#minor robin buckley & steve harrington's friendship

[steviewashere]

Cuddle Bug

Rating: General CW: None apply for this one! Tags: Pre-Steve Harrington/Eddie Munson, Cuddling, Eddie Munson is a Sweetheart, Steve Harrington is a Sweetheart, Fluff, Tooth-rotting Fluff, Robin Buckley & Steve Harrington's Friendship

For the @steddielovemonth prompt: "Love is feeling safe."

💕—————💕

The first time it happens, Eddie doesn’t say anything. Sort of just reigns himself for a night on the sofa, stiff to the cushions, hands spread and tight by his sides. Steve fell asleep on top of him. His snores directed right over Eddie’s heart. And Eddie is hopeless, really, helpless, too. He didn’t say anything or do anything. Even though he had to pee. But, when he thought about it, Steve had been especially tired—beyond spacey the entire day they hung out. So it was for the best that he just ignored whatever was happening. Eddie let himself fall asleep, too.

However, it kept happening.

Almost every time that Eddie came over. When he would lay on the length of Steve’s couch. Arms loose by his sides. The television on low. Steve would enter the room with a bowl of popcorn. He’d sit on the floor, make Eddie comb his fingers through his hair, and eat his little bowl of food. Then, at some point, he’d let out a jaw cracking yawn, stand to his full height, pop every vertebrae of his spine, and gently ask, “Can I lay on top of you? It’s okay if that’s too—“

“Just lay down, dude. You’re blocking the show.” And sure, maybe Eddie would be a little snippy with it. But not too rough. Not too dejecting. Because he liked Steve, loved really, and he would let Steve do anything to him.

Steve would lay down on him. His right arm tucked between Eddie’s body and the couch, his other arm dangling to the floor. Head cushioned on Eddie’s chest. Eyes pointed at the television. Yet, fifteen minutes in, he’d close his eyes and begin snoring. He’d jerk with the movement. Go boneless against Eddie’s torso. And Eddie would just have to deal with it. Because in no way is he going to be the one to make Steve lose even more sleep. No way. No how.

So it happens. And it keeps happening. And maybe Eddie’s heart is starting to do stupid things. And maybe Eddie just gestures to his body when Steve is done with the popcorn. And maybe, sometimes, his hand hovers over the back of Steve’s skull, ready to land on his hair, ready to just cup him there and hold him gently, like he deserves. But he doesn’t allow himself to touch. Not at all. Just wondering what it would be like. To just hold him. Not play with his hair. To carefully embrace him, that’s all.

Except, it happens one night when Robin’s over. And Eddie knows he won’t be able to explain the dynamic.

They’re watching something on the TV, as usual. Steve’s on the floor. Eddie’s hand is in his hair. They’re eating from the same bowl of microwave popcorn. Robin’s honk laughing in the recliner. And all is well.

Until, “Can I lay down on you?” Steve asks. And Eddie, without really acknowledging much of anything, just waves his hand to his torso. Steve stands from the floor, pops his spine, wipes his greasy hands on his sweatpants, and settles down over the length of Eddie’s body. He cushions his cheek. And he sighs contently.

The colors on the television reflect on his face. Blue and pink and purple and pink. Pink and red and red and green. Then, pink and pink and pink and pink. And then he’s snoring. He’s snoring. His body is jolting with it. Relaxing into the tight line of Eddie’s body. And Eddie holds his hands up from his sides. A hand hovering over the slight curve to Steve’s spine. The other, over his head, fingers twitching to settle in his hair.

Robin must look over at some point. She whispers, raspy and gentle, “He only does that around the people he loves and is most comfortable with.”

“What?” Eddie squeaks back, attempting to be quiet.

“He only does this with the people he loves,” she explains, “when he hasn’t been sleeping well. And he feels like he can trust you. Like he thinks that you’ve got him? He cuddles like this.” She makes the recliner creak. Her footsteps soft on the carpet. She’s crouching in the corner of Eddie’s eye. Her face looking onto Steve softly. “He says it helps him with the nightmares. He gets them too much. Doesn’t sleep through the night unless somebody is there with him. To hold him. You should hold him.”

And, she does the oddest thing, she stands up and leaves.

Like, leaves the room, leaves the house kind of leaving. And Eddie panics a little, because, What? What is he supposed to make of that?

The only logical thing is following her advice. One hand on Steve’s spine. The other cupping the back of his head. His middle finger tickling over Steve’s exposed temple. He sighs into the hold.

But then Steve stirs a little. “Robbie?” His sleepy voice slurs.

“It’s Eddie,” he says. “How about we get you to bed upstairs, cuddle bug?”

“Mh,” Steve grunts. “Tired.”

“That’s alright, sweetheart,” Eddie assures. “We can go to sleep upstairs. I’ll cuddle with you, if you want.”

“Really?” Steve murmurs, voice going quieter, nearly back asleep.

Eddie shifts his hold. Squeezing a little. “Yeah, Stevie. Let’s go upstairs and sleep, okay? I’ll keep you safer up there.”

“Okay,” Steve mutters.

“I got you,” Eddie promises.

“Got me,” Steve utters back. “Hands got me.”

“Yeah,” Eddie chuckles, “Hands got you.” And resigns himself to carrying Steve to his bedroom. Plopping him down on the bed. Getting under the covers. And holding him to the side of his body. Warm and content. With something, he can taste it, like love.

💕—————💕

[steddieunderdogfics]

Essential Songs to Woo a Metal Head by Afewproblems

@afewproblems

Rating: Not Rated

7,012 words, 4/4 chapters

Archive Warning: No Archive Warnings Apply

Tags: Hurt Eddie Munson, Eddie Munson Needs a Hug, Misunderstandings, Steve Harrington Needs a Hug, Eventual Happy Ending, Angst with a Happy Ending, Good Uncle Wayne Munson, Protective Wayne Munson, Supportive Wayne Munson, Robin Buckley & Steve Harrington Are Best Friends, Good Friend Robin Buckley, Protective Robin Buckley, Protective Dustin Henderson, Steve Harrington & Dustin Henderson Friendship, Hurt Steve Harrington, Minor Original Character(s), Bullying, Period-Typical Homophobia

Summary:

No. He can't think about it again. He can't think about the freckles he counted, dusting Steve's nose, the flecks of green and gold in his eyes just before they closed to reveal long brown lashes. The way his nose felt as it brushed Eddie's own just before he scrambled away across the couch, leaving Steve there with confusion and alarm painted across his face. It would have been so easy to let himself have this, to go along with whatever prank Steve had obviously concocted. Even if it meant letting him shatter Eddie's heart, just so he could have the chance to feel those lips against his own just once. Or, the one where Eddie needs to learn how to not judge an album by its cover.

Thanks for the rec! This recommendation is apart of our Writer's Wednesday! All of the recs today are written by @afewproblems. Want to nominate an author? Fill out this form!

You can submit fic recs to our asks or the submission box!

[steddie-fanfic-recs]

Dustin Henderson and the Lovebirds

by pukner

Rating: General Audiences Archive Warning: No Archive Warnings Apply Relationships: Steve Harrington/Eddie Munson, Steve Harrington & Dustin Henderson, Dustin Henderson & Eddie Munson, Robin Buckley & Steve Harrington, Minor or Background Relationship(s) Characters: Steve Harrington, Eddie Munson, Dustin Henderson, Robin Buckley, The Party (Stranger Things) Additional Tags: POV Outsider, 5+1 Things, Fluff, Domestic Fluff, Steve Harrington & Dustin Henderson Friendship, Steve Harrington/Eddie Munson in Love, Robin Buckley & Steve Harrington Are Best Friends, Brotherly Steve Harrington, Soft Eddie Munson, Eddie Munson is Whipped, Dorks in Love, Fluff and Humor, Dungeons & Dragons References, like a lot of them, background ronance and byler Words: 9,748 Chapters: 1/1

Summary

"You look like you've been mauled, dude," says Lucas. Then, after a beat, "Oh, ew." "What the fuck," says Dustin, cottoning on, "What the fuck. This is hell, you didn't." "Oh, I did," says Eddie, with the air of someone who's won something. He looks like the proverbial cat who's got the canary, if the canary wore polos and listened to Blondie. "Shut up," Steve mutters, flushing as he seems to register what's happening, "Guys, it's not what you--uh, this isn't what it looks like--" Or, five times Dustin Henderson was subjected to Eddie Munson being gross and sappy and in love with Steve Harrington, and one time Steve didn't even have to be there.

[steddiebang2024]

Bad Omens  |  Explicit |  100k

Author: @lihhelsing 

Artist: @metalfreaks86

Beta Reader: Kay & @hawkinsleather

[Link to fic]  |  [Link to art]

Pairings: Steve Harrington/Eddie Munso, Minor Robin Buckley/Chrissy Cunningham

Characters: Steve Harrington, Eddie Munson, Robin Buckley, Chrissy Cunningham, Gareth, Jeff, Nancy Wheeler, Steve Harrington’s Father

Tags: Robin Buckley & Steve Harrington Friendship, Famous Corroded Coffin (Stranger Things), Rockstar AU, they are all famous, Gay Eddie Munson, Bisexual Steve Harrington, Alternate Universe, Eddie Munson is a Mess, POV Eddie Munson, Secret Relationship, Second Chances, Break Up, Angst with a Happy Ending, Steve Harrington Has Bad Parents, Alcohol Abuse/Alcoholism, Sex Drugs and Rock and Roll, Drugs, Substance Abuse, Alternate Timelines, Steve Harrington/Chrissy Cunningham  but not like you imagine, Explicit Sexual Content, Bottom Steve Harrington, Top Eddie Munson

Trigger Warnings: Alcohol and Drugs Abuse

↳ Keep reading below for a summary!

In the 80s, Eddie Munson and Corroded Coffin rose to fame under H&H Records management. With two successful albums, the band started their second national tour in 1989 and seemed to be on the path to becoming one of the greatest metal bands of all time. But something went wrong somewhere, and the tour was cut short when Corroded Coffin announced an unexpected hiatus.

No one knows exactly what happened, and the members of the band were radio silent. Until now.

After almost 8 years, Corroded Coffin is back and things seem to be good, or so Eddie Munson hopes, because between making music again and hitting the road knowing very well how the tour life was partially responsible for his breakdown in 1989, he needs things to be good.

And as if things weren't complicated enough, Eddie seemed to think it would be a good idea to invite his ex-boyfriend -and the love of his life– to tour with them, now that child star and famous pop singer Steve Harrington wanted to broaden his musical horizons.

It's like Eddie Munson is asking for something to go wrong as he tries to balance his new tour, his rocky relationship with his ex and the fact that all his past secrets don't seem to want to stay hidden.

[theladybarnes]

CRIMSON AND CLOVER: CHAPTER ONE

"Do you ever feel like you're losing your mind?”

▸ summary: fall brings in new beginnings, new friendships, and new insecurities ▸ characters: nancy wheeler, robin buckley, eddie munson, & steve harrington 💕(ft. dustin henderson) ▸ word count: 11.5k         ▸ warnings: SMUT (18+MINORS DNI) unprotected p&v smut, semi oral sex, semi-angst, & fluff ▸ series masterlist

SEPTEMBER

 Fall had finally arrived in Hawkins. Bringing in the crisp air, new school year, festive holidays, and the homicidal urges to kill your cousin. 

 “Dustin, move your ass! We’re literally running so late now!” you barked outside his bedroom door. 

 It was the first year ever that you and Dustin attended the same school together. Something that might actually sound cool if your cousin were normal. 

 “I spent two years dealing with you waking up late! I just need five minutes to find a damn shirt, you witch!” He screeched from the other side of the door. 

 Aunt Claudia quickly came down the hall at the sound of the yelling and quietly ushered you to gather up your things as she pounded on the door. “Dusty we can’t be late for school! Let’s hurry up!”

 There was a moment of incoherent yelling from the other side before he slid open his door. Giving his Mother an exasperated look before coming down the hall.

 “All right. I’m here, let’s go!” He chided at you. 

 You were about to tell him off for that late comment when you caught sight of his shirt. “Aunt Claudia!” You gasped. Eyes wide as you pointed at his chest. “We cannot leave this house if he’s wearing that!” 

 She came over and glanced at his shirt before looking at you curiously. “I’m sorry dear, I’m confused.” 

 “Yeah, what’s the deal?” Dustin frowned. 

 “What’s the deal? WHAT'S THE DEAL?” Reaching over you grip onto his shirt, shaking him wildly to get your point across. “You are attempting to go to school. The very same school I attend in a WEIRD AL YANKOVIC SHIRT!”

 Dustin started to slap at your hands, getting you to let go of him so he could straighten out his shirt. “He’s cool! Okay? People actually like his music.” 

 You gaped at his words in disbelief. This couldn’t be happening. Dustin was always different from people. Especially with things such as intellect but this was just borderline..dorky. 

 “I can’t do this.” You gasped, holding your bag up to cover up the line of vision to the shirt. “I can’t walk beside him in that!” 

 Aunt Claudia, having been fed up with the two of you, pushed you towards the door. “Then just walk ahead of him, dear.” She chuckled nervously as she led you outside, ignoring your growing protests. 

  “Now Miss Henderson, I know you had quite the traumatic summer..”

 “Don’t you mean blazing?”

 “No.”

 “Deadly?”

 “No!”

 You bit down your lip, turning your gaze away from Ms. Kelley. This was her first attempt of the year to try and talk about Starcourt. Something you were dreading. On top of not even being able to disclose anything due to the lawyers of Hawkins Labs, but there wasn’t any part of you that wanted to talk about it. 

 Especially when it led to talking about Billy. 

 “I understand that using humor to cope through some of your feelings might help. But I just want you to know that this is a safe place.” 

 The two of you meet eyes at that. You gave a slightly skeptical expression to her kind one. While you’ve always thought Ms. Kelley to be kind and caring, this particular time you wished for the opposite. 

 “Look,” you chuckled awkwardly. “I appreciate the help, Ms. K. Really. But there just not anything I really need to talk about here.”

 “Really?” she asked slowly. “So someone you’ve had a personal relationship with dies in a tragic fire and you’re expecting me to believe that you’re fine?”

 “Yes?”

 “Miss Henderson,” she said leaning forward. “No one would be upset if you of all people had some sort of mourning period for the boy you knew. I know things didn’t end well–”

 “It didn’t just end badly, Ms. Kelley. It was actually all just bad.” You can’t help but feel something snap inside yourself. Finding it hard to keep hold of the anger you had inside towards everyone who kept bringing this up. “The only thing I feel out of everything is relief. Okay?”

 “Oh..”

 “Billy was the only person in my life who ever did me wrong. He cheated on me, he hurt me, he hurt my friends, and that was with the last two years!” 

 A part of you felt crazy bringing up your horrible past again. But if it got Ms. Kelley to back off, then you’d take on the weird looks. 

 “I’m sure there are bad moments that come to mind but surely there are some good memories that you’d like to reflect on.”

 “Good memories?” you scoffed, leaning towards the desk. “There is no such thing as a good memory with Billy Hargrove. Okay? There’s only regrets and a lot of headaches.” You laughed in disbelief. “The only good thing he ever did was cheat on me so bad that it caused me to leave that party, get in that stupid accident, and wind up here.” 

 Getting up from your seat you point outside the door. “Because of him, I got taken to a place where people actually give a shit about me. Where friends stick around despite my attitude, and where I have the most doting and loving boyfriend that I could ever dream of. So if you’re asking me to reflect on anything, it’s only that!”

 Ms. Kelley stared up at you with wide eyes. The sudden outburst from you was probably a bit unusual, but you’ve been feeling the emotions bottle up about Billy since the damn funeral last summer. 

 “I don’t..revel in the fact that he’s dead. Especially since I’m not the only person that was in his life.” You briefly remember the hard, distant, look on Max’s face after the funeral. How she closed off on you trying to talk it out.

  “Even then,” you went on. “That doesn’t mean I need to grieve for him either.” 

 ..Who could miss evil like him..(tick)

 Your mind wanders off again at the thought. Going to how you felt that night again when seeing the monster attack him. Shooting limbs and teeth all over his body while he screamed out in pain. How his blood spit out of–

 No, you didn’t want to grieve or think about him anymore. 

 ..You do..(tock)

 “I don’t wanna talk about it.” you whispered out loud. Unaware of the weird look you were getting from over at the desk. The room is almost filled with an awkward silence. Having only that small ticking sound you heard before as the only noise between you two for a minute. 

 “While I understand there’s a part of you that hasn’t forgiven Billy for the grievances he’s brought to you over the years. I do want to make it known that there’s a chance you’re not fully taking in the whole thing properly. Sometimes loss hits someone at a later time…”

 “Well, if that time comes then I guess I’ll have to come back here right?” you snapped, looking away from the woman. The ticking only grew louder, making it hard for you to follow along to whatever little speech Ms. Kelley was trying to say in order to diffuse the situation. Which was really bringing on a headache, but you pushed the pain away in order to hear her last words.  

 “..of course, it’s whatever feels right for you, Miss Henderson. I just want you to understand that there are people here willing to listen.”

 “Thanks Ms. K. I’ll keep it in mind.” you sighed, ending the conversation. “I’ll see you next week.” Not waiting for a proper dismissal, you grabbed your bag and made it out the door in time for the bell to ring. 

 Students burst from the classrooms, yapping away to one another while you weaved through them to get to your locker. The day was barely midway and you already felt over it. The only solace you had was that after lunch you’d be only an hour and half closer to getting out of these walls. 

 “How’d the meeting go?” 

 You jumped at the sudden voice of your friend, nearly dropping the book in your hands in the process. “Can you like, not scare me right now?” you said with a slight glare to Nancy.

 The girl simply chuckled at your reaction as she opened up her locker beside you. “Sorry,” she smirked a bit. “To be fair, I did call out your name. I think you were lost in thought.”

 “Yeah, been like that all day.”

 “Well now that I have your attention I can finally give you this.”

 Glancing over at her bag, you watched as she pulled out her binder from her bag to retrieve a couple of papers. “It’s your admissions essay!” She grinned. “I finally finished reviewing it for you.”

 “Oh, you mean the essay that you stole out of my very tired hands during study hall?” 

 “The very one!”

