#gauche writes

Steve wished he could just sink into the sofa and disappear. In his relaxed jeans and colorful striped polo, he stuck out like the world's sorest thumb. A thumb that had been banged repeatedly with a huge hammer. He watched as a woman clad only in a leather thong and a collar passed in front of him, and crossed his arms more tightly over his chest. He should've followed Robin to the bar; sitting here by himself was even worse than knocking elbows with people. He needed to stop letting Robin strong-arm him into these situations.

It had all started a few days ago. He and Robin had been sitting on the couch together while Steve dissected his most recent unsatisfying sexual encounter.

“So, I asked him to spank me,” Steve said, “and he just sort of tapped me real lightly on the ass. Like I barely even felt it! So, I said, ‘You can do it harder than that. Spank me like you mean it.’ And he just sort of stared at me with this terrified look in his eyes.”

Robin was giving him that look she got when he was annoying her. She grabbed the bowl of popcorn from his hands and grumpily chewed on a few kernels without responding.

“What?” Steve asked. “Why are you giving me that look?”

Robin sighed. "Steve, you can't keep expecting that these randos you meet in a bar will be ready to dive into legit impact play with you," Robin pointed out, probably correctly.

“Is it so hard to just spank someone?” Steve asked, chagrined. “I thought most guys would be into that!”

Robin rolled her eyes at him. "You can’t just spring that on someone! You’ve gotta talk it out first, set ground rules and make sure everyone knows what they’re doing.”

Steve could already feel it coming. She was gonna start talking about the BDSM club again, a topic she would not shut up about.

Sure enough, the next words out of her mouth were, “Why don't you come to the kink club with me? I'm going Friday."

Steve wrinkled his nose. "That's so regimented though. There's, like, wristbands and all that, I'd feel like I was in a meat market or something. I want it to be natural. Organic."

"Lotta weird grocery store references there," Robin said with a grimace.

Steve shrugged. "The comparison works."

Robin sighed. "If you’re not going to come with me, then you’ve gotta stop this whole thing you’ve been doing. Where you complain ad nauseum about not getting what you want, when there’s a place you go specifically for it. There would be dudes lining up to wallop that ass if you came to the club." She motioned appreciatively at his lower half.

Steve could tell she was truly irritated, not just the low-level sibling-type irritation that thrummed through their relationship at all times. So he'd agreed. Against his better judgment.

So now he was here, at the kink club on a Friday night, in all his sore-thumb glory. He even sported a green-and-white wristband marking him as a sub looking to play. Robin was taking forever at the bar.

The sofa sank beside him, and he snapped, "it's about time," in the few seconds before he turned his head and realized it wasn’t Robin.

The man who'd sat beside him, a lanky guy with unruly curly brown hair and a smile Steve found shockingly familiar, threw back his head and laughed. Steve did a double-take, scanning over the other man’s face and confirming his suspicion. It was Eddie Munson. From high school. Steve hadn’t seen him since he’d left Hawkins ten years ago. Had Eddie recognized Steve? Probably not. Steve had… changed, quite a lot.

"Didn't realize you were waiting for me, sweetheart, or I would have come sooner," Eddie said, leaning into Steve's space. Steve's eyes darted down to the other man's wrist—green and red, a Dom looking to play.

"Shit, sorry!" Steve said with a wince. "Thought you were my friend coming back from the bar."

Eddie pouted. Had his lips always been that… luscious?

"Not looking anymore, then?" Eddie nodded at Steve's wrist.

"No, I am!" Steve hastened to say, his mind already conjuring images of Eddie wailing on him with a whip. "Just—that wasn't an attempt at a pick-up line. Before."

Eddie's eyes narrowed. "Hey, do I know you? You been here before?"

"Uhhhh…" Steve trailed off. It wouldn’t be a lie to say they didn’t know each other. Eddie didn’t really know Steve. He knew who Steve used to be—Tiffany. But the idea of withholding the information from Eddie just felt wrong. Steve would want to know if he was about to be spanked by someone he knew from high school, even they had changed a lot, so he might as well extend the courtesy to Eddie.

"Yeah," Steve began slowly. "I used to be—"

Eddie's face cleared and he slapped a hand over Steve's mouth before Steve could utter his deadname. "I know," Eddie said. "Just figured it out. You don't need to tell me who you were. Who are you now?" Eddie removed his hand from Steve's mouth.

Warmth spread through Steve's chest at the gesture. "St-Steve," he stammered. "Steve Harrington."

Eddie nodded. "Pleased to remake your acquaintance, Steve. I'm still Eddie." His lips curled up into a wicked grin. "But you can call me Sir."

Desire pulsed through Steve's lower belly. Eddie Munson was cute, in a rough sort of way. He hadn't been Steve's type when they were back in high school, with Steve still pretending to be the perfect Midwestern girl. But Steve had begun to lean toward the more alternative as he'd changed and aged. He swept his eyes over Eddie's lean figure. Eddie wore skin-tight leather pants that showed a sizable bulge in the crotch region, and a sheer tank top that displayed skin covered in tattoos.

Steve swallowed past a knot in his throat. "Yes, Sir," he replied.

Eddie's smile widened. "What are you looking for tonight, Steve?"

Steve blushed. He'd never been asked that so explicitly before. He’d always needed to just hint at what he wanted so he wouldn’t scare people away before he even got them home.

"Impact play," Steve said, startled that he managed to get the words out so easily. There was something about Eddie that made Steve feel like he could say anything.

Eddie nodded. "That’s a favorite past-time of mine as well. Any particular preferences about what you want me to use? Where you want me to hit, positioning, et cetera?"

Steve was tempted to defer the way he usually did with partners, to tell Eddie he could do whatever he wanted. But he'd come here specifically to get what he wanted for once.

"No preference of what you use, but I want it on my ass and upper thighs. I'd like to be bent over something. Pants down, but thong and shirt still on." He’d been graced with relatively little dysphoria once he’d gotten through top surgery and the T had really started to work its magic, but he still preferred to keep some parts of himself covered in front of strangers. He didn't want to get distracted by thinking about what Eddie thought of his scars and hole when he could be focusing on the pain.

Eddie clapped his hands together. "Perfect! It sounds like a scene I will heartily enjoy. I believe there's an open room over yonder," Eddie said, waving toward a hallway. Steve had forgotten how much of a nerd Eddie was. It was endearing.

Eddie stood up and held out a hand to Steve. "We can discuss the minutiae in there. Care to join me?"

Steve took Eddie's hand, which was cool and rough, with calluses on his fingertips. Steve had a vague memory of him being in a band, and wondered if he still was.

They passed near the bar, where Robin was busy chatting with a tiny blonde girl. She saw Steve walking past hand-in-hand with Eddie and gave him a wide grin and a thumbs up.

"Spectators?" Eddie asked after they entered the room, one hand on the doorknob.

Steve shook his head, and Eddie shut the door and flicked the switch on the wall that would tell people the room was occupied and private.

Eddie walked over to the wall, which was lined with all manner of toys. One section was specifically for impact play. He ran his hands over the whips and paddles and switches, then turned back to Steve.

"How hard are you thinking?" Eddie asked. "And have you done this before?"

"Um, not sure. I've been spanked before, but never as hard as I wanted. Nobody's ever used anything other than their hand."

Eddie put a forefinger and thumb on his chin and hummed thoughtfully while his eyes scanned over the toys. "Then I'll take it slow tonight. Get you used to the feel of it."

Steve frowned. That wasn't what he wanted. "No, I—I don't want you to take it slow. That's why I came here."

Eddie raised his eyebrows, then reached out quicker than Steve would have thought possible and grabbed Steve by the chin.

"Who's in charge here, Steve?" he asked, his voice a low growl. A spark of heat shot into Steve’s pelvis. He clenched his thighs together against the throbbing that had started up in his hole.

"Y-you are, Sir," Steve replied, automatically. The 'Sir' came so naturally to him, with Eddie.

Eddie let go of Steve’s chin and gave him a firm nod. "That's right. I will test your limits, and it is going to hurt, but I'm not going all out on a newbie."

"Alright, Sir," Steve whispered.

“What’s your safeword?” Eddie asked.

“Cellar,” Steve said. Eddie raised his eyebrows. Steve shrugged. “It’s a neat word,” Steve explained. “Easy to say, but hard to mix up with anything else.”

“I dig it,” Eddie said, and Steve thrilled at the approval. “My safeword is grunge,” Eddie added.

Steve frowned in confusion. Had Eddie misunderstood? Did he think Steve was going to reciprocate with the spanking? That wasn't what Steve had wanted. “But I’m not gonna be doing anything to you.”

“Still need a safeword, for any sort of play,” Eddie explained. “Even Doms need to tap out sometimes.”

Steve didn’t really get it, but he nodded his assent. "Alright. Grunge."

Eddie turned back to the toys, and grabbed a paddle, hefting it in his hand. “Just the impact play tonight?” Eddie asked over his shoulder.

Steve wondered if Eddie meant did Steve want to have sex as well. Steve wouldn't be against it, but would Eddie want to have sex with Steve? Probably not. Eddie had been fully and vocally gay in high school, unrepentant in his lack of attraction for the female sex. And sure, Steve was a man, but he was a man who'd been turned down way too many times by cis purportedly gay men on Grindr due to his downstairs situation. No matter how angry it made Robin, transphobia within the gay community was a fact of life for a queer trans man.

He took the coward’s way out, and didn't bring up the possibility of sex. "Right, just the impact play. I want to really try it out, don't want to cross any wires by mixing it with something else."

"Very wise, you are," Eddie said, tapping a finger to Steve’s forehead. No one had ever called Steve wise before. In fact, people were usually making fun of how dumb he was. It felt nice, hearing it from Eddie.

"Anything in particular you find helpful during aftercare?" Eddie asked.

Steve had heard of aftercare before, of course he had. But he hadn't ever actually done a scene, so hadn't needed it. "Um. Not sure." He fidgeted awkwardly, bouncing from foot to foot. Eddie was probably starting to regret taking on a newbie.

"That's alright," Eddie said, and seemed like he meant it, soothing some of Steve's embarrassment. "What are some things that help you when you're feeling overwhelmed in your day-to-day life?"

Steve thought about it for a moment. In general, now that he'd been in his post-transition body for nearly a decade, he was a pretty content and level-headed guy. But sometimes the chatter in his brain still got loud, and when that happened he needed touch.

"I guess I just like to be touched," Steve said. "When I get really stressed, Robin—my roommate— gives me a lot of hugs and plays with my hair and draws symbols on my back. Stuff like that. Sometimes, if it's really bad, she'll, like, lay completely on top of me. That helps."

Eddie bobbed his head up and down. "Great, perfect. Grounding touch. I can do that. Any areas off limits?"

Steve felt like he should probably be okay with everything, as a sub. Wouldn't it be kind of annoying to come in here asking to be dominated and then set limits on what parts of his body the Dom could touch? He twisted the hem of his shirt in his hands, trying to work up the courage to lie and say he'd be okay with anything. Eddie narrowed his eyes suspiciously.

"It's okay to set boundaries here, Steve," Eddie said earnestly. "Not just okay, it's encouraged. I don't want to touch you anywhere you don't want to be touched."

"Uh, alright. Then I guess I don't want you to touch either of my holes, or my dick, or any of the stuff around there. And I don't want you to touch my chest." He said it all so fast he had to take a big breath once he was done. "Everything else is okay, though."

Eddie gave him a dorky little salute. "Noted. If that changes at any time, if I touch you somewhere you don't like, even if you didn't say it was off-limits, you let me know, alright?"

Steve nodded. "Alright."

"Good boy," Eddie said with a wide grin, and Steve nearly melted. The effect of those two words was instantaneous and intense. Eddie was calling him good, a good boy. He didn't realize until the words came out of Eddie's mouth how much he'd been aching to hear them for his whole life.

"Ready to get started?" Eddie said, holding up the paddle.

Steve nodded. Eddie pointed to a low, padded bench.

"Take off your pants, and kneel in front of that." Eddie's voice had subtly changed. It was a little deeper, and he spoke more slowly, carefully pronouncing each word. Steve shivered with anticipation.

