#background steve harrington

[morganbritton132]

Eddie spends a month trying to tell Steve that he’s gay without actually saying it because Steve has decided as his adult male best friend that he needs to get Eddie a girlfriend. Eddie does not want a girlfriend.

Eventually he’s just like, “You know how Robin is…Robin? I’m like that, but Eddie.”

“Riiiight,” Steve says but what he’s apparently thinking is, ‘Eddie likes alternative chicks. Should’ve guessed that.’ Because the setups don’t stop.

Everything comes to an eventual point and Eddie just explodes like ‘gay! gay!’ His noodle arms are flailing all over the place so Steve thinks he’s gesturing at him.

Steve’s just like, “No, man. I’m not gay. I like girls too.”

“What now?” Eddie stops. “Too? I had a chance this whole time?!”

“What are you talking about? I’m not a girl.”

“Oh my god.”

[littleststarfighter]

Blue masquerade, strangers look on

When will they learn this loneliness?

Temptation heat beats like a drum

Deep in your veins, I will not lie -Cry little Sister.

On insta I said I was going to do a special picture for Friday the 13th as it's also my birthday. And everyone seemed to agree it was to be Lost Boys or Steddie. So here's Lost Boys Steddie. Steve thinks it's just an innocent beach date and he’s embarrassed by his ketchup accident. And Eddie is trying so hard not to reveal his not so innocent vampire tendencies. Or you could say I just wanted to draw cute guys in leather 😁

prints + patreon

[dreamsteddie]

Actually, Steve and Robin spend every Valentine's Day together after Starcourt with no exceptions ever.

It starts that first February after summer when Steve is still in a rut and Robin is newly pining after Vicky and they are both miserable. Steve hates seeing Robin upset so he says fuck it and asks her to be his Valentine that year. He goes all out with the gifts getting flowers, Jolly Ranchers (chocolate gives Robin headaches), and a new ring to add to her stacks. They have a fancy dinner on Mr. Harrington's card at Enzos and go back to Steve's for a movie night.

The next year Valentine's comes along just before Steve gets with Eddie and Robin gets with Vicky and they are deep in pining mode at that point. They spend the day together eating the expensive icecream and listening to their sapiest records. Eventually Steve breaks out the wine and they poor it directly into their pints and get pleasantly wine drunk and pass out on the couch.

After that, it kind of just becomes a tradition. The next year they are both dating their partners but they both decide that Valentine's Day is a platonic holiday now and spend the day together. Their partners are a little put out but are mollified by promises to have Romantic Valentine's a week later. That year Robin is off at college an hour away (Eddie and Steve moved to a town not far from her school in Chicago) so she insists on planning it all and has him come out to see her and she takes him all around the town.

No matter how far away they are they always make sure to see each other for Valentine's Day, even if it means one of them getting on a flight to be wherever the other is because they are soulmates.

[faerieriddle]

Eddie doesn’t really like Steve on principle and Steve knows he shouldn’t take it to heart. People are allowed to not like him, but he really wants Eddie, Dustin’s other “older guy friend,” to like him. Robin says that Eddie doesn’t hate him. Steve knows she’s just trying to help his “low self-esteem caused by his daddy issues.” Which is crazy because Steve has mommy issues too, thank you very much. Either way, Eddie not liking him wasn’t a big deal, except when it became a big deal. You see, the Party often made fun of him and Steve had grown used to the hormonal teenagers being bitchy. Mike was often the first to start a jab at Steve’s clothes, part-time dead-end job, lack of romance, or crunchy hair. Steve was not expecting the Party’s, or more specifically Mike’s reaction to Eddie’s snarky “Well, you’re not the most intelligent are you, King Steve? Too many blows to your jock head, huh?” Mike spitting in Eddie’s face as Dustin and Lucas dragged him back wasn’t the reaction he’d expected. Maybe a smirk or a repressed snort of amusement. Not Mike screaming “You don’t get to say that. He saved us. He saved Lucas. Shut your fucking mouth.”

Steve didn’t tear up at all.

[lazer-meme]

love love love steddie + supportive wanye

thinking about wayne and eddie going on an annual fishing trip (like thee Munson Men Annual Fishing Trip™️) just like a little weekend away. and the first one is coming up after eddie and steve starts dating. over breakfast eddie jokingly complains about having to go and tries to get out of it. but wayne is used to his dramatics so he just gives hmms when appropriate because eddie’s whole spiel never got him out of it before and he tells eddie that.

steve watches the whole exchange with amusement when wayne asks if he’s looking forward to it. and he’s like ??? because he assumed it was just a wayne and eddie thing. and wayne is like i just told eddie all munsons must go can’t get out of it kid.

steve gets flustered and is internally is like oh??? all munsons,,,

or like after the trip a neighbor asks wayne if they caught anything and he pulls out his wallet to show a picture they took on the trip. wayne passes it with ‘here’s a picture of my boys’ and to steve’s surprise it’s a picture of both him and eddie with their biggest catch.

and just idk wayne casually accepting steve into their family and throwing steve off guard with it.

[hbyrde36]

Your Dasher is Nearby ❤

(Inspired by a TikTok that I can no longer find the link to 🙈)

For @pearynice - Happy Birthday bestie! ILY! 🥰😘🤗

Steddie | Explicit | WC:6672 | AO3

After fighting with the finicky lock on his front door for almost a full five minutes, Steve slunk inside, reveling in the hush of his quiet, if lonely, abode after an exhausting day at work. Robin had only moved out a few weeks ago, and he still wasn’t quite used to coming home to an empty house. Don’t get him wrong, he was happy for her, he just wished she could have settled down with a girlfriend that didn’t live so fucking far away.

Technically, it was a reasonable forty-five minute drive from Hawkins to Indianapolis, but when you were used to seeing someone every single day, even a mile down the road felt as far off as the moon.

It probably didn’t help that today was his birthday, the first he’d have to spend alone since he and Robin had met, slinging ice-cream together one summer after high school and became instant best friends. They had plans for a sleepover on the weekend to celebrate, but that didn’t stop Steve wishing she were there now. Not to mention the fact that the only happy birthday texts he’d gotten all day had been from Robin, and a few of the kids he used to babysit, who weren’t really kids anymore. There hadn’t been a call, text, or so much as an email with one of those shitty e-cards full of low-resolution sparkly roses and balloons from either of his parents. 

Not that he’d expected any different, but it stung all the same.

After a long hot shower that sadly did nothing to lift his mood, Steve stood in front of his refrigerator and sighed. He wasn’t sure why he was surprised to find it bare, it wasn’t as if he'd been grocery shopping recently, but for some reason those empty glass shelves staring back at him like an accusation of how badly he was taking care of himself, were the last straw.

He slammed the fridge door, spinning on his heel to stomp like a petulant child over to the couch, not even bothering to switch the living room lamp on. If he was going to cry he might as well do it in the dark. The first tear slid down his cheek as he hugged a throw pillow to his chest. From there, the floodgates opened when he realized the cushion he clutched still smelled faintly of Robin’s perfume.

God he was pitiful. 

He was twenty-four—er—twenty-five, not five, and much too old to be acting like such a baby.

In the middle of his pity-party for one, Steve's phone vibrated in his sweatpants pocket. He pulled it out in a rush, equal parts hoping for a message from his mom, and dreading it. Only to be disappointed yet again.

It was a stupid notification from DoorDash. A coupon code, no doubt pushed to him because of the day. These companies all had far too much of people’s personal information. Some days Steve would swear his phone was actually picking up on his conversations. Dustin said he was being paranoid, but Steve knew better. Maybe it wasn’t the NSA or some other secret government agency, but someone was listening.

He was sure of it.

You deserve a treat. Use code 30FROMDD for 30% off.  Offer expires 3/20/25. $12 order minimum required. Terms apply.

Hmm…

He was supposed to be saving money now that he had to cover the mortgage alone. Of course, he’d considered the idea of looking for another roommate, and eventually he would have to, but he wasn’t ready to see anyone else in Robin’s space yet.

Fuck it, he thought, lifting the bottom hem of his white tank top to wipe at his eyes. It was his birthday dammit. 

He did deserve a treat.

Steve kept it modest, finding Benny’s within the app and adding his usual cheat meal to the cart, a double bacon cheeseburger, fries, and a slice of chocolate cake for good measure. His finger hovered above the order button for a moment before he decided to say fuck it, again, and added a six pack of beer from the convenience store around the corner and a small pack of birthday candles. 

He finished the transaction quickly and closed out of the app before he could change his mind and talk himself out of it, then decided to indulge in one more thing, calling Robin on FaceTime.

She answered on the first ring, already singing to him as the video call connected.

“Happy Birthday to you, Happy Birthday to you, Happy Birthday dear Dinguuuuuuuuuuus, Happy Birthday to you!”

God he loved her.

He laughed, feeling the first genuine smile he’d given all day stretch over his mouth as he leaned back into the couch, holding the phone up near his face.

“Thanks for that,” he said sarcastically, but really meaning it wholeheartedly.

“Aw, honey,” Robin squinted, leaning closer to her own screen. “Your hair’s wet. What’s wrong?”

She would notice that.

Steve raked a hand through his dripping locks self consciously. They’d lived together long enough for her to know how much he hated letting it air dry. It always lacked his signature fullness when left to its own devices, but pulling out his hair dryer and round brush tonight felt like way too much effort.

“Nothing,” he said through a heavy exhale. “Just the usual.”

And of course that was all the context Robin needed to guess at the heart of the issue.

She sneered, nose wrinkling in disgust. “Remind me to punch your parents in their stupid faces if I ever meet them.”

“Will do,” he said with a little mocking salute.

