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“Does this have to do with the rose?” Dustin asks them as soon as they are alone in the car. ‘Damn,’ Steve thinks, ‘I should’ve dropped you off first.’
“What do you know about the rose?” Steve asks, trying to sound nonchalant.
“I know it’s from his secret admirer.”
“You know about that?”
“Of course I do, Steve, he tells that story to everyone who will listen.” Dustin says as if it’s common knowledge.
“So who are your theories? I know you’ve got them.” Steve says
“I have no clue.” Steve looks at him confused “I really don’t. I even told Eddie that we could figure it out if we saw the note but he just shook his head and went back to grinning that goofy grin he had.”
“…And that’s bad?”
“Well no, I just figured he’d want help figuring it out, but that’s not the weird part about it all. He didn’t even have everything set up when we got there.”
Steve gives Dustin a confused glance, trying to keep his eyes on the road in front of him.
“Eddie normally gets there super early to set everything up, but even by time Lucas got there just before we were about to start, all of Eddie’s DM stuff was still in his bag. Literally only the tables and his throne were pulled out where they were supposed to be. He just kept staring at that damn rose with that lovestruck look on his face.”
“Hey, language! But yeah, that is weird? What? Don’t look at me like that, I’ve been around you all long enough to know that’s out of character for him..he loves that game.” Steve chuckles to himself, thinking about the party’s collective confused faces at Eddie’s soft one. “Alright, doofus, this is you. Tell your mom I say ‘Hi’.”
Dustin rolls his eyes and shuffles out the car door and up the drive.
Steve waits until he’s safely inside before backing out, and heading home.
‘holyshitholyshitholyshitholyshi—‘ Steve’s brain played on a loop, his face splitting into a grin.
——————
The (now) third time Eddie "hears" from his secret admirer is definitely not when he was expecting. It kind of makes sense, if his secret admirer really is into him still he'd know that Eddie plays at the Hideout on Tuesday nights. But if he's being honest with himself, the rose flung up on stage while they were still drowned in spotlight was the second most surprising thing of the night. Actually, make that third.
First was the size of the crowd. Being accused of a ritualistic murder does have one benefit then, it has a tendency to make you seem more metal than you might actually be (especially within the metal community). The dingy little bar was actually packed tonight. So many people were there to see Eddie and his bandmates that it was the start of his nervousness. And Eddie never gets nervous about playing, it’s like breathing to him.
Secondly (and the second reason for Eddie to be nervous that night) was that Steeeeve Harrington himself was there to see him play. Him along with Buckley AND Nancy Wheeler had even dressed up for the occasion, pulling out as much black and grungy looking pieces from the backs of their wardrobes as they could find. Eddie swears Wheeler is wearing one of the old band tees Robin stole from him and Steve is wear-holy fuck. HOLY FUCK. Steve Harrington is wearing his (His! Eddie Munson’s!) battle vest. How the fuck he managed to keep it is beyond him but…yep. Eddie’s vest looks just as good on Steve now than it did in that upside-down hellscape.
Only a second had gone by in the time it took Eddie to process all of this before the lights go down and the spotlight is blinding him to everything beyond the stage.
“Get your head in gear, Munson, you’ve got a whole bar full of people to blow away… shit” Eddie mumbles to himself before stepping up to the mic.
And of course, no matter his surprise or nervousness about anything (or anyone) in the crowd that night, the show goes off without a hitch. He’s saying his goodbyes to the crowd as they cheer, holler, and whistle for them, some people are even throwing things. A couple of coasters with phone numbers scrawled on them are frisbee’d onto the stage around him, one (1) singular pair of panties (wtf this is insane), and from his right, just before the lights come back up in the bar, a single red rose tied with a black ribbon.
Time slows down. That’s the only way he could’ve snatched it out of the air the way he did.
He catches it and the crowd lets loose a few wolf whistles. Eddie grins so wide his face hurts. “Thank you guys so much, we’ll be here next week!” he jeers and lifts the rose in his hand in the air like he’s showing it off. The lights finally come up, and Eddie looks directly toward where the rose came from, trying to see if he recognized any of the faces. The only face he recognizes is Steve’s, off a good bit to the left from where the rose came at him, and who is also looking around for who it would’ve come from. Steve looks up at Eddie, and shrugs, he didn’t see anything either.
‘Of course he’s going to act like he didn’t see anything if he’s the one who threw it.’ Eddie’s brain helpfully supplies.
Nope. NOPE. Not going there, that’s so impossible. Steve was a good friend, even if he was blissfully unaware of the affect he had on Eddie.
Eddie shrugs back at Steve before turning back to the guys and helping them pack up their stuff.
“What does this one say?” Gareth asks him when they’re lugging the last of the equipment off the stage.
“Ermph durnup.” Eddie mumbles around the rose stem in his mouth. He sets the amps he was carrying at the back door to be loaded into his van (Which Steve was so graciously helping with). Eddie spits the rose out into his hand as Steve comes back into the doorway. Now ALL of them waiting on Eddie to read out the note. Even Robin and Wheeler have come backstage to watch them work. “Haven’t read it yet.”
“What’s happening now?” Nancy asks, confused. ‘Was she really never around during any of the re-tellings of this story?’ Eddie thinks to himself
“My secret admirer threw this to me as we were wrapping up our set.” Eddie waggles his eyebrows at the older Wheeler “I tried to see who it was, but by the time the lights came back on and I could actually see past the stage, the crowd was already thinning out.”
“They probably didn’t want to be recognized just yet? Even I looked around as soon as I could see again, but yeah, everyone had started dispersing.” Steve chimed in from the doorway he was leaning against, arms crossed across his chest. Damn were his arms always that huge?
“Uh_uh yeah, I do love a guy with a flair for dramatics.” everyone chuckled at that
“Of course you do Munson” Steve smiled at him “Now hurry up and read it!”
“OK, OK, this one says ‘You alone can make my song take flight’.” Eddie sings the line softly, redness creeping up his cheeks as his friends react around him.
“Ew, that’s so gross I’m gonna barf.” - Robin
“That’s so sweet!” - Nancy
“You’re going to be talking about this for weeks aren’t you?” - Gareth
Various well-meaning eye rolls come from the rest of his bandmates as they take care of the amps Steve had been neglecting.
And Steve, Steve was looking at Eddie with the warmest, fondest smile he’d ever seen.
Hmm…
____________________________________________
Pt. 4 will be here! Thank you for reading!!
Now on AO3! Several Notes of the Most Amiable Nature
So we all agree Eddie was a theater kid right? So what if Steve saw him as the phantom in Hawkins’ production of Phantom of the Opera? Ignoring that Phantom first premiered in October 1986 in London and the licensing rights to the play didn’t become available until like the 2010s OR this is modern AU
Like, Steve was dating a girl (maybe the one just before Nancy?? idk) and she was in the play as Meg and he went to see her but instead was completely blown away by tall dark and handsome playing the phantom. (the sex appeal, the dramatics, the voice).
He can’t even tell his gf how well she did because it’d just be a lie anyway, it’s like his brain was only aware of the stage in front of him when the Phantom (Eddie) was on stage.
He goes to see another showing on his own the next day and is so smitten with Eddie that he sneaks backstage and leaves a rose with a black ribbon for Eddie “To the phantom, from your secret admirer”.
Steve never forgot about his crush on Eddie “the Freak” Munson, realizes he’s bi by time Vecna happens and after everyone lives, nobody dies dammit, finds out Eddie never forgot about his secret admirer and has always wanted figure out who it was.
Robin and Eddie are talking about it when Steve comes in for work one day, “Yeah, it would be even more of a romantic story if I found out who it was. But it’s still romantic as it is, isn’t it?”
“Sure, especially since you’re so adamant about it having been a guy that left it for you.”
“Ah, we’re doing guy talk? Munson has a new crush or what?” Steve says as he slips the green vest over his shoulders.
Eddie had come out to them after waking up in the hospital; Robin and Steve having been together with him on a night shift of “Eddie Watch”. Of all people to accidentally come out to while still on the hospitals high-grade painkillers, Eddie feels lucky it happened to be to (maybe) the only other queer kids in Hawkins.
“No lady has that horrible of handwriting, Buckley, it has to be a guy. But WHO??” Eddie yells to the ceiling as he throws up his arms in frustration.
