#Eddie: ??then what was the point of having them??

[dtvhomeofhappiness]

Brad and Janet get instantly lost in the first five minutes of entering

the time warp is constantly blaring over the speakers

Eddie was sent to get something by Dr. Scott

They stumble across the customer service desk at one point, but the one employee there (Columbia) seems pretty busy (Eddie) so they decide to not

The young couple find themselves there after closing because god, this store is like a goddamn maze!

they get discovered cowering in the media section by Riff Raff

they've already locked the doors, and Frank's the only one who can unlock them (with like a big red button or something)

They get sent up to The Manager's Office TM and the rest of the movie goes on mostly as normal

Frank seems normal (enough) when they first meet him but slowly goes insane because (shocker) the employees have just been living in the store for like the past three years

Eddie gets murdered with a Barbie doll

what if we made out in the media department?

okay, but what if we made out in the clothing department with all your brother and sister mannequins?

(Magenta and Columbia watch from the security cameras)

Dr. Scott is just banging on the front door and gets held up at the customer service counter and yells at Magenta that his nephew came in here 8 hours ago and that he better not be with that red haired they them he keeps talking about

Riff cooks "dinner" on the display grill.

Eddie has been put into one of those cheap hamburger meat packages

(They only discover once they realize that once they see the packaging says "100% organic Eddie")

the floor show is like in dystopian movies where they have everyone working but like. so. incredibly. happy.

Then they all congregate in the bedding department (you REALLY don't want to lay on the tester mattresses)

Riff Raff and Magenta rage quit and threaten to kill Frank... oh wait, they already did that in the original movie?

The store mysteriously closed after that night and no one knows why

(Sorry, it's been like, ten years since I last went to a JC Penney's?)

rhps retail AU where the story is centered around the J.C. Penny’s in Denton? yes

Frank - the elusive store manager. 60% of the customers who “want to talk to the manager” never get their wish. the remaining 40% never cause any issues in the store again.

Riff & Magenta - have been working retail for years. it has made them cold, and it has made them dangerous. all they want is to leave the planet and maybe kill their boss in cold blood- relatable content.

Columbia - that one perky employee. so perky. how is she so perky? what is she? will cry on long shifts, though.

Eddie - problem customer. only comes by to shoplift and/or flirt with Columbia. has been kicked out of the store no fewer than 3 times to date.

Brad & Janet - a nice young couple who came in to set up a cute & affordable wedding registry. a little terrified by everyone else in the store, but gosh isn’t the manager really helpful? not that they asked, but…

Rocky - the hot new clerk. definitely not hired for his clerking abilities. may or may not be a mannequin from the activewear section brought to life by some inhumane after-hours mad science experiment by the manager. does not deserve to be working retail, but sometimes the world is cruel.

Dr. Scott - wants to talk to the manager.

[stevieschrodinger]

Part One Two Three Four Five

“So Steve, I know you said that you don’t think you need anyone...” Eddie sighs, “do you think that implies that I think that what he thinks is wrong?”

“I think it implies you’ve lost your fucking mind.”

Eddie doesn’t even have the energy to glare at Dustin, it’s much easier to just pretend he hasn’t spoken, “okay, Steve-”

“Yeap, you’re really strong on establishing you know the guys name, which is like, a solid point in your favor.”

“I hate you,” Eddie says to the ceiling, neck at an odd angle where he’s flopped his head back over the arm of the couch, “so, Steve, I know you said you don’t need anyone, and you are totally right-”

“You’re a strong independent Omega who don’t need no Alpha!”

“So help me Henderson I will throw you out,” Eddie waits, but Dustin is finally silent on the matter, “Steve. I totally respect the fact that you are absolutely fine handling everything alone, and if you’re...happy with us, being friends, then I’m happy with that too. I did wonder, though, if you’d like to go on a date. With me. Maybe?” Eddie sighs, flopping his arms over his face, “I’m so bad at this. This is going to go so wrong and he’s going to hate me and never want to see me again and-”

“Eddie...has the Omega broken your brain? What the fuck is wrong with you man-”

“I don’t know! I don’t...I’ve literally never felt this way before, not about anyone. And Jamie, man, I know he’s not my pup, okay, Steve and I aren't dating, he’s literally my friends pup, that’s it but...I swear I would die for that kid, no question.”

“Okay...so just...ask him out? Steve I mean, not Jamie-”

Eddie huffs, “I don’t...I’m pretty sure I can’t. The more I think about it the more it feels...like Steve’s had a pretty bad run of Alphas, it sounds like, and I just don’t think he’d be interested. And he’s just literally had a pup, like Jamie is only just a month old, who am I to add to that, you know? Steve’s got enough to think about.”

“So...don’t ask him out?”

Eddie flops over onto his side, curling up so he can smush his face into the cushions, “but I really want to. I think it’s selfish though. I’m being selfish. I should just...be a good friend. Keep being a good friend.”

“And pine to death?”

“I mean. Seems like a reasonable way out.”

“Dude I do not know what to say to you,” the timer on the oven starts to buzz, “but at least you’re going to feed me, right?”

Eddie sighs, dragging himself out of the near suffocating safety of the gap in the couch cushions. He opens his message thread with Steve, scrolling back through the shared memes and screenshots and pictures. He reads little tidbits of conversation while he pulls out bowls and plates. The three dots appear, Eddie’s heart leaps a little because Steve is, right there. Right next door, with his phone in his hand, typing to Eddie.

‘I’d love some. I’ve made a banana cream pie if you want to take it back for your games night.’

Eddie sends back a shocked emoji, ‘I can’t take an entire pie.’

‘You won’t, my slice will be gone.’

Eddie smiles and slips his phone into his pocket. He slices two thick pieces of bread from the loaf he made this afternoon, wraps them, and then fills a bowl with casserole. Eddie’s pretty sure this bowl is Steve’s anyway; so many of their plates and bowls have been migrating back and forth it’s hard to tell any more, between Eddie’s dinners and Steve’s desserts.

He likes to bake something extra special for games nights though, he always says you can’t make just one cookie, or one slice of pie. He likes to make sweet things when he knows there will be people to give it to, otherwise, “I’ll just eat the whole thing Eddie!”

Eddie doesn’t see a problem with eating the whole thing, but he slips on his adventure crocs and heads out into the hall. Dustin doesn’t even tease too badly any more, even though Eddie’s sure it’s because he’s threatened to withhold Steve’s desserts.

Eddie knocks with the hand holding the bread, letting himself in when Steve calls, “it’s open!”

“Hey Steve, hey Jamie,” he sets Steve’s dinner on the little table, next to the juice and cutlery Steve’s already set out for himself.

“What do you have planned for them tonight?” Steve brings out a pie on a plate, a slice already gone, just like he said. It has real neat swirls of cream on top; it looks professional to Eddie, like you’d buy in a store.

“Destruction. Misery. Suffering. The usual.”

Steve hums, “uh hu. What color salad did you decide on in the end?”

Eddie sighs, “you say it Slaad. And I don’t know, what do you think?”

“I actually quite liked the idea for the dog shark thing, it was cute,” Steve hands over the pie, going on tip toes to kiss Eddie on the cheek as he hands it over.

“One home brew Bulette, coming right up,” Eddie replies absently. He’s pretty sure he’s gone at least a little pink, and Steve’s scent is fresh and bright in his nose for a moment, “I’d better…” Eddie gestures lamely with the pie, “you know.”

“Have fun!” Steve calls as Eddie lets himself out, “don’t go too hard on them!”

Eddie’s doing his best not too stare, he really is.

He has one foot on the stroller, rolling it gently back and forward. He has his guitar resting on the other knee, he strums, singing quietly to Jamie, “I'd rather be a forest than a street, yes, I would...if I could, I surely would.” Jamie burbles at him, waving his arms a little and making happy pup noises.

On the court, Steve laughs, and Eddie fails, and he looks. Steve’s wearing a tank top and those obscenely short shorts. Him and Chrissy are bouncing the ball at each other, catching it, doing a squat, a little jump, and bouncing it back. They’ve done all sorts of stuff like this, sweaty jock games. Steve’s short shorts riding up even further at the slightest provocation.

Jamie makes a noise, drawing Eddie’s attention back, “I'd rather feel the earth beneath my feet, yes, I would...if I could, I surely would,” Eddie sings, soft and slow.

Steve and Chrissy come over eventually, Steve lifting the bottom of his shirt to wipe at his sweaty face, fully showing Eddie his tummy in all it’s glory. It’s thick, but firm, decorated by a handful of stretch marks and a perfect dusting of happy trail, “thanks for keeping an eye.”

“Huh?” Eddie asks, feeling kind of dumb but still managing to strum along on auto pilot.

Next to him, Chrissy snickers around her water bottle.

“Thank you, for watching Jamie,” Steve says to him more slowly, smirking, his sweaty hair flopping across his forehead.

“Right, right, sure, of course. Anytime. Pleasure. Really.”

Next to him, Chrissy huffs. Eddie pointedly ignores it.

The knocking is awful. It’s relentless. It’s obnoxious. It’s definitely Robin.

“I know you’re in there!”

Yeap. Yeap that’s definitely Robin. Eddie groans into the couch cushion before dragging himself up. She’s speaking before he has the door fully open, “this is getting old.”

“And what might that be-”

Robin puts on the most obnoxious voice Eddie thinks he’s ever heard, she clasps her hands together, holding them to her chest and she bats her lashes coquettishly at the ceiling, “oh Eddie’s cooking is just the best ever. Did you know he plays guitar! He says he’ll teach Jamie when he’s old enough! And he’s so smart, he’s got so many books in his apartment-”

“Okay.”

“Did you know he’s artistic! He paints his little dungeon game miniatures and they’re so good-”

“All right.”

“You should just see him with Jamie-”

“Robin.”

“And he’s such a good Alpha! He’s so good to his friends, he puts in so much work-”

“And we are done,” Eddie goes to shut the door. He can’t handle this. He knows Robin probably means well, in her own meddling way, but he just...can’t. This has to be Steve’s choice, right? Steve’s been pretty clear why he went it alone, and Robin is just...teasing him. It makes Eddie feel all warm and bubbly inside, knowing that Steve says these things about him, that Steve...likes him. But...Steve has a pup, and just because he says these things behind closed doors, it doesn’t mean Eddie has any right to know them.

No matter how it makes him feel.

“Wait wait wait...can’t you just, ask him out? End all of our suffering?”

Eddie sighs, “Steve has enough going on without me making it more complicated, okay? Steve can...he’s perfectly capable of telling me this himself.”

“No he isn’t. Because Steve would never ask you to take on another Alpha’s pup.”

“He’s not another Alpha’s pup, he’s Steve’s pup,” Eddie tells her reflexively.

“Uh hu,” she has her hands on her hips now, looking at him expectantly.

Eddie swallows thickly, and he can’t quite look at Robin, “what if...what if I loose him?”

“You won’t. You know you won’t.”

“But-”

“Me and Chrissy are taking Jamie for the night, did you know that? Giving Steve a night off, and we’re getting some practice in for when we’re ready to have our own, you know?”

“I...did not know that.”

“Yeah.”

Eddie stands for a second, not sure what to say, down the hall, Steve’s door opens.

“-and it’s in the changing bag.”

“I got it.”

“Don’t forget to heat the formula to-”

“Steve,” Chrissy sounds exasperated, “we’ve got it,” she has Jamie in his car seat.

“Plus,” Robin whispers to him conspiratorially, “he’s going to have a heat at some point, so we gotta be ready for that. You know, wouldn’t be fair to which ever Alpha ends up helping him out-”

“I know what you’re doing,” Eddie growls, watching Steve fuss over the pup.