“I’m serious!” She insisted, dragging a finger across her throat in a, surprisingly terrifying, cutting gesture. “Richard and Donna’s days are numbered.”

Steve choked on a snort. “I’m sure they’re shaking in their boots.”

“As they should be.” Robin gave a decisive nod, satisfied that her thinly veiled threats to him over the phone would somehow make their way to his parents, wherever they were. “On to happier topics then. We’re still on for this weekend, right?”

Steve rolled his eyes, lounging back onto the couch and kicking his socked feet up on the coffee table. “Obviously.”

“I’m just checking!” She squeaked defensively. “For all I know you’ve lined up a date or something since we made these plans.”

“Who’s going on a date?” Another feminine voice trilled from somewhere off camera.

Robin lifted her eyes, looking in the distance as she answered. “Steve.”

Steve tilted his head back with a sigh. These fucking lesbians were relentless. “I’m not going on a—”

Suddenly a second face filled his phone’s screen, Chrissy, her strawberry blonde hair falling in both her and Robin’s faces, as she mashed their cheeks together. “Who’s the lucky guy taking our little birthday boy out on the town?” She asked.

“There’s no guy—or girl. Robin’s being annoying.” Steve made sure to emphasize the or, since the two of them liked to go around pretending they forgot that Steve was ‘half straight’, as Robin would say. He knew it was only her way of lovingly trying to get a rise out of him, but there would be no bi-erasure in his house! Teasing or not.

Chrissy pouted. “Oh boo, you’re no fun.”

It’s not like Steve didn’t want to date, he was just feeling a little gun-shy after the whole Tommy fiasco. Robin and Chrissy had both been on him for weeks about getting back out there, constantly trying to set him up with some friend of Chrissy’s who still lived in town. He had a feeling that encouragement was about to get ten times worse now that Robin wasn’t there to keep an eye on him herself.

Robin shoved at Chrissy’s shoulder, knocking her out of frame. “Babe, be nice.” 

“You started it.” Chrissy retaliated with a tickle attack, or so Steve assumed based on the way Robin began shrieking like a banshee, and the fact that his view through the phone suddenly became erratic, swinging around wildly. 

Adorable as all this was, the Blair Witch style cinematography they were subjecting him to was making him nauseous, and maybe a little jealous of their relationship.

“Hey,” he called out, clearing his throat. “I think I'm gonna let you guys go. Thanks for the song, Rob.”

“No, wait, Steve—” Robin shouted, shushing Chrissy. The world around her stopped spinning as she seemed to settle on her back, laying down on the carpet and holding the phone above her. “You sure?” 

He knew she'd stay on the phone with him all night if he needed her to, but that idea only made him feel more pathetic. 

“Yeah. My takeout is gonna be here soon anyway.” Steve said with a smile, trying hard to make it reach his eyes so she’d believe he was okay. “Love you, see you in a few days.”

After a brief pause with a wrinkled brow she finally gave in and smiled back. “Love you too, Dingus.”

Steve rubbed at his face, pocketing his phone before getting up to finally switch the lights on, the TV too for some background noise, and found he was actually feeling a little better after seeing Robin’s face, the sting of the day fading into the background a bit. He puttered around for a while, straightening the house, even managing to throw a load of laundry in the wash before his pocket buzzed again. 

Eddie is approaching with your order.

He tapped the notification, opening the app so he could see exactly how close he was to being in hamburger bliss, thrilled to find his dasher was mere blocks away, only for his stomach to drop half a second later.

In his hurry to order he’d completely forgotten to add a tip, and no matter how hard he jabbed at his screen, the stupid app wouldn’t let him go back and change it now. The way Steve saw it, he had two options—stiff this poor Eddie guy on his tip, or meet him outside with cash. Which was… probably a super weird thing to do, but it beat having someone, who now knew where he lived, thinking he was an asshole.

Eddie yawned, stretching his arms up as far as the roof of the van would allow while he waited for the light to turn green. He was stiff, exhausted from his shift at Thatcher’s and had only taken the time to have a quick shower and wolf down a burrito from the gas station before accepting his first order. 

The last thing he felt like doing after slaving away under chassis and over car engines all day, was drive around all night delivering food to the ungrateful masses. But, Wayne’s hospital bills weren’t going to pay themselves. Getting into a fender bender wasn’t cheap these days. It was fine, they’d manage, but he didn't want the old coot hurting himself by trying to go back to work at the plant with a broken goddamn arm. Honestly Eddie was just grateful his uncle had made it out of the accident in one piece. He’d work a second job for the rest of his life if he had to, so long as his surrogate father stayed around for a good long time. 

Who else would walk him down the aisle some day? That is, if Eddie could ever land a date again. 

He’d had his fair share of short-lived relationships and a few steamy one and two night stands, but he’d yet to find someone worth settling in for the long haul. Or, hell, find someone who was even interested in the long haul. Not that he didn’t appreciate the simple joy of a random hookup now and again, but sometimes he felt like the last hopeless romantic in a generation full of peers who didn’t believe in love anymore.

The first few runs of the night were business as usual, mainly fast food pick-ups and quick, easy, no-contact drop offs. He couldn’t help thinking if he kept up this pace he might even be able to knock off early enough to get a full eight hours of sleep.

Optimism wasn’t usually his gig, which probably should have been the first red flag that the night was about to take a turn.

Lost in the groove, he accepted the next order without really looking at the details, annoyed to realize it not only involved two stops, but this Steve prick hadn’t even selected a tip. 

Eddie raced to the first destination, speed the one way to make this order worthwhile now, and hoped the guy’s food was bagged and ready to go. It was, thankfully, and he snatched the bag off the counter with barely a wave at the worker standing behind it, sprinting back out the door.

There was a brief hold-up at the second spot, the same combination gas station corner-store Eddie had procured his dinner from earlier, something about candles that were out of stock—he wasn’t really listening and the app would notify the customer anyway—but he was on his way soon enough, breaking traffic laws left and right to get across town in record time. 

After double checking that he was at the right address, Eddie parked on the street in front of a mailbox shaped like an ice cream truck all done up in pastels, and despite it all found himself smiling as he got out of the van. It was a small, quaint one-story house, with a well-loved vintage BMW parked in the drive. The sky was growing dark, but a pair of bright porch lights provided enough of a glow to reveal old wood siding painted a light robin’s egg blue and an immaculate lawn dotted with brightly colored kitschy ornaments, statues, and one very large pink bird bath in the center of it.

Not at all what Eddie had been expecting, for some reason.

Bags in hand, he headed up the walkway, assuming he’d be leaving the order on the front porch like usual, but as he got closer to the house the front door swung open and a man stepped out, padding determinately down the front steps.

His hair was slicked back, damp as though he were fresh from the shower, with a tight white tank top stretched across his ample chest, thick hair curling up over the neckline. To top it all off, the wet-dream look was completed with the most sinful pair of gray sweatpants imaginable, that did absolutely nothing to conceal the monster hiding beneath the deceptively plain fabric.

And his face?

Eddie nearly tripped over a garden gnome wearing a little rainbow cap because he couldn’t tear his gaze away from the man’s warm hazel eyes, pouty pink lips, chiselled jaw, and lightly tanned skin peppered with beauty marks.

Fuck he was pretty.

Almost intimidatingly so, and had Eddie run into the guy in any other setting he might have felt exactly that. Christ, if he looked this good bumming around at home he must have been an absolute knockout when he was dressed up for a night out. But right now like this, walking towards Eddie over the lawn with no shoes? He looked soft, sweet.

And exactly Eddie’s type.

“Steve?” He asked, just to be sure, and was rewarded with the sight of this beautiful adonis of a man grinning shyly, nodding yes as his cheeks flushed pink. 

Eddie melted on the spot. He’d always adored the idea of love at first sight, not that he’d ever admit that aloud. And really, there were far too many crazy stories of coincidences and chance first meetings floating around out there on Reddit and TikTok for it not to be a real thing for some, but he’d never been crazy enough to think it could happen to him. 

… Not that this was that. 

Love was a bit of a strong word for someone he’d met seconds ago, no matter how much of a romantic Eddie was at heart, but there was definitely some kind of instant attraction thing going on here, at the very least. And if the way Steve held his gaze, shivering in the warm night air when their hands brushed as Eddie passed him his bags was any indication, he wasn’t the only one feeling it.

It felt something like the way you might spot a cute guy or girl across the bar and know you were bound for a tryst in a public bathroom that night. But somehow also so much more than that. Did Eddie want to trace the bulging outline in Steve’s pants with his mouth, pull them down past hairy thighs with his teeth and see how far he could stuff what appeared to be an impressive length down his throat? 

Absolutely, he did. 

But he also wanted to hear about Steve’s hopes and dreams, learn his favorite candy, and color, and see what brand of trash TV he liked to watch while cuddling on the couch at night. Wanted to know what that stunning face looked like bathed in sunlight on a Saturday morning, sipping coffee at a table while Eddie stood at the stove making him pancakes.

Eddie swallowed hard, frozen in place by some force outside his control, fated to stand right there for the rest of his life under the hypnotic pull of a stranger's eyes, and was more than happy to do so.

It was Steve who moved first, blinking rapidly as if waking from a dream. With a little shake of his head he held out his free hand, a ten dollar bill tucked between two fingers. “I, uh, t-this is for you,” Steve stuttered out, a nervous giggle playing at the back of his throat. “I messed it up in the app, somehow. I’m not the best with technology.”

“Oh,” Eddie breathed, reaching out, but instead of grasping the edge of the bill like he should have, he practically took Steve's entire hand in his own without thinking. Sparks crackled through his veins as though he’d gripped a live wire, his desire for the man in front of him growing tenfold at the simple touch. “Thank you, that—that’s really sweet of you.”

