#bi-panic

This is the kind of teasing he instinctively knows Munson can take, in the same way he's always known what his potential dates like and dislike.

He's not psychic, not like El is, but Steve can read people better than he could read books. He knows how to treat people right.

Steve personally doesn't see it as a “gift” as so many have loved to call it. Being nice to people definitely isn't one.

Nancy, bless her, once argued that it was more that he was observant. Clued into body language and thrown away words that other people ignored.

That line of thinking had gotten a little too close to Steve's upbringing for his own comfort, and he'd gently steered it away from that--only for Nancy to call him out on that too, three days later.

"I'm not saying you should be in the debate club, I'm just saying you'd excel at it!" She told him and for all the love he had for Nancy Wheeler, it was days like that which had made Steve happy she was with Jonathan.

Nancy was a shooting star, a girl on fire, someone who had her eyes set on goals and took care of those around her by doing evening she could to help you achieve your own.

The problem, Steve decided, two long years after their relationship ended, was what happened if you didn't have a goal. Because then, Nancy would try and give you one.

A fact that not even moving to California could save Jonathan from.

('All the power to you dude.” Steve told him during their last awkward conversation.

Jonathan had given him a knowing, tight smile, and only broke it when Steve finally gave him a hug.

The two of them never quite knew where they stood with one another, other than together. Steve wasn't sure if they'd ever be friends, but trauma buddies sounded dumb and he didn't know what else to call them.

El had smirked knowingly and said “family” after Jonathan had moved on to hug Mike, and Steve had rolled his eyes and stuck his tongue out at her.

Didn’t tell her that she was right.)

Point being, flowers and chocolate may break Munson’s brain, but the guy wouldn’t be decking Steve over it.

If anything, this was the kind of shenanigans Eddie himself would pull and so, adorned in his dating jeans and one of his nicer, maroon sweaters with his hair perfectly done, Steve swept through the Wheeler’s basement door ready to knock one Eddie Munson’s socks off.

Harrington style.

Ignoring Dustin's loud "Steve, you're late!" and whatever bitchy sentence Mike was trying to spit out around a mouthful of chips, Steve beelines immediately to Munson.

"For you.” He purrs, holding out the flowers and chocolate with a flourish.

Eddie, who had one sneakered foot up on the table, looking like he’d been about to spit out something haughty, froze entirely.

Like Bambi in headlights.

(Five months, two hours, and seven minutes until the date, and Steve Harrington watched Eddie Munson handle the kids--Steve’s kids!--flawlessly.

He’d heard three of them had joined Hellfire. Connected “Eddie the Banished” to Eddie Munson, local freak and drug dealer extraordinaire.

Had his rants and threats about drugs, and then followed it all up with a very series ‘If you dorks smoke weed and cannot drive, or pedal, or fucking fly home, call me.’

Informed Max she could be offended all she liked but yes, he really was going to include her in this. Steve wasn’t an idiot. Sooner or later she’d end up around Munson too, if the boys were hanging out with him.

Then made one good go at catching Munson, planning on telling him he’d be getting an up close and personal visit with Steve’s nailbat should Steve ever find one of his kids high on anything stronger than weed-- only to instead come upon the dipshits fighting.

A rare one, because all three were facing off in a dramatic, angry triangle. Dustin’s arms were crossed, Lucas’s shoulders up to his ears, and Mike with a thunderous expression, all of which screamed trouble.

Steve knew them. Knew without Will or El to calm the three down, they’d blow. That there was but scant seconds before the yelling started, and he’d better move his ass before this became an entire week of hurt feelings and long nights on the phone mediating.

Eddie beat him there.

The guy just--leapt. Like a fucking lemur, into their anger-triangle, and with a voice of authority Steve had never heard him use, spat a handful of words that sounded like what Shakespeare would have written if he’d been the one to tell the hobbits-and-elves story.

Steve paused, curious. Would the brats eat him alive? Turn on him as one?

Perhaps they’d just go full feral today and take a bite out of Munson’s shoulder. Steve, still haunted by thoughts of Dustin high on acid, would absolutely allow it.

