“You don’t fit in. We’re all really good looking!” Me when I lie💔💔
Like, they called Dewey unattractive and yet he still pulled an absolute baddie (Ms. Mullins). God put cute and hot in the mixing bowl and got Dewey🥹
Seriously, they did not deserve Dewey. He literally brought the band together and they had the absolute GALL to kick him out. Now granted, he was a little self absorbed, but lowkey, so were they. They can NAWWWWT be talking😭😭
Anyway I do not like No Vacancy y’all I hope they break up❤️🩹❤️🩹
Steve was a nervous wreck for the entire ride back to the motel after his interview. He’d gotten the job, just like he’d known he would. What he hadn’t expected was that they would ask him to start so soon.
As in, Monday morning, three days from now soon.
The elementary school’s main building had undergone massive renovations over the break, and they needed all hands on deck to make sure the classrooms, gym, and cafeteria were all set up and ready to go for the students on their first day back.
Thankfully, Steve had put in his notice with the city two weeks ago, and already worked his last shift as a lifeguard for this year. He hadn’t even told Eddie yet. It was meant to be a surprise, leaving them free to spend as much time as possible together, at least when the other man wasn’t working, before…
Well, just… before.
Before whatever happened next, happened next.
All this time Steve had been trying desperately not to jump to any conclusions. He’d been patient, giving Eddie space to figure out what he wanted to do without putting any pressure on him. From the moment they returned from their impromptu weekend in Hawkins he never brought it up again—was careful not to mention the future too much, or talk about school, or Fall, or Labor Day, the official unofficial end of the tourism season.
But each day that passed without Eddie coming to a decision made it harder and harder to not start assuming the worst. In Steve's mind, if Eddie was going to stay he’d have figured that out already and said so, wouldn’t he?
Then they’d had that mind blowing encounter in the walk-in at Eddie’s bar the other night. Bringing out completely different sides of each other in the most exquisite, intense, and incredible way. It had felt important somehow, Eddie sharing himself—giving himself to Steve in that way, falling apart so beautifully for him, trusting that Steve would put him back together again, the way Eddie always did for him.
As they’d come down, holding each other so tightly while sitting on that freezing cold floor, while he kissed the sweat from Eddie’s brow, Steve had been sure that was the moment, that Eddie would turn to him and say what he’d been waiting so anxiously to hear, but Eddie only told him he loved him, and when his legs stopped shaking had stood, helping Steve to his feet. They’d gone back to the party, as though nothing had changed, and Steve was forced to accept that maybe it hadn’t meant what he hoped. Maybe it had just been one last hurrah before Eddie told him he was moving on to his next adventure.
Steve stood outside the door to their motel room, the place he and Eddie had called home for the last two months, the place Steve would soon be calling home permanently once he made the trek back to Hawkins to pack up his old place, and dreaded going inside.
He knew Eddie would be in there waiting for him. The other man was off for the night and the two of them were supposed to go out with Chrissy and Robin later. Steve really didn’t want to ruin their evening before it had begun, or burst the carefully formed bubble they’d been happily floating in, but his Summer was over come Monday morning. They were running out of time, and he had to talk to Eddie about it as soon as possible.
Stepping quietly inside, Steve was surprised to find the room seemingly empty. He’d expected Eddie to be laid out on his bed, watching one of those so-bad-it’s-good horror movies that always seem to be on cable in the middle of the day, but he was nowhere in sight.
Steve was about to leave, figuring his boyfriend must be down at the office harassing Chrissy, when he heard Eddie’s voice speaking softly nearby.
The bathroom light was on, its door open a crack, something Steve hadn’t noticed with his mind so preoccupied with worry, and he could just see Eddie through the small gap standing in there, looking at himself in the mirror, and talking to himself.
No, not just talking to himself.
Eddie was rehearsing.
Rehearsing a speech… to Steve.
“Steve, I know…” Eddie paused, shaking his head at his own reflection. “No, no.”
Steve crept closer, careful to avoid a spot on the floor he knew tended to creak underfoot so as not to give himself away.
Eddie cleared his throat roughly before taking a deep breath and starting again. “Stevie, I'm sure you’ve been wondering…”
With an adorable little growl Eddie cut himself off again, gripping the edge of the vanity tight as he prepared to give it another go. “Get it together, Munson.”
Steve threw a hand over his own mouth to stifle a snort. He felt a little bad for listening in, and thought about announcing himself or coughing to alert Eddie to his presence, but his curiosity got the best of him and he remained quiet, desperate to know whether the love of his life was preparing to make him the happiest man alive, or working out the best way to let him down easy.
“Baby,” Eddie began, his voice suddenly sounding rough, as though his throat were tight with what he had to say. “I’ve spent the last few weeks doing what you asked, really thinking about what it would mean to stay here with you. To put down roots for once. To build a life with you—a real one that we make together on purpose. A relationship that doesn’t end or change when the season does. I worried for a while that I wasn’t ready. That neither of us were, really. That it was too new, too fast, too soon for all this. That it would burn hot for a while but end up just a flash in the pan…”
Eddie paused, hanging his head, letting out a huff of wry laughter.
