Chapter Text
Kissing is less weird now, but way more fucking nerve wracking.
It’s been four days. Eddie and Steve have been hanging out mostly after school, while he was working. It was awesome. Eddie loves how he can openly ogle Steve, flirt and tease and touch him. He loved how Steve would flirt with him back and hold his hand and hug his waist. He loves everything!
Of course… all that only happens in private. When the store is empty or when they’re sitting in the back. Those are the only times they have alone.
Today, Steve had no work. And Eddie didn’t have any school. They have the opportunity to spend all their time together.
Eddie couldn’t be happier.
“Why haven’t I ever heard anything before about your parents moving out?” Eddie asked, looking up at the few family photos hung up on the walls.
They were hanging out at Steve’s place again, mostly because this is usually the time Wayne needs to be left alone to sleep and also because there is no risk of anyone seeing them together in the private Harrington residence. Eddie was having a lot of fun snooping around. Despite the house being very empty, it still had a lot of things from Steve’s childhood. He wished he had a childhood to share with him too.
“Uh,” Steve furrowed his brow, thinking and absently folding the laundry he just finished. He shrugged. “I don’t know. I don’t usually talk about my family ‘cause there isn’t much to talk about. Plus, it was all happening while you and Max were still in the hospital and we were hunting down Vecna, so other stuff took priority.”
Eddie picked up the edge of one frame, looking at the primed up and dapper picture of child Steve in his Sunday best. “Yeah, but all that was over a month ago. Almost two months now. We’ve been hanging out all this time and I haven’t heard anything about that.”
“I just don’t talk about them!” Steve tossed up a t-shirt, laughing at his date. “They’re assholes, so who cares. But they did leave me a house I would never be able to afford, huh? How’s that for parenting? Sounds good, huh?”
“You can barely afford it now.”
“Still better than when they were here.”
He threw another shirt into the laundry basket and then leaned onto the plastic handles, showing off his biceps that were straining in the— admittedly a bit too small— band shirt Eddie gave him. Eddie didn’t even bother hiding his staring and he loved that he could do that now.
He can feel a surge of affection suddenly rush through him. He comes up behind Steve and rests a hand on the small of his back. His head leans down onto his shoulder.
“You smell like a housewife,” he mumbled into his neck. He nuzzles his nose into his hair and hears a grunt come from Steve. “Your hair is getting long.”
“Is it?” His hand comes back to push him back a little. He pulls on a few strands and drags his fingers through them. “I guess it is a little. It’s been awhile since my last haircut. Is it bad?”
“I like it. It’s pretty,” he follows Steve’s hand and takes a handful, tugging on it. Steve let out a small complaint and slapped at his hand. “And it gives me a good grip when I need it.”
Steve scoffed. He dislodged himself from Eddie by turning with the laundry basket in hand and headed towards the stairs, trying to fix his hair as he went. Eddie followed close behind, having his finger hooked on one of his belt loops. Steve walked like he wasn’t dragging him behind.
The house was still very empty, emptier now that the sun was out and Eddie moved past the family room. It was weird how many family photos his parents left behind compared to how much furniture they took. There was even evidence of them taking the rugs on the floor, but not a framed picture of Steve with some dumb jock award.
He let go of Steve to stop in front of the photo and let him run off into his room. He picked it up and off the wall, careful with the frame. It might look cheap and basic, but that didn’t mean it was and Eddie really didn’t want to use what was left of his cash trying to pay for it.
The photo was definitely from swimming. Steve was soaked head to toe with a white towel thrown over his shoulder. His hair was shorter and pushed back, body thinner and leaner from both his age and the main exercise he got at the time. He had this war cry face as he held up his victory. Tommy was there, arm wrapped around his shoulder like the towel and Hawkins t-shirt stained with pool water from Steve’s touch. It looks very familiar and Eddie could see from the creases in the corners that this was from the school newspaper. He remembers having that shoved in face by the old yearbook club in sophomore year.
