#bambithan

Outside the Byers house

“Come on, Bambi, we’re goin’ to be late!” Eddie yelled from his van, watching as Jonathan hurried out of his house.

“Quit yelling; it’s too early in the morning for you to be so…chipper.”

“I finally got my driver’s license; you should be chipper,” Eddie argued. “We don’t have to take the bus anymore.”

Jonathan climbed into the front seat of the van and sighed. “We’re still going to a school where basically everyone hates us; a driver’s license doesn’t fix that.”

“True, but now I can run them over if they mess with you.” Eddie grinned, kissing Jonathan’s cheek. “That’s what best friends are for.”

“Yeah…” Jonathan cleared his throat. “Can you stop calling me Bambi? It was cute when we were kids but—”

“I can’t make any promises; you’re always goin’ to be my Bambi.”

Eddie’s trailer

Eddie titled his head, looking as though he and Jonathan no longer spoke the same language. “What do you mean you’re not goin’ to come to our gig? It’s an after-graduation party; you have to be there.”

“I just don’t feel like spending my night around a bunch of people,” Jonathan replied. “Especially ones getting drunk; if I wanted to be around drunk assholes, I’d visit my dad.”

“So I’ll get rid of the beer,” Eddie exclaimed. “Come on, it’s our first serious gig. An agent is goin’ to be there, I… I need you to be there; you’re my b—”

“Stop calling me Bambi and stop calling me your best friend every time you want me to do something!” Jonathan yelled. “I’m sick of it.”

“Jon, I—”

“Eddie, I can’t, okay?”

Eddie watched as Jonathan stormed out of the trailer.

Grand reopening of the Hawkins Theater

Jonathan groaned. “Nancy, as cool as the theater reopening is… why are we here?”

“Because I’m writing an article about the reopening and I need your photography skills,” Nancy replied. “But I also promised we’d come by early to help get stuff set up for the party.”

“There’s a party? You know I don’t like parties.”

“Don’t worry.” Nancy patted his shoulder. “I’m not going to make you stay; you can leave after taking pictures.”

About an hour went by; Jonathan had taken plenty of pictures and was ready to make his escape before people started showing up.

He loved the theater, but a party with basically the whole town in attendance? Not so much.

As he turned around to leave, he immediately bumped into someone. “Sorry, I—” His eyes widened as he saw the person turn to face him.

“Oh… Hi Ba—Jonathan.” Eddie smiled. “I wasn’t expectin’ to see you here.”

“I wasn’t expecting to see you either.” Jonathan cleared his throat. “I thought you’d be too busy on tour to show up to a little event like this.”

“And miss the reopenin’ of one of my favorite places? Absolutely not.”

“Well…” Jonathan didn’t know what to say. “It was nice seeing you; I’m gonna go.”

“Jonathan, stay for just a minute, please?”

“Why?”

“Because I missed you,” Eddie whispered. “So much.”

“You could’ve called,” Jonathan replied."

“Would you have answered?”

Jonathan didn’t reply.

“Jon, I know the last time we saw each other didn’t end well… I’m sorry.”

Jonathan raised a brow. “Why are you sorry? I’m the one that got mad and stormed out.”

“I’m sorry because I didn’t follow you,” Eddie admitted. “I’m sorry for not bein’ honest about how I felt—how I feel.”

“And how do you feel?”

“Jon, that night, I wasn’t goin’ to call you Bambi or my best friend,” Eddie explained. “I was goin’ to say boyfriend… I guess I should’ve said it sooner, huh?”

“Boyfriend?” Jonathan asked. “You thought we were boyfriends?”

“Well yeah, at least until you stormed out of my trailer and never spoke to me again.”

“I only did that because you kept calling me your best friend even though we kissed plenty of times,” Jonathan argued. “I was sick of it.”

“So it wasn’t because you were straight?”

“You thought I was straight?” Jonathan asked. “Why?”

“You started datin’ Nancy,” Eddie replied.

“I didn’t date Nancy. Who told you I dated Nancy?”

Eddie didn’t reply.

“Oh my god, you seriously saw me hanging out with someone else and immediately thought we were dating, didn’t you?”

“Okay, so I was a bit stupid eight years ago.” Eddie sighed. “We’re way off topic now.”

“I missed you too, Eddie, and I’m sorry for storming out that night.” Jonathan held Eddie’s hand. “I’d like to start over, if that’s okay with you.”

Eddie shook his head, pulling Jonathan closer and kissing him softly. “I don’t want to start over; how about we continue right where we left off?”

Jonathan smiled. “I believe that was somewhere along the lines of you asking me on a date.”

“Oh, was it? I don’t remember it like that at all.”

“I can’t be your boyfriend if we’ve never been on a date.”

Eddie laughed. “Okay, how about a movie?”

“A movie?” Jonathan nodded. “I know just the place.”

“I really missed you, Jon,” Eddie whispered.

“Can you call me Bambi again? I actually really liked it.”

Eddie smiled. “I love you, Bambi.”

Steve was nervous, more nervous than he had ever been for a date before. Sure, he'd been on plenty of dates with girls—and was always a gentleman—but he had never been on a date with a guy, and now he was on his way to the county fair with not just one but two guys.

Finding out that Eddie and Jonathan were dating wasn't that surprising to Steve. What was surprising was them asking him on a date.

He was so eager to say yes that he didn't even consider how public the date would be, and now he was hoping he wouldn't embarrass himself or them.

˖˚˖ ｡✧☾✧｡˖˚˖

Picking the first activity was easy; they all agreed to start with the calmest choice, which was the fun house. A room of trick mirrors that made everyone look silly, was exactly what Steve needed to ease his worries.

