that he leaves, and Steve is left starstruck for the rest of the day.
It’s not long before Steve sees Eddie again, in fact he’s there the next morning. Waiting by the counter with his hat and sunglasses planted on. Steve wonders if maybe they’d been glued to his face in some sort of prank. Seems unlikely though.
Eddie approaches the counter, and before he can order Steve leans in, “I was serious yesterday, if there’s someone around here bothering you let me know. It just- seems like you’re uncomfortable or something.” And that beautiful smile graces Eddie’s lips again.
“I’m okay, really. It’s just. A lot of people know me and I don’t… I just want a normal morning at a coffee shop, y‘know?” Steve shrugs, “I can’t say I do, but If you want to talk I’m all ears. Well- Not now of course,” He laughs, “I'm on the clock, but I get out at noon?” He suggests. And who can blame him, there's a beautiful man right in front of him and he’s only human. Of course he’s going to flirt.
It seems to work too because Eddie agrees and shortly after there's a phone number written on his arm, with weirdly strict instructions to not share it with any one.
—
It’s noon, and Steve’s expecting to pull up to a house, but the GPS leads him to a rather nice hotel. One more expensive than he could afford even for one night. He spots Eddie waiting in the lobby, waving at him, signature hat and glasses still on.
“Hey, I decided to meet you down here. I don’t think they’d let you up without me.”
And Steve just smiles and nods, happy to be hanging out with Eddie outside of a place of business.
Once they reach Eddie’s room, Steve trails in slowly behind him, almost in before there's a firm hand on his shoulder pulling him back. He flinches, as a deep voice loudly says “Where do you think you’re going?”
“I- Uh. I was, uhm, going to see Eddie?” He finishes voice pitching up at the end like its a question, biting his lip willing the anxious tears that sprouted not to fall. The guy glares at him, “I don’t think so-” But he’s cut off by Eddie, “Woah, Gareth. It’s okay, he’s with me.” And that seems to calm ‘Gareth’ down, and Steve’s shoulders slump in relief. “I didn’t um. I didn’t mean to cause trouble,” He says, cheeks going red. Eddie waves his hand, “Don’t worry about it, Stevie.” And for a second Steve wonders how he knows his name before realizing he’s been wearing a name tag in every one of their interactions.
“He’s harmless, I promise.” Eddie assures ‘Gareth’ again.
And with that he leaves them alone. They talk for hours, and the time flies by, and Eddie invites him to dinner with him and his friends. He agrees easily, from what Eddie has told him, they all seem pretty cool, although he finds it a bit odd that they all share the uniform of sunglasses and hats.
At dinner, he can hear the subtle clicks of cameras and whispers, and he quietly wonders if there’s some type of celebrity around. Eddie and his friends laugh, but Steve seems to have missed the joke.
Overall it was a great night, ending with him and Eddie leaving hand and hand, sharing a soft kiss as Eddie walks him to his car parked in the hotel lot.
Once safely alone in his car, he squeals like a teenage girl, kicking his feet, twirling his hair, the whole nine yards. He goes to call Robin but in some odd coincidence, she’s already calling him.
“STEVE WHAT THE FUCK.” She’s shouting before he can even speak.
“Robs! I was just about to call you! I had the most amazing date,” He gushes, conveniently leaving out the part where he admits that his date's friends were with them.
“Yeah, I know, Steve. It’s ALL OVER TWITTER.” And she’s screaming again, so loud he has to pull the phone away from his ear.
“What do you mean? It was just a date, I wasn’t with anyone else!”
“You were with EDDIE MUNSON.”
“Yeah I kn- How do you know the name of my date?”
“Steve. Steve, Steve, Steve.” She sighs.
“What?”
“I can’t believe you met Gareth AND Eddie AND Jeff and Keith! The only four men I would ever let inside me!” Steve cringes at that, “Robs. Never say that to me again. And what is going on? Did- Did you follow me to my date again?” He can hear her exasperated groan from the other side of town, no phone needed.
“Steve. Listen to me. Do you know the band Corroded Coffin?”