“Is it working?”

“Go away.”

Robin shrugs, and Eddie watches as she goes to Chrissy, taking the bag so Chrissy is just left with the car seat, “it’s going to be fine, and you can call us any time.”

Eddie ends up watching Steve, as Steve watches his pup and his friends disappear at the end of the hall. His shoulder sag a little, and Eddie can't help but go to him.

“Hey.”

Steve sighs, “would it be weird if we followed them?”

“Maybe. I’ll drive though.”

Steve smiles up at him, and it looks kind of watery, “what if we break into their place and take him back?”

Eddie shrugs, “pretty sure we could just ask but, whatever makes you feel better, I guess.”

Steve sighs, “I sound crazy,” and a tear finally escapes, sliding down his cheek.

Eddie can’t help but scoop him up into a big hug, “I think you sound like the best dad in the world. I’ll get you one of those mugs. You know, for fathers day.”

Steve sighs, and sniffles, “thanks Eddie.”

“You want take out? I’ve primed you a miniature, if you still want to try your hand.”

“Can we watch a shit film too?”

“Oh fuck me I’d love to watch a shit film,” Eddie says vehemently into Steve’s hair.

Steve laughs against his chest.

Steve doesn’t have it in him to try painting his owlbear tonight; he picks forlornly at his duck rolls, “I’m sorry I’m not very good company.”

“It’s okay, I get it...I miss him too.”

“Oh, so you admit I’m being shit company?” Steve smiles for the first time this evening.

“Oh, yeah, the absolute worst.”

Steve phone pings and he practically dives for it, but then he melts, face going soft as he looks at the message, “Jamie’s asleep,” he shows Eddie the picture.

“Safe and sound,” Eddie reassures Steve for probably the fifteenth time this evening.

“I didn’t...I mean I knew I’d love my pup but...I didn’t know it would feel like this, you know? It feels crazy. And I mean...Jamie’s happy, and healthy, and that just makes absolutely everything feel...right? Does that make sense? Like...fulfilled.”

“I...yeah. I think I understand,” Eddie tells him quietly, because he feels like that about the both of them, as long as Steve, and by extension, Jamie, are both happy and healthy then...yeah. Yeah, the whole world feels like it’s an okay place to be.

“Eddie I-”

“Steve-”

They speak over each other, and end up laughing, leaning closer together on the couch. The remains of Steve’s half eaten dinner get moved to the safety of the coffee table. They’re close enough then that Eddie can see the dim light from the TV reflecting in Steve’s eyes.

“You go,” Eddie whispers to him.

Steve shakes his head, but takes Eddie’s hand in both of his, rubbing his thumb over Eddie’s knuckles, Steve whispers back, “you first.”

“I...I really like having you in my life Steve. And I don’t want to...to fuck that up, by expecting more from you.”

“I...yeah. Same.”

“Same?” It comes out as a surprised laugh.

Steve’s laughing too now, “what do you want me to say I mean...you pretty much covered it.”

“I have spent ages agonizing over this and and and- all I get is- yeah. Same. I guess. I suppose.”

Steve is properly laughing now, “come here, I’m sorry, I’m sorry” he pulls Eddie close, and manages to stop laughing long enough to kiss his cheek, “okay,” Steve takes a deep breath, “I’ve just had a pup, and both me and that pup care about you so very much, and I did not want to mess it up by expecting you to take that on, okay?”

“You’re not a chore Steve, neither of you are a chore.”

“I mean he was sick on me the other day and that kind of felt-”

Eddie cuts him off with a kiss. It’s soft, a gentle press of lips that Steve...sighs into. Relaxes into. Lets Eddie take both their weight. Steve’s hands find their way into Eddie’s hair as Eddie gently wets Steve’s lip, and Steve lets him in.

It feels like coming home.

[steddieas-shegoes]

coming in clutch

@starrystevie asked two days ago for someone to write enemies to lovers Steddie on the same hockey team and one of them gives the other his stick from the bench and so I volunteered and yesterday afternoon started writing this and it got to almost 6000 words by this morning. Oops?

This is therapy for me, as a Bruins fan, who is suffering tremendously this season. I can't believe some people live like this all the time. I am so, so sorry. I promise you fixing it with Steddie helps ease the ache a little. It's bitch4bitch, what's not to love?

rated e, minors dni | 5801 words | also on ao3 | cw: mention of injury, hate making out for the drama | tags: modern au, hockey au, enemies to lovers, feelings realization, sorta love confessions, anal fingering, anal sex, handjob, life is a series of connections

🏒🏒🏒🏒🏒🏒🏒🏒🏒🏒🏒🏒🏒🏒🏒

If there’s one thing Eddie Munson knows, it’s that Steve Harrington will steal the show.

With less than two minutes left in the game that will determine if they clinch the wild card spot for the playoffs, it could still go either way. They need a goal to tie it, and the point will be enough to get in, even if they lose in overtime.

The Rangers don’t even get anything if they win this one except a pat on the back, yet they’ve pulled their goalie in hopes of ruining the only chance the Bruins have of getting into the playoffs. If Eddie wasn’t seething with rage about potentially starting his offseason much sooner than expected, he’d respect the hell out of them for it.

How they got into this much of a mess is beyond him…or really it isn’t. It’s well within reach.

He knows from the beginning shit was hitting the fan and then it just…kept hitting the fan.

They started bad and they don’t play well from behind in games, so how could they catch up when their entire season went to shit so early on?

It should never come down to one win, not for them.

But he knows that some of the issues are that Steve was handed this captaincy before he was ready, and Eddie’s done nothing to truly help him. He wears an A, but it’s more for Asshole or Annoyance than Assistant. He knows it, Steve knows it, the team knows it.

It’s making everything harder.

Coach already lit him up a few times over stupid shit this season, things he can’t get away with for much longer. His time will be cut short on this team if he can’t-

The whistle blows and there’s a penalty on Hargrove. Not surprising, but it’s enough to get Eddie out of his own head and focus. There’s barely a minute left and they’re facing a long offseason if they don’t get their shit together.

He won’t see more ice time today. He’s third line right now, a demotion from his usual first line after a string of shitty, stupid penalties. Coach will send the first line back out for the last minute to increase their chances of scoring.

The puck drops and they make the fastest line change they’ve managed the entire game.

Steve’s skating to the puck, eyes on the prize. He’s good at it, despite Eddie hating that he feels constant competition with him. They don’t even play the same position. Eddie’s a defenseman for fuck sake. Steve’s a center. The only competition is what’s made up in his own head.

Steve gets there first, manages to pass it to Sinclair, who passes it to Hagan. It’s beautiful, but it’s not enough.

The puck is cleared out and they have to rush to it to start setting up again.

They don’t have time.

And then Steve tries to shoot it to center ice and his stick breaks. It’s the worst timing. Eddie feels his heart sink in his chest at the realization that this is it. They’re done.

Steve’s skating to the bench, yelling about needing a replacement when he should just get off the ice, let someone else out there. They’re gonna lose anyway.

Eddie throws Steve his own stick. It’s not the right curve, and not the right length. It’s not even the same brand.

But if there’s one thing Eddie can respect about Steve, it’s that he’s a damn good player. He makes shit happen, even when no one else can. He’s been their saving grace this season, arguably the only reason they’ve managed to even have a shot at the wild card spot.

He may hate his guts, and he may be annoyed that he got picked as captain, and he may also find him impossible to be around most of the time, but he can see that he’s one of the best players in the league.

Steve’s never skated harder than in this moment, and Eddie can’t feel his face as Steve sneaks the puck between the legs of Wheeler, winds back, and shoots.

None of their players get to it in time.

It goes in their empty net.

The bench is so loud, Eddie can’t even hear himself think.

They’ve tied it up.

The clock says 24 seconds.

It’s as good as done.

They’ll have overtime, of course, but they squeaked in the playoffs. They get at least four more games.

Steve skates to the bench and hands Eddie his stick, but doesn’t say anything.

That irks Eddie a little.

“Not even a thank you for getting the assist on that one?” Eddie asks because if he’s one thing, it’s a shithead.

“Shut up, Munson. Could’ve scored an empty net from the locker room,” Steve replies with an eyeroll, his smile dropping in annoyance.

A for annoyance, after all.

“With a broken stick?” Eddie pushes because he loves to push and because Steve always pushes back.

It’s their game.

Steve sits on the bench, catches his breath for a moment while the arena celebrates his goal.

“How about a thank you for getting us to the playoffs?” Steve says back.

It’s unlike him to be self-centered like this. It throws Eddie off.

For once, he doesn’t have a damn thing to say.

The goalie gets back in the net and the Rangers finish off the regulation game with their tails tucked between their legs.

Eddie doesn’t get sent back out, but neither does Steve.

Coach leans down to say something in Steve’s ear and he grits his teeth together, jaw clenching painfully.

When they’re about to start overtime, Coach taps his back and tells him to go.

“But it’s first line?” Eddie asks.

“I said go, Munson!” Coach says, leaving no room for argument.

So Eddie goes. He’s not gonna argue with the coach, and he’s damn sure not gonna be the reason there’s a delay in starting.

He skates to the blue line and sees the focus on Steve’s eyes.

This game can end either way to him and he won’t care, but Steve wants this win. He wants the two points, not just one. He wants to say they overcame a shitty game to pull off a win.

He would never admit it, but his effort is for Steve. His speed and hits during the first shift are to give Steve every opportunity to pull off this win.

If Steve wins, they all win.

Eddie should have had that mindset for every game. Maybe they wouldn’t have had to fight for their lives just to get a shot at the playoffs.

It’s not a great shift, but they manage to shut the Rangers down a few times.

Steve is red-faced on the bench, watching the second line move with a fire they were lacking for much of the first 60 minutes. That’s been a pattern this season, something Eddie isn’t sure they’ll get over with this group.

It ends during the third line’s shift.

The Rangers get a breakaway and score.

It’s a loss, but they’ve still won something. They aren’t leaving completely empty-handed.

The walk down the tunnel is interrupted by the broadcast person yelling for Steve to stay back to do the post-game interview and accept third star of the game. It always sucks accepting a star away from home ice, but Steve’s used to it by now.

He’s the guy who comes in clutch. He’s always a star.

Eddie’s only a little jealous over it.

The rest of the team is pretty quiet despite their playoff spot.

Coach stands in the center of the room.

“We got lucky,” he says. His tone is calm, but there’s something hidden beneath it that Eddie can sense is anger. “We won’t get lucky in the first round. Get your shit together before next week or you might as well start scheduling your tropical vacations.”

He leaves the room.

No one says anything as they get undressed. No one speaks when Steve comes in the room and wordlessly undresses. No one utters a word when he’s the first to leave, even though that’s the first time that’s happened in the history of ever.

Eddie follows him.

He should give him space. Now isn’t the time to work him up more.

Now is the time to be a good teammate, a good alternate captain. Behave and follow the rules and be a good example off the ice. Leadership saw something in him to give him the A in the first place, now’s his chance to prove he respects them for it.

“Since when do you walk out without a speech?” Eddie calls after him when they’ve exited the building. This arena is relatively normal, but there’s a lower level of parking just for VIP. He doesn’t see anyone else yet, but that’s not surprising. Their bus is parked a few rows away, doors up to start loading equipment for the haul to the airport.

“Since there isn’t a damn thing I can say to get this team motivated and I’m done trying!” Steve yells back without turning. “If you’d like to try, go right ahead.”

“Doesn’t seem like something a captain would do.”

Steve freezes, turns.

His face is bright red and Eddie knows immediately he pushed too far.