Except, Eddie wasn’t torn apart. Except he was now speaking softer, a lot kinder, and the kids were creeping closer to both him and each other.

Dustin had dipped down his cap, Lucas hanging his head but the craziest thing of all?

A loud and clear apology from one Michael Wheeler, an embarrassed blush spreading across his cheeks.

More apologies were traded, with Eddie clapping them on the back after. The whole thing was adorable, and suddenly Steve knew exactly why women swooned over a man who was good with kids.

Steve wasn’t sure if it was the dopey grin he abruptly realized had crawled onto his face, or the fact that Eddie bossing around a bunch of baby-teen hanger-ons had had him practically fainting in the parking lot but either way, he caught it and he shut it down.

Firmly.

Even if Munson kept playfully trying to bat Dustin’s hat off his head, making the younger shriek and duck.)

"Are you serious?" Mike deadpans in the following silence to Steve’s little spectacle.

"About a date? Always." Steve scoffs playfully. "I have a reputation to keep, Michael."

Lucas blinks rapidly at that, and even Dustin seems lost for words for a moment, mouth gaping like a fish.

"Eddie's a guy, Steve." Mike points out, as if by some chance he simply hadn't noticed.

"And?" Steve challenges back. "That doesn't mean he deserves any less than the Harringron best."

With that he shot a wink to Eddie, before gently setting the flowers and chocolate in front of him.

Judging by the flabbergasted look on his face, Eddie wasn't going to be taking them from Steve anytime soon.

"Maybe if you ask nicely, Eddie will even share his chocolate with you." Steve continues as he sat himself down in the open seat between Eddie and Dustin, as a way to get things back on track.

(Two months, seven days and six hours before the date, Steve sat on the floor of the bathroom after closing the store, head in his hands. "Oh my god, is Eddie Munson my bisexual awakening?"

"Could have been worse." Robin informed him, Twizzler in her mouth, knees touching Steve's. "At least he doesn't sound like a Muppet."

"Kinda looks like he could pass for one though." She added, and laughed when Steve groaned and swatted at her.)

This, he decides, is good for the kids.

Even if it doesn’t go anywhere, it will at least show them that dating someone of your own gender isn’t some terrible thing. An idea he wants firmly planted in their thick, teenage skulls, preferably before Will puts two and two together about what those long, pining looks about Mike meant.

Thankfully the prospect of free candy did exactly what Steve predicted and Munson immediately found himself the target of three pairs of teenage eyes, all craving sugar with the same single minded determination of a seagull.

“Children.” Munson warns, far too late.

He ends up having to shout that he will share only if they stop talking when the inevitable explosion of begging hits, the end of which he turns to find Steve grinning at him.

"I'll get you for this one, Harrington.” Eddie says darkly before opening his chocolate and offering it up to the wolves.

(One month exactly before the date and Robin is shaking her head at him, body shaking in laughter.

“Dating as many girls as you can isn’t going to erase the fact you got drunk and announced you wanted to suck Eddie’s dick, Steve.”

“Shut up Robs.” Steve hissed, crossing out Rachel’s phone number so hard it tore the paper. “It was just the concussion.”

”Which one?” Robin asked playfully, tapping her chin. “Or maybe they all do different things. Like, the Russian incident makes you stare at Munson’s ass, and the plate one makes you wonder how his hair smells--”

“Shut up, Robs!”)

'Now Henderson here insists I don't have to walk you through creating a character sheet. Is he right?" Eddie says, determinedly plowing ahead.

Steve hums an affirmative, simply holding out his hand.

Dustin immediately slides a piece of paper over, talking before Eddie could even start piecing together an insult.

"It's the same guy you played before. I even added the loot from the one shot you played with me and Erica, since it puts you closer to where the party's characters are."

Steve glances it all over, nodding.

"Do you have dice?" Eddie asks, and even to Steve's notoriously bad hearing, the exasperation sounds forced.

Looking dead into Munson's face, Steve smiles and flicks his hand.

Once, twice.

On the third go, yellow dice appear between each finger.

Dustin gasps as Lucas and Mike both let out a loud "Whoa!"

