#ria!!!

Eddie just had this way about him. It wasn’t that he was the most amazing kisser Steve had ever been with, but there was just this energy that he had that made Steve weak in the knees and fuzzy in the brain. It was like everything he did was electric, and all Steve could do was surrender. 

But everything about Eddie was like that. 

All of the mundane things that Steve liked about relationships just felt better. Holding hands was warmer, sharing a bucket of popcorn at the movies tasted better, even driving around in the middle of the night was more peaceful. Steve adored everything about Eddie, everything about the relationship they had built 

In fact, Eddie Munson was probably the love of Steve’s life. 

There was just one little problem…

“The boys are here!” Eddie immediately gasped when there was a knock at the door, breaking their kiss and practically throwing Steve off of him as he went flying out of the room. Steve hung back, lying down flat and staring up at the ceiling, trying to will away both his boner and his irrational disappointment. 

The problem was that Eddie Munson didn’t seem to have a single romantic bone in his body. 

It wasn’t that he didn’t love Steve. Eddie practically worshipped Steve, and he made sure his boyfriend knew it too. They were always together, always touching, always falling asleep in one bed tangled up in each other. There were times when Eddie would just hold his face in both hands and look at Steve like he was everything the world had to offer. Steve had never doubted that devotion. 

But they didn’t have romance. 

Part of that was probably the fact that they had fallen into a relationship almost purely by accident. Steve and Eddie hadn’t had some long drawn out courtship, or big confession in the pouring rain. At times it almost felt like one day they had gone from best friends to dating without ever really saying anything. One day they were Steve and Eddie, and the next they were SteveandEddie. 

It just turned out that holding hands wasn’t a joke to mess with the kids anymore, but just the natural thing to do when they walked anywhere. It went from Wayne teasing Eddie for keeping Steve like a stray, to calling him son and saying that he can stay as long as he liked. 

It was nice. Steve had always done things in a really formal routine way. When he decided that he liked a girl, he followed steps. Do stuff to get her to notice, make the first move, take her on dates, maybe sleep together, and break up eventually. 

This was different. It was warm, easy, a slow unexpected slide into love that began with Eddie softly kissing him goodnight without any fear that Steve would reject that kiss. They went into it already knowing they were in love. 

And because of that, there wasn’t really a need for over the top gestures or grand speeches about undying affection. They had done all that before dating, when Steve brought Eddie back from the dead, and then when Eddie taught Steve how to live. After all of the drama, it was nice to have something that was peaceful. Steve didn’t want anything insane or theatrical. 

Okay, maybe he wanted it. 

Just a teeny tiny version of it. He wanted pulled out chairs at a candlelit dinner and a dozen roses ‘anonymously’ delivered to his workplace. He wanted little gestures that would make his heart flutter, little ways he could flaunt how wonderful his partner was. 

Steve was dating his best friend, and that was great, but sometimes he wanted to be dating his boyfriend, and he had no idea how to explain the difference to Eddie. 

“Steeeeeeeve! Come save me from our children!” Eddie’s voice called from the living room, pulling Steve out of his funk and back into action. He hefted himself out of the bed and down the hallway, stopping in the doorway of the living room and looking down at the pile on the floor with far too much fondness. 

Somehow all of the boys had ended up wrestling Eddie to the ground in the thirty seconds that they had been here, and now they were lying all over him, giggling like loons. It warmed Steve’s heart to see them just getting to be kids, and he loved the goofy smiles on all of their faces. 

No one he had dated before had ever understood his relationship with the kids, and it had always been a point of contention. Eddie embraced his ‘single mother’ status with gusto, and even the kids he didn’t already know had quickly begun to consider Eddie another one of their ‘parents’. 

See? Steve told himself, This is the kind of thing you never got with anyone else. Romance never gave you this. 

He loved this. This was perfect. There was no need to want more. 

……he still wanted more. 

“Alright brats, let your other father go,” Steve said with a laugh, gently kicking the part of the pile he was closest to. The boys untangled themselves from Eddie, leaving him starfished out on the floor dramatically gasping for air. 

“You’re not our dads,” Mike grumbled, just because he had to for appearances. Steve rolled his eyes and walked past them all, leaning down and holding out a hand to his boyfriend. 

“What are you even still doing here?” Dustin demanded in that oh so bratty tone of his, “It’s Hellfire night,” 

“Nice to see you too Dustybun,” Steve snarked back, helping Eddie up and giving him a soft kiss on the cheek, “Just saying goodbye.”

Eddie wound his arms around Steve’s middle, knocking their foreheads together and dipping Steve backwards till they were both stumbling to catch each other.  

“I like it better when you guys aren’t romantic,” Dustin said with a groan, the other boys instantly agreeing. Steve sighed and pulled away from Eddie, trying to ignore the way the words dug in between his ribs. 