 Looking over the pages, you’re at least pleased to see very minimal markings from Nancy’s ruthless red pen. Truthfully, despite finishing it fast, you weren’t so sure how well it had turned out. “Glad to know I can turn this in sooner than I thought.”

 “Yes!” she agreed before pulling out another stack. “And because of that. I was hoping if you could maybe read mine? Tell me if it's bad or not?”

 You take the papers from her hand with a heavy sigh. Unsure if you could mentally handle another task on the list of things you already had. But something in the way that Nancy stared at you with hopeful eyes tugged at your cold heart.

 “How soon do you want to have this back?” you said defeatedly. The girl clapped her hands a bit before pulling you into a small hug. 

 “Do you think you can meet me back in the newsroom afterschool? I have this front page that I’m trying to fix up. Fred Benson tried getting it and I managed to snag it this morning.”

 A whine nearly escaped out of your lips at the idea of sticking around any longer than necessary today. But Nancy is pulling that wide eyed look again and you’re slightly aware that with the lack of Jonathan around Nancy didn’t have the chance to bond like this with anyone else. And honestly, neither did you aside from the days you hung out with Robin.

 “You got me for one hour after school. If you don’t like my corrections, you’ll only have sixty minutes to discuss them with me.” you warned, slipping her papers into your trapper keeper. “And you better supply me with some snacks because I’m gonna have to dig through this during lunch today.”

 “Snacks will be prepared along with the editor's desk empty just for you.” she nodded, holding her binder more excitedly against her chest. “So I’ll see you then?”

 “You’ve got yourself a deal, Wheeler.” 

 The two of you jokingly shook hands on it before Nancy made her leave for her next class. You were about to close your locker and do the same when the sound of your name being screeched came from behind you. Making you jump again.

 You’re shocked to find that it’s Robin making a turn into the hallway you were in. She was using a pair of papers in her hands to wave over at you as she dashed down the hall. “Sweet, Trouble!” she panted, leaning against the locker beside you. “I’m so glad I caught you.”

 “You got me.” you chuckled, patting at her back gently while she tried catching her breath. “Why the hell are you screaming my name anyway?”

 “Have you had English with the Terminator?” she gasped, waving off your question. 

 “You mean with Mr. Terman?” you laughed, remembering someone from last year gave the poor man the moniker. “Yeah, I’ve had him before. Why? Is he trying to kill you for the sake of the future or something?”

 She turned her papers to face you, showing you what looked like an essay with a big fat red D on the corner of it. You couldn’t help but reach out, reading down the small comments he had added to her work. Normally the teacher was a pain in the ass, but this seemed personal with the tiny corrections he gave.

 “Geez, did you spit in his coffee or something, Robs?”

 “That’s what I said!” she frowned, crossing her arms over her chest. “He’s been mad at me since I’ve started this damn class. I work three nights on that only for a D?” Wiping her hand over her tired face, she looked sad for a moment before clasping them in a prayer in front of you. “Do you love me?”

 “What?” 

 “Do you love me?”

 “Robin, duh. Of course I do.” you said using the papers to smack the top of her head. “But what does that have to do with this?”

 “If you love me..you’ll tell me how to fix it.”

 The groan quickly built up in your throat. Why was it suddenly this year that all your friends decided you were the wordsmith in their lives? Looking back at the notes, you frown deeply at the idea of going through everything to help fix this for her. “C’mon, Robin. How would I know how to fix this for you? What if he just gives it another fail?”

 “He won’t!”

 “How do you know that?”

 “Because I told him that I’d get a tutor to help me fix it up today.” Her blue eyes shifted down at the papers before back at you. “I actually kinda specifically said you would help fix it up. He seemed to be okay with the idea.”

 “Great, so you’re volunteering me to do things now.”

 “Please!” she begged, reaching out to grab you by the shoulders. “I’ll make sure to have you home just in time for Dingus to come over and you guys can be gross and do the gross things you like to do alone.”

 You rolled your eyes at her jab. At the current time you didn’t even have any plans with Steve. Let alone do ‘gross stuff’ with him. “I don’t know..I already have a lot of work tonight. Plus, I’m supposed to go over Nancy’s essay afterschool and–”

 “Oh I see how it is.” she sniffled, looking away from you dramatically. “Just because you knew Nancy Wheeler first, poor ol’ Robin Buckley gets pushed aside. As if you and I weren’t stuck on an elevator with me all summer.”

 “We were stuck one day.” you pointed out, feeling another tired sigh building up. 

 “Wasn’t it just a week when you first helped Nancy? Do I have to be in a traumatic situation with you for seven days to earn your help?” She asked with a pout quickly tugging on her face. “Because if that’s the case then—“

 “Robin, stop!” You cried out, watching as her face turned from pouting to shock. Reaching for her hands you clasped them with yours and gave her a sympathetic smile. It was true that Robin wasn’t around for your first year here. But it was silly of her to think there wasn’t any time at all this summer that you didn’t bond with her enough to want to help her. 

 “I wanna help.” You said finally, holding the papers up. “But I already said I’d meet Nancy in the newsroom after the final bell. So I’m not sure how much I can—“

 “That works out fine for me!”

 “How?” You asked confused as she glanced at her watch. 

 “I have band practice afterschool for an hour. By the time you’re out, I can meet you at the front and get the papers back by then. We’ll be twenty minutes tops.”

 Your mouth flopped open as you scrambled to understand everything. It was oddly convenient since you were already sticking around. But even then, the urge to go home would be even stronger. 

 “I can call dingus after lunch and tell him to pick us up. Maybe convince him to take us to dinner?.” She winked, trying to make the plan sound alluring. Which in a way it did so you defeatedly gave her a firm nod. 

 “Well I’d have to be an idiot to say no to that..” you nodded slowly. “I guess after band practice it is.” 

 Her arms engulfed you in a tight hug. Continuously thanking you for a good minute before the tardy bell rang. She quickly pulled back to dash down the hall. Waving at you with a grin on her face. 

 The silence that filled in after that was heavy. 

 The day which felt like it was going on forever was just extended by both of your friends. It made everything about the day feel suddenly overwhelming. But which one was bothering you the most?

 Being late? Talking with Ms. Kelley? The essays? Why were such trivial things suddenly getting to you? It was making your mind a mess and you felt your head pulsing with a ticking noise that only grew louder. Rubbing a hand through your hair, you tried to ignore the sudden sick feeling that hit over you. 

 Senior year had just barely begun and it was already kicking your ass. Especially now that there was no cute Steve around to make it better.

 “Those girls are working you dry, princess.”

 The sudden voice caused you to gasp out loud. Being scared for the third time today was making your poor heart race. It didn’t help that Eddie was amusingly watching you from the lockers on the other side. He used the dark book in his hands to wave at you. 

 “Eddie!” you grinned, making the boy’s smile grow even wider. “Lovely to see you again but you do know you don’t have to sneak up on me  just to talk, right?” you said ignoring the previous comment he made. “Have a good summer?” 

 He slinked off the metal door to saunter over to you, not really seeming to care that at this point you’re both incredibly late to whatever class you were supposed to head to. “It was pretty tame.” he shrugged lazily. “Nothing compared to yours though. Heard you were in that mess with the mall.”

 “Something like that.” you chuckled nervously. Just how many people knew about that? Shaking your head, you point over to the boy with your chin. Turning the conversation around again. “Taking another stab at Senior year? Thought I’d have seen you drive off in the sunset last summer.”

 “Yeah, well, looks like they got me again. Third times the charm, right?” he laughed sadly as he held up the book in his hand. You couldn’t help but frown over at the cover. Having seen that exact book in your living room the other day.

 “What class are you taking here that teaches D&D?” 

 “Ah, shit." He scrambled to cover up the front of the book against his chest. Running a hand up to scratch against his messy curls. “You weren't supposed to see that.” he coughed before he realized. “Wait, how do you know what this is?”

 You close up your locker fully now, throwing a sardonic laugh over your shoulder at his question. “I’ve only ever seen my dumb cousin and his friends play it constantly. I’m actually a little bit surprised you two haven’t crossed paths yet. Especially if you carry around books like that.”

 "Wait, you have a cousin that goes here and plays D&D?”’ He made it a point to dramatically search down the hall for anyone that might be around before he turned back to you. “Where are you keeping this hidden gem, Henderson?’

 “He’s a freshman so I've been steering clear of him and his disciples of nerdom.’ you said bitterly before catching his reaction. It was hard to remember that people weren’t around for this morning’s debacle. 

 “You okay?” he asked wearily. 

 “Sorry. Look, they’re not..horrible. But Dustin made me really late this morning. All because he couldn’t find his ridiculous Weird Al shirt. Something I begged him to change out of since it’s a total fashion disaster. Then there was Ms. Kelley getting on my case. Now the new assignments from my friends. My head is sort of a mess and blaming that little gremlin seems like the best thing to do.”

 Eddie stood quietly for a moment, almost contemplating on how to answer all that before he stepped forward. “You know when you get annoyed your nose does this little scrunch thing?” 

 “Seriously?” You asked, slightly in disbelief. 

 He laughed a bit, giving an empathetic nod before he leaned in close. “Don’t worry, it's cute.”

 There was a lingering hint of cologne and cigarettes on his clothes. A combination that used to make you queasy from dating Billy. But whatever Eddie had on seemed to be..almost pleasant. 

 “Anyway, thanks for the four one-one, Princess.” he smirked as he peered down at you. “Maybe I’ll see him around and take at least one problem off your hands?”

 His closeness became suddenly too much and you forced yourself to slowly take a step back. “I like the sound of that.” You smiled. “Maybe you can really save the day and convince him to ditch that horrendous t-shirt.” 

 He nodded his head again before moving towards his original direction. The two of you hold an unusually long, but nice gaze before you remind yourself about  heading over to class. Waving goodbye, you turned on your heel, ready to go when Eddie softly called out to you. 

 “Maybe there’s a chance I'll see you around too?”

 You felt a little stumped at the question, feeling like there’s a different kind of hope to his tone. One that you haven’t quite felt from someone else in a while. “Maybe,” you shrugged, offering him a small smile. “If I’m not working on essays.”

 He let out a small breathy laugh before turning away, a little skip to his step. The idea of hanging out with Eddie seemed interesting. Enough so that you were a little bit hopeful you’d talk again soon.

OCTOBER

 It’s a completely new world for you with brand new changes. 

 For starters, having a stable job with your new friend, your other best friend leaving for California, and being in an actual loving relationship. 

 And with things like college applications out of the way, it definitely helped make things better over at school. Not to mention how fun things can be when your boyfriend is incredibly distracting...

 “Did I ever tell you that you look good in green?” 

 Somehow he’s managed to get you trapped in the corner of the Documentary/Horror section. His hands snaked around the edge of your hips as he tried to casually drag you towards his chest. For five minutes now you’ve been making an attempt to put away the tapes you checked back into the store. But that was before Steve came back from his break and suddenly needed to check over your work. And way before his hand started to tug at the hem of your shirt. 

 “Steve, there is no way in hell that you mean this ugly green vest.” You make it a point to look down at your outfit. While your blouse from Chanel looked exceptionally cute this morning, under the neon lights and green vest of Family Video, it looked tacky.

 “I think you look good in it.” he laughed, leaning close so he could peck at your cheek. “I think you’d look even better in just the green vest.” he finished, letting his breath fan against your face. You tried not to react so openly, but you couldn’t stop the flustered chuckle that fell past your lips.

 “We literally have one hour left until closing.”

 “Which is why I think we should close up early..”

 Pushing him away gently, you ignored the whining noise he made as you kneeled down to finish placing the last few tapes away. It was always on slow nights like this that Steve tried the most to get in some action. 

 “We’re trying to keep our jobs, right?”

 “And we will! We close up, make sure everything is clean, and then...”

 “Then what? We screw in Keith’s office?” you scoffed from down below. He extended a hand out, wiggling his fingers at you until you tangled them up with yours. With a tug, he pulled you up from the floor so that he could get you close again. His other hand moved to cup around the base of your neck. Bringing you in for a slow and deep kiss. It’s deep enough that you’re still in a bit of a daze when he’s pulled back to look at you. 

 “Well either that or we can go in behind the curtain.” he smirked, pointing behind you to the curtain with the neon ADULT shining brightly. You scrunch your nose, a bit disturbed with the idea alone of the type of people who went past the curtain during the day. 

 “You are a complete horndog, Steve Harrington.”

 There’s another attempt to make an escape, but Steve was smarter this time and moved his lips to your neck. Peppering kisses against the spots he knew very well you liked. The thumb on the hand still holding your neck in place began to rub at your skin, making it very hard to concentrate.

 “I’m gonna kill you.” you laughed weakly, reaching a hand up to playfully push at his shoulder. Stopping the kissing assault so that you gain some sort of control over yourself.

 “I am nothing but a loving–”

 “Needy.”

 “A loving boyfriend. Who just wants to make his gorgeous, sweet girl feel good.” He raised a brow up at you. “Don’t you wanna let me make you feel good? I can do that thing you like. Let me do that thing you like.” 

 You let out a small giggle, needing to get away from Steve and his sweet temptations before you gave in. But that only made him eager to make you trap you even more, wrapping his hands against your hips to press you lightly into the video displays. He was about to lean in for another kiss when the sound of the door’s front bell rang. 

 “Hey, do you think I can get some help over here?!”

 Steve let out a heavy sigh as he let you go. Giving his cheek a pat, you whisper for him to finish up your stack of tapes before heading over to the counter. 

 “Sorry about the wait, Sir. How may I help you today?” you said throwing the customer your most dazzling customer service smile. But no matter how cheery you sounded, it would seem nothing would please this man. Not with the way he was glaring at you. 

 “What you can do for me,” he said, slapping the tape down on the counter. “Is give me my money back for having borrowed this terrible movie.”

 The loud snap scared you a bit, but you managed to keep your composure intact. Grabbing the tape, you take one glance at the name before internally groaning. 

 Terms of Endearment in bright cursive font stared up at you innocently. Leave it for a bozo like this to listen to Robin of all people for a movie choice that he clearly wouldn’t enjoy. 

 “This..is a great choice.” you said honestly. “Amazing cast, riveting plot, and–”

 “And a total snooze fest!” he cried out as he leaned against the counter. “My girlfriend was so bored that she ditched me halfway in.” 

 “Not a Shirley MacLaine fan?” you chuckled, still trying to ease the tension. But all that did was make him more mad as he flared out air through his nose. “Look, sir. While I apologize on behalf of the store, Family Video’s return policy doesn’t offer back refunds just because you didn’t like that movie.”

 His glare turned even worse at your reply. “Excuse me?”

 “You’re free to exchange it for another movie if you want, but the money stays here. It wouldn’t be fair for our business to issue back money for every movie you didn’t like.”

 “It was shit!”

 “So was Fast Times at Ridgemont High but I still had to put up with promoting that movie so–”

 “Listen, you dumb bitch. Are you hearing me? You guys give shit movies. Now give me back my money!”

 Whatever reserve you had been holding in instantly shut down the moment the words came out of his mouth. He was no longer a customer, but a buffoon invading the store. It breaks through your composer enough for the anger to come out. “That’s funny, I’ve never been called dumb before.”

 “Why am I even wasting my time with you!? Give me my goddamn money back!”

 “I’ll tell you what we can give you,” Steve said, suddenly emerging from the back. His breath was heavy as he stepped up beside you, moving closer to the register that had him almost acting like a wall between you and the customer. “How about a permanent ban from Family Video?”

 From the side you could tell how angry he was from the way his brows were furrowed. It was the angriest you’ve seen Steve in a while now. The last time being when the two of you were dealing with Billy last fall. Like before you’re taken back by it. O ddly flustered that this was for your sake again.

 “W-what?” the guy sputtered, not expecting this kind of fire thrown back at him. “No. That’s not what I want! I just want my damn three bucks.”

 “Three bucks?” Steve laughed sarcastically. “Harassing our best employee over three bucks and a movie? That’s against store rules.” 

 He leaned over to press down at the register, making the cash drawer pop open. Getting three bucks, he slapped it over the counter and clicked on the movie title with the mouse “Ooh.” he cooed, tutting at the computer screen. “Looks like you’ve actually returned this a day late, champ. That’s a three dollar late charge.” 

 He quickly snatched back the money and threw it back into the register with a grin on his face. Without hesitation, he clicked over the man’s name on the screen before deleting his name from the store’s registry. Your jaw slacked at the blinking deleted text on the screen. Not thinking Steve would even go as far as to go through with the threat. It was so ballsy, so quick.

 It was also insanely hot. 

 “Y-you can’t just do that, you little shit!”

 “Sorry man, looks like the good times at Family Video are over for you.” He walked around the counter, moving to stand before the man as he sized him up. “I’d say if you want better choices you can try Blockbuster.”

 “Oh come on! They charge up the ass there!”

 “Then your only choices are to give her an apology, change up your attitude, and leave. Then maybe I’ll consider letting you register again with us next week.”

 The man’s nostrils flared as he let out another frustrated huff of air. Looking down at the tape that’s still on the counter in disbelief before he finally turned to look at you. “Sorry.” he muttered quietly. Not seemingly too keen on saying the words.

 But Steve was quick to catch onto that and cleared his throat before leaning in closer, holding a hand to his ear. “I’m sorry.” he said loudly with a slight pleading tone. Steve scoffed a bit at that before he looked over at you. Raising a brow for your signal of approval.

 You feigned mulling over the man’s apology before figuring it was the best either one of you would get tonight.  “It’ll do.” you said calmly, pursing your lips. “Now leave.”

 “You heard the lady.” Steve chimed in after, making his way over to the door. “Beat it.”

 The man grumbled to himself, keeping his arms at his sides in fists as he stalked out the door. It oddly resembled an angry toddler more than a grown man. But you didn’t take too much of a glance as your eyes wandered over to Steve who was still at the door. Keeping it open as he stepped out to make sure the man left the entire premises. 

 The back of his muscles were rippling through his polo, causing your eyes to drift over the expanse of his back as he stood guard for the store. You couldn’t hold back your urges anymore.

 Quietly, you made your way around the counter. Moving to stand just behind Steve as he closed up the door. You weaved around him and turned the lock over, making sure that on one could get back inside the store. 

 “Honey, you okay?” he asked, confused. “He’s not coming back in.”