“Maybe you should be the captain if you know so much about what it takes, hm? Maybe instead of passing me your stick to score you could score one once in a fucking while. Maybe,” Steve takes a shaky breath, exhales it right into Eddie’s face. He didn’t even notice how close he was before. “You could start acting like a leader and less like a fuckin’ nuisance.”

Eddie scoffs.

“I’m sorry I helped? Was I supposed to let the opportunity to score go? Would you rather have not tied the game? Do you wish we were going home for the summer instead of just the next few days?”

Steve’s chest is brushing against Eddie’s.

Neither of them showered, so there’s a faint scent of sweat clinging to his nostrils, but Steve must’ve freshened up with deodorant and cologne before getting changed. Cedar and pine overtakes the locker room smell as Eddie’s eyes dart down to Steve’s lips.

“Did you want me to do all the work for you?” Eddie grins.

It’s painful, when their lips crash together. Eddie doesn’t care.

Steve’s mad, he’s loud, and he tastes like victory. It has nothing to do with their game.

“C’mon,” Steve says against his lips, and Eddie isn’t sure exactly what he wants. They’re kissing in public, in a place that could be filled with their teammates any second. Steve’s hands are against his chest, pulling him impossibly closer by his shirt. “More. You want more out of me, take it.”

Eddie’s not always the smartest guy in the room. He’s, like, smart, but sometimes he misses some obvious shit. Unobservant, his uncle calls him.

But he can read people pretty well if he has a second to really see them and he thinks he’s seeing something Steve didn’t mean to show. He knows what Steve’s really asking and he knows he can give that to him.

“No.”

Steve stills. He pulls away, hurt clear on his face before he manages to school his features. It’s eery how quickly he was able to do it.

“Knew you weren’t up for it, anyways,” Steve mutters, but Eddie doesn’t let him walk away.

His grip on Steve’s wrist is tight enough to cut off circulation, tight enough to bruise. Steve doesn’t react at all.

“I’m not taking anything from you. You’re gonna take what you need from me.”

Steve’s brows furrow, and Eddie allows himself a moment— just one— to think that he’s cute like this. If they weren’t teammates, and if Eddie could stand him for more than a few minutes at a time, maybe they could do something.

“What are you talking about?” Steve asks. “I don’t need anything from you.”

“No? Like how you didn’t need my stick to score earlier?”

Steve’s mouth snaps closed, but Eddie doesn’t feel as smug as he normally would. He can hear voices coming and he knows that if they leave here now without something worked out, it’ll be like none of this ever happened.

“When we get back, come to my place,” Eddie orders.

“And if I don’t?”

Eddie laughs.

Steve likes to win. He’s gonna come just to see what his prize will be.

He boards the bus and ignores his half-hard dick in his slacks.