For a long beat, neither of them moved or let go, whatever spell had fallen over them still lingering in the air.

Again it was Steve who came to his senses first, biting his bottom lip as he gently took his hand back, letting go of the cash. “Sorry, I-I don’t know what���s wrong with me tonight,” he said, as though he were the one who’d held on and not the other way around.

“No it’s—” Eddie huffed a laugh, and knew exactly what he had to do. “Listen, this is going to sound so unprofessional but I know I’d regret it for the rest of my life if I didn’t at least ask for your number.”

Steve’s gaze dropped to the ground, his socked feet sliding over the grass as he rocked on his heels, before looking back up with another shy smile. “At the risk of sounding worse, would you like to come in for a drink… now?”

Eddie opened his mouth to agree instantly. How could he possibly pass up an opportunity like this? But then he thought of Wayne and the bills and found himself hesitating, glancing back at his van for a half-second, only to get quickly caught in the draw of Steve’s eyes again when he looked back.  

Fuck it, he could take a break for a while, even if it meant dashing into the wee hours later.

“Maybe not a drink since I have to drive, but if you’re willing to share that cake you got there, I think we could work something out.”

Steve swung open his front door, heart racing as he held it for the man following him inside.

Eddie.

His long-haired, doe-eyed, sent like an angel from heaven straight to his fucking house, smoking hot Doordash driver.

And those dimples?

Steve had never been so instantly, insanely, and completely enamored with someone in his entire life, relieved that the feeling seemed to be at least somewhat mutual considering the guy had asked for his number like that. He had no idea what had possessed him to invite Eddie in, it wasn’t like him to be so spontaneous or reckless these days, but he didn’t regret it. 

Robin was going to kill him.

With barely a glance down to make sure he didn’t miss, Steve dropped the bags with his dinner and beer on a nearby side table, his desire for food replaced now with an entirely different kind of hunger. He quickly turned to say god-knew-what to his unexpected guest, and instead found himself being crowded back against the wall, Eddie’s huge brown eyes and plush lips quickly filling his vision. 

“You’re even more gorgeous now that I can see you better,” Eddie said in a soft husky baritone, reaching up to smooth a bit of stray hair away from Steve’s face.

An embarrassing whine slipped from deep inside Steve’s throat, in reply. They’d hardly spoken, barely touched, and yet he was already half hard and out of his mind with how much he wanted the beautiful stranger in front of him.

As if they’d somehow choreographed it, they both surged forward at once, a perfect first touching of lips that, at least for Steve, rivaled every first kiss that had come before it. 

This whole thing was nuts, from chance meeting, to overwhelming crush at first sight, to kissing in a matter of minutes. 

“This is crazy,” Steve said when he broke the kiss, resting his forehead against Eddie’s as he caught his breath.

Eddie too panted for air, smoothing his hands up and down Steve’s sides, a comforting touch that also made his skin break out in goosebumps. “Good crazy or bad crazy?”

“Good, good. Definitely good,” Steve blurted out quickly, swallowing his nerves. “I just… I never do things like this.” 

That had Eddie stilling his hands—which Steve hated—and pulling back a little—which Steve hated even more—to tilt his head, eyes full of concern. 

“Do you want to stop?”

Five simple words but with them came absolute sincerity. Steve did not know this man, but somehow he believed that he could end this right now and Eddie wouldn’t hold it against him, wouldn’t get mad and call him a prude or a tease.

It only made Steve want him more.

“Fuck no,” he said, with feeling, winding his hands into that mass of curly hair and bringing Eddie‘s mouth crashing into his again. 

Without ever really separating they both lost their shirts, and somehow Steve moved them as one from the living room, down the hall, and to his bedroom, crashing into the wall more than once, knocking a row of Robin’s old canvas painting askew where they hung.

The sight of the bed gave Steve pause for the second time that night, and had his lips slowing to a halt. He wasn’t lying when he told Eddie he didn’t usually do hookups, especially with guys, and he wasn’t sure what the protocol was when you didn’t know ahead of time if your partner preferred to top or bottom.

Like the perfect man he seemed to be so far, Eddie read him like a book, holding him close as he rubbed his back in soothing circles. 

“I’m verse so, whatever you want, Steve, it’s yours.” 

Of course, Steve knew exactly what he wanted, but time and bad experiences made him feel shy asking. “Me too, but I…” he tried, trailing off.

“Oh,” Eddie crooned. 

The hand kneading Steve’s lower back slipped past the waistband of his pants as Eddie reached down to squeeze his ass, one finger sliding over his hole.

Steve whimpered, arching into the small dry touch.

“You need it bad, don’t you, baby?” Eddie asked, without a hint of teasing, as if he understood the feeling.

Steve could only roll his hips, making more needy little sounds in answer.

Eddie pressed a kiss to his forehead, gently coaxing him to sit down on the bed. “How about you lay back and let me take care of you then. Okay, sweetheart?”

Steve did as he was told, sliding back across the sheets of his unmade bed while Eddie kicked off his shoes and followed, settling between his legs. He already felt more at ease with this man he barely knew than he ever had in the almost three years he’d wasted on Tommy.

For a moment Eddie laid his full weight on top of him, bare chest to bare chest, capturing his mouth in another dizzying kiss, Eddie’s tongue exploring the depths of his mouth like he was licking up the remnants of chocolate syrup in the bottom of a sundae, moaning at the taste.

Eddie was incredibly hard where he was pressed to Steve’s hip, grinding in time with the swirls of his tongue. He also felt absolutely huge, and though dry humping was very hot and severely underrated, Steve couldn’t wait to feel Eddie inside him.

With an almost painful, teasing slowness, Eddie began to slide down Steve’s body, that clever mouth working its way down his neck and chest, each touch of lips a searing heat, tongue tracing a wet line down the length of his happy trail until it met the band of his pants. Only then did Eddie lift up, sitting back on his heels as he gripped the waist of Steve's sweats, gently tugging them down and off, tossing the bundle to the other side of the bed.

The air hitting him where he was suddenly bare was a bit of a shock, but it was nothing to the weight of Eddie’s gaze as he looked down at Steve’s body, a reverence in his eyes as he took it all in that made Steve want to weep. He wasn’t sure any other partner had looked at him quite like that before.

“Beautiful,” Eddie murmured quietly, and in a mirror of before now began making his way back up, beginning with a tender kiss to Steve’s knee.

Steve sucked air through his teeth, lost in sensation as Eddie alternated between biting and pressing open mouthed kisses to the delicate skin of his inner thigh, moving closer and closer to his center until there was a quick flick of a tongue over his hole.

Just once, the warm wet touch of it there and gone so fast it could have been dismissed as an accident if Eddie hadn’t looked up after, heavily lidded eyes boring into Steve’s own as he asked the question.

“Can I?”

Steve’s mouth fell open, Tommy would never—

No. 

No, he wasn’t going to think about that asshole anymore, not when he had someone right here eyeing him up like he was the pièce de résistance of a gourmet meal. God, where had this man been all his life?

“You want to?”

Eddie chuckled. “When I said I wanted your cake, I wasn’t exactly talking about dessert.” 

With a raise of his brow Eddie ducked back down, licking a wet stripe from Steve’s taint to the base of his cock, hands sliding beneath his ass, hoisting him up for better access.

“Oh fuck.”

Steve writhed, head thrashing, his hands twisting into the sheets around him as his trembling knees found their resting place on top of Eddie’s shoulders. They were just getting started and he already wanted to live there forever with Eddie’s head nestled between his thighs.

With that reaction Eddie dove in with gusto, his tongue circling Steve’s rim over and over, making his hole flutter with each lingering pass. It felt incredible, but the sounds Eddie made as he feasted were equally as divine, making it clear that he was enjoying himself as much as Steve was.

And Steve was enjoying himself, thoroughly, his cock leaking a steady stream of pre-cum onto his belly while his mouth released a flood of whorish sounds he’d never heard himself produce before.

It only worsened when Eddie’s talented tongue pushed its way inside for the first time. Steve would owe his neighbors an apology in the morning, but as Eddie breached his hole again, pushing it deeper still while finally setting him down to take hold of his aching cock, he couldn’t bring himself to care.

Eddie took it slow, switching up the rhythm of his hand as he worked Steve over, keeping him right on that precarious edge, all the while taking turns between laving over the ring of puckered skin with long wet strokes, and fucking into him with the tip of his hot tongue.

As mind blowing as it was, it wasn’t long before Steve found himself wanting more, needing more, needing Eddie to hurry up and fuck him already. He must have made a sound of frustration, that or Eddie was some kind of mind-reader, because the moment he was about to break down and beg for it he felt two fingers, slick with spit, start working him open. 

“Yes, yes, yes,” Steve chanted, fucking himself down as best he could now that he had some leverage to work with, pleased when Eddie spurred him on.

“That’s it, baby, take what you need.”

Eddie kept pumping his fingers, adding a third and meeting Steve thrust for thrust until Steve’s chants and moans turned to desperate babbling pleas.

“Condoms?” Eddie asked, pressing a kiss to the hollow of Steve’s groin as he slowed the movements of his hand to a stop, pulling his fingers free as gently as he could.

Chest heaving, Steve fought to catch his breath. He gestured vaguely at his nightstand, ignoring the suddenly empty feeling as his stretched hole clenched around nothing, trusting he’d be full again soon.

“Be right back, gorgeous.” 

With one more sugary sweet brush of lips to his hip, Eddie slipped off the bed, shedding his jeans and boxers in one smooth motion before digging through the small drawer, quickly finding what they needed.

Steve took the chance to look his fill as Eddie climbed back onto the bed, the sight of the heavy cock swaying between his legs making his mouth water, and making him wish he’d stripped Eddie down himself and taken the chance to explore his body in kind. There were a pair of tattoos low on his hips that held a particular interest. 