“Who are you talking about? How can you have a crush on someone and you know literally nothing about them?”
Eddie grinned at Steve, launching into his story as Robin rolls her eyes and heads out from behind the counter to put back the returns (“It’s quite the tale Steve, I’ve heard it so many times I could probably tell it just as good as Eddie can.” she says before Steve can ask where’s she’s going).
Eddie tells Steve the whole story, how he got the lead in the high school’s production of Phantom, working so hard to get the songs down, how nervous he was the first show, and then the kicker (his words): he gained a secret admirer from how great his performance was.
The whole time he’s telling steve this story, Steve manages to keep his face from changing from (what Steve has found to be) his constant state of fondness for the metal head, to one of horror as he realizes Eddie is talking about him. This whole time Eddie hasn’t forgotten what he did. And yeah, if Steve’s honest with himself, his crush on Eddie never fully died out; he shoved down as far as he could, the only evidence of it remaining through the rest of his time in school was no one ever remembering King Steve Harrington ever actually doing shit to the school’s resident freak. No teasing, no shoves into lockers while walking past, nothing.
He had almost completely extinguished it, until one fateful encounter in Reefer Rick’s boathouse.
“Wow, Eds, that is a pretty great story” Steve admits, “Do you have any ideas who it could be?”
“Loads! Tommy H. for starters-don’t give me that look Steve, you know he wants all this.” Eddie chides, gesturing to himself. “Maybe it was the stage manager, Carl? No, I’ve seen his handwriting plenty…” he tails off and thinks to himself for a bit before looking back up at Steve “Either way, I know he’s out there” Eddie rubs the back of his head shyly, “and even if he isn’t crushing on me anymore, I’d still love to find out who it was at some point you know?”
Steve smiles softly at the older man, “Yeah, that makes sense. Well, good luck Munson, I hope you find him.”
“Thanks Steve.” comes a voice as quiet as Steve’s ever heard from Eddie. They look at each other for a moment before Eddie glances at the clock behind Steve’s head. “Oh shoot! I’m late to meet Wayne!” He cups his hands around his mouth to shout “BYE ROBIN!” across the empty store, then turning to the door with a “Bye Stevie!” and he’s gone.
Steve feels every muscle in his body relax, falling hard onto the counter in front of him as his face falls and his hands come up to catch it.
Robin’s done with the returns by now and sees Steve’s dramatics, “Whoa, don’t hurt yourself there, Dingus..what’s wrong?” her voice changing to concern as she rounds the counter to him.
“Robin, I’m Eddie’s secret admirer.”
Pt. 2 will be here once I write it
Now on AO3! Several Notes of the Most Amiable Nature
This one really got away from me, but I hope you like it! Also, I lied, there will be one last part :) I had planned on this being a 5+1, so I’m glad it worked out to be that way!
Now Eddie is just waiting to see what Steve tries next. Just sitting back and reveling in the fact that King Steve “The Hair” Harrington, first of his name, mom of six or seven gremlins at a time, wants town Freak Eddie “The Banished” Munson.. and apparently has for a while too.
Life goes on like normal, but now every time Eddie sees Steve after finding out he was his secret admirer, he can’t help but smile a bit bigger.
He also confronts Robin, “You knew didn’t you?”
“Knew what?”
“Don’t play that shit with me; you knew it was Steve.”
“Oh. Yeah. Of course I did.”
“You told me to unpack tapes on purpose so I’d see his handwriting and figure it out.” It was a statement, not a question.
“I also wanted the tapes unpacked. Duh.”
“Ugh you’re the worst. I can’t believe I’m chauffeuring you to Casa de Harrington, of my own volition, on MY precious Thursday off.”
Robin rolls her eyes “You aren’t complaining about chauffeuring Max.”
“Well yeah, cause it isn’t out of my way to get her.” Eddie gestures toward Max and that gets her attention.
She takes her headphones off her head. “What are you guys arguing about?” She asks irritated, “And what’s it got to do with me?”
“Nothing Max, I’m just giving Eddie a hard time about his big sappy crush.”
“Oh, you mean the one he has on Steve?”
Robin and Eddie both freeze.
“Wh—Who said it was Steve.” Eddie asks, voice flat.
“No one had to say anything; there is a reason why we call you both mom and dad. You aren’t subtle about it. DAD.” Max snarks back at him.
‘We. She said ‘We’. As in The Party has been calling me that.’ Eddie thinks. So that wasn’t just Steve trying to make him feel better that day on the phone.. They actually see him as a dad. ‘Well maybe; maybe it was just as a counter to Steve’s ‘Mom’. Why would they even see you as a role model?’
Fuck! He needs to stop his spiraling now. Otherwise he’s going to get in a mood and Steve will notice, and somehow think it was his fault and worry about him, and then no one will be having fun anymore an_ ‘What the fuck dude, you literally just told yourself to STOP. SPIRALING. and now you are doing exactly that.’
“Well then who am I??” Robin asks, putting on a fake offended tone to break the leftover tension.
“Hmmmm…” Max pushes her new glasses back up her nose “You’re like a kooky Uncle.”
“Uncle??” Robin actually sounds offended this time. “No, actually, that makes sense.”
Eddie chuckled at the acceptance of her new role, the storm that was whirling around in his head starting to dull. “Now was this a party decision, or is that just you, Mayfield?”
“Just me for now. I will make sure to plant the idea in Dustin’s head when we get there and I’m sure he’ll call a Meeting with the Council of Doofuses to get it in writing.” And with that, the headphones were back on.
Eddie and Robin share a look, and before much longer they are pulling into Steve’s driveway.
“God, I don’t think I will ever get over how dumb this house actually looks.” Eddie looked over at Robin curiously as she continued to berate Steve’s house while collecting her things, “It looks like whoever built it back in the 70s or some shit had no taste, even by that decade’s standards.”
“Buckley. You’re telling me that this whole time I’ve known you, we could’ve been making fun of these Loch Nora snobs’ houses.. together? I don’t think I will ever forgive you for this discretion.”
This earns Eddie another eye roll from Robin (and a muttered “You and your goddamn dramatics..”) as they both get out of the cab. Max is long gone, Steve’s front door standing open in her wake.
“So how did your sleepover go with Vickie anyway? You didn’t say anything about it..?” Eddie asks as he grabs his bag from the back.
“It was literally just a sleepover.. I thought the vibes were there but she wanted to talk about her jerk ex-boyfriend and about boys I like. By the way, I have an embarrassing crush on you, don’t tell anyone.”
Eddie laughed so loud, Steve’s neighbors must’ve heard him (no matter how far away the next house may be). “Damn, I’m sorry Buckley. I’m sure that Eddie guy will return your affections eventually.” Eddie joked, patting Robin of the shoulder as they stepped through Steve’s front door.
There were bags all over the entryway, and from the screams filtering down the hall from the sliding glass door, all the kids were outside and in the pool already.
Eddie kicked the door closed behind him and Steve peeked his head around the corner from the kitchen at the sound.
“Oh hey guys, just put your stuff wherever, everyone else is outside, and I’m getting the burgers ready to put on the grill. Robin, will you show Eddie where he can change?”
Eddie looked over when Steve said his name, pulling his attention back from looking at the boring interior of Steve’s house. Had he never been here before? No, not even at one of the old King Steve’s parties..
“How’s he never been over before? That’s so weird.” Robin said as she walked down the hall, waving at Eddie to follow.
“Buckley, get out of my head. I thought you were only supposed to have that weird mind-reading thing going on with Stevie.” Eddie chided her as he followed her to a small bathroom off the laundry room.
“You’re just jealous you can’t read his mind; maybe then you both would’ve gotten your heads out your asses sooner.”
Eddie rolled his eyes and closed the door on her smirking face. Setting his pack down on the small sink counter, he started to change.
“Fuck, I don’t want to do this.” Eddie whispered to himself. He wasn’t exactly a shy person normally, but that’s what all his layers are for.. a pool party automatically called for only about two thin layers, max. And now he had the added concern about his new (admittedly metal) scars that have only just healed all the way. Scars that not only stretched the length of his sides, but those damn bats had gotten to his face and literally took his whole left nipple off. Again, metal, but also gave Eddie about 10 or 11 times more insecure feelings that he hadn’t yet learned to cover completely under his perfectly crafted bravado.
