Eddie had just barely pushed his own bedroom door open before everyone, including him, was shouting and he clapped a hand over his eyes.
“I didn’t see anything!”
“You better not have!” Robin shouted at him and he could hear her pulling her shirt back down from where she just had it held up to her chin.
“It’s not what it looks like!” Steve’s voice came out as more of a high pitched shriek rather than how it usually sounded.
“Okay, because it looks like you were feeling up Robin’s boobies.”
“You said you didn’t see anything!” Something bumped against his forehead and based on the softness of the fabric and the smell, he guessed it was probably one of Steve’s polos snatched up from the nearby hamper.
“This is my bedroom! Sorry I don’t walk into my own bedroom expecting random naked women!”
“I can explain!” Steve’s voice sounded closer now and Eddie automatically reached his free hand out blindly for him.
“Excuse you, I am not a random woman! And I am not naked nor was I naked, I was just kinda topless!” Robin huffed. “And this is Steve’s room too!”
When his hand finally landed on Steve’s arm, he felt his way down towards his hand, lacing their fingers together.
“Okay, then. Let me rephrase. Sorry I don’t walk into our bedroom-” he gave Steve’s hand an exaggerated shake, “-expecting to see you topless!”
Steve squeezed his hand back. “She said her boobies felt weird.”
“Have those boobies been put away?”
Robin made a disgusted noise. “Can you two stop saying ‘boobies’? What are you, twelve fucking years old?”
“Her boobies have been put away.” Steve snickered to himself, recoiling with a hissed ow when Robin slapped him across the arm.
Eddie had to blink a few times to get his eyes to adjust back to the light in the room but when he did, he found Robin thankfully fully clothed.
“Uh,” Steve shuffled a little on his feet. “Just so we’re clear, I’m not cheating on you with Robin.”
“Obviously.” Eddie pulled him closer, tucking his hand into Steve’s back pocket and giving him a little squeeze. “You’re not the cheating type and she’s as gay as Christmas.”
Robin glared at him with her hands on her hips. “I’m Jewish.”
“Gay as Hanukkah, then. Are your boobies okay?”
Robin glared at him again but shifted her eyes over to look at Steve.
“Everything seems fine, Birdie. Same as I told you this time last month. And-”
“And the month before that, yeah, yeah. I know.” She sulked, staring at the two of them for a moment before asking, “Do you have any vanilla ice-cream? And some sprinkles?”
pairing/character(s): steddie, Dustin, Lucas, Mike
. . • ☆ . ° .• °:. *₊ ° . ☆
Eddie fucked up. Big time.
See, he's truly embraced his freak status at Hawkins High. Meaning he doesn't exactly shy away from his queerness. He doesn't confirm it, not for people he's not friends with. It's just useful. Being gay is the kind of 'freak' that makes the popular kids steer clear from him, just in case they, you know, catch the queer from him.
But with his fellow freaks? They know he's gay.
In fact, they know he has a boyfriend.
He never shares who said boyfriend is, or the fact that he used to be nicknamed The Hair, because Steve doesn't want anyone to know. He's.. private about his sexuality, to say the least. And Eddie gets it. Hawkins is in the middle of nowhere, it's not exactly gay-friendly like some parts of bigger cities. So his friends don't know who his boyfriend is.
They won't until well after Steve's come out to his own friends, which he hasn't said he's ready for yet. Eddie's letting him go at his own pace, he doesn't even bring it up to him. He doesn't want Steve to feel pressured. Steve doesn't have a Wayne there to support him through everything, after all.
Anyway, despite him being anonymous, Eddie always gives everyone an update on his boyfriend before they start the session of DnD each week. It's kind of a bit for everyone involved at this point.
And in the first session that Eddie's newest fresh sheep attend, he refuses to shy away from it. Either they'll be bigots (unlikely) or they'll be fine with it! It's a risk he's willing to take for his pride.
So he gives the update.
"How's your boyfriend, Ed?" Gareth asks with a teasing grin, and Eddie's closest friends lean toward him with giggles.
"Well, my sweetheart has had a great week. Remember that job I told you he'd applied for?"
"Assistant basketball coach for a kids team?" Jeff checks, and Eddie points at him like he's just scored a point.
"That's the one! He got the job! It's a bit of a drive but it sure as shit beats the minimum wage bullshit he was doing before. I swear, his manager actually hates his guts for no reason."
The existing Hellfire members all cheer at the news, whilst one of the new recruits, Henderson, makes an inquisitive noise and chuckles.