Steve toed off his sneakers then unbuttoned his pants, sliding them down his legs and stepping out of them. He stepped over to the bench and knelt on padded foam arranged strategically on the ground in just the spot he needed. Eddie walked up behind Steve, pulling the hem of his shirt up with the paddle to look at Steve's ass.

"Nice ass, Stevie," Eddie said. "And I gotta admit the polo shirt is really doing it for me. Love the thought of giving a preppy little jock like you his just desserts."

Eddie placed a hand between Steve's shoulders and pushed him lightly forward, so his chest was pressed against the bench and his ass was sticking out. Steve braced his hands on the floor in front of him, shifting a bit to center his weight on his chest rather than his belly.

"Comfortable?" Eddie asked.

Steve nodded. It actually was pretty comfortable, with all the padding.

"Yeah, comfortable," Steve replied.

"Okay. I'm gonna just use my hand to get started and warm you up," Eddie explained. "I'll check in with you using the stoplight system. You know it?"

"Yep," Steve confirmed. "Green means keep going, yellow means slow down and check in, red means stop."

"Beautiful," Eddie enthused, patting Steve on a shoulder. Steve could get used to being praised every time he answered a simple question. It made him feel all warm and fuzzy. "I'm going to touch you now. Just a touch, not a smack. Alright?"

"Sure," Steve said, then he felt Eddie's warm, callused palm resting on his right ass cheek. Eddie petted lightly over that cheek, then moved to the other, ending with a firm squeeze.

"Very nice ass," Eddie muttered, so softly Steve wasn't even sure if he was supposed to hear. "Ready?" Eddie asked in a louder voice. "I'm gonna smack you a few times to warm you up."

"Ready," Steve confirmed.

Eddie's hand came down on Steve's ass with a loud slap, then came down again on the other cheek. It was a sharp, stinging sort of pain, not a particularly intense sensation. Just like the lackluster smacks he'd gotten from his dates recently. Was this going to be another disappointment?

"How'd that feel?" Eddie asked.

"Felt fine," Steve said. "Barely even hurt," he added, unable to keep the slightly annoyed tone out of his voice.

Eddie just laughed. "Ah, I thought you might be a brat. Looks like I was right."

Steve wasn't sure what Eddie meant by that, but Eddie’s hand came down again on Steve's ass, quickly chasing any thoughts from his mind. The slaps were harder this time, four in quick succession on each cheek. Steve squirmed forward involuntarily, following his body’s instinctual reaction to the slaps. The space between his thighs heated up, his arousal mounting in direct contradiction to the pain his body was trying to run from.

“That better, my liege?” Eddie asked mockingly.

“Y-yes,” Steve stammered. He took a deep breath, and added, “But I can take more.”

“I’m sure you can, sweetheart. But who did we say was in charge here?”

“You, Sir,” Steve answered immediately.

“So who gets to decide how much you can take and when?”

“You do, Sir.” Steve fell into this call and response easily, like it was second nature.

“That’s right, baby.” Eddie caressed Steve’s ass gently. Steve sank into the bench, Eddie’s approval and gentle touches turning his body into jelly. Then, with no warning, Eddie slapped his upper thigh.

Steve hadn’t been expecting the change of location, or even a slap at all. He let out a squeak of surprise and jerked forward, hitting his hipbones on the padded edge of the bench. Eddie laughed again, the gleeful tones filling the room around them.

“Alright, I think you’re ready for the paddle.” Eddie shifted, and Steve heard the sound of him grabbing the paddle from where it lay on the floor. Steve braced himself for a hit, but all he got was Eddie’s hand placed gently on the small of his back.

“Relax, sweetheart,” Eddie said, tracing soothing circles onto Steve’s skin. Steve shuddered. He loved the soft way Eddie touched him like this. He loved the soft names Eddie called him. All while he was getting ready to hit him. It was a weird juxtaposition, but it was really working for Steve. “I’m not gonna hit you out of nowhere,” Eddie continued. “Not yet, anyway.” Steve could hear the smirk in his voice. “Color?”

“Green,” Steve whispered.

Eddie leaned forward until his whole body was draped over Steve’s back, and placed a chaste kiss at the nape of Steve’s neck.

“I’m going to just place the paddle against your skin for a moment, gently, to get you used to the way it feels,” Eddie whispered. His hands traced up and down Steve’s sides, stroking him through his shirt, but never straying toward his chest, clearly respecting the boundary. The feeling of Eddie pinning him to the bench was driving Steve a little wild. His cock throbbed, and it took all his willpower to keep himself from rubbing it against the bench.

Eddie pushed himself off of Steve’s back and rested the paddle against the skin of Steve’s ass. It was cool and soft, the leather-covered surface even and well-maintained.

“Feel alright?” Eddie asked.

“Yes,” Steve said, with a sigh. His whole body was starting to feel loose and heavy. If the bench hadn’t been there, he knew he would just sink into the floor.

“Okay, we’ll start with one hit, just a trial,” Eddie said. “On three.” Steve’s body tensed slightly in anticipation, but it wasn’t enough to fully overwhelm his relaxed state. Eddie began to count. “One. Two. Three.” On three, he hit Steve with the paddle.

Steve exhaled forcefully at the sensation, then melted further into the bench. It hadn’t necessarily hurt more than the hand, but it was different. The paddle covered a much larger area, spanning both of his ass cheeks, and delivered the force of the blow more evenly. It left Steve with a dull ache, and a stinging sensation around the edges.

“How was that?”

“G-good,” Steve stammered. “Liked it, Sir.” He added the last bit on without even thinking. The word came out so naturally around Eddie, when he wouldn’t have dreamed of saying it in front of any of his previous partners with anything resembling a straight face.

“Great. So good to hear, Stevie. You’re doing wonderfully.”

Steve beamed at the bench beneath him. It didn’t matter that Eddie couldn’t see his face; he couldn’t contain the joy he felt at being wonderful for Eddie.

“Can you give me a color?” Eddie asked.

“Green,” Steve said immediately. He’d never been greener.

“Perfect. I’m gonna do a few in a row, now,” Eddie said, his voice low and soft. “You wanna count for me, beautiful?”

Steve nodded.

“Use your words, baby,” Eddie cajoled.

“Yes,” Steve whispered. “I’ll count for you. Anything.”

“Alright.” Eddie sounded pleased.

Steve heard the paddle whoosh through the air, and felt the sharp bite of the leather as it hit his flesh. It ripped the breath from his lungs. Eddie waited. Finally, Steve stammered out, “O-one.”

Eddie hit him again, this time twice in a row. “Two, three,” Steve panted.

Again and again and again, all the way up to ten. Eddie moved the paddle slightly each time, including Steve’s upper thighs in the field of slaps. Steve was squirming uncontrollably by the end of the ten strokes, simultaneously desperate to get away from the pain and desperate to feel the warm glow of Eddie’s approval. His ass felt like it was on fire, the whole thing lit up from the repeated slaps. His head felt like it was stuffed with cotton, and his mind floated. He couldn’t concentrate on anything but Eddie and the pain. He wasn’t even sure where he was anymore.

“How are we doing, darling?” Eddie asked. “Color?”

Steve took in a few deep, heaving breaths. “I’m good,” he finally managed to squeak out. “Green. Sir.”

Eddie stroked a hand lightly down Steve’s back, trailing it over the aching flesh of his ass. “Looks beautiful like this. All red and angry. Covered in my marks. I could get used to this.”

Steve thrilled at the praise. He wanted Eddie to get used to this. He wanted to be Eddie’s plaything.

Eddie draped himself across Steve’s back again. The leather of his pants felt cool against Steve’s red-hot skin. Eddie’s hard cock poked against Steve’s lower back, and Steve preened at the knowledge that he’d done that to Eddie. His hole throbbed with the desire to feel Eddie inside of him. He wished he’d asked for sex, too.

“You think you can take more?” Eddie whispered in Steve’s ear, his breath tickling against the sensitive shell.

“’S not my choice,” Steve muttered, the words coming out without conscious thought. “Up to you, Sir.”

Eddie sighed with very audible pleasure as his hips thrust forward into Steve’s back. It hurt. It felt amazing. “God, you’re perfect. Never would’ve expected this was how my night would go.”

Eddie stood back up, and Steve mourned the loss of the pressure of his body. “I think you can take five more, yeah?” Eddie said.

“Yes, Sir,” Steve replied automatically. “Whatever you want, Sir.”

All five of the hits were much harder than the first round. Steve wasn’t even able to count anymore, each slap pulling a guttural grunt of pain from him, and leaving no room for any further vocalization. By the last stroke, his body was pushing him up and off of the bench, completely unwilling to listen to the commands coming from his mind, desperate to just get away from the source of the onslaught. He fell off the front of the bench and collapsed onto the floor with a pathetic sob.

Eddie was there before the second sob made its way out of Steve’s mouth. Eddie sat on the floor, leaning back against the bench, and gathered the blubbering mess of Steve into his lap. At some point, Eddie had taken off his sheer shirt, and Steve gratefully buried his face into the bare skin of Eddie’s chest, snuffling against the patchy hair on his pecs.

Eddie ran his hands through Steve’s hair and made gentle shushing noises, rocking Steve back and forth in his arms. Steve was too far gone to understand much of what Eddie was saying, but all of it had something to do with how good Steve was, how perfect and handsome and brave.

Steve wasn’t sure how long he spent floating in Eddie’s arms as Eddie pressed kisses into his hair and whispered sweet nothings. Gradually, he came back to full awareness, to realize he was half-naked, face covered in tears and snot, the skin of his ass and upper thighs on fire.

He looked up at Eddie’s face, then back down at the man’s chest, covered in a mixture of Steve’s snot and tears.

“Oh, shit!” Steve said. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to—”

Eddie cut him off. “No sorries from you.” He put a finger under Steve’s chin and tilted his face up. “You did fucking amazing, Stevie. A perfect sub from the get-go. Like you were born for it.”

Steve’s face heated up with a blush. “I—I did?”

“You did,” Eddie confirmed with a nod. “11/10. Would spank again.”

That got a tiny laugh out of Steve.

“I feel like I went a little hard with you, though,” Eddie said, a frown creasing his face. “I should’ve probably dialed it back a notch, for your first time.”

Steve shook his head. “No. No way. That was perfect.”

Eddie graced Steve with a shy grin that brought out his dimples. “Yeah?” he asked. Steve was surprised to hear the uncertainty in his voice. He’d taken charge so easily in their scene, Steve never would’ve expected any doubts.

“Yeah,” Steve said. “11/10. Would be spanked again.”

Eddie’s smile got wider, his lips opening to show a set of lovely, slightly crooked teeth.

Steve glanced up at the clock in the room. It was already past midnight, though he’d come into the room with Eddie at 9:30. Steve wasn’t sure how that had happened, but Robin hated staying out too late. He needed to wrap this up.

“I gotta go,” Steve said with a sad smile. “Robin’s my ride, and she’s an early-to-bed kind of girl.”

Eddie looked a little sad. “You sure you’re okay to go? That was an intense session.”

“Yeah, I’m okay,” Steve confirmed. “You took really good care of me,” he added with a shy smile.

Eddie grinned in response. “Glad to hear it.” Eddie helped Steve to his feet and back into his jeans and shoes. Steve felt loose and wobbly; he needed the help.

Before he opened the door to their private room, Eddie turned back to Steve. He looked nervous, in a way he hadn’t all night. “D’you want to get coffee sometime?” Eddie asked. “To catch up. Maybe see if we’d want to do something like this again.” Eddie motioned at the room around them.

“Yeah,” Steve agreed, the blush coming back to grace his face once more. “I’d like that a lot.”

“What the fuck!” Tommy was yelling as Eddie surfaced. Eddie heard a musical, familiar laugh, and turned his head, delighted to see that he’d made Steve Harrington laugh. 

Steve smiled at him for a moment, then looked away, surveying the rest of the pool. The momentary high of Steve’s attention on him, followed by its immediate loss, did something funny to Eddie’s brain. 

He got an idea. A terrible idea. But if Tommy thought Eddie couldn’t swim, maybe Steve would believe the same. He looked around the pool, finding the deep end and moving towards it, confirming that there wasn’t anyone around him who might try to intervene before Steve, and then he reached for his inner theater geek and let loose.