Leaving his briefs on under his trunks, and pulling his faded Metallica shirt back on over the bumpy red scars, he packed his other layers into his bag for later and headed back out to the kitchen.
He nearly crashed into Steve as he was coming out of the laundry room and Steve was passing by with a plate piled high with patties in one hand, a six pack in the other, and bag of buns hanging out of his mouth.
“Oh shoot-- Hey, you need some help?” Eddie automatically reached for the bag of buns so Steve could answer.
“Robin already went outside to claim a chair, can you take this too?” Steve handed Eddie the six pack.
“No problem, Stevie.” Eddie smiled at him and started out the door in front of Steve.
“Thanks Eds.” *SMACK*
Silence.
“Oh. My. God. Eddie, I am so so sorry, it was just a reflex I swear! Even ask Lucas, it’s a sports thing, I didn’t mean anything by it..” Steve sounded completely stressed.
Eddie took a moment longer to process the fact that Steve Harrington just smacked his ass (reflex or not), before turning back to him halfway. Looking over at Steve, Eddie’s heart clenched to see him looking absolutely mortified.
“No worries big boy, I just didn’t realize that was on the table.” Eddie said, giving him a wink, then hurrying out of the house. He had to get out of there before he did something really embarrassing like dropping everything and jumping Steve’s bones at noon on a Thursday while there was a whole hoard of children nearby.
He stepped outside to various greetings of “Hey Eddie!” the most enthusiastic of which was Dustin, who had leapt from the pool to give a still dry Eddie a completely soaking wet hug around his middle.
“Hey Dusty-buns how ar--HOLY FUCK YOU’RE COLD! gET OFF ME!”
Dustin laughed at Eddie’s misery before jumping back into the pool (almost on top of Mike, who kicked away at the last second).
“Let me help with that, sweetheart.” Eddie heard Steve’s voice in his ear as he came up from behind him to grab the bag and six-pack from him and placing them on the table next to the grill with his burgers and the added plate of toppings he must’ve grabbed.
Sweetheart?? That was new...and most certainly did NOT make Eddie want to melt into a puddle, thank you very much.
Eddie knew he now looked completely sunburnt, despite just stepping outside a whole 30 seconds ago.
‘Ok, that’s how you want to play it, Harrington? First an ass smack, and now this??’ Eddie thought to himself. Time to crank up the flirting.
Eddie turned heel and marched back inside and directly to the freezer. He knew he had to have some in here somewhere, they are one of Dustin’s favorites.
‘Perfect.’ Eddie thought as he grabbed a cherry flavored popsicle, unwrapping it, and stepping back outside, grabbing a bottle of sunscreen as he went.
“Hey Stevie, can you help me out with this before your hands get all nasty?”
—————
“Yeah sure Eddie, what do you ne__” Steve turned around from starting the grill to face Eddie at his question. ‘Fucking hell, Munson.’
Eddie was staring at him with those damn doe eyes, holding out the bottle of sunscreen in one hand, and had a cherry-red popsicle held in the other. His already red lips wrapped around the end. ‘When’d he get that??’
Steve cleared his throat and took the bottle from him “Yeah of course, turn around.”
Eddie flashed that megawatt grin at him “Thanks sweetheart.” Steve felt his cheeks turning pink at that.
Eddie turned to face away from Steve, the hand that previously held the bottle coming up between his shoulder blades to pull his shirt over his head.
Steve noticed that Eddie didn’t pull the shirt all the way off his arms, just pulled it up and over his head so his head and back were free. A pang shot through his stomach at that ‘Of course he’s going to be self-conscious about his scars, fuck why did you think a pool party was a good idea?? Okay focus, just make sure to say something to him later on about them_oh fucking HELL’
Steve’s his train of thought imploded when Eddie decided to glance over his shoulder at Steve as he pulled his hair over the other with his free hand.
“This is going to be cold, sorry Eds.” How he had kept his voice sounding completely normal was a mystery to Steve, but now he had to focus on the fact that he’d be rubbing his hands all over Eddie.
He started at the small of Eddie’s back. Pushing the heels of his palms outward from Eddie’s spine where his fingers could come to a rest (however briefly) on either side of the older man’s waist and giving a slight squeeze.
Eddie’s breath hitched and Steve saw the blush bloom under the skin at the back of his neck. Deciding to ignore that (for now) Steve said “I told you it was going to be cold.”
“Shut up, Steve, it still caught me off guard.”
Steve chuckled and continued rubbing the lotion in, making sure to do a good job at covering every inch. Not just because he was loving being able to freely touch Eddie like this, but legitimately because he didn’t want Eddie to burn to a crisp.
He got up to Eddie’s shoulders and found some of his hair had slipped from the rest. Using a single finger, Steve brushed the stray lock from where it started behind Eddie’s ear, down across his neck and over the other shoulder. Eddie visibly shuddered and Steve smiled, “Sorry, your hair was in the way. We need to get you a hair tie.”
Finished with his back, Steve tapped Eddie on the shoulder, “OK you’re all good back here, do you want me to get your front too or have you got it covered?” giving the full King Steve smirk as Eddie turned back to face him causing him to blush more.
“I_I’ve got it.” Eddie stuttered, taking back the bottle.
How Steve managed to wrench his gaze from Eddie’s popsicle-red pout, he had no clue. “You might want to get your face done sooner than later, you’re already turning red.” Steve winked at a spluttering Eddie before turning back to the grill.
Eddie started grumbling behind him and Steve heard the rustle of fabric, assuming Eddie had fully removed his shirt now.
Glancing over his shoulder, Steve could see that Eddie was turned to face away from everyone else as he applied the sunscreen.
That pang went through Steve again, this time closer to his heart. He turned to Eddie again and came to his side so he could speak to him quietly “Hey, I know you probably don’t want everyone to see, but just know that no one here will give you shit for any of them. Or if they do, they’ll have to deal with me.”
Eddie had froze when Steve came up to him, but then tuned his face to look at him properly.
That same damn pang shot directly through Steve’s heart this time at Eddie’s big, lovely, eyes shining with unshed tears.
“Put your shirt back on if you need to, but if you want to leave it off, make sure to put extra lotion on the scars themselves..I made sure I did on the parts I could reach from your back.”
Eddie looked even more like he was going to cry now, but smiled gratefully at Steve and nodded. Steve smiled at him softy and went back to the grill to actually get food started for everyone.
And if he did notice that Eddie went back to his own sunchair, sans shirt, no he didn’t.
—————
Eddie had just barely sat down when Robin leaned over to him from her chair next to him “What in the actual hell was all that?”
“No idea what you’re talking about Robs.” Eddie said nonchalantly, laying back all the way in his chair.
“Uncle Robin, will you help me re-do my braids?” Max yelled from the other side of the pool before Robin could grill him any further.
‘Thank you Max’ Eddie thought. And just like Max had said he would, Dustin’s head whipped around to look at Robin who was already making room in front of her for Max to sit while she braided.
Eddie watched as Dustin scrambled out of the pool and up to Steve “Steve, do you have a pad of paper and a pen or something?”
“Wh_what? Uh, yeah there should be one in the kitchen. The third drawer down from the phone? Wait! Dry off a bit otherwise you’ll slip on the tile.”
Dustin rolled his eyes and mumbled a “Yes, mom.” under his breath as he walked over to the pile of towels. He grabbed one off the top, barely dusted himself off with it, and dropped it on the concrete before hurrying into the house, still soaking wet.
Eddie heard a small ‘Oh shit’ from Dustin that he could only assume meant he had slipped a bit on the tile like Steve said he would.
Dustin came back out in no time at all and called the rest of the goblins over to a small patio table on the other side of the pool. As soon as Max’s braids were done, she too went to the table, sidling up between Lucas and Eleven.
Dustin’s hand looked a blur as he would scribble something down to one thing someone said, then crossing other things out to a differnt comment. Eddie chuckled at the sight and leaned back again, closing his eyes.
After a bit, Steve walked over from the grill and sat at the end of Eddie’s chair, scooting his legs out of the way with his ass and grabbing a beer from the nearby cooler.
“You need more room for that thing, Harrington?” Eddie snarked, poking Steve’s hip with his foot before closing his eyes to the sun again.
“You need a new popsicle?” Steve flicked the end of the popsicle stick that was still hanging out of Eddie’s mouth.