"That's crazy, because my friend Steve called me yesterday with super similar news! Small world, huh?" He says it so casually, looking down straight after to fiddle with his dice.
But Eddie feels like the world stops, his hands freezing in the middle of unfolding his dungeon master screen. Fuck. Henderson is one of Steve's kids.
Maybe no one has actually caught on yet. A sneaky glance to his friends reveals nothing but confused frowns on their faces.
"You guys might have known Steve, actually. Steve Harrington? Used to be a mega asshole through most of high school." Wheeler says in a way that somehow sounds simultaneously fond and like he despises Steve.
"He's great now, though! Like, totally reformed. Such a mom." Sinclair adds on.
Eddie nods passively at their words, and feels Gareth, Jeff and Paul's eyes on him. Right, he's still frozen in shock. He forces himself to relax, and finally finishes setting up the DM screen.
"Haha, what a coincidence." He manages, clearing his throat in the middle to clear up an unfortunate voice crack.
That voice crack gets all three of the kids to tilt their heads at him, and then their eyes light up like they've just won the lottery.
Shit shit shit. Hopefully they haven't put two and two together.
Somehow, he manages to make it through the session without revealing anything else, but as he draws it to a close his heart starts beating faster. He doesn't know how he didn't put it together before that these kids are Steve's kids. Steve is literally going to be late to their date night because he has to pick them up from an afterschool activitiy.
What other club meets up on a Friday but Hellfire?
He shakes his head and starts speeding through packing up his stuff. He's going through in his head ways to apologise to Steve in case the kids have figured it out, heart beating out of his chest as he zips his backpack up and leaves the room. The group of newbies run out after him, though.
"Eddie, wait up!" Henderson shouts after him, and he winces but stops.
"What's up?" He says with what he hopes is a smile but is probably a grimace.
"It's so funny how you're Steve's secret boyfriend." Henderson says with a giggle after he's checked no one else has left the drama room yet.
Wait, what? Eddie frowns at him, mouth open. Before he can question anything Sinclair nods along in agreement.
"We've been guessing for weeks now. You can't tell him we found out through you, I want to win our bet."
"If we figure out who his boyfriend is by the end of the month he's taking us to that tabletop RPG store in Indy." Wheeler adds on.
Eddie gapes at them for another second.
"Wait, Steve- he came out to you? When?" He manages, and the three boys tilt their heads at him.
"Like, since a month ago?" Sinclair guesses after a moment of thought, and Eddie lets out a quiet 'huh'.
"What, do you guys not talk about that shit?" Henderson asks, and Eddie shakes his head slowly, thinking back on if he had been told and had just forgotten.
Then it clicks. Just under a month ago, Steve had started to bring up the topic of coming out, and Eddie had gently insisted he didn't mind if Steve never came out and that he loves him anyway and he doesn't want him to feel pressured. And Steve had smiled fondly and let it go.
Had Steve been trying to tell him he came out to his kids?
He lets his head drop and takes a few deep breaths, trying to slow his heart rate. Thank fuck. He hasn't just accidentally outed his boyfriend.
"He's actually waiting for us in his car. I would say come with, but..."
"We're serious about this bet."
Eddie nods, and waves his hand in their general direction.
"Yeah, of course. Sure. You- you go win that bet. Jesus christ."
He hears them walk away and lets out an incredulous laugh to himself before he hears the drama room door swing open again, the chatter of Jeff, Gareth and Paul cutting off when they see the state he's in.
"You good, man?" Paul asks, and Eddie just lets out a sigh.
"Totally fine. Just thinking about wooing my sweetheart." He says, like they've walked into a joke he's set up.
They all groan, but continue walking toward the school's exit, and Eddie stays there, recovering from that shitshow.
A/N: Hello all! For those who don’t know, I went to a Deaf school and am fluent in ASL. When writing ASL in written English, you use all capitals. I hope you enjoy!!
The first few times Steve got beat up, he was left with a ringing in his ears for a while. Then, the ringing became constant. Then, the Russians happened.
The ringing stopped. It was quiet.
He didn’t want to tell anyone, and he wasn’t sure why. At first he just acted like everything was fine. He tried to read lips and nodded when people told him things. Whenever he misunderstood something, his friends chalked it up to him being an idiot as always.
Robin and Steve worked together, so it was basically impossible to hide it from her. It became their secret. She helped him at Family Video with customers, covered for him, made sure he always got to do the tasks that didn’t require hearing or listening to other people.
