himbo brigade

chapter one of BETTER BY YOU, BETTER THAN ME

↳ read on ao3

November 1983. Between unpaid bills, the supposedly straight jock he’s seeing, and letters from his convict dad, seventeen year old Eddie Munson’s got enough to worry about. But when Will Byers goes missing, it sparks a chain of events that will show there are more depths to Hawkins — and to certain people in it, like infamous Steve ‘The Hair’ Harrington — than he realises.

In two years on Steves birthday they would meet in Seattle. When the heat had died down and the spooks let their leashes go a little.

For Steve the two years was long and painful; having Eddie and then having him stripped away, leaving a great gaping hole that never healed. They had been in love for a week, and when he stared at the empty bed in the hospital room next to his he felt like his life had ended.

He made the trip out for his birthday, not telling Robin or the kids. He never uttered a word of their plans, had come to distrust them a little himself. Eddie wouldn't be there, he would have forgotten him.

Two years is a long time.

They had never set a time he realised as he approached the needle a minute after midnight of his birthday. He planned to wait all day. Just one day before he put the whole business to rest. Before he would force himself to move on whether he wanted to or not.

He was so tired.

There was already a figure there and his heart lifted. Eddie's hair was shorter with a harsh undercut exposing delicate ears. His shoulders were broader and hunched up to his ears with stress. A vibrant tattoo ran up his exposed neck and disappeared into the neck of his t shirt.

"Steve?" His eyes filled with tears at the beautifully familiar voice and as Steve turned twenty one he ran into the arms of the other half of his soul.

Steve tries to stay quiet while he gets ready for work, but Eddie hears him. He keeps his eyes closed and just listens- to Steve grumbling to himself when his hair doesn’t sit quite right, who starts to hum and whisper some catchy song. Eddie turns his sleepy gaze onto Steve as he shuffles around their room- watching quietly as he slips on his clothes, his shoes, a simple chain with Eddie’s ring around his neck. A warm, affectionate smile breaks across his face. Before he leaves, Steve glances at what he expects to be a sleeping Eddie, but instead, he’s met with a rasped, ‘Hey.’ Eddie sits himself up, stretches his arm across Steve’s side of the bed, and reaches, fingers wiggling. Steve crosses the room to cradle his face.

Their foreheads press, noses bump, and Steve brushes his fingers across scars and dimples.

He breathes a quiet,

‘Sorry, I didn’t mean to wake you.’

Eddie huffs a tired laugh,

‘You know I never mind.’

Because, yeah.

Every morning Steve tries to stay quiet while he gets ready for work, but Eddie always hears him.