He shrugs, “Yeah, kind of. Dustin talks about them sometimes.” he doesn't know what this has to do with the beautiful man he just went out with.
“Okay. So here’s the deal. You have gone on a date, and smooched, SMOOCHED, the lead guitarist of Corroded Coffin.”
“I- What?”
“You kissed the lead guitarist of a very popular band.”
“Oh.”
“YEAH, OH, DINGUS.”
His phone chimes and he pulls it away from his ear to check the notification.
‘eddiemunson_CC just followed you.’
Another one follows immediately after that.
‘eddiemunson_CC sent you a message’
“Oop- He’s texting me, hold on.”
“Put me on speaker!”
“Oh, he has a blue check mark next to his instagram name thingy, that's cool!”
“Steve, oh my god, what did he say?”
Steve looks at the message, ‘I was trying to avoid the paps. Sorry, Stevie, they caught us.’ He responds quickly with an ‘It’s okay Eddie! I had a great time tonight!’ He narrates this all to Robin who is responding quite enthusiastically. “We can be famous by association, Steve!” She says in a “duh” tone of voice.” Steve rolls his eyes, “I think I’d rather just date him.”
He ends the call with Robin shortly after that and proceeds to text Eddie, punching in the faded sharpie written number on his forearm, Instagram DM’s weren’t very private according to Eddie, easily hacked or something like that. They text back and forth for a while, arranging a proper date in Eddie’s hotel room where they don’t have to be so discrete.
Eddie’s back in the coffee shop the next morning, uniform intact, basically loitering until Steve is done with his shift. They head back to the hotel room, blatantly ignoring the photos that are being taken of them. Back in Eddie’s room, Steve hears Corroded Coffins music for the first time, it's good. No wonder they’re so famous. Steve shares that sentiment and much to his chagrin, Eddie teases him relentlessly about it.
The internet knows of Eddie's new beau, and by extension, so does Dustin, who yells at Steve for not mentioning it sooner.
And if Corroded Coffin’s next album has more love songs than the others combined, well. We all know why.
inspired by @steddiealltheway's rockstar Eddie and clueless Steve fic!
something something about rockstar eddie on tour telling everyone left and right about his sweetheart, his stevie, the light of his life, his sweet lil baby. getting more and more excited about when he's going to see his sweetheart at a concert soon.
the roadies and techs are kinda excited about it - placing bets on what kind of girl could have big bad rockstar eddie munson this starry eyed. with the way eddie is going on they are absolutely convinced that she's some tiny little slip of a girl that wears pastel pink everywhere and has never ever done anything bad in her life.
the big day arrives, everyone is excited to meet eddie's lil princess...but instead "sweet little babygirl stevie" is some big jock dude in a polo shirt and lightwash jeans who carries around equipment like it weighs nothing and who swears like a sailor when someone nearly drops an amp on his foot.
It's to be expected she supposes, growing up in a lab there's sure to be things you don't understand about the real world.
There's things like the war of the stars and the ghost catching car that are stories her friends like. There's things like mouth breathers and bullies and jocks she thinks are a lot like papa. There's things like maths class and school projects and all the things her friends understand so easily.
Her friends are never mean about it, they show her the movies she's missed, they stand up for her against bullies and they explain their maths homework like it's fun and easy which makes her smile.
The biggest thing she doesn't understand is why her friends are mean to Steve about the same things. Steve called the funny little green man Yoba and Lucas laughed at him for two weeks. Steve was watching the sport game on tv and Mike called him a dumb jock, but Steve is nothing like papa. Steve gave Dustin the wrong change and yelled at Steve for not knowing how to count.
El doesn't understand her friends. Don't they know it was hard for Steve too. He didn't grow up in a lab but at least El had siblings growing up, Steve was all alone in that big house he has. Steve didn't have a Papa but once Steve's dad came home and they weren't allowed to see him for a week, El checked on him, Steve's dad yells a lot. Steve got to go to school, but El knows he has trouble reading the big books sometimes.