Dustin noticed next, and he convinced Steve to let the others know. They communicated through writing a lot, until the party decided they could all learn sign language together. Like a code, they told Steve. Max and El were excited at the prospect of writing letters, too.
Thank God Steve was out of school, so he didn’t have to worry about accommodations.
One night, Steve went to pick Dustin, Mike, and Lucas from Hellfire, and that’s when he ran into Eddie.
Steve knew he was saying something snarky, but he couldn’t tell what since it was so dark.
DEAF, Steve signed. He pointed at his ear to clarify. Eddie raised his eyebrows.
THAT HAPPEN WHEN? Eddie signed back. Steve stumbled backwards.
YOU SIGN?! Eddie nodded.
MOM DEAF TOO, he explained. He shrugged. DEAD NOW. Steve awkwardly stifled a laugh at how blunt Eddie had delivered the news. Thankfully he didn’t seem offended.
Three hunts at once sent them in opposite directions: Sam to to a salt-n-burn in Kentucky, Dean to Montana for what turned out to be a witch, and Cas to Texas for what turned out to be nothing at all.
Dean’s exhausted and still a little grossed out when he makes it to the bunker. He wants another shower and a nap, and is surprised to find the cavernous silence of the bunker filled with the unmistakable strains of a violin. The solo is sweet and surprisingly soothing, and Dean stands in stunned silence at the top of the stairs until the score ends and the next begins. This one is fierce and aggressive; it reminds him of a sword fight, especially when the rest of the orchestra joins in.
He finds in the library, not Sam being a nerd, but Cas, feet propped up on the table, a lazy hand moving in time with the music. His eyes are closed and his face relaxed. It makes him look younger, less care-worn. Happy.
Dean could get used to it.
***
Cas drops into the passenger seat and shuts the door as Dean starts the car.
“Did you get the—”
“It’s in the trunk,” Cas says. If eye roll was a tone of voice, Cas nailed it.
“Alright, let’s hit the road.”
Cas reaches down to the floorboard for the box of tapes. “What did you want to listen to?”
“I don’t know, man. You pick.”
Dean watches Cas freeze out of the corner of his eye, watches the confusion crinkle his brow.
“What happened to driver picks the music, shotgun shuts his cakehole?”
“You wanna look a gift horse in the mouth?”
Cas turns his attention back to the box, picking the little cases up one by one. It’s not long before he stills, and it takes every ounce of self control for Dean to stop himself from smiling.
“Beethoven? Tchaikovsky? Wagner? Saint Saens? Dean, how did you—”
“I thought it was time for some new tunes.”
Cas smiles, all bright and gummy and pops the Saint Saens into the deck.
“ Cas…what is this paper?”
Dean storms into Cas’s bunker bedroom flailing around a paper reading ‘Couples photographers Of America’. Cas looks up from his book that he had been reading and plasters on a cutesy smirk. “I was at the target and I found this pamphlet that had a photo of a baby I’m a bee costume. "He got up and walked towards Dean with hopeful eyes. ” I saw it and asked the women behind the booth and she said that you bring someone special to take a picture with. I thought that we can go and take one and I can put it on the wall. Isn’t that regulatory human behavior , or have I been mistaken?“ He asked tilting his head in the signature "confused Angel” way.
Dean runs his hand down had face,the other positioned on his hips. “Cas, buddy I don’t know about this. This is kinda…..”
Dean looks up and catches the Angels puppy dog eyes. He looks like he’s about to cry. Deans eyes go wide as he places both his hands on Cas’s shoulders. “Wait no, I didn’t mean that Cas. Don’t look so sad you know I can’t resist that look” he says apologetically. Cas’s face immediately brightened up, clapping his hands happily and looking Dean in the eye. “ Wonderful, because our appointment is in 2 hours, I can’t wait to show Sam.” He runs around Dean and out his bunker room door. Dean looks flabbergasted before he looks down at the ground defeated. “ I’m gonna regret this” he says to himself walking after him.
~ 3 and a half hours later
“This looks awesome Dean” Sammy says trying to suppress his laughter. “ you really look like a ……..happy sailor”.
“ Hey shut your trap, it was either that or a idiotic pirate costume and I don’t look good in stripes” he says crossing his arms. “ Cas looks at the photo fondly. "Let’s go hang it up” he says almost sprinting to his room. Dean and Sam look at each other and smiling an rolling their eyes and they walk quickly towards the Angels bed room.
