steddie defender₊⊹

When Eddie woke up the next morning, it was to insistent knocking at the front door of the trailer.

He groggily raises his head to look for his alarm clock. After Steve left the previous evening, Eddie had trouble falling asleep, mulling over everything that happened.

He must’ve fallen asleep somewhere between wondering whether Robin and Steve were dating and fantasizing about Steve being in his bed with him, forgetting to set an alarm. Because when his half-shut eyes found the clock, it was 11am already.

The knocking doesn’t stop. In fact, it seems to get louder and harsher by the second.

“Jesus Christ, does nobody have patience anymore…” Eddie mumbles as he pulls a shirt over his head. He hoped Wayne wouldn’t get up. After the gate incident, the government provided them with a new, shiny, bigger trailer, which meant Wayne didn’t have to sleep on the pullout couch in the living room anymore, but the walls are still thin.

He fully expects it to be bible thumpers, or someone trying to pull a prank on him. That has been the case for most impromptu knocks at his door ever since he was accused of murder. That’s why, as he went to open the front door, he did it with an angry “What the FUCK do you want,”, only to be met with the shocked eyes of one Steve Harrington. Max was standing behind him, looking painfully unamused.

“Uh.. Hi Eddie. Sorry for bothering you. I’ve been knocking for a while. I just left my wallet here yesterday? Do you think I could come in and get it real quick?” Steve looks a little shy, rubbing his hand against his neck.

Eddie rushes to fix it. “Shit, hi Steve. I thought you were someone else. Of course you can, come in. It’s in my room.” he had found the wallet on the table next to the telephone yesterday. Curiosity got the best of him, and he ended up snooping through it. There was nothing incriminating about it except for an expired condom, which he snorted at, and a small Polaroid picture of Robin, which immediately served to kill his amusement. Goddammit.

Steve looks at him with relief, small smile forming on his face. As he stepped into the trailer, Eddie acknowledges Max for the first time. “And what are you doing here?” She gives him a deadpan look.

Eddie always appreciated Max for her bluntness and sarcasm. Most of the time, he thought she was hilarious, always humbling the boys attitude with a jab at their egos. That didn’t mean he liked it when it was directed at him, though.

“Where’s my warm welcome, asshole? Some fuckin’ host you are. Steve offered to drive me to the arcade. I would’ve asked you, but you’re worse at driving than me. I already had one near death experience, I don’t need another one.” Her face stayed blank, but he could see a hint of amusement in her eyes.

“Oh ha ha, very funny. I’ll have you know that there isn’t even a scratch on my van, thank you very much.”

Max went to retort, but was interrupted by Steve. “Hey Eddie, can you come with me? I don’t know which one’s your room.” he looked at Eddie sheepishly.

“Yeah, of course. Need to get away from the witch anyway.” he shudders as he looks at Max, and she puts up her fingers to her head, mimicking Eddie’s devil horns. Rude. He sticks out his tongue at her, which gets her to snort out her nose.

Eddie steps in front of Steve to lead him to his room, thanking a God he doesn’t believe him that he accidentally cleaned his room yesterday.

As Steve walks in, his eyes widen. “Damn, you have a lot of shit in here.”

Insecurity seeps through Eddie’s bones. He has seen Steve’s house, his room. It’s all meticulously clean and organized; not a speck of dust, barely a trinket to be seen. All books and movies carefully put away in shelves. In comparison, Eddie’s room must look like a mess to him. He has endless posters up on his walls, and every flat surface has some sort of nerd memorabilia accompanying it.

Eddie clears his throat. “Yeah, sorry, it’s kinda messy in here-”

“No, no! I like it. I do. Feels very… you. In a good way, of course.” He turns away from the poster he was looking at to smile at Eddie, and he hopes Steve couldn’t hear his heart beating out of his chest. Or notice the blush creeping up his cheeks. Whoops.

Not many people have seen his room. It’s kind of like his safe haven. All the material things that are important to him are proudly displayed, from his best drawings to his DnD figurines. Pictures of him and his uncle litter the walls, and his guitar hangs from the wall hanger. Steve carefully traces his fingers over the strings, and it makes a little sound.

For some reason, Steve liking it gives him a strange sense of validation. His room is made up of himself, and if Steve feels comfortable here, he must feel comfortable with Eddie, right? He feels all warm inside at the thought.

He struggles to string a sentence together, “Uh.. thank you. That’s cool. That you like it, I mean. I like it too. Obviously. I made it, kinda. So, y’know.” Steve gives him an amused grin at his antics, but Eddie is too busy with his fondness for Steve to feel the embarrassment.