“You just liked seeing me with something in my mouth.”
There was a pause, and Eddie felt the chair shift as Steve stood back up. He opened his eyes slightly when he felt the shade of Steve leaning over him. Steve’s face was right next to his, his mouth close to Eddie’s ear “And what if I did?”
‘Jesus H. Christ’ was Eddie’s only thought as he watched Steve(’s ass) walk back over to the grill.
Eddie had a bit of time to calm down after that when Steve yelled for everyone to come grab food, deciding to steer clear while the gremlins descended upon the feast and watch Steve ‘Mom’ over them all. “Grab napkins, Lucas”. “Mike put at least some lettuce on those, you need veggies too!”, “Dustin, cool it with the ketchup.”
That’s it. That was the last straw. Eddie’s in love.
‘Fucking hell.’ Eddie shot up from where he was laying and sat at the end of the chair instead. ‘Fucking hell..’ Eddie stood up and started pacing.
Every thought he’d ever had about Steve Harrington whipped through his mind like a hurricane. Every time he thought Steve was cute back in high school, the one (1) time he saw Steve in his Scoops Ahoy outfit before he vowed to never return to Starcourt, every time he was confused at seeing King Steve being the one there to pick up the Hellfire kids after their sessions, Steve’s reaction to being manhandled into the wall of Reefer Rick’s boathouse, his willingness to follow the kids there in the first place to come help Eddie of all people, insisting on being the one to dive into Lover’s Lake so the others didn’t have to (him stripping off his sweater when he did and tossing it to Eddie when Nancy was right there ogling him too), the sight of him sweaty, dirty and bleeding in the upside-down that Eddie just needed to get covered up before he’d lose his mind (again), then realizing his mistake too late when he now had to look at Steve in his battle vest, swearing he was catching Steve looking at his lips in the same hellscape, Steve carrying him out of there when they were successful but hadn’t all went too well for Eddie, Steve being there in the hospital when he woke up spouting off to Robin about ‘If Steve were gay, do you think he’d fuck me?’ (’...Eddie, I’m Bisexual.’ ‘Oh sweet! I can only write with my right hand..’), and then, fuck, now knowing that Steve was the one leaving him these sappy notes just because he thought Eddie looked hot in the School play? Being a mom to all these kids that didn’t get time to be kids until now?
Eddie was gone. And probably had been for a while.
By the time he came down from his spiral, he was halfway though a burger that somehow materialized in his hand.
“The fuck?” Eddie looked to Robin, Nancy, and Steve.
Steve sat up from where he was laying, already back in his own chair, empty plate sat on his leg, “Oh, uhm, you seemed to be out of it when I told you to come grab food so I tried handing you something so I’d know you’d eat. You took it and started eating so I figured you were OK.”
Eddie looked from Steve disbelievingly, to Robin disbelievingly. Then back to Steve. “Th_thanks Steve.”
“No worries, Eds.”
Eddie sat back down on the end of his chair and finished his burger, his mind adding this to his list of reasons to love Steve Harrington.
Dustin had stopped scribbling furiously on the lended pad of paper by now, and Eddie called out to him to get him to share, hoping to get his mood back on track.
“Dustybuns, what have you all been doing over there this whole time??” Dustin looks at Eddie, then back at the rest of the Council of Doofuses, then back to Eddie before they all approach the older teens laying out on Steve’s patio furniture.
Max and El came over with them too (even Erica), from where they had assuredly been watching the chaos unfold from their own sunchair. The boys were now almost bone dry. That’s how long they’d been going at this.
“We’ve had to add in a couple people to The Party Family Tree.”
“Oh yeah? Whatcha got?” Eddie says at the same time Steve says “Oh god, here we go..”
Dustin clears his throat, “OK so we start with Steve as the Mom. Obviously.”
Steve’s sat up on his lounger now, and hangs his head into his hands at that.
“Sure.” Robin affirms for the rest of them, encouraging Dustin to continue and ignoring the miserable noise Steve makes.
“Eddie is the dad.”
“Awe, Stevie!” Eddie places his hand over his heart, “Wait, when’s our anniversary?”
"You haven’t proposed yet.” Steve says into his hands.
“ANYWAY.” Dustin sounds loudly “So Steve and Eddie are the mom and dad. Robin is our Uncle on Steve’s side, Nancy is our Aunt on Eddie’s side.”
“Wait, what? Eddie laughs and looks over at Nancy who is trying to hold back her laughter behind her hand.”
“Yeah, and Hopper is Steve’s dad so I guess he’s our Grandpa.” Steve’s head snaps up at that.
“He’s old and crotchety enough.” Mike chimes in, shrugging.
“I am Jane Hopper so I am Steve’s sister now.” El says carefully, like she is remembering exactly how families work exactly.
Steve looks like he’s trying not to cry, looking at El with a small smile.
“What about Jonathan?” Robin asks, getting into it fully at this point.
Eddie could almost feel the weirdness hit Steve and Nancy at that, like a foot of snow falling all at once.
“He’s Steve’s oldest.” Dustin states matter-of-factly.
“I’m sorry, what?”
“Yeah. He’s your oldest son; you had him way too young and he has already moved out.”
“He’s a little distant, but you know he’s happy out in Cali with his boyfriend and you see him on the holidays.” Will tells Steve, smiling brightly as the other kids laugh.
Steve, Eddie, and Nancy are honestly dumbfounded at the web they’ve woven around Mama Steve; Robin is absolutely delighted to find out about Steve’s firstborn. (”Who’s the baby daddy?” she asks him, getting a loud smack on her arm for it.)
Everyone’s waiting for Steve to say something.
He stands up, turns to face his brood, and opens his arms wide in invitation. They all crowd in around him and the mask drops off his face as he finally lets the tears start flowing.
Robin and Eddie glance at each other before throwing themselves around their hoard, Nancy coming up to Robin’s side.
“I love you guys.” Steve says, his voice thick.
After a good long moment, Mike pipes up from somewhere toward the middle of the pack “Okay this is great but it’s still a million degrees outside and somehow I ended up in the middle of this furnace.”
They all chuckle and separate from each other, some wiping tears away with their hands and others (Mike, Max, Erica) jumping back into the pool to disguise how wet their face may or may not have gotten.
Still wiping his tears away, Steve yells at them to “Dammit get back out so you can put more sunscreen on!” to choruses of “Yes, mom.” and more laughing.
“...So if Stevie and I get divorced, who gets which kids?” Eddie asks, and immediately has to start dodging Steve’s attempts to tackle him into the pool.
Dustin picks up the pad of paper and flips to a new page as the rest of them start yelling at him who they’d want to “stay” with.
----------
A few hours later it’s getting cooler, a sign of the fall to come. Steve manages to coax everyone back inside with the promise of pizza and movies.
Eddie and Robin had gone in before the rest of the kids to get changed and start piling pillows, blankets, and even a couple mattresses onto the floor of the living room. Pulling everything out before the rest came in and started getting changed. Eddie is the first to plop down on the massive floor bed, right in the middle.
Robin fell back onto the couch that was now an acting headboard, “So, any more news on the secret admirer front?” she asks, nudging him with her foot.
“Boy do I have a story for you, Robs.” Eddie grinned.
“You mean about your latest rose?” Max came into the room with El, piling themselves on Steve’s armchair with the fluffiest blanket in the pile.
“The one exactly, Red.”
“Ok good, then I can Ignore you for the next two hours.”
Eddie threw a pillow at her head at that.
“Max was there when you found it?” This time it was Will and Mike coming in with their bags of snacks and finding a spot to lay out.
“Actually, she was there when the guy left the rose.” Max said from the chair.
There was a clatter from the kitchen, then Dustin came barreling in from where he was helping Steve with dishes. “So you know who it is??” he asked Max
“No doofus, Eddie was with me when the guy left the rose at Eddie’s trailer.”
Another clatter from the kitchen.
“You OK Steve?” Robin asked.
“Peachy.” he called back.
“Wait, so you guys saw him leave it? So you know who it is??” Dustin continued.
Lucas came down the steps then, Max’s walkman in his hand. He handed it to her before getting comfy in front of the girls’ chair. Erica following and squishing herself into the corner of the loveseat.
“We saw him, but couldn’t tell who it was.”