Maleah: Oh my god, I’ve seriously been laughing at this photo for like 10 mins. Thanks google—-this so just a little something I came up with. This so how I think this hilarious picture can into being.
prompt: better to ask for forgiveness than permission
pairing/character(s): steddie, the party
. . • ☆ . ° .• °:. *₊ ° . ☆
"Are you sure about this?" Lucas whisper yells as Will anxiously checks no one is looking down the Harrington house's driveway.
Dustin's crouched in front of the door, poking a hair pin into the lock with his tongue poked out, and Mike is leaning against the door, unbothered, so it takes a second for anyone to answer.
"I'm worried about him!" Dustin finally says, his motions getting more intense as he seems to fail to pick the lock. "I haven't seen him all week! He wasn't at work all week either, I checked!"
"He booked the week off." Lucas reminds him.
"Well then why hasn't he been hanging out with us?" Dustin huffs, and then goes back to his attempts.
"Who even taught you how to do that?" Will asks.
"Eddie, he taught me too." Mike says.
"He's gonna be so pissed at us." Will continues quietly, biting his lip, and Mike shakes his head.
"Better to ask for forgiveness than permission."
"Eddie taught us that too!" Dustin chimes in.
Ten minutes later, they've finally managed to get into the house. Lucas is privately surprised that Steve didn't hear them and come see who was trying to break into his house. Maybe Steve's not even home! Hopefully.
A quick survey of the ground floor reveals no movement, so the group make their way up the stairs until they're in front of the closed door leading to Steve's bedroom.
Dustin determinedly reaches for the doorknob, and Lucas tries to stop him once more.
"I really don't think he'll appreciate this, Dust-" He whispers, but Dustin cuts him off with his own (attempt at) whispering.
"I need to make sure he's okay!"
With that, the door is quietly pushed open, and promptly all of their jaws drop and they stand in the doorway in silence, processing what they see.
Steve is laying on his back, fast asleep with his mouth ajar, and tucked into his side is a very naked Eddie, whose butt is unfortunately peaking out from under the covers. He's asleep as well, his face pressed against Steve's hairy (and hickey covered) chest.
"I told you this was a bad idea." Lucas whispers frantically, gesturing at the pair. He looks to Will for backup, but Will is bright red and his eyes are still on Steve and Eddie, so he figures that's a lost cause and turns to Dustin and Mike.
Mike looks a little red and shellshocked too, but Dustin immediately starts whisper yelling some more.
"Well, he should've told me!"
"Told you what? That he's sleeping with a guy?"
"Not just any guy, Eddie! Why didn't he tell me?"
Lucas feels a hand grab at his shoulder urgently, but needs Dustin to understand what he's trying to say so he ignores it.
"He was probably scared you'd hate them for it!"
"For dating?"
"For being gay, idiot."
"I'm not gay, for the record. I'm bisexual." Steve suddenly pipes up, and Lucas and Dustin look over at him immediately with wide eyes.
Steve and Eddie have shifted a little now, Steve propped up against his headboard with Eddie lazily laying against his chest still. Thankfully, his ass is covered up now, but Lucas knows he's naked and that's enough to make him shudder.
"Hi Steve. Fancy seeing you here." Lucas tries with a (hopefully) charming smile. Steve snorts in response, and drops his forehead to rest on Eddie's hair for a second in defeat.
"This is literally my bedroom, Sinclair. How'd you guys get in anyway?"
"We picked the lock on your front door!" Dustin says, having the nerve to sound proud of himself.
"Right. Of course." Steve sighs.
"Eddie taught us." Mike chimes in, finally having gone back to his normal colour. Will's still flushed, but looks more present overall, and he nods along to his best friend's words.
Steve quirks a brow at the information, lifts his head again, and promptly flicks Eddie, who's still half asleep, in the head. He immediately looks more awake, and glares at Steve as he rubs where he got flicked.
"Ow! What the hell was that for?"
"You're the reason they picked the lock, Munson."
"Oh, look what you guys did. I got demoted back to Munson." Eddie finally addresses them for the first time, but thankfully he doesn't look too upset. More amused.
Actually, now Lucas thinks about it Steve doesn't look upset either. Pissed off? Yeah. But in that older brother way he gets with them, not actually mad.
"You're the one who told us to ask for forgiveness not permission!" Dustin defends himself, and Eddie gets another flick to the head for that from Steve.
"Well, are you going to ask for forgiveness then?"
"Screw you. We were worried about you!"