Next time, he thought. 

If there was a next time.

And then Eddie was lining himself up and pushing inside, and Steve couldn’t think of anything at all. 

They’d done enough prep that the head popped right in, but Eddie was big, bigger than any cock or toy Steve had taken before and by the time Eddie was fully seated inside he was so full he felt like he might split in two, in the best way possible. 

Eddie stayed there, perfectly still, letting Steve adjust for so long that Steve was afraid he’d never move, but he shouldn't have been worried. Eddie had promised to take care of him and it seemed he was taking that vow seriously, or maybe his seemingly endless patience had finally run out. After a slow experimental thrust that sent Steve’s mouth falling open in pleasure, he set a brutal pace, the sound of their bodies like a raucous round of applause. Music to Steve’s ears.

He knew right away wasn’t going to last at this rate, it’d simply been too long and he was too turned on to start with. Thankfully he could feel Eddie pulsing inside him each time he slammed to the hilt, and knew the other man was just as close to his tipping point. 

Soon the familiar thrumming pleasure began to build under Steve’s skin, filling him up with each slap of their bodies together until he could no longer hold it in anymore. He came untouched with the strangled cry of Eddie’s name on his lips, and starbursts flashing across his vision. It went on for what seemed like forever, wave after wave of ecstasy crashing over him while Eddie continued to fuck him hard through it, hitting his prostate with every thrust as he chased his own orgasm until he finally followed Steve over that delicious edge. 

Neither moved until Eddie softened, slipping out of Steve with ease as he moved away, tying off the condom before dropping it to the floor. 

With their breaths slowing and the dust settling, and the overwhelming sense of desire fully satiated, Steve expected to feel awkward, but it was hard to feel anything but content when Eddie rolled back over and pulled him into his side, humming happily, kissing his hair as Steve rested on his head on his chest,

“God, where have you been all my life,” Eddie mumbled with his lips still pressed to Steve’s temple.

Steve froze, going rigid in Eddie’s embrace, stunned to hear him give voice to the same thought he’d had earlier.

“Shit,” Eddie cursed softly. “Did I say that out loud?”

Slowly Steve raised his head, silently nodding when he couldn’t seem to unstick his suddenly tight throat. 

“Sorry,“ Eddie sighed, shaking his head as he tried to sit up. “I—I get it, I can go if you—”

“Don’t—” Steve pressed a hand to Eddie's chest, forcing him back down, searching his face for some sign that he wasn’t about to make a fool of himself. Though, he was pretty sure Eddie was worth the risk. “Please tell me that means this wasn’t a one time thing, that you feel it too?”

He wasn’t even sure what it was, this strange connection they seemed to have, without ever meeting before. He only knew it had grown stronger with every kiss, every caress, every drop of fluids they’d wrung from each other’s bodies.

Eddie sagged, melting into the bed, a relieved smile curling his lips as he reached up to cup Steve’s cheek. “Steve, baby, I felt it the second I laid eyes on you. I meant it when I asked for your number outside. I know we kinda took the next step already, but I'd love to take you out. I want to do this right, get to know each other, win you over with my unconventional charms in the hopes one day we could make this official.”

Steve smiled back, feeling practically giddy as he leaned into Eddie’s tender touch, processing his words. It was everything he could have wanted to hear and more, except.

Why wait for all that?

“Or I could be your boyfriend now,” Steve countered. “And we could let the rest of it work itself out later?”

“Deal,” Eddie said with zero hesitation, pulling him in for a deep lingering kiss to seal it. 

“What were the candles for?” Eddie asked after a while. 

They’d been cuddling in comfortable silence for so long that Steve was pretty sure he’d drifted off a few times.

“Hmm?” he hummed, stirred by the question, totally blanking for a moment until it all came rushing back. His horrible day, that had completely melted away once Eddie showed up and turned his world upside down.

“Oh god,” he groaned, shame curling in his gut, even though he knew that was stupid. “It’s, um… It’s sorta my birthday? And I was feeling really bummed about spending it alone since my roommate and best friend just moved away. So, I thought I'd get some birthday candles to put in a slice of cake to cheer myself up, and...”

Yeah, it didn’t sound any better when he said it out loud, but if they were really doing this he couldn’t exactly not tell Eddie that today was his birthday. He'd find out eventually.

“Happy birthday, sweetheart,” Eddie said without pity, dropping more of his wonderful kisses to the top of Steve’s head.

“I get it, y’know,” Eddie went on. ”Being lonely. I have my uncle at home but my best friend moved to Indy a few months ago and life hasn’t been the same without her in my business all the time.”

Steve huffed an incredulous laugh. “That’s where my roommate moved too. Small world.” 

As if she could somehow sense that he was thinking about her, because it had to be Robin calling, Steve’s phone began to vibrate where it laid on the edge of the bed, sticking halfway out of his pants pocket. With a groan he sat up, missing Eddie’s warmth immediately, and reached for it. He meant to simply silence the call and give his attention back to the brand new boyfriend in his bed, until he saw the literal dozens of text messages and missed video calls from her.

With an apologetic glance at Eddie he quickly tapped the button to answer her incoming facetime.

“Stephen. Marie. Harrington,” she growled through gritted teeth. “You’d better be dying in a ditch somewhere or I swear to god—” she cut herself off suddenly, eyes narrowing as she stared into her phone. “Are you in bed right now? Why are you in bed at 9 o’clock?”

Steve bit his lip, looking over again at Eddie who shrugged as if to say, it’s up to you.

“I… kinda met someone?”

“How did you meet someone without leaving your…” she trailed off slowly, a look of dawning horror coming over her face. “Oh god, don’t tell me you rejoined the dating apps.”

“It was DoorDash, actually.”

Robin blinked at him. “... What?”

“Nevermind.” Steve tilted his phone, holding it further away as he panned the camera over to get both of them in the shot. “Um, this is Eddie,” 

“Hi Steve’s best friend!” Eddie said with a grin and a wave, the rumpled sheets still pooled around his hips leaving his glistening, sweat and other bodily fluid coated chest on full display. He was definitely not shy.

Steve was obsessed with him.

Suddenly Robin was gone, as if someone had ripped the phone out of her hand, the shaky picture flipping from a far off view of a small kitchen, to a white ceiling, and then to a close up of Chrissy’s face, her mouth agape.

“Eddie?!”

“Chris—what? How?!” Eddie sat up abruptly, pulling the sheets up as if he was suddenly scandalized, eyes wide with pure shock. “Steve… Is your lesbian best friend, my lesbian best friend’s girlfriend?”

“I guess so?” Steve said in a baffled haze, before being hit with a sudden realization. He glared into his phone's camera. “Is Eddie the guy you kept wanting to set me up with?”

Chrissy held a hand over her mouth, giggling uncontrollably as she nodded. 

Holy shit. 

It really was a small world.

Steve sighed heavily, “tell Robin I'll text her tomorrow,” ending the call as Chrissy’s giggling turned into a wheezing guffaw. He tossed his phone unceremoniously onto the nightstand, turning back to the grinning man at his side.

“So, we could have been doing this for weeks?”

“Afraid so, sweetheart.” Eddie threw the sheet aside once more, reaching for his hand and lacing their fingers together. “If it’s any consolation I had no idea.”

“You know what? I’m glad we found each other on our own.”

“Yeah?”

“Mhmm,” Steve hummed, swinging a leg over Eddie’s hips to settle in his lap, the possibility of going for a round two already in the back of his mind. “My own special delivery, right to my door. It’s a much better story.”

Eddie raised an eyebrow, amusement making his eyes sparkle in the dim light. “Are you sure it’s not because now they can’t lord it over us that they set us up and we hit it off?”

Steve shrugged, leaning in to lick across Eddie’s mouth, wondering idly how long the appropriate time to wait would be before he could ask him to move in. 

“That’s a pretty good perk too.”

Many thanks to @penny00dreadful and @sidekick-hero for all your beta work, cheerleading, and handholding! 💜

Permanent taglist(open): @penny00dreadful @pearynice @sidekick-hero @firefly-party @bookworm0690

@wonderland-girl143-blog  @goodolefashionedloverboi @themagicalari @awkwardgravity1 @rocknrollsalad

@hitlikehammers

[florallylly]

eddie munson stumbling over his words, speaking absolute gibberish to steve and steve's eyes have just glazed over bc he's already named their children in his head

[adverbally]

Pack to Square One

Written for the @stmarchmm prompts “pack dynamics” and “heats/ruts” | wc: 1,417 | rated: T | cw: none | tags: Steve & Wayne, background Steddie, Omega Steve, Omega Wayne, Alpha Eddie, hurt/comfort, non-sexual heat assistance, Wayne is going to help the shit out of Steve because he’s PACK dammit

———

Wayne wakes with a start, heart racing as he tries to orient himself in the early-morning gloom. He can’t figure out what woke him until the phone starts ringing again. After only two hours of sleep following a late shift, the piercing tone shoots right through Wayne’s cottony head.

He stumbles out of bed and into the kitchen, almost fumbling the receiver with sleep-clumsy fingers when he picks it up.

“Munson,” he answers gruffly.

“Wayne?” It sounds like Steve on the other end of the phone, his voice warbling out of him, thick with tears.

Wayne is suddenly wide awake. “Steve? What’s wrong, is Eddie okay?”

“He’s not here.” He’s nearly hyperventilating, each inhale a gasp that immediately gets punched out of him. “Not ‘til Monday, but I’m–” The sob that bursts out of Steve is abruptly muffled, almost like the boy slapped a hand over his own mouth to muffle the noise.