He started to flail around, batting at the water around him and coughing wildly. He saw Steve look over at him sharply. Having confirmed the man’s attention, he let himself start to sink, kicking his legs pathetically and wiggling around, holding his breath. 

He was underwater for about fifteen seconds, and starting to worry he might not be able to hold his breath long enough for his scheme, when he felt something break the surface of the water near him. He closed his eyes and went limp, floating to the top of the water.

He felt himself get bodily hauled from the water, and boy was that a treat. Steve was strong, throwing him around like Eddie weighed nothing. It was almost enough to get a reaction out of Eddie, ruining his ruse, but he managed to remain limp in Steve’s arms, eyes closed. 

“Eddie, can you hear me?” Steve yelled, shaking Eddie’s shoulder. Eddie didn’t respond.

He felt Steve grip his jaw, opening his mouth, and then Steve’s lips pressed against his. Jackpot. Eddie wrapped an arm around Steve’s waist and kissed him while Steve tried to blow air into his lungs.

Steve pushed himself back, staring at Eddie in disbelief. “What the fuck, Munson?” Steve said, ignoring the crowd of onlookers. “If you wanted to kiss me, you could have just asked!” 

Eddie regretted every choice he’d made that had brought him to this point. He wasn’t a man prone to regret. Not even the prolonged hospitalization and recurrent nightmares following Vecna had been enough to make him regret meeting and becoming enmeshed with the Party. But this. This was too far. He regretted it now.

Because Steve Harrington was eating a strawberry.

A wanton, juicy strawberry. His nimble fingers gripped the leaves and held the plump, red fruit against his parted lips. Lips stained red with the juice of the lucky fruits before this one. Lips Eddie had never particularly noticed before this very moment. Lips he now needed to feel against his own. Lips he knew he’d never be able to feel against his own.

Steve made an obscene slurping noise as he attempted to keep some rogue juice in his mouth. He failed, and it escaped, trickling down the perfect line of his throat.

A strangled wheezing noise emerged from Eddie’s throat.

“Dude, are you okay?” Steve asked, speaking around a mouthful of strawberry.

Eddie nodded, unable to form words.

Steve swallowed the bite and threw the stem to the side. “Is there something on my face? You’re staring.”

Eddie stood up suddenly from the ground and fled.

“Where are you going?” Robin grumbled as he nearly tripped over her foot.

“Gotta piss!” he managed to spit out through his extreme mortification.

“Robin, is there something on my face?” he heard Steve demand as he hurried away.

Eddie didn’t hear Robin’s response. He hurried off into the woods and leaned against a tree, attempting to calm down a very unruly portion of his anatomy. One that had, in fact, never reacted to Steve Harrington before.

He should never have come on this picnic. He hated the sun and the outdoors. Why had he let Robin talk him into it? This was a disaster. A catastrophe of epic proportions. He had a boner for Steve Harrington because of strawberries.

Steve probably didn’t even swing that way. (Well, Eddie’d had his suspicions during the Hargrove days, there had been some serious homoerotic tension there, but Steve had only ever dated women.) But even if he did, he was Steve! Muscular jock golden retriever boy! He wasn’t for the likes of Eddie Munson, freak of nature, deranged pitbull mutt boy.

Eddie took a few deep, cleansing breaths. He thought about his Aunt Muriel. That took his boner right out.

When he returned to the group, the strawberries were finished, and he could look at Steve again without carnal thoughts. Just a strange blip. Maybe he was attracted to the strawberries. He could handle that.

Eddie tried to forget about it, he really did. But he couldn’t look at Steve the same after that day. Every time Steve talked, Eddie’s eyes drifted to his lips and remembered the strawberry. He routinely got so distracted that he had to ask Steve to repeat himself. Steve was starting to get annoyed.

He noticed other things about Steve, too. The way he laughed when Robin or Eddie said something really funny, throwing back his head and cackling. The way he let Henderson and the other brats walk all over him, and always looked out for them, no matter how much he complained. The way he filled out his jeans so nicely, front and back.

Eddie couldn’t keep denying it – he had a crush on Steve Harrington.

The others had definitely noticed that something was up. He caught Robin squinting at him like she was trying to solve a puzzle. Nancy had smirked at him when she caught him staring at Steve at their last game night. Even Steve was giving him questioning looks.

“What are those?” Eddie demanded, pointing at a bowl full of what looked like large orange grapes. He was at Steve’s house, raiding his well-stocked kitchen before he picked up the kids for a D&D session.

Steve glanced over from where he was cooking something that smelled delicious (the man was a fucking cook, how was Eddie supposed to resist this?). “Oh. Those are kumquats.”

Eddie spat out the mouthful of Mountain Dew he’d just gulped down. “Excuse me?” Surely he hadn’t heard that right. Who would name a fruit so obscenely?

Steve gave him a weird look. “They’re little citrus fruits. You can just pop the whole thing in your mouth. Like this, see.” He grabbed one of them and shoved it into his mouth. His beautiful, pink mouth. With its moist lips. Just stuffing them full of jizz fruits.

“What?” Steve asked, mouth full of quats of the cum. His forehead was wrinkled in an unfairly adorable squint.

“That is a ridiculous name for a fruit,” Eddie managed to stammer.

“Oooh, I get it.” Steve’s face cleared. “Because of cum. Like, semen.”

“Yeah, Steve. Because of that.”

“I don’t think it’s named after that, though. They don’t taste anything like jizz. Here.” He pushed one into Eddie’s mouth, which had been stunned into opening by the idea that Steve Harrington knew what jizz tasted like.

Eddie chewed automatically. The taste was sweet at first, followed by a tartness once he bit through the skin. It was nice. And, yes, nothing like jizz.

“Like it?” Steve asked with a quizzical look. His thumb still rested on the edge of Eddie’s lips. Eddie wanted to bite it. He wanted to suck it into his mouth and taste the kumquat juices and Steve’s skin.

He stepped back instead, breaking the contact. “I need to be gone,” Eddie said with a slightly hysterical lilt to his voice.

“Dude, your bag!” Steve called after him. Eddie didn’t care. He ran.

“Jeff. I am telling you this in the strictest confidence. You must take it to your grave. No one can ever know.”

Eddie lay on his bed with an arm thrown melodramatically across his face as Jeff idly plucked at his guitar.

“Alright,” Jeff replied. He didn’t even sound interested. Rude. Although Eddie was pretty sure he’d used those exact words on Jeff at least ten times before, often about pretty trivial things, so he couldn’t totally be blamed for his lack of interest.

“I think I have a crush on Steve Harrington,” Eddie admitted with a moan.

“Oh. Well, yeah.”

Eddie moved his arm and sat up to glare at Jeff. “What do you mean, ‘well, yeah’? That’s all you have to say about this earth-shattering admission?”

“Eddie, it’s kind of obvious. You stare at him with heart eyes every time he comes to watch us practice. Even Gareth figured it out.”

Eddie threw a pillow at him. “You knew?” His outrage immediately turned to horror. “Do you think Steve knows?” Eddie collapsed onto the bed, arm back across his face. “Oh my god, what if Steve knows?”

Jeff patted him consolingly on the knee. “He probably doesn’t.”  That wasn’t very convincing.

“Why is this happening to me?” Eddie groaned. “I think I’m just gonna have to avoid him forever.”

“That’s going to be a little difficult. Considering we’re all going to Henderson’s birthday cookout at his pool in half an hour.”

“I’m not going,” Eddie announced.

“You have to. Dustin will be devastated if you don’t go. You wanna make that kid cry? You feel like explaining that to Mrs. Henderson?”

Eddie shuddered. The only thing scarier than seeing Steve Harrington right now was the thought of triggering Claudia Henderson’s protective maternal instincts.

“Okay, fine.” Eddie pushed himself up off the bed with a groan. “I can do this. I can be normal. As long as he doesn’t pull out any more cum nuggets.”

“Excuse me, what?”

“Don’t worry about it,” Eddie said with a dismissive wave of his hand.

The party was in full swing by the time Jeff and Eddie arrived. He scanned the raucous group in the pool, definitely not looking for Steve. He found Steve at the grill, cooking burgers without a shirt on. All that beautiful chest hair. All those delightful moles. On full display. It was upsetting.

Eddie collapsed in a chair next to Robin with a disgruntled huff.

“What’s got your goat today, Munson?” Robin asked.

Eddie sighed dejectedly. “Nothing. I’m fine.”

“Uh huh. Sure.” Robin didn’t sound convinced.

Eddie did his best to ignore Steve’s manly physique and enjoy himself. It worked, sort of. At first. But then Steve made it incredibly difficult when he came to join the vigorous rough-housing going on in the pool. He kept touching Eddie. Like he had no idea what he was doing to him. He tickled him, he put him in a headlock, he grabbed him around the waist and dunked him underwater. Eddie had to put off getting out of the pool to pee for nearly fifteen minutes to avoid showing everyone the raging boner in his wet swim trunks.

Just when he thought things surely could not get any worse, the watermelon came out. Nancy had sliced a watermelon into wedges, and Steve dove right the fuck in. Eddie sat across the table from him and watched as Steve opened his mouth inhumanly wide to take a gigantic bite. Juice spilled out of his mouth and over his cheeks, running down his chin. He looked up and locked eyes with Eddie as he licked his lips, then took another bite. He held Eddie’s gaze as he spat the seeds out into a strategically placed bowl. One after another. His lips forming a perfect pucker with each spit.

Eddie wanted to lick the sticky juice off his face and neck and chest. He wanted Steve to spit at him. He’d never had a spit kink before. Where was this coming from?

Eddie stood up from the table abruptly, upending his chair, and ran into the house.

He locked himself into the bathroom and immediately plunged a hand into his swim trunks to wrap around his aching cock. He felt guilty for beating off in his friend’s bathroom, for beating off to thoughts of that same friend. But he’d been hard for the entire afternoon. He needed some relief or he was truly going to expire.

He used the precum leaking from his tip to smooth the glide as he stroked himself. He thought of Steve’s lips, covered in watermelon, covered in strawberry juice. He thought of the shape of them as he spit. As he bit down on a kumquat. He came with a groan, inhumanly fast, as he remembered that Steve knew what jizz tasted like.

Just as he finished washing his hands, a knock sounded at the door.

“Eddie, you alright?” Steve asked through the door.

Oh, this was too much. Surely Eddie could not be expected to just go out there and act normal around Steve right now.

“No, not alright at all. I’m having explosive diarrhea and vomiting and also bleeding out my ears, you should probably stay away.”

“Um. Shouldn’t you go to the hospital or something, if all that’s going on?”

“No. It’ll pass if you leave me alone. Go away.”

“Alright.” Steve sounded like he was holding back a laugh. The blackguard. A laugh, at Eddie’s made-up intense illness.

But thankfully he left Eddie alone, to slink out of the house in embarrassed confusion, leaving behind a very pissed off Jeff without a ride home.

The summer wore on, and Eddie’s crush unfortunately didn’t let up. He kept telling himself he was going to avoid Steve, but he never held himself to it. He spent a lot of time at Family Video bothering Steve and Robin during their shifts, enjoying the air conditioning.

That’s where he was one night in late July when Claudia Henderson dropped off a whole bag of fresh-picked peaches. Eddie stared in horror as Steve made a pleased noise and reached into the bag.

“I love peaches!” Steve crooned. “You like them, Eddie?” Steve held a peach out to Eddie, who took it on instinct. The fuzz felt soft against his hand. He squeezed lightly, enjoying the slight give indicating ripeness.

Eddie looked up into Steve’s glorious, shining face. Robin was somewhere deep among the aisles sorting tapes, so Eddie was alone with Steve. And peaches. Arguably the sexiest fruit. He was in deep shit. Eddie didn’t know if he was going to survive this. It might be what finally did him in.

Steve grinned at Eddie. If Eddie didn’t know any better, he would say Steve looked downright devious. But no. Steve was just pleased to have some peaches.

Steve raised a peach to his mouth. He stuck his tongue out and licked delicately at the fuzz. (Who licked the outside of a peach?) The depression in the side of the peach was facing Eddie.

Suddenly, all Eddie could think of were butts. Well, one butt in particular. A singular butt. Steve’s butt. How much he’d like to grab handfuls of that butt and squeeze, just like he squeezed the peach. He would lick the fuzz on Steve’s butt. Bite into those ripe globes.

Eddie was well aware that he was already breathing heavily. Steve opened his mouth, looking at Eddie the whole time, and bit into the peach. His eyes fluttered shut as the juices flooded his mouth, some trickling out the sides and down his chin. He made an obscene noise that could only be described as a moan. He opened his eyes again and stared at Eddie as his tongue darted out to lick the juice off his chin. Then he closed his mouth around the flesh of the peach again and sucked.

Eddie’s breath came rushing out with a sound like a deflating balloon. Steve ignored the noise. He took several more bites of his peach, just as wantonly as the first. There was juice all over his face, running down his chin onto his neck, pooling in the divot between his collar bones. Eddie twitched, using every muscle in his body to avoid throwing himself forward and licking up that pool.

Steve finished the peach in several more large bites. Eddie watched the whole thing, unable or unwilling to look away. Steve stuck the pit in his mouth and sucked on it hard.

“What the fuck is going on right now?” Robin asked from directly behind Eddie.

Eddie startled, letting out a little scream and falling off of the stool he’d been sitting on.

“Just eating a peach,” Steve said, all innocence. “Eddie, you didn’t even try yours.”

Eddie lay prostrate on the ground. He thought maybe he would never get up. Maybe he’d just die here, all the blood sucked from his brain by the raging hard-on he’d gotten from watching his friend eat a peach.

Robin poked him with her shoe. “Are you alright, Eddie?”

“No,” Eddie breathed. Robin stared at him. Steve poked his head over the side of the counter, face still covered in peach juice. Eddie closed his eyes against the sight. “I think I’m allergic to peaches,” he continued, pushing himself up off the floor. “I need to leave. Just the smell is making my airways close up.”

“You ate peaches last week.”

“Delayed hypersensitivity reaction. Gotta go. Bye.” He hustled for the door.

“Steve, that was disgusting. You’re ridiculous,” he heard Robin say as he let the door closed behind him.

August was fucking hot. The hottest on record. Though he’d vowed to avoid Steve at all costs after the peach incident, that had only lasted until the temperatures veered into the 90’s. After that, Eddie spent most of his free time at the Harrington house, availing himself of the air conditioning and pool.

It was too hot to even lay in the pool today. Even the air conditioning was barely cutting it. They lay on the floor in front of a fan in only their boxers. He had been too weak with heatstroke to even protest the disrobing, though not too weak to appreciate Steve’s chest hair. He flipped idly through a copy of Rolling Stone, trying to keep his eyes off of Steve’s tits, while Steve threw a baseball into the air over and over.  Thwack. Thwack.

Eddie shifted uncomfortably. “Do you have any, like, ice cream or anything? Popsicles? Something cold?”

Steve hummed to himself. “I don’t think so.”

Thwack. Thwack. Thwack.

Steve sat upright, stilling the baseball. “Wait! I have something.”

He stood and walked much too fast to the kitchen. It made Eddie sweat just to watch him move.

Eddie’s stomach dropped in sheer terror as he saw what Steve held in his hands as he returned – a banana. No. Not that. Anything but the banana. Eddie could survive all the other fruits, but not the banana.

Steve had a wicked grin on his face. Like he knew. He couldn’t know. Right? Absolutely not.

“They’re a bitch to peel when they’re frozen, but it’s basically like a popsicle.”

Eddie watched as Steve’s deft fingers grasped the base of the banana. He slid his hand up and down.

“Feels kind of nice,” Steve said. “Cold.” He twisted his hand in an absolutely obscene motion and hummed to himself. Eddie dropped the magazine down to his lap, hiding a situation that was becoming more embarrassing by the second.

Steve poked at the tip of the banana until it started to peel. He drew the ice-hardened peel away from the fruit, leaving a solid pale yellow rod directly in front of his mouth. He looked Eddie dead in the eye as he opened his lips and slowly slid the banana in.

He hollowed out his cheeks, sucking on it in a way Eddie had never seen someone do to a banana. He moved it in and out, bobbing his head on the banana.

“It’s cold,” he mumbled around the shaft – no, the banana! Bananas didn’t have shafts. “Feels good on my lips.” He pulled the banana all the way out and licked gently at the tip. “You ever sucked on a frozen banana?” he asked. Okay, Eddie was almost positive now that Steve wasn’t still talking about bananas. Eddie must have passed out from heatstroke. That was the only logical conclusion.

“Eddie?” Steve prompted. “You like bananas, right?”

Again, there was a whole fucking undercurrent to that question.

“Bananas are… good,” Eddie whispered.

Steve’s grin lit up the whole room. “Good. Glad we agree about bananas.” He sat on the floor beside Eddie and slid the banana back in his mouth. Eddie didn’t know where to look – at the sweat beading gloriously on Steve’s perfect hairy pecs, at his lips sealed around the frozen banana, at his intense brown eyes boring holes straight into Eddie’s soul.

Steve pulled the banana out of his mouth, a string of spit connecting it to his lips for a few moments before it broke. He held out the banana to Eddie.

“You wanna try?” he whispered. He was so close Eddie could feel the gust of his breath with each word.

The door banged open. Eddie screamed and scrambled away from Steve.

“Dingus!” Robin yelled from the foyer.

Eddie took the cowardly out. He stood up and ran to the door, leaving his shirt and pants in Steve’s living room. He paused only to slip on his flip-flops and grab his keys.

“Munson, what the hell!” Robin yelled as he shoved his way past her.

As he started up his van, he heard Robin scream, “A banana, Steve?! Jesus Christ.”

Eddie avoided Steve for a few weeks after the banana. He was a little disappointed that Steve let himself be avoided, but he tried not to dwell on it.

The heat finally broke in the last week of August. Eddie tentatively started hanging out with Steve again. No fruits were bandied about.

Eddie should have been relieved. He wasn’t sure his heart could handle another fruit-related incident with Steve. It might just burst like an overwrought rabbit’s heart. But he thought Steve had been trying to tell him something with that banana. Maybe? As the weeks ticked by with no more hints, he decided he was probably just reading too much into it.

So when the offer to go apple picking with the whole group came in early September, he didn’t automatically excuse himself like he would have in the days following the banana incident. Apples weren’t even sexy. They were a thoroughly unsexy fruit. And they’d be outside, with loads of other people around. It would be fine.

It wasn’t fine.

Every time Steve reached for an apple, his adorable sweater rode up, revealing a patch of tummy with a glorious little happy trail disappearing beneath his jeans. Jeans that were tight enough to remind Eddie, once again, that Steve was very well-endowed.

And Steve kept picking the highest apples in the trees. Like he was doing it on purpose. After grabbing a particularly juicy-looking specimen from on high, Steve brought it to his mouth and bit into it. Eddie realized he’d been dead wrong. Apples were sexy, when they were in the hands of Steve.

Steve sucked at the apple where he’d bit as juice spilled out. The way he pursed his lips was obscene. He licked the skin around his bite, cleaning up the errant juice, then licked his lips. Eddie wondered, if he covered himself in apple juice, would Steve lick him like that?

To preserve his poor rabbit-like heart, Eddie fled to another row of trees.

He successfully avoided Steve and his tummy and his apple-licking for the rest of the picking excursion. He was ready to jump into his van and flee after Nancy dropped them all off at Steve’s, but Steve pinned him with a pleading stare and asked, “Eddie, will you help me bring all the apples in?”

It was like being asked to play fetch by an adorable golden retriever. Eddie couldn’t say no. He wasn’t heartless. (Though he might be, soon, if Steve made his heart explode.)

“Alright,” Eddie said, his voice cracking. He grabbed one of the bags and walked straight to Steve’s kitchen, setting it down.

“There you go!” Eddie said. “See ya later.” He turned to leave. Steve stopped him with a hand on his arm.

“I’m making pies. I could really use some help peeling and coring.” There was that pleading look again. Eddie was hopeless. He was lost. He was done for.

“Okay.”

He sat at the table like a man sitting down to his last meal before the electric chair. Steve handed him a paring knife. Eddie set to work peeling apples, doing his best to pretend Steve wasn’t even there – an almost impossible task, given Steve’s constant fidgeting. He wasn’t usually a fidgeter, that was more Eddie’s deal, but today he was wiggling in his chair like he had an itchy hemorrhoid.

“Dude, are you okay?” Eddie asked after Steve accidentally elbowed him in the arm for the fourth time. This time, Eddie had narrowly avoided gouging himself in the opposite hand with his knife.

“What? Yeah. ‘m fine.”

Eddie shifted his chair to move a few feet away from Steve. “Alright. Just gonna get out of the elbow zone then.”

Steve looked up from his apple and pouted. There was no other word for what happened to his face. It was a full-on pout. His lips turned down in a frown and his lower lip wobbled as his eyes got comically large and sad.

Guilt flooded Eddie’s system. “I can’t stay there! You’re going to make me knife myself!”

Steve schooled his features into a look of determination, picked up a slice of apple, and slowly and deliberately brought it to his mouth. He opened his lips wide, giving Eddie a thorough view of the soft pink inside of his mouth. He licked the apple slice, running his tongue along one surface, then along the opposite side. He closed his lips around it then slid it inside. All while maintaining direct eye contact with Eddie.

This was it. This was the moment Eddie was going to die. Slumped on the floor of the Harrington kitchen with a burst heart and a hard dick.

“I- I should go,” Eddie stammered, wanting to put off his inevitable demise just a little longer.

“No.”

The word was a command. Eddie froze halfway through pushing himself up out of his chair.

“Are you just not into me?” Steve demanded. “I know you’re gay, and I got the impression you maybe had a crush on me, so I thought I had a chance. But now I’m not so sure.”

Eddie thought he may have had a stroke. The words coming out of Steve’s mouth were English, and they theoretically made sense together, but Eddie couldn’t parse them.

“I’ve been trying to get your attention all summer,” Steve continued. “I’ve been so obvious that even Dustin caught on. I gave up after the banana thing because Robin told me I was being ridiculous and scaring you away. But I don’t know how else to do it.”

“What?” Eddie croaked.

Steve tilted his head to the side. He popped another apple slice into his mouth and chewed. Eddie watched the bob of his Adam’s apple as he swallowed, and thought more devious thoughts. “Wait, have you really not noticed?” Steve asked. “That I’ve been coming onto you this whole time?”

“You’ve been what?” Eddie replayed the various fruit-related incidents in his mind. He’d thought Steve was just like that – unknowingly sultry and flirtatious, an unaware wet dream of a man.

“Ever since I saw the way you looked at me with the strawberries. And, okay, I can understand how you might not have seen through the kumquats or the watermelon. But the peach? The banana? Come on, Eddie.”

“You were… hitting on me?” Eddie felt he needed to clarify. This needed to be explicitly stated for him.

“Think of it more as a temptation. But, yeah, with the eventual end goal of fucking you. Or being fucked by you. I’d go either way, long as it was with you.”

Eddie swayed to the side. He looked around the room to see if the others were all there, waiting to see how Eddie took the prank. He swayed so far to the side that he fell out of his chair.

“Fuck!” he yelped as his elbow and hip connected with the hard tile floor.

“Whoa, shit.” Steve knelt down beside him, a hand coming to his head to keep it from hitting the floor. “You okay?”

Steve’s hand was warm against his cheek. He moved it back, threading fingers into Eddie’s hair, then tilted Eddie’s head back so he could look into his face.

“You hurt?” Steve prompted again when Eddie stayed silent.

Eddie shook his head. His heart beat rapidly against his sternum. Could a rabbit’s heart burst from pure horniness? He hadn’t ever heard of that, just the fear thing, but it seemed theoretically possible.

“Can you tell me?” Steve whispered. “Did you really not know?”

Eddie shook his head again. “I didn’t,” he whispered back.

“And now that you do?”

Eddie gathered up all the courage in his little rabbity heart and surged forward. He grabbed two handfuls of Steve’s adorable sweater and yanked him close, pressing their lips together. A startled noise emerged from Steve’s lips as he froze for a moment, and Eddie wondered if he’d just imagined the whole conversation leading up to this point, but then Steve relaxed against him, and joined in the kiss as an active participant.