“But, as has been pointed out by everyone with eyeballs, you’ve always had a piece of my heart, even when I wasn’t ready to admit it, and if what a certain little birdie told me is true then I think—maybe I’ve always had a piece of yours too?”
“Eddie,” Steve gasped softly before he could stop himself, and Eddie’s head snapped up, eyes comically wide as they met Steve’s through his reflection in the mirror.
“So you probably heard all that, huh?” Eddie said after a long moment frozen in shock. He shook his head, lips curling up into a shy smile. “Man, I really gotta start paying more attention to my surroundings before I run my mouth.”
Steve pushed the bathroom door open slowly and stepped inside the small space. “I’m sorry, I-I shouldn't have eavesdropped… again.”
Not that it had been his fault the last time, for the record.
“Don’t be. The words were meant for you anyway, and who knows if I'd have been able to get the whole speech out if we were face to face.” Eddie turned away from the sink to face him. “You do have quite the history of distracting me.”
“Does this mean…” Steve started to ask but couldn’t quite get the question out.
“Yes, I’m staying right here.” Eddie said with no hesitation. “I’m so gone on you, sweetheart, and we both know I’ve never been one to think of the future much before, but, god—now I can’t imagine one without you in it.”
“Are you sure?”
Closing the distance between them, Eddie took Steve’s face in his hands. “Christ, baby. You have no idea how much you mean to me, do you? I actually can't believe I'm going to say this, but I've never meant anything more—if it was legal, and also not completely fucking insane after such a short time together, I'd probably ask you to marry me.”
Steve grinned, his vision blurring as tears sprang to his eyes. He reached up to cover Eddie’s hands with his own and leaned forward, pressing their foreheads together.
“I’d probably say yes.”
Their double date that night wound up being a huge celebration all around. Robin and Chrissy were thrilled, and visibly relieved, to learn that Eddie had worked up the courage to admit what he wanted and commit, even if it had come out while Steve was listening in secret like a creep—in Robin’s words.
The details didn’t matter, if anything it only meant more to Steve knowing those had been Eddie’s unguarded thoughts.
The girls had their own good news to share too. After meeting Tracey at Chrissy’s party and getting a little friendly advice from the older woman, the two of them sat down together, wrote out a new business plan, and finally got approval for their sorely needed loan. Enough to get the past-due bills paid, boost their advertising, and get through the Winter if they were careful.
Steve and Eddie left for Hawkins the next morning. Dan was happy enough to let Eddie off for a few days once he learned his favorite bartender would be staying on year-round if they wanted him.
They did.
With Wayne’s help they managed to get all of Steve's belongings packed up and shoved into the back of Eddie's van in a little over a day, dragging the old furniture he was leaving behind out to the curb for anyone passing by to take for free.
It was strange to think he was finally leaving Hawkins for good. They’d come back to town as often as they could to visit Eddie’s uncle, of course, but this place would no longer be Steve’s home—and thank fuck for that.
Wayne saw them off bright and early Sunday morning from the trailer, after convincing Eddie to pack up and take the rest of his own things along with them too, or at least whatever would fit in the BMW’s trunk for now, since he was “finally settling down” and all. Eddie had rolled his eyes dramatically, but Steve knew the move was only meant to disguise the way they’d gone all glassy when Wayne hugged him and told him how proud he was of the man Eddie was growing into.
They returned home, finding the girls offering to move them into a different unit in the motel. Steve was hesitant at first, saddened by the idea of saying goodbye to the place where it had all begun, to the four walls and two very well-worn mattresses that held so many memories. But their new place was on the ground floor, a little bigger than their original room, and had a king size bed. It was also closer to Robin and Chrissy’s room—though not too close, because after Robin overheard them going at it that one time she swore she’d kick them both out or leave herself if she ever had to hear Steve shouting Eddie’s name that way again.
Steve couldn't even argue, he knew he was loud.
Maybe he’d ask Eddie to start gagging him.
In the coming months he and Eddie fell into life together with natural ease, though it wasn’t completely without struggle. They hardly ever fought, and when they did it was almost always because they simply missed each other. Still working on fairly opposite schedules, it wasn’t unusual for them to go several days without seeing each other during daylight hours. In the end Eddie decided to stop working Sunday nights. The tips weren’t worth missing the time they could spend together on Steve’s weekends off, and Sundays became couple days. Sacred time for just the two of them to do whatever they wanted. To laze around in bed, fucking sweet and slow for hours on end, or go on dinner dates, or see a movie. An entire day every week completely devoted only to each other.