"Have you heard of phones before, Henderson. And the rest of you, really? Wheeler, I expect it from-" Steve starts, getting interrupted by an indignant 'hey!' from Mike, "But Sinclair? Baby Byers?"
"For the record I did not want this to happen." Lucas says defensively, and crosses his arms over his chest.
"Interesting considering you're still here when you could've abandoned them." Eddie snorts.
"The party sticks together."
"Still waiting on that beg for forgiveness." Steve singsongs, and Eddie sits up a little straighter as he adds on his own demand with a grin.
"I want full-on on your knees with prayer hands, begging for forgiveness."
Eddie hasn't heard from Steve for forty eight hours when the phone rings, and he jumps for it. He hopes (and maybe prays to the god he doesn't believe in) that it's Steve. That he just... Fell asleep when he got home from his shift at Scoops and that's why he didn't call when he got home two days ago. That he got distracted by the kids the next morning and that's why he didn't call Eddie one day ago.
"Hello?" He says into the phone, trying not to sound too frantic.
But as soon as he finds out who's calling, a rock settles in his stomach.
"This is Hawkins General Hospital, am I speaking with Wayne Munson?"
He's silent for a moment. Fuck. Something's happened to Steve. He debates lying, because Wayne left for work literally five minutes ago, and he needs to know what happened, and what if Steve's dead?-
"No. This is Eddie Munson, ma'am, Wayne just left for work. Is- Is everything okay?" He closes his eyes as he speaks, tips his head forward to lightly bang it against the wall of the trailer. Why didn't he just lie? Now they're never going to tell him.
"Alright, one moment.." The lady on the phone says, and Eddie hears some papers rustling and then a sigh, "Oh, Edward Munson?"
"Yes, ma'am."
"You're listed as another emergency contact, so I can tell you this as well." Eddie breathes out a sigh of relief, but feels tears start to well up as he imagines what she's about to say.
"This is in regards to Steven Harrington, who is alive and stable but quite badly injured. That's all I can say over the phone. Before he can be discharged, if his next of kin don't respond, we'll need to talk through patient care with you or Wayne Munson, alright?"
"Yes I- He can have visitors, right?" He's already looking frantically around the room to see where the keys to his van are.
"Yes. Visiting hours don't end for another two hours yet."
Eddie's never hung up a phone so fast.
-
When he finally gets to Steve's room (after an argument with the receptionist who was hesitant to give him the room number), he practically throws open the door in his haste, and is... Surprised at the amount of people in the room.
He's zeroed in on Steve before he properly registers them though. As soon as he processes the state of his boyfriend, everyone else in the room practically disappear from his mind.
"Oh, Stevie." He whispers, walking over to the bed.
Steve seems to be either asleep or passed out, and he looks.. Horrible. One eye is swollen shut, there's a bandage over his nose like it's broken, and his bottom lip is swollen with a (freshly stitched up) wound trailing down from it an inch or so. And that's just his face-- Eddie can't even see the rest of him right now.
"What the hell happened to you?" He mumbles to himself, hesitantly reaching out to rest a hand on Steve's forearm.
It's then that he's rudely reminded of the presence of others in the room.
"More like what the hell is Eddie Munson doing in Steve Harrington's hospital room?" A familiar voice asks, and he turns to see Robin Buckley sat at Steve's side. A little more turning around and he sees Dustin, who he recognises from pictures, and a little girl who can't be older than ten.
Robin looks confused and suspicious, and like she's about to interrogate him until she sees the genuine distress (and tears) in his eyes. She softens a little, and lets Eddie ask what he's been dying to ask for over forty eight hours now.
"Is he okay?" He sniffles harshly in attempt to get rid of the waver in his voice.
"He will be. Pretty bad concussion though, and- No, wait. Seriously, why are you here?"
Eddie's about to make something up, when Steve rouses with a groan. Everyone's quiet as he squints open his good eye and groans some more at the lights.
"Wha's- Wha's goin' on?" He slurs, and Eddie feels the tears return. Steve sounds as fucked up as he looks, and- shit, Robin said concussion? Steve's already had one too many of those.
"Hey, it's okay Stevie. You know where you are?" Eddie asks gently, opting to ignore everyone else once again if they're going to stay quiet.
"Eds?" Steve's face scrunches up in a way that looks painful, and he slowly looks over in Eddie's direction with eyes that are definitely too dilated.
Eddie starts rubbing his thumb back and forth where he's still gently resting a hand on Steve's forearm. He hopes it's comforting rather than adding to Steve's pain.