“Can I keep this?” He called out to Steve. His date walked over to the doorframe and leaned against it, arms crossed. Eddie looked away from the photo to show it to him.
Steve huffs humorously. He nods at it. “I think I’m a little too young for you there. I was a freshman when that was taken.”
“Oh, ew, no, man! I’m not gonna be jerking off to it, you freak!” Eddie scrunches up his nose in disgust. He shakes his head and pulls the photo back to him. “I want a picture of you and your parents clearly didn’t care enough to take them. But now you made me feel creepy for wanting a picture of a shirtless fifteen year old.”
Steve laughed and turned back into his room. Eddie walked in with him. He sat down on Steve’s bed while he continued putting his clothes away in his dresser. Compared to the rest of the house, Steve’s room was the most filled, but it still was pretty lifeless. Kind of like how Eddie’s room is now after he lost everything in the trailer.
“Do you care if I have a picture of you?” Eddie asked. “I mean, I have— had pictures of all my friends; everyone that’s been in Hellfire. I have a couple pictures of me and Robin from this photo booth idea I had. She has one too. I’d just like a picture of you.”
Steve shrugged. “I have a bunch of pictures of me and Robin in a box. And a bunch of pictures from being King, but I don’t think you’d want those. I’m drunk in most of them.”
“Oh, absolutely I want those.”
Steve sent him a look and Eddie snorted, rocking on the bed.
“Wait,” Steve shoved more clothes into his dresser and then held up his pointer finger to Eddie. “I might have something you can have.”
He kept that up to him all the way to his desk. There, he pulled out a drawer and shuffled through it before he found what he was looking for, letting out a shout of success. He held up a medium sized photograph and walked back to Eddie, dropping onto the bed and handing off the photo. “Here. Dustin gave me this.”
Eddie took the photo carefully and instantly realized what it was.
It was the picture Dustin took from that night; the one where Steve forced Eddie to wear his unfinished battle vest and stand back to back with him. It seemed to be a bad take of it where they were both laughing too much to pose correctly.
In the picture, Eddie had folded over, hands on his knees in laughter. His joyful face was blurred by hair and the motion of him falling over. Steve was in the middle of posing and turning around to see what Eddie was doing, smiling dorkily. He still had those stupid Raybans on, but with his head turned to the camera, he could see the adoring look in his eyes as he watched Eddie laugh.
Eddie has never had someone look at him like that before. Steve probably got it all the time.
“Okay, yeah,” he lowered the photo and grinned at Steve. His cheeks had to be bright red. “Yeah, I’m keeping this one. I’m framing it with the best frame I can find and putting it right up in my room. I’m going to look at it all the time and show it off like dads do with their younger and hotter second wife.”
Steve shook his head at him and Eddie can see that look in his eyes again. Fuck, he’s never been this crazy for someone before. He has no idea how this happened to someone like him.
“Can I kiss you?”
Eddie’s smile fell right off his face and his heart sank. “What?”
“Uhh,” Steve stumbles through his words, trying to backtrack. He turns to look at the ground and scratches the back of his head. “You know, um… yeah, you know? We’ve been… going out? Dating? For a little bit now and we still haven’t kissed. And I want to kiss you. I assume you do too…”
“I do! I do, I promise, uh,” Eddie leaned forward to put the photo on the nightstand and wiped his sweaty hands on his jeans when he sat back again. He nodded his head slowly, then focused back on Steve and nodded his head faster. “Yes, yes, kiss me. I want you to kiss me.”
Steve laughed and Eddie almost couldn’t breathe. He really couldn’t breathe. His hand was reaching for Eddie’s face and he grabbed his chin. Grabbed him like how he grabbed him all those weeks ago when he first kissed him.
Eddie stopped him just as he was leaning in. “Actually, um. Can I be the one kissing? Just to show you what I’ve learned, I guess.”