“So here’s the thing,” Eddie starts “I was with Max that night while her mom was at work, my uncle was at his shift, AND my van was in the shop. My trailer was dark and both cars were gone. Of course he’d think it was safe to be a bit bolder and leave this one right at my doorstep.”
Being met with ‘Ahs’ of understanding, Eddie continued: “But what he must not know is that trailer walls are thin, and I know what the gravel outside my place, and that second squeaky step on the porch sound like when someone walks on 'em. So when we heard it from Max’s living room, we looked out to make sure it wasn’t some person trying to vandalize my shit again.”
Steve had come into the room and leaned against the doorframe a bit earlier, dishtowel thrown over his shoulder, and now looked like a deer caught in the headlights. ‘Gotcha.’ Eddie thought.
"But alas, the night was dark, and we could barely make out a figure before whoever it was ran off into the night.” Eddie waggled his fingers like he was telling a scary story
“They walked to your house??” Dustin asked
“No dipshit, they probably didn’t want to be recognized by their car” Mike shot back.
“Who has that recognizable of a car?” came Will’s small voice
“Besides Steve? I don’t know.” Erica chimes in
“Me??” Steve asked, actually confused
“Yeah Steve, everyone knows your beemer.” Dustin said, rolling his eyes.
“So when I went back home, the rose was there.” Eddie pulled it out of his inner jacket pocket. “This one says “Think of all the things We've shared and seen, Don't think about the way things might have been” Eddie sings the line.
“Wow, your voice is really pretty Eddie.” Eleven says, breaking the silence that followed.
“Thanks, supergirl.”
“Eddie those lyrics have to be a clue” Dustin says, always the analyzer
Eddie makes eye contact with Steve from across the room and smiles fondly.
“I know.”
_______________________________
Pt. 6 will be here!
Now on AO3! Several Notes of the Most Amiable Nature
Thank you to @lunaraindrop and @starkdusk for being the first ones to encourage my ‘Steve is a jock and would smack Eddie’s ass accidentally’ brainrot 🥰
Secret Admirer AU Part 4! This one is much longer 🙃
Also, I’ve made up my mind and this is a more modern AU, I want the POTO movie to be out by now in this, so maybe it’s 2006 during this story?
And I am planning on crossposting to AO3 when I have the time to figure it all out; this is the first thing I’ve ever written thatd actually be a full length fic so I want to make sure i make the edits I need to and make it great for y’all 🥰
Of the places Eddie'd want to work, Family Video is pretty low on that list.
But he needs the cash since his..side hustle.. isn't bringing in as much as it did before (literally nothing).
Robin calls him one day, and asks when he can start "I didn't know I even applied, Buckley."
"Yeah, well, Keith is finally skipping town with the last of the folks leaving since the 'earthquake' so he bumped me up to manager and I need someone else."
Eddie sighs. "You're just calling to be nice aren't you?"
"Yes. You start Monday at 10." Eddie groans "You'll be with Steve though." He can almost hear Robin waggling her eyebrows at him through the phone.
"Like that sweetens the deal, you know he's just going to talk about his hair and all the chicks he's banged in the last week."
There's a long beat of silence from the other end before: "Don't act like you aren't creaming your pants at the thought of being alone with him for hours on end. Also, don't be mean to that poor, sweet Dingus just because you don't want to work."
"OK fine, you're right, that was a bit harsh." One more sigh for good measure, "I'll be there on Monday, Robs."
"Good. You better be." *Click*
Wow, rude.
----------
Eddie's first day with Steve was...frustrating. In more ways than one. And each reason bled into the next.
It was mostly Eddie getting frustrated at..Eddie; getting fed up with himself for not understanding and immediately picking up something new as soon as he started. Feeling ashamed for having to ask questions, and this time it was Steve he was having to embarrassingly ask the simplest questions about the computer system, the checkout process, everything.
Then it was: getting unreasonably frustrated at sweet, understanding, patient Steve for being...sweet, understanding, and patient. Steve, who would answer every question he had no matter if he'd asked it before, no matter how many questions Eddie asked him. He shouldn't have to tolerate Eddie for being thick in the skull.
And then again getting frustrated at himself for his stupid feelings for Steve making him confused. What about this secret admirer? What would happen if he fell for Steve completely and snubbed this secret admirer whenever he figured out who it was?
'Well then that's his fault for taking so damn long.' Eddie found himself thinking bitterly.Then kicking himself internally for his next thought: 'But what if Steve is your secret admirer? Then it would be just fine!'
Internal meltdowns aside, Eddie's first day turned into Eddie's first week, first month.
It was at his first shift alone that he found the next rose.
Eddie came in for a closing shift on a slow weekday, trading off with Steve who had opened that day.
"Hey man, welcome to the ghost town."
"Ugh this is going to be horrible on my own, what do you even do when it's this dead?"
"Well I literally did every single thing I needed to do within the first two hours so I just sat in the back on the spinny chair until I heard someone come in."
Eddie giggled at the thought of Steve spinning for hours on end "And did anyone actually come in?"
"Three whole people." Eddie groaned "Yeah, and only one of them actually rented something."
"So that's our whole Tuesday average right there; there's not going to be anyone else coming in."
Steve looked at him with sympathy "Sorry man, at least the spinny chair is free if you get really bored."
"Gee thanks Steve." Eddie rolled his eyes, "So what is there left to do, big boy?"
Steve looked at Eddie sheepishly.
"Oh no,"
"Yeeaaah... I literally did everything. Including a full vacuum, and I dusted everything too."
Eddie groaned loudly and planted his face onto the counter.
"Sorry Eds, I just.." Eddie picked his head up to look at Steve when he paused, setting his chin on counter to watch Steve rub the back of his neck nervously "I just knew it was going to be your first shift alone so I wanted to make it easy for you..I didn't think about you having exactly nothing to do."
Eddie's heart gave two big thu-thumps at that, giving Steve a soft smile. "Thanks Steve. I appreciate the thought."
Steve looked up and they locked eyes for a moment (damn, Steve's eyes really were beautiful...), before Steve looked away, looking for his things from behind the counter "Well anyhow, I better get going; Make sure you count the drawer before anyone comes in."
Eddie could see a blush running down his neck, turning red under these two little freckles that looked perfectly positioned for someone to bite.
“Yeah, yeah, I got it Stevie; have fun doing whatever it is that Kings do on their days off.” Eddie said, waving his hand in a shooing motion.
Steve turned his gaze back to Eddie, the soft look from before hardening a bit, “Not much to write home about, especially for a King whose lost his crown.”
Eddie’s grin dropped with his stomach directly into his feet “Steve—“
“It’s okay Eddie.” Steve cut him off
“No, No, I’m sorry; I know you hate that King Steve shit, I’m sorry I said it. Everyone knows you aren’t that guy anymore, especially me.” Eddie was starting to pace, pulling his hair in front of his face, “I know I’ve made fun of you about the King shit before, shit, I did just a couple weeks ago and I really didn’t mean it I swear. You are still a King to us, you know, the party, just more like a beloved ruler, someone who looks out for their subjects instead of expecting to be feared by them—“
‘Stop, stop, holy shit stop talking!’ Eddie’s brain screamed at him. Eddie forced his mouth shut and looked up at steve in a panic, Steve’s gaze had softened again, and internally, Eddie breathed a sigh of relief. “….y’know?”
Steve surged forward and lifted Eddie up in a big hug, spinning him around in a circle before setting him back on his feet, face still buried in Eddie’s curls.
“Thank you..” Steve whispered.
Eddie squeezed Steve just a bit tighter “You’re welcome, Stevie.”
—————
Eddie realized he had been leaning on the counter for the last two hours in a daze when someone finally came in, the bell ringing startling him out of it.
He snapped up straight “Welcome to Fam— oh, hey Robs.”
“Hey doofus, how’s your first shift going?”
“Uh..good I guess? I’ve been standing in this one spot since Steve left.” Eddie stretched out as he spoke, realizing how stiff he’d gotten.
“…why?”
“Just thinking I guess,” Eddie shrugs “I should probably do something, huh?”
Robin laughed as they both split off into the shelves, Robin to pick up a tape for a movie night with Vickie (“Nice! Congrats, Buckley” Eddie said with a suggestive eyebrow wiggle), and Eddie into the horror section to pick out some tapes for the front. He was going to be opening tomorrow anyway so why shouldn’t his faves be on the suggestion display?