 “I’m not locking up because of him.” you said simply as you turned Steve to face you. Pushing his vest out of the way, you allow your hands to scratch up the front of his chest, stopping just at the collar of his shirt. “I’m making sure the doors are locked so that you can take me into the office in the back and let me show you how much that whole thing turned me–.”

 Steve doesn’t let you finish as he quickly leaned down to press his lips against yours. Feverishly pulling your body to flush against his. Your hands moved up from his shirt collar to wrap around his neck so you could deepen the kiss. 

 “Let’s go.” He said against your lips when pulling back to breathe. You don’t argue and turn around to dash to the private office in the back, working on the buttons of your top before Steve did something stupid like rip them off in the name of passion. 

 The back office was a small room. Only big enough for a regular sized desk and a creaky old chair that Keith loved to lounge on. There’s a couple of papers of stock invoices left on the desk but you carefully chuck them inside one of the drawers before feeling Steve come up behind you. 

 “If I recall,” Steve muttered into your ear as he pressed his front against your back. “You wanted to show me something?” Feeling him so close to you now had you taking in his clean, crisp, cologne scent with a hint of musk that had you going wild these days. And honestly, as much as you liked to pick on Steve for always being horny, it’d be a lie if you said you weren’t the same with him as well sometimes. 

 The lines of his muscles and ridges were curving around your backside. Making you want to curl around to wrap around him. He had other ideas and moved his arms to wrap around you instead. One of his hands snaked into your open top so he could cup at your breast. It made your breath hitch as you tried to answer him.

 “Yeah, I wanted to show how thankful I am.” you whispered, trying to control the moan that wanted to emerge already. 

 “Thankful?” he cooed softly. “You’re thankful for me doing my job?” The smirk is evident in his voice without having to look at it yourself. Steve was definitely getting off on the idea of having you turned on by his heroics. 

 But you didn’t care. In this case, he’d be right. 

 “I am.” you said more clearly this time. “Especially when we both know I could have handled that myself.” 

 He pulled you in tighter, pressing the front of his groin against your backside now. “I know, you would have made him cry if it got bad enough.” He rubbed the tips of his fingers against the pebble of your nipple, flickering with the sensitive skin before he pinched it lightly, earning a soft gasp from you. “But if you thought for a second that I’d let anyone talk to my girl like that, you’re wrong.” 

 He kept the hand changing from pinching to rubbing at your breast while the other slid down your front. Brushing over the front of your stomach before he got to the button of your jeans. It’s only a second for him to single handedly get the buttons and zipper loose. 

 “No one gets to talk to me like that?” you asked, panting at the slight sensation going at your chest right now. It didn’t help that for once having your partner use such possessive words would actually do something to you. 

 “No one.” he confirmed, as his lips started to nip at the vein of your neck. 

 You tipped your head back to rest against the base of his neck and shoulder. Giving him room now to not only press his lips better at your skin, but to get a view at what he was doing to your body. The whole thing was so intimate and slow and you were embarrassed by how needy your body was turning.

 Like he heard the thoughts in your mind, he gently pushed into the front of your panties. Trailing down until he was able to cup around your pussy. “Steve,” you whispered, wriggling a bit in anticipation. “I want you.” 

 “You have me.” he chuckled lightly. “I just wanted to see how damn wet you are.” He pushed two of his fingers now to brush at your clit. Twirling lightly at the small slick of arousal that had begun to build once you were held in his arms. The area is already so sensitive from how horny you were and now Steve’s light teasing was going to get the better of you.

 You’d be more embarrassed about all of that if Steve didn’t moan at the touch. Letting himself play with your pussy like it was his own toy to mess with. When you couldn’t stop wriggling from the light touches, he moved on to what you really wanted. 

 Circling the two fingers against your sensitive bud one last time before he finally inched down to slip them inside of you. A heavy moan escaped your throat finally. Giving into the sensation starting to heat up within your body. 

 “I can’t believe how turned on that made you.” he sighed, moving the hand from your breast to slowly flow up to your neck. “So wet all because I was doing my job as your boyfriend.” The hand wrapped around your neck and you’re a bit excited at the idea of him actually doing the thing he promised earlier. 

 “So wet.” you whimpered, bringing a hand up to place on top of his. He took that as an approving signal and wrapped his fingers around your throat, giving it a tighter hold.

 “Just for me, huh?” he grunted into your ear, keeping the pace quick as he fucked his fingers inside of you. There’s a small wet noise as his hand slapped against the skin. Sounding awfully sinful in a place you both are supposed to be just working at. But you don’t care, not when Steve is starting to hit the right spot and his hand is getting tighter around your throat. 

 “Fuck, Steve!” you choked out, feeling light headed from Steve’s relentless fingering. His long fingers were stroking at your wet walls perfectly. Crooking at just the right angle that was making you weak in the knees. 

 “God I wish you could see how good you look right now, honey.” Steve whispered back, enjoying the pleading tone in your voice. With every grasp to your throat, the walls of your pussy tightened around his fingers. He changed things up by using the heel of his hand to press down on your clit every other stroke. Creating a stimulation that has you rolling your eyes to the back of your head. 

 “So close.” you gasped, writhing beneath his hold. He took that as a sign to speed up, letting his pace go at such a speed that you were practically bouncing on top of his hand. 

 “Oh honey,” he panted, “my hand is practically soaked.” 

 You turned your head up, angling towards his so that you were able to press your lips against his. Quickly, he turned the sweet kiss into a hot open mouth kiss. Petting the tip of your tongue with his until he swirled it against the walls of your mouth. It made your mind spin like crazy. His kiss, touch, body, all of it, gave you an overload of sensations. It’s only a few more thrusts from his hand that you’re spasming against him in a hard orgasm.

 He dropped the hand from around your throat to hold you tightly. Making sure you don’t fall to the ground as you crumpled into ecstasy. 

 “Such a pretty girl.” he chuckled against your mouth. The air is hot and you’re trying to inhale Steve’s scent like it’s the only oxygen left. “Think you got one more for me?”

 You’re so drunk on the orgasm he just gave you, that you’re barely able to nod your head. Weakly giving him a peck on the lips as the signal to continue. He gently pulled his hand out from your pants, turning your body around so that you could stand before him. 

 The look in his eyes is dark and hungry. But before he could do anything else, you reached out to wrap your arms around his neck. Dragging him in for another kiss before things got crazy again.

 “I’m supposed to show you how that made me feel.” you pointed out, when you pulled back. Steve doesn’t seem to care as he pulled you up a bit to reach for the line of your jeans. Helping tug them down enough that he’s able to reach down and get one of your legs out. Apparently he’s on a mission of some sorts as it’s the soaked panties he discarded next. 

 You shyly crossed your legs a bit as he helped push the rest of you on the desk. Letting your backside rest more comfortable and give him a better space to check you out. “You can just show me instead.” he said simply, rubbing gently at your thighs before he pushed them open exposing your bare core for him. “You can also let me taste how that made you feel.” 

 With a slack jaw, you watched as Steve kneeled before you. Pressing loving kisses against the inner corner of your thighs before he gradually moved to your pussy. The slick of your arousal was still clear on the lips of your skin and Steve wasted no time in licking them up. 

 A shiver runs through you and you try to control the small whine that wanted to fall out from having him lick around such a sensitive area. But that failed the moment he began to suck gently at the center bud, making you reach down to tug at the ends of his hair.

 “Steve,” you gasped, giving a hard tug. “Please.”

 “I know, baby.” he said against your lips. Not yet coming back up right away. “Just needed to make sure I tasted every bit.” 

 The gloss of your arousal was all over his lips and you couldn’t help but moan at how much he seemed to be enjoying himself. Switching between licking and sucking on areas of your pussy that had the heat returning to your body.

 Having enough of him toying with you again, you reached down and pulled his face towards you again to steal another kiss. Tasting both yourself and a bit of Steve before letting him go with a grunt to him. You needed him in you and you needed him now. He caught on to that and reached for the front of his pants, undoing his belt and buttons until he was able to get his jeans to fall down his hips. 

 The sight of his hard erection had you licking over your lips. He was red, swollen, and leaking from the tip with a bit of precum. Reaching between you, you grabbed onto the base of his cock. Brushing your thumb over the tip gently to coat up the glossy cum before bringing it up to your lips for a taste. He watched in awe as he grabbed the member back in his hands.

 “Taste good?” he grunted, stroking at the base. You watched as he jerked his wrist up and down, getting the erection to full attention. It was oddly distracting. 

 “So good.” you whispered, almost wanting to forgo everything else to get down on your knees for him. But seeing as Steve was already wedging himself between your legs, you’d have to pin that idea down for another time. 

 You felt the tip of his cock brush against your wet folds, coating it for lubricant before he slowly and smoothly thrusted into you. “Yes.” you sighed, blissfully. Eyes closed as you feel every part of your body react to feeling full again. Any aches were gone with and replaced with the pleasure of having Steve in you again. 

 “Been thinking about this all day.” he groaned, rubbing his hand to wrap around your lower back. “Need to be in you all the damn time.”

 “Steve, move, please.” you begged. 

 He shushed you gently. Leaning forward so that he could pepper kisses against the side of your face, neck and shoulder. Then finally, he began to thrust his hips, slowly pushing in and out of you. Another gasp fell past your lips and you placed your hands against the nape of his neck reaching up to tug at the ends of his hair.

 Steve grunted from the tug and tightened his hold on you, digging the tips of his fingers into your skin as he began to drive harder against you The pace became so fast that the sound of his skin slapping against yours, mixed with the wet sounds of your pussy being pounded by his cock, turned the room obscenely loud. Between the shared body heat between you two, the air grew hot, and you could feel it hard to breathe. But the need for release from the two of you seemed to make both you guys ignore it in order to be close. 

 In fact, your mind was so frazzled, you almost couldn’t make out what Steve was trying to say to you. 

 “..f’cken..gon..a cu–.”

 “What?” you gasped, trying again to listen to his grunts.

 “Fuckin’ gonna cum, honey.” he said again. “Let me feel you cum around me.”

 Nodding your head, you wrapped your legs around him, bringing his waist closer to yours until you could feel him finally fill you all the way in. It has the both of you letting out a moan together, pausing to enjoy the new sensation before Steve started to rut against you again. 

 The desk beneath you made an annoying squeaking noise as it was rhythmically being pushed in place from the thrusts from Steve. But neither of you seemed to care enough about it as you both rocked together to reach climax.

 Steve brought a hand up from your hip so that he could slide it down between you. The pad of his thumb brushing over the slick on his cock before he brought it up to circle around your clit. Creating another stimulation that has you keening with pleasure. “Fuck, Steve! Don’t stop, I’m so close!” you gasped, back arching as you felt your pussy tightened around him.

 It caused Steve to let out a gasp himself as he tried to focus on the double assault he was giving to your pussy. Keeping up with rubbing and pushing at the same time. “Come for me,” he whispered through gritted teeth. “Fuckin’ come for me, honey.” 

 The sudden demand took over your body and you felt your eyes roll to the back of your head as you fell into the blinding pleasure. A small tremor followed your rocking and you held onto Steve’s arms as you cried out from everything that had been building up. It didn’t take long for his hands to fall back to your hips, gripping tightly as he gave one hard thrust forward. 

 A guttural growl fell past his lips as he came. Hot ropes of his cum shooting inside you while he pressed his body tightly against yours. 

 Steve continued to thrust lazily, helping you both ride out the remnants of your orgasms. His hands rubbed lightly over your hips and backside soothingly. Giving your body some love until he finally ceased his movements. Letting his head fall a bit to rest against your shoulder so he could catch his breath. 

 “Holy shit.” he gasped softly. Hot breath fanning over your exposed skin. “That was..”

 “Intense?”

 “Hot.”

 You chuckled a bit before carefully snuggling into his arms. Needing to have some of Steve’s sweeter side after having such a crazy few moments just now. He reached his arms up to wrap around you. Engulfing you into a more comfortable type of heat. 

 Moving your head, you nuzzle against his pecs and listen to the slight thump of his heartbeat. It’s still beating so fast but it brings you comfort instantly. He brought a hand up to brush down the bits of your hair that became frazzled before tipping your chin to make you look up at him. 

 There was a look in his warm eyes that had your heart beating fast. You were happily selfish to know that he would only look at you like this. Similar thoughts must have ran through Steve’s mind because he suddenly grinned, taking in a deep breath before he leaned to press a sweet kiss to your lips. “I love you.” he said suddenly, thumb brushing at your jawline now. “A lot.” 

 The words still have such a heavy affect on you after all this time. Making you feel flushed and flustered again. “I love you, too.” You said softly, placing your hand over his. “Especially since you did that thing I like.”

 Now it’s Steve’s turn to get flustered, making him shake his head before giving you another kiss. With that distraction, he reached between the two of you and gently eased himself out from your core. The tip of his cock brushed over your swollen puffy lips, coating them in your mixed juices. You broke apart from the kiss with a small gasp. You could tell from the small smirk on Steve's lips he was pretty pleased with the sight. But he didn’t say anything other than let go of himself to gently caress at the places his hands had pressed down on too hard.  

 “Sorry I can’t help clean that up right now.” he sighed.

 “It’s fine. I’ll shower when you drop me off at Robin’s.” you said, reaching down to help tuck him into his pants. He bounced a bit from your touch but let you finish up. 

 “Oh, is that where I’m taking you after this?” he chuckled, helping reach over for your underwear and jeans. It’s more of a struggle getting you back into your clothes. Especially with how sweaty you were. But eventually you’re climbing off the desk with pants on again.

 “Well those were my original plans.” you answered finally, buttoning up the front of your shirt. “I was gonna finish work, get in a quick makeout session, and convince you to drop me off.” Pointing over at him, you give a small frowning pout. “Would’ve been a perfect plan but you got greedy.”

 “Greedy?”

 “Yes.”

 “I thought I was your hero?” he asked, raising a brow as he helped adjust the vest over your shirt. “Wasn’t that how we ended up here?”

 “Well yes,” you agreed. “But I was thinking of something along the lines of head or a hand job. But then you came in and let your little sneaking hands have their fun. Which led to more craziness and now I’m gonna go to Robin’s looking incredibly messy. She’s gonna tease me all night!”

 “Incredibly messy? Don’t you mean freshly fucked?” 

 If you knew it wouldn’t give Steve an ego boost, you’d cover up your face from his dirty words. Knowing how flustered they truly made you feel. But he’s already with a big head tonight. 

 “God,” You said, crossing your arms instead. “You’re terrible!” 

 Steve laughed a bit at your dramatic words before nodding his head. “You’re right. I’m the worst.” He reached out to cup at your cheek, looking at you with such adoration that you can’t stop the smile from tugging at your lips. “I guess I should make up for that with a ride to Buckley’s.”

 “A ride would be great.” you sniffed wrapping your arms around his waist to hug him lightly. “Though, if we maybe hurry...I can still show you what I wanted to do to you in your car..”

 Steve's face changed quickly from content, back to excited with your lingering promise. Without saying much he pressed a quick kiss to your lips. “Let’s go!” he practically sang, reaching down for your hand so he could lead you out. But you’re quick to stop him, giving him a puzzled look.

 “Uh Steve, honey? You forgetting something?” 

 “What’s that?”

 “We still have to close and clean up…everything.” 

 “Shit.”

  THE NEXT DAY

 “I’m just saying, you two shouldn’t be allowed to close the store with each other anymore if that’s what you guys do with spare time.”

 Steve let out a tired groan, gripping onto his wheel tightly as he shook his head at his friend’s words. It’s been ten minutes of Robin’s jabs and your poor boyfriend was slowly losing his patience. Ever since she caught the two of you giving a more affectionate type of greeting this morning, she hasn’t stopped talking about it since. Much to Steve’s dismay. 

 “I have no idea what you’re talking about.” he lied, acting like Robin had no context clues as to what you two did once you had arrived at her doorstep last night.

 “Oh? So you guys didn’t have sex at the store?”

 “That’s a serious accusation, Robin.” you chimed in, trying to stick with your boyfriend and act like the smeared makeup on your face was from something else. “Steve and I are respectful, hard working, employees who would never do such a thing at a workplace.”

 From your passenger mirror, you could see Robin give you an exasperated look. “I think you guys are forgetting that I was stuck with the two of you in your summer heat at Scoops.” She leaned forward to give you a scrunched up look of disgust. “You’re part of the reason why I had to start timing Steve’s break times.”

 You can’t help but giggle a little bit at the memory. There was definitely no excuse to cover up those times, but a part of you knew you couldn’t give in to her teasing just yet. Reaching around her you slapped lightly at Steve’s arm for help.

 “That was uh, us trying to gain control over our emotions. You know..connecting and uh talking..”

 Robin snorted at that, sitting back against her seat as she shook her head at the two of you. Turning over, you give a small sympathetic smile to your friend. Not quite wanting to fully annoy her. “When you get a boyfriend this year, you’ll see how hard it is to keep control of your emotions.” 

 What was supposed to be taken lightly seemed to affect Robin differently. Her eyes shifted side to side before landing on something behind you. Before you could glance at what it was, you felt Steve patting at your thigh. Getting you to sit back against your seat. 

 “Buckley’s gonna tough out her time in Hawkins single.” Steve said lightly, looking at his friend through the mirror for a moment. Something flickered over his face as he raised a brow at the girl. “That is unless she’s changed her mind from our last conversation?”

 “No!” Robin bellowed quickly, rubbing her hands over her face. “I’m not interested in dating right now, thank you.”

 You frowned a bit, confused as to when the two of them had an in depth conversation about dating that you weren’t aware of. Sure, they worked together alone without you. But one of them would usually bring up something at a later time to include you..

 “So there’s no guy in your grade that you’ve had your eye on?” you asked slowly, trying to keep your curiosity at bay. “Because if there is, I can totally and subtly set you up. Ask Steve, I’m really good at it!” 

 “You are, honey. But Robin isn’t into anyone right now.”

 “How do you know? She hasn’t said–”

 “I just do!” he said quickly, making the car become quiet. You’re painfully aware of how much your words are the threatening tone that’s causing the disturbance that Steve’s trying to get rid of. He was never so defensive over anything with you. Not even when he was your ‘enemy’ did he ever push you out of something.

 So what the hell was so different this time? 