"You never told us you could do magic!" Dustin howls, sounding almost betrayed.

Steve answers without looking, eyes still locked with Eddie's. "I only trot it out for special occasions."

Lucas and Mike gag in unison. It only adds to the smile on Steve's face.

"You're missing three dice." Eddie tells him and his voice is flat but the blush creeping across his cheeks rats him out.

Steve just does the same trick with his other hand, a smug little grin on his face.

"Okay you're showing me how to do that.” Lucas announces.

"If you want." Steve tells him, dropping the dice on top of his character sheet. "I’ll show you later. I've got all the goods, Munson. We ready to roll?"

"Don't rush the DM, Steve." Eddie snips, flicking his own papers out from behind his cardboard shield. "The oneshot we're playing is Battlehill.”

The kids groan immediately, all three talking at once. Something about how the one shot was unfair and someone named Gareth had warned them about it.

Steve just leans over while they were distracted with their moaning, to quietly whisper "I'll make sure to go nice and slow for you then.”

(Two weeks before the date, Steve is glaring at his soulmate. “Hey Robs, when you’re done gloating, could you please help me figure out a way to figure out if Eddie actually likes men?"

"That's not the question you should be asking.” Robin says, making no effort to remove the giant grin from her face. She’d been after Steve to admit defeat since he’d slipped up that one time while drunk and yeah, okay, Steve can finally happily admit that he’s bisexual.

Not might be, not may be, but is.

“No?” He asks, confused.

“No.” Robin repeats, the giggles finally easing out of her voice. “You should be asking how you're going to get his attention.”)

“No. No, stop it, you are not seducing my dungeon master, Steve!" Mike shouts, slamming a hand on the table.

Whoops, maybe he’d spoken a bit louder than he thought.

“Eddie!” Mike whines desperately, shooting a glance towards the metalhead and Steve internally celebrates his victory when Munson not only doesn’t criticize Steve, but instead just claps his hands.

“Everyone shut up, we’re starting.” He calls. “Your party wakes up on the bottom of a hill, with no recollection of how you got there…”

Steve settles in, because this is part of the plan he and Robin had come up with.

He’d been given a chance to give Eddie his perfect date, as over the top as Steve wanted it to be, and he wasn’t holding back.

The real trick was going to be convincing Munson the entire thing was real.

(One hour and two minutes after Eddie Munson bought a date with him, Steve paced across his kitchen floor, phone tucked against his shoulder.

“If anyone can pull off a real date inside a fake one, it’s you.” Robin told him, after hearing the entire story--twice.

“I know, I’m just--” Steve ran his hands through his hair, frown slashing across his face. “I like him, Robs.”

This at least, sobered his best friend. “I know.” She told him, voice gentle. “And you’re gonna get him. We just have to plan it out!” )

xXx Eddie xXx

Eddie had exactly two expectations going into this mess.

One: Steve had no idea how to play D&D, and thus would have to be babied throughout the game.

And two: Playing with Steve would be like playing with a particularly stubborn brick wall.

It’s not that Eddie expected his players to go over the top. Do voices like he does or even get into as hard as he does--but well.

He’s only played a handful of games where people who didn’t enjoy it, and to say they made it a less pleasant experience for everyone else would be a vast understatement.

So color him surprised when Harrington actually engages in the game. Was creative about it, even with Eddie on the defensive with all the weird amounts of flirting.

“A man in the woods once told me my greatest enemy is myself.” Steve says, staring at the minifigure spread out in front of him. “I immediately ran into a wall and knocked myself out to prove I am stronger. If I can defeat myself, I can definitely defeat a dragon.” He delivers his lines not quite in a character voice, but with the same self-assuredness his Barbarian character has.

He looks up, a serious expression on his face. “I say we fight.”

The kids immediately burst into laughter, and Steve grins widely as Mike fights to get himself back under control.

“Sorry, did no one tell you?” Dustin asks, after watching Eddie’s own shocked laugh get away from him. “Steve’s funny.”

“Funny isn’t the word I’d use.” Mike bitches, but he’s still giggling, making his point moot.

“Don’t tell him that!” Steve gasps in fake-outrage. “We are on a date, let him find out naturally!”