It sets Wayne’s teeth on edge. He knows Eddie is out of town, visiting Chicago with the other Corroded Coffin boys to meet with some record executives, but the lack of context behind Steve’s distress makes everything feel more ominous. Is Eddie hurt and Steve can feel it through their bond? Is Steve hurt? “Son, I need you to tell me what’s going on. You’re scarin’ me.”

“My heat started,” he whines miserably. “It wasn’t supposed to come yet and Eddie isn’t here, and I…” He takes another wet, shuddering breath.

If Wayne had to guess, he’d say that Steve hasn’t spent a heat alone since he and Eddie got together over two years ago. To suddenly be missing that emotional support, on top of dealing with the physical effects of not having his mate to temper his heat… Wayne’s Omega wants to howl just thinking about how much Steve must be hurting right now.

Steve sniffles. “I’m sorry, I shouldn’t’ve woken you up for this. I’m being stupid.”

He softens his voice when he tells Steve, “Don’t be sorry. Don’t ever be sorry for leanin’ on your pack when you need it.” Steve stifles another mournful noise and Wayne’s heart breaks for him, knowing how much of Steve’s life was spent without any pack to speak of. “What can I do to help?”

“Wayne–” Steve starts to protest.

“Let me help you. Please.”

He swallows so hard Wayne can hear it. “I don’t know how.”

Wayne isn’t sure what Steve means. He doesn’t know how Wayne can help? How to let Wayne help? He decides not to push while Steve is so upset. “Why don’t I pick up some groceries and bring them over?” he suggests. “You can decide when I get there whether you want some company or not.”

“Okay.” Steve sniffs, then quietly repeats, as if to himself, “Okay.”

“I can be there in thirty minutes,” Wayne promises. “You just sit tight. I’ll see you soon.”

He hates to hang up but Steve needs him there, not over the phone. Wayne makes another quick call to the plant, warning them that a family emergency will keep him away from his shift tonight, and leaves a message at Eddie's hotel before he begins to strategize.

Pack members tend to smell alike, Wayne knows. Experts on secondary gender theorize that it had evolutionary benefits— promoting pack cohesion, discouraging incest among relatives to limit inbreeding, preventing Alphas and Omegas from perceiving their mate’s family as a threat. Even packs not joined by blood could find their scents shifting to become more similar over time.

From the day Eddie had presented, his and Wayne’s scents have been in perfect harmony. They smell like an apple orchard, though Eddie’s aroma is more woodsy and green compared to Wayne’s more fruity and floral notes. Steve himself had noted more than once how soothing he found Wayne’s scent, so similar to that of his Alpha’s but with the reassuring warmth of an Omega packmate.

Wayne can’t help with the physical aspects of Steve’s heat, would never dream of touching him that way. But he can comfort him, can make sure he’s safe and surrounded by someone that smells familiar enough to keep him from going feral. He dresses quickly in his oldest flannel and a t-shirt he wore earlier in the week, both saturated with his scent, hoping it will be enough to help Steve.

—---

When he arrives at Steve and Eddie’s apartment, arms full of grocery bags, Wayne can smell distressed Omega as soon as he opens the front door.

“Eddie?” Steve calls from the bedroom. There’s a terrible mix of hope and despair in his voice, knowing that his mate is hundreds of miles away but unwilling to truly believe it.

When Wayne comes down the hallway, he can see the moment Steve realizes Eddie still isn’t there. His face, already flushed and sweaty, crumples. He tucks one of Eddie’s blankets more tightly around himself, buries his face in the nearest pillow– probably also Eddie’s– and shakes.

“I know, kid, I’m sorry. I left a message at the hotel for him, but he probably won’t be able to get here until tomorrow at the earliest.” Wayne kicks off his boots next to the abandoned bags of sports drinks and snacks. When Steve doesn’t respond, he asks, “Can I come into your nest, Omega?”

“I want Eddie.” His brow furrows in pain. Cramps, if Wayne had to guess, plus the emotional anguish of not having his mate nearby. “Why isn’t he here?”

Wayne kneels at the side of the bed, careful not to touch any of the fabric that makes up the border of Steve’s nest. “He’ll be here as soon as he can. I’m gonna stay with you until then, okay? You don’t have to let me in your nest, but I’m not leavin’ you alone right now.”

Steve blinks at him for a moment before he processes Wayne’s scent. His lip quivers. “Sorry, I didn’t… Of course you can come in.”

He does, carefully climbing into the bed beside Steve. The younger Omega is on him immediately, cuddling into his side and burying his face in his scent gland. Steve lets out a shuddering breath, hot against Wayne’s neck, but the tension gradually leaves his body with each inhale. He definitely seems calmer than he’d sounded on the phone earlier.

“You holdin’ up okay?” Wayne asks softly.

“Not really,” he admits. “Feels like I’m on the verge of losing it completely. I dunno what I’d do without you here.”

Wayne wraps an arm around Steve’s shoulders. “It wouldn’t be fun but you’d be fine, I’m sure. You spent heats alone before you and Eddie got together, right?”

“Yeah, and they sucked.” His exhale might have been a laugh if he had more energy.

“Believe me, I know. I’ve been there, too.”

Steve is quiet for so long that Wayne thinks he’s fallen asleep, until he asks, “Did you ever…?”

The thought is unfinished but easy enough to guess. “There were a few heats I had company for, but nothin’ ever lasted. Not like you and Ed.”

“Oh. Sorry.” He nuzzles his cheek against Wayne’s neck, mixing their scents. Steve smells like carrot cake, all sweet and lightly spiced. It’s nice, normally, but it currently has an edge of burnt sugar from Steve’s heat and resulting anxiety.

“No need to be sorry,” Wayne reassures him. He doesn’t feel like he’s missed out on much– he has more of a pack now than he had ever dreamed of as a pup, and he’d never been much for romance anyway. Bachelorhood suits him. “I just got Ed out of the house, I don’t need someone else bothering me now.”

His joke lands, and Steve chuckles despite his misery. “Yeah, you deserve some peace and quiet.”

“Not from you and Ed, you hear me? You’re never bothering me.” Wayne emphasizes the declaration with a gentle shake of Steve’s shoulders.

“Okay.” Steve takes another breath, then another, slower and slower as he starts to drift off. Wayne’s presence, combined with Eddie’s scent lingering in the nest, seems to have worked well enough to relax him. He’ll probably sleep through the worst of it today, then Wayne can leave him in Eddie’s capable care when he inevitably rushes home tonight or tomorrow.

Until then, Wayne will settle in for a nap with Steve, probably pester him into eating something later, and let the younger Omega scent him to his heart’s content.

He’ll do it all happily, because that’s what pack does.

[morganbritton132]

I love the thought of Steve growing up hearing legal terminology since his dad is a lawyer but not having enough context to understand it because he’s six years old.

Like, Hopper gets a call from a frantic babysitter about a game of hide and seek that went wrong, and she thinks the kid got out of the house, and ‘please, find him before his parents kill me.’

Hopper finds him sitting on top the monkey bars at the park ten minutes later and tells him, “I need you to come with me.”

“No,” Steve replies and then asks, “Do you have a lawyer’s present? Cause I can’t talk to you without my lawyer’s present so…you better leave me alone, sir.”

Hopper weighs the option of just snatching the kid and taking him home kicking and screaming before asking, “Who’s your lawyer?”

“My dad.”

“Okay,” Hopper nods and takes the pen out of his breast pocket. He holds it out to Steve. When all he gets is a weird look back, he says, “Gift for your lawyer. Now, get down from there.”

Steve spends the entire ride back to his house telling Hopper about much he doesn’t like his babysitter’s boyfriend, “Mama said we can’t have friends over but don’t take Annie to jail. You can have her boyfriend though. He’s gross.”

Unfortunately for Hopper, this was not a one-off occurrence and he became the HPD’s official kid-wrangler somehow. Steve also wised up to what ‘having a lawyer present’ meant pretty quickly after this so Hopper couldn’t this idea again.

[rebelspykatie]

Recently divorced Steve is roped into attending an adult summer camp with Robin. She thinks it’ll get him out of his funk, and she’s probably right. At this point, he’s mostly given up on love. He’s put off moving forward long enough and agrees that this can be his fresh start. When Steve has a chance encounter with Nancy in the airport, he thinks it’s destiny, them both going to the same summer camp. 

He has a vision of them together, the details of which he doesn’t reveal to anyone but Robin. It’s a fuzzy vision of curly brown hair, a bright smile, and a warm embrace. He fixates on it when they arrive at camp and Nancy is Robin’s roommate. It feels like the universe is aligning for him again, finally pushing him towards his destiny. Robin keeps setting up situations for them to be together, pushing them together for the team races, stepping aside so Nancy can be his partner on the ropes course. 

It also leads him to Eddie. They’re roommates for the week, and he’s Nancy’s best friend. Apparently they spent many years attending this same summer camp as kids before it reopened years later as a camp for adults. They butt heads at first, but he’s quick witted and funny, and makes Steve laugh when he needs it most. He works his way right into Steve’s heart. There’s this fearlessness that guides his every move, unafraid to look silly or be an outcast. He reminds Steve of Robin in a way that feels like home. 

They spend a lot of sleepless nights together, in separate bunks, talking across the darkness about all their hopes and fears. Eddie drags him to his thinking rock that overlooks the lake and Steve doesn’t think twice about pulling Eddie into the water and tangling their legs together in the moonlight. The paint smeared across Steve’s cheeks during arts and crafts is in the shape of Eddie’s fingers and the smile on his face feels permanent. 

Steve’s never taken a lot of chances in life, always going down the easiest path, never putting up much resistance when things felt less than perfect. Nancy feels like much of the same, and it takes him too long to notice that there’s no spark there. Sure, they fit together in a way that makes sense, but it doesn’t bring him to life like Eddie does. 