“Let’s see…Halloween, Little Shop of Horrors,” Eddie laughed to himself as he picked up Gremlins and Ghostbusters, thinking fondly of his own gremlins.
Eddie was heading to the sci-fi aisle next to grab Star Wars when a flash of red amongst the mostly black covers of the horror movies caught his eye.
“What the fuck?” came Robins voice from somewhere behind him, “Eddie, you dropping shit over there? You’re not cursed or something are you?”
Eddie registered her voice changing from amusement to concern, but he couldn’t move his gaze from where it was locked even if he tried.
Robin came up behind him quickly, he could feel the warmth coming off her as she came around his side to wave her hand in front of his face.
The movement broke the trance and he shot his hand up to grab Robins wrist. “Are you seeing what I’m seeing?” he asked, Still looking past her onto the shelf.
“Am I seeing what? You hallucinating or somethi— ohmygod.”
“So you see that too.” Eddie nodded his head before dropping Robins wrist and stepping over the the display.
There, sitting between two tapes on one of the middle shelves, is a red rose with a black ribbon tied around its stem.
“Wow, you have a full-on stalker, Eddie.” Robin laughs before muttering something to herself that Eddie didn’t catch.
Eddie picked up the rose carefully, turning the tag over: “Eddie, There will never be a day when I won’t think of you”.
“Holy shit,” Eddie exclaimed, snapping his head up, “Steve said only three whole people came in today..maybe he could tell me who they were.”
“Eddi—“ Robin started to say, but he was already hurrying behind the counter to call Steve’s cell.
“C’mon Stevie, pick up…”
“Eddie? Everything okay?” Steve said as soon as he picked up the phone. Oh no, he sounded worried..
“Yeah, yeah, I’m fine Stevie, I just wanted to ask you something.”
“Oh okay? Shoot?” now he just sounded confused. That was much better than worried.
“I found another rose.”
“Holy shit!! Thats great! What does it say??” Eddie could hear another voice on the line “Hold on, Dustin!” Steve snapped, pulling the phone away from his mouth “Sorry Eds, wait, you found one? At Family Video?”
“It’s good man, tell Dusty I said Hi, and yes, it was on one of the horror shelves. Listen: you said you cleaned everything today, including dusting off all the shelves right? So do you remember which of the three people came in after you did that? And Please tell me that only one person did and it was the one person who happened to rent something.” Eddie rushed out.
Robin had come over to the front counter now, just listening. Why wasn’t she jazzed about this? Wouldn’t she also want to know who it is?
Steve was silent on the other end of the line (Dustin was very much NOT) while he thought. “All three came in after I dusted everything…it was really slow..But honestly I couldn’t tell you who the three were, probably couldn’t even pick them out of a lineup.”
Eddie sighed heavily, “Damn, I knew it was a long shot”
“Sorry Ed’s, my memory is super shitty nowadays.” more chatter from Dustin filtered through the call.
“I know Stevie, it’s not your fault.” Eddie knew his voice sounded pained, he couldn’t help it, he didn’t want Steve to feel bad though.
“Hey—Damnit Dustin, I’m trying to comfort your father here, would you PLEASE calm down?!”
A lot of questions shot through Eddie’s head at that, directly after the need to laugh at Dustin getting louder as if just to spite Steve. ‘Father’?? ‘Father’??? Is that how the kids saw him? Eddie knew the long running joke about Steve being the party’s mom but the added implication that Eddie was their dad? Was it them who said that first? Or was it Steve just pulling something out of thin air just now to make him laugh?
Steve was still talking “Eddie, Dustin thinks you should look up who was the person to rent something earlier, which is what I told him you were going to do in the first place.” Saying the last part under his breath.
Eddie grinned at the thought of them bickering in the front seat of Steve car.
“Yeah I was already, but you can tell him I didn’t think of that and that it was a good idea.”
“He said that is a good idea, he didn’t actually think of that.” Steve spoke to Dustin with a smile in his voice.
“Thanks Steve, have fun with Dustin, tell him I said to listen to his mother.”
Steve’s wonderful laugh came through the other end as he hung up the phone.
Eddie told Robin what Steve said happened that day as he checked out the tape for her.
“Hmmm.. Maybe it’s Steve that left it for you.”
Eddie froze. Was she in his head? “What makes you say that?” he asked, his voice small. It was really weird to have someone else make the suggestion that his traitorous brain kept on repeat.
“Well, he was there when the last one was thrown at you, and he was just here earlier today when he knew you’d be coming in AND just ‘can’t remember’ any of the three people that came in today? Sounds fishy to me.” Robin rattled off the reasons like she already had it prepared.
She grabbed the tape from his hand where it was still frozen above the counter and headed for the door, “By the way, there should be a couple boxes of new tapes in the back if you want to start going through them. The checklist is with them on the orange clipboard.” and with a wave, she was gone.
Eddie did in fact start going through the new tapes, needing something to occupy himself after everything….after a quick search to see who had rented a tape earlier in the day (an easy enough search for the last transaction before Buckley, turned out to be old Ms. Wilson who rented The Wizard of Oz).
And if he also looked up to see who had rented The Phantom of the Opera in recent months (there was a lot of people, he didn’t even make it past the ‘B’s), that was nobody’s business but his.
He picked up new copy of Phantom from the box, flipping through the sheets on the clipboard to make note of how many copies they got in.
There was no Phantom listed in the printed copy, so Eddie flipped to the back page to write it in manually where whoever did this last hadn’t bothered printing a new copy, just writing in the new titles at the bottom. Looks like whoever it was had already written in Phanto—
It was like Eddie’s brain did a record scratch and freeze.
The handwriting
It was the same as..as…
Eddie bolted up off the floor where he was sitting, tripping over the stacks of tapes around him.
He threw himself over the counter to where he stashed the rose.
Eddie compared every letter he could; Every. Single. One. Was identical.
So he had three possibilities. Keith, who was now gone, Robin, who should still be a lesbian, or..
Steve.
Eddie picked up the phone behind the counter and called Robin at home.
“Robin speaking!”
“You still like boobies right Robs?”
“Eddie? Uh yeah?”
“Okay good.. just boobies right?”
“Yes Eddie, just boobies, why are yo-“
“Cool, see you, Robin.” Anything she would’ve said was cut off by Eddie hanging the phone up on the hook.
Eddie nearly sprinted to the back office and started searching. He wanted to be sure.
He finally found what he was looking for, both Steve and Robin’s applications.
And there it was. Eddie had his answer.
Steve’s handwriting was the same as Eddie’s secret admirer.
Eddie plopped backwards into the office’s spinny chair in a daze.
Steve.
It was Steve this whole time. Beautiful, perfect, sweet Steve. The mother of his children..
Fuck, he should’ve guessed that. The roses only started reappearing after he told Steve, and Robin was right, he was right there when the rose was thrown at their show. She must’ve helped with the first one and left it for Steve after class.
That little bastard has been faking it the whole damn time.
‘I bet if I look, Steve will have rented Phantom a bunch of times, too.’ Eddie thought disbelievingly.
Eddie grinned and leaned back in the chair. Then, an overwhelming sense of giddiness overcame him and he spun himself in a circle, laughing like a madman.
‘Steve was right, this is pretty fun.’
————————————————————————
Pt. 5 here!!
Now on AO3! Several Notes of the Most Amiable Nature
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It's here! the final part!! Thank you all so much for reading this and for those of you who have left kudos and bookmarked it on AO3!! I am so appreciative, I really have no words but more 'thank you's.. so thank you thank you thank you!!!
ICYMI, this fic has a name and is now on AO3 here: Several Notes of the Most Amiable Nature and a brand new epilogue!!: (Reprise)
Steve meets Eddie’s gaze from across the room and he immediately starts to panic. ‘“I know.”?? What does he mean he knows?? Is he just being a little shit or does he know it's me? When did he figure it out?? Did Robin tell him? If he does know, is he glad its m_’
Steve is quite literally saved by the bell when the doorbell rings out. ‘Oh thank god.’
“Pizza’s here!” Steve claps his hands together, “Robs, will you answer the door so I can grab my wallet?”
“Sure thing, Dingus.” She grumbles and pushes herself off the couch.