 “That’s odd. Since when the hell did you suddenly become so defensive over Robin’s dating life?”

 Steve’s jaw slacked a bit as he continued to drive. There’s a venom to your tone that hasn’t had to come out in so long. But you couldn’t help but feel there was something being kept from you. And by the two people you were considering close friends. 

 The blunt question threw him off a bit, but he quickly shook his head.  “How is it odd with me but okay with you?”

 You crossed your arms over your chest. “For starters, I’ve been known to meddle in people’s love lives. I’m a pretty good wingman.” 

 “Congratulations, Cupid. But this might be a time your services aren’t needed.” he chuckled, trying to ease you into joking around again. But you couldn’t help but frown even more. You opened your mouth, ready to ask why he was trying to put a stop to your work when Robin leaned forward again.

 “I had a friend who liked me back in Sophomore year. It didn’t end up well.” she looked solely at you now, giving you almost a pleading look. “It’s kinda put me off on dating highschool boys..”

 “Yeah, which is why it’s probably best if we just drop the subject.” Steve added right after.

 It was almost dumb for either of them to think that you’d so easily ignore not only the subtle lies in their voices, but the fact that there were things and conversations you weren’t even aware of.

At this point you didn’t know whether to be insulted as a friend, girlfriend, or a regular nosy bitch. But since the car turned down the familiar road to the school, you knew you wouldn’t have enough time to dive into another round of questions.

 “Well, thanks for the ride, dingus.” Robin chuckled awkwardly once the car had stopped. “I’ll uh see you later.”

 She quickly opened up her door, grabbed her things and got out of the car. Sensing that things between you and Steve weren’t done just yet. The door slammed quickly and you kept your gaze on the dashboard before Robin turned around to stick her head through the window. Giving you a small but hopeful smile. 

 “I promise that the very moment I wanna date again...you’ll be the first person I go to. Okay?”

 Her attempt to mend your mood does bring a small smile to your face. You give her a small nod before letting her walk off to enter inside the school. Steve shut off the engine with a small smile. Probably already in his own thoughts about what you were going to say now that you were alone. But the petty girl inside of you wants to leave him to mull over those thoughts alone.

 “I’ll see you later.” you muttered, unbuckling your seatbelt. Reaching for the door, you were about to open it up before Steve shot across to keep you from doing so. Sputtering your name until you let go of the handle to lean back against your seat. 

 “Seriously? You’re just gonna leave like that?” he asked incredulously before sitting back. “What’s wrong?” he asked carefully, extending his hand out for you. The mean girl that wants to be cruel to him is gone, and you have to remind yourself that you were just happily gooey in love with him not fifteen minutes ago. 

 “I’m...upset.” you got out eventually ignoring the peace offering of his hand to keep your arms in your lap. 

 “Why? Because of Robin?”

 “Yes!..No..Yes and no. I’m mad at the both of you.”

 He visibly gulped, looking at you for a moment before he dropped his gaze down. “Why would you be upset? I was just trying to help Robin out. She’s not ready for that kinda stuff. She’s not like us, baby.”

 “She is perfectly normal to date.” you said ignoring the pet name. “What’s not normal is how adamant you are about her not dating.” 

 Steve frowned, shaking his head slowly turning in his seat to face you better. “Honey, I’m only sticking up for her because I know she won’t. Lord knows I’m barely able to tell you no. She wouldn’t have a fighting chance.”

 There’s a bit of truth to his words. But something is still off. A flicker of worry comes into your mind. Something you haven’t thought about once since becoming friends with him last winter. But a deep angry voice kept flooding one question in your mind.

 ..he’s never been so off with you.. (tick)

 Steve wouldn’t lie to you, would he?

 ..yes, he would.. (tock)

 A brush of a finger to your cheek pulled you out of your dreadful mind. Steve had moved in closer now, using the console between you as a way to lean towards your face. His hand was touching your face gently and carefully. “I’m sorry if what I said made you uncomfortable.” he mumbled softly, pressing a kiss to your cheek. “I sometimes forget you might not be around for every conversation I have with Robin. I promise it’s just me looking out for her, okay?” 

 While you knew that whatever bullshit detector was going off about this whole thing with Robin. It definitely wasn’t with Steve's words. He really did care about Robin in the same way you would with Jonathan. You had to give him the same benefit he would for you. 

 Keeping up with that previous worrisome mind would be an awful way to start school. So you settle for pushing down that venom in order to make peace. For now. 

 “Okay. I’m sorry..I believe you.” 

 He seemed pleased with your slight deception and leaned to cup at your cheek. “You know, you’re kinda cute when you get mad. Sitting there with a pout and frown on your face.”

 “Keep going, your highness.” you warned with no real threat.

 He took his chances of having your mood been lightened up to give a sweet kiss to your lips. It had the same warmth from the one this morning and your body doesn’t waste its time relaxing into it.

 “Wanna skip school?” He mumbled against you, seemingly unable to pull himself away from your face now that things were better.“ Got an idea of what we can do right now.”

 That brought out a laugh from you, forcing you to be the one to pull back to look at him properly.

“After that car ride I feel I should make you work towards getting some alone time with me again.” You teased lightly watching a small pout form on his face. You reached out and gently rubbed at his plump pink lips with your thumb.

 “I’m willing to put in the work, boss.” He smiled, making you need to kiss him stupid again. Leave it to only a couple of seconds of alone time to get you out of your bad mood. 

 “I might have some spare time later on for you then.”

 You watched as the smile on his face turned into a wide grin. Cheeks round and rosy from his excitement. 

 “Tonight.” He said out of breath. Reaching up to pull at your hands in order to press kisses against the palms inside. “I’m gonna take you out. Make it up to ya with food, more kisses, and maybe that thing you like again.”

 “Oh.” You giggled with a nod. “I’m gonna hold you onto that.”

 He’s almost insatiable when he dove in for another deep kiss that had your stomach doing somersaults. Thankfully, Steve managed to pull away in order to look at the time on the dashboard clock. “I’ll see you later.” He smirked, letting you finally leave the car.

 It took only a few seconds of gaining the courage to leave his side before you finally did. Waving him off as he made his leave to work. Hopefully without any annoying customers this time. 

 Nancy, who had been waiting patiently in front of the school, joined your side when you made your way to the front doors. “You know, I always thought I’d feel awkward seeing you and Steve finally together. But I don’t.” 

 “Well, thanks, I guess?” 

 She laughed a bit, nudging you with her shoulder. “I was worried about it. But after seeing you guys a couple of times I’m more than sure now you guys really are good for each other.” 

 “Good for each other.” You repeated. Still slightly skeptical of her words.

 “Yeah, you guys are actually so infatuated with one other in a sickeningly sweet kind of way. It’s kinda nice.”

 “Kinda nice or kinda gross?” you teased, making her shake her head worriedly before you held up your hand to stop her worrying. “I’m joking, Nance. I know Steve and I are sort of..a lot these days. But he makes me happy.”

 “I know! And I’m happy that you’re happy, truly.” she insisted. You smile and nod before leading the two of you into the threshold of the front doors. “There is just one thing I’ve kinda been curious about.”

 “How good is our sex life?” you joked, making her blue eyes go wide.

 “No.” she coughed a bit, flustered at the question. “It’s uh, well, you’re close to Robin now, right?”

 “Yeah.” you answered honestly. “Maybe not as close as her and Steve apparently. But I consider us close.” You moved to go towards your lockers, prying open the door to collect your things. 

 “So you aren’t weirded out about that? Don’t they work together without you sometimes?”

 You frown over at Nancy, confused where she was getting at with her questions. Not only because it was odd for her to point out, but also because of their horribly timed arrival. It was almost like she knew what went on in the car just now.

 “They close together and sometimes work in the morning on the weekends. But we all hang out a lot when we get the chance. And I just found out Robin isn’t currently looking to date at the moment so it looks like she’s our third wheel for the time being. Why the cross-examination?”

 Having someone as naturally curious as Nancy Wheeler, have her thoughts be on the subject of your boyfriend and other friend definitely wasn’t helping squash your growing current insecurity. 

 “Right. I’m sorry.” she said quickly, closing the door to her locker. Her eyes were wide and shifting over the area. “It’s nothing, I guess I’m just not used to Steve having friends who are girls.”

 “He’s had friends who are girls before, Nance..”

 “Yeah, you.”

 “Yeah, so?”

 “Now you guys are dating.” You’re about to point out how that was completely different before she held up her hands defensively. “It was just a small, passing, thought! If you say you’re good, then you’re good. If I’m being honest, I guess it’s mostly just me that feels a little bit skeptical about their friendship. And that’s mostly because it’s been a couple of months since Starcourt and I have no idea who Robin really is.”

 You glanced down the hall towards the school bulletin boards. Watching as Robin looked over the new flyers posted up. You’ve hung out closely with her for four months now and even consider her a good friend. The two of you have bonded over different things that didn’t even involve Steve. 

 So why was it suddenly after one morning of hearing her and Steve tag team against you, that you feel there might be something you don’t know about her?

 “Let’s go.” Nancy said, softly. “There’s this article I’ve been working on about gaining equality at this school that I want you to read. If it’s good enough maybe we can convince Fred to let me get it on the cover instead of his piece on the mystery meat served last week.”

 Your gaze followed Robin as she left the hall. Smile on her face as she disappeared from your sight. 

 “It’s not the only mystery around here.”

A/N: If you’ve managed to read through all that mess I love you. It’s been so hard for me in the rl lately to be able to write and continue this. But I missed writing these two out so much and there’s so much stuff I need to set up for the actual plot of the show to come in. So enjoy these sort of longer chapters along the way. I hope you guys are ready for the drama coming up!

[skyesdaisys]

Hey Jaiden!! I hope ur doing well today, I wanted to ask if you could write a Robin Buckley x reader where reader has to watch from the sidelines as Robin pines over Vickie and doesn't realize reader is right there. Then reader starts talking to simeone else (to distract herself from Robin because she believes it's a lost cause) and Robin's like maybe i do like reader?

Thanks:)

i'm doing well, thank you for asking <3 and oh my god, of course. i love robin so much, she's everything to me

—

and i despise my jealous eyes

pairing: robin buckley x fem!reader, and minor robin x vickie & steve x reader

summary: having a crush on your girl best friend was... complicated. even when knowing that she's attracted to girls, just one girl particularly, and that girl was not you

cw: many cups of angst, one sided pining turned two sided (because they're idiots), jealousy (on both ends), happy ending

a/n: robin is everything to me, she's a version of me as well because i kin her so bad, i just felt like she was created for me (as well as for other neurodivegent sapphics out there). also title is lyrics from lacy by olivia rodrigo and i thought it fit here

you knew and have been friends with robin buckley since middle school and during that time, you've been inseparable. your parents would say how much you're both attached to each others hips, which was quite the understatement.

when the both of you were close enough, she came out to you. trusting you enough with who she really is and has not told anyone else. of course you'd understand, maybe not entirely for your 13 year old brain, but.... how could you hate your best friend, your ONLY friend for who she loves? you thought people hating on someone for that was dumb, yet again, you're young, you don't know much of the world and why they act the way it does. but nothing was ever gonna change on how you viewed robin.

once you started high school together, you've experienced some changes yourself. that you found yourself going through an experience that your friend was a couple years prior, but at the time, it didn't mean anything important. and you though, 'this can't be a coincidence that i'm attracted to girls, as is my best friend' and speaking of that best friend.... through this discovery journey, you started seeing robin a different light. she was still your best friend of course, but these feelings were just growing into more than friendship, and that feeling never went away.

you were unsure about your sexuality for most of your high school experience, up until senior year. robin was in band, and she met this cute girl in band, vickie, and it made your just a little bit angry. and it's not just the fact this girl is taking time away from your best friend, but it was the fact robin was looking at a girl like that, and that girl wasn't you.

it's not like you hated vickie, you don't even know her, it was just possessiveness that got to you. everything was just so fucked and you didn't wanna talk about your feelings because you weren't exactly the best at communicating your emotions. especially when you don't like talking about them to begin with.

so, the second best option was to move on, though that probably would take multiple year and not over a span of a few days. you needed some type of distraction, of course. so you decided to hang out with steve harrington. and you a a freshman would be confused and wouldn't believe they'd be friends with steve harrington during your senior year.

and we'll, you were in luck. steve was looking for someone to take as a date to lucas' championship game so you took the opportunity to volunteer. and getting to know steve, he wasn't exactly your type but he was sweet, and yeah, a bit dumb, but he had heart and cared for others. and obviously this wouldn't be a permanent thing for you, but you felt kind of sad for steve because he's been mentioning about finding a girl who isn't leaving out of state to go to college, to find someone who isn't gonna be some boring one night stand and never speak to you again. you knew he wanted something real with someone, maybe it wasn't you but... you wanted to help.

to be honest, he was a gentleman. it wasn't even a dinner date, it was going to a high school basketball game and the two of you were sitting in the bleachers. he did buy you some food as you watched the game, you weren't overly invested since you didn't know much about basketball, but you wanted to support lucas.

during the game though, you and robin occasionally gave one another glances. this had made your heart beat a little too fast, but you ignored it.

the game was over and you and steve were walking towards his car to take you home, then you made a pretty dumb move and kissed him. obviously you didn't like him like that but... distracting yourself in anyway with anyone felt good, but it made your stomach twist up in knots. that had gotten progressively worse that robin was watching the entire thing by the time you pulled away. and she was walking away heartbroken and you were just standing there frozen til steve snapped you out of it by clapping his hands together to get your attention, "hey!" and you looked at him, and you knew, that he knew, "go after her, okay? i'll be fine."

"i'm sorry, steve." you felt awful for using him like this, he was your friend and you took advantage. but he brushed it off, "it's fine. i'd rather have robin be okay than me." and you smiled at him before running after your long time best friend. and you called out to her, "robin, can we please talk?"

"there's nothing to talk about, alright." she didn't turn back to look at you and just kept walking, "i just want you and steve to be happy. i don't wanna get in the way of that." but you managed to catch up to her, making her face you. "that's not what that was, okay? he's not my type." and you got her full attention, "like i won't deny he's easy on the eyes and i think he deserves a girl who'll make him happy, but that's not me. i kissed him because i wanted to distract myself from my feelings. and i'm bad at talking about my feelings. so i just push them down and pray that they'll disappear over time but... some stuff just stays."

robin was trying to understand what you meant, she couldn't exactly understand who you were referring to, "so what are you saying exactly?"

"i like you." you blurted out, "maybe even love you. you're my best friend, and i didn't wanna ruin years of friendship because of how i felt about you. and you have a crush on vickie, which is cool. i'm happy for you, but i just... can't go on without being honest with myself. and i'm sorry if i'm talking too much and i-" but the buckley had cut you off with a kiss. and this time around, it felt great, and it felt real. the feelings and emotions were all there on both ends. she pulled away a few inches to just rest her forehead against yours, "i feel the exact same way. for years, actually."

you gasped in surprised and lightly and playfully punched her shoulder, "are you serious? why didn't you say anything?"

"i didn't think you'd feel the same." and she pulled away from your face with a big smile on her face, "especially since i thought you were straight and i didn't wanna ruin our friendship." and the two of you giggled like idiots. you brought her into another kiss before hugging her tightly, "we're both such idiots."

"yeah, pretty much." she chuckled.

[corrodedcoffinfest]

Week Two: Masterlist

Week Two is in the books! You all did so great, and I appreciate your participation so much! This week, we covered 7 prompts and there were 62 total entries: 59 Fics Written, 2 Pieces of Art & 1 Other Works submitted.

Don't forget there is also an AO3 Collection if you'd like to use it!

Color-Coded Ratings Key: General, Teen, Mature, Explicit.

Day Seven: Celebrate Good Times, C'mon

Fic Submissions:

it's a celebration by @steddieas-shegoes | Rating: M | WC: 922 | CW: alcohol | Tags: bisexual gareth, friendly teasing, birthday party, famous corroded coffin

JULY 7: celebrate the good times by @the-unforgivenn | Rating: T | WC: 994 | CW: Wayne Munson, Corroded Coffin, Susan Mayfield, Fem!Reader!Mayfield

Corroded Coffin Fest - Day 7 - Celebrate Good Times, C'mon by @jo-harrington | Rating: T | WC: 930 | Tags: Friendship fluffiness, some angst, hurt/comfort, it’s supposed to be a celebration but I’m a sad little asshole so here we are, FOI References, Ronnie Ecker, I don't know...are they in character? Probably not and I don't care.

Tonight Isn't The Night by @thisapplepielife | Rating: T | WC: 1000 | CW: Language | POV: Eddie | Pairing: Steddie | Tags: Older Steddie, Man Plans and God Laughs, Grand Romantic Gesture

Day 7: Celebrate Good Times, C'mon! by @munson-blurbs | Rating: T | WC: 535 | CW: feeling sick (no vomiting/nausea), drinking | Tags: Eddie Munson, Gareth, Jeff, Grant, album release party

Wedding Blitzed by @corroded-hellfire | Rating: G | WC: 726 | CW: alcohol consumption | Pairing: minor hellcheer | Tags: It's Jeff's wedding and the guys are wasted.

Untitled by @br0ck-eddie | Rating: T | WC: 379 | CW: None

Day 7: Celebrate the Good Times by @lilmissdoomandgloomfics | Rating: T | WC: 775 | CW: None | Tags: it’s someone’s birthday and the whole crew drops everything to make it special

Day Eight: Band Politics Fic Submissions:

we share that really by @steddieas-shegoes | Rating: T | WC: 905 | CW: none | Tags: famous corroded coffin, reunion tour, future fic, steddie dads, everyone has a family and is happy

Spoilin' for a Fight by @dreamwatch | Rating: T | WC: 912 | CW: language, lot's of language! | POV: None | Pairing: None | Tags: Transcript, band fight, arguments, petty bullshit, our babies are divas now!

JULY 8: band politics by @the-unforgivenn | Rating: E | WC: 1000 | CW: Angst, dishonesty, strong language, allusions to oral sex, Gareth’s big mouth that unintentionally outs Eddie… and Steve | Tags: Eddie Munson, Gareth Emerson, Steve Harrington, Steddie, ex-flame!fem!Reader, gossip columnist

There Will Be No Tenderness by @rip-quizilla| Rating: T | WC: 985 | Tags: Eddie Munson X Henderson!Reader, backup singer!Reader, female!Reader, enemies to lovers, bratty reader, arguing counts as foreplay, strong language

Luck of the Draw by @thisapplepielife | Rating: T | WC: 1000 | CW: Language | POV: Jeff | Pairing: None | Tags: Making Decisions, Fussing and Fighting, Like Overgrown Children

Corroded Coffin Fest - Day 8 - Band Politics by @jo-harrington | Rating: T | WC: 991 | Tags: Swearing, Angst, Hurt/Comfort, Friendship, Eddie's an asshole but hurt people hurt people so...

Landslide by @dreamwatch | Rating: T | WC: 1000 | CW: Referenced drug and alcohol abuse, chronic pain, language | POV: Eddie | Pairing: None | Tags: Angst, future fic, older Corroded Coffin, fighting, arguments, unreliable narrator

Day 8: Band Politics by @munson-blurbs | Rating: T | WC: 614 | CW: conflict, mild political discourse | Tags: Eddie Munson, Gareth, Jeff, Grant, Robin Buckley, angst, arguments

All Riled Up by @corroded-hellfire | Rating: T | WC: 726 | CW: Language | Tags: Tensions arise when one band member wants a specific band as Corroded Coffin’s opening act because of a shallow reason

Untitled by @br0ck-eddie | Rating: T | WC: 308 | CW: sometime in the 90s, some playful arguing

Day Nine: The Hideout Fic Submissions:

selling at the hideout by @steddieas-shegoes | Rating: T | WC: 780 | CW: eddie sells drugs | Tags: corroded coffin friendship

JULY 9: the hideout by @the-unforgivenn | Rating: T | WC: 1000 | CW: Hearing loss, Gareth Emerson’s lack of boundaries, poorly fitting earplugs | Tags: Steve Harrington, Gareth Emerson, Jeff, The Party

Corroded Coffin Fest - Day 9 - The Hideout by @jo-harrington | Rating: T | WC: 739 | Tags: Time skip (sometime in the 90s), nostalgia, very little dialogue, the Hideout is a character on its own fight me.

Just Have to Feel It by @thisapplepielife | Rating: T | WC: 1000 | CW: Language | POV: Gareth | Pairing: None | Tags: Getting Started, First Gig at The Hideout

Day 9: The Hideout by @munson-blurbs | Rating: T | WC: 715 | CW: hurt/some comfort, canon compliant, drinking, grief, mention of Eddie's death | Tags: Wayne Munson, Eddie Munson, Jeff, Grant, Gareth, The Hideout

Untitled by @br0ck-eddie | Rating: T | WC: 411 | Pairing: None (maybe steddie and ronance crumbs if you really squint)

The Sixth Drunk by @corroded-hellfire | Rating: T | WC: 998 | CW: Language, asshole date (not Eddie) | Pairing: Eddie x Reader | Tags: One of the five regular drunks brings a date, and Eddie doesn't like how he treats her.

One Day It Will All Fade by @dreamwatch | Rating: T | WC: 1000 | CW: language | POV: Steve | Pairing: Steddie | Tags: Angst, hurt/comfort, the people of Hawkins are mean, Eddie's going through it but Steve's got him, pre-steddie

July 6th: I heard it in a love song by @lilmissdoomandgloomfics | Rating: T | WC: 986 | CW: None | Pairing: Eddie x Reader (no specific gender or description mentioned) | Tags: Theres a dive bar just outside of Hawkins with a ‘Help Wanted’ sign out front

The Hideout by @pastafairyy | Rating: T | WC: 690 | CW: some curse words in my writing, mentions of underage drinking | Pairing: Eddie x Reader

Day Ten: Pride Fic Submissions:

i'm coming out by @steddieas-shegoes | Rating: T | WC: 880 | CW: none | Tags: coming out, bisexual king gareth, side steddie

JULY 10: pride by @the-unforgivenn | Rating: M | WC: 999 | CW: Some self-doubt, maybe, but overall this is pretty fluffy. Teeny bit of angst with a happy ending and a smooch between bros | Tags: Grant, Jeff, Eddie, Gareth

Corroded Coffin Fest - Day 10 - Pride by @jo-harrington | Rating: T | WC: 898 | Tags: Older!Eddie, Rockstar!Eddie, Asexual!Eddie/Demi!Eddie, Discussion of Sexuality, self-discovery, mention of relationships (Steddie and other), mentions of sex (non-graphic?), it vibes more than describes

Heartbreaker (Eddie Does Drag for Charity) by @rip-quizilla| Rating: T | WC: 994 | Tags: supportive band mates, gay Jeff, drag queen Eddie Munson, brief Rockie reference

Let's Hear it For the Boy by @thisapplepielife | Rating: T | WC: 1000 | CW: Language | POV: Eddie | Pairing: Steddie | Tags: Famous Older Corroded Coffin, Pride Parade

Day 10: Pride by @munson-blurbs | Rating: T | WC: 940 | Pairing: Eddie Munson x Reader | CW: coming out, part of the Trapped Under Ice universe but can stand alone | Tags: Eddie Munson, Reader (Ms. Sweetheart), Harris Munson, Hendrix Munson, Gareth, Jeff, Grant, Will Byers, pride parade

My Daddy-O by @corroded-hellfire | Rating: G | WC: 998 | CW: Language | Pairing: None | Tags: Corroded Coffin plays a gig at a fundraiser in Hawkins and Eddie understands what it's like to really make it.

Untitled by @br0ck-eddie | Rating: T | WC: 411 | Pairing: Steddie mention

Art Submissions:

Furry Versions of Stranger Things Characters Go to Pride by @kassifieddocuments2 | furry ST au

Day Eleven: Jeff Fic Submissions:

jeff by @steddieas-shegoes | Rating: T | WC: 782 | CW: none | Tags: jeff backstory, friendship

JULY 11: jeff by @the-unforgivenn | Rating: T | WC: 768 | CW: Strong language, high parental expectations | Tags: Jeff, Grant, Corroded Coffin

Pretty Goddamn Metal by @thisapplepielife | Rating: M | WC: 1000 | CW: Piercings/Needles, Language | POV: Jeff | Pairing: None | Tags: Jeff & Goodie: Best Friends, Goodie's At Home Piercing Palace, No, No, No, Yes?, Don't Try This At Home Kids, Eddie Munson is a Bit of Freak, In Case Anyone's Forgotten

Corroded Coffin Fest - Day 11 - Jeff by @jo-harrington | Rating: T | WC: 987 | Tags: Nervous!Jeff, Friendship, Banter

Day 11: Jeff by @munson-blurbs | Rating: T | WC: 620 | Pairing: None | CW: older Corroded Coffin, takes place in 2024, all of the guys are idiots | Tags: Jeff, Eddie Munson, Gareth, Grant, TikTok, modern!Corroded Coffin

Baby Bandmates by @corroded-hellfire | Rating: G | WC: 592 | CW: Language | Pairing: None | Tags: Jeff makes a new friend on the playground

Untitled by @br0ck-eddie | Rating: T | WC: 370 | Pairing: None

Art Submissions:

Corroded Coffin Fest Day: 11 “Jeff” by @luciferssworld | Since when did Miss Perfect Nancy Wheeler become friends with a band nerd?

Other Submissions:

Jeff McKay: Fluff Alphabet @hawkinsmafia | Other Type: Character Alphabet | Rating: G | CW: None | Pairing: Jeff McKay x Reader (no assumed gender)

Day Twelve: Ow! Fic Submissions:

ow by @steddieas-shegoes | Rating: T | WC: 926 | CW: injury, hospitals | Pairing: steddie | Tags: established relationship, steddie, famous corroded coffin

JULY 12: ow! by @the-unforgivenn | Rating: M | WC: 822 | CW: ER visit, mild depiction of injury, set in early 2000s – Eddie and Jeff are in their late 30s | Tags: Eddie Munson, Jeff, Corroded Coffin

Love Me Mercilessly by @rip-quizilla| Rating: E | WC: 1000 | Tags: Eddie Munson X Henderson!Reader, Female!Reader, Backup singer!Reader, fingering, P in V sex, degradation kink, bratty reader, enemies to lovers

Zipper by @thisapplepielife | Rating: M | WC: 1000 | CW: Aftermath of a Sex Injury | POV: Eddie | Pairing: Minor Steddie | Tags: Gareth's Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day, And Eddie Tries To Make It Better, While Goodie Tries To Make It Worse

Corroded Coffin Fest - Day 12 - Ow! by @jo-harrington | Rating: T | WC: 987 | Tags: Food, Gareth is a glutton (for punishment), poop talk, vomiting, food poisoning

There Goes My Hero by @dreamwatch | Rating: T | WC: 999 | CW: language, canon typical violence, fat shaming, mention of blood, injuries, mention of past bullying | POV: Matt | Pairing: Steddie | Tags: Angst, hurt/comfort, violence, fighting

Day 12: Ow! by @munson-blurbs | Rating: T | WC: 620 | Pairing: None | CW: sunburn, the guys are idiots | Tags: Eddie Munson, Jeff, Grant, Gareth, Robin Buckley, California, tour

Hard Head by @corroded-hellfire | Rating: T | WC: 999 | CW: descriptions of sex | Pairing: Eddie x Reader | Tags: Eddie explains how he injured his wrist, much to your embarrassment

Untitled by @br0ck-eddie | Rating: T | WC: 470 |  Pairing: Steddie, CW: light mentions of blood

Day Thirteen: Sex, Drugs & Rock n Roll Fic Submissions:

three's not a crowd by @steddieas-shegoes | Rating: E | WC: 995 | CW: gareth and eddie fucking steve | Tags: steddie established relationship, dom/sub, dom eddie, sub steve, face fucking, anal sex, off-screen negotiations, mentioned daddy kink

JULY 13: sex, drugs, and rock n' roll by @the-unforgivenn | Rating: M | WC: 994 | CW: prescription drug abuse, technically speaking. what really happens is Eddie Munson is a menace and never backs down from a dare. (but he still takes something he's definitely not supposed to, and has to live with the consequences)

Corroded Coffin Fest - Day 13 - Sex, Drugs, & Rock n Roll by @jo-harrington | Rating: T | WC: 991 | Pairing: Rockstar!Eddie x Pornstar!Reader | Tags: minor discussion of the rockstar/pornstar life (of which I have no experience), mention of smut but nothing graphic, strangers to...somethings, AU within an AU, satire, metafiction, angst, fluff, friendship

Living the Dream by @thisapplepielife | Rating: E | WC: 1000 | CW: Explicit Sex | POV: Eddie | Pairing: Steddie | Tags: Established Long-Term Steddie, Famous Musician Eddie, Regular Guy Steve, Fucking After a Gig, Anal Sex

Day 13: Sex, Drugs, & Rock n Roll by @munson-blurbs | Rating: M | WC: 677 | Pairing: None | CW:drug use (marijuana), mentions of sex, moaning, general debauchery with the guys | Tags: Eddie Munson, Gareth, Grant, Jeff, Wayne Munson, competition

You Know, This Used To Be Fun by @dreamwatch | Rating: M | WC: 1000 | CW: drug abuse, alcohol abuse, mention of rehab, mentioned overdose | POV: Eddie | Pairing: Steddie | Tags: Angst, hurt/no comfort (sorry!), a whistle stop tour of the Sunset Strip through the eyes of someone who has never been there, stream of consciousness, run on sentences, Eddie's head is a whirlwind.

Wanna Bet? by @corroded-hellfire | Rating: T | WC: 1000 | CW: Language, talk of sex | Pairing: (All in relationships that are talked about) Eddie x Reader, Jeff x Barb | Tags: The guys make a bet to see who can go the longest without sex

[curiositydooropened]

My Whole Life, Too

Seven years after you've left Hawkins, a beautiful day for a wedding in New Mexico brings up old feelings. You're hoping to make the most of it with the comfort of best friends.

Pairing: Eddie Munson x Reader, previous Steve Harrington x Reader

Wordcount: 8,419

Warnings: smut & smut adjacent (minors DNI, thanks!), angst, lots of gushy friendship talk, weddings, drinking, mentions of drugs and cigarettes, so much guilt, Steve Harrington slander, lovin' both the boys, fluff, oh and Jancy

Navigation • Masterlist

---

January 1994 - Albuquerque, NM

The pale blue chiffon of your dress wrinkled in the car, and your mouth tasted of wax from when the peachy pink lipstick clipped your teeth and smeared over your chin a few minutes earlier. You’d scrubbed at it with a wet forefinger, scrutinizing your reflection in an oblong mirror beside the gift table, but you couldn’t help but lick at your front two teeth self-consciously.

You ankles ached under your weight in your new heels, and each burst of winter, mountain air prickled the stubble beneath your nylons, but you were rooted to your spot in the lobby, nearest the guest book, making eye contact with each and every wedding guest as they entered through the chapel doors. 

So far, several little old ladies in lace collared dresses eyed you up, and several families with too-many kids stumbled in from the cold. You hadn’t seen a familiar face since you arrived, and you couldn’t decide if that was a blessing or a curse.

From this vantage, you could barely see out into the parking lot, where snow was packed along the curve and inside oversized planters and the afternoon sun was just starting to dip low beneath the mountains, kissing everything in golds and roses. It was a beautiful day for a wedding.

Three teenagers entered, all three of them ducked over handheld video games, and just beyond you saw the swoosh of impeccable brown hair. Your heart thundered in your ears, mouth gone fully dry. You flattened clammy hands to the midsection of your dress and stood at full height to greet Steve Harrington.

Though, suddenly all of your rehearsed greetings had flown out of your mind. The only thing you could think of were the last things he said to you, the hurt blurring those big doe eyes, his mouth slightly agape, his fingertips grasping at your t-shirt as you released his shoulders and said goodbye. Well those things and Elvis’s Can’t Help Falling in Love, which had been playing on loop in this little lobby since you’d arrived.

A woman excused you out of her elbow-range as she signed the guestbook, sending you a little off-kilter and almost into a stunning satin-decked wreath, but you managed to catch yourself on the windowsill, cooling your palms as your prints came back fogged over. You ran a chilled hand over your face and released a breath you’d been holding for minutes and hoped to God this wasn’t a dry wedding.

That’s when you heard the familiar scold of a best friend. “Eddie, top-button. Robin, no more singing. Honestly, how old are you two?”

Nancy Wheeler entered looking tighter-wound than she was a month ago, when you’d last seen her. Her bangs were cut short, hair black, thin fingers busying themselves with Eddie Munson’s bolo tie. Eddie looked miffed by the action, like a school boy embarrassed by his mom, but he daren’t move a muscle lest he get smacked. Beside them, Robin Buckley adjusted a tie of her own, flattened the lapels of her velvet blazer against her chest. 

And it was just them, just the three, alone in the entryway, Nancy fussing over their appearances before perfectly manicured nails went to ensure her oversized earrings were still clipped to her lobes. You glanced around one last time for Steve, but found a parking lot full of old people and void of any handsome young men whose hearts you’d broken. With a deep breath, and a clench of your shaking fists, you took a step toward them.

“Hey, strangers.” 

Robin let out a shriek that sent a pen flying from gasps at the guest book, and when Nancy shushed her, she snickered and wrapped her long arms around you to breathe a greeting into your ear, all clove cigarettes and patchouli. “Hey, stunner. Missed you.” 

“You too,” you smiled and let her rock you into her hug. You were almost her height in your heels.

She released you, her hair sticking to your lipstick, and you reached out to melt the wax off the strands with your fingertips. 

“Have you seen him?” Nancy asked, slipping in between you to give you the tightest hug you’d ever received. 

Your heart jolted a little in alarm, glancing over her head to the parking lot beyond. Still no Steve. When you pulled away, you noticed Nancy stood on the toes of her own high heels, stretched to get a good view of the chapel behind you, and you realized she wasn’t talking about the same person. “I’m sure Jonathan’s getting ready with the other groomsmen. He hasn’t been out this way.” 

Nancy’s gaze met yours then, a harsh glare in blue, but you saw the fear in her eyes, wondered if your stare mimicked her own. She squeezed your forearm and shrugged, as though she could care less, as though she didn’t sit in your apartment last month downing glasses of wine and confessing her and Jonathan had had a Thanksgiving tryst for the first time in seven years. “Oh well,” she nodded toward the hall where the guests had begun to funnel. “Shall we?” 

Another gust of wind fanned your hair, ruffled your skirt, and you glanced one last time at the nearly vacant lot before a scraggly head of hair blurred your view. You blinked until Eddie’s smile came into focus, head tilted to meet your gaze. “Aren’t you a sight for sore eyes.” 

You breathed a nervous laugh and allowed his arms to envelope you in a hug. He was warm and a little damp under the arms, but distinctly Eddie, all murmured chuckles and cigarette smoke. But with your face buried into his hair, you sensed something else that made your heart stop, something familiar, something Steve.

“How long’s it been? Two years?” He asked, pulling away. He tucked a lock of hair behind his ear, and you noticed the purple scarring that etched his throat, just beyond too tight of a collar. He must have seen your gaze, because he reached up to unbutton the top button and loosen the tie, two strands of leather and a carved silver demon’s face. You snorted.

“Yeah, just about.” The last time you’d seen Eddie had been on a New Years ski trip to the Harrington’s time share. Your memories of that trip were fogged with White Russians and too much time in a hot tub. You remembered Eddie’s bare ass, stark white, when he’d been dared to make a snow angel.

“You look beautiful as ever,” he flashed you those sharp canines. 

“You don’t clean up bad yourself,” you smiled, though his compliment had fallen a bit on deaf ears. You hadn’t dressed up for him. 

“Hey, don’t sound so shocked.” He scoffed, adjusting the lapels of an old blazer. It looked a bit small for his shoulders, a bit tight, and you swallowed. Maybe that’s why he smelled of Steve, maybe he’d borrowed it.

A groan sounded from behind you, and you pulled your attention from Eddie’s shoulders to see Nancy impatiently tapping her clutch to her hip, just outside the chapel door. She gestured for the two of you to hurry, and you felt Eddie’s hand on the small of your back to follow you inside. 

Robin had already shuffled into a pew near the back and was thumbing through a hymn book. Nancy shoved you out of the way before shuffling in beside her. 