He doesn’t light up like Robin does around Nancy. He doesn’t elicit that coy smile or that fierce protectiveness from Nancy. After a while, he starts to think the universe was wrong. That his vision was about meeting Robin’s soulmate and how he wants her happiness just as much as he wants his. 

Nancy doesn’t challenge him to try new things, or face his fears. Eddie does, helping him gain the confidence to sing karaoke while Eddie plays guitar for the whole camp to hear. Robin and Eddie are the ones by his side when Steve’s parents don’t show up for family day. Eddie’s the one he keeps finding himself pulled to, a thousand missed moments where he could’ve reeled Eddie in for a kiss but didn’t. All for a vision that doesn’t even feel real anymore. 

And maybe Steve learns to let go of expectations. Accepts a part of himself that he avoided for so many years because it didn’t seem to matter when he was married and living the American dream. But now? He wants more. He wants to wake up from being a zombie in his own life. 

When he kisses Eddie in the mess hall in front of the whole camp on the last day because he feels time slipping away, he suddenly understands. It all clicks into place with his arms around Eddie, who’s pressing their foreheads together with a grin, that his vision was never about Nancy (and yes he has a type). It was always about Eddie and how Eddie could be his home.

[2jihiir0]

Eddie’s bedroom.

The world didn’t end, he graduated and his room is still as messy as ever ♡

[brbsoulnomming]

Heart On Your Sleeve Part 4

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3

written for steddiebigbang2024 and belatedly posting here!

-----

“Freak's looking at you.”

There's a nudge to his shoulder that makes Steve jerk up, snapping out of the daze he'd been in.

“Huh?” he asks, looking at Aaron with his brow furrowed.

Aaron nods towards a spot halfway across the cafeteria, and Steve shifts his gaze over to see Munson standing on top of one of the tables, watching him expectantly.

Shit.

“Can you repeat that, if you're expecting a response?” Steve asks. “I drifted off somewhere around comparing the swimming pool to a goldfish bowl.”

He's being honest - it's still harder to concentrate, and he saves it for classes and practice and tends to zone out when he doesn't need to pay attention - but it makes the people who were clearly listening in laugh.

Steve catches Munson's gaze and rolls his eyes, giving him an apologetic little shrug.

He's not really sure how Munson takes it, because he just bemoans the attention span of the average jock and clomps down from the table, but no one's looking at either of them anymore, so he guesses it doesn't matter.

Steve's almost disappointed. Might be kind of nice to see what Munson's like when no one's watching them, he thinks.

—

Things are okay, with him and Nancy and Jonathan.

His gaze doesn't automatically seek Nancy out in a crowd or anything - mostly because he'd always been at her side, before, so it's not like it's even something he's used to - but he still catches her gaze sometimes, still smiles and nods and doesn't say anything.

They share study hall together.

He and Nancy shared it before, of course, and logically he knows that Jonathan had it at the same time they did, but now - now they all have it together.

After the first few times of him or Nancy awkwardly veering sharply away from their previously shared table when they'd seen the other one was already there - one day they just didn't.

They don't say much, but the three of them sit together, exchanging class notes and books. Sometimes Steve sees the pinch in Jonathan's eyes and gives him a bottle of water and some ibuprofen, and sometimes Jonathan sees him squinting too hard at something and copies the passage over in bigger handwriting, and Nancy checks over both of their notes, and it's -

The jagged black cut in his heart scabs, fades, scars. He'll always love her, he thinks, but sometimes he thinks if they can get over the hurt -

Sometimes he sits with the two of them and it's the closest he's ever felt to being understood. Sometimes he thinks it's what he wanted with Tommy and Carol, all those years ago.

It's a start.

—

He runs into Munson after school, sometimes.

They don't say anything either, but after practice gets out and after Munson is done with his theater club or whatever it is, they'll see each other.

Sometimes, if Munson's selling, Steve will linger.

He doesn't really think Billy's stupid enough to point fingers at Munson, and most people are too afraid of him to do anything, but it still makes him feel a little better to keep an eye on him.

It kind of feels like no one watches out for Eddie Munson, not the way he watches out for his fellow freaks.

“What?” Munson demands one day, sidling up to Steve and slamming his goodie box down on the bench. “What're you looking for here?”

Steve frowns at him. “I told you.”

Munson's brows furrow. “You were serious about that shit? You think you're protecting me?”

“Why not?” Steve challenges.

Munson's eyes go flat. “And what's this protection going to cost me?”

Steve thinks about being offended, for a moment, before he wonders if other people have tried to make deals before, keep the other assholes of Hawkins High away from him in exchange for free weed or something.

He softens. “I haven't asked you for anything.”

Munson scowls. “Yet,” he counters. “Whatever you're thinking, if you're trying to get me to owe you, it's not happening. Fuck off, man, I don't need protecting.”

His heart clenches as he hears an echo of Max saying the same thing, and before he knows it he's reached into his chest and pulled out his heart.

The scowl melts into confusion for a brief moment before it's back in full force. “I'm still not showing you mine,” Munson retorts.

“I still haven't asked,” Steve counters. “I don't want anything, man, all right? Just looking out in case Billy tries something.”

Or anyone else, now that Steve thinks of it, but even with his heart pumping in a steady truth, he's not sure Munson'll believe that.

“Just like that,” Munson says flatly, after a moment of watching Steve's heart. “And what do your knights of the round table think of this?”

Steve's nose scrunches. “What?”

“Your knights.” Munson waves his hand dismissively, but - his tone isn't mean, isn't condescending. “It's a King Arthur reference.”

It's nice, that he isn't being shitty about Steve not understanding something.

“Right. So that makes me King Arthur, and you're - what was it again, the court jester?” Steve asks, giving him a little smile to show he's teasing.

“If we're doing King Arthur, I'm going with Merlin,” Eddie says.

“The old guy with the beard and pointy hat?” Steve asks.

Eddie puts his hands on his hips, fluttering his eyelashes. “You think I couldn't pull it off?”

Steve plays along, making a show of looking him up and down. “You know what, sure, you've got the right look for gray haired old man.”

“Asshole,” Eddie tells him, but he doesn't sound pissed anymore. “You know you're cutting into my profits, right? People see you lingering and they're less likely to come buy.”

Steve's brows furrow. “Wait, really?”

“Yeah, really. Only the desperate want to make illicit purchases under the watchful eye of Hawkins High's once and future king.”

Steve's quiet for a moment. “I'll stand farther away, make myself look busy.”

Eddie glowers. “Seriously? You're not giving this up?”

Honestly - Steve probably should. But he's stubborn, and Eddie throwing a fit about it kind of just makes him want to do it more.

“Who looks out for you?” he asks instead of answering.

Eddie looks thrown. “What?”

“That's why you do it, right? Why you started walking on tables and making yourself a target. It takes attention off of the guys younger than you.” Steve's trying to make a point, so he slides right over the fact that they both know everyone's younger than Eddie - this is his second senior year, after all. “So everyone watches you.”

“Yeah?” Eddie asks, a little bit of an edge back in his voice. “You watch me, Harrington?”

“No,” Steve replies, blunt and honest. “Not really. Not before.”

“Not before Billy Hargrove tried to blame me for bashing your head in with his fists?” Eddie asks.

“He smashed a plate over it, actually,” Steve shoots back. “But yeah, something like that.”

Steve's heart gives an erratic beat. It wasn't a lie, but apparently it wasn't enough of the truth, either. Eddie gives him a pointed look.

“There's these kids I babysit,” Steve says, slow and careful. “They're into the same things you are. They're gonna be in high school next year, and I won't be here. Neither will you, but it just made me think - I'd want someone like you looking out for them.”

Eddie watches his heart for a moment.

“What are their names?” he asks. “Yeah, I won't be here, but Jeff will be. I can tell him to look out for them.”

Relief swoops through Steve, and he doesn't even care when Eddie gives him a funny look after he includes Mike and Will along with Dustin, Lucas, and Max.

He won't admit it, but it helps.

—

The next day, Eddie sits next to him at lunch.

He makes a big deal of it, hamming it up as he hops over the bench and plops down, pulling out a sandwich and some chips and flattening out his lunch bag to make a plate for them.

Steve's sitting with the swim team today, and he watches some of the guys side eye Eddie like they're not sure what the joke is and who the punchline is supposed to be. He watches some of them look at him with disgust, too, and those he carefully files away to keep an eye on later.

“My liege!” Eddie announces cheerfully. “How fair you and your knights of the round table on this fine afternoon?”

“Your king is doing just fine, as long as you keep your boots on the ground and away from the top of the lunch table,” Steve retorts.

“Is this like when Carol used to call her and Tommy Duke and Duchess?” Jacob asks.

“Are we doing that, are we knights now?” Dorian asks, his eyes lighting up a little.

Dorian gets straight A's, Steve remembers that. English is his best class.

“Sure, why not?” Steve says, shrugging carelessly, even as he shoots a smile at Dorian. “You can be Sir Galahad.”

Michael groans. “Don't encourage him, this is stupid.”

Tanner snorts. “From the guy who calls his girlfriend princess.”

Michael flushes. “Shut up! It's just so Ashley will stop whining.”

“Uh-huh.” Jacob elbows him. “We've all heard you at Tina's parties pledging to be her knight in shining armor.”

They have, apparently, completely forgotten Eddie's existence as they fall back to ribbing on each other.

Steve turns to him, finding him watching the table with a narrow, calculating gaze.

“Eat your lunch,” Steve says. “My knights don't give a shit.”

These ones, anyway, and as long as Steve's there, but he's not going to say that.

They both know it.