“Stevie, do you like bumper cars?” Eddie questioned, wrapping his arm around Steve's shoulders. “Jonny doesn't like them, so I never have anyone to go with.”

Jonathan scoffed playfully. “You don't like heights, so I never get to go on the Ferris wheel.”

“Well, I like both,” Steve replied, trying his best to stay calm about the sudden closeness of Eddie. “So we can do both if you want.”

“See, I told you he'd be up for both,” Jonathan said to Eddie, grinning.

So Steve joined Eddie on the bumper cars, Jonathan watching and laughing when Eddie spent most of his time chasing Steve around.

“You do realize that it's just bumper cars, right?” Steve asked as they made their way back to Jonathan.

“That asshole hit you like five times,” Eddie exclaimed. “He deserved to be flipped off.”

“Okay, if you say so.” Steve grinned, kissing Eddie's cheek without thinking. “Thank you for defending my honor.”

“Oh, there's that Harrington charm,” Eddie teased.

“Sorry—”

“Don't apologize, I liked it.” Eddie smiled, kissing Steve's cheek in return, although he was not-so-subtly looking at his lips as he pulled away.

“Get a room,” Jonathan joked, being pulled closer by Eddie.

“It's only our first date, Bambi.” Eddie gently kissed his lips. “I'm not that easy.”

“Our first date would disagree,” Jonathan whispered, grabbing Steve's hand and pulling him towards the Ferris wheel. “Come on, I'll tell you all about Eddie's lack of willpower.”

“I heard that,” Eddie stated, following along.

Steve looked at Jonathan curiously. “Bambi?”

Jonathan shook his head. “Don't ask; I haven't gotten a reason from him about it either.”

“It's cute; I like it.” Steve smiled.

Jonathan rolled his eyes, laughing. “Shut up.”

˖˚˖ ｡✧☾✧｡˖˚˖

As Steve and Jonathan rode the Ferris wheel, Jonathan told Steve all about his and Eddie's first date and how horribly it started off.

Steve couldn't help but laugh at the mention of Eddie being so nervous he tripped over his own feet. If the man was nervous now, he was doing an excellent job at hiding it.

“Don't let the heavy metal look fool you,” Jonathan stated. “He becomes… Mush, when alone. It was his idea to come to the fair; more people being around helps his willpower.”

Steve raised a brow. “And what was your idea?”

“To watch movies at one of our houses and not practice any form of willpower.”

“That's—” Steve cleared his throat. “That's kind of unexpected coming from you.”

“Really?” Jonathan tilted his head. “I thought a quiet at-home date made perfect sense for my personality.”

“Not the part I meant, Byers.”

“Well, I figured we've already had each other pinned down in a fight, so the position would already be familiar, although I guess technically Eddie had you—”

Steve kissed him; this time it was a very conscious choice, something he should've done years prior.

“W-what was I talking about?” Jonathan stammered.

“No idea,” Steve replied. “Honestly, I stopped listening after ‘pinned down’”

The two laughed, the ride coming to an end, and Eddie cleared his throat to get their attention.

“Kissin’ my boyfriend already?” Eddie teased. “And after I defended your honor.”

Jonathan leaned over to whisper something to Steve.

Eddie stared at them. “Wait, what did you just tell him?”

“Nothing,” Jonathan replied, walking over to Eddie and patting his shoulder. “You have absolutely nothing to worry about.”

“Which means I have everything to worry about.” Eddie looks at Steve, tilting his head. “What did he tell you?”

Steve just shook his head, pulling Eddie into a hug and nuzzling his face against the man's neck; he could feel Eddie take a deep breath, seemingly trying to compose himself before wrapping his arms around Steve.

“You told him why I picked this place?” Eddie gasped.

Jonathan shrugged. “Not my fault you want to torture yourself.”

“You can just be yourself, Eddie,” Steve mumbled against his neck. “I already like you.”

“I just didn't want your first date, with us, to be an absolute mess,” Eddie confessed.

“First dates are always an absolute mess, babe,” Jonathan added.

“That's true,” Steve agreed. “First time I went on a date with a girl after getting my license… her dress got caught in the door after I shut it.”

“Oh, Sweetheart,” Eddie tried his best to resist laughing. “That's really…”

“Embarrassing?” Steve asked, breaking away from the hug. “I know, but it's funny now and as nervous as I was about today—” Steve leaned close and kissed Eddie gently on the lips. “I'm having a lot of fun.”

Eddie pulled him closer, kissing him again before smiling. “Second one was payment for kissin’ my boyfriend,” he teased.

“Now that we've gotten that out of the way,” Jonathan looked at Steve. “Your turn to pick something, anything you want.”

“Anything?” Steve repeated.

Eddie nodded. “It can even be as sickeningly cute and cliché as you want.”

˖˚˖ ｡✧☾✧｡˖˚˖

Steve took that ‘as sickeningly cute and cliché as you want’ maybe a bit too seriously, deciding on playing balloon darts after having spotted two specific stuffed animals that reminded him of his dates.

After a few attempts—and encouragement from Eddie and Jonathan—Steve managed to win said stuffed animals, a bat for Eddie and a deer for Jonathan.

“You're really not going to forget about “Bambi” are you?” Jonathan asked.

Steve chuckled and shook his head. “Nope, sorry, it's in my mind forever.”

“It looks just like you; it's the eyes,” Eddie stated. “And if you get him all flustered, he literally looks like a deer in headlights.”

“That's why??” Jonathan gaped.

Steve stared at him for a moment, slowly nodding his head. “You know what? I think you're right.”

“I do not look like a deer!” Jonathan exclaimed.

“That's too bad,” Steve replied. “In case you haven't noticed, I really like pretty doe-like eyes.”

“Pre—” Jonathan just stared at him in silence.