In their separate off time, they both did what he could to help Robin and Chrissy out around the motel. Once he’d proved himself, Steve took on the role of handyman and wouldn’t take a dime for his services, while Eddie took on the task of delivering the Buckingham’s newly designed brochures to every visitor's center and rest stop on the east coast within driving distance.
Their combined hard work paid off, and by the time Spring rolled around the motel’s future was looking bright, their reservations list as fully booked up for the coming tourist season as Robin and Chrissy had pretended they were the year before.
It was late in the morning on Saturday, and Steve was busy installing a new air conditioning unit in the lobby, the temperature outside already reaching unbearable levels some days though it was only June first, when Robin asked him to come into Chrissy’s office for a minute.
Eddie was already in there with the two girls, looking just as confused and mildly concerned as Steve felt. It wasn’t unheard of for the four of them to meet like this to go over what tasks needed to be done around the motel and divide them up accordingly, but Chrissy and Robin looked particularly nervous. It wasn’t a good sign. Steve didn’t understand, he was so sure that things were going well.
“What’s wrong?” Steve asked, leaning down to drop a kiss on Eddie's lips before sliding into the seat next to him, their hands coming together automatically, fingers laced where they hung between the two chairs.
Robin bit her lip, sharing a loaded look with Chrissy before turning back to answer him. “Listen, we may have, possibly, made a mistake with the bookings—again.”
Eddie leaned forward, eyes narrowing as he glared at the two girls.
“For real this time!” Chrissy added quickly.
“Okay, well, we’re already bunking together so I don’t know what—” Steve began, but Robin cut him off before he could finish his sentence.
“I’m glad you asked, dingus.”
Steve frowned. “I didn’t—”
“We were thinking maybe, just for the Summer, that all four of us could share the two bedroom me and Chrissy are in.”
Steve’s mouth dropped open. He and Eddie both sat in stunned silence for a moment before exchanging matching horrified glances with each other.
Suddenly Robin burst out laughing, practically doubled over as her body shook with it. “Oh my god, your faces are priceless! I wish I had a camera.”
“Oh, you were kidding. That’s a relief,” Steve said, letting out the breath he’d been holding.
“Of course I was kidding.” Robin wrinkled her nose in disgust. “Do you honestly think I would voluntarily subject myself to three months of sharing walls, let alone a bathroom, with the two of you?!”
Steve rolled his eyes. “It was one time! Are you ever going to let it go?”
“Pay for my future therapy and we’ll call it even.”
“Done.”
Steve thrust his free hand out and Robin stepped forward to shake it.
“Okay, so… what, this whole thing was a joke?” Eddie asked.
Robin shook her head. “Oh, no. Not at all.”
Chrissy leaned forward, raking a hand down her face. “I’ve already had to tell several callers this morning that we were full up for their travel dates. We’re extremely overbooked, and Robin and I were sort of hoping you guys might be open to the idea of moving out to free up space?”
“Like, as soon as possible,” Robin added.
“Wait, what?!” Steve shouted.
“Yeah! Isn’t it great?”
“Robin!”
Eddie’s grip tightened reassuringly, drawing Steve’s attention back as he raised their clasped hands to his mouth, pressing a soft kiss over Steve's knuckles. “Don’t worry, sweetheart, I think I know just the place for us.”
It turned out that Eddie had been eyeing up a slightly run down but adorable little cottage on his way to and from work every day for the last few months. Its windows had been boarded up all through Winter, the property overgrown and appearing abandoned, but a few weeks ago a for rent sign had appeared by the mailbox out of the blue, and Eddie admitted to letting his imagination run wild over the possibilities.
They called the number on the sign and scheduled a viewing for as soon as possible.
The small three bedroom bungalow didn't look like much from the outside, or the inside for that matter, but Eddie was right, it was easy to see the potential.
Steve could already picture the gardens he might plant. There was plenty of room to grow tomatoes and herbs in the backyard, and great big rose bushes would look amazing in the front, their color peaking brightly out from between the slats of an honest to god white picket fence. There was even an old wooden arbor perched over the walkway just begging for some ivy to grow over it.
The inside needed some serious updating. He wasn’t convinced the ancient appliances even worked anymore, but it was cozy, with so much character, and most importantly it had three bedrooms. One for them, one to double as an office and a place for Eddie’s books and guitars to live, and the last for Wayne.
Because Steve had fallen in love with this place at first sight, just like Eddie did. He already knew that the moment they had the money for a down payment they’d stop renting and offer to buy the place. And if Steve had anything to say about it, Eddie’s Uncle would always have a room in their forever home, a soft place to land should he ever need, or want it, just like he’d always made sure Eddie had.
And they lived happily ever after, until gay marriage was legalized in their state.
Then Eddie did propose, got down on one knee and everything right there on the beach by their beautiful home. Steve said yes, and they finally got married, and lived even more happily ever after as husbands.
The end.
All my thanks and love to @penny00dreadful for being the best beta, friend, and cheerleader.