Steve always finds a way into his brain. And now he’s found a way into his bed.

~~~~~

The bus ride is quiet, but most of the guys are busy texting significant others and coming down from the adrenaline of the game. The flight is silent, everyone taking a power nap before they have to get back home. They’ll have a day off tomorrow, but most of these guys are married and have kids, or fiancées who haven’t quite figured out that a day off is needed for recovery, not for filling the calendar with other events.

Steve is far away from Eddie, barely even visible unless Eddie leans into the aisle and squints.

He doesn’t do that more than once, doesn’t wanna draw attention to whatever it is that’s happening between them.

Eddie is the first off the plane, but he walks slow enough to his car that a few teammates catch up and tell him his quick reaction saved their asses. He laughs and thanks them, tells them they’ve got some work to do if they’re gonna win the first round, and gets in his car.

Somehow, Steve’s already at his door when he gets home.

“Eager?” Eddie asks.

“You tell me,” Steve grabs Eddie’s hand and places it over his crotch. He’s already hard.

“Did you touch yourself on the way here?” Eddie feels like he’s been struck by lightning, energy zapping through him at the speed of light. Realizing Steve’s into this is rewiring his brain.

“Obviously,” Steve rolls his eyes.

Eddie unlocks his door and pushes Steve inside. He pushes him down the hall and right onto the bed. He pushes until Steve pushes back.

“I thought I was taking from you,” Steve says as he sits up, taking his shirt off and throwing it to the ground.

“You are. But only when I’m ready to give. I need a second,” Eddie says as he strips his own shirt off. He walks to his bathroom to throw some water on his face and pretend for a second that the sweat dripping down his spine isn’t a ridiculous reaction to Steve.

“It’s been a second!” Steve calls to him.

Eddie smirks at himself in the mirror before heading back to the bed.

“Sorry to keep you waiting. I assume you’ve got something specific in mind?”

Steve eyes him up and down. “Take everything off.”

Eddie does as he says. Steve’s surprise that he didn’t argue is obvious.

“Get lube and condoms.”

Eddie reaches into his bedside drawer and gets out his unopened bottle of lube and the only three condoms he has that may or may not be expired. He doesn’t have time to fuck around much, and most of the time he does, it never gets far enough to need a condom.

His traitorous stomach swoops at the thought of Steve being inside him.

Steve looks at him like he’s starving and Eddie’s a five course meal on a table in front of him, and Eddie likes it. He likes that Steve wants to devour him.

He’s pulled into a bruising kiss, can taste blood on his tongue when he swallows spit that’s just as much Steve’s as his own. Eddie knows if they kiss like this for long enough, Steve will barely have to touch him at all to get him there.

As if reading his mind, Steve’s hand is on his dick, stroking it slow enough to drive him insane. Eddie blushes, but doesn’t let it hold him back from pushing Steve more.

“You gonna take your clothes off or are the lube and condoms just for decoration?”

Any hand is better than his own, but Steve’s hand might be the death of him. He tightens his grip around him, leaning in to bite Eddie’s collarbone.

He’s sensitive there and somehow Steve knows it, and Eddie might die tonight, but he can’t let Steve know he’s making him feel this fucking good. He wants Steve to take what he wants, but he doesn’t wanna give it easily.

“You like this with everyone or am I special?” Steve asks before he licks a stripe up Eddie’s neck.

It’s gross. It’s hot as fuck. Eddie’s lightheaded.

“Just you, sugar. Or should I call you Captain here, too?”

Steve pulls back like he’s been burned.

“I’m not your captain right now.” He’s glaring at Eddie, making him wish he could shrink into the mattress, down through the floor. “I’m Steve. Got it?”

“Got it,” Eddie’s nodding along, but he feels like he’s teetering into uncharted territory, some kind of rough terrain that most people don’t get past the fence to explore.

Steve starts taking and Eddie lets him.

First, it’s rough hands pushing him around until he’s in the position Steve wants him: face down, arms under the pillows, legs spread so Steve can see him.

Then, it’s teasing touches, laughing when Eddie gasps and moans, nipping at his skin after a soft brush of his fingers.

It’s hot and cold, it’s hard and soft, it’s push and pull.

It’s the first time Eddie feels like he understands who Steve is.

The lube is cold as Steve spreads it around his entrance, more teasing, more taking. Eddie doesn’t mind. He’s always loved the build-up as much as the finale.

Steve’s quiet, focused, as he works his fingers into him. He’s meticulous about it, looking for the best reactions.

When Eddie whines into the pillow, spreading his legs further apart to make more room for whatever Steve wants from him, he realizes that this will change everything. He should’ve realized it sooner. He may regret it tomorrow. He may not.

“You ready?” Steve asks.

Eddie feels empty. Steve’s fingers aren’t there anymore, aren’t stretching him and prodding every sensitive part of him. He whimpers pitifully at the loss.

“I’ll take that as a yes,” Steve’s cock is pushing against his entrance, and Eddie thinks he was severely mistaken about Steve before.

Because why is Steve being gentle? Why is his hand rubbing Eddie’s spine as he pushes into him slowly? Why are his lips against Eddie’s shoulder, not kissing so much as resting there, his hot breath a comfort that he’s right there paying attention to everything Eddie’s doing?

Why is this the best Eddie’s ever been fucked and why does it feel less like getting fucked and more like making love with every passing moment?

Steve’s big, which Eddie knew already. There’s just a difference between seeing it and feeling it. He fills him up, makes him wonder if he’ll be sore tomorrow.

Kind of hopes he will be.

“Take it,” Eddie mumbles against the pillow.

Steve grabs his hair, strong grip, but gently pulling. “What?”

“Take me.”

Eddie’s not sure where those words come from, but he feels the way Steve responds. His cock twitches inside him, his hands grip his waist harder, and Steve moans against his shoulder.

His own cock is trapped against the sheets, but it’s fine. He’s in no rush. Steve will take what he wants and Eddie will wait. He’ll wait all night if he has to.

He feels good like this, at Steve’s mercy.

He didn’t think he’d be able to relax under him. He thought the fight he always has to assert his own dominance with Steve would carry over here, too.

But it’s easy to let Steve have this.

He knows that Steve needs this just as much as Eddie needs to be used.

“You’re quiet. Everything okay?” Steve whispers against his skin. A check-in to make sure Eddie doesn’t need to stop.

“I’m good. Feels good. Keep going.”

The softness never goes away, but Steve’s moving faster, breathing heavier, putting more weight on Eddie’s back. It’s almost too much, the pressure inside him, surrounding him. The scent of Steve, the scent of both of them mingling together and staining his bedsheets.

He’ll have to wash them tomorrow. He won’t.

“God,” Eddie says as he fists the pillow under his head. “Right there.”

Steve’s nailing his prostate, almost more than he can handle. It feels like when they reach their groove on the ice, like despite their disagreements and different styles of play, they’ve meshed together for this moment to make something happen.

“Yeah? You like letting me have you like this?” Steve asks.

It feels out of place here, but Eddie’s allowing it all. If this is what Steve needs, if this will help, then he’ll let Steve have everything.

“Mhm. C’mon, want you to come,” Eddie begs.

He doesn’t want this to be over, though. He finds it shocking how much he wants Steve to keep fucking into him for hours, finding new positions and ways to make Eddie question his existence. He wishes Steve wasn’t wearing a condom, wishes he could fill him up with his cum, plug him up so he stays filled until morning.

He doesn’t know why he’s thinking these things. He’s never wanted that with anyone, let alone Steve.

Steve’s hand covers the back of his neck, applies just enough pressure that Eddie knows it would be hard to move.

He’s coming before he even realizes the tug in his belly is there, moaning into the pillow as Steve’s hips meet his ass with every thrust. It’s too much, but Eddie’s giving himself.

That’s all this is.

It’s everything now, but tomorrow it’ll be nothing.

And the day after that, when they have team meetings to review tape for their first round matchup, it’ll be even less than nothing. It’ll be like nothing ever happened and Eddie never let Steve fuck him into his mattress. It’ll be back to tolerating each other for their job, and Eddie poking at him until Steve is riled up and the coach is yelling at both of them to get their shit together.

And then when they inevitably lose in the first round, they’ll go all summer without speaking and Eddie may get traded to a team that will put up with his antics.

Eddie sniffles.

“Eddie? Shit.” Steve pulls out, which is wrong and terrible and not at all what he wants. “What’s wrong? Did I hurt you? Was it too much?”

“No,” Eddie’s voice is shaking and he feels stupid. How did this happen? How did he get to this point? Over Steve Harrington? “Sorry, I’m okay.”

“You’re clearly not okay.” Steve turns him over so he’s on his back and that makes everything so much worse.

His release is sticky across his stomach and the head of his cock, and he’s flush from his cheeks to his toes. Tears have fallen, leaving tracks down his face.

He doesn’t paint a pretty picture.

“What’s this about?”

“I didn’t expect this,” Eddie admits.

It can’t hurt. Honesty is only a small vulnerability compared to letting a man fuck you.

“Expect what?”

“This. You to be soft and caring. You don’t even fucking like me. I thought you’d be quick, come on my back, and then find a reason to leave,” Eddie says, covering his face with his hands. It sounds even dumber out loud. Jesus.

“The thought did occur to me,” Steve says.

Eddie peeks through his fingers to see Steve smiling with an eyebrow raised.

“What the fuck is happening.”

Steve snorts. “You threw me your stick during the play so I could score the goal that sealed us a shot at the Cup. I’ve been hard for, like, six hours now, dude.”

“Don’t call me dude while you’re staring at my dick!” Eddie argues.

“You annoy the shit out of me,” Steve rolls his eyes. “More than anyone else I’ve ever played with.”

“Okay. My dick’s already soft, you don’t have to talk me down, Steve,” Eddie groans, covering his face again.

Steve pulls his hands away, laces their fingers together, squeezes. Eddie’s stomach flutters.

“But you’re good. And you know you’re good. That’s why you’re as frustrated as I am about how this season’s been. It has fuck all to do with me being captain, and everything to do with nothing going right for us.”

Steve’s right. He’s always right, even though Eddie rarely acknowledges it.

“Does this kind of talk get you off or should I do something for you?” Eddie tries to joke, to push.

But Steve doesn’t push back this time.

He cups Eddie’s jaw and leans in, kisses him soft, so gentle it feels like a whisper of something Eddie’s absolutely terrified to name.

“Let me take a little more,” Steve says against his lips.

He lifts Eddie’s legs and slides back into him, and Eddie moans at the overstimulation. He’s definitely gonna be sore when he wakes up, but he doesn’t mind so much right now.

“That’s it,” Steve groans as he moves in and out, holding Eddie’s legs apart so he can make sure he gets as deep as possible. “Let me have it.”

Eddie’s never come twice like this, without his cock even being touched properly. But here he is, barely even hard again, and cum is leaking onto his stomach as he whimpers his way through another orgasm.

“Fuck, so good.” Steve’s hips stutter as he tenses his hands around Eddie’s thighs. “That’s it, baby. Let me fill you up.”

It’s not real, but for a second Eddie can picture it. He pretends he can feel it inside him, and his cock twitches, but otherwise doesn’t act like it can do anything else tonight.

Steve lets his legs drop as he pulls out, and Eddie winces at the feeling of emptiness it brings.

Eddie closes his eyes, tries to figure out how he’s gonna ask Steve to stay.

“Is it okay if I stick around?” Steve asks before he can think of something.

“Yeah, of course. Shower’s all yours if you want it,” Eddie offers, sounding breathless still. His heart is pounding in his chest and he feels like the world around him is spinning.

“You wanna join?” Steve asks him, seriously.

“Showering together doesn’t seem like a teammate thing to do,” Eddie replies.

“Neither is watching a teammate come twice.”

“Point made.” Eddie groans as he turns on his side, reaching a hand out until he makes contact with skin. He thinks it’s Steve's thigh, but he can’t be sure with his eyes closed. “Go on without me. I can’t feel my legs or my…anything.”

Steve doesn’t get up, and he doesn’t say anything. After at least a minute of silence, Eddie blinks his eyes open to see Steve staring at him.

“Are you gonna be fucking creepy all night? I rescind my permission to stay if you are.”

Steve shakes his head. “No, it’s just. I’ve seen you mostly naked so many times, but I never noticed this scar.”

Steve gently brushes a finger across the scar on Eddie’s abdomen. It’s barely an inch in length, and you can’t even see it unless the light hits it just right.

Eddie looks down at it, at the way Steve’s fingertips graze the outer edges. He doesn’t think about it much anymore, but he remembers when it happened.

“Junior hockey. Kid’s skate got me just as I was falling. My chestie rose up too high and didn’t protect the spot,” Eddie shrugs. It could’ve been a lot worse. He was back on the ice within three days. “Accidents happen.”

Eddie watches Steve’s face morph from curious to confused and then shocked.

“That was you?” Steve asks.

“What do you mean?” Eddie leans up on an elbow, looks back at Steve as if he’s lost his mind.

“I…holy shit. They never told me the player’s name. Just said he was getting stitches in the locker room and would be fine,” Steve is rambling, gesturing wildly and shaking his head. “They wouldn’t let me check on you. I tried as soon as the game was over.”

“I’m still confused.”

“It was my skate. I tripped over a player’s stick as you were falling. I didn’t even realize it actually hit you until I saw the blood on the ice.” Steve scoots down so he’s eye level with the scar and then he does something that changes Eddie’s DNA.

He presses his mouth to the scar, his lips parting just enough for his hot breath to cause goosebumps to break out across Eddie’s skin.