Steve raised his eyebrows, lips parted slightly. He tilted his head and shrugged. Dropping his hand, he leaned back so casually and pulled Eddie with him. He had to prop himself up on his arm so he didn’t fall on top of him. His boney hips pressed against Steve’s soft ones and one of his knees wedged in between his legs. It was so much more intimate then all the holding and touching from the past week. It was so overwhelming, Eddie felt his brain stop short.
He felt Steve’s hand touch the curve of his back and caress it. Eddie tried to focus on breathing so he didn’t collapse down on him like a bitch in heat.
“Fuck me, Harrington,” Eddie laughed breathlessly. “Do you treat all your girls like this?”
“Eh, not anymore at least,” he dragged his hand up which caused Eddie to let out a high pitched hum and lean down closer. Steve was all too smug about that, the bastard. “Are you going to kiss me or not, Munson?”
“I’m gonna, I’m gonna…” Eddie swallowed and shifted. His eyes staring down at his lips. The glossy pink lips that he definitely puts something on. “I’m gonna kiss you… I’m…”
He licked his own lips in preparation. This was completely nerve racking. He needed to show off his skills, but he’s kissed Robin twice since this whole thing has happened. He’s been kissing a lesbian that has been completely disgusted the whole entire time. Now he had to show off his skills to The Steve Harrington.
Talk about stress.
Eddie tilted his head and pushed forward, closing his eyes and pressing his lips to Steve’s. He reminds himself of the rules for kissing. Open your mouth just a little, move with your partner, and keep it soft and gentle, don’t push too much. Use your hands, a thing Eddie was never allowed to do. Grab their face, their hair, their body. Make them feel good. Eddie knew he was good at that, at least. Most of his experience was just helping people feel good.
Steve led the kiss last time, now he was sitting back and letting Eddie take all the control. He moved when Eddie moved and that hand on Eddie’s back pushed down or tightened whenever he wanted more. He wanted more, deeper kissing. Kissing Eddie wasn’t allowed to do either.
He paused, taking a minute to breathe each other’s air. Eddie’s nose pressed against Steve’s cheek, his hand bunched up in the thick brown hair on the back of his head. One of Steve’s hands was holding onto Eddie’s arm and bunching up the sleeve. He can feel a warm thrill up his spine every time one of them moves.
Steve wanted more from the kissing. Eddie wasn’t sure he was ready for that.
“H-hey, uh,” he swallowed. He pulled back a little, lifting himself up and sitting back. Pulling away caused a rush of cold air to fill in for him, making him miss the warmth from before. Steve frowned and sat up with him. “I don’t think I can do… that… yet.”
Steve sat up further. “Do what?”
“I don’t know,” Eddie admitted softly. He sighed and laughed awkwardly. “I guess it goes back to our experiences talk. I’m not ready for anything like… sexual yet. If you really want to, I can do it. It’s fine.”
“Oh,” Steve said. Then his head jerked and he quickly shook his head, sitting up completely. “Oh, no. God, no. I’m not ready for that. Not even close.”
“Oh,” Eddie was surprised by that, blinking a couple times to keep up. That’s never happened before. “Okay, that’s good. Are you sure? I’m fine with it if you are.”
Steve raised both his eyebrows. He reached out and took Eddie’s hands, joining them together. “Did you think I was going to have sex with you on the first date?”
“You call this a first date?” Eddie said through a laugh. “You’ve been doing laundry this whole time. And don’t think Robin doesn’t talk, I know you’ve been having fling after fling for months now. Wasn’t there a girl you hooked up with just last week?”
Steve gaped at him in offense. He shoved his arm, causing Eddie to laugh more and roll onto his side. He buried a hand in his long hair and stared up at Steve while he played with the curls. The man tried looking unimpressed by his teasing, but a smile broke through soon enough and he laid down next to him.
“You’re a bastard,” he said fondly. Eddie laughed again.
“I’m not the one fucking every girl in Hawkins above eighteen. Do I have to warn Max of her fate in the next four years or do you think you can behave yourself?”