Steve’s lips tasted of apples. Eddie licked against them, savoring the taste. Steve opened his mouth and wound an arm around Eddie’s waist. Eddie pressed his tongue in as the apple flavor flooded his senses. He could smell it, and taste it, a tart sweetness exploding on his tongue.

Steve moaned and pressed Eddie back until he was laying on the floor with Steve draped half on top of him. It should have been uncomfortable, but Eddie just wanted more. Steve slid a leg between Eddie’s own. Eddie instinctively ground down against it, rutting his hard and aching cock against Steve’s muscular thigh.

Steve’s mouth moved from Eddie’s lips to his jawline and kissed the soft skin below his earlobe. He pulled Eddie’s earlobe into his mouth like a piece of fruit and bit down gently. Eddie moaned and ground his cock down harder on Steve’s thigh.

“Been waiting for this for so long,” Steve whispered, his breath tickling Eddie’s ear. Eddie laughed, an incredulous, shaky thing.

“You’ve been waiting for this? I’ve been dealing with inappropriate boners all summer.”

Steve sighed. “Should have said something sooner.”

“Yeah, you should’ve,” Eddie agreed vehemently.

Eddie shifted so he could also get a thigh between Steve’s legs. He’d been thoroughly convinced of Steve’s attraction by now, but it was still shocking to feel Steve’s hard cock against his thigh. Eddie pressed his thigh up, drawing a shocked groan out of Steve. He swiveled his hips to rub his own cock harder against Steve.

Steve moved his mouth to the pulse point in Eddie’s neck. He licked over it, just like he’d licked the apple, and the banana, and the peach. He scraped his teeth against the delicate skin. He bit down lightly and sucked. It hurt in the best possible way.

Eddie’s hips began to move in a rhythm, rutting against Steve’s leg and letting his own thigh be used. Steve panted against his neck and reached a hand between them and thumbed at the button of Eddie’s jeans. “Want to feel you,” he muttered, his face hidden in Eddie’s neck. “Can I?”

“Yes,” Eddie whispered, barely more than an exhalation.

Steve deftly opened his jeans, with a dexterity that only a sexually experienced jock could manage. He slid his hand into Eddie’s boxers and wrapped it around his dick.

It was truly a miracle that Eddie didn’t come right then and there. More miraculous then his recovery after being eaten alive by monstrous bat creatures. His body was a wonder. He took a few deep breaths to calm himself down.

“This okay?” Steve asked, finally removing his face from Eddie’s neck and looking at him. His cheeks were colored with a pretty blush, and his lips were red and kiss-swollen. Eddie wanted to see this look on Steve every day for the rest of his life.

Eddie nodded. He touched two fingers to Steve’s jeans with a question in his eyes. Steve nodded.

Eddie opened his jeans with a lot less savoir faire than Steve had displayed, but he hadn’t had nearly as much practice. When his palm made contact with the warm, velvety skin of Steve’s cock, he thought he may have actually died from the horniness heart burst. Maybe this was heaven.

The head of Steve’s cock was wet, much wetter than Eddie ever got. Eddie used the precum to smooth the glide of his hand, squeezing and twisting as he pumped Steve’s shaft. Steve’s own hand caught on Eddie’s cock, friction getting in the way. Steve let out a frustrated huff.

“Here, let’s try something,” Eddie mumbled. He removed his hand from Steve’s pants, earning himself a pathetic whimper that sent a thrill through his whole body. They’d definitely have to revisit that at a later time. He pushed his jeans and boxers down, freeing his cock, then shoved at Steve’s. Steve got the message, pulling his own down.

Eddie lined their cocks up side-by-side. His hand didn’t fit all the way around both of them, but Steve brought his hand down to join him. Together, they could envelop both cocks. Eddie began to move his hand, spreading Steve’s ample precum down both of their shafts. Steve moved with him.

The feeling of Steve’s cock pressed against his own was unlike anything Eddie had ever experienced. He’d seen people do this in gay porn he’d found in a sex shop in Indy, but had never tried it himself. The skin of Steve’s cock was so smooth and warm against his own.

Steve leaned his head back down to kiss Eddie. It was filthy and wet, Steve’s spit still laced with the taste of apples. Eddie was going to have a Pavlovian response to apples from here on out. Apples would be a danger to him.

The movement of their hands in tandem was awkward at first, but eventually they got into a rhythm. Steve’s mouth against his, Steve’s cock against his, Steve’s chest against his. Steve everywhere. Warmth pooled in Eddie’s pelvis. He didn’t even have time to warn Steve before an orgasm rushed over him. Wave after wave of pleasure crested through his body as he spilled into their joined hands.

Steve bit down on Eddie’s lower lip hard enough to hurt, as his hips stuttered and he joined Eddie in his release. They both kept moving, slowly and out of sync, as they came down from their orgasms.

Their foreheads pressed together. Steve panted into Eddie’s mouth, his eyes still closed. Eddie watched the movement of his eyes beneath the lids, darting back and forth. There was a mole on the bridge of his nose, just to the side of the corner of his eye. Eddie wanted to learn all of Steve’s moles. Wanted to have them memorized. Wanted to kiss each one.

Finally, Steve’s eyes fluttered open. He smiled at Eddie, shyly. Like he hadn’t spent the last four months terrorizing Eddie with sexualized fruit.

“So. That was nice,” Steve mumbled. He looked unsure of himself.

Eddie let out a high-pitched, deranged laugh. “Nice? Nice, he says. Stevie, that blew my fucking mind.”

Steve’s shy look turned into a wide grin as his blush deepened. “Yeah? You don’t regret it?”

Eddie grabbed Steve’s chin with his hand and held his face still while he looked him in the eyes. “I have never regretted anything less.”

“Good,” Steve said with a sigh and a nod. “Great. You wanna go on a date sometime?”

“I’d love to. I hear there’s a really nice pumpkin patch in Fernville. We could broaden our horizons, switch to vegetables.”

Also on AO3.

"Well, I don't like your options, bud. They're not good options."

"That's objectively false!" Dustin yelled. "Most guys would kill for some of the options I've presented!" Why did Eddie have to be like this?

"How can it be objectively false?" Eddie shot back. "It's literally my opinion. The definition of subjective."

Dustin glared at him. He hated when Eddie tried to outsmart him. He hated how often it worked. Steve drove up just as Dustin was opening his mouth for a rebuttal.

"Thank the fucking Lord," Eddie muttered. "Please take this young whippersnapper off of my hands before I kill him," Eddie yelled to Steve when he got out of his car.

"Oh, great," Steve said. "Can't wait to spend the next 15 minutes with a feisty Henderson in my car."

God, they were both such turds sometimes. Dustin sighed loudly and stomped over to Steve's car. "This isn't over, Munson!" he called over his shoulder. Eddie flipped him off in response.

He grabbed the passenger seat before Mike, Lucas, or Will even made it to the car, much to their chagrin. Steve chatted with Eddie for a few moments, Eddie leaning into his space as per usual, slinging an arm over Steve's shoulder.

Dustin leaned over and honked the horn.

"Really, Dustin?" Steve yelled, hands on his hips.

"Some of us have places to be!" Dustin yelled back.

"Where do you have to be?" Lucas asked from the backseat.

Dustin shrugged. "It's the principle of the thing."

Steve spent a few more moments talking to Eddie, probably just to piss Dustin off, then came back to the car.

Dustin gave Steve 30 seconds to adjust, watching the time tick by on his watch. He'd been told off one too many times for immediately starting an interrogation, so this was his compromise with the world. As soon as his watch hit the 30 second mark, he started in.

"So why doesn't Eddie ever date anyone?" Dustin asked, talking over whatever conversation Mike and Will had been having in the back.

Steve glanced at Dustin with a confused expression on his face. "What?"

"From the intel I've gathered, Eddie's never had a girlfriend," Dustin said. "He turns down all of my suggestions for potential dates. But if anyone deserves a girlfriend, it's him. He's, like, a hero. I want to help him find his Suzie."

"Excuse me, what am I? Chopped liver?" Steve interjected. "Why aren't you trying to find me a girlfriend?"

Dustin rolled his eyes. "You've had a million girlfriends, Steve. Give some of the other poor dudes a chance."

"Yeah, Steve. You're kind of hogging the eligible young women of Hawkins," Mike piped up from the back seat.

"I haven't had a girlfriend since Nancy," Steve protested.

"But you do still get around," Dustin insisted.

"Whatever, man." Steve shook his head. "Why don't you let Eddie do his own thing? Maybe he's just picky."

Dustin crossed his arms over his chest and leaned back, not responding. Steve was wrong. Eddie deserved his own Suzie. And Dustin wasn't going to give up on helping him find her.

"So I saw this girl the other day at the arcade," Dustin started. He and Eddie were at the trailer, painting some miniatures. It was his mom's night working late, and Dustin had started spending it with either Eddie or Steve on alternating weeks.

Eddie groaned. "Not again, Henderson. Can't we go, like, one day without this shit?"

"But Eddie! I think you'd really like her. She had a mohawk. Dyed pink. And her nose was pierced."

Eddie dropped his head into his hands, smearing some red paint on his cheek. He stayed that way for a few moments, quieter for much longer than usual. Dustin worried for a moment that he might have broken him. When Eddie finally looked up, his face was serious in a way it almost never was. He reached out for Dustin's hand.

"Dustin. I'm about to tell you something, and you cannot freak out about it. And you can't tell anyone else about it, either. Am I clear?" Usually, Dustin would have thought a joke was coming after an intro like that from Eddie. But he seemed completely earnest this time, so Dustin actually considered what he'd asked.

"What about Suzie?" Dustin asked. "Can I tell Suzie?"

Eddie sighed. "Yeah, you can tell Suzie."

"Alright," Dustin said. "I agree to your terms. No freak out, no telling anyone other than Suzie."

Eddie nodded. "Okay." He took a deep breath and looked away. "I'm gay, Dustin."

It took Dustin a second for his brain to parse what he'd just heard. Eddie. Heavy metal band member, dungeon master Eddie.

"I'm sorry, you're what?" Dustin squeaked. He must have misheard.

"I'm gay," Eddie repeated. "Queer, fruity, a homo, a friend of Dorothy, a fairy. I like men. That's why none of your options have sounded remotely appealing to me. That's why I've never had a girlfriend."

Dustin sat back in his chair, stunned. A lot of things were making sense now.

"Oooookay," Dustin said, nodding. So now he had to find Eddie a boyfriend. More difficult, but he liked a challenge. "So what's your type? We can find you a boyfriend."

Eddie barked out a laugh, throwing his head back. He looked relieved. "Are you serious? That's your only question, what's my type?"

"Of course that's not my only question, who do you think I am?" Dustin was a little offended. "That's just my most pressing question."

"I think this is the best response I've gotten so far to coming out," Eddie said, crossing his arms over his chest and leaning back in his chair.

Dustin felt pretty good about that. "Well? Are you gonna answer?"

Eddie chuckled. "I should've known this wouldn't make you give up your weird crusade." He pulled a few strands of hair in front of his mouth, chewing on the ends while he thought. "My type? I'm not totally sure, honestly, haven't had much of a chance to find out, living in Hawkins. I guess probably my height or maybe shorter, but not much taller. On the masculine side of things, almost the jock physique. Hairy. Brunette."

Dustin nodded after each characteristic, mentally taking note. "Those are all physical things. What about personality?"

Eddie had to think a little harder about that one, looking into the distance. "Um. Kinda goofy, I guess? Not too macho. Sense of humor." Eddie trailed off and looked at Dustin sharply. "Henderson, if you go around asking the men of Hawkins if they're queer so you can try to find a date for me, you're gonna get beat to shit."

Dustin held up his hands. "You really think I'm that stupid? Give me some credit here, Eddie."

"You have a track record of failing to read the room, man," Eddie pointed out.

That absolutely wasn't true. Dustin was very tactful. He could be quite subtle when he wanted to be. Eddie just never got to see that side of him.

"I'll be careful," Dustin insisted. "I'm not gonna ask anyone if they're gay."

"Alright," Eddie said, but he didn't look convinced. Dustin would show him.

The idea hit Dustin the next week, when he was spending his mom's late work night with Steve. They were out by the pool, and Steve's hairy chest was on full display, with all of its muscles. Dustin had Suzie, and she didn't want him to be muscular, but sometimes when he saw Steve's chest he couldn't deny the twinge of jealously.