El tries to tell her friends this, but they say it's different for Steve, and that Steve doesn't mind them teasing him. El doesn't like the word teasing, Angela would tell her teachers the same word. So El helps Steve. She brings Steve over to the cabin to watch the war of the stars together, they giggle at the teddy bears. El asks Steve to teach her how to throw a basketball, she thinks jocks can be nice. El asks Steve for help with her homework, Steve's really good at dioramas. They read the big books together, el shows him how she learnt to sound out the big words, Steve smiles.
El doesn't always understand her friends, but she now she understands Steve a lot more.
It starts off small, things people wouldn't even be able to tell is an early sign of something wrong. Misplacing keys, forgetting which day he has his shifts, what time he's supposed to get Robin. Robin notices though.
Robin knows Steve always keeps his keys on the hook next to Eddie's by the front door, that's where he always finds them, he's not misplacing the keys, he's forgetting the hook exists.
Robin knows Steve has the same shifts every week, they never change because they line up with Eddie's at the record store nearby. Robin knows Steve isn't forgetting what time he's supposed to pick Robin up, he's forgetting Robin moved away a few months ago after she graduated college.
Robin keeps noticing when the kids start calling her because the little things are becoming big things.
Robin notices when Dustin calls and tells her Steve thought he and Suzie were back together, "Like how crazy is that we broke up two years ago, I don't think I've even mentioned her lately."
Robin notices when Lucas calls and tells her Steve asked when his next game was, "The season ended months ago, he came to the finals."
Robin notices when Max calls and whispers softly, "He asked to take me to the skatepark, Robin, I told him I had to help mum. He's forgotten I'm blind Robin."
Robin wished she'd noticed sooner, maybe years ago when Steve was getting knocked around a lot. She wished she'd screamed in the face of those Russians to take her instead. She wished a lot of things when Eddie called her.
"He's in hospital, Birdie, he collapsed at work."
Robin is back in Chicago for the first time since she graduated. She wished she'd visited sooner.
"Do you think the feds are gonna let me go soon, Robbie? I mean it usually doesn't take this long for them to bring me the NDAs."
Robin hopes Steve doesn't notice her eyes going glossy as she runs her fingers through his hair, "Don't worry Stevie, I'm sure they'll be in soon, Dusty is probs just arguing over something in his."
"At least he isn't having to explain he raised a demodog. Did I ever tell you about that Robbie?"
Robin smiles softly, "Yeah but tell me again, don't want to forget any of it."
Eddie gives Robin the gist of what the doctors said, Eddie didn't understand much, a lot of technical words and shit. Too many concussions, more than they knew about most likely. They say it'll probably get worse with no timeframe of how quickly it'll happen, there might be good days, there will be a lot of bad days.
The first bad day comes a week later. Steve barely remembers Eddie, trapped in a time when Eddie was just the kids DM. Eddie sobs in the corridor in Robin's arms. The next day it's like nothing happened and Steve gets discharged. They tell Steve, this time Eddie is the one to comfort him.
"I don't want to forget you Eds."
"It's okay if you do, sweetheart, I'll still be here."
It's Robins idea to start writing everything down. Eddie, Nancy and the kids all help. Filling journals upon journals of stories and pictures of Steve's life to help on the bad days. Steve has to quit his job, Robin moves back to Chicago, they make it work.
On bad days depending on how far back Steve is Dustin or Robin or Eddie will read through the books with him, filling in the gaps of what he needs. On the worst days, Eddie leaves the pile of journals on the bed with a note and waits downstairs to see if Steve will join him later.
They make it work for a few years. Steve celebrates his 30th birthday with perfect clarity. He writes himself an entry in the journal next to a big group picture with Steve and Eddie's matching rings showing.
That July, over a decade since Starcourt, Steve is in hospital again. He'd collapsed at breakfast. Eddie had thought it was going to be one of their good days, Steve had woken up fine, all his memories in tact if a little fuzzy. He'd made them coffee and giggled at Eddie's singing while he made them eggs and just like that it all came crashing down.