Was that romantic? It was just a kiss on the cheek and a hug. That didn’t really feel like the pinnacle of romantic gestures, but maybe his standards were just too damn high. Maybe he was too lost in what romance was ‘supposed’ to look like. Maybe things were different when it was two guys. 

Maybe he was overthinking things.

“Guess we’ll have to get used to it seeing as Valentine’s is around the corner,” Will said with a shrug, completely unaware of Steve’s inner struggles. 

“Shoot. I gotta figure out what to get Max,” Lucas said, rubbing the top of his head in a slightly theatrical way. 

“You don’t know yet?” Dustin asked incredulously, shaking his head, “Dude, you’re asking to get dumped. Again.” 

Lucas flipped him off with ease, turning to Steve and Eddie with a frantic look. 

“Eddie? Help?” He practically begged, clasping his hands together. Steve opened his mouth to say something snarky about Lucas choosing to ask Eddie instead of him, but Eddie managed to speak first. 

“You’ll have to ask someone else. I hate Valentine's Day,” Eddie stated, stopping all thoughts in their tracks.  

“What?” Steve blurted out, turning to Eddie with an affronted look, “How do you hate Valentine’s?”

“It’s a fake holiday!” Eddie said with a laugh, staring down at Steve like he was amazed Steve didn’t already know that. 

“All holidays are fake holidays,” Steve argued back, unsure of why he was holding so tight to this. It wasn’t like Valentine’s was his favorite holiday in the world, but it felt significant now, important when combined with the already there problem in their relationship. 

No romance and no Valentine’s? They were going to be glorified roommates by the end of the year at this rate. 

“Other holidays have some reason for existing. Even April Fool’s has some history to it,” Eddie started, untangling from Steve and beginning to pace as he ranted, “Valentine’s is completely made up and totally cliche. There isn’t any reason it exists besides capitalism and societal pressure. Basically it’s just a stupid excuse for stores to jack up prices on chocolate and for couples to measure the worth of their partner in dollars and nickels.”

Normally Steve loved Eddie’s little speeches against society and conformity. Loved them, or tolerated them, at least. He liked how passionate his partner was, how much Eddie cared about everything. 

This one just left him feeling kind of hollow.

“Didn’t know you hated it so much,” Steve muttered, hating how transparent he was about how upsetting his boyfriend’s words were. 

“Hey you knew what you were signing on for. It’s my sworn duty to hate anything that the man supports,” Eddie said, coming back over and swooping down to press tons of tiny kisses to Steve’s cheeks till he was smiling again. 

“Besides, who needs all that fake bull?” Eddie sighed, shifting and wrapping his arms around Steve from behind, resting his chin on Steve’s shoulder, “We get along just fine without having to pretend and do all that unnecessary crap, don’t we Sunshine?”

“Whatever you say,” Steve said, shaking his head. He didn’t really want to get into it when he already was so unsure of what was upsetting him. Besides, Eddie loved being able to say he was right. 

Sure enough his boyfriend started to preen the second he heard Steve’s words, giving him another kiss and bouncing away towards the dining room of the new house. 

“Goodbye, my darling prince! I hate to see you leave, but oh do I love to watch you go,” Eddie declared poking his head out from the doorway to the dining room and waggling his eyebrows as the boys groaned and declared that they were the ‘grossest’ couple ever. 

“You’re such a goofball,” Steve chuckled, waving as he began to walk out, “Have fun,”

“See ya later, Babes!” Eddie called out behind him, making the cool night air just a little bit warmer as it hit Steve’s cheeks. 

Eddie and Wayne’s new house was in a nice neighborhood. Not exactly Loch Nora, but not far from it. The government’s way of saying ‘sorry we let you take the blame for all of this and almost get killed by an angry mob’. It was a pretty little one story cottage with a treehouse and everything. 

And the best part was, it was right across the street from Max’s new house. 

“Sorry I’m late,” Steve said as he walked in the door, already hearing the sound of a movie playing on the TV and the smell of burnt popcorn hanging in the air. 

“Let me guess…you were with Eddie,” Erica said as the girls came into the foyer, crossing her arms and giving Steve an up and down look. He opened his mouth and she clicked her tongue, “And don’t try and say you weren’t, cause we just watched you walk over from his house.”

Steve huffed out a soft laugh, toeing off his shoes and walking into the living room.

“I wasn’t planning to say I wasn’t,” Steve said, sitting down on the couch, “Just that I’m sorry I lost track of time,” 

All three girls gave him scrutinizing looks, sharing glances with each other. Steve waited patiently for them to decide his fate, grabbing one of the less burned pieces of popcorn and tossing it into his mouth, checking out the movie they had chosen. 

Desperately Seeking Susan. 

He was really going to have to start talking to them about their Madonna obsession. It was getting concerning. 

“We will forgive you if you do our hair” El finally said, jutting out her chin as if she was daring Steve to say no. He crossed his legs and pulled his ankles close, pushing the coffee table forward to give her enough room to scoot in between the two pieces. 