Hairy. Muscular jock physique. Something was tickling at the back of Dustin's mind. Brunette. What was that? About as tall as Eddie.

Oh shit. Dustin dropped his Dr. Pepper as Steve yelled "COWABUNGA" and did a cannonball into the water. Kinda goofy.

It was Steve. Eddie had basically been describing Steve. Did Eddie even know? Had he been secretly pining after Steve this whole time? Or was it still subconscious?

Holy shit. But Steve liked girls. How was Dustin gonna make this work? Did he need to find a Steve doppelganger somewhere who was gay?

Steve popped out of the water, shaking his hair. He looked up at Dustin and the Dr. Pepper spilled all over the patio. "Everything alright there?" Steve asked. "You look like you saw a ghost."

Dustin nodded. "I- I'm good. Everything's fine!"

Steve shrugged and dove back under the water.

Dustin did some research over the next few days. If he was going to find a gay Steve doppelganger for Eddie, he needed to understand the culture - where he could find other queer people, the types of phrases they used to identify each other without being too blatant, that kind of stuff.

He tried finding books at the library, but came up empty-handed and probably on some sort of list the librarian kept of degenerates. So he had to resort to asking Eddie where he got all his information.

"Why do you wanna know?" Eddie asked with a suspicious glare.

"I just wanna understand you, man!" Dustin insisted, putting on his most innocent expression. "You're my friend, I wanna know what's going on with you."

Eddie reluctantly handed Dustin some zines he'd picked up in Indianapolis. "None of the raunchy stuff," Eddie said. "I'm not getting arrested for dealing gay pornography to minors."

Dustin made a disgusted face. "You could have just… not told me you even had raunchy stuff."

Eddie shrugged. "Where's the fun in that?"

Dustin spent hours that night poring over the zines, learning the lingo. He discovered an incredibly interesting fact in one of the zines - the existence of bisexuality. You could like both men and women. You didn't have to be either gay or straight.

This fact blew Dustin's mind, and the seeds of a different plan took root. What if Steve was bisexual, and he didn't even know it? That would be the easiest, most logical solution to the Eddie problem. Steve was Eddie's type; so what if Eddie was also Steve's type?

He talked about it with Suzie the following evening. She'd been shocked to learn that Eddie was gay. Mormons weren't exactly accepting of homosexuality. But she'd always played a little fast and loose with certain aspects of Mormonism, so Dustin was able to bring her around to the idea eventually.

"I don't know, Dusty Buns," she said as they were discussing his idea about Steve. "I don't think you can just make someone be bisexual."

"I'm not gonna make him be bisexual," Dustin insisted. "I'm just gonna try to show him that he already is."

"But what if he isn't?" she shot back.

"Then I'll go back to the doppelganger plan," he said with a sigh. "But I have to try. This is the simplest solution. Occam's razor."

"Dusty Buns, you know you're not using that correctly right now," Suzie scolded.

Dustin sighed. She never let him get away with anything.

Dustin paid a lot more attention to Steve and Eddie's interactions over the next few weeks. Now that he knew Eddie was gay, he couldn't believe he'd missed the signs pointing to his crush on Steve.

Eddie gravitated to Steve like a moth to a flame. It was like he had some sort of Steve-related sixth sense, his head immediately turning toward Steve whenever the man walked into a room.

He was a tactile guy with everyone, but whenever Steve was around, it was always Steve that Eddie was touching. Every time Dustin looked at the two of them, Eddie had a hand somewhere on Steve - slung around his shoulders, resting on one of his arms, brushing against one of his legs to get his attention.

Steve didn't seem to mind at all. He leaned into the physical contact, touching Eddie back almost as often as he was touched. They smiled at each other all the time. They got each other drinks and snacks and just in general acted like a goddamn couple. How had Dustin missed this?

He was gonna need to accelerate his timeline. These idiots needed to get together ASAP.

“And it was so big,” one of the girls whispers. “I’ve never seen a cock that size before. It felt amazing.”

“You’re joking, right?” the other girl says, incredulous. “You didn’t actually fuck a random monster in the woods.”

“I swear, I did,” the first girl says, looking annoyed at not being believed. “Mary did, too, ask her.”

“Mary also said she fucked Justin Bieber. That’s not exactly helping your case.”

“If you don’t believe me, go try it yourself. If you spend the night out by Skull Rock, he’ll come.” She suggestively waggles her eyebrows. “In more ways than one.” 

Steve doesn’t really know why, but his interest is piqued. He asks around over the next few weeks, and finds out more. It’s apparently become a bit of a thing with the people around his age in Hawkins. The girls are calling the creature the Wild God, saying they’re going into the woods to worship, and the boys mostly seem to think the girls are all making it up to piss them off.

He talks to three separate groups of girls who tell him similar versions of the same story - they went to Skull Rock to camp, and around midnight, the creature approached, standing at the edge of the camp. He’s been described to Steve as anywhere from seven to ten feet tall, with wings, red eyes, and a huge cock. All you have to do is walk up to him and say, “I’m yours for the night,” and, if the girls are to be believed, you’ll have the best sex of your life. 

Steve, who has become increasingly bored with the girls of Hawkins, his sex life more of a slog than it is enjoyable, finds himself wondering what it would be like, to be fucked. He’s never experimented with men before, even though he has had thoughts. He especially wonders what it would be like to be fucked by a wild god. 

He makes Robin tell him everything he needs to know to spend a night in the woods, refusing to tell her why he needs to know. He goes to other sources (a sex shop in downtown Indy) to find out what he needs to know about what else he hopes will happen. He purchases varying sizes of dildos ranging from beginner to gigantic at the sex shop, and purchases a tent at a more respectable establishment. He spends a few weeks getting used to the feeling of his fingers, and then the dildos, inside of him. He likes it, almost more than he likes having his own dick buried inside someone. 

Once he’s graduated to the largest dildo, he decides to give his plan a try on one night in late October. He reaches Skull Rock around 10pm, with the moon high and full in the sky. He sets up his tent, starts a small fire, and settles in, prepared to wait as long as he needs. He can be patient. One hour passes, then two. He hears the sounds of the forest at night around him, small animals and insects going about their business, rustling and chirping. 

Just as he worries he may be about to nod off, he hears something larger moving through the undergrowth. His eyes scan the forest around him, the moon shedding plenty of light on the scene as a large shape comes into focus. It’s taller than a man, but not by too much, with the shape of unfurled wings making a shadow against the light of the moon. Steve can see two red orbs glowing in the dark - eyes. 

The creature stops about twenty feet from Steve, eyes pointed directly at him where he sits by his fire. It moves closer after a few moments, and the closer it comes to Steve, the more he can see in the light of the moon.

It’s mostly humanoid, but covered in a thin layer of fur, with large wings extending from its shoulders. The figure wears no clothes, and Steve’s eyes take in the size of the cock between its legs, which had not been exaggerated by the girls, before being drawn back up to its head, surrounded by a halo of unruly, long dark hair. 

The creature approaches closer, reaching a clawed hand out toward Steve. Steve studies its face, feeling a gentle thrum of something like recognition. Large, dark eyes, now with a distinct red tint, full lips, frizzy mane of hair, lines at the side of the mouth where dimples would be if it smiled. 

“Eddie?” Steve says, shock in his voice. It can’t be Eddie. He died five months ago.

The creature tilts his head to the side, confusion apparent on his face. The more Steve sees, the more he knows in his core that this is Eddie in front of him, changed almost beyond recognition. 

“Do you remember me?” Steve asks, as Eddie reaches out one clawed finger and strokes down his cheek.

Eddie doesn’t respond, just keeps looking at Steve, eyes hungry. Maybe he can’t even speak anymore. Steve remembers why he’s here, eyes tracking down to where Eddie’s cock rests between his legs. He would be lying to himself if he said he hadn’t been attracted to Eddie even before he got turned into a monster with a giant cock.

Steve takes a deep breath and says, “I’m yours for the night.” He wants to worship at the feet of the Wild God, especially since that god just happens to be Eddie Munson. 

Eddie makes a noise which Steve can only describe as a growl, then leans forward to press his mouth to Steve’s. Calling what ensues a kiss would be a mischaracterization. Eddie plunders Steve’s mouth, all sharp teeth and inhumanly long tongue. Steve tastes blood from where one of Eddie’s incisors has nicked his bottom lip. He moans into Eddie’s mouth as Eddie licks into him, mapping the inside of Steve’s mouth with his tongue. 

One of Eddie’s now huge arms wraps around Steve, pulling him flush against his body. Steve can feel Eddie’s cock growing hard where it’s pressed against his hip, so warm even through his jeans that Steve is worried it will burn his bare skin. He feels one of Eddie’s legs slot between his own, and starts to rut down onto it, his own cock so hard it’s almost painful. 

Eddie’s mouth moves to Steve’s neck, biting and licking, no doubt leaving ample marks which will be hard to explain to anyone who sees them. His clawed hands bunch in Steve’s sweater, pausing for a moment before tearing. Tatters of fabric fall from his body and he shivers as his skin is exposed to the cold. 

Eddie unfurls his massive wings, wrapping them around Steve, effectively blocking out the cold. It’s warm in this protected little alcove in the woods as Eddie moves his clawed hands to Steve’s jeans. 

“Wait,” Steve says, and Eddie pauses, red eyes inquisitive. “These jeans are expensive,” Steve explains, not sure Eddie understands him at all, but taking advantage of the pause to remove his jeans and boxers so they don’t also end up in tatters on the forest floor. 

As soon as he’s naked, Eddie starts to back him toward the fire, wings returning to their furled station on his back and clawed hands encircling Steve’s waist as he picks him up like Steve is a small child and not a fully grown man. He lays Steve on the ground beside the fire and blankets himself over him so Steve doesn’t even have a chance to be cold. 

Eddie starts to kiss and bite down Steve’s body, briefly nuzzling Steve’s straining cock before licking the whole length of it. His tongue is way longer than it should be, and seemingly prehensile, wrapping around Steve’s cock almost like a snake and gently stroking him. Steve moans loudly, bucking his hips up and grabbing handfuls of Eddie’s tangled, matted hair. 

Eddie moves further down, licking over Steve’s balls and grabbing his hips, pulling them up to get access to Steve’s hole. His tongue plunges easily inside of Steve, who opened himself up using his largest dildo right before setting out on this trip. The tongue presses and curls inside of him, seeking blindly until it finds that spot that makes Steve scream. 

Steve thrusts himself up into Eddie’s face, fucking himself on that absolutely earth-shattering tongue. Eddie continues to press perfectly into his prostate and Steve feels an unbearable pleasure start to build in his lower abdomen. He reaches down for his own cock and starts to stroke. It only takes two pumps before he’s coming all over his belly and chest, moaning and writhing on Eddie’s tongue.

Eddie keeps tongue-fucking him until the overstimulation becomes unbearable and Steve tugs on his hair. Eddie moves his face up, red eyes locking onto Steve's as he leans down and bites Steve’s hip, hard enough to break the skin. Steve groans and feels his cock twitching with the intense pleasure-pain of the sensation, Eddie’s tongue coming out to lick up the blood. 

Eddie moves up his body, kissing and licking and biting as he goes, until he’s face to face with Steve once again. Steve can feel Eddie’s hard cock pressing against his hip, huge and very wet. He reaches down and grabs hold, stroking. There’s an ample amount of a viscous fluid coating Eddie’s cock now, as if he can make his own lubricant. 

Eddie shudders as Steve strokes him, bending to lick into Steve’s mouth once again as Steve shifts to position the head of Eddie’s cock at his entrance. Eddie moves slowly, pressing his hips forward gently as he breaches Steve, stretching him. Eddie’s cock is about the size of the largest dildo he bought, a dildo he had been sure would be much larger than any actual cock he would ever take. 

The extensive prep that Steve did earlier, along with Eddie’s natural lubricant, are the only reasons it’s even physically possible for his body to accommodate Eddie. He sinks in slowly, giving Steve ample time to adjust, the care with which he moves belying his monstrous appearance. He pulls back to stare at Steve, gaze intense and more human than it has been this whole time, the red fading a little from his eyes as he finally bottoms out. 