Steve's brain is shutting down. They don't know if he'll make it past Christmas. There's more bad days after that. More days with books left on the bed. Most days Steve doesn't even come downstairs. On the good days, Eddie always calls off work. He'd rather be fired than miss a single second of Steve smiling at him like he does, so full of love.
They have Christmas, the whole family comes, they have to bring every chair from around the house and squish in around the table just to fit but it's perfect. Steve sits between Robin and Eddie, face bright and full of love and life. Everyone gives him the tightest hug as the night closes, all lingering, afraid of letting go.
"I love you, dingus."
"I love you too, Robbie."
Later, upstairs in their room, Steve and Eddie go through all the journals, laughing softly at each little note the kids have left. Steve writes his little journal entry, a tradition of good days, and curls into Eddie's arm whispering soft loving words to each other before falling asleep.
Steve never wakes up.
The funeral happens shortly after, all of the family is still in town. Robin holds Eddie afterwards as they go through the journals together. When they get to the last page, they struggle not to smudge the ink with their tears.
Dear Eds and Robbie,
I don't know how many more good days I'm going to get so I'm leaving this here for you now. I love you both so much, you're equally my soulmates and I want you two to look after each other while I'm gone.
Robs, go travelling with Nancy, ok? Thank you for looking after me all these years but it's time for you to go look after yourself. Go see the world for me, tell me all about it wherever I am when you get back.
Eddie, I'm sorry we didn't get as much time as we hoped, I hope you know that even just a day with you has been worth a lifetime with anyone else. Go follow your dreams, write music, perform, show the world how amazing I know you are. I give you full permission to fall in love with whoever you meet along the way, I don't want either of you guys to be alone.
Famous actor Steve is friends with a lot of musicians, he always sits near the front at the Grammys, he’s known for being a gentleman and offering his arm to help all the ladies up the stairs when they win an award. Then the rock album of the year is announced and after Eddie Munson finishes his victory head-banging, he parades his way up to the stage. It’s basically a running joke at this point, so Steve gets right on up and offers his arm to Eddie too, who gladly takes it. The audience laughs wildly as he walks up the stairs with him, Eddie in all his chains and leather and boots, and Steve in his fancy suit, arm in arm, it becomes a big media moment. They’re seen getting cozy together at an after party.
Part two of this au with actor Steve walking rockstar Eddie on stage, based on the reply from @ghostyneth "Imagine them having a moment like Andrew Garfield and Ryan Reynolds”
It's been a month and the press is still eating up that moment when they walked arm in arm on stage together. Both Steve and Eddie's management think it's good for them to play it up, hang out publicly and be seen as friends, but they genuinely are friends now.
They've hung out a few times since the Grammys. Eddie invited Steve to his show at the Garden and they spent a lot of time backstage, just talking. Their music taste converges at a point. Also, Eddie was a theater kid, of course, the theatrical bastard. The weird gritty roles Steve takes sometimes outside his big box office hits have led him down some rabbit holes. So he likes freaky niche movies that only someone like Eddie would've ever heard of. They never run out of things to talk about.
Steve took Eddie to his movie premiere. They ditched the after party and the press to cruise around with the top down on Steve's old convertible, Eddie standing up blasting Metallica and headbanging along. They tease each other, call each other rockstar and movie star but not in that shallow way that Steve hates. Eddie's just himself, a wildcard, and Steve loves it.
So, when the Golden Globes come around and Steve's nominated, of course he wants Eddie there.
He wasn't expecting to win so when his name is announced, the table erupts into congratulations and he kisses Robin on the cheek first, then goes all around kissing and hugging his friends. Then the circle comes to Eddie, so naturally, they both laugh and throw their arms open, then grab each other’s faces and lean into a big smacking kiss.
The audience is cheering and laughing like crazy, and it was mostly a joke, but the way Eddie strokes his cheek when they pull back and says, "Congratulations, movie star” feels like it was just for Steve, not for any of the cameras or the crowd watching them. Steve can't stop looking at Eddie during his acceptance speech.