“Get over here, Supergirl,” Steve said in lieu of agreeing. She eagerly flew down into the free space and Max scurried off to get her supplies. 

The girls were good at making things up on the fly when they wanted to mess around with their hair, but they wanted to make their hair look like the pop idols they saw in the magazines. El had come to him with puppy eyes and a cut out picture of Madonna a week ago, begging without words for assistance. 

So here he was with teasing combs, scrunchies, a full slew of hair care products, and a head full of advice from Mrs. Sinclair on how to do Erica’s hair. Mrs. Sinclair had been pretty unsure about Steve’s intentions when he first came to her to ask for help, but his eagerness had been enough to melt the icy wall around her, and he had won a full set of instructions on the best way to braid Erica’s hair, which he had studiously read over and over until he was sure he had it down. 

But as much as Steve loved spending time with the girls, it was obvious to everyone in the room that he was still distracted. Eddie’s words from before were the only thing he could focus on, which meant his normally stellar hair styling skills were leaving something to be desired. 

“Oh geez, sorry El,” Steve apologized as he pulled on her hair hard enough to make her yelp. 

She floated the hairbrush out of his hand and gave him a low level glare. He held out his hand, and she smartly rapped him on his palm with it once before handing the brush back and settling back into place. 

“Awww is your mind still stuck on Eddieeeeee?” Max teased, getting in Steve’s space and making the other two girls laugh and trade silly smirks. Steve’s barely recovered mood instantly soured.

“No,” He answered shortly, turning all his attention to the short curls in front of him, brushing through them with brusque efficiency 

“What’s got your panties in a twist?” El muttered, once again making the brush float out of his reach.

“El!” Steve said scandalized. He turned to Max and shot her a look, practically wagging a finger at her. 

“Don’t teach her phrases like that,” He ordered. 

“Why? She’s right. They are twisted,” Erica pointed out. 

“Erica,” Steve groaned. He tipped his head back and closed his eyes, praying for strength, before facing forward again and grabbing El’s hair to start pulling her curls back into a bun, “Nothing’s wrong you guys,”

The girls clearly weren’t buying it. El untangled herself from Steve’s grip, and now all three were right in front of him, staring at him with intense little looks. 

“Oh Steve, you fool,” Max tutted, shaking her head, “You just told a lie. And what is the first rule of our party?”

“Don’t say it,” Steve shot back, fully prepared to get up and walk out of the house if he had to hear that damn little line one more time. 

“Then tell us what is wrong,” El demanded. 

There was no way he was getting out of this. This was only going to end when they knew, so he might as well just tell them. 

They might even be able to help him. 

“Eddie hates Valentine’s Day,” Steve admitted, watching Max and Erica both immediately explode. 

“What?! No one hates Valentine’s Day. Not even me,” Max said, throwing up her hands in disgust. 

“Apparently he does,” Steve said glumly, sighing and resting his chin on his fist. Now that he had said it out loud, it was even more of a bummer. It wasn’t like they could go out for a date or anything, but the prospect of not even celebrating was just a complete downer

“Valentine is the candy holiday? The one Mike calls Winter Halloween?” El asked hesitantly. 

“It’s not exactly the same. It’s a holiday where you celebrate love,” Steve explained slowly, trying to pick the perfect words to convey the full concept. They learned quickly that El would fill in gaps with her own thoughts, and those thoughts were usually…not always the best, “Couples usually get each other chocolates or do something special to show how much they care about each other,”

“That sounds very nice. Why does Eddie not like it?” El wondered aloud, quirking her head to the side. 

“He says that it’s cliche and fake. He doesn’t think we need romance,” Steve shrugged, hating the thorns that were digging deep into his chest, “I guess he’s right,”

“No he’s not!” Max snapped, giving Steve a disgusted look, “If you want romance, which you should, then make him give it to you or dump his ass,” 

El nodded along sagely, and Steve chuckled softly, rolling his eyes. That was the problem with asking high schoolers for advice on your love life- inevitably their advice would be about forcing a situation to go the way they wanted. There was no explaining to them that in adult relationships, compromise was king. 

“Why don’t you just show him?” Erica asked, clearly deep in thought, “Make him see why you like romantic stuff so much, then tell him you want more of that. Then he has an idea of what you’re looking for.”

That…actually wasn’t a bad plan. 

Steve didn’t have to ask Eddie for more, he just had to show Eddie how much better things could be with a little bit of romance. 

“You’re pretty smart, you know that?” Steve said rhetorically, giving Erica a warm smile. 

“Yeah I do,” She replied. Her tone was biting as usual, but she was ducking her head and looked thoroughly pleased at helping him turn around his mood. She sat in El’s former spot and fluffed out her tight curls, “I also know that my hair is still not braided. El, Max, help Lover Boy come up with ideas while he makes another attempt at box braids.”

“Let’s see if I’ve gotten any better,” Steve mumbled to himself as the other girls began to grab magazines and leaf through them, throwing out suggestions left and right.