“Wheeler said Robin and I aren’t allowed to sit next to each other,” Eddie mumbled just over your right ear, and you snorted before pulling yourself into the seat beside Nancy. He followed.

She snatched the hymn book out of Robin’s hand and tucked it back in its pocket. “Could you sit still for like two seconds?” 

“Could you?” Robin snapped. “Jesus, Nance, how much coke did you do this morning?” 

Appalled, Nancy shushed her. You snickered. Eddie wrapped his arm over your shoulder to lean in. “You have coke? And you aren’t sharing?” 

“I knew I should have left you in Hawkins,” she reached past you to tighten his tie again.

You leaned back against his arm to make eye contact with with Robin, who flashed you a goofy grin, and for just a moment, you felt at peace. You didn’t need Steve to fall back into the chaos of this friendship. You didn’t need stolen moments of romance, you needed Robin’s raspy laughter and Nancy’s neurosis to keep you grounded, to remind you why you agreed to go in the first place.

“So how are you?” Robin asked, propping her elbow to the back of pew. 

Eddie reached his fingers to tickle her, and you smiled, shrugged.

“Heard you had a good time in Louisville,” she waggled her eyebrows and your heart sank to your knees. 

“Robin,” Nancy hissed. She knew the whole story, from your perspective. You’d gone to Louisville for a conference, invited Steve to join you for the weekend, didn’t expect him to say what he’d said, to request what he did. You hadn’t had a chance to talk to Robin about it. You should have known Steve would get to her first. 

“Steve says he’s sorry he couldn’t make it, by the way,” Eddie pitched in from beside you. 

You felt your entire body heat with embarrassment, and you turned to face a Cheshire grin. Did everyone know?

“Jesus Fuck, you two!” Nancy squealed, and a woman in front of you turned to shush you all loudly, covering the ears of a little boy. 

With a groan, you buried your face in your hands and accepted the squeeze and shake of Eddie’s arm around your shoulder, the vibration of his chuckle against your right arm. 

Nancy’s apology was cut short by the chime of the organ, and the shuffle of guests in their seats. You craned to see the minister at the podium, a man with a swoosh of brown hair that had you letting out a frustrated exhale. He wouldn’t be here, but apparently he’d haunt you.

The groom entered first, linked arms with his mother, and you almost didn’t recognize him. Argyle was tightly pressed into a handsome sky blue tuxedo, luxurious hair pulled back into a low pony tail. A handlebar mustache traced his upper lip, and you half-expected it to fall off when he bent down to plant a kiss to his mother’s cheek. She was crying already.

“If it’s any consolation, he told me he was staying home in solidarity with Dustin,” came a whisper to your temple. 

“What?” You turned to see Eddie frowning back to you, face the most serious you’d seen it in years. 

Eddie nodded sideways to the bridesmaids and groomsmen that had begun to file in two-by-two, arms linked and sleeves ruffled. You watched head after head of beautiful brunette women glide by in lavender. “Since Dustin and Suzie broke up.” Eddie explained into your hair.

“Oh my God, I can’t believe he didn’t shave for his best friend’s wedding.” Nancy scoffed under her breath beside you. 

Jonathan stood beside Argyle, warm smile stretched across his boyish features, just beneath the ghost of a mustache. It was clear he couldn’t quite grow one like the groom, tried as he might. He looked more like a French waiter in baby blue. You watched his eyes scan the crowd, and saw the smile widen when he spotted the four of you, and you joined Eddie in waggling your fingers his direction.

“Stop it,” Nancy snapped beside you, and you dropped your hand to your lap reflexively. 

You felt Eddie’s chuckle beside you again, warm, welcome. You turned to flash him a smile, and he winked. 

“Ladies and gentlemen, please rise.” The minister announced, and you all shuffled your bags to your seats to stand. 

You wobbled a little, sandwiched tightly between Nancy and Eddie, and you groped for his hand for balance until his grasp tightened around yours, firm and unyielding, another safe space.

The music changed tempo, and the organ sounded the first few chords of Elvis Presley’s Can’t Help Falling in Love. You heard humming in front of you, felt the thrumming of fingers against the back of your hand, and you smiled at your friends’ inability to keep quiet. A few notes in, the bride entered. 

Eden was a vision in white, hidden beneath a massive veil and more rhinestones than you’d ever seen. She waltzed in on her father’s arm, a portly man who looked like he’d been sucking on a lemon. He also donned a mustache. The detail made you smile, made you think of your own father, made you imagine yourself slow-stepping to the alter.

“Shit,” Nancy hissed from behind you, and you glanced to see her mopping at the tears forming in the corners of her eyes. You laughed and were glad to see Robin reaching around to envelope Nancy in a side hug.

Nancy didn’t do well at weddings. Not since her almost nuptials four years ago in Boston. She’d been a month out, crying mascara stains into steamed linens while you and Robin called florists and caterers and DJs. Pete was a nice guy, but he wasn’t the one. She couldn’t be the hard-hitting journalist she was with a mousy man like him under her thumb. It was right to set him free, and she knew it. 

You knew the feeling. You released a breath you didn’t know you’d been holding, and the minister asked for you all to be seated. 

Eddie released your hand and slung his arm over your shoulders again to jostle Nancy. She sniffled and patted his hand. You gave a squeeze to the soft skin of her knee where her skirt split and exposed her nylons. 

“This better not be a dry wedding,” she muttered under her breath, and you laughed at the reflection of your own thoughts while the minister began reciting scriptures about love. 

—

You made it through the ceremony and down to the reception hall relatively unscathed, catching up with old friends and grateful to find many men behind an open bar. In fact, you were a whole three bites into your salad (and one glass of champagne in) before Eleven mentioned his name. 

“Where’s Steve?” 

A cherry tomato evaded your fork and bounced off rose colored linens. 

“Back in Hawkins like a loser,” Robin explained, crunching down on a crouton.

You tried and failed to do anything but stare at the food on your plate. 

“You guys are living together, right Eddie?” Will asked from across the table.

That caught your attention. You gaze shot to Eddie, who was already watching you, a sheepish look across wolfish features. He nodded and tongued at something in his molars, reaching for the beer bottle in front of him. “Uh, yeah. Since June.” He sipped. You watched the bubbles fizz in the amber liquid.

You supposed it had been an easy detail to miss in Louisville, what with all of the other ludicrous things Steve had spouted. 

“Get any time in the bathroom?” Mike snickered behind his own beer. 

Eddie smiled, shrugged. “Not really, but hey, beats paying out my ass in rent. You of all people should know that teachers don’t make dick for a salary, and turns out, neither do janitors, so…” He glanced sideways at you again before turning back to the salad in front of him. 

“Yeah, but I have a girlfriend who works for the government,” Mike concluded, tugging Eleven tighter under his arm. She rolled her eyes, but seemed pleased to belong to someone. 

You felt your own cheeks heat, and you went back to staring at your plate.

“Gross,” Robin managed between mouthfuls. 

“Are you and Steve…?” Eleven started, and panic rose in your chest, constricting your airflow, until you looked up and realized the girl was asking Eddie. He nearly choked on his own tomato, slamming his fist to his chest while Robin barked a laugh that stirred the attention of several tables nearby. 

“No, no,” Eddie wheezed, taking a chug of his beer. His hair shook around his face, and you noticed the shy smile building on the corners of his lips. “No, I’m not exactly Harrington’s type.” 

“Too emotionally available?” Nancy snipped from beside her brother. You shot her wide eyes, and she just shrugged, forking her own crouton between thin lips. Champagne made her bitchy. 

“Alright, enough about Dingus. He isn’t even here to defend himself.” Robin sighed, taking a sip from her own flute. 

You felt Eddie’s arm drape over the back of your chair again, the warmth of him mixing with the champagne that had begun to tingle the apples of your cheeks. “What about you, Robin? Any prospects?”

She sighed from your other side. “I have been talking to a girl in the Peace Corps.” There was trepidation to her tone.

“…but?” 

She glanced your direction and flashed a cheeky grin. “I, too, am into emotionally unavailable women.”

You picked up your rogue tomato and tossed her direction. She squawked and dodged it, and it rolled somewhere far off to be squished beneath a heel or kicked across the dance floor. 

“Hey, guys!” A cheerful greeting announced Jonathan’s arrival, and the man placed his hands on his younger brother’s broad shoulders. The table chorused a “Hello, Jonathan,” in greeting. Everyone but Nancy, you noticed. You made eyes at her, and she shot you a dirty look. 

“Dig the mustache, dude,” Eddie grinned, and you held back a snicker as Jonathan’s eyebrows raised.

He brought a hand up to scratch at the atrocity, and you noticed his gaze flicker toward Nancy. She remained stoic and focused on her first course. “Yeah? Argyle wanted us all to have a stache. He thought it’d be cool for pictures or something.”

“Yeah, man. It’s sick. I’ve been thinking about growing one myself,” Eddie scratched at the smooth skin above his upper lip, silver rings glinting in the center piece’s candlelight. You hadn’t noticed how full his lips were before, supple beneath a broad nose. He’d arrived clean shaven, boyish face carved away in harsh edges since you were kids. Now he was all strong jaw and defined cheekbones and full lips, a sparkle in his brown eyes. 

You must have made a face because he flashed you his canines again. “What? You don’t think so?” 

You shrugged. “I think it’d throw off your,” you gestured to his being with your champagne flute. “Vibe.” 

“Yeah,” Robin nodded. “Too Mercury. You’re much more of a Brian May.” 

“I’m going to pretend you didn’t just compare me to the members of Queen,” Eddie grimaced and lifted his bottle to clink rims with your glass.

“Shit, that reminds me. I have to make a toast.” Jonathan groped for the breast pocket of his jacket, pulling out folded pieces of paper. 

“Where are the bride and groom?”

You all glanced around. The happy couple seemed to be anywhere but the close quarters of the reception hall. 

“I believe they’re consummating their vows,” Jonathan flashed a shy smile. 

Eddie clinked his glass to yours again, and you laughed before taking another sip. Will, Mike, and Eleven groaned. 

“Cheers to the happy couple.” Robin raised her own glass, which again drew the attention from several tables. 

Jonathan rolled his eyes. “Guess I better find them. I’ll catch up with you guys later, yeah?” And you waved him off. He left with the soft graze of his hand to Nancy’s shoulder. When you met her gaze, you notice her face had flushed a deep pink, and she fought back a smile with an eye roll.

—

The band tapped out the rhythm to a soft jazz tune for all the happy old couples in the room, and Mike and Eleven. You watched her curly head pressed to his gangly chest and wondered if that ought to have been you. If things were different, if you hadn’t have panicked, if Steve had showed. You could still smell him, close, warm, a ghost that lingered. 

With a sigh, you opened your eyes back to the harsh lighting and glanced sideways at Eddie’s jacket on the chair beside you. You were tempted to check the inner pocket, to look for some sort of monogram, proof that it was Steve’s. Eddie had slipped out the side door with the bride and groom and the Byers boys. He mentioned something about a wedding present, and flashed you the fattest joint you’d seen in years.

 You resisted the pull of the jacket and sipped from your water glass, a vain attempt to curb the steadfast champagne hangover.

“Will that ever be me?” Nancy lamented from beneath her own champagne flute, sunk back into her chair with slumped shoulders and crossed arms, far past the rigidity of the afternoon. Glazed eyes stared longingly onto the dance floor. Robin warmed her bicep with a soft hand. 

“Of course it will, Nance,” you sat forward in your chair to comfort her. “You’re brilliant and beautiful, and you’ll make someone the perfect wife someday.” 

She offered the softest smile on the corners of her pink lips. 

“After all, you’re emotionally available,” you compared with a pointed finger. 

Robin groaned and took another sip of her drink, something chock full of cherries. “Both of you are catches, damnit, and I will not sit here and let you talk shit about my friends in this way.” She prodded each of you until smiles cracked on all three of your faces and you let out soft laughs. 

The song ended in a burst of applause from dancers who shared sweet kisses and evacuated the dance floor. Mike and Eleven approached with blushed cheeks and smiles they couldn’t wipe off their faces, and the next song really picked up its tempo. Eleven found her seat again, but Mike stood beside his sister with an outstretched hand.

“Come on, Nance. I’m sick of watching you get bitchier and bitchier.” He offered with that signature Wheeler smirk.

“Fuck off,” Nancy shot, but she gripped his fingers and allowed him to pull her to the dance floor. 

You watched them with a laugh until you felt a hand wrap around the backside of you chair. Robin had leaned closer. She watched you with sad eyes, big and blue, something mischievous in them. “What?” You narrowed your gaze. 

“Steve’s an idiot.” She commented easily, as though his name didn’t feel like a direct hit every time. 

You sighed. “Robin.” 

“No, I’m serious. He’s cocky, and he’ll never learn. Of course you weren’t going to uproot your life for him.” 

You sucked in your cheeks to avoid the panic slamming behind your ribcage. Steve had told her everything, and for some reason, you felt like a bad friend from keeping it from her. Maybe you worried she’d take his side. 

“And he’s not here because he’s a chicken. So there’s no reason you shouldn’t be having any fun.” She pried the water glass from your hand and set it beside your empty flute. “Can’t feel hungover if you keep drinking.” 

You laughed and watched Eleven’s fervent agreement, brown eyes glowing. “This is a party.”

���What’re you drinking?” Robin prodded you with a long finger again, swishing her glass your direction. 

You crinkled your nose, watching the ice melt droplets to the side of her glass, which beaded and splattered, darkening the tabletop beneath each shake. You chewed through her words, realizing that she was right. Steve had chosen to bail. You were the better person here, showing up for your friend despite your worry, your anxieties. Sure, you had wanted to see him, hoped to patch things up, silently prayed for a heated makeup in a coat closet or your themed hotel room. But he wasn’t here, and you were. 

You straightened your posture, gave Robin a firm nod. “Dirty Shirley, please.” 

“Atta girl,” Robin grinned and pushed off from her seat to head to the bar. Eleven yelled for her to wait up and traipsed behind her, leaving you alone at the table with half-drank glasses and Eddie’s suit jacket. 

You stared at the black lapel, wondering if it looked familiar. You glanced upward at Mike and Nancy, laughing with each swing of their arms over their heads. You swallowed and trailed your fingers along the hem, gripped at the shoulder pad. You stared back at the soft material, albeit a bit tattered. Maybe it wasn’t Steve’s. Maybe it was just secondhand. You made to flip the left side over, to look for an inscription, when a voice startled your hand away. 

“Dance with me.” 

You clutched at your chest, attempted to calm your breath, and spun to see Eddie with an outstretched hand and a wide grin. “When did you get back?” 

“Two seconds ago,” he shrugged, waggled his fingers your direction. “Get up. I want to dance.” 

There’s no reason you shouldn’t be having fun. A smile tugging at your cheeks, you slipped your hand into his and allowed him to pull you to the dance floor. Only, when you reached the spot beside Nancy and Mike, the song ended and the tempo slowed again, something sweet and soft. Mike and Nancy High-fived. 

“Aw man, I was hoping for the fast one.” Eddie groaned, but he pressed a soft hand to the small of your waist and tucked you in tight, cheek pressed to your temple as you began an awkward, off-kilter sway, a bit too dramatic, outrageous. It made you laugh, and you felt his chuckle bubble against your chest. 

He was warm, but damp. His hair had been pulled back, low and loose at the base of his neck. Wet curls lined his cheeks and your own. He smelled of cigarettes and spearmint, and you pulled back to get a good look at his brown eyes, wide, but not blood shot.

“I thought you were going for a smoke,” you commented. 

He flashed a canine, shrugged. “I did. Nasty habit.” 

You cocked a brow. “I thought you were going to smoke.” You reiterated, glancing around the room to ensure the other guests hadn’t caught the inflection in your voice. You were pleasantly surprised to find Nancy tucked into Will’s chest. The poor boy’s eyes were bloodshot, and he had a slaphappy smile etched over his features. Nancy rolled her eyes at you, but she was smiling too.

“I let them have all the fun,” Eddie explained, his voice a low rumble against your chest.

You smiled, allowed yourself to drape a little closer, your own hand warm in his. “Why? This is a party, after all.”

His shoulder raised in a shrug under your palm. “Guess I’m growing up.” 

You pulled back again to see the sly smile carving into his cheeks, and you both laughed again before he tucked you back under his chin. 

—

You were swung around for six full songs, pink vodka and Sprite splashing the dance floor, and abdomen in stitches from raucous laughter, before you groaned about sore ankles and were all but carried back to your seat. You set your drink next to your discarded purse on the tabletop and slumped into your seat, cheeks flushed and aching. You hadn’t had that much fun in ages.

“So much for keeping your top-button done,” Robin commented as you approached.

You followed her point to Eddie’s bare chest. You hadn’t realized his bolo Demon had nearly slid off, buttons undone to expose a litany of scars around a smattering of dark curls. A few faded tattoos lended to the chaos, shiny. 

“It’s freaking hot.” He excused himself, slumping into the seat beside you, that taunting jacket swaying under his weight.   

“Eddie, I didn’t know you were such a voracious dancer,” Nancy waggled her eyebrows over her own drink. 

Eddie flashed his signature grin and pointed a finger her direction. “You’re next, Wheeler. After I catch my breath.” His chest was heaving. The last number was upbeat, somewhat of a swing, and he definitely prided himself in attempting to throw you around. It was sloppy, to say the least, but fun. 

“Watch your legs, Nance,” you rubbed at a Charlie horse smarting at your calf from your heels. “He’s a kicker.” 

“I am not!” Eddie gawped, and you squealed when he reached to encircle your ankle and pull it into his lap. Surprisingly agile fingers pulled your strap from its buckle, and he slipped your shoe to the ground, relief flooding swollen toes. You rolled your ankle in his grasp, and strong hands melted the muscles of your calf, coaxing out the tight knot that resided there. 

You were a little light-headed, and the buzz of alcohol made it difficult to contain a sound of delight. You clenched to stop yourself from moaning, and hissed when your calf tightened further.

“Relax, will you?” Eddie mumbled, all tease. 

You laughed and settled your shoulders, slid further down the cool metal chair.

He released one leg and tapped the other, and you complied, trying to ignore the prickle of gooseflesh beneath his knuckles as they grazed your ankle. 

You hadn’t been pampered like this in months, not since Steve offered you an early morning favor you couldn’t refused. You felt your cheeks warm, and you licked the cherry from your bottom lip, watching the glint off Eddie’s rings with each stroke, eyes unfocused. It was definitely the alcohol talking, but you’d always felt safe in Eddie’s hands, cared for, well-looked after. 

He tilted his head to face you, curls falling around his face. He shook them out of big, brown eyes, cheeks creasing in a smile. “Better?” 

You hummed a thanks and tucked your toes back around the leg of your chair, out of his grasp. 

You watched, breathless, as his eyes raked your form, his own cheeks flushing, before he slapped his hands to his knees and huffed a breath. “Ready, Nance?”

Nancy groaned, but pushed herself to her feet, downing the rest of her cup before she allowed Eddie to drag her out onto the dance floor. You never noticed how tall he was, slender yet firm, dwarfing Nancy’s tiny frame as he took her petite hand into his, his other hand wide against her lower back. 

“Feeling better?” Robin pulled your attention. She had mischief in her eyes, and she jiggled her glass in the air between you. 

She was feeling toasty, you could tell by the rouge of her cheeks, the stained of her lips. Mike and Eleven spoke in giggles behind hands, playing Will at a game of Go-Fish with hole-punched cards he’d procured at some point. Jonathan sat beside them, stoned as all Hell, with a silly grin just beneath that God awful mustache. You felt warm, you felt at home. And for the first time in seven years, that feeling didn’t require Steve. 

You released a shy smile, unable to hide it, and lifted your glass to clink with her own. “Much. Thank you.”

—

The bride and groom left in a flurry of sparklers, tucked into a bright yellow van, waving their goodbyes with blown kisses and dazed looks on their faces. The guests made their exits into breath-steaming cold, and you found yourself against the frigid hood of your car, sipping a stolen Dirty Shirley with Eddie’s jacket thrown over your shoulders. Grenadine dripped from a maraschino cherry, sticky-sweet, as Eddie lifted it from your glass and popped it between plump lips. It burst between his molars, and he procured the stem from between his front teeth. 

“Can you tie it into a knot?”

His brows furrowed into the most dramatic scold you’d ever seen, and he tossed the stem to the ground between your feet. “I’m not giving away all of my secrets.” 

You warmed at the insinuation and fingered around melting ice for the second cherry, avoiding his gaze. When you grasped the stem, he elbowed your side, almost causing you to fling it from the cup. He chuckled at the indignant noise that fell from between your lips. 

“Sorry,” he grinned, and you noticed his eyes lingered on your lips when you put the cherry in your mouth. 

You both looked away, facing out at the winter night. The stars were brighter here, sky bigger. Shirley had warmed your insides, and Eddie’s jacket had warmed you out. You placed cold fingertips to the embroidered letters on the inside pocket, pretended you couldn’t feel a cursive SFH. 

“So,” Eddie mumbled, reaching into the jacket pocket at your hip. You jumped under his touch, and he procured a pack of cigarettes and a lighter, shaking it your direction. “Want a smoke?” 

You declined the offer, tossing your cherry stem into your glass while the fruit popped syrupy sweet between your teeth, soaked with the sting of vodka. 

“Alright, I’ll be right back though.” He nodded off toward the side building, courteous. Before he stepped away, though, he turned to face you, scratching at the back of his neck. You noticed a soft blush burning at his cheeks, the cold having already nipped his nose a soft pink. “Hey so, would you maybe want to come back to my room with me?”

You buzzed on his words, the softest he’d spoken, the smallest he seemed. You chewed on the cherry and swallowed with a smile, but before you could respond, he clarified. 

“I mean, you know because I have that fridge full of mini-bottles of alcohol and peanuts, and the room’s on Harrington’s card, so we really can’t let that go to waste.”

You hoped your face didn’t falter from the sound of his name, his ever-presence. You swallowed again, took a the final few sips of your drink, watered down, and shrugged. “Sure, Eddie.” 

“Great,” he breathed, all fog. “See you in a minute?” 

You nodded. “I’ll be here.” And he disappeared around the corner, pulling a cigarette between his lips. Maybe you should have joined him, you could have used the nicotine to calm your sudden nerves. You dumped your ice beside you, water splashing your nylons and crossed your arms over your chest, one again feeling for the soft embroidered letters. You closed your eyes and tipped your head back.

Had he been there, you might be doing the same right now, hunkered under his jacket, waiting for a quick smoke before he took you back to his room. Steve had always been warm hands and lingered kisses, flirtation, toeing the line. With Steve it was always about not getting caught, but not caring if you did. It was young and reckless, and now you were older and more responsible, and terrified of settling down. 

“Hey, babe. Will and I are tucking in for the night,” Robin approached with Will linked to her arm. He looked exhausted, shoulders slumped, pupils still slightly blown.

You raised your brows at Robin. “And Nancy?” 

Robin cracked a sly smile. Will groaned in disgust. 

“Good for her,” you snorted. 

Robin nodded, pushing Will in the direction of her car with the promise of pizza. She turned to you with an arm outstretched, ready to accept your tight hug. “Will I see you soon?” 

“I hope,” you shrugged. “Come see me for your birthday?” 

“Hawkins,” she sighed into your ear, squeezing you tight. All warm and patchouli and Robin. “But I’ll be in DC around Easter. Can we meet then?” 

You were that age, where you scheduled time with your friends, where you didn’t have fun anymore, where life had begun to slow down. You swallowed and pulled away, holding her padded shoulders at arm’s length. “Robin?” Your pulse began to quicken.

“Yeah, babe?” 

You glanced over her shoulder at a skyward billow of smoke. “I’m going back to Eddie’s room with him.” 

Her eyes widened, and you worried it might be judgement, disappointment, until her lips cracked into a grin. “Holy shit.” She laughed. 

You nodded. “Holy shit.” 

“Tell me every gory detail, please? Call me the moment you get home.”

Your heart fluttered at the idea of details, of Eddie’s rumbled voice, of cigarettes and spearmint and cherry. Your ankles wobbled and Robin caught you with a laugh.

“You good to drive?”

Eddie was. You didn’t think you saw him drink anything after the beer. He toasted with water.

You tightened the jacket around yourself, thumbing at the letters on the inside pocket. “Robin, do you think…” You weren’t even sure what you were asking. “I mean, they’re roommates.” You huffed, gesturing off in Eddie’s direction. 

Robin rolled her eyes, gave your wrists a tight squeeze. “The three of you are consenting adults,” her voice rasped with exhaustion, the end of a great night. “You asked Steve to come, and he didn’t. That’s on him.”

You felt your cheeks warm. Steve really did tell her everything. 

“Tell me something.”

You hummed, glancing over her shoulder at Eddie’s approaching frame.

“Do you want to marry Steve?” 

That familiar panic clawed at your chest, and you staggered further into her, the mountain air creating static cling between your nylons and the chiffon of your skirt. It had been a question you’d been asking yourself over and over again for months now, a question that provided you with nothing but hurt, confusion, a question for people your age. 

You grit your teeth, stood up straight, shook your head. “No. At least, not right now.” 

She smiled at that, another sweet, unexpected smile, one bathed in mischief. ���Good. It’s important to have fun while you’re still young.” 

—

Eddie lead you into his room in a flurry of apologies, lifting an explosion of clothes off various pieces of furniture to shove into his suitcase. The room was large, too opulent for Eddie’s taste, with pastel wallpaper and a balcony overlooking snow-topped mountains. Or, you’d assumed it would in daylight. Currently, honeyed street lamps glowed at gauzy curtains, the city was pitch black beyond and below.

The thing that struck you the most was the double beds, one pristine and pressed, the other haphazardly shoved together, a crease where Eddie’s body had lain the night before. Steve had booked the room for two. You wondered how long ago, and at what point he changed his mind. 

“Ta-da,” Eddie gestured to the open space before giving the grand tour. “Bathroom,” all peach marble and gold fixtures. “Television, with pay-per-view.” He waggled his eyebrows. “And… snacks.” He swung open the door to the mini fridge and reached in to pull out a few mini bottles of vodka. They clinked against his silver rings. 

Anxiety bubbled in you, that familiar precipice of a storm. It tingled in your fingertips, thundered your heartbeat in your ears. It was electric like static shock clinging to your nylons. You took a few uneasy steps forward, coughed a laugh. 

Eddie tossed the liquor bottles to the unmade bed and tugged at the Demon medallion around his neck. It was barely on by now, scooped neck of a white tank top visible low on his chest. Eddie was rough around the edges, sticky, stretched like taffy over wiry limbs. He moved with umph, a cartoon character. He pulled his bolo tie over his head and deposited it to the bedside table nearest a phone, a lamp, a pad of paper with the hotel’s logo. 

“Good for Nancy and Jonathan, huh?” He commented, stirring your attention back to the present, back to the fun evening you had, removing the pressure of it all. 

You laughed, tossed your clutch to a side table, leaned against a wall to unbuckle shoes and release your aching toes. “I know, right? She needed it.”

“Did you know they hooked up over Thanksgiving?” Eddie offered like a secret, rolling his sleeves and unbuttoning his shirt the rest of the way. The tank top beneath clung to bits of him that sweat through, see-through, exposing bits of purpled flesh, like Steve’s.

You sucked in your cheeks and wiggled your toes against the carpet, strode to the mini fridge to find a bag of M&Ms. “Yeah, I’m sure I’ll here about tonight for the next three months.” You shook the bag his direction, and when he held his hands out to catch it, you tossed and grabbed yourself another bag. 

“What? You don’t think they’ll be together forever after this?” Eddie snickered, tearing open his bag from the center. The plastic split and a few candy-coated chocolates pelted the carpet, but he kicked them under the unmade bed and threw himself onto it with all of the flair for dramatics he was famous for. The comforter sighed under him.

You snorted, shrugged, tore open the corner of your own bag, and crawled to rest against the headboard beside him. You popped a green one into your mouth, and a brown. They tasted a bit stale, and odd refrigerated, but the crunch between your teeth was satisfying enough.

“Hey, so,” Eddie pulled himself upward and shifted onto his side to face you, all long limbs and chocolate breath, and you turned to catch watchful brown eyes. “I know I’m a thousand percent going to regret asking this,” he licked the corner of his plump, pink lips. “But what exactly happened in Louisville?” 

You nearly choked. Eddie laughed as you sputtered, and he darted from his spot with an apology on his lips to pull a sealed plastic water bottle from the fridge. You laughed with him, tears forming at your eyes while you twisted the cap off and sat up for a drink and a gasp of fresh air. 

“That bad, huh?” He settled beside you again, his surprisingly weight teetering you on your side. 

“Steve didn’t tell you?” You sipped, licked chocolate from your teeth. 

Eddie’s eyes were soft, innocent, head tilted to yours as he shook the curls from his eyelashes. “He didn’t say much, just came back grumpier than usual. Robin yelled at him the other day because every time we mention you, he gets all… weird. Quiet. Obnoxious.” His lips split in a grin, though it didn’t reach his eyes. He was concerned, concerned for his friend, for you too.

You took a deep breath, acknowledged the idea of a sullen Steve, moping around at your expense. You thought back to that blessed weekend, boring conference room meetings anxiously awaiting 5 o’clock when you could stumble back into a hotel room, not unlike this one, unzipping your dress and soaking in Steve Harrington’s all-encompassing affection. All weekend, he had been soft words and sweet sounds and roaming hands, until the end.

And then you fought. God, you’d never fought anyone like that. 

“Steve asked me to marry him.” 

It was Eddie’s turn to choke. “I’m sorry?” 

You shrugged, tugged at a run in the chiffon of your pleated skirt. “Well, he more told me to marry him than asked. There wasn’t a ring or anything.” You groaned and slammed your head back into the padded headboard. “He wanted to try long distance, and when I said no, he told me to marry him, told me to move to Hawkins, promised to take care of me. And Jesus, Eddie, no offense to Hawkins or its residence, but you know I can’t do that. I mean, after the Earthquake? After all that happened?” You were rambling, but you hadn’t talked about it. Not since you spewed to Nancy, and that was months ago.

“No, I get it,” Eddie sighed, tugging his hair tie from his end to run his fingers through scraggly hair. “I’m only there for Wayne, and half the time, I think he’s staying for me. Hawkins is like a black hole.” 

“Exactly!” You poured a few more M&Ms into your hand and ate them one-by-one. “And like, I obviously like Steve. I mean, he was my first kiss, my prom date. We have history, you know? I think that’s why I know him so well.”

Eddie hummed in response, settled back down beside you, shoulder to shoulder. He tossed a candy, missed his mouth. It settled somewhere between you. 

“Steve needs the nuclear family. He needs a stay-at-home wife and six kids, a golden retriever out back.” You mused. You almost hated that you saw yourself in the role, could see yourself melding perfectly into it, had been imagining it for months and months. 

Eddie just let you speak, continued to shuffle chocolate into his hand and down it. 

You elbowed him. “What, no input here?” 

He crunched a few bites, mouth full, and shrugged. He pulled your water bottle from your hand to chase the chocolate coating his mouth, and took a minute to compose his thoughts before he said. “Can I be totally honest with you?”

“Please,” you nodded, tilting yourself to face him. 

He glanced your direction for a split second, but looked outward, gesturing to the room, to his invisible audience. “I mean, I obviously want you both to be happy. He’s one of my best friends. We share a toilet, for Christ’s sake.” 

You chuckled at the visual.

The corners of his mouth turned up into a smile, and he glanced back at you again. You watched his Adam’s apple bob. “But uh… I’m feeling really selfish tonight.” 

You felt it again at his words, that buzz of electricity to your fingertips. “Yeah?” Was all you could manage. 

“Yeah,” he nodded, looked away, gestured out to the neatly pressed bed to your right. “I mean, he’s not here. He could have fought for you, and he chose to be a coward and stay home, and I feel like kind of a dick because I’m just so grateful I finally have you to myself.” 

You watched the steady rise and fall of his chest before he turned to face you again, his eyes big and brown and watching you watch him. 

“Because honestly? It’s been killing me to fight for your attention when Harrington’s around. I mean, I’ve been wanting to kiss you since you offered to tutor me sophomore year.”

You licked the crease between your lips, saw it catch his gaze, watched him do the same. A shiver slipped down your spine. “You could try now. If you want.” 

A soft sound spilled from his mouth, and his brows furrowed neatly. “Are you sure?” 

You smiled, leaned back against the headboard, and whispered, “Kiss me, Eddie.” 

His lips were soft, pillowy, all-encompassing. He overtook your space, crowded you with a cascade of curls and a firm hand to the headboard above your head, his other grazing your ribcage, and you leaned into the taste of chocolate and spearmint. He was gentle, timid, a stark polar opposite from the dramatic flair of the man you’d grown accustomed to, a facade, perhaps. 

His nose nuzzled your own, and your cheek, and you breathed a warm smile to his temple when his lips found the hollow at your ear. “Can I?” He whispered, and you muttered an allowance before feeling warm, soft kisses down the plane of your throat to the dips of your clavicle. 

You pushed at his shoulders, unraveling the collar of his shirt until he was pulling away to yank folded sleeves down his forearms. His lean frame was sinew and faded ink and a smattering of scars that matched a few of your own.

He pulled his tank over his head next, not one to waste time, and you trailed your fingers along tight flesh from ribcage to hipbones, leaving a trail of goosebumps along pale skin. With a groan, he dipped back to capture your lips in a kiss again. You heard the scatter of M&Ms across the side table, felt the shift of the bed as he gripped your hips and pulled you downward until your head rested on a cotton pillowcase. 

“I meant it when I told you you were beautiful,” he muttered to your lips, hands ghosting your thighs as he made for the waist band of your nylons beneath your dress. 

You felt self-conscious about the creases left to your skin there, but nimble fingers rolled the thin material down past your knees, and you watched it waft to the floor. Firm hands quickly replaced it, kneading at aching leg muscles, pinching the meat of your thighs between ringed fingers. You moaned into an open mouth. 

“You deserve to be worshipped.” He sighed into your shoulder.

He was right. You deserved to have fun, to enjoy your friend’s wedding, to party, to live a little. You deserved to not worry about the ever-present stress of adulthood. You deserved to sink into a cushy mattress and clutch curls as a man buried his face into you, as a man praised you, as a man pleased you. 

You held chiffon pleats to your thighs, wished you’d shaved, felt pillowy lips to the crux of your hips, tried not to compare calloused hands to smooth ones. You saw stars, eyes and jaw slammed shut, and tried not to compare a round-tipped nose to a flat one. You allowed Eddie to kiss you, lips tacky, breath hot, and tried not to compare sweet sounds to filthy ones. 

Eddie was all lips, where Steve was all hands. Eddie was strong shoulders, nimble fingers, and Steve was rhythm and hips and thighs. Eddie was whispered truths and damp and sticky sweet, and Steve was furrowed brow and grit teeth, determined. Eddie let you pin him, hair splayed across a creased pillowcase, your small hands pressed to the faded ink on his chest, tracing lines with manicured fingertips. Steve would have pinned you wrists over your head. 

“Can I hold you?” Eddie asked, when you were all spent and sweating and breathless, curls stuck to his temples, eyelids heavy.

You sunk into spindly arms, your legs tangled but spread wide across an uneven bedspread. You dress has been discarded beneath the side table. The soft lamplight accentuated the shadows, a honeyed glow pooling in from the patio beyond. 

Something heavy rattled in you, guilt perhaps, and you released a shaky breath. 

“Need a smoke?” Eddie breathed into your neck, that warm chuckle, friendly, like he understood, that safe space to bring you back to Earth. 

You tucked his hand tighter into your ribcage beneath your breasts, a buoy tying you to the reality of the day, of your life, to the consequences of your actions. 

You fell asleep to the low, rumbling hum of Elvis Presley’s Can’t Help Falling In Love. 

---

A/N: This has been floating around my head for ages, and for some reason, it chose this week to finally come out, and it's so vastly different from what I had planned. Listen, I'm a Steve girl, trust me. I know it may not seem like it, but I'm really, really a Steve girl. But Eddie's just so... I just love him sometimes, okay?

Also I just really felt like this was so about the friendship between them all. If you can't tell, I think I'm in love with Robin and Nancy. Let me know what you think. Love you forever and ever. xo Amanda

[maxineholtzmann]

project easy-bake - complete on ao3

Rating: Teen And Up Audiences

Relationship: Steve Harrington/Eddie Munson

Additional Tags: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, We're ignoring all of Season Four, It never happened, Chrissy Cunningham Lives, Chrissy Cunningham & Eddie Munson Friendship, Chrissy Cunningham Has a Crush on Robin Buckley, Robin Buckley Has a Crush on Chrissy Cunningham, Eddie Munson Has a Crush on Steve Harrington, Steve Harrington Has a Crush on Eddie Munson, Getting Together, First Kiss, Eventual background buckingham is implied, Minor Maxine "Max" Mayfield/Lucas Sinclair, Steve Harrington & Maxine "Max" Mayfield Have a Sibling Relationship, Steve Harrington & Dustin Henderson Friendship, Platonic Soulmates Robin Buckley & Steve Harrington, Maxine "Max" Mayfield & Eddie Munson Friendship, This whole thing is a romcom, Baking, Hijinks & Shenanigans, No beta we die like Barb

Word Count: 16,911 Chapters: 2/2

Written for @thefreakandthehair's Lex's Spicy Six Spring Fanworks Challenge 2023!

Chapter One Snippet:

“Get your ass off the counter, that’s not sanitary,” Max lightly shoved Eddie's legs, getting flour on his black jeans.

“If you think anything in this kitchen is sanitary , Red, you’d be incorrect. Stop changing the subject–what is all of this for? And why on god’s green Earth do you not want Harrington to know about it?” Eddie scooted closer as Max carefully measured out the second cup of flour.

She paused, considering. “If I tell you, you have to promise not to tell anyone.”

Eddie perked up, of course , he should have thought of this earlier. “Oh, so that’s it. You have a crush on Harrington. I mean, he’s a bit old for you, but I can see the appeal–”

“What? No! Ew! He’s like my weird hybrid brother-mom.” Max looked at him like he had five heads. “It’s his birthday next Tuesday and I’m trying to bake him a cake but every time I try it turns out disgusting. Sunday it was burnt and yesterday it was raw in the middle! He does a lot for us and I know no one else even knows when his birthday even is and I wanted to do something…nice, for once. If you tell anyone I said that I’ll kill you.”

read the rest on ao3

[steddiebang]

patron saint of lost causes |  Teen And Up Audiences |  30,000

Author: genesisofrhythm (@ruthofrhythm) Artist: Alex Callahan (@getlostlosingsleep)

“Of course I know who you are, King Steve,” Eddie sneered, jumping out of his van and approaching him. Steve rolled his eyes. “Former King Steve, if you will, kind peasant. I’m more of a knight these days.” After Steve fails senior year, he's forced to return to Hawkins High as a super senior in a last ditch attempt at graduating. The year picks up when he develops a crush on Eddie Munson but unfortunately for him, a bad first encounter leaves them at odds. Eddie is impossible to avoid now that the kids have all joined Hellfire so Steve just hopes he can get over this stupid crush before it becomes exceedingly obvious. Or: The only thing worse than having to repeat 12th grade was falling in love with someone who hated you.

Link to fic  |  Link to art

Pairings: Steve/Eddie Characters: Steve Harrington, Eddie Munson, Robin Buckley Tags:  Minor Robin Buckley/Vickie, Enemies to Friends to Lovers, Domestic Fluff, Pre-Season/Series 04, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Misunderstandings, Matchmaking, Not Actually Unrequited Love, mildly pride & prejudice inspired, steve repeats senior year, POV Steve Harrington, High School, Friendship

[ruthofrhythm]

So excited to start posting my big bang fic for @steddiebang! Will be posting chapters twice a week until completed.

patron saint of lost causes |  Teen And Up Audiences |  30,000

Author: genesisofrhythm (@ruthofrhythm)

Artist: Alex Callahan (@getlostlosingsleep)

“Of course I know who you are, King Steve,” Eddie sneered, jumping out of his van and approaching him.

Steve rolled his eyes. “Former King Steve, if you will, kind peasant. I’m more of a knight these days.”

After Steve fails senior year, he's forced to return to Hawkins High as a super senior in a last ditch attempt at graduating. The year picks up when he develops a crush on Eddie Munson but unfortunately for him, a bad first encounter leaves them at odds. Eddie is impossible to avoid now that the kids have all joined Hellfire so Steve just hopes he can get over this stupid crush before it becomes exceedingly obvious.

Or: The only thing worse than having to repeat 12th grade was falling in love with someone who hated you.

Link to fic  |  Link to art

Pairings: Steve/Eddie

Characters: Steve Harrington, Eddie Munson, Robin Buckley

Tags:  Minor Robin Buckley/Vickie, Enemies to Friends to Lovers, Domestic Fluff, Pre-Season/Series 04, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Misunderstandings, Matchmaking, Not Actually Unrequited Love, mildly pride & prejudice inspired, steve repeats senior year, POV Steve Harrington, High School, Friendship

[galexystern]

island of love masterlist;

a steve harrington/reader love island au. (completed)

pairing; steve harrington/reader, eddie munson/chrissy cunningham, robin buckley/nancy wheeler; eddie munson & reader, chrissy cunningham & reader

rating; T

warnings; Fluff, Angst, Hurt/Comfort, Swearing, Alternate Universe, Cuddling & Snuggling, Modern Era, Everyone Is Alive, Falling In Love, Friendship, Friends to Lovers, Fake/Pretend Relationship, Getting Together, Happy Ending, Humor, Banter, Flirting, Jealousy, Betrayal, Kissing, Hugging, Reality TV, Alternate Universe - Reality Show, Pining, Mutual Pining, Romance, Parenthood, Slow Burn, ish, No Smut, Implied Smut, minor use of y/n, girls supporting girls, Heartbreak, Heartache, Plot Twists

word count; 35k

desc; "So, Steve, what brings you here?"

"An SUV," he responds, deadpan, and you laugh again. "Oh, you meant the villa?" He asks exaggeratedly. "The usual: love."

"I guess that is a basic question," you concede. "It is called Island of Love."

"Not everyone comes for love," Steve protests. "But I doubt they'd tell you that."

You narrow your eyes. "Then you could be lying."

"Nah, I'm as honest as they come." It's obviously something a liar would say, but there's something in his eyes that makes you believe him. Maybe it's the hope. Maybe it's the excitement. Maybe it's the way he's looking at you. One of those. "And I'm honest when I say I like you." Maybe it's that.

~aka the love island au nobody asked for~

a/n; 

i've been working on this for a long time and i'm really proud of it! i hope you like it :)

love island is a british/uk reality dating game show where couples compete to win £50,000. wiki here

there are us and au versions as well. this story is set in the us but it's pretty vague on location.

recouplings, challenges, dumpings, etc. are all tests for the couples and entertainment for the audience. casa amor comes halfway through a season and splits the boys and girls to test their loyalty in their couples by putting them with new islanders of the opposite gender.

none of the drinks contain alcohol, as that is a show rule.

raunchy races; snog, marry, pie; baby day; the general format of challenges, recouplings, and dumpings; and the live finale are all taken from the show. specific themes and actions are mine.

there would definitely be producers onsite during filming and no secret conversations would be allowed in real life, but i needed them for the plot so take that with a grain of salt lol.

y/n is only used at the end of part two, during an outside pov (you'll know what i mean).

the show usually lasts like six weeks but this is obviously less than that because i said so.

naomi is not a real person but based off the hosts of the show.

i definitely implied the audience is way dumber than they are. don't sell yourself short as a love island fan!

read on ao3

part one (17k) part two (18k)

[steddieunderdogfics]

for theme weekend 'kid fic' i'll slide in two of my own if you still need more. 'Take Me Home (I Don't Wanna Stay Here)' feat. single dad Eddie and 'You Make Me Feel Like I’m High And Driving' feat. single dad Steve

Take Me Home (I Don't Wanna Stay Here) by RunninRiot

Rating: Mature

24,527 words, 3/3 chapters

Archive Warning: Creator Chose Not To Use

Tags: Minor Character Death, Grief and Loss, Implied/Referenced Cheating, Single Parent Eddie Munson, Bisexual Steve Harrington, Gay Eddie Munson, Hurt Steve Harrington, Robin Buckley & Steve Harrington Friendship, Eddie Munson is a Sweetheart, Good Uncle Wayne Munson, Friendship/Love, Steve Harrington Has Bad Parents, Steve Harrington & Dustin Henderson Friendship, dealing with insecurities, Acceptance, Unintentional Meddling, Found Family, Strangers to Lovers, Eventual Fluff, Eventual Smut, Falling In Love, Modern AU - No Upside Down (Stranger Things), Emotional Hurt/Comfort, coming home, Finding home, Happy Ending

Summary:

It’s not that Steve’s overly excited to be back after not having set foot into Hawkins for almost 5 years now. The mere thought of having to spend the next couple of weeks with his parents makes his skin crawl. But he can’t really blame anyone but himself for this misfortune. He did choose to come home for Christmas on his own account. Or at least that’s what he kept telling himself on his flight here, if only not to lose himself to the whirlwind of anxiety and frustration building in his gut. He keeps telling himself that it is a good thing to take some time away from work, from parties and hook ups to think about what his future might hold. What to do and where to go. Find his own centre again. If that entails helping his mother with her stupid party and listening to his father’s lame anecdotes, oh well. He can manage to put up a smiley face for a couple of weeks, it won’t kill him. He’s done that all his life.

You Make Me Feel Like I’m High And Driving by RunninRiot

Rating: Not Rated

16,775 words, 2/2 chapters

Archive Warning: Creator Chose Not To Use

Tags: Pining, Eventual Romance, Eventual Smut, Minor Robin Buckley/Chrissy Cunningham, Robin Buckley & Steve Harrington Are Best Friends, Chrissy Cunningham & Eddie Munson Are Best Friends, Eddie Munson in Love, Eddie Munson Has a Crush on Steve Harrington, Single Parent Steve Harrington, Steve Harrington has a daughter, background OCs - Freeform, Bisexual Eddie Munson, Bisexual Steve Harrington, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence

Summary:

“Steve Harrington, you idiot! I’m talking about Steve Harrington. The one that always had you drooling like a puppy, back at high school? Do you not remember?” She’s laughing now, loud and on the brink of hysterical at the bedazzled look on Eddie’s face, the latter suddenly feeling like he’s been hit by a truck. Of course, he remembers. How could he forget the name that haunted his every dream for so many years? A name that still sounds like a love song to his ears because Steve was his first love and a tragic one at that. One that never was and yet still mysteriously seems to have a place in Eddie’s heart where it lives to this day.

Thanks for the recs!

This rec is a part of Theme Weekend. The theme this weekend is Kid Fic.

Know a fic that deserves extra love? Submit through our asks or the submission box!

[steddie-fanfic-recs]

Dude, Your Girlfriend Is A Lesbian!

by weirdpurplepanda

Rating: Mature Archive Warning: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings Relationship: Steve Harrington/Eddie Munson Character: Eddie Munson, Steve Harrington, The Party (Stranger Things), Robin Buckley, Dustin Henderson, Gareth (Stranger Things), Corroded Coffin (Stranger Things) Additional Tags: Not Canon Compliant - Stranger Things 4 Vol. 2, Fix-It of Sorts, Canon-Typical Violence, For the first two chapters - Freeform, Eddie Munson Has a Crush on Steve Harrington, Gay Disaster Eddie Munson, Eddie Munson Lives, Bisexual Steve Harrington, Jealous Eddie Munson, Eddie thinks Steve and Robin are dating, Platonic Soulmates Robin Buckley & Steve Harrington, Outing, Eddie outs Robin, To Steve so no harm done but still not super cool of Eddie, Dungeons & Dragons References, Meddling Dustin Henderson, Steve Harrington Has Bad Parents, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Fluff and Angst, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Idiots in Love, Lesbian Disaster Robin Buckley, Minor Robin Buckley / Original Female Character, Hairdresser Steve Harrington, Period-Typical Homophobia, Homophobic Language, Nothing is as easy as it should be thanks to shitty parents, Eddie Munson Takes Care of Steve Harrington, No beta we die like Barb, Eddie Munson Has Chronic Pain, Misunderstandings, Eddie Munson Needs a Hug, Robin Buckley Needs a Hug, Robin Buckley Has a Girlfriend, Steve Harrington Needs a Hug, Therapy, Recreational Drug Use, Eddie Munson is Bad at Feelings, Eddie Munson is Bad at Flirting, When it counts, Steve Harrington is a Sweetheart, Steve Harrington & Dustin Henderson Friendship, Dustin Henderson & Eddie Munson Friendship, Awkward Flirting, Awkward Eddie Munson Words: 117,122 Chapters: 25/25

Summary

“Dude!” Eddie snapped, cutting off Steve talking about how Robin’s hair had a 'cute' little cowlick at the back. “I hate to tell you this but… Shit. Dude, your girlfriend is a lesbian!” To Eddie’s surprise, Steve began to laugh. Or: Eddie thinks Steve and Robin are dating and hates every second of it.

[steddiebang2024]

Feels Like The First Time  |  Teen and Up |  50k

Author: @artsadvocatetrashcan

Artist: @yellowsweater-bluevest

Beta Reader: @acasualcrossfade

[Link to fic]  |  [Link to art]

Pairings: Steve Harrington/Eddie Munson, Robin Buckley & Steve Harrington

Characters: Steve Harrington, Eddie Munson, Robin Buckley, Chrissy Cunningham, The Party, Joyce Byers, Jim “Chief” Hopper, Jonathan Byers, Nancy Wheeler, Wayne Munson

Tags: Alternate Universe - No Upside Down (Stranger Things), Gay Disaster Eddie Munson, Bisexual Steve Harrington, Steve Harrington Has a Bisexual Awakening, Mutual Pining, Tattoo Artists In Training Eddie and Chrissy, Tattoo Artist Eddie Munson, kind of lol, Robin Buckley & Steve Harrington Are Roommates, Romantic Comedy, Alternate Universe - 50 First Dates Fusion, Platonic Soulmates Robin Buckley & Steve Harrington, Chrissy Cunningham & Eddie Munson Are Best Friends, Steve Harrington Needs a Hug, Memory Loss, Caretaker Robin Buckley, Hurt Steve Harrington, Eddie Munson is a Sweetheart

Trigger Warnings: Mental health struggles, anxiety attacks, memory loss, minor head trauma, caregiver burnout, mentions of doctors and hospitals.

↳ Keep reading below for a summary!

Eddie's lived in Hawkins long enough to know he wants to get out of there one day. He and his best friends have big plans to move out west and start a tattoo shop, but it all goes to the back of his mind when he jumps head-first into a friendship-turned-crush with Steve Harrington, who's plagued by a condition that makes him forget every day that passes by.

There's no way Steve can ever feel the same way about him, though. Right?

[medusapelagia]

Give your all to me, I'll give my all to you [NSFW]

This is my gift fic for the Steddie one-shot holiday exchange!!!

For: @lorifragolina / TheMadcapLaugh Relationships: Steve Harrington/Eddie Munson, Minor or Background Relationship(s)Robin Buckley/Chrissy Cunningham, Robin Buckley & Steve Harrington Rating: Explicit Wordcount: 12k Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Tags: Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Angst and Feels, Fake/Pretend Relationship, one bed, Anal Sex, Alcohol, Misunderstandings, Mutual Pining, Christmas, New Year's Eve, New Year's Kiss, Steve Harrington Needs Love, Steve Harrington Needs a Hug, Eddie Munson Has a Crush on Steve Harrington, Steve Harrington Has Bad Parents, Eddie Munson Loves Steve Harrington, Sharing a Bed, Protective Eddie Munson, Robin Buckley & Steve Harrington Friendship, Steve Harrington-centric, Minor Robin Buckley/Chrissy Cunningham, Christmas/New Year, New Year, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternate Universe - No Upside Down (Stranger Things), Bartender Eddie Munson, Alternative Universe - Roommates/Housemates Summary: When Steve receives the invitation to his mother's wedding his first reaction is to ignore it, but when she insists that he has to come Steve decides that he will attend the wedding… with his fake boyfriend, Eddie.

A brief snippet under the cut!

When Steve opens the mailbox he glares at the fancy letter with his address written in a nice calligraphy in gold letter. Mr. Steven Joseph Harrington. No one calls him with his full name and he dreads the moment he finds out who the author of the letter is, but he is already late for work so he puts it in his backpack and runs to catch the bus to town. He likes living in Chicago, where he moved with Robin when she got accepted at the University, and sharing his two-room apartment with his best friend was just a plus. He deeply regrets that they weren't friends in High School, but they made up for the lost time and now they are closer than ever. When he gets into the little bookshop Robin is already checking the new arrivals. "You are late, dingus." she scolds him. "I am not. A wizard is never late, nor is he early, he arrives precisely when he means to." he replies sticking out his tongue. Robin snorts "Oh my god, did you just make a nerd reference?" "Maybe?" "God I knew he was a bad influence but I thought you were immune." "Like you are immune to my charm?" Steve asks while going in the back to take off his jacket. The bookshop is tiny and cozy, they specialize in foreign books and most of the ones they sell have a double version of the text: original language and English. Robin started to work there during college and when the old owner proposed to her to take over the business she happily accepted, involving Steve who now is an underpaid employee. "You are not underpaid, Steve! Stop saying that!" she complains while adding the new arrivals to the shelves. Steve laughs and opens the bookshop. The place it's so small that even a few customers make it feel overcrowded, and it's even worse when the kids come to visit because they take up almost all the space in the shop, but both Robin and Steve are too fond of them so they have come to a little agreement, every Thursday the shop host a little game of D&D, it should be open to anyone, but in reality is always the kids (and their plus one if there is one at the moment) that join them bringing some pizza from the closest Italian pizzeria. The day is pretty slow, so when finally the kids make their entrance the table for the game is already set and Steve is taking a few refreshments from the fridge. "Don't touch the book with your dirty fingers!" he tells Mike who is looking at a very expensive French translation of the Hobbit. This time the DM is Will, who takes his role very seriously and asked anyone to dress according to their character, which means that Max has a pair of pointy ears, Dustin is wearing a cape, and Eddie... Eddie is wearing a corset.

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