Steddie Boxing!AU with HoH!Fighter!Steve & Nurse!Eddie
Steve's a fighter, one of the bests in professional boxing recently.
He's infamous for surviving multiple hits to the head, known to have had more concussions than it is healthy for one man and still he's been able to turn around those matches and come out victorious.
He's a perfectionist, all for the sport with no regard to his own safety. Steve needs to give it his all and be the best. If he doesn't, then what else is there for him to do? He's not good at anything else.
The cute nurse he meets, Eddie, calls him a reckless fucker to his face the first time he's taking care of him in a hospital.
At first, Steve thinks that the stars he's seeing are from the headache, but nope, this guy's just super cute.
Eddie lectures him, and he's the first one to actually seem to care about him as a person. It tugs at Steve’s heartstrings even though he can't relate. He thinks it's perfectly normal, it comes with his job and that's it. Every job has their setbacks. Besides, it's not like he could get any more stupid than he already is, no biggie.
Eddie rolls his eyes in response, clearly not in agreement. Threatens to smack him in the face with his patient's clipboard, then they could see if it's true.
Steve hasn't laughed that loud in years. The sharp pain in the back of his head's so worth it.
After the third time they meet like this, Steve's manager hires Eddie to join his private medical team. Eddie accepts, this idiot needs someone to take care of him.
And he's so glad he did, because after a while of being around Steve —in a professional and not so professional setting, they become friends— he notices how Steve seems to just... zone out, when Eddie or other people are talking to him.
How much trouble Steve's having focusing on speech when he's with a group, especially if there's extensive background noise. The way he's staring at people's mouths during those times. Sometimes he nods along and pretends to hear what his friends are saying, only for Eddie to find out later that he missed some vital information. He plays it off with a joke when Eddie makes a comment, but he's worried for his patient/boss/crush friend.
How he seems to have migraines way too often, bad ones that make him feel all dizzy and unable to get out of bed.
So Eddie convinces him to go have his ears checked out and his hearing tested. They find out that Steve has moderate sensorineural hearing loss in both ears, caused by the multiple concussions he's suffered.
Steve has suspected it but chose not to care. He takes it surprisingly well, at least most people who find out think so. Eddie’s not convinced, so he asks him out for a late night walk. They talk about everything and nothing all at once, two friends catching up.
To Steve’s surprise, his emotions come bubbling up and he ends up sobbing into Eddie’s neck, not knowing what to do about the situation. Fighting is all he's got, but apparently that's not a path he should pursue anymore.
Eddie promises him that they will figure it out together. Just because he works for him now, they've become friends and he wants the best for Steve, he doesn't care if it costs him his job.
Steve kisses Eddie, unable to hold his feelings back any longer. Eddie’s a little wary at first because Steve's in a vulnerable state of mind but he assures Eddie that he's been wanting to do that for months, so Eddie pulls him right back in with a soft smile on his face while tenderly stroking his hair.
When they pull apart, Eddie embraces Steve and whispers in his ear, the better one, that it's all gonna be okay in the future.
For the first time after a long time, Steve feels like that might be true.