Steve feels gloriously full and claimed, in a way he hadn’t anticipated. He presses a hand to his belly and he can feel where Eddie’s cock makes a palpable bulge. Inside, it presses into his prostate, and as Eddie starts to move Steve can feel his cock miraculously hardening again, almost immediately after his first orgasm.

Steve lets out a constant stream of wanton groans and pants as Eddie starts fucking into him in earnest, clawed hands braced on either side of Steve’s head as he pounds Steve into the forest floor. Steve meets each of his thrusts with his own, bucking up into Eddie as much as he’s able. 

Every brush of Eddie’s cock against his prostate builds inside of Steve until he feels like he’s going to explode. As Eddie bends his head to one of Steve’s pecs and bites down hard, Steve feels a second orgasm tear through his body, cock spurting a miniscule amount of cum onto his stomach as his whole body clenches around Eddie.

Eddie lets out a noise that can only be characterized as a roar and Steve starts to feel a warmth spreading inside himself as Eddie thrusts as deep into his ass as he can go and comes. It lasts a long time, longer than Steve ever thought an orgasm could last, and he feels excess cum dribbling out of his ass around Eddie’s cock. 

Eddie collapses against him, panting heavily, wings coming out to form a protective barrier around the two of them. Steve can feel Eddie’s cock starting to soften inside of his ass, and eventually it softens enough to slip out, a gush of cum following to coat the tops of Steve’s thighs. 

Eddie pushes himself up a little, looking down at Steve. The red of his eyes is more muted now, the color closer to the brown Steve was used to seeing. Steve reaches a hand up to cup one of Eddie’s cheeks.

“Can I come back to see you again tomorrow?” Steve asks.

“Yes,” Eddie says, voice gravelly with disuse and much deeper than it had been before. “Please.”

Steve smiles, elated at this evidence that Eddie is still in there somewhere, able to understand and respond. Then Steve remembers how he even found out about Eddie, and his face crumples into a frown.

“And stop fucking other girls. You’re my monster now,” Steve says, glaring.

“Okay, Stevie,” Eddie says, as he moves down Steve’s body to start thoroughly cleaning up the mess with his tongue.

"D'you think the pumpkins will be as nice as yours were last year?" Eddie asked, looking up at Steve. He pushed a strand of hair out of his face, smearing dirt all over his cheek.

"I think they'll be even better," Steve replied with a fond smile.

Eddie frowned at the dirt in front of him. "Probably not. And what if I'm not planting these watermelon seeds right?"

"It's not complicated." Steve pushed himself up from his chair with a groan, hand on his belly. "You just put them in the ground. Then they'll probably grow. Unless Travis comes around and digs them up." A raccoon had torn all the herbs Eddie planted out of the ground a few weeks earlier. Eddie named him Travis. Steve was pretty sure there were multiple different raccoons but Eddie called them all Travis.

"You think he would do that to me?" Eddie asked, glancing around like maybe Travis was just waiting in the trees to pounce.

"I think Travis is probably asleep right now." He walked to Eddie, looking over his shoulder at the little holes he'd made in the ground. "Those look perfectly spaced. Just put a couple seeds in each one in case some don't germinate. Then I can give the soil a soak." He bent to pick up the hose lying on the ground.

Eddie looked up at Steve with a wicked grin and raised eyebrows. Steve knew that look. Eddie was going to say something outrageous and sexual. "I'll fill the hole with my seed, all you gotta do is make sure it's wet."

Steve groaned. "That was bad, Eddie. So bad. Even for you."

"I don't know what you mean. I was just repeating your instructions." Eddie attempted to look innocent, and failed. Steve sprayed him with water.

"Arrrrrgh!" Eddie yelled, flailing his arms in front of his body in an attempt to bat away the water.

Steve laughed maniacally, until Eddie wrested the hose from his grip and sprayed him back.

"Eddie!" Steve yelped.

"You started it," Eddie replied, without remorse.

The day was hot enough that it felt good to have cold hose water evaporating from his clothes while they finished planting. As they were wrapping things up, they heard a plaintive meow from the open window nearest the garden. Amos sat on the cat tower in front of the window, staring out at them.

"That cat has terrible FOMO," Eddie said.

"The worst," Steve agreed. "He'd prefer it if I just carried him around everywhere I went in a papoose."

"You think he's gonna be jealous of little Travis?" Eddie asked, looking at Steve's belly.

"We're not naming our child after a raccoon."

Eddie shrugged. "I dunno. Travis has a lot of good personality traits - intrepid, sneaky, brilliant. Do you remember when he got into your absolutely 100% raccoon-proof bird feeder?"

"I'm pretty sure that was a different raccoon."

Eddie waved a hand dismissively. "No. It was Travis."

Steve's clothes were half-dry by the time he got inside. He peeled them off on his way to the bathroom as Amos trotted behind him meowing. Steve was covered in dirt after getting much more involved with the planting than he'd actually intended. He turned on the shower to let the water warm up. Amos jumped onto the counter and glared at the shower like it had wronged him personally. The one place he wasn't willing to follow Steve.

A few minutes into his shower, Steve heard Eddie come in from the garage, talking to the other cats in the living room.

"You think you could take Travis in a fight, Sokka my man?" Eddie asked. "Defend our noble garden?"

Steve snorted a laugh. Sokka would run away from a fight at top speed.

Eddie came into the bathroom, and Steve watched through the clear shower curtain as he gave Amos plenty of ear scritches. Eddie turned, his eyes tracking up and down Steve's body as he rubbed soap over his chest and belly.

"Well, hello, beautiful," Eddie said as he began to divest himself of his own clothes. "Fancy meeting you here."

Eddie stepped into the shower and reached for the bar of soap. Steve batted his dirt-caked hand away. "You're washing yourself off before I let you near me. You look like a kid who's been making mud pies."

"Rude," Eddie muttered, but he used the soap to wash his own hands and arms before attempting to touch Steve.

"Let me wash your hair," Steve said. Eddie had managed to get an impressive amount of leaves and grass tangled into his long hair.

Eddie stole a kiss from Steve before he turned around, licking into his mouth for a moment and lighting a little fire between Steve's thighs. Steve raked his fingers through Eddie's hair, untangling it and working shampoo into it. Eddie sighed blissfully and tilted his head back further for Steve.

Steve turned him around when he was finished and directed his head back under the water. Eddie blinked his eyes open once he was finished rinsing. He trailed a hand down Steve's chest, tweaking one of his swollen nipples. It sent a zing of pleasure straight to Steve's cunt. Eddie's hand continued down, resting on his belly. "Travis," he whispered, drawing a very non-sexual groan out of Steve.

"Absolutely not," Steve responded.

Eddie grinned. He grabbed the soap again and lathered up his hands. He soaped up the skin under Steve's pregnant belly. His hand continued further down, and Steve groaned in a very different timbre as Eddie's soapy fingers wrapped around his small cock, then continued down to wash between his folds. Steve could feel Eddie's erection pressed against his thigh as Eddie rubbed his fingers over Steve's cunt. Steve wrapped his arms around Eddie's shoulders and sank into the sensation.

Eddie kissed Steve's neck as he thoroughly cleaned Steve's labia and cock and continued back to his taint and asshole. Eddie bit over the mating bite he'd left on Steve's neck, then sucked it firmly into his mouth. Steve's insides twisted with want. He needed more, but his feet hurt like hell, and his lower back was beginning to ache.

"Need you to fuck me," Steve whispered into Eddie's hair.

"Mmhmm." Eddie rubbed his cock against Steve's thigh. "Turn around."

"Not here," Steve whined. "My feet."

"Ah, of course, sorry baby." Eddie grabbed the shower head off its handle and made quick work of rinsing all the soap off of Steve. He helped Steve dry off, getting all the areas that were difficult for Steve to reach now that his belly had gotten so big. Amos moved across the counter to butt his head against Steve's hand.

Eddie got distracted by Steve's cunt again, rubbing it over and over again with the towel as Steve squirmed.

"Bed," Steve insisted after another violent twinge from his feet. Plantar fasciitis was the worst.

Eddie hung up the towel and gave Steve his arm as Steve hobbled over to the bedroom. He helped Steve into the bed and sat down near his feet. He pulled both feet into his lap and started to massage the left foot, pushing his thumbs firmly into the arch and rubbing. Steve let out a stuttering sort of whistle, like a dysfunctional tea kettle. It felt amazing in the most painful sort of way. He collapsed further back into the bed, melting into the mattress.

Eddie kept going for blissful, excruciating minutes. Steve heard a pop and crackle every once in a while as something released in one of his feet. Eddie continued to massage a foot as he leaned forward and kissed the skin of Steve's calf. Steve sighed as Eddie kissed all over his lower legs. His arousal had faded during the foot massage, but it was coming back now. Heat pooled in his belly, and he felt slick starting to leak out of his cunt.

He pressed himself up on his elbows so he could look down at Eddie. He twitched a foot. Eddie looked up from where his face was buried in Steve's left calf.

"Enough with the feet," Steve said. "Come up here."

Eddie dropped his foot and moved up Steve's body with lightning speed. His erection had also flagged during the foot massage. Steve reached down to wrap a hand around Eddie's cock. It quickly filled out again as Steve stroked.

Eddie kissed Steve, sliding his tongue between his lips. Steve met Eddie's tongue with his own. He tangled them together as he tasted the unique flavor of Eddie's mouth. Eddie slid a hand around Steve's belly and down to his cunt. His fingers moved easily through the ample slick collecting there.

"You're so wet, baby," Eddie cooed against Steve's lips. "You need this bad?"

"Yessss," Steve hissed, wiggling his hips in an attempt to get Eddie's fingers inside. Eddie kissed the delicate, sensitive skin behind Steve's ear. He nipped at it, and Steve's hips jolted. "Eddieeeee," Steve whined. "Stop teasing. Need to get fucked."

Steve had never been this needy outside of a heat until he'd gotten pregnant. Had never felt such an overwhelming desire to have something inside of him. It didn't make any sense; he was already pregnant, why was his body trying to get him more pregnant? But he'd learned to stop overanalyzing, and let the sensations roll over him. It wasn't like Eddie was complaining.

"Turn onto your side, love," Eddie whispered against the shell of Steve's ear. Steve shivered at the feel of the air blowing past his ear, at the brush of Eddie's soft lips. He turned onto his side, and Eddie pressed himself against Steve's back, one hand on Steve's hip.

Eddie's cock nestled between Steve's cheeks. Steve pressed his hips back until it slid between his thighs, brushing against his labia. Eddie's hand moved from Steve's hip and over his belly until it found Steve's small cock. He dipped his hand down to gather some of the slick from Steve's folds, using it to ease the strokes over Steve's cock. Steve keened. He held his hips firmly together and pressed his cunt down against Eddie's cock. He rubbed himself frantically against it, frustrated huffs falling from his mouth.

"Shh shh," Eddie whispered in his ear. "It's okay, baby. I've got you." Eddie let go of Steve's cock to grab his own, directing it inside of Steve. It slid in easily, Steve open and slick with his overwhelming arousal.

"Ahhhhh," Steve moaned as Eddie slid deep inside of him. "Yes, fuck, yes, Eddie." The words tumbled from his mouth unbidden. It felt like something clicked into place, a piece he'd been missing, been aching for, slotting into the unfinished jigsaw puzzle of his body.

Eddie paused, giving Steve a moment to adjust. Steve didn't need a moment. He needed to get fucked. "Move," Steve growled.

Eddie huffed out a surprised laugh. "Yes, sir," he said, and snapped his hips into Steve.

Eddie moved slowly at first, his cock sliding shallowly in and out of Steve. He'd never fully gotten over his worry that he would hurt the baby somehow by fucking Steve, no matter how many times Steve asked the OB to remind him he wouldn't. Steve tried to move his hips to increase the pace, but his body was too unwieldy at this point. It didn't move like it used to.

"Eddie," he said, exasperated. "Move. Like you mean it."

Eddie let out a playful growl and bit Steve lightly on the neck, but he did pick up his pace. His hips snapped into Steve faster. He pushed all the way inside him on each thrust, his bony hips pressing into Steve's ass.