Steve grabs his wallet and meets her at the front door, pays the driver, shuts the door, and immediately stops Robin from leaving.
“Robin, does Eddie know it’s me?”
“Whoa, hold on there Steve, these things are heavy…”
Steve grabs the pizzas from her with one hand, all six stacked up and balancing on his upturned forearm.
“Show-off.”
“Robin, I’m serious. He looked right at me and said ‘I know.’; What’s up with that? Does he actually know?” his voice whispering in an agitated tone.
“How should I know?” She whispers back in the same tone. “Maybe you should just tell him. Where are you going to go from here with the roses anyway? You literally left one on the man’s doorstep. What’s next, you going to somehow stick it up his ass without him knowing?? Wait_don’t answer that. I don’t ever want to know what you may or may not stick up his ass.” She waved her hands around frantically to Steve’s appalled expression as if trying to wave away her thoughts.
“Let's just get these pizzas to your children; but seriously, at least think about coming clean? I’m 100% sure he’ll be thrilled it was you.” She grabbed three of the boxes from him and turned back to the living room.
Steve followed, and couldn’t help but perk up at Eddie’s smile to him when he came around the corner. If Steve had a tail, it’d be wagging a mile a minute. Fuck, he was so gone on Eddie.
Everything about him just glowed. Everyone says that about the people they care about “They light up a room as soon as they walk in.” but with Eddie, it was the whole truth. Well no, maybe not.. Eddie was like a spaceheater? He glowed with a warm light that did, in fact, light up whatever room he was in, but he was always something more. It was like you thawed out whenever you were near him. Like the rest of the world was so cold and bleak, but you didn’t know it until you were near him.
Steve thought about this the rest of the night. Watching Eddie as he spun stories out of nothing but a single thought. Watching him traipse around the room singing parts of Phantom (Steve pretty much had a copy rented out constantly now), much to the rest of the kids’ delight. Watched as he and Dustin acted out lightsaber battles during Star Wars, jumping between cushions and blankets on the floor (“Like Anakin and Obi-Wan did in the new movie Steve, have you really not seen it yet?” Dustin had asked. No, he hadn’t.).
Even after the excitement of the movies and the evening wound down, Eddie was still being their party’s personal spaceheater. Sidling up to Will on the floor while Will was doodling something in his sketchbook. Will seemed apprehensive about talking to Eddie about whatever it was he was drawing, but again Eddie managed to thaw Will out to where they both were talking animatedly and BOTH drawing things in Will’s sketchbook. Steve caught a part of the conversation as he stepped over them later, it must’ve been something about their dragon game or Game Meister-ing since the conversation fully sounded like a foreign language to Steve.
Near ten, after the last movie had stopped (a while ago now, no one had bothered putting in a new one), Steve looked around and found everyone hunkered down with sleepy looks in their eyes.
He got up to start clearing things away, when Eddie started to read.
Steve looked over to the metalhead, back in his spot in the middle of the floor, all the kids sprawled out around him, a copy of The Hobbit in his hand.
‘Where’d he get that? Did he really really bring his own book with him? What a dork’ Steve smiled at the thought.
“In a hole in the ground there lived a hobbit. Not a nasty, dirty, wet hole, filled with the ends of worms and an oozy smell, nor yet a dry, bare, sandy hole with nothing in it to sit down on or to eat: it was a hobbithole, and that means comfort.”
Steve found himself entranced by Eddie’s reading. So much so, in fact, that he didn’t even register Robin and Nancy getting up and start grabbing trash too until Nancy gently pried the pizza box Steve was still holding out of his hand.
“Oh, sorry Nancy, let me help.”
“It’s perfectly fine Steve,” she whispered back “Robin and I took care of it.”
Steve looked around his living room and she was right, there was nothing left to throw out or put away. How long had he been standing there?
“Thanks guys, I appreciate it.”
Robin came up on Nancy’s side then “No worries Dingus, we’re going to head upstairs though. Still okay to use the guest room?”
“Of course, you know where the towels are.” Nancy gave him a small smile and headed up the stairs. Steve stopped Robin as she turned away, whispering even quieter. “Don’t make too much noise okay?”
Her face turned beet red as he gave her a wink “Shut up!” Robin smacked his arm and turned to follow Nancy up the stairs.
Steve chuckled at her retreating back before returning his attention to Eddie who was still reading, in a softer voice now. Almost everyone was snoring softly around him; tired from being outside all day in the sun, full of junk they probably should have had way less of, and probably just a sense of coziness, warmth, and safety coming from their heater. The only ones still awake were Erica and Dustin, both either too stubborn to want to fall asleep before the other (Erica), or just wanting to hang onto every word he could (Dustin).
Steve wished he could take a picture. Instead, he forced himself to commit the scene in front of him to memory. He never wanted to lose this one. The sight of the love of his life surrounded by his family, safe and happy.
Wait.
Did he just think of Eddie as the love of his life?
Love?
Yes. Love.
Steve Harrington was in love with Eddie Munson.
Eddie Munson, town freak. Eddie Munson, Super-Super Senior. Perfect, beautiful, amazing Eddie Munson. Eddie Munson, the father of his children.
The love of his life.
Steve felt the need to run away. ‘Just tell him! TELL HIM!’ So he did the opposite, he turned to run up to his room and hide away from what just happened inside his head. ‘Coward! Useless coward!‘
But before he could even fully step foot on the bottom step, Eddie was calling out to him in a whisper.
“Steve! Wait for me!”
Steve turned to the sound and started chuckling at the sight of Eddie trying to step between the bodies around him like he was navigating a minefield (and he really was, there were a lot of fingers and toes hidden under the blankets around his feet).
“As soon as I saw Dustin drop off, I knew Erica was going to follow.” Eddie said, smiling up at Steve before turning back to admire the piles of blankets on the floor and couches in front of him.
“Yeah, she’s a stubborn one.” Steve laughed quietly, “Come on man, you can bunk with me.”
They started up the steps “What, no guest room in this big house?”
“There’s only one, and Robin and Nancy already claimed that one for themselves.”
“Oohohoho! Good for them.” Eddie laughed
“I warned Robin to keep it down, but if you hear anything, just pretend you didn’t for their sake.”
“No worries Stevie, I wouldn’t want to incur the wrath of Buckley for making fun like that.” Eddie paused before continuing, “Or Nancy for that matter.” He shuddered at the thought.
Steve snorted out a laugh at that as they came to the landing at the top of the stairs, and took a left.
“Here we are.” Steve opened the door and let Eddie in first.
Eddie let out a low whistle as he stepped into the room. “Wow Harrington, this wallpaper is…something.”
“Laugh it up Munson, I didn’t pick it.” Steve closed the door and leaned back against it with his arms crossed. “And my mom would have a conniption if I even asked to change it.”
Eddie looked at him with pity, but Steve pushed past the look and went to his drawers, “You need some underwear too, or are you good?” Steve asked, handing Eddie a pair of black sweats that were always too small for him. “I have some brand new ones if you need them, so you don’t have to wear mine.” Steve gave a soft chuckle, embarrassed to even suggest it.
Eddie laughed and took the sweats from Steve. “No man, I’m covered, I’ve got some of mine in my..oh fuck I left my bag downstairs. I’m gonna go grab it.” Eddie said, throwing his thumb over his shoulder toward the door as he also started walking back towards it.
Steve chuckled, “OK man, be careful not to wake anyone up. I’m going to jump in the shower.” Steve also gestured behind him with his thumb towards his ensuite.
“No need to worry about me Stevie, I am stealthy like a ninja.” Eddie lifted his leg and gestured to his socked foot before turning out the door and jingled down the hall.
‘Seems like he forgot about that damn chain around his hip.’ Steve laughed to himself and headed into the bathroom to get cleaned up for the night.
—---
Eddie snuck down the hall from Steve’s room and down the steps toward the front door for his bag.
As he was sneaking back, he checked in on the kids again. Everyone was where he left them earlier, all quietly breathing or (in Dustin’s case) snoring loudly.
Smiling to himself, Eddie stalked back up the stairs, taking them two at a time up to the landing. There was, in fact, some sort of noise coming from behind the closed door right at the top of the steps and Eddie had to slap his hand over his mouth to keep from bursting out laughing as he slunk back into Steve’s room softly closing the door behind him.