Still, Eddie keeps it up. It's not every day, or every other day, or in any kind of recognizable pattern, but he'll plop himself down next to Steve's side like he belongs there whenever he feels like it.

Steve largely treats it like he doesn't give a shit, and most of the people he tends to sit with follow suit, if a couple of them can't seem to resist making snide little comments.

It's always the ones who make snide comments to everyone, the kind of assholes that Steve can't wait to get away from, so he mostly ignores it.

The sixth or seventh time it happens, Steve drops his apple on Eddie's folded over lunch bag.

Eddie stares at him.

“What?” Steve asks. “You're going to get scurvy if you keep eating nothing but bologna and Doritos for lunch.”

Eddie snorts. “I look like an eighteenth century pirate captain?”

Steve makes a show of looking him up and down again. “You look like something,” he replies.

Completely unexpectedly, Eddie flushes a little, picking up the apple and taking a comically large bite out of it.

Steve grins.

—

Steve's at swimming practice after school when Nancy and Jonathan show up.

The second he sees them hovering near the back door, he hauls himself up out of the pool, barely pausing to grab a towel on the way.

“What's happened?” he asks immediately, low and quick.

Jonathan's expression is a mess of worry, like he's trying not to panic, as he says, “I can't find Will.”

“We're supposed to pick him and Mike up from the AV club,” Nancy cuts in. “But they're not there, and they're not at any of their usual places at school.”

“Or at home, or anyone else's place, or the arcade,” Jonathan adds.

Steve's chest tightens. It's stupid, kids go off to places they're not supposed to be all the time - especially these kids - but given their track record, that doesn't mean they're not in trouble. “Let me grab my stuff, I'll be right there.”

Practice is almost done, anyway.

He shrugs into his windbreaker and grabs his backpack, darting out the door to follow them. He's already digging around in the backpack to pull out the walkie talkie Dustin gave him by the time he gets to them.

“Little shit better answer,” Steve grumbles, thumbing it on. “Dustin, you there?”

There's a tense pause as they wait.

“Dustin?” Steve tries again.

Nothing.

Jonathan's face goes a little paler, and Nancy's jaw clenches.

“Hey asshole, you're the one who made me carry this around, the least you could do is respond,” Steve bitches.

This time, the walkie flares to life.

“You're supposed to say over when you're done talking, Steve!” Dustin bitches back. “Otherwise I won't know it's my turn! Over.”

“Are you serious right now? It wasn't obvious enough?” Steve asks - then, because he wouldn't put it past Dustin to be a little shit about it, and he knows Jonathan is beyond worried - “Is Will with you? Over.”

“Yeah, he's right here. Why?” Dustin asks. “Over.”

Jonathan sags with relief.

“Was he maybe supposed to meet his brother somewhere?” Steve prompts. “Over.”

Whatever Dustin had been going to say in response to that is drowned out by a chorus of “Oh shit!” and “You said you were keeping track of the time!” and “Don't tell Mom, we'll be right there!”

Nancy rolls her eyes, taking the walkie from him. “Five minutes,” she says into it. “Or we're leaving without you and you can bike home. Over and out.”

Steve's pretty sure he and Jonathan both know that she doesn't mean that, but the kids don't know it, so he's equally sure that'll light a fire under their asses.

“Hey, Dustin, do you and Lucas need a ride home?” he asks once he gets the walkie back.

“And Max?” Dustin asks. “Over.”

“And Max,” Steve agrees, assuming that's a yes. “I'll meet you out front of the high school. Over.”

He shoves the walkie back in his bag, looking up to exchange a relieved look with Nancy and Jonathan.

“See you tomorrow?” Nancy asks, though Steve gets the feeling it's more to fill the silence that's gone a little awkward, now that the potential danger's passed.

“Sure,” Steve says.

“Thanks,” Jonathan tells him, eyes fixed somewhere at his left cheekbone like he's not entirely sure where to look.

“Any time.” It comes out too flippant, though, and Steve makes a face at himself as Jonathan turns to leave.

“Hey.” Steve reaches out, fingers curled loosely around Jonathan's wrist. “I mean it, okay? Any time.”

This time, Jonathan's eyes lock on his. After a moment, Jonathan's cheeks go a little pink, and then he nods before he follows Nancy down the hall.

Steve watches them for a moment or two, then drops his backpack down on a bench a little harder than he probably should, digging around for his sweatpants.

“I don't get it.”

Steve looks up as he's halfway through putting his pants on to see Eddie sidling up next to him in the hall.

“Don't get what?” Steve asks.

Eddie nods towards where Nancy and Jonathan just were. “The three of you.”

Steve shrugs. “We're friends, not a lot to get.”

He goes back to fighting with his sweatpants, wishing he'd dried off a little more before pulling them on over his speedo. They keep sticking to his thighs.

Eddie's gone quiet, though, and when Steve glances back up, he sees Eddie staring at him.

Steve cocks one eyebrow. “What?”

Eddie flushes, looking away. “Didn't figure you'd be so comfortable with the girl who broke your heart and the guy who stole her away, is all. Or hey, maybe she's putting out for both of you, maybe Byers is-”

“Hey,” Steve cuts in, tone sharp and firm in a way he hasn't had to do since he stopped hanging out with Tommy and didn't have to hold him back when he'd gone too far anymore.

But Eddie isn't like Tommy. Maybe he doesn't know Eddie all that well, but Steve gets the feeling he only lashes out when he's feeling cornered.

“Don't be a dick, man,” Steve says, voice softening a little. “They haven't done anything to you.”

Eddie looks back at him, a little surprised, before his expression goes contrite. “You're right,” he admits, easy as anything. “Sorry. It's good that you’re friends with your ex.”

Steve's sort of friends with most of his exes, but that's not the same. None of them were ever Nancy. “I do better as part of a trio,” he says instead of anything else, because it's kind of true.

Then, because he doesn't actually want to field any questions about that -

“Besides,” Steve adds. “If you've heard the rumors, you'd know that's not the kind of threesome I'm into.”

Eddie snorts inelegantly, like he's trying to cover up a laugh. “You telling me I should be putting stock in all the rumors I hear about you, Stevie?”

“Of course not. But the ones about my skills in the bedroom?” he shoots back. “Every word is truth.”

It's not, really. Or, well - not the one about the threesomes. Steve doesn't think sitting between two girls on the couch at a house party and going back and forth between kissing them counts as a threesome.

But it'd never been a hardship to combat that particular rumor, not when it meant he could take his time reassuring the girl he was with that no, he didn't want anyone else there, when he could spend a while making sure she felt important, felt good.

He thinks he'd kind of like spending some time making Eddie feel important.

Steve has no idea what the hell he's supposed to do with thoughts like that.

But he does know the way Eddie's eyes have lingered over his thighs and the line of his stomach and chest peeking out from his open windbreaker, and he-

“You want to find out which rumors are true, you just let me know,” he hears himself say.

Eddie doesn't bite, rolling his eyes and shoving him before he heads off, but Steve isn't deterred.

He hadn't missed the way Eddie's hand had lingered, either.

—

Steve and Eddie have free period together.

Well. Steve has a free period, at least. He's honestly not sure Eddie isn't just ditching, but it doesn't really matter.

They hang out together anyway.

They don't really say much, just - exist in the same space. Sometimes in the smoking area, sometimes at the track, sometimes at the picnic table, sometimes somewhere else in the woods.

They sit too close together when they're in the woods, shoulders or knees always touching.

A few times, Steve takes out his heart, lets himself breathe.

Eddie always glares at it, mutters, “I'm still not showing you mine, Harrington.”

Steve shrugs, tells him he still hasn't asked, and that's it.

Steve'll miss it once he graduates.

—

He graduates, and doesn't go to college, doesn't see Nancy or Jonathan or Eddie much anymore, and it's - it's fine.

He still hangs out with the kids, starts putting in job applications, and it's fine.

He's fine.

This is already written, and my plan is to post one part a day until it's all up here!

-----

Part 5

Taglist (always happy to add more to this if anyone wants): @fairytalesreality @lostonceandneverfound @wheneverfeasible @awkwardgravity1 @theintrovertedintrovert @thewickedkat @ravenfrog @scarlet-malfoy @missmagillicuddy @xxfiction-is-my-realityxx @ollyxar @cringe-culture-is-dead-99 @thedragonsaunt

[undreaming-fanfiction]

Party Animal

Steve hated parties. And who could blame him? The infamous Halloween party of 1984 left more scars on his heart than he carried from all his other misadventures. Alcohol made people say thinks they buried deep inside, but then instead of owning up to them, they'd say "I was drunk", as if that was any excuse. So yes, Steve and parties didn't go together anymore.

And yet he stupidly decided to throw one anyway.

Look, they deserved it. All of them did - Eddie, Nancy, Robin, even Jonathan and Argyle, they all earned acting like actual teenagers for one evening. Steve wanted to see Eddie, now miraculously his boyfriend, just have fun, laugh, be silly. So a party it was.

It all went great - dancing, drinking, nibbling on mountains of Argyle's homemade pizza - but eventually they all got drunk. Not Steve, he just sipped one beer and kept an eye on everyone. Jonathan and Argyle were smoking outside, Nancy and Robin flirted in the most embarrassing way possible and Eddie...

Steve heard sniffling from the bathroom and his heart sank.

He didn't want to go there. He didn't want to be told that this was all a misunderstanding, that he pressured Eddie with his flirting, didn't want to hear he's bullshit again.

But no matter how terrified he was, he could never abandon Eddie. So he went in.

Eddie was leaning over the sink, wiping at his face and trying to control his breathing. "Shit..." he muttered and turned away from Steve. "Sorry, I...uh. I'll be there in a sec."

"Eddie..." It came out as a whisper. "Are...are you okay? Did I do something?"

Eddie just chuckled and pulled hair in front of his face. "Sure did," he mumbled.

And it made horrible sense to Steve. Of course he was the reason Eddie was crying. He couldn't help fucking up, he'd tried so hard to change but apparently it was 1984 all over again. So he took a deep breath and waited for the final blow.

"You're just perfect, Stevie."

Oh.

That wasn't what being broken up with sounded like. In fact, Eddie didn't seem angry at him at all. "...sorry?"

Eddie laughed, wet and high in his throat. "Like, you...you are too good to be true, you know? You throw a party for us and then you even don't drink so we're all cared for if anything happens? You...you give your best friend a green light to date your ex who shredded your heart to pieces? You invite the guy that your ex cheated on you with and his friend? You're just so good about it. And you're funny and so bitchy that I want to kiss you all the time. And I just...I love you so much, you know? And I've never felt that way about anyone and it's fucking scary, man."

Steve's racing thoughts came to a screching halt. Where he was too busy panicking and praying he'd still have time to fix whatever he did, now his brain settled on maybe I'm not getting broken up with? "So, uh..." he muttered as he watched Eddie try fix his eyeliner, "...there's, like, nothing wrong? Or maybe...do you want me to go slower? I know I can be a lot."

His boyfriend gave an incredulous laugh. There was no salvaging the eyeliner now, it was getting caught in Eddie's early crow feet, and Steve had never seen a more beautiful sight. "No, Steve. You're not a lot. In fact, you're just enough in every single way, but knowing that you're it for me, that good things can happen...it makes me terrified. I've never put all my drugs in a single lunchbox, or whatever metaphor you want to use for it, but with you I'm just throwing all the caution into the wind. And for the first time, I..." he stopped, chewing on his lip, "...I don't want to run away when I mess up. I want to stay, face the music and fix it. You're re-writing the Munson doctrine again and again and I just...I don't want you to settle for me, Steve. You are the whole package and I'm still cleaning all my messes. I guess today showed me that and I...yeah. Sorry about all this," he pointed at his tear-streaked face.

Eddie suddenly seemed so small, so insecure, and that wouldn't do. It woke Steve up from his frozen state and he took a step forward, cradling Eddie's face in his palms. "I'm not. Settling for you, that is." He was probably smudging the black even more, but Eddie would have been beautiful to him even fully covered in grime, and there were more important things to focus on. "Eddie, you keep talking about the Munson doctrine and being work in progress, but you don't see how you've thrown all the stuff I used to do out of the window, and I'm better for it. With you, I don't feel rushed, I don't have to perform or pretend. I can just live in the moment."

As he continued his speech, something strange started happening. Seeing people cry normally had a guaranteed effect on Steve - just one tear, quiet sob and he pushed his emotions down to be dealt with later or possibly never, someone needed him, and that was the priority. But now, staring at Eddie's wet eyes and shaky hands? He felt his own face crumbling and what better place to hide it than in Eddie's Metallica t-shirt. It smelled of cigarettes, pizza and the cheap laundry detergent that had come to mean home to Steve. "Sorry," he choked out. "Shit. I was...sorry, I'm supposed to be...you know. Consoling you. But I heard you crying and I thought...I..."

Eddie shook his head and tightened his grip on Steve's waist. "Oh Stevie. Whatever that pretty head of yours thought of, it's not happening. Unless it's kissing me, which duh, that's happening, if you want to of course, and staying with me to the point that you're sick of me."

Steve just whimpered into Eddie's shoulder, something that suspiciously sounded like "Now who's perfect, huh?"

His boyfriend just chuckled. "I guess that in a way, we both are. Maybe for each other?" If he'd aimed for self-deprecating tone, he failed. Instead, it was hopeful.

Steve didn't answer, but his embrace said it all.

They remained wrapped around each other for a long while, until Eddie whispered in Steve's ear: "how about we let the others celebrate on their own, hm? They won't be driving, their stuff is already in the guest bedrooms, and I hear your bed is wonderful this time of the year."

There was a muffled "yes" coming from Eddie's shoulder, and a few adjustments and "Good night!"s later, they found themselves in Steve's bedroom. Eddie managed to remove most of the rogue eyeliner, which was lucky. The time in the bathroom wasn't the last time he shed a tear that day, because as they were falling asleep, Steve said:

"You might be the first person who is dating the real me, and I'd like you to be the last one as well."

Tomorrow, he'd hold a funeral for the Munson doctrine. But today, he was going to wrap himself around Steve like a cuddly octopus and know that even if he doesn't manage to hold on tight the whole night, Steve would be there in the morning.

[mangywayway]

"Safe between your claws"

(consider this the Steve's version of this Billy's art)

[dreamsteddie]

I'm sick, I'm languishing, I'm wearing a blanket in 70 degree heat, and I've been watching The Price is Right on loop since 10 AM.

Anyway, related to my previous posts (here and here), Eddie goes on tour for a couple of months and while he's away, Robin and Steve take a cross-country road trip on a whim to try and be on the Price is Right together.

She's glad Eddie was a good partner and took Steve to be on his favorite show, but she's a little offended they didn't bring her with them. She is mostly appeased by Eddie's continuous and vehement denial that Steve was talking about her and not him when Bob asked him about having a special girl back home. No mater how many times she brings it up, he always gets all red in the face and gives some long winded speech about love and being queer in public and coded speech. It's always hilarious.

Anyway, they get bored one day, and Steve has no qualms about using his and Eddie's joint account, even if it's mostly Eddie's money these days, while Steve does charity and volunteer work. So, when Robin asks Steve if he wants to go to California with her and try to get on again, he kind of just shrugs and goes to grab his shoes.

They drive for two days to get there, singing along to their music, eating too much junk food and not drinking enough water. Robin even forces Steve to listen to one of her book cassettes for "enrichment."

When they get to LA they grab a room at a semi-decent hotel (they could afford something luxury but they are so deep in Roadtrip Mode they don't even think about it). Robin lets Steve try on a million outfits that all look the same and makes up critiques and compliments for each of them because she knows her best friend and knows he won't leave until he feels like he's made the 'right' outfit choice. Steve, who still never fully let the outfit thing from last time go, will add this onto his once-yearly rant to Eddie. The man in question will find this equal parts endearing and aggravating.

They wait in line for two hours with the rest of the hopefuls, partake in interviews with PAs out on the street, and get ushered in. With their dynamic and good looks, they were never not going to get in.

It's the mid-90s, but everything is mostly the same as when Steve and Eddie went together in 89'. Some of the curtains are different and some of the small decals have been removed or changed and Steve delights in pointing off each and every minute change to Robin who finds it fascinating. She likes to pose outlandish hypotheticals for why they had to change it. Apparently, the last set of curtains got eaten by a pack of alpacas that broke in after hours. Who knew?

They watch and cheer and give standing ovations and it seems like the show is going to end without either of them being called up. Neither of them are too put out by it, chances are always low that they call your name, but then they go to call up the last contestant and the name is Robin Buckley. It takes a second for them to register what they heard, and the camera pans just in time to see them holding hands and jumping around like children. Robin steps on several pairs of shoes on her way to contestant's row

Bob catches it and ribs her a little about the number of toes she just broke and how she might need to win to pay off some medical bills. She laughs, extremely awkwardly, and they get to bidding. It's a pair of bicycles which she actually loves since her Women's History course last year had a lesson on how the widespread accessibility of the bicycle in Europe and the United States was seen as a "dangerous" gateway into women's liberation and a potential cause for lesbianism due to the shape and placement of the seat.

Steve knows she's been looking for a good bike, and has been given many a second-hand lesson about Women's History from his best friend, cheers extra loud in the audience. They both know she's got this.

Robin guesses the exact right number on the first try and wins that extra hundred. She kind of hates reaching into Bob's pocket to get it, but a hundred dollars is a hundred dollars. She plays Danger Price and wins all four prizes (a secretary, a stereo system, a barbeque, and a fancy-looking clock). She is so extremely smug about the whole thing.

When it's time to spin the wheel, she get's a dollar across two spins and gets the 1,000 dollars, which Steve absolutely loses his head about. The camera pans to him on his feet, clapping and screaming her name. Unfortunately, another contestant does the same and loses in the spin off. Steve is in no way put off by Robin not being in the showcase because he's too busy going on about statistics and average winnings like this is an actual sport.

At the end of the day they pack away all their stuff into the back of Robin's old station wagon, check out of their hotel, and spend a couple of nights in San Francisco before heading back home. It's a miracle no one breaks into their car.

Eddie comes back home about a month later, and Steve just...never mentions it. For how much he loves The Price is Right, he never says a word about their little trip until a week after his return when the episode airs. At first, Eddie doesn't even notice because the camera pans over everyone so quickly. It's not until Steve runs to grab their now cordless phone, an unheard of act for Steve who takes this time of day very seriously, that he even clues in on anything being different.

It's only when he hears Steve talking into the receiver to Robin about "our episode being on" that he cottons on completely to what exactly is happening. The camera snatches a close up of the two of them whispering to each other and clapping when they come back from commercial break.

He nudges Steve with his toe the entire episode just to bother him for not telling him about an entire multi-day trip, but he knows trying to tear his boyfriend away from both The Price is Right and Robin is a lost cause and resigns himself to waiting until the episode ends before they talk about it.

It turns out Steve did call Eddie the night they got back from filming to tell Eddie all about it. Unfortunately, it was one of those nights where Eddie is both in a different time zone and deeply asleep after a performance and he answers the phone half awake and doesn't remember it in the morning, having hummed and agreed in the right places on instinct and only remembers the call as a hazy dream the next morning.

[spookystarfishzombie]