If you can, please tag @steddieas-shegoes so I’m more likely to see it ❤️
#80: “Teach me?”
@steddieas-shegoes as requested 😉 I hope you like it!
“I’m bored,” Steve mumbles, upside-down on Eddie’s bed, head hanging off the edge.
Eddie snorts. “You’re the one who came over here, Stevie-boy. Pretty sure that one’s on you.”
Steve groans, throwing his hands above his head. It exposes a strip of skin between his shirt and his shorts. His bellybutton is right smack-dab in the middle, and really, what else is Eddie meant to do?
He pokes it.
Steve yelps, flails, then glares at Eddie, who is silently dying of laughter. This is it, this is how he goes. Goodbye, cruel world, he sees the light.
Steve pushes him off the bed.
He chokes on an inhale, coughing. This is really how he goes. Much more likely, in any case.
He eventually gets ahold of himself and stops trying to hack up a lung. Or a kidney. It felt more like a kidney, he decides.
During his brush with death, Steve was looking around his room, unconcerned with the boyfriend he’d almost murdered. “Teach me,” he says suddenly, turning startling hazel eyes on Eddie.
Eddie blinks. “What?”
Steve points at his guitar excitedly. “Will you teach me?”
“You… want to learn how to play guitar?”
“Yeah.”
“…huh.” He considers it for a few moments, then nods and stands, looking around his room. “Where-” he mutters to himself for a moment, then gasps, snaps, and runs out of the room, throwing, “Don’t move!” Over his shoulder.
He returns shortly with an acoustic. Boyfriend or not, nobody is touching his precious.
Heh. Precious. He vaguely wonders how long it’ll take Steve to get annoyed at him for using a Gollum voice, then realizes he’s dating a reformed mean girl who can still out-bitch him, and that he would probably get bored of the voice before Steve would get annoyed by it.
Then he realizes he’s been standing in the middle of his room staring at Steve. Oops. “Here,” he grins, handing over the guitar before moving to grab his ring. Err, guitar. Honest mistake.
He sits across from Steve on his bed, grinning. “Okay. First things first, learning the parts. The three main parts are the head, the neck, and the body.” He touches each part as he says it. “On the head are the tuning pegs, which connect to strings, which connects to the bridge, all the way down here on the body. The vertical lines on the neck are called frets. Those are how you know where to put your fingers. You want to put them directly behind the next fret, which we’ll get to in a minute. Let’s go over the strings, okay?” He strums each of them, one at a time. “E, A, D, G, B, and E again.” He grins. “Guess how my Momma taught me to remember the names.” Steve raises an unsure eyebrow, which is a fair reaction. “Eddie ate dynamite, good-bye Eddie.”
“Eddie!” Steve splutters, laughing.
Eddie laughs back. “What? It’s what she taught me!”
Eventually they calm back down, and Eddie plays a chord. “Here. Copy my fingers.” Steve does, and Eddie has him strum, one string at a time. He nods. “That’s a D chord.”
Steve snickers. Eddie furrows his brows. “A dick-ord?” Steve asks, laughing loudly at Eddie’s entirely unamused face.
Really it’s an act. He’s trying his hardest to keep it together, to stay collected, the teacher.
He fails very quickly, joining Steve in laughter.
“That was terrible,” he informs his boyfriend, who really just looks proud at his terrible joke.
“You laughed too,” Steve reminds him.
Eddie considers this, then shrugs. “I’m terrible. We all knew that.”
Steve squawks in mock outrage. “Hey, that’s my boyfriend you’re talking about!”
Eddie collapses in giggles. “Babe,” he says, trying to school his features. He finally succeeds and looks, wide-eyed, at Steve. “You’re ridiculous.”
They both collapse in laughter again. Finally they calm down and Eddie does his best to teach Steve a few more chords.
Steve sighs at the end of their impromptu lesson. “I guess we’ll see how much of this sticks.”
“You’ll get it,” Eddie promises him. “It just takes practice, that’s all. And I’ll always be here for help if you want it.”
“Thanks, Eddie,” Steve murmurs, pressing a sweet kiss to his boyfriend’s lips.
Steve keeps at it whenever he can, practicing until his callouses resemble those of his boyfriend, until he’s able to play any chord, until he’s able to pull Robin aside one day and ask her for a favor.
It takes time—a lot longer than it took Eddie, Steve’s sure—but eventually, he and Robin figure out a song. Chord by chord, note by note, they write it out in a way Steve can remember it. And chord by chord, note by note, Steve plays it until he is sure he gets it right.
It’s just in time, too; Eddie’s birthday is coming up. Steve practices every day leading up to it. At least once a day, more if he can manage it, until finally, the day arrives.
He drives over to Eddie’s house as soon as he’s sure he’s awake. “Happy birthday,” he tells his boyfriend, who beams and hugs him in thanks.
“So I do have a present for you,” Steve starts, “but it’s not something I can wrap. And I’m going to ask a huge favor of you.” He leads Eddie back to his bedroom, chuckling when he sees the look in his boyfriend’s eyes. “I know where your brain’s headed,” Steve chides. “That’s not it.” Eddie looks confused as Steve stops by his electric guitar. “I know no one touches your sweetheart,” Steve starts. “But I’m asking to. Just for four minutes, baby. I can do it without, but you know how different it’ll sound.”
Eddie narrows his eyes at Steve. “What are you planning?”
Steve just smiles and mimes zipping his lips. Eddie smiles like he can’t help it, first just a little quirk of his lips, then all at once, shaking his head as he chuckles. “Alright. Four minutes,” Eddie teases.
Steve nods, suddenly nervous. He’s glad the song starts out slower; there’s no way he could rip out Master of Puppets right now.
Eddie must see his nerves, because he grasps Steve’s hands. “Hey,” he says, looking Steve in the eye. “Whatever it is, I’m gonna love it. Okay? Doesn’t matter what it is, how long it takes, if you mess up. I’m gonna love it. Okay?”
Steve takes a breath, looking into Eddie’s eyes. “Okay.” He nods, takes another deep breath, and begins.
The Last in Line starts off pretty easy, and the way Eddie’s eyes light up makes every second learning the song worth it, even with the minute amount of picking he’s doing.
“No fuckin’ way,” Eddie breathes, grinning at Steve. Steve grins back.
He has no idea.
Steve continues playing, starts to sing when he’s supposed to, and Eddie jumps off the bed, dancing around his room. “No fuckin’ way!” He exclaims, and still Steve just smiles.
He has no idea.
Finally, at around three minutes in, the part he was most excited to show Eddie begins. It requires all his concentration, so he only notices after the guitar solo that Eddie had crept closer to the bed and was sitting on the ground, hugging his knees to his chest, looking up at Steve with what can only be described as a besotted expression. He’s got the end of his sleeve in his mouth, and Steve knows him by now, knows he’s trying to keep calm, knows he doesn’t know what to do with his emotions and feelings. Steve isn’t sure he’s ever loved Eddie more.
Finally he finishes the song. Eddie doesn’t move, not until the guitar’s put away and Steve’s grabbing his hands. “I think you broke me, Stevie,” Eddie whispers, looking up at him with a wondering sort of expression. “You… you learned that? For me?”
Steve smiles and nods. “Robin helped a bunch. Like, it wouldn’t have happened if she hadn’t helped.” He bites his lip. He’s sure he knows Eddie’s tells, but still, anxiety creeps up. “You- did. Did you like it?”
“Like it?” Eddie huffs an incredulous laugh. “I’m restraining myself because I think I might fuckin’ propose if I don’t. I- baby,” he says, so full of love that Steve tears up a little. “I’ve never had anyone put this much effort into me before. Well, besides Wayne. But I- you-” he shakes his head, lets out a wet chuckle. “Fuck. I love you. Fuckin’ hell, babe, I really think you broke me.” He leans forward, pressing his forehead to Steve’s shoulder, then lifts his head to bite gently at Steve’s shoulder.
Steve, who knows his boyfriend, who knows he bites when he gets overwhelmed, promptly falls even deeper in love with him. “I love you,” he offers softly. “And hey, don’t feel like you have to restrain yourself on my account.” He gently lifts Eddie’s chin, grinning wildly. “Proposal aside, I want to know how much you liked it.”
Eddie nips at his nose. “I can’t tell you,” he says honestly. “I don’t have the words.” An impish grin begins to grow. “But I might be able to show you.”
Hi I am obsessed with WandaVision and I just randomly started thinking about Stony. I think it would be cool to see Tony with Wanda’s powers and Steve as Vision. And having Tony create a fake reality for Steve.
Really can’t keep hands off each other: Students of massage therapy Peeta and Katniss are partnered up in intensive 16-wk course for hands-on experience. (Final project? Homework? Or is final exam show us what you learned? Or does Peeta have a girlfriend? Think Katniss has a boyfriend?)
Thanks for the prompt, @567inpanem!
Everlark Fic Exchange. Prompt 80
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