Eddie didn’t quite know what to do while he waited for Steve to be done in the shower. He dropped his bag next to the door and fished out a new pair of boxers and a Judas Priest shirt, piling them with the sweats Steve lent him on the bed.
Deciding to poke around, Eddie went to Steve’s desk and looked at all the papers spread across the top. A couple pay stubs, a couple old notes that looked to be between him and robin, some notebooks that Eddie pointedly did not open, and a couple tickets. Most of them for movies, but one, just a small slip of orange paper stuck under the glass top of the desk itself, is printed with: “Hawkins High Presents the Fall/Winter 2002 production of ‘The Phantom of the Opera’. November 29, 2002.”.
Eddie ran his fingers over the glass above the ticket. ‘The first show..?’ he thinks. ‘But the first rose didn’t show up until the last show..on the 1st?’
His fingers catch on the edge of the notebook on top of the glass above the ticket and when it moves, for just a split second, Eddie sees more orange paper.
He lifts the notebook out of the way and there are two other tickets, identical except for the dates printed on them. November 30, 2002 and December 1, 2002.
Eddie felt his throat tighten and his eyes start to burn. Steve went to all three showings? Why? That’s so sweet and also so unexpected? Shit, all of this is unexpected, god, he is such a fucking sap.. He kept these all this time?
Eddie didn’t get much farther in this spiral before he heard the shower turn off in the ensuite. Placing the notebook carefully back where it was, Eddie shot up out of the chair and started looking at the small cluster of photos above Steve’s dresser instead. Mostly shots of the kids, one of him and Robin in their Scoops uniforms, and one of the whole party at Eddie, Robin, and Nancy’s graduation. Eddie’s throat had stopped clenching up on him by now, but seeing that Steve had this picture made it seize tight again.
Steve threw open the door and Eddie jumped like he was caught with his hand in the cookie jar.
“Jesus H. Christ, you scared me!” Eddie slapped his hand over his chest. Managing to keep his face looking incredulous at the sight of a damp-haired, damp-skinned, shirtless Steve. Eddie thanked the universe that Steve had actually put on pants before coming out of the bathroom. Though the gray sweatpants that were hung low on Steve’s hips were only slightly better than if he’d come out with just a towel around his waist.
Steve chuckled at him and said “Your turn, Munson. Feel free to use whatever you want that’s in there.” Steve scrubbed the towel over his hair and stopped Eddie from his path toward the bathroom with his stack of clothes in hand, with an “Oh yeah, there’s a new toothbrush in the top left drawer for you if you like, and the towels on the shelf above the toilet are clean.”
“Thanks Steve!” Eddie smiled at him, closing the door (almost all the way) behind him. He set his clothes on the closed toilet lid before he leaned forward on the sink and let out a long breath. ‘Fuck he’s so hot.’ Eddie thought to himself as he stripped down, hopped into the shower, and started washing the sun, sweat, and sunscreen from his skin (and doing his best to ignore his *ahem* semi-problem).
Studying the bottles in front of him, Eddie grabbed the most un-assuming bottles of shampoo and conditioner, hoping he wasn’t using the most expensive shit here, and scrubbed the chlorine out of his hair.
This whole time, he was singing quietly. He decided to torture Steve a bit (if he happened to be listening) by singing the songs Steve had used the lyrics of for the roses. Eddie just wanted Steve to come clean already; he was going insane keeping himself from planting one on Steve’s stupidly pretty face every time he saw the younger man.
Once finished, he re-dressed, hung his towel around his shoulders to keep the water from soaking his shirt, and brushed his teeth with the toothbrush Steve told him about.
Opening the door, Eddie used the towel to scrunch the dripping ends of his hair up into the rest of his head like his uncle had told him to do (“You and your mom have the same hair, and that’s what she always used to do. Said it helps her curls.” Wayne shrugged). While busy with that, Eddie didn’t notice right away that Steve was pacing.
“Steve? You okay?” Eddie asked him, still scrunching his hair.
Steve stopped his pacing for a moment, looked at Eddie, and his already pinched expression pinched up tighter as he resumed his path on the carpet.
“Steve. Steve! You’re freaking me out, what’s wrong?”
“I can’t do this anymore!” he blurted, turning to look at Eddie. “I can’t do it anymore.” repeating himself, quieter this time.
Eddie froze. There it was. The other shoe he didn’t know he was waiting for, dropping. Here it comes, the ‘I can’t believe you thought I was into you.’, the ‘I was just flirting with you to see how riled up I could get you.’, the heartbreak.
“Hey, no worries, Steve. I’ll just head out, back off.” Eddie smiled through the pain.
“Wait, w_what?” Steve spluttered.
“Yeah, really, no worries. I’ll see you around at work but I’ll give you your space.” Eddie walked over and grabbed up his bag from the floor, throat constricting and eyes burning again.
“Eddie?” Steve’s voice was small, broken sounding. Eddie forced himself not to look back at him.
“I guess we’ll see who gets what kids now, huh?” Eddie said with a sad chuckle. He turned the knob and started to pull open the door when:
“It was me!”
The silence felt like it went on for hours.
“What are you talking about, Harrington.”
“It was me. It is me. I’m the one leaving you the roses.”
Eddie clicked the door shut, but kept his hand on the knob, facing away from Steve.
“That’s what I meant. I can’t keep it from you anymore. I needed to tell you. And if you’re disappointed that it’s me, I_I understand.” Steve’s voice cracked and Eddie turned to face him.
Eddie’s heart felt like it was going to jump out of his chest, it was beating so hard.
Eddie dropped his bag and slowly walked toward Steve, arms out like he was trying to contain a feral animal. “Steve. Stevie, sweetheart..”
Steve looked like he wanted to jump out the window.
“I’m sorry for lying Eddie, I was so convinced you were going to be disappointed that it was me.”
“Never. I had been hoping it was you since you threw that one to me on stage. Of course, I didn't know it was you then, but you were sneaky weren’t you Big Boy?” Eddie was close enough to reach forward and grab Steve’s hand, lacing their fingers together and smiling at him.
A small laugh bubbled out of Steve at that, his cheeks turning pink before his face dropped back into a worried frown.
“What, did you push through the crowd just to throw it and go back to where I knew you were before?”
Steve blushed harder “Well it worked didn’t it?” he laughed, the tension starting to ease from his shoulders.
Eddie laughed along with him.
“Eddie,” Steve started, leaning into Eddie slightly
“Yes, Steve?” Eddie leaned forward too.
“Can I_can I kiss you?”
Their faces hovered closer and closer
“Please..” Eddie’s voice was nothing more than a breathless whisper before Steve’s lips met his.
It was pure bliss.
Steve’s free hand coming up to Eddie's side and pulling him flush to his (still bare) chest punched out a soft moan from Eddie.
Steve hummed back and pressed himself closer to Eddie, only to spin them around and push Eddie back onto his bed.
Eddie crawled backwards to lay against the pillows and pulled Steve down on top of him, Steve slotted his hips into the space between Eddie’s legs like he belonged there.
‘He does, he always will.’ The thought shot through Eddie and he hummed contentedly, his hips grinding up into the weight of Steve’s above him, unrelenting.
Eddie carded his fingers through Steve’s hair as he kissed him, pulling a bit, and causing Steve to groan so deep in his chest that he could feel it reverberate into his.
Steve’s hands ran down Eddie’s sides, and up under his shirt. Their warmth left trails in their wake as they ran up his stomach, his right stopping to hold at his waist and the other continuing up, the fingers brushing over his only remaining nipple.
Eddie smiled against Steve’s mouth, giddy with what was happening, and also to laugh at the situation as a whole.
Steve felt it and smiled too, pulling back and looking down at Eddie with those beautiful hazel eyes, hair askew, “What?”
Unable to sort through every happy thought that was swirling through his mind at the moment, he decided to go with another observation he had made.
“You quoted the Phantom and Christine, but never Raoul. And you’re definitely Raoul.” Eddie couldn’t stop grinning.
Steve smiled down at Eddie, and what he did next made the grin fall off Eddie’s face, changing to disbelief. And this time, the constricting throat and burning eyes were fully welcomed.
Steve started to sing.
“Anywhere you go, let me go too.” Steve started leaning down once again, “Love me. That’s all I ask of you.”