They stand around awkwardly for another few seconds until Eddie jumps into action and grabs the wallet that had been lying on his nightstand. “Here! There it is. Safe and sound. Swear I didn’t steal any money,” he jokes as he throws the wallet to Steve, who catches it with ease, which Eddie thinks looks really hot. Stupid jock, he thinks mournfully.

“Thanks. I’ll head out, then. Can’t leave Max waiting for too long or she starts getting mean again. I think I just got her to like me.”

“I don’t think Max truly likes anyone except for El and Lucas, but keep trying.” Eddie laughs as he says it.

Steve laughs back and goes to leave his room, then stops before grabbing the door handle. He turns back around to face Eddie, but looks hesitant doing so. “Hey, you busy today? You can come with, if you want. I don’t have to work today so I was just gonna hang out at home. We can watch a movie again, maybe? Or do something else, whatever you want.”

Well, that was unexpected. Eddie thought they had fun yesterday, but he didn’t expect Steve to want to hang out again so soon. He could barely stand himself for longer than two hours, so Eddie had no idea why Steve would purposefully subject himself to the horror that is Eddie Munson.

He wasn’t about to complain though. “Yeah, of course. I’d love to. Let me just get ready real quick? I just woke up. Haven’t even brushed my teeth yet.” He already grabs his jeans from his desk chair as he says it, choosing to just wear the same T-shirt he threw on earlier. He figured that if it wasn’t in the laundry basket already, it must be clean enough. Hopefully. “Sure, take your time. Max will survive.” but even after agreeing, Steve just stayed still in front of the door, staring at Eddie. Did he just expect him to strip right here, with Steve watching? He is an ex-jock, so that might be normal to him, but Eddie is a gay loser who spent most of his P.E. classes hiding behind the school smoking a joint.

Eddie shoots an annoyed look his way. “Some privacy, maybe?” Steve suddenly snaps out of whatever haze he was in, eyes widening. He fumbles for the door handle, missing at first. “Oh, yeah! Yeah, sorry. I’ll wait outside with Max. I’ll go.” He stumbles out of the door, leaving a perplexed Eddie behind. “What the hell is going on with him..” he mumbles under his breath as he pulls down his pajama pants.

Once Eddie got ready and they got into the car, Max quickly started bickering with Eddie. She insisted on riding shotgun, claiming she called it long before Eddie even opened the door. Eddie had a few words to say to that.

He glanced at Steve while Max was busy spitting insults at him, and found a fond smile on his way.

Eddie couldn’t help but feel accomplished; he knew the kids meant a lot to Steve. He couldn’t shake the feeling that he was passing some sort of test by making playful banter with her.

They arrive just as Max went on to call Eddie trailer trash (“You live in a trailer too, missy!”) and Eddie goes to step out of the beemer. The other boys are already waiting outside of the entrance, and Max makes a hasty exit.

Steve stops him before he can push the door open, “Hey, wait, I thought we were gonna do something together?” Steve looks back at him, clearly confused.

“Uhh, we are? I wanna go inside! Play some games with you. Haven’t been here in yeaars.” he finishes going outside and opens the car door for Steve, but he doesn’t make a move to get up.

“Dude, that’s cuz we’re too old for this. We both graduated already!” Steve throws his arms in the air and places them on the steering wheel, both hands gripping it tightly.

“Never too old to have fun, Stevie! Let’s go! You said we could do whatever I wanted, remember? And I wanna do this!”

Steve blinks up at him for a few moments, before chuckling to himself and moving to get up. He walks past him, Eddie quickly following behind, and he can hear him muttering “You are something else, Munson.”. It doesn’t sound annoyed though. More affectionate. Eddie grins at Steve as he opens the door for him.

Eddie pulls out his wallet and steps towards the changing machine, attempting to put a 10 dollar bill in.

“Wait, I should pay. You already paid for the pizza yesterday..” Steve protests, grabbing Eddie’s arm to pull it away from the machine, but Eddie quickly escapes and puts it in anyway. “You didn’t wanna go here, so it’s my treat. Don’t worry about it, baby.” he turns to grin at him, and is met with the pretty sight of Steve’s shy eyes and pink cheeks.

Once Eddie collected all the quarters he made his way to the first machine he plans to tackle. He motions for Steve to follow him and as they walk past the party Dustin gives them an odd luck, but Eddie decides to ignore it.

“Contra? What is this? I don’t remember..” Steve inspects the guns at the machine they landed on.

“It’s new, I read about it recently. Basically we just shoot jungle shit. It’s supposed to be fun, and we can play at the same time.” He holds up one of the quarters he stashed in his pockets, offering it to Steve.

Steve looks at him warily, but grabs the quarter nonetheless and slots it in the machine.

As expected, Steve is horrible. He keeps missing and they lose pretty much every round they play. Eddie can’t get himself to get annoyed with him giggling by his side, though.

“Dude, don’t push me! We’re on the same team!” Eddie yells while Steve pokes his elbow into his ribs.

“Yeah, but you keep shooting everything! I wanna shoot something too!” Steve replies with a breathy laugh, digging his elbow deeper into Eddie’s stomach.

Eddie loosens his grip on the gun to push Steve’s elbow back, “Ouch! You wouldn’t shoot anything if I didn’t hit either! You keep missing!” at that Steve also removes both hands from the gun, trying to push back into Eddie, but Eddie starts pinching him instead. “Dude, pinching? What are you, 10?”

They end up play fighting, loosely slapping each other right there in front of the game. They briefly stop when the big “YOU LOSE” screen appears on the machine. Steve turns to look at Eddie with a playful frown on his face. “You made me lose!” he yells as he pushes Eddie away.

“What!? Me!? Again, you didn’t even hit anything! You would’ve lost with or without me! Also you started this!” Eddie laughs and grabs both of Steve’s hands into his, stopping Steve from hitting him in the chest.

Steve struggles briefly before slowly coming to a halt. His soft smile lands on Eddie’s face and for a moment, they stand there looking at each other. Eddie swears he can see Steve’s eyes drop to his lips, before they shoot back up and his face flushes red.

Eddie must have been imagining it, right? Or maybe there’s something on his face? Whatever it was, now it planted itself into Eddie’s head, growing and spreading just like a weed until every corner of his brain is covered with it. He can’t help but look down himself, staring at Steve’s soft, slightly pink lips, looking glossy enough to have Eddie believe that he’s wearing some sort of lip balm.

The little bubble they built for themselves is broken when two kids push past them to get to Contra. Eddie immediately drops Steve’s hands and looks away, taking a step back. When he looks around, he can see one of the workers looking at them suspiciously,

Goddammit. Goddammit. Not only did he let himself lost in this little lie he’s created, in the fantasy that Steve might not be straight, but he did it in public. He needs to get a hold of himself before all this ends in disaster and he ends up lying beaten and bloody next to the dumpsters of the arcade.

He shakes himself loose, then redirects Steve’s attention, who’s been looking at him hesitantly. “We should play Donkey Kong.”

“What?” Steve’s voice is breathy. “Donkey Kong! Let’s play it. You can go first. C’mon.” he speed walks past him, marching towards the machine, but is forced to stop when he sees Mike and Will already occupying it, standing close together with determined looks on their faces. “Fuck it.” He turns back around to Steve. “Wanna go out for a smoke?”

He can tell Steve is completely confused by his sudden mood switches. He looks at him like he just grew a second head. He nods at him nonetheless and they find themselves in an alley, awkward tension between them.

Steve passes their shared cigarette between them. “I don’t think I wanna stay at the arcade..” he mutters as Eddie takes a long drag.

“You can go home, if you want.” Eddie answers, albeit dejectedly. He was genuinely excited to hang out with Steve. He must’ve given him whiplash in there. But Eddie is, at his core, an anxious person. He sees trouble, he runs. It doesn’t matter if the trouble is real or not.

He can feel Steve staring at him out of the side of his eye, but he’s too scared to look at his expression.

“Nah, man. We just got here, like, 30 minutes ago. That in there was.. Well. It’s too crowded for us.”

A weight dropped off of Eddie’s shoulders. Steve felt the same way, so he didn’t fuck it up yet. Thank God. “Well, pretty boy, where do you wanna go next?”

Steve finally shoots him another smile, and Eddie notices for the first time how sweet it looks. Gentle, almost. There’s genuine fondness in his eyes. But it vanishes quickly, replaced by a little smirk, an uptick on the left side of his face.

“Wanna get high?”

“You do NOT have to ask twice.”

When Eddie gets home from Family Video, he does something that would make his uncle consider an exorcism; he starts cleaning the trailer.

Now, Eddie is not a dirty person. He won’t leave dirty underwear lying around, and all dishes immediately go in the sink. He dusts his trinkets regularly enough and he cleans up any stains and spills. He also doesn’t go more than two days without taking a shower and he puts on deodorant every morning.

This, however, does not mean that he is not a messy person. Instead of dirty underwear he leaves T-shirts on the floor that he should probably put back in his dresser. Papers of doodles and scribbles and notes are lying on every flat surface in his room, even on the floor next to his bed. He’s been meaning to buy a bookshelf ever since he moved in with Wayne but never got around to it, which means there are piles of books in every corner of the room.

The living room isn’t much better, considering Wayne and him are flesh and blood. Newspapers are stacking up on top of each other on the living room table, and there’s unorganized folders lying around everywhere he can look, with Wayne hastily looking through each one with no rhyme or reason whenever he needs a document, not bothering to put them back into the cupboard once he finds what he’s looking for.

They never had to keep the trailer clean. The only people who ever came by were people looking for stronger drugs, and Eddie didn’t really care what those people thought about his living conditions. They had bigger fish to fry. But he does care what Steve thinks. Even if this entire situation was only some stupid experiment to put Steve’s good guy status to the test, he would like to stay friends with the guy afterwards without having him think he’s trailer trash.

Eddie starts in the living spaces; putting all the folders back into their designated cupboards and trying to find the right places to put the stray files Wayne left on the kitchen counter. He quickly throws away all of Wayne’s newspapers, which he’s probably gonna be angry about, but he can deal. Then he does the dishes and carefully puts them where they belong.

His room is a bit harder to deal with. He ends up throwing all the laundry in his dresser without folding them or organizing them in the slightest. His papers all get crammed into his desk, which he slightly winces at. He just knows he’s gonna end up throwing all of it back onto the floor once he needs something, but he doesn’t have time to care right now.

Eddie desperately tries to come up with some place he can store his books, but comes up short. He settles for straightening up the existing piles and picking up those that fell over.

Halfway through changing his bed sheets, Eddie realizes that what he’s doing isn’t necessary at all because there’s no TV in his room and Steve wouldn’t have a reason to enter it. He finishes putting on new bed sheets with a frown on his face. At least he’s prepared in case Steve asks to see his room.

After he’s done he goes to take a shower, even though he knows it’s stupid because this is not a real date. While washing his hair, he laughs at the thought of Steve reacting to his shower routine, with his perfect hair that probably takes him an hour and several products to master. In comparison, Eddie’s 3-in-1 bottle would probably send the guy into shock.

Once he’s dried off, he sits himself down and glances at the clock on the wall. It’s currently 7:35, so he’s got another 25 minutes to kill. He starts fidgeting with his rings.

Looks back at the clock. 7:38. Continues playing with his jewelry, moving up to his bracelets. Places his eyes back up to the wall.

7:40. Decides to put the movie into the VHS player already. Gives the clock another glance. 7:42.

Starts dusting off Wayne’s mug collection. Looks at the time. 7:48.

Picks up the book he’s currently reading. Goes through one page before realizing that he’s too nervous to comprehend anything. Another glance at the clock. 7:53.

Sits back on the couch. Considers ordering the pizza already, but decides against it in case he gets something Steve doesn’t like. Looks at the familiar spot on the wall. 7:56

Decides to wait it out until Steve gets arrives. Spaces out while staring at the front door. When he snaps himself out of it, he looks at the clock once more. 8:03.

Shit, did Steve knock and Eddie was too in his own world to hear it? He goes to open the front door to check, but there’s no sign of Steve or his car. He goes back inside and stands directly in front of the entrance. He doesn’t really know what to do with himself, so he goes to the window next to the front door and peaks through the blinds.

He watches the empty streets of the trailer park right up until he hears the familiar screech of Steve’s car. He startles himself and basically stumbles all the way back to the couch, landing with a painful crack that can only mean Wayne will soon have to buy a new one, but he tries not to worry about it too much right now.

When Steve knocks, Eddie waits exactly five seconds (yes, he counted) before going to answer. Once he sees him, he leans against the side of the door frame and grins with his teeth.

“Stevie! You made it!” He throws his left arm in the air in faux excitement, which isn’t really faux at all.

Steve grins back, giving a quick exhale through his nose at Eddie’s antics. “Of course. Sorry I’m late, I got us a six pack and the line was a little longer than expected.” he taps his right fingers on the cans of beer he’s carrying under his arm.

Stepping back from the door frame, Eddie invites Steve to step in to the trailer. “Oh, you’re late? Sorry, I forgot to check the time. I was just reading.” With Steve’s back turned to him, Eddie winces at his own words. The lie doesn’t even sound convincing to himself. Why is he even lying? The point is to flirt, Eddie! Not play hard to get! He tries reminding himself.

Once both were in the living room and the front door is shut, Eddie puts himself back on the couch, a lot more careful than previously.

“So, big boy, what’d ya wanna eat? Pepperoni Pizza?” he pats the spot on the couch next to him, inviting Steve to sit down. He does so after gently putting the six pack on the coffee table.

Steve just shrugs. “’m not too picky.” He looks a little flustered, and can’t seem to be able to look Eddie in the eyes.

Eddie quirks his brow, but otherwise remains silent. The phone sits on a little table next to Steve’s side on the couch, so instead of standing up and walking to it like a normal person, he bends himself over Steve’s lap, the only things stopping him from laying on top of him being his knees and his left hand.

It’s an uncomfortable position to be making a phone call in, let alone dial a number, but he feels Steve’s entire body freeze up and sees one of his hands halt over his waist. Eddie’s heart rate picks up at the promise of feeling the other man’s touch, but just as he finishes dialing the number, Steve drops his hand on the couch, away from the heat radiating from his body.

Once he’s done ordering, he sits up straight and drops himself much closer to Steve than before. Their thighs weren’t quite touching, but he could knock their knees together if he wanted. Which he kinda does.

Steve clears his throat before he starts speaking. “So, you ready to watch the best movie ever made?”

“Oh shit, you changed your mind? We’re not watching The Breakfast Club?” Eddie fakes a gasp.

The other boy knocks his elbow against Eddie’s rib cage and laughs. “Don’t be a dick! I don’t even understand what you have against that movie. Isn’t it totally up to your speed? Defying the labels people put on you in high school? Exploring the depth of characters that seem superficial? That’s, like, your whole thing!” As he says it, Steve throws his arms around dramatically, imitating Eddie’s mannerisms.

“I mean, yeah, the message is nice I guess, but it’s poorly executed! I mean, the weird girls storyline literally ends with her getting the worst make over in history and suddenly being worthy of respect. It’s not defying forced conformity, it’s the exact opposite.” While Eddie goes on his rant, Steve starts smirking at him, and Eddie realizes that he’s wound him up on purpose.

“You fucker! You tried to get a tangent out of me!”

Steve raises his shoulders up to his ears. “It worked, didn’t it? I kinda missed your notorious lunch table rants. I feel like a teenager again!” he threw his head back on top of the cushion of the couch and dramatically yelled up to the ceiling.

“Yeah, laugh it up, Harrington. We’ll see how much you’ll miss my lunch table rants when I talk throughout the entire movie to point out every flaw it has.”

“Oh no, whatever will I do? I’m definitely not used to Eddie Munson talking my ear off yet! This will be such a new experience for me!” his voice is dripping with sarcasm but Eddie can hear the laughter in it. He slides further down the couch and jokingly crosses his arms and pouts. “Whatever, just grab the remote and start the movie.”

Steve giggles – honest to God giggles – and does as he’s told.

Eddie keeps his promise and talks throughout almost the entire movie, critiquing everything from Bender’s hostile attitude to the limited diversity in the cast.

Steve surprises him by agreeing with almost everything he says. Nodding along with a “I haven’t thought about it like that before.” every so often. He seems unbothered by Eddie’s constant interruptions, might even be entertained by them.

When they get to Allison’s make over, Steve stares at the screen and goes to start a sentence, but stops himself. When Eddie looks at him curiously, he mumbles again. “I never understood why they put all that in. I thought she was a lot hotter before they doused her in pink.” He quickly glances over to Eddie before adjusting his eyes back to the screen.

Eddie grins mischievously. “What, you mean to tell me King Steve is secretly into weird girls? What, cheerleader uniforms and pencil skirts don’t do it for you anymore? Need a girl dressed in black?” he tilts his head towards Steve’s face so they’re forced to make eye contact.

Steve darts his eyes back and forth, seemingly uncomfortable with Eddie’s eyes on him. “Something like that, I guess.”

Before Eddie can tease him about it further, Steve pushes him back into the couch and mutters a silent “Watch the movie, man.” and Eddie follows orders, miming zipping his lips shut.

It isn’t long before Steve speaks up again. “You know, we’re kinda like them.”

Eddie whips his head around to face him. “Pardon?”

Steve exhales out of his nose. “We’re like them, kinda. Nancy is a mix of the princess and the brain, I’m the athlete, Robin is the basket case, and you’re the criminal.” He grins while he says it.

He remembers how earlier, Steve talked about finding Allison hot before they changed her appearance to look more normal, and his suspicions in Family Video, and he tries to ignore the pain that’s piercing him through his chest. A lot more things make sense now, like how protective they are of each other. Why King Steve ended up becoming incredibly close with a random, awkward band geek. How they seem to spend every free minute with each other, to the point where Steve even gives her a ride to school. How Steve got all hesitant saying it, almost shy.

But Eddie doesn’t think they would keep their relationship a secret anymore, so it’s probably true that it must still be in the works. Maybe they were friends before Steve decided to make a move, and they’re currently in the awkward first dates stage. Maybe Steve hasn’t made a move yet and is currently planning it.

Whichever one it is, Eddie should not care. He tries telling himself that over and over again. This is fake. This is a test. His flirting isn’t serious. Steve is straight. Steve has a crush on Robin.

He pretends that nothing is wrong. “Oh, really? You think me and Nancy are gonna start hitting it off soon, then?” He wiggles his eyebrows suggestively.

Steve laughs, but it sounds hollow. He diverts his gaze from off of Eddie’s face again. “Maybe. I think you’re gonna have to go through Jonathan first, though.”

The reaction throws Eddie off. Is he still carrying a torch for Nancy, too? This guy seriously needs to get his love life in check, Eddie thinks bitterly.

He puts his fingers to his chin and acts like he’s considering it. “Mhh, nah. Don’t think so. I’m not really into the whole princess schtick.”

Steve knocks their knees together, just like Eddie thought of doing earlier, His hands begin to sweat.

“Yeah? Which schtick do you like, then?”

Eddie musters together every bit of confidence he still has left in him. “I don’t know. I guess the athlete is more my type.” He tries to keep looking at the side of Steve’s face, not wanting to show the other man that he’s nervous, but it’s hard when Steve’s entire body freezes up again, the only sign of life being the blush that’s slowly creeping up his cheeks. This is it, he’s gonna tell me to fuck off now, storm out the trailer and never talk to me again, Eddie thinks, but instead Steve just starts smiling down at his lap.

“Didn’t expect that from you, Munson. Thought you’d be into rocker chicks, but I guess cheerleaders is more your thing, then?” His gaze slowly shifts back to Eddie’s, showing off the pink shade of his cheeks.

“Something like that.” Eddie mirrors the phrase Steve used earlier.

They stare at each other for a few more seconds, the butterflies in Eddie’s stomach threatening to rise up his throat, when the doorbell interrupts them and Eddie jumps up immediately.

“Pizza’s here!” Eddie yells while strutting towards the front door. Get it together, Munson!

Once Eddie settles back into the couch, this time with a lot more space from Steve to place the Pizza beneath them, they fall into a comfortable silence, both happy to just watch the movie.

It isn’t until Brian is done with his monologue and Don’t You (Forget About Me) clings out that Steve speaks up again.

“Y’know, before this, I kinda thought you hated me.” He stares down at the slice of Pizza in his hands as Eddie’s eyes widen, slowly turning his head.

“What? Why would you think that?”

Steve clears his throat. “You never really tried to talk to me one on one before. Whenever I’d try to when we were all hanging out together or I was picking the kids up from Hellfire, you’d get all weird and I could barely get two sentences out of you before you’d go talk to someone else instead. I actually tried to ask you to watch a movie with me before, but you got so cagey that I decided against it.”

He looks weirdly dejected at that, and Eddie feels guilt running through his bones. He had been avoiding Steve at all cost. His weird half-crush combined with still not fully believing that he could be as good of a person made him put his walls up around the other boy. He tried to protect himself, but he ended up hurting Steve in the process, and he was too self-absorbed to even notice.

“I, I guess I was kinda wary of you, for a long time. I already told you in the upside down, but you, as a person, go against everything I believe. And I knew you in high school, so…” Eddie shrugs while taking another bite of his pizza, but he says it gently. He doesn’t want to hurt Steve any more than he already did.

Steve swallows his bite and laughs, but in a sort of self-deprecating way. “I know I wasn’t the best person in high school, but I’ve been trying to be better, y’know? I mean obviously I get it if you still don’t trust -”

Eddie interrupts him before he can finish that sentence. “No! Don’t say that. You saved my life, Steve. I should’ve given you the benefit of the doubt. Plus, you weren’t even that bad in high school. I just tend to see things sort of black and white, I guess. But that’s not on you, that’s on me.”

At that, Steve finally looks up at him and gives him a small smile. Eddie’s entire body starts tingling, and he suddenly gets the urge to grab Wayne’s camera and take a picture of Steve, maybe keep it in his wallet, too.

Steve takes another bite of his Pizza, then starts speaking. Eddie usually finds that gross, but it’s weirdly endearing on Steve. He thinks he kinda looks like a squirrel.

“So, what made you change your mind about me?”

And Eddie can’t say I didn’t, not really, not until now, at least. Funny story actually, I’m kinda getting paid to be here! so he says the next best thing.

“I guess you’ve slowly proven yourself to be worthy of my time, Harrington. Don’t take it for granted.” he hopes the joke will defuse the tension, and Steve’s small laugh tells him that it worked.

Steve swallows the last bite of their shared pizza, then wipes his hands on his jeans while moving to stand up.

“I should probably go now that the movies over, but maybe we can do this again sometime?”

He sounds hopeful while he says it, and Eddie swears he could feel his heart growing two sizes. “Of course, Stevie. We’ll plan something soon. Can’t get rid of me anymore.” he grins at him, “I trust you can show yourself out? I don’t wanna get up right now.”

Steve laughs again, considering that the front door is almost directly next to the couch, then nods. “Yeah, I think I’ll manage. Bye, Eddie.”

He already opened the front door when Eddie shouts back a dramatic “Bye, Stevie!”

When Eddie hears the engine of Steve’s car start outside, Eddie smiles, and he lets himself forget about the stupid test.

Eddie is standing outside of Family Video with bile threatening to rise up his throat.

Steve and him have never really hung out before. Not casually, and certainly not one on one. Every time they meet it’s either in public or with the barrier of the kids and Robin between them. So Eddie doesn’t even know if Steve will agree to his little plan – but he’s determined to invite him back to his trailer tonight.

He won’t make his intentions too obvious. Eddie thinks of it as merely a gateway, step one of many. Invite him over, watch a movie, flirt with him. Maybe sit a bit too close to him on the couch. After the uncomfortable ordeal of hanging out with someone for the first time – Eddie shudders at the thought – is past them, the rejection process will carry on much quicker. So today is just a way of ripping off the band aid, so to speak.

Taking a deep breath in, Eddie rolls his shoulders and opens up the doors to the store. Steve is standing at the counter, scrolling through the computer system. He looks up when he hears the jingle of the bells.

“Princess Steve! Just the gal I was looking for!” Eddie walks towards Steve with his hands in his pocket.

“Jesus Munson, do you ever talk to anyone normally? Or is it just me who gets the royal treatment?” Steve averts his gaze back to the computer screen. Eddie thinks he sees a pretty pink hue creeping up his cheeks.

Eddie rests his elbows on the counter, staring at Steve with a teasing smirk and what Wayne calls his puppy eyes. “Only the most fair maidens of this land get to be wooed by my poetic words, of course.”

Steve exhales out of his nose with a slight grin on his face and finally pulls himself away from the screen, looking back at Eddie. “Well, I feel honored. What can I help you with?” The change of topic doesn’t go unnoticed, and Eddie counts it as a win.

“What’s your favorite movie, my liege?”

Steve makes a, in Eddie’s humble opinion, very adorable thinking face, then shakes himself out of it in favor of looking around Family Video, “Mhh, not too sure. I haven’t watched many, to be honest. Though Robin has been forcing me the last few months because apparently I lack important general knowledge,” He says the last word making air quotes with his fingers and a roll of his eyes. “I’ve always liked The Breakfast Club, though.” And suddenly the plan Eddie so carefully curated comes crumbling down around him because he would rather die than watch that movie again, but he also knows that forcing Steve to watch one of his indie queer films or his fantasy guilty pleasure flicks would probably end in Steve avoiding Eddie in fear of being forced to another movie night, so Eddie decides to get over his hatred for one evening.

“Perfect! Where can I find it?” Steve raises his eyebrows, but goes around the counter and gestures for Eddie to follow him. Eddie can’t help but notice a strand of hair that has gone wild and has draped itself across Steve’s forehead, bouncing up and down with each of Steve’s steps. Eddie’s hands twitch with the urge to grab him by the wrist and push his hair up for him.

“This movie gets rented so much that I could probably find it in my sleep,” he says as he’s stopping at one of the shelves, tracing his long fingers along the covers of the tapes for just a few seconds before he finds it. “Aha! Got you,” he pulls out the tape and shoots Eddie a proud grin. “So, Munson, got a hot date tonight? Or why are you seeking out my specific taste in cinema?”

Eddie chuckles at Steve’s question. If only he could tell him Nah man, I actually plan to spend my evening trying to romance you, a straight guy, with the end goal being a punch to the face.

He settles for a slightly different response. “Nah man, just thought that maybe, you know, me and you could hang out after your shift? Watch the movie, get some Pizza?” Eddie kicks his foot against the carpet and avoids eye contact. He can’t even try to hide his nerves.

Steve is silent for a few pointed seconds, and it makes Eddie look up. He’s staring at Eddie with furrowed eyebrows and a suspicious glint in his eyes. “Why?”

And shit, why is he reacting like that? Did somebody tell Steve about the dare? Or does Steve already know that Eddie is gay and thinks that he means it as a date? He does mean it as a date, but Steve shouldn’t know that. Why does he know that? Eddie crosses his arms and starts spluttering defensively. “What- What do you mean why? I don’t know! ‘Cuz I wanna hang out with you!”

Another few seconds of silence. “Why?” Steve hasn’t changed his facial expressions or his tone of voice. Maybe he’s trying to call Eddie’s bluff? In which case he obviously has to stick to his guns. He stops swaying side to side to stand directly in front of Steve, a bit more confident than before.

“Dude, we’ve kinda been to hell together, and we’ve barely talked since! I wanna know what’s going on in your life. I wanna be friends.” Only as Eddie is saying it does he realize that it’s kinda true; he really hopes Steve doesn’t turn out to be a douchebag about his flirting. Maybe soon they’ll be able to hang out normally and laugh about all this.

Steve is still staring him down, but his features slowly soften into a less wary scowl, until his face carries a slight smile. “Okay then. Sure. Why not? Not like I’ve got anything else going on.”

Eddie tries not to get offended at that. He’s failing. “Ouch, Harrington, you wound me. Do you only wanna hang out with me ‘cuz you’d be bored otherwise?”

“Yeah, obviously.” But Eddie can hear the teasing tone in his voice, and Steve gives him a light, friendly push against his shoulder.

After snorting at Steve’s antics, Eddie looks at the clock that’s hanging on the wall above the register. “As much as you offend me, King Steve, I will not pass up the opportunity to get you up close and personal in my trailer tonight. When will you be over?”

They both start walking to the register so Steve can ring up the movie, Eddie rummaging through his wallet to find the Family Video card he’s got stashed up somewhere in there. “My shift ends at 7, so I can probably be there by 8, if that’s not too late for you?”

Eddie slides his card on the counter as Steve is typing on the computer. “’Course not, Stevie. Usually I go to bed at 6pm sharp, but I’ll stay up today just for you.” He tilts his head to the side and grins with his teeth. Steve rolls his eyes again.

“Well aren’t I just the luckiest lady in the land?” Steve delivers the sentence with the most unamused sarcastic tone he’s ever heard, and it makes Eddie let out a loud belly laugh.

They get interrupted by the phone ringing, Steve tearing himself from Eddie’s gaze. “Shit, sorry, I gotta get that. Here’s the movie. I’ll see you at 8?” he asks with a shy smile.

“On the dot, Harrington.” As Steve answers the phone, Eddie turns around with the intention of walking towards the exit, but finds himself face to face with Robin Buckley instead.

He shrieks a bit at the sudden appearance, jumping a step back. “Jesus Buckley! Where the hell did you come from?”

She doesn’t reply to him, but instead gives him the same scowl Steve had thrown his way earlier when he first asked him to hang out. “What are you doing?” she asks defensively.

“What do you mean what am I doing? Grabbing a movie?” he raises his eyebrows and taps against the tape he’s currently holding.

“No. I mean what are you doing with Steve.” She pokes Eddie’s chest with her pointer finger as she quietly mutters Steve’s name.

Eddie has not considered this before, although he probably should have. While Steve and Robin keep denying that they are dating or have any sort of romantic feelings for each other, there’s always the option that they’re dating in secret. Maybe Steve doesn’t want his reputation to get tarnished by dating a band geek, so they’re not telling people yet. Or maybe Robin has a crush on Steve and isn’t ready to admit it yet. Either way, she’s clearly jealous of Eddie. Has she figured out that he’s gay? Or is it just suspicion? Eddie decides to play it safe.

“I just asked him to hang out, man. We haven’t spoken much since everything went down.” Robin’s scowl doesn’t waver, if anything her eyebrows draw together even closer. “You never cared before, though.”

“What do you mean, Buckley?”

“It’s been months and you never once asked Steve to hang out. Why now?”

Eddie flounders a bit at the question. He can’t tell her that this is all just a dare, she would immediately tell Steve, no matter what her position on the matter is.

“I don’t know! We talked at his party recently. It was fun. We could be friends, I think. Why do I need to justify why I wanna hang out with him!?” he crosses his arms over his chest where Robin’s finger had previously poked at him.

Robin’s stone cold expression wavers for a moment. “You never – It’s just, you didn’t – Ugh!” her expression scrunches up again, “I’m keeping an eye on you, Munson.”

She starts walking backwards into the store while still staring at him, “Oookay then,” he says as he finally makes his way out of the exit.

When he finally gets back into his van, he promptly drops his head against the steering wheel.

“100 bucks is not enough for this bullshit.” he mutters to himself as he’s sticking his keys into the ignition.