“Ew!” Steve exclaimed and shoved back Eddie harder in disgust. Eddie threw his head back cackling as Steve smacked his arm and groaned. “That’s disgusting, man! She’s like a sister to me! An annoying asshole of a sister, but a sister nonetheless. And hopefully I’d still be with you when she turns eighteen, but that depends on if you’re gonna keep making gross jokes.”
Eddie turned his head and stared, with open wide eyes and an open wide smile. His face burned red with a fiery vengeance. He was so surprised he didn’t even point out that Steve made the same joke only minutes earlier.
“You think we’re gonna last that long?” He whispered to him softly.
Steve turned his head to Eddie, eyes wide too. They were lying shoulder to shoulder on Steve’s bed now, nose to nose. And he wants to be with him like this for years. He believes they’re going to be together for years. He wants to be with Eddie for years.
“Fuck me, Harrington,” Eddie said for the second time that night. He reaches out to him and grabs the nape of his neck, pulling him into a hard kiss. Steve makes a startled sound, but it gets swallowed up quickly by his lips. He pulled back just to pull Steve closer to him, breathing him in. “You must really like me if you’re making a future barely a week in, huh?”
Steve looked equally confused as well as starstruck. He nodded, caressing Eddie’s side with a gentle hand. He was very careful touching all the scars and it was just too much for Eddie.
“I do like you. A lot,” Steve said slowly. He refused to look directly at Eddie, eyes firmly planted on his chin. His next words were layered in something uncomfortable and awkward. “This kind of goes into the clingy thing, um. I don’t know if Robin or Dustin has said anything, but I’ve been— I’ve been looking for a more committed type of relationship for a while now. And I don’t know. We have a connection, don’t we? We were already friends, so maybe we just move a little faster than most. It’s not too crazy.”
Things were just getting crazier, huh? “Are you asking to be official on our first ‘date’ date?”
“Can we just pretend getting high in your kitchen was our first date or something?”
Eddie laughed a little. He felt absolutely delighted. Better than delighted, he felt fucking ecstatic. He was squirming around in the bedsheets and fighting every impulse to kiss Steve until they were both choking and gasping for air. It was funny how Steve thought he was the clingy one while Eddie is one second away from handcuffing their wrists together and pronouncing them married.
He wanted a real relationship with Eddie. This wasn’t one of those back alley arrangements where the dude didn’t care whose mouth he was fucking, Steve even admitted he wasn’t even close to sex yet. He wasn’t giving him a threat after the little sexual experiment was over, he wanted to commit to this. He wanted Eddie and it wasn’t because he was a willing hand for his dick.
“What ever happened to not being sure yet and being on a trial basis?” He asked. Just to make sure.
“Trust me, four days is longer than I usually take to make a decision,” Steve joked half-heartedly. He smiled genuinely when Eddie still laughed. His hand moved to hold his cheek, still treating his scars gently. “Are you okay with that? Do you, uh, do you want to…?”
He trailed off at the end, the awkwardness coming back. It reminded Eddie that Steve was still out of his comfort zone, even if he was the one that stepped into it.
“Hell fucking yeah I’ll be your boyfriend, Harrington.”
Eddie leaned forward and kissed Steve again and he will never get over how perfect his lips feel. So much better than every other kiss he’s ever had in his life.
Speaking of… “So when are we going to tell the wife?”
Steve sighed and closed his eyes, pressing his forehead into Eddie’s shoulder. “Fuck, I forgot about Robin.”
He snorted, but didn’t say anything. His hand buried in the back of Steve’s head and carded through his hair. Steve had his arms wrapped around his middle and was quickly relaxing into his side.
Eddie never thought he was going to have this. Years of being the freak, the outcast, and the queer told him that this was never in his future. Eddie was supposed to be a highschool dropout, either working full time at a factory or in retail for the rest of his life. Or even better, a homeless junkie that either gets killed on the streets or arrested. Even in his wildest dreams of being a sick rockstar or awesome fantasy writer, Eddie never imagined the possibility of being in love.
Because as cheesy as it is, the crush he has on Steve has definitely evolved beyond that.
It’s more than just Steