noakie ✶

The needle jumped on the vinyl playing as background noise. The Chiffons. He had to mix up what he played so he could sneak in some good music every now and again. Just presenting the merchandise, Sir. Eddie snickered.

The only one who'd actually done well at graduation was Billy, not that that had surprised Eddie. Billy could pretend all he liked, but he was a nerd. A big one. Not that his family must have cared, because Eddie could have sworn that Billy went to his graduation alone.

He was always alone these days.

Not that Eddie was keeping tabs. It was just something he noticed. Something no one else had seemed to notice. The cassette in the radio at home stayed where it was. No more dreams. No more diaries. Eddie had just been fooling himself. Life would become easier once he finally graduated and got out of Hawkins.

God, how fucking embarrassing.

Three-year Senior.

Eddie sorted ABBA back into the sleeve. Mrs Wheeler sometimes came in to listen to it over on the turntable with the headphones, so he kept it out. She'd bought the cassette a few weeks ago, but apparently she could not get enough of the Swedes.

Across the court, he heard a familiar shout, and he didn't have to look up to know Billy was leaning against the outside of Scoops Ahoy in his red lifeguard trunks and a tank top. Summer meant Billy Hargrove was back in his flimsy little shorts, the less cloth the better. Sometimes he'd catch Billy staring over at the record store, but he never came in, never said hello, never came back for another kiss.

"Max! Come on! My shift starts in fifteen minutes," Billy shouted into Scoops.

It had crossed Eddie's mind to go to the public pool for the first time in his life just to admire the view, but no. He had a reputation to uphold, and no one needed to see him with his skinny knees, pale arms, and the scars on his back. The last thing Eddie wanted was for anyone to ask questions.

Eddie watched Billy wait for Max with barely concealed irritation. Always so impatient. And then for just a moment, their eyes met across the court. Fleeting. He might not have noticed if he hadn't been staring himself. Before Eddie could even consider what to do, Billy had already stomped inside Scoops and reappeared a moment later, dragging Max behind him, silently fuming. Maybe he'd be concerned if Max wasn't jumping around Billy like an excited little dog with a wide smirk. Not exactly chattering, but also definitely nagging.

God, they were so weird.

With a glance back at the shop, Eddie put up a "On Break" sign and sauntered over to Scoops, where Buckley was busy bossing Steve around. Eddie leaned against the counter and grinned. This was probably Robin's dream come true, embarrassing Harrington for a few hours every day. Not that he looked put out in any way. Steve seemed to take everything Robin said very seriously, nodding along and biting his lips as he tried to remember her instructions.

"Buckley, how's your new sailor doing?"

Robin rolled her eyes at Eddie. "Oh, he's a peach." She grabbed the ice scoop, and Eddie pointed at the coffee-flavoured ice. "Like, actually. A peach. It's as if he doesn't realise how stupid this job is. How stupid he looks. He still thinks he can pull the ladies in that get-up. Like that's going to happen. Honestly, stupidly confident."

"Oh, I can pull, Buckley! It's just this hat. It ruins my best feature!" Steve complained as he stepped out of the back room and stopped short when his eyes fell on Eddie.

Jesus H. Christ.

Was Harrington wearing lip gloss?

Eddie felt his ears warm up as he admired the sight in front of him. The Scoops uniform was stupid, true, but Harrington was a walking wet dream. How could one person be so freakishly handsome that they could pull this off? The shorts were short and tight on his thighs, not made for his athletic build, and Eddie was pretty sure that if he bent over, they'd ride up to just below his arse, which was barely contained by the dark blue material. The shirt was even more ridiculous. As Steve reached for the sprinkles on a higher-up shelf, it rode up to expose the soft tanned flesh of his stomach and — oh my god, the trail of hair disappearing down into those shorts.

Nothing made sense anymore.

"Are you — Are you wearing lip gloss?" Eddie sputtered out as his brain tried to catch up with what was happening. God, he was so obvious. The wry smirk on Robin's lips was telling as she covered his ice cream cone in the offered sprinkles.

Steve shrugged. "Yeah, Max wanted to see the colour. She bought it for her friend who isn't allowed out much."

Blinking, Eddie tried to compute the answer. Harrington was wearing lip gloss. Steve Harrington was wearing lip gloss because Max asked him to demonstrate the colour.

"Here," Robin held out the ice cream cone for Eddie, and he absentmindedly dropped a few coins into her hand. He hadn't even wanted ice cream; he'd just been too surprised by Steve to protest.

It was going to be a long summer with Steve at Scoops.

Eddie mumbled a quick goodbye and retreated across the court back to his shop, when someone caught up with him and a warm hand settled around his wrist. Steve stared at him, hazel eyes blown wide, as Eddie startled to a stop.

From the record shop, the volume of the music was turned up, and Eddie heard the telltale snickers of his new DnD recruits. Somehow they'd gotten wind of Hellfire and had badgered him about it ever since he started at Charts n' Parts — probably also Harrington's fault. They seemed to follow him around wherever they went. He's so fine blasted from the speakers.

Eddie was going to kill them. He was on break. Goofs. The lot of them.

Steve blushed but smiled at him. "I just .. I never got the chance to say thank you."

"What for?" Eddie asked, confused and swiped his tongue over the ice cream. Sweet. Too sweet. But he could see Steve's gaze follow the motion of his tongue.

"For driving me home. Halloween," Steve explained and scratched at his neck, a deep red flush on his cheeks. "I would have probably tried getting home myself, would have probably killed someone on the road with how drunk I was."

Right. Halloween.

The night Steve had seen him and Billy … The night Steve had apparently lost all control. Because he would have tried getting home by himself. He'd said as much in protest as Eddie lugged him to his van. It still bothered Eddie that Steve hadn't felt like he could ask any of his friends for help. It was weird, right?

"Probably," Eddie nodded and waved his thanks away in the hope that Steve would drop it. The last thing he needed was for rumours about him and Billy to start spreading half a year after it happened, especially when Billy was avoiding him like the plague. "You don't have to thank me; nothing happened."

Steve's gaze flickered to his mouth, and he licked his glistening lips. "Yeah, nothing … "

Oh fuck.

It was more than obvious that Steve remembered that night. But he still didn't seem like he'd start telling on Eddie or Billy. It seemed more like … No. No, this was his old crush resurfacing. There was no way Steve Harrington was into guys. It just wasn't possible.

Eddie swallowed around the lump in his throat that was threatening to make him say something stupid. Something that would probably end with his face stuffed in a trash can. The music blaring from his shop crackled and jumped. "I need to go kill those twerps …"

Steve smirked and let go of him. "Please do, maybe then they'll stop asking me for free sundaes." With a wink, he turned around and sauntered back to Scoops Ahoy, and — like he'd imagined — the shorts did nothing to contain the roundness of Steve's arse.

Oh my god.

Eddie hurried back to the record shop to throw out the Party. Thoughts still caught on Steve's arse, the pink of his tongue when he licked his lips. Stupid pretty boys. They were going to end up ruining his summer job.

Fired for public indecency.