The joke cuts Eddie’s laughter right off, as all three freshmen groan dramatically.

"Steve, we didn't buy you so you could be gross with Eddie for the whole day.' Mike complains, likely thinking that Eddie's frozen hands were because he was upset, rather than that he was desperately scrambling to get his brain back in working order.

“Technically, Eddie is the one who purchased me." Steve counters, jerking a thumb in his direction. “He gets to decide what we do.”

“We gave him most of the money!” Dustin protests, while Lucas promptly looks anywhere but at Steve.

Harrington’s head turns and once again Eddie finds himself on the receiving end of a look that he’s seen aimed at countless girls over the years. Low-lidded eyes and a cocky little smile, all pointed directly into Eddie’s soul.

It doesn’t make sense. Why Harrington keeps up with this act, why he hasn’t dropped the date angle.

Yeah, sure the flowers and chocolate were amusing, but the “we’re on a date” thing hasn’t stopped.

"Steve, I am on my knees, literally begging for you to stop saying it like that." Dustin groans, putting his head in his hands.

Which frankly is the stupidest thing he could have said because Eddie himself can come up with multiple ways to run off with that little sentence starting with the words “on my knees.”

Steve, apparently is on the same wavelength because he laughs once, quick and sharp, before saying; “Don’t leave me openings like that Henderson, you’ll hear a lot more things than you’ll ever want to.”

Mike makes a vomiting sound, and Lucas pats his back sympathetically.

For a moment Steve drops the charm to send Eddie a hell of a smile and oh, fuck.

Suddenly, the entire game Steve's playing makes sense

It's a bit.

A game, a fake thing he's doing to piss off the kids and a part of it hurts, being flirted like that by his long-time crush, the rest of him is too thrilled to care.

This is the kind of thing Eddie was made for.

If he's down to play, Eddie absolutely is.

"Stop taunting the merchandise." Eddie calls, regaining his voice as he finishes rolling his dice. "I need Harrington in top shape for what I have planned tonight!"

Gives his typical grin but secretly checks to see how Steve takes that one.

Knows that he's switching from defensive to offensive here, and that joke may very well have been across whatever line Steve had for this.

The answer is very, very well.

"You heard the man. He has special plans he needs me in top shape for.” Steve wiggles his eyebrows, and Eddie can't stop the delighted laugh that erupts out of him.

Dustin gags so hard he starts coughing.

“Now, Sir Swearington,” Eddie says, cupping his chin in his hand. “Are you sure you want to use your big boy muscles to fight that dragon?

Now Mike and Dustin are both gagging, and Lucas is turning a lovely shade of green.

Steve sits back against his chair. “Indeed I do.”

(It goes like that for the next two hours of the game.

Turns out Steve’s banter game is just as on point as his humor.)

xXx

“Harrington, what do you do?”

“I walk over, and wrap one of my fingers around her curls--”

And then fucking Steve does just that. Reaches over, gently running his fingers through Eddie’s hair. Wraps a finger around a singular strand of curls.

“I tug on them and ask if she’s sure this is how she wants to do things.”

He gives a sharp tug on the hair he has trapped around his own finger, and it took everything in Eddie not to gasp aloud.

Steve hadn’t pulled gently. No, no that was a a fucking--a sex tug! Straight up hair pulling that paired so fucking well with that smug grin on Harrington’s face and oh god, Eddie could feel how hot his face just got.

It takes everything in him to keep his voice steady. “She stabs you in the gut.”

Steve drops the strand of hair with a gentle shrug. “Worth a shot.” He says.

Eddie doesn't know where all the air in his lungs just went, but he’s trying very hard to be smooth about getting it back.

The kids thankfully, are howling with laughter, taunting Steve about him “learning his lesson.” Are so focused on how hilarious the whole thing is they don’t seem to catch Eddie's struggle to get his breathing under control, his heart a wild thing in his chest.

‘It’s just a bit, man.’ He tells himself, over and over but even as Steve playfully argues with Mike and Lucas about something, he keeps sending little glances Eddie’s way.

Like he knows, even if the brats don’t.