Steve sighed in relief at the feeling of being filled. His pussy was so sensitive these days, he could feel each stroke intensely. The pressure of Eddie's cock against his walls was exquisite. Having Eddie inside of him quenched the frantic fire in his belly.

Eddie continued to nip and kiss at his neck as he moved inside of Steve. His hand returned to Steve's cock. Steve groaned as Eddie used his thumb and two fingers to stroke him fast and hard.

"Stevie, baby, you feel so good," Eddie panted against his ear. "You're perfect. My perfect, sweet treasure."

Steve felt tears build at the corners of his eyes. Joy swelled in his chest at Eddie's words, at the way Eddie treated his body, like he really was a treasure. Eddie's treasure. This never got old, the way Eddie made him feel.

"I'm gonna come, baby," Eddie whispered. "Gonna fill you up so good." Eddie sped up his hand on Steve's cock. Steve keened as heat built in his lower belly. Eddie bit down on his mating bite and the coiled pleasure inside of Steve snapped. Cum spilled out of his cock and slick leaked out of his pussy around Eddie's cock. The walls of his cunt clamped down on Eddie and Eddie yelped, pounding a few more erratic thrusts into Steve before Steve felt the warmth of his cum flooding his insides.

Eddie slumped against Steve's back, breathing heavily. They lay there in silence for a few moments, both covered in a thin layer of sweat from their exertion. Eddie trailed his fingers over Steve's side and hip, around his belly, down to where they were joined together at their cores.

"I put the seed in the hole after you made it wet. Think this one will take?" Eddie asked, a teasing smile evident in his voice.

Steve groaned at the return of the heinous innuendo. "I'm already pregnant, Eddie."

He felt Eddie shrug. "Never too early to get started on number two."

divider by @/saradika-graphics

He wasn't going to let this go. They'd all gotten close in the months since the worst spring break on record. He even hung out with Eddie on his own sometimes. But that didn't make the knee-jerk friendvy reaction any less jarring. (Robin had told him "friendvy" just sounded stupid, but he preferred to consider it an adorable and genius portmanteau of "friend" and "envy").

Robin sighed as they pulled up to Vickie's house. She was hosting a Halloween party, mostly for theater and band geeks, but Steve hadn't exactly gotten any other invites so he agreed to come. Any chance he could take to bust out his highly flattering Maverick costume in an attempt to get laid.

"I think you're actually really gonna like Eddie's costume," Robin said, giving Steve a significant look as they walked toward the house.

"What's that supposed to mean?" he asked sharply.

She shrugged. "I saw the looks you were giving him when we went to the Hideout last weekend."

Steve spluttered, blushing. He'd been avidly avoiding acknowledging his nascent attraction to Eddie to himself in his own mind, and he certainly wasn't ready to talk about it with Robin. "I don't know what you're talking about. I'm here for one purpose only - boobies."

Robin groaned and smacked him on the arm. "You're disgusting," she said.

"Would you prefer breasts? Knockers? Bosoms? Jugs? Tits?" He rattled them off so quickly she couldn't get a word in between them.

"Jesus, Steven, stop it," she said, shoving him harder. "I can't take you anywhere."

Steve graciously left off his litany of boob euphemisms once they got inside, Robin scanning the crowd.

"Eddie!" she yelled, walking over to a corner where a man with long, spiky blonde hair was standing, wearing incredibly tight pants with knee-high boots, and a ruffled shirt under a black vest.

Steve looked around for a few moments, searching for Eddie, until Robin approached the corner and pulled the blonde man into a side hug. He turned, and Steve let out a shocked gasp, realizing it was Eddie.

"Where in the hell did you find that costume?" Steve asked, mouth hanging open as he took in Eddie's elaborate make-up to go along with the clothes. "And where's your real hair?"

Eddie threw back his head and laughed, baring the long line of his neck, now draped with multiple necklaces. Steve swallowed hard, eyes drawn to the light dusting of chest hair he could see in the ample amount of chest exposed by the open neck of the shirt.

"Is that vest supposed to look like a corset?" Steve asked, enthralled as he reached out a hand to touch it, feeling the warmth of Eddie's skin through the fabric. His eyes tracked further down, to the obvious bulge he could see in Eddie's tight pants. "I thought this was a children's movie!" He knew he was blushing, could feel the heat in his face.

Eddie locked eyes with him when he finally looked back up, smirking. "Eyes up here, big boy," Eddie said. Steve's face grew even redder, and he wanted to melt into a puddle of goo on the floor and never look at Eddie again.

Steve felt his dick stir in his pants at the thought of Eddie's cock, right there in front of him, practically on display. He couldn't manage to get any words out, just kept staring at Eddie with his mouth open.

"Everything okay there, Harrington?" Eddie asked, smirk changing to a look of confusion. Robin was looking at Steve with something like glee on her face.

"I need to… use the bathroom," Steve managed to get out, turning away from them and pushing through the crush of people to a hallway. He managed to find an open bathroom and slipped inside, shutting and locking the door behind him as he slid to the floor against it.

He put his head in his shaking hands, trying to slow his racing heart. He couldn't really deny it anymore. He was attracted to Eddie. He'd never been attracted to a man before, bar that one fleeting moment in the shower with Billy Hargrove, when he'd been simultaneously aroused and infuriated.

But Eddie - he was something else entirely. Steve was finally admitting to himself , here on this bathroom floor, that he was physically attracted to Eddie. He'd known for a long time that he loved his smile, and his laugh, and his self-deprecating humor, and his willingness to help any of his friends, whatever they needed. Now he was finally acknowledging a physical attraction, and he was fucking terrified.

A knock on the door interrupted his spiral.

"Steve? You in there?" Eddie's voice asked.

"Can you send Robin in?" Steve asked pathetically.

There was an awkward pause. "Um. She said she had something she needed to do and that I should go check on you. I don't know where she is."

Fucking typical. Robin was trying to play cupid in the midst of his bisexual crisis.

"Are you okay?" Eddie asked when he got no response from Steve. "You sick or something? Can I come in and help?"

Of course he wanted to help. Saint fucking Eddie.

"I'm fine," Steve said, sighing. "Go away."

"You don't sound fine, man," Eddie replied. "Fucking wait a minute okay?" Eddie yelled, probably to someone in the hall. "Steve, let me in," Eddie said in a lower voice.

Steve stood and opened the door. Eddie came in and shut the door behind him, locking it again.

"You gonna puke?" Eddie asked. "You and Robin must've been going hard before you got here."

Steve looked at Eddie again, with his delectable wispy chest hair and his stupidly beautiful smile and the sizable bulge in his pants. Steve made an impulsive decision, the only kind he seemed capable of making these days. He put both hands on Eddie's chest and pushed him so his back was against the door, then leaned in and kissed him.

It wasn't that different from kissing a girl. He could feel the beginning of Eddie's stubble coming in, scratching lightly against his chin, but his lips were just as soft and warm as a girl's. Eddie gasped into his mouth, tensing up for a moment before relaxing against Steve, kissing him back.

Steve tentatively licked over Eddie's lower lip, and Eddie opened his mouth, allowing Steve's tongue inside. Steve slowly licked into his mouth, tangling his own tongue with Eddie's, moving to explore the roof of his mouth, the sides of his teeth. He pushed a hand into Eddie's ridiculous wig, pulling it askew, as Eddie wrapped his hands around Steve's hips and pulled him more firmly against himself.

Steve could feel Eddie's cock now, hard against his thigh. He slotted a leg between Eddie's thighs and pushed up. Eddie groaned into his mouth and pressed down onto Steve's leg as Steve moved his thigh back and forth, rubbing. Steve was sure Eddie could feel his own cock now, straining against the confines of his jumpsuit.

Steve's hips involuntarily bucked up into Eddie's hip, seeking friction. Eddie's tongue was meeting his in a ferocious clash, both of them vying for control of the kiss. Steve broke off first, trailing his lips down Eddie's neck, to the vee in his shirt. He bit the skin there as one of Eddie's hands came up to grab a fistful of his hair, tugging.

Steve sucked a bruise into Eddie's skin next to his tattoo, one that would be visible when they returned to the party. Eddie was panting above him, still grinding his cock down onto Steve's thigh, when Steve dropped to his knees.

His absolute favorite thing to do with women was give head. He felt a sudden urge to see if that was the same with men. He looked up at Eddie, who was staring down at him with a shocked look on his face, one hand still fisted in Steve's hair. His wig was askew, tendrils of his curly brown hair escaping around the sides, and his makeup was smudged from their frantic kissing. Steve had never seen anyone more beautiful.

Steve tugged lightly at Eddie's pants, giving him ample opportunity to push Steve away. He didn't push Steve away, so Steve pulled harder, bringing the skin-tight leggings down. As Steve had suspected, he wasn't wearing underwear beneath them, and his cock sprang free, hard and huge.

Steve had always thought himself well-endowed, compared himself to the other guys in the locker room and found himself above average. But Eddie was in a whole other league.

Steve's mouth dropped open as he considered that he may have made a huge mistake. How was it even going to fit? He took a deep breath, psyching himself up, then bent to lick a bead of precum off the head.

Eddie thrust his hips up minutely, clearly struggling hard to keep himself under control, and let out a breathy gasp. The hand in Steve's hair tightened as Steve licked around the head, taking just the tip into his mouth. He held the base of Eddie's cock in one hand, like he remembered girls doing with his, as he slowly sank further.

Steve pressed his tongue against the underside of Eddie's cock as he began to move his mouth up and down. He was only getting about a quarter of his cock into his mouth, but Eddie seemed to be thoroughly enjoying it, if the increasing amounts of precum he could taste were any indication.

"Fuck, Steve," Eddie said as Steve hollowed his cheeks out to provide more suction. Eddie was making little breathy noises, like aborted moans, and Steve could feel the strain in his hips as he tried not to fuck into Steve's mouth.

The weight of Eddie's cock on his tongue combined with his musky scent and the noises he was making were enough to have Steve's cock aching. He started to cup himself with his free hand, pressing his palm into his cock and rubbing as he sucked Eddie off.

Just as his jaw was beginning to ache, Eddie seemed to lose control of his hips, starting to thrust into Steve's mouth a little. "'M gonna come soon, Stevie," Eddie said between breaths. "Might want to vacate the area."

Steve snorted back a laugh, pulling off to say, "Come in my mouth."

Eddie thumped his head back into the door and groaned. "Fucking shit," he said under his breath as Steve took his cock back in his mouth.

Steve started to press his palm harder into his own cock as he bobbed his head on Eddie's, spit slicking his hand now and making it easier to stroke the length of Eddie's shaft that wasn't in his mouth. Steve could feel his own orgasm building, spurred on by the moans falling from Eddie's mouth.

As he felt the first hot spurts of Eddie's cum in his mouth, he rubbed frantically over his own cock, bringing himself to orgasm as he swallowed every drop of Eddie's cum. Steve continued to suck long after their orgasms were finished, enjoying the feel of Eddie's cock softening in his mouth.

Eventually, Eddie tugged at his hair, and Steve finally let his cock slide out of his mouth. He wiped a bit of cum or spit off the side of his mouth and looked up at Eddie.

"If I'd known dressing up as David Bowie would get Steve Harrington on his knees I would have done it a long time ago," Eddie said, pulling Steve up to stand. He reached for the zipper on Steve's jumpsuit, but Steve stilled his hand before he could start to undo it.

"Not going to let me reciprocate?" Eddie asked, looking a little hurt. "Was it just a little experiment for you?"

Steve shook his head vigorously. He grabbed Eddie's hand and moved it down to the wet spot spreading near his cock. "Not at all. Got a little carried away."

Eddie's eyebrows shot up. "You came in your adorable little jumpsuit while you blew me?"

Steve nodded, blushing.

"Fuck, you're unreal. I'm dressing up as Bowie every day," Eddie said.

Someone banged on the door, startling them, and yelled, "What the fuck are you doing in there? Some of us have to piss!"

"Shit. I didn't even get to see you naked," Eddie said, pouting.

"Next time," Steve said, reaching for the door as Eddie pulled up his pants.

"There's gonna be a next time?" Eddie said, eyes twinkling like a kid on Christmas morning.

"There's gonna be a whole lot of next times," Steve said, opening the door.