“Why did you give me your stick?” Steve whispers.

Eddie swallows. He feels heavy, weighed down by whatever this is.

“You had a chance. You just needed a stick,” he whispers back.

“Eddie. You would rather lose than help me any other time.” Steve tilts his head to look up at Eddie. “Why did you pass me your stick?”

“I-” Eddie breathes in. “I wanted to do something right. I wanted you to look at me and not see someone failing for once. I wanted to be good enough to wear the A.”

Steve’s forehead drops to his hip, and it takes a moment for Eddie to realize he’s laughing.

“What’s funny about that?” Eddie’s ready to pull away, kind of wants to make Steve leave now that he’s feeling like he’s being made fun of.

“I just cannot believe that you would think you aren’t good enough.” Steve looks back up at him, grinning, eyes shining with amusement. “Who do you think chose you for the A?”

Eddie thinks about it. He always assumed that the coaches just picked the guy with the most NHL experience out of the few options they had. He never thought he’d be A or C material professionally, so he accepted the offer, grateful to be given the chance.

He felt like an idiot for wasting the opportunity this season.

He didn’t produce the way he knows he can, and he let his stupid jealousy of Steve get in the way of everything. It’s not like he wanted the responsibility of being captain. He knows now he probably isn’t cut out for any type of leadership role with the team.

“I thought the coaches?” Eddie frames it as a question because now he isn’t sure.

“They wanted to name Hagan. I suggested you instead.”

Eddie’s breath catches. “You suggested me? Why? You fucking hate me.”

“I don’t hate you,” Steve raises a brow and gestures at their current state. “I don’t sleep with people I hate.”

“I thought it was spur of the moment! Like you were so mad at me that the only thing you could do to get it out of your system was fuck me!”

Eddie’s head is spinning.

“I mean, it was spur of the moment. I never had any intentions of acting on anything I felt for you.”

Eddie’s head is going to explode.

“Harrington. You’re really making my head hurt. Like, I have never felt this confused after getting fucked.”

Steve laughs, which doesn’t help anything. It almost makes it worse.

He crawls back up so he’s only inches from kissing Eddie.

“I chose you. They said I had to pick someone who would compliment me on and off the ice and you were the first and only choice I could make. You’re an incredible player and the only defenseman I trust on this fucking roster,” Steve leans his head forward, resting his forehead against Eddie’s. “If I’m annoyed with you, it’s because I’m annoyed at myself. I’m making your job harder by losing the room. I don’t even know how it happened.”

“You haven’t lost the room,” Eddie interrupts, placing his hand on Steve’s hip. “They love you. You’re the hero.”

“I don’t wanna be the only guy who comes through, though. I want everyone to succeed.”

“They will. It’s just not our year. It happens. We started off bad and we never got back on track.”

Steve huffs out a breath. “It’s my job to make it work.”

“It’s everyone’s job to make it work. You can’t do it by yourself. They don’t hand Stanley Cups to a player, they hand them to a team.”

Steve smirks. “They do hand them to a player first, though.”

Eddie smacks him. “Don’t argue with me. I’ve had my brains fucked out of my head.”

They stare at each other, both of them smiling fondly.

It’s such a stark difference to everything they’ve been this whole season. Eddie doesn’t know how to handle the electricity between them. He thought it would fade once they were done, once Steve cleaned up and they got dressed. In the morning, he’d leave, and they’d go back to being a mediocre team and he’d probably end up traded or losing the A.

But now, he’s looking at Steve with something he’s pretty sure is affection, maybe even love. It’s ridiculous, which is why he isn’t gonna say anything.

“So, are we good?” Steve asks.

It’s such a jock thing to say. It throws Eddie off yet again.

“Um. Yeah.” He pulls away slightly, considers turning around and getting under the blankets. “We’re good. Hit the showers or whatever.”

“Can I kiss you again?”

Eddie has got to figure out how to get a read on this guy. Seriously, the whiplash he’s getting from Steve’s words and actions might break his neck.

“You want to?”

“I don’t kiss people I don’t want to kiss.”

“Alright, then.”

It’s so soft, it practically melts what little brain Eddie has left. He’s not sure he’s ever been kissed like this, like he’s precious and like this moment needs to be cherished.

“Are you still gonna be a bitch?” Eddie ruins it.

Or, he thinks he does. But Steve is just smiling at him, amused, like he wants nothing more than Eddie’s attitude.

“Depends on if you’re gonna keep giving me problems.”

“Oh, so this is like a thing for you.”

“What?”

“You like disciplining me. Oh, this will be so fun.”

Steve shakes his head and falls against the pillows. Eddie turns his own head to smile at him.

“You didn’t answer me,” he says after a minute of just watching Steve exist in his bed.

“You answered yourself.”

“You’re irritating.”

“So are you.”

“It’s not a competition.”

“Everything is a competition,” Steve turns his head to look at Eddie, smirking. “And I’m winning.”

“We’ll see about that.”

[steddieprompts]

Another cutesy little steddie thing. all fluff. Post vecna. 1648 words.

---

It’s not that Eddie was a wuss…

Ok maybe he was, but still this was a terrifying prospect… asking Steve Harrington out.

It didn’t help that he was getting advice from a 15 year old.

“Do you think he likes you back?”  Dustin asked, tapping a pencil against his chin.

“I don’t know, Henderson,” Eddie ran his hands over his face.  What was he doing?  “You’re supposed to be helping me figure that out.”

Dustin tapped his chin again and looked at the ceiling.

In all honesty, Eddie would usually talk to Jeff about this stuff, but he had to be visiting his family in Ohio because of stupid Thanksgiving.

“Well, you guys hang out a lot, that’s gotta count for something.”  Dustin pointed out.

“You hang out a lot with Sinclair and Wheeler.  You wanna make out with them?”  Dustin pulled a face.  “That’s what I thought.”

“I am happily in a relationship, thanks.”  Dustin pointed out.

He always had a reason to point it out.

“I know, and I would like to be as well, so if we could get back to the discussion at hand…”

“Ok, ok… Well, Steve hasn’t really been dating recently… right?”

“No, he hasn’t.”

“Maybe that means something?”

“I don’t know… He says he just hasn’t met the right person yet…”

“Well… he used ‘person,’ not ‘girl!’  That’s a good sign!”  Dustin pointed his pencil at Eddie.

“Sure, but you’re missing a key point in that statement.”  Eddie sighed.  Dustin squinted at him.  “He’s met me, Dustin.”

Dustin’s eyebrows shot up.  “Fair point.”

Eddie dropped his face into his hands.  Dustin started up again.

“Your idea that Steve might like you is a hypothesis and science dictates that the only way to conclude if a hypothesis is correct is to prove it.  To run experiments.”

Eddie let out a belabored sigh.

“So, test it,” Dustin continued. “Ask Steve out.”

Eddie stared at Dustin, knowing he was right in his own little, nerd way.

“Yeah… Ok, alright, yeah, I’ll do it.”

\\\\\\\

The next day was movie night at Steve’s with the whole crew.  The kids, Nancy, and Robin were all in the living room putting out snacks and arguing about where they would sit.  Eddie figured now was as good a time as any.  He crossed over to the kitchen, meandering over to Steve who was waiting for the popcorn in the microwave.

“Hey.”  Eddie offered once he was a few feet away.  Nailed it.

“Hey,”  Steve looked over at him, “how’s physical therapy going?  I’ve been meaning to call you, see if you needed any help.”  Steve responded with a soft smile at Eddie, the kind that made all the nervous energy in him disappear.  The microwave beeped and Steve pulled the popcorn out, hissing when he grabbed the hot part of the bag before dropping it in one of the big plastic bowls he had waiting.

Eddie grabbed another bag out of the box, unfolded it and handed it to Steve.

“Uh, good, good, I guess.  I never really know if I’m doing the exercises right.  The paper instructions are shit.”

Steve laughed at that, “Yeah, I’ve been there.  I could come over some time, help you figure them out?”

“Uh, yeah, sure.  That would be great… actually.”  Eddie swallowed.  “But, uh, before that happens, I, uh, I have to ask you something.”  Eddie stumbled over the words before looking over his shoulder, making sure no one else would be witness to him getting shot down by Steve Harrington, even if he was in a house full of friends.

“Yeah?”  Steve turned toward Eddie, leaned his hip against the counter, the picture of nonchalance.

“Yeah,” Eddie cleared his throat, “Would you, uh, ever consider, maybe… shit. Start over.”  Eddie clamped his jaw in a grimace before starting again.  He couldn’t look at Steve yet.  If he saw any bit of apprehension or negative emotion, he would never actually get the full question out.  “Would you like to go out… on a date… with me?”

Eddie finally looked at Steve instead of the cabinet behind his head.  His initial look gave him nothing.  Steve looked the same, if not a little more still, a little more focused.  But he wasn’t saying anything.  The nervous energy was back with a vengeance and Eddie was starting to feel twitchy the longer Steve stared at him.

And then Lucas walked into the kitchen.

“Is this one ready?”  he asked, pulling the bowl with the popcorn bag in it across the counter.  The microwave behind Steve beeped.  He was still staring at Eddie.  Eddie was still staring at Steve.

“Uh-huh.”  Steve answered.

“Should I get that one out?”  Lucas asked.

“I’ll get it in a second,” Steve said, his eyes now roaming over Eddie’s face.

“I don’t mind.”  Lucas offered.

“Dude.”  Steve’s eyes finally left Eddie and he felt himself deflate a little bit, muscles twinging from where he had been clenching them.  “I’ll get it. Can you give us a minute?”

“Oh! Uh, yeah? Sure?”  Lucas replied, quickly grabbing the bowl and heading back towards the living room.

Steve’s eyes flicked back to Eddie and he felt suddenly compelled to talk.  Like a tidal wave, his insecurities drowned him.

“I’m sorry.  I shouldn’t have sprung this on you.  I’m not your type, I know. I—”

“Yes.”

“Don’t even know if…”  Eddie stopped to process what Steve said.  “Yes? Yes, I’m not your type or yes you… you want to…”

“Yes. I’ll go out with you.”

Eddie finally looked at Steve, really took him in instead of concentrating on not collapsing in on himself.  Steve looked almost… shy?  Nervous?  There was the slightest blush on his neck, the smallest, guarded smile.  He, Eddie now noticed, had been white knuckling his own arm ever since Eddie asked.

Interesting.

Eddie relaxed a little.  “Yeah?”

Steve’s smile grew bigger as he nodded. “Yeah.”

Eddie couldn’t help the smile that took over his face.  He did it.  He asked Steve out. And Steve said yes!  What’s more, Steve looked caught off guard in the best way possible.  “Oh, just you wait, Harrington.  I’m gonna wine and dine you like you’ve never been wined and dined before.” Eddie grinned.

“The popcorn’s getting cold! What’s taking you guys so long!”  Dustin yelled from the living room.

Steve turned to the microwave to get the popcorn and Eddie reveled in Steve’s smile.  The way it looked like he was restraining it, the way Steve looked lighter than he had in weeks.

They walked back to the living room together, and Eddie kicked Mike off the couch so he could sit next to Steve. Halfway through the movie, Steve slipped his hand into Eddie’s.  On impulse, he pulled Steve’s hand up to kiss the back of it, before shifting closer and leaning his head on Steve’s shoulder.  When he felt the press of Steve’s head on top of his he thought maybe he was dead.  Maybe the bats had finished him off and he was in heaven.

He would have to thank Dustin for pushing him to ask Steve.  He would never hear the end of it.

When the movie ended and everyone was leaving, Eddie hung around the living room so he would be the last to go.  He refolded the blankets, rewound the tape and put it back in its box, and picked up the popcorn bowls and candy wrappers.  He was in the kitchen throwing things out, thinking maybe he had enough time to run to the bathroom, when Steve reappeared.

“Everyone head out?”  Eddie asked as Steve approached him.

“Mhmm.”  He replied before stepping around the kitchen island and stopping in front of Eddie. “Coast is clear.”

“Oh yeah?” Eddie grinned, stepping closer.

“Mmm,” Steve hummed before leaning in, pressing his lips to Eddie’s.

Eddie had kissed quite a few people before, boys and girls alike, but this kiss with Steve.  It was different.  It filled him up, distracted him from everything else so that when his back hit the counter it almost startled him.

“Sorry.”  Steve hummed, pulling away.

“Don’t be.”  Eddie managed to get out before pulling Steve back in.  He was definitely in heaven.  Except in heaven, he wouldn’t be almost peeing his pants.  Curse that whole bottle of coke.

Eddie pulled back with a soft, ‘shit.’

“You okay?”  Steve asked.

“Yeah, fantastic, great. Except I think I’m about to pee my pants. Don’t go anywhere, Big Boy.”  Eddie said before practically running to the bathroom, Steve’s surprised laughter following him down the hall.

When he got back, Steve was washing the popcorn bowls and pizza plates from earlier in the night, sweater pushed up to his elbows, the locks of hair hanging in his eyes swinging with his movements.  Eddie stepped up behind him and wrapped his arms around Steve’s waist.

“No one has ever asked me out.”  Steve said after a few seconds.

“What?”  Eddie let go in surprise, moving next to Steve so he could see his face.  “Seriously?”

Steve nodded.

“The way girls talked about you I would have thought they would be lining up.”  Eddie mused.

“No. I’m the guy, you know?  I mean they definitely dropped hints, but none of them asked me.”

Eddie reveled in that for a second.  He was the first person to ask Steve Harrington out.

“So, how does it feel being on the receiving end?”  Eddie asked, nudging Steve.

“So good.”  Steve smiled at him, the sincerity of his words bleeding out of him so much that Eddie had to dart forward and peck him on the cheek.

“Where do you want to go?”  Eddie asked.

“You said you were gonna wine and dine me,” Steve replied, “I trust you.”

Those words sent a bolt of pure reassurance through Eddie.  “Oh, Steve Harrington,” he half sing-songed, half chuckled, “I’m gonna date you so hard.”

[seamlesssleep]

thinking about this and the role chris actually plays in eddie's relationships.

ana was definitely an instance of him working backwards from chris as well as focusing on what was expected of him from his upbringing and the firehouse who push him because they see their widowed friend and not a closeted gay man. marisol was less to do with chris but he does readily put her in a sort of mothering role. chaperoning dates and having her babysit Twice in One Week during the tommy mania. and chris is the one who gets him to call her in the first place.

but the marisol relationship also comes at a point where he's increasingly scared of ending up alone. and everyone is pushing him towards women bc again they do not know his deal. and it is not insignificant that buck died and came back besotted with a death doula who seeeees him. but either way he has to face the fact that he can't just be eddie the widower and eddie the father and nothing else. but being eddie the single man instead of eddie the widower means he has to deal with being eddie the husband ("im not going to marry vanessa just because you say so" in response to being set up on One Date) and he does not want to be that (to a woman).

so then when there is an obvious conflict in his relationship with marisol he wants to be given an out by other people but they can't give him an out that seems fair because for the third time they do not know his deal. but the relationship never really recovers from that move-in fail.

then kim was about chris in a Way but about the father he wanted to be to chris and the husband/man he wants to be. which are contradictory. leading to the dissonance of him imagining bringing chris' mom back to him but also taking care to not let chris see kim. his desires to be the good husband/man vs christopher's need for a father.

but back to the buddie of it all.

buck watches chris yes but he's also involved in eddie's life outside of that and consistently. chris is a part of eddie's life + buck wants to be a part of eddie's life + eddie wants buck to be a part of his life = eddie and buck want buck to be a part of chris' life.

it's not the same as his relationships with women because once he's in the relationship he has to deal with the fact that he doesn't really like being in that relationship. he doesn't want to be a husband (to a woman) but he loves being a father. so it's easier to interact with women he's dating through chris and shy away from meaningfully involving them in the rest of his life.

but buck and eddie are intertwined in each other's lives so fully there is no hope of extrication.

so full of various eddienalysis thoughts today. like for example i think the idea that buck and eddie need to figure out what their relationship is without chris is pretty interesting. because i don't think that's a wrong thing to wonder at all it's just that i think it buys into eddie's insanity a little bit. because it does kind of lean into the assumption that eddie does do everything for chris all the time, rather than into the truth, which is that he himself needs to believe he does everything for chris all the time, including making buck whatever he is in their lives. but like buck didn't just happen to land in the role of co-parenting chris because he is just so so so good with kids. his special, separate dynamic with chris didn't spontaneously erupt into existence. it happened because eddie wanted it to. because eddie wanted buck, and wants him, so he invites him in. having buck in this specific capacity, where he's functionally not just replacing eddie's wife but fulfilling the role in a way she couldn't, is something that eddie can easily filter through chris, but it's not happening because of chris or for chris. that's all eddie. that's all buck and eddie. their relationship will be what it's always been. the question is more like, which specific pieces of it are they willing to accept as being fundamental desires rather than existing for the sake of the kid? when chris is gone they'll still want to be parents together. but that's what they won't talk about!

[acowardinmordor]

Found this is in my drafts when I went to reopen a a different continuation of this. It ends where it ends. At least its not mid-sentence. if it prompts you to something, have fun with it but I'm gonna continue the other one bc I have no memory of what I was going to do with this.

Sort of a second part of this. It is Not Complete, and I'm posting exactly what I found in my drafts:

Idk if this is going to become something usable. But I’m at the best point of an edible, so let’s do this.

Murray and Nancy and Hop working together are only able to confirm the church group that the Harringtons made a recent donation to. Yeah, that’s gotta be where Steve is, but every single lead they chase says that the group doesn’t have anything that could even possibly be “help” for a queer kid.

The Harringtons havent made their son part of their public image since he was 10 years old and cute enough to be useful. It doesn’t stand out that they don’t mention him after they return to DC. Summer goes on, harvesting starts, the kids return to high school, now with El and Will back. No one likes to say it’s because they’re worried the UD is still a threat, but yeah, that anxiety is part of it. Steve is the other part.

Will only got to have one conversation with Steve about the alibi before Steve vanished. He won’t tell anyone what they talked about, and he’s viscerally, constantly scared by where he thinks Steve is. Lucas and Mike are pretty good at acting like they’re not worried. Erica rages. Dustin flips between furious at the Harringtons, furious at Steve, and furious at Eddie. Max hobbles out of the room if anyone tries to mention Steve in her presence.

Robin defers college for a year. She knows she would flunk out if she tried right now. Eddie, on the good days, teases her that if she didn’t flunk out, she’d panic-study and graduate cum laude with six new languages and two degrees. On the bad days they don’t say much at all.

They do start working with a very small group of activists in Indianapolis. Nancy found them on accident while investigating the places Steve could be. They’re the opposite of what she was looking for. A group has started a tiny version of a rainbow railroad, leaving flyers and messages with their information. All of it subtle enough to hide. If they need to get out, get somewhere safe, they can contact, and the railroad will help.

Robin helps with a bit of the research and writing they need. Eddie does some of the follow up calls, using a dozen strange voices to be a dozen random businesses calling to reach whoever asked for help, without raising suspicion.

It doesn’t help Steve. They can’t help Steve. They can’t even find him.

And you’d think that eventually Steve would call the hotline and ask for help, so Eddie could return the favor and save him. No.

Dustin wakes up to a loud noise a few hours after midnight, during a heavy snow storm. It’s in that dead week between Christmas and New Year when Steve comes back. And he goes first to Dustin.

[rocknrollsalad]

rating: gen cw: drinking (not underage, they're all old enough, it's the future) tags: it's probably the 90s, the older crew, karaoke, holidays, pining eddie munson, steve harrington is full of surprises word count: 967

written for @steddieholidaydrabbles prompt "sing"

-

One of the hardest parts about harboring a crush on your best friend was the BEST FRIEND part. Eddie had plenty of crushes in his time. He fell for people easily and hard. There’d even been a long, long list of guys like Steve but they were always more enemies than anything. It was easy to squash the stupid crush when the only thing they did was make Eddie’s life hell. Not in the fun way either.

Steve, on the other hand, was always around. He’d spent months by Eddie’s side as he recovered. Before that, they’d fought actual monsters together. Now they spent most nights together, Eddie had memorized his phone number, and even group hangouts involved Steve nearly every time.

Eddie spent more time with Steve than anyone else in his life and that was actively trying not to. Which meant this stupid fucking crush only got worse. Eddie was one slumber party away from writing Mr. Eddie Harrington all over his notebook or some shit.

Naturally, he did the only thing he could and enlisted his friends to ruin this for him. The boys in Corroded Coffin had been mocking Eddie for his crushes since some of them found out what crushes were. Exactly like good friends should. So it was time to use that to his benefit.

After Gareth got it out of his system that if he had to spend any time with Steve he’d probably have a massive crush on him too, they all agreed. By the new year, Eddie would be over this, they’d ruin the crush and Eddie and Steve could peacefully live their lives as friends. It was perfect.

Gareth and Freak did a great job of mocking everything about Steve. Eddie wasn’t sure what side Jeff was playing though. He’d point out stuff knowing damn well Eddie was already obsessing over it. His jokes almost seemed to encourage Eddie but then he’d mock Eddie for being into the very things he pointed out.

It was starting to work, though. There was this internal monologue running constantly in his friend’s voice. Steve eats his sandwiches weirdly. What kind of idiot trips over nothing? Why’s he always fighting with Dustin?

There had to be a name for this, some kind of psychological trick that Eddie was putting too much stock in. Whatever worked, though. It didn’t need a name, it needed success.

Everything was going great so when the gang wanted to go out and have a few drinks, blow off some steam, and recover from the holidays, Eddie didn’t think anything of it. He was over Steve so what'd it matter?

Jeff was the only Corroded Coffin member able to make it but that was even better. Then Eddie wasn’t dependent upon Steve for entertainment. Nancy, Jonathan, Argyle, Robin, Vickie, Steve, it was a who’s who of old-enough-to-drink members of the crew.

The bar ended up a little too packed with college kids home on break, taking over spots that weren’t theirs. So everyone walked down the street to another. Almost everyone. Jonathan and Argyle opted to go home but getting Byers out at all always felt like a win so no one said anything.

This bar felt more Eddie’s speed, even as he watched a few of the others try not to comment about the sticky table or dusty decorations. After a few drinks, no one was going to care.

What happened after a few drinks was karaoke. Something that started normal enough, the lot of them watching the regulars get up and try to croon some Christmas classic or sing like they were expecting a record deal. Normal stuff.

It didn’t take long before Robin and Vickie were up singing a duet. Steve wasted the pocket change to call and try to get Jonathan and Argyle to come back. Jeff followed suit, though, and called for Gareth and Freak to come down. That Eddie actually wanted to happen.

A very drunk Nancy got up and mumbled her way through Madonna as the rest of them laughed and cheered like she really was the material girl. The regulars were fighting to get the spots in between the rowdy kids who’d crashed the party.

Jeff and Eddie were arguing over which Metallica song to do when Steve walked up. Eddie froze. He’d never needed the rest of his band more. Steve better suck at this.

Rich Girl by Hall and Oates started and Robin whined, cupping her hands to shout at Steve “I thought you were going to do Carly Simon!”

Steve flipped her off and earned a chorus of cheers from their friends.

The song itself didn’t start off spectacular, something closer to talk-singing than really belting it out, but Steve put his own spin on it. The nerves were clear but he had this buttery smooth voice that gained confidence as the song went on.

Thirty seconds in, though, and he hit that “Don’t you know,” with soul he hadn't earned, they were too young to feel anything that hard. Robin and Vickie were on their feet, screaming like he was some Tiger Beat heartthrob who’d worked their name into the song. Eddie, meanwhile, was sinking lower and lower into his seat.

He could handle a lot of things but Steve being musically talented on top of all the other great things about him? It was more than Eddie could bear. He was only human.

Jeff knew and failed at his one task. He could have talked about how awful Hall and Oates were or that Steve was a little pitchy, anything to take some of the power out of this moment. Instead, he gave Eddie a pathetic look and asked “You okay, man?”

“I’m going to marry him one day.”

"I know, buddy. I know."

[katyawriteswhump]

What happens in ’88, stays in '88 💝

@steddiemas ‘ends and beginnings’ prompt, ‘first’ @steddieholidaydrabbles prompt, ‘midnight’ and @steddiebingo fill, ‘room-mates au’ thank you to everyone who runs these lovely events💝

Rating: M; WC: 986 CW: mentions of smoking and drug use, sexual content (not particularly explicit); Tags: roommates au, idiots to lovers, friends to lovers, Buckingham. Summary: University room-mates Steve and Eddie have gone from hating each other to getting along just fine. Then they go and spoil it all by kissing and exit strategies must be deployed… right?

💝💝💝💝💝

The catastrophic first kiss occurred in Chrissy and Robin’s dorm room, during their end-of-semester party.

Chrissy and Robin were making out on a huge beanbag, engaged in some serious mutual boob grope-age. Steve attempted to look anywhere-but-there, while Eddie cracked up at Steve's hilarious blushes. With Debbie Gibson’s ‘Shake your love’ blaring from the stereo, he gyrated around Steve, hips wiggling, only a channel of steamy air between them.

“Wanna dance, Big Boy?”

“There’s only us four! Not that kinda party!”

“What kinda party is it then?”

“I dunno, I…”

Eddie was being a total dork, sambaing crotch-to-crotch with a wide-eyed, scared-shitless increasingly-pissed-off Steve.

Eddie grinned like an idiot. So did Steve. Okay, maybe he wasn’t that pissed off.

It happened.

Steve grabbed a handful of Eddie’s hair, mashing their faces together. Eddie plunged his tongue between those perfect teeth and invaded the rear of Steve’s jeans, enjoying a handful of that glorious ass.

They staggered apart when Chrissy whooped ear-piercingly loud, and Robin launched a party-popper above their heads.

The naked horror in Steve’s eyes reflected Eddie’s car-wreck of a reality-check.

“Fuck,” muttered Steve, plucking a streamer from his hair.

Eddie grimaced dramatically. Still wouldn’t have minded another taste of those saliva-soaked kiss-swollen lips.

They figured it out next morning, while packing to leave. Obviously, it was BAD. They’d hated each other for the first month of being roommates, had only recently figured out how to be friends.

“What happened in ’88, stays in ’88, right?” said Steve, neatly folding his underpants, which he ironed. Ribbing Steve about it would never get old, though right now, Eddie wasn’t in the mood. “Start next year like it never happened.”

“Okay.”  Eddie swallowed hard. Nope. Don’t care. “No calling over the holidays. Zero contact.”

“Wasn’t gonna call anyway.” Steve’s tragic puppy-dog eyes undermined his bitchy tone.

After Steve hauled ass with his army of Armani suitcases, Eddie muttered: “Preppy douchebag.”

…

Steve struggled through Christmas. His parents' New Year’s Eve soiree was another matter.

“You really haven’t a girl to invite?” asked his father. “Never mind. I’ve asked the Wheelers. Including Nancy.”

His father winked.

Steve needed ‘out.’ He told them he’d had an invite from Chrissy—whose dad was running for Congress, so they’d not argue—then spent New Year’s Eve driving.

Dreaming of the day he’d be brave enough to simply say ‘no.’

And dreaming about Eddie, which knotted his insides and made him utterly miserable.

It would be good to figure things out alone.

Or not.

When he arrived at uni, Metallica blasted from his dorm-window and shook the foundations of the building.

“What the fuck?” yelled Eddie, when Steve edged their door open.

“Nice to see you too, Munson.”

Eddie had returned early, so his uncle could meet old friends. Wayne wanted to skip the reunion for Eddie, who in turn told a white-lie about an unmissable New Year’s Eve gig.

Steve sighed, shoulders slumping: “I’ll sleep in Robin’s bed. Got a key.”

“Yeah, to her room. Not their house.” Edde beamed daftly. “Fancy a little breaking and entering?”

Steve didn’t. Besides, as Eddie pointed out, they’d gotta negotiate the awkwardness sooner or later.

“Oh, I’m over it,” Steve said tightly. He wasn’t, but Eddie clearly was, so…

Eddie shrugged. “Guess I better find my headphones.”

“Nah, leave your music. Just… not too deafening.”

It was better than the torturous silence of his pointless thoughts.

He’d missed everything about being with Eddie. Even the stuff he hated himself for, like how he’d bitch when Eddie ‘borrowed’ his shower-gel then practically get high inhaling Eddie-ness tinged with those dark-cherry aromas. He missed even the stench of Eddie returning from a late-night Corroded Coffin gig, wired, sweaty… smokin’ hot.

He’d missed their casual banter most of all. Everything was so messed-up now.

He sat on his bed, face-palming with a slap.

“Got a few beers in,” said Eddie. “Not enough to get smashed but—”

They sat perched at the open window, so Eddie could smoke—couldn’t risk setting off alarms when they were the only students around to blame. This had become a late-night ritual, sometimes sharing a joint, giggling, stargazing.

Tonight, they shared a single beer and laughed more than ever before.

They kissed.

’Course they fucking did.

…

This time, Eddie wedged his hand down the front of Steve’s jeans. They mauled each other’s mouths like their lives depended on it.

Eddie wound up crashed against Steve, who was flattened against a wall, pants half-mast, while they hand-jobbed each other silly.

“Whoops,” panted Steve, once they were both thoroughly sticky.

Eddie lifted his chin from Steve’s shoulder to check his watch. “11.37 pm! Still ’88, dude.”

“Yeah, yeah. What happened in ’88, stays in ’88.” Steve nudged Eddie off, shivered. The radiator struggled to replace the warm air they’d let out while stargazing.

He looked so sad that Eddie wanted to kiss him again.

As if it might kiss away the dumb feelings surging in his own chest.

“Fucking HATE New Year,” said Steve. “Gonna shower.”

Eddie joined him. They kissed under the trickle of warm-ish water and then they were totally ready to jerk-off together again. So they did.

“Shit!” yelped Steve, striding from the bathroom with his towel around his waist.

Eddie, already in bed, was fantasizing about licking Steve’s chest. It took a moment to clock why Steve was so distressed.

Midnight had passed.

It was 1989.

Steve stood there, motionless, staring at Eddie, like Eddie could fix this somehow.

Which actually, he could. He rolled out of his bed and into Steve’s: “C’mon, Big Boy, room for two.”

Steve grinned and climbed in, and they snuggled together for warmth.

“We got a whole year to screw this up now, Harrington,” he murmured into Steve’s fragrant blow-dried hair.

“Or make it work?” whispered Steve, waaaaay too earnestly. “Happy New Year, Eddie.”

“Back at ya’, Babe,” smiled Eddie.

If just for now, it was.

💝💝💝💝💝

No pressure tags: @wheneverfeasible 💚 My stranger things fic on AO3

[dreamwatch]

Written for @steddieholidaydrabbles.

Together, Always

Prompt Day 14 : Together | Word Count: 1000 | Rating: T | CW: MCD, Grief | Tags: Steve Harrington & Wayne Munson, Secret relationship, Good Parent Wayne Munson, Post S4, Sad, Loss of a Child, Angst, Mourning

Again, very late. I've been sitting on it because I wasn't happy with it but I need to set it free and move on!

There’s no television on, no radio. Wayne doesn’t much see the point in it; they don’t bring comfort, and there’s certainly no joy to be had. So he sits back in his chair with his whisky and does his best not to think. Some days that’s easier than others. Today is hard.

He hears the gravel-churn of tires outside the trailer. The trailer, not his trailer; one provided to him to say sorry. No one ever told him what they were saying sorry for. It’s cold and clinical, most of their possessions were lost back in March. But its a roof, and a bed, and that’s really all he needs these days.

There’s no knock at the door, despite headlights lighting up the inside of the trailer, so he grabs the ever-present shotgun from beside his recliner and heads outside onto the porch. He recognises the car immediately.

The driver’s door opens and Steve Harrington steps out of the car. Wayne lowers the gun.

“Guess you better come in.”

Steve stands awkwardly in the kitchen while Wayne grabs a soda from the fridge. He bought a six pack of Coke for Dustin, back when he used to visit. There’s still three cans left. He hands one to Steve.

“I wasn’t sure you’d be here,” says Steve. “Thought you’d be working.”

Wayne drains the last of his whisky. “Na, not much work around this year.”

It’s a lie. There’s more work than ever; they lost men back in March and the town rebuild has put pressure on the plant. There’s hours to be had, especially for a single man with nothing better to be doing. But not for a man who’s boy was accused of murder, and the way things are going Wayne’s expecting to be canned any day now. The bit that sticks in his craw is all the Christmas’s he had to work, either for the money or because no one would swap a shift with him, leaving Eddie alone. Now he has all the time in the world, but he doesn’t have his boy.

“Your folks home this Christmas?”

“Yeah,” Steve nods. “We didn’t do a lot, but… yeah.”

Wayne does his best to muster up a smile. He doesn’t have much use for them anymore so he has no idea how it reads until he gets a wan smile in return. 

“How have you been?” Steve asks, and how does a man that has lost everything answer that?

“Getting by,” is what he settles on. 

Steve sits rigid in the chair but there was a time when he’d stand in Wayne’s kitchen in nothing but his boxers cooking breakfast for all of them. When he would laze on the sofa, Eddie tucked in close to him, while they all watched a basketball game. When he could be in Wayne’s home and be as much a part of it as Eddie.

“I’m so sorry, Wayne. I should have come before. I don’t even know why I didn’t, I just—” he swipes at his nose, “I was a fucking coward.”

“You’re here now.”

Steve shakes his head.

“I let you deal with all of that on your own. He’d have been so mad at me.”

Steve was the one who called him from the hospital to tell him that Eddie was hurt. The two of them spent weeks posted like sentinels at Eddie’s bedside as he fought infections and complications, until a warm day in April when Eddie’s eyes cracked open just for a moment and Wayne hoped, before they slipped closed again.

He likes to think Eddie was saying goodbye, but then he’s an old fool.

“I thought I’d see you at the grave, but I guess we’ve been missing each other. I weed it, you know, and clean it…”

Wayne knows what cleaning it entails. He went there once, morbid curiosity when the headstone was finally placed. It had been less than a week before someone had daubed it in paint. 

“I miss him, Wayne. I fucking miss him.”

A single fat tear falls from Steve’s chin, though he doesn’t seem to notice, and Wayne wants to hold him but he doesn’t think he has the right.

He’s been waiting for this conversation but somehow it never felt right to chase after Steve, didn’t want to impose if the feelings Steve had for his boy had died right alongside him. Not that he would blame him, he’s young. But Steve’s here telling him that he’s been spending time in that place, well now it feels kind of cruel to not say it.

“He’s not there, Steve.”

Steve looks at him, brow dipped in confusion. “No, I know, heaven and all that, I get it, but—”

“No, Steve. I never buried Eddie. I didn’t want him there for people to do that to him. Boy never had a days peace in his life, he’s sure as shit getting it in death. I had him cremated. Put some of his ashes with his mom. I kept the rest.”

He gestures to the black urn, pride of place next to a photo of Eddie as a young boy, all wide eyes and toothless grin. 

“I thought you—” Wayne passes him a small white box, and his throat tightens. “You can put them in jewellery, you know?” He untucks the silver feather pendant from under his shirt. “I thought maybe you might want to….” 

Steve brushes his finger over the top of the box. It’s nothing special, just cardboard, Eddie’s name in gold on the top. But it’s better than Eddie rotting away in a grave for people to desecrate. Wayne just couldn’t stand for that.

“I know you’ll meet someone, maybe start a family—”

“No—”

“You will, and that’s okay. He’d want you to be happy. But you didn’t get very long and that cuts me, Steve. You made him happy. So maybe you can be together for a little longer, huh?”

“Always,” Steve chokes, before clearing his throat. “Always.”

[allthingssteddie]

Steve Harrington's mom tells him to bring a nice girl to their New Year's Eve party, he tells her he’s not with anyone but Steve's dad annoyed demands he bring someone and not like the other girls he’s dated. He threatens to disown Steve if he embarrassed him. Steve at this point doesn’t care anymore and decides to piss off his parents.

Steve approaches Eddie Munson at the Hellfire Club's table and Eddie's friends, including Gareth, give Steve dirty looks. Steve asks Eddie if he can come talk to him somewhere alone and Gareth tells him it’s not happening but Eddie, amused by Steve's request, agrees "What can I do for you, King Steve?" Steve cringes at the nickname but asks Eddie to pretend to be his boyfriend at his parents party and offers to pay him. Eddie agrees, but tells Steve it's going to cost him more then he’s offering they both agree on a price then that night of the party, Eddie arrives and charms Steve's father's business associates and boss. Steve's grandmother who Steve didn’t know that was showing up even shows Eddie how to cook.

However, Steve's parents are shocked and disapproving of their relationship. But try to keep it together because Steve’s dad boss thinks it great that Steve is gay and invites the whole family including Eddie to their vacation house. And I’m thinking the whole time Eddie and Steve are pretending to be together during this vacation they actually end up falling in love.

Also I can imagine one scene where Steve and Eddie are on his fathers boss yacht, and Steve sees Eddie with out his shirt and he’s shocked that Eddie is actually buff and he can’t help but stare and Eddie catches him and winks. And I would think Eddie couldn’t help but stare at Steve’s chest hair. Also their both over the top being lovey dovey trying to sell that their in love but at this point they actually are I would also think that they would be doing this to by themselves without them even realizing. Another thing I thought would be cute that Steve and Eddie have to share a bed but Steve offers to sleep on the floor and Eddie tells him there is enough room on the bed .

I love this idea so much I wish I could write this because I had so many ideas with cute moments. but I just don’t have the time with work unfortunately. And I wouldn’t want to have to rush this.

[cal-daisies-and-briars]

🐓🐓🐓🐓🐓🐓🐓🐓🐓🐓🐓🐓🐓🐓🐓🐓🐓🐓🐓🐓🐓🐓🐓🐓🐓🐓🐓🐓🐓🐓🐓🐓🐓🐓🐓🐓🐓🐓🐓

117 for 🐓:

---

 His first thought is sort of dramatic. Thieves. Thieves are coming for Buck and Mrs. Gladwell’s homes! To be fair, he heard a lot of Athena stories at Chrismtas dinner. 

He pauses his podcast and listens for a minute. And it is in listening that everything changes. 

“You have a key, just use a key,” comes a very familiar voice. Albeit, one he has not heard in person in half a year. 

“I can’t do that,” replies his favorite voice ever. 

Buck stiffens. What… What are they doing here?

“Why not? He gave it to you,” Chris says.

“Because he doesn’t know we’re here,” Eddie replies. “We can’t just barge into his house. What if…” 

“What if what? He’s not even home.” 

“Uh, nothing. It’s just rude. We can’t. We’ll just wait and surprise him when he gets here. It’s usually around this time.” 

Buck is grinning. He’s grinning. They came to surprise him? For New Year’s? That’s incredible.

“Okay, but, Dad, I really have to pee.” 

“Shoot. Fine, okay. We’ll unlock it, you go in there, and then come right back out and we’ll make it look like you never broke in.”

Buck is about to laugh out loud. Seems as good a time as any to give himself away.

“Or,” he says, walking around the corner and into view. Not just their view. Their view. He can see them. Right in front of him. Real. “I can unlock the door, and you don’t have to pretend anything.”

Eddie and Chris whip around to look at him. Christopher’s face breaks out in a huge, warm smile. 

“Buck! You’re here!” He beams. 

“I’m here?” Buck asks, striding over to them. “You’re here!”

He bends - though far less than he used to have to - to hug Chris. He wraps one arm around him, grabbing Eddie’s forearm with the other and squeezing. Like he needs to touch them both to make sure they’re actually real. 

“Surprise,” Eddie says sort of weakly. His voice sounds tight. 

Buck shifts his body a little, drops the hand holding Eddie’s arm, and opens the hug. 

“Come on, man, don’t make me choose,” he pleads.

Eddie laughs, then wraps his arms around both of them. For a too-short, precious moment, it’s all okay. Everything is okay. Something that has been broken since the spring is whole, and Buck feels a bone-deep sense of ease. He’s okay. They’re okay. They’re here. 

When Buck pulls away, he can’t hide the tears in his eyes. 

“Um, Buck,” Chris says.

“Yeah?” Buck asks.

“I love you and I missed you but can you open the door so I can pee?” 

Eddie and Buck both laugh. Buck steps in, pulls out his keys, and unlocks the door. 

“Make yourself at home,” Buck says. Like, please? Home. In this city. Where they belong?

Once Chris is gone, Buck turns to Eddie and pulls him into another hug. And… And it’s a bit different from the way they usually hug. For one, Buck is holding onto him so tight it hurts his arms. Two, Eddie lets his head drop onto Buck’s shoulder. It’s strangely intimate, for nothing at all happening. 

“What are you doing here?” Buck asks breathlessly when they part.

Eddie’s cheeks flush. “I miss you.”

“Eddie, god. I miss you, too.”

“Uh… I have something to say, and… And, I mean, I took a pretty big shot coming here, so can you listen before commenting?”

Buck blinks, surprised. “Yeah. Yeah, of course.”

Eddie nods and takes a deep breath. 

“I almost ruined my whole life this year, at various different points,” Eddie says. 

Buck frowns. Damn.

“And I don’t think I realized just how close I was to really sealing the deal, but luckily… Luckily, I have a pretty observant kid.”

Buck wants to cry. They must be really talking to each other again. They must be… Oh god. Chris came here. With Eddie. Are they back under one roof?

“One of the mistakes I made, clearly, was thinking I could… That I could just be somewhere you aren’t without being miserable.”

Buck can’t help the way his jaw just sort of drops. That’s like… The most romantic thing anyone has ever said to him! And it wasn’t even said romantically! Wait. Right? It wasn’t said romantically, right? 

[diaz911]

Moving in and Moving On (COMPLETE!)

I promised myself I would finish this fic before the end of 2024, and I just made it! Very proud and happy with how it all turned out. Please enjoy the end of Moving in and Moving On!

Pairing: Evan Buck Buckley / Eddie Diaz

Tags: Slow Burn | Hurt Evan “Buck” Buckley | Eddie Diaz Takes Care of Evan “Buck” Buckley | Domestic Fluff | Angst | Injury Recovery | Season 2 and 3

“I don’t have any pants!” Buck shouted frantically as he threw open the front door of the house. Eddie leaned out of his bedroom, dress shirt half buttoned up and lifted an eyebrow. “What?” “I don’t have any pants,” Buck repeated, punctuating each word like the meaning should be clear. “None?” Eddie asked, confused. Buck had literally left an hour ago to get clothes from his loft. Buck sighed. “I don’t have any dress pants to go with my uniform.” “Oh!” Eddie said, finally understanding. Any meeting with the Chief was a formal affair and they had both decided to wear their dress blues to make a good impression but … actually Eddie didn’t understand what was happening. “Wait why …?” “Maddie cut the leg off my only pair so I could wear them to your shield ceremony. They had to fit over my cast,” Buck explained before Eddie could finish his question. “Gotcha,” Eddie said, but couldn’t hide the fond smile cracking his lips at the effort Buck went to in order to attend his party. “You can wear a pair of mine, I got extra.” “Eddie we are not the same size,” Buck pointed out sadly. Eddie hummed thoughtfully. “Your legs do kind of go on forever.” “And your ass is like …” Buck held his hands out wide enough that Eddie raised an incredulous eyebrow. But Buck shook his head. “That’s a good thing Eddie, that’s a very good thing. Except when you’re trying to fit into each other clothes.”

Summary:

Buck learns his fate and our boys take a final step.

Chapter 15 is up on AO3! THIS BABY IS COMPLETE!

[kevjeanyves]

i just got here (and by that i mean i binged the whole show while studying for finals between november and december), but buddie can’t NOT go canon. not at this point. not with everything they’ve set up

bucks canonically bisexual. that’s a massive key component. the queerBAIT is now lying entirely on eddie’s shoulders. and in terms of bucks storyline, the horrible guy he dated was given a barebones personality…that resembles eddie (military, likes sports, had a serious relationship with a woman). almost every trait they gave That Guy resembles eddie (except eddie isn’t racist). they did that on purpose. buck, bothered, bewildered, bisexual or whatever it’s called was so centred on bucks relationship with eddie

plus the whole confessions “i’m not your last” moment, only for the LAST shot of that episode to be buck and eddie sitting side by side. confessions as a whole is such insane proof of impending buddie canon too…the whole focus on eddie finding joy, on eddie’s catholic guilt and guilt in general, on eddie not wanting to See himself both figuratively and literally because he’s scared of what he’ll find…josh’s speech applying to eddie but making no sense regarding that Other Guy (the glee thing made no sense regardless)

and THAT focus is so obviously pointing towards eddie being gay. eddie’s entire everything has always pointed towards him being gay, i can’t lie, but it’s getting so much more obvious. they’ve reached a point where nothing about eddie’s personal arc or journey makes any fucking sense UNLESS he’s gay, and every storyline is making it more obvious that they’ve realized it

his catholic guilt being brought up. not wanting to be intimate with a woman who represents god in his mind. sex, god, and shame all coming together in that episode, AND bobby bringing up that eddie does this thing in relationships where he makes excuses instead of examining how he really feels towards them…now im sure bobby doesn’t know eddie’s gay, but it invites the audience and eddie to examine his past behaviour towards female romantic partners. and every single thing about that priest/juice scene in confessions. catholicism guilt tied into sexuality again (“uh…n-no offence…i-im straight” to a priest like cmon)

and speaking of past relationships, eddie’s grief is at the forefront of his storyline too now. his main most pressing storyline being chris’s running away. eddie’s grief and complicated emotions towards shannon have always been something he struggles with, and in s7 we learn that chris has complicated feelings around his mom too. and at the end of s7…well. what a stupid fucking storyline, but grief is the driving force of the chasm between eddie and chris. this addresses the most important romantic relationship eddie had with a woman (obviously shannon), and hopefully the relationship he has with his son, and both of those people are excuses eddie might be making in his own head to justify not even questioning his sexuality. eddie and shannon had chris when they were teenagers, eddie’s been a dad literally his entire adult life. does he know he can be gay if he’s been married? if he has a kid? does he know he’s allowed to even question his own sexuality? it’s probably what michael felt, but more complicated

AND michael stayed with athena thinking she could “fix” him. eddie said in s7 that he thinks he’s broken and can’t be fixed, to a woman he’d been unadvisedly pursuing, a woman who looked just like his own wife…

then, the “you think being a cheerleader makes your son weak?” storyline. cheerleading is seen as feminine and there are a lot of stereotypes about male cheerleaders and feminine men. both cheerleading and being gay are seen as feminine. the cheerleader called eddie “dad” and hen pointed out to chim that it his emergency is difficult for eddie because he misses his own kid AND the conversation with the cheerleaders dad where he relates it to his own current situation, which connects the storyline to eddie and chris. but the “you think [stereotypically feminine thing] makes your son weak?” brings eddie and ramon to mind. because eddie was raised to be hypermasculine and Not Weak, never weak. what would ramon think if eddie comes out as gay?

and, finally, the focus on eddie finding joy. on eddie doing any introspection at all. on eddie Seeing himself and understanding himself and being kinder to himself. on eddie realizing he deserves to be happy. on eddie realizing he doesn’t have to hide behind his (ridiculously adorable) moustache, that he doesn’t have to hide who he is

s7 was for bi buck. s8 is for gay eddie AND likely for buddie. eddie’s currently trying to see Himself and make amends with his past (and because that went badly, making amends with chris…the child he sorta partially legally gave to buck, in a way…). buck’s trying to not lose hope over the future, wondering who’ll be the last to love him (or wondering if he’s loveable at all). eddie’s true self AND bucks endgame are called into question at the same time…now maybe i just got here But

[steddieme]

steve and eddie are not in agreement about what their song is.

steve insists it's waterloo by abba because that was the song they first danced to together. eddie found steve cooking in the kitchen with the song playing on the radio and he took steve's hand and teasingly sang along and steve took that as an invitation for a duet and he spun him around until they were full on dancing and taking turns singing to each other. steve thinks that was their first cute romantic moment, even if it was before they got together, and that's special and that makes it their song.

eddie insists it's i was made for lovin' you by kiss because that song prompted their first kiss. eddie was humming the song while practicing it on his guitar. and steve started singing the lyrics under his breath. and his voice was so soft and pretty and he knew the lyrics because he'd been spending so much time with eddie and. and eddie suddenly couldn't contain himself and straight up tackled steve and kissed him. he thinks that's like the most romantic way to get together and that's why it should be their song.

and like neither of them care about the song itself at this point, to be honest. now it's just about when their relationship truly started. steve is convinced that it began with their dance and they made it official when eddie kissed him. eddie thinks that's not how it works, mainly because he was still half convinced steve was straight when they were dancing. (he's not proud of that one.)

robin makes fun of them both whenever the topic comes up. and it comes up weirdly often, since they're both weirdos and eddie is obsessed with music. she lords the fact that her and steve have their own song they both agree on over eddie's head. it's total eclipse of the heart by bonnie tyler because their souls intertwined in that moment in that bathroom when they made fun of tammy thompson.

but at one point they kind of give up because there's only so many times you can endure robin buckley's judgemental stare. so they just agree to call them both their songs.

[petrichor102]

It just occurred to me that apart from:

• Joyce being on the phone constantly

• Jonathan and Nancy calling each other

• Mike writing "a book of letters" to El

• Hellfire and crushing on Eddie (and some possible guilt from that)

• All his friends growing apart from him

• Being in a new school with bigger assignments and bigger bullies

• The pressure of being in a perfect family (because let's face it—on the surface, the Wheelers are a perfect family)

• Max vanishing from society

• The time difference, and

• y'know general homophobia

that maybe Mike was just too scared to reach Will when they were available to talk. Let's ignore the fact that El, Mike's own family, his friends, or his bullies might have suspected something between them and focus solely on Mike and Will, from Mike's perspective. Fatigue from anxiety is real.

Mike's been writing her a book of letters—El's been writing him a book of lies. She's popular, happy, accelling in school, and adapting to her new home, while Will is painting for "someone he likes" and "maybe it is for a girl."

Like that stupid "Angela" bi—

Whatever the reason, Will has (unintentionally) grown distant from Mike and Mike has been coping with this for six months with no one to talk to: Dustin is sick of his complaining, Hellfire needs him to give 110% during Eddie's campaigns, Eddie is hot, Lucas is popular, Max is MIA, and his family is cold to him. He's understandably yet unimaginably lonely. Yet, he doesn't reach out?

Well, what if his complaining pushes Will away? What if it brings him down? What if he doesn't care and he just... grew up? Like Mike told him to? What if Will the Wise wises up to Mike's feelings if he keeps pestering him? What if he doesn't just push him away but Will violently rejects him? How will he live knowing Will abhors him?

What if he feels the same way?

Then, what about El? What about Eddie? What about everything? Loving Will will be the end of everything! They'll never be friends again if they break up. They could fizzle out just as quickly as Nancy and Jonathan seemingly are. And what if he pushes his friends away the same way he pushed Will away by focusing too much on El? If they fight again, Mike can't bike two-and-a-half thousand miles across the country to bang on his door, begging for forgiveness. No, it'll be over. It used to be easy! Why won't Will just pick up the phone?!

So, yeah. All bullet points aside, with the time Mike has left to think about Will, Mike is exhausted and scared. The radio silence he's getting from Will is actually driving him crazy. Neither of them is the villain of the Rink-O-Mania fight.

[luckybyler]

What are your wishes for 9-1-1 on 2025? (We listen and don’t judge):

Mine are:

1. Buddie canon

2. Tim Minear getting a planner AND USING IT

3. An El Paso episode full of Diaz family drama. I’m talking everything from Chris’ custody to a fight over Eddie’s sexuality, to Tia Pepa’s deep dark secret, to who gets to inherit Los terrenos de la abuela and it turns out there’s a secret treasure buried beneath them, etc.

4. A musical episode

5. A B shift episode. I wanna see our favourite people from the point of view of other firefighters and first responders at the 118 and other houses

6. Athena and Bobby having to be a couple outside of permanent chaos

7. Find a way to either give Buck’s baby to him or to officially retcon that stupid sperm donor storyline. “Just pretend it didn’t happen” doesn’t do it.

8. A bottle episode. Maybe a Quiet shift with zero calls.

9. An episode where they’re reunited with ALL of their parents - the Buckleys, the Diaz, the Hans, the Grants, Karen’s parents if they exist, Hen’s mom and Clive… and have them clash in a wonderful horrible-parenting-off. Please invite Abuela and Tia Pepa too just to watch. And bonus if the children are there as well. I wanna see them calling each other out and flinging uncomfortable truths at everyone else and stuff. Throw in a narcissistic “heart attack” or two. The drama would be delicious.

10. Decent screen time for Chris. That goes hand-in-hand with point 2.

11. A love interest for Josh

12. A FOREST FIRE as the big disaster. Because this is LA.

What are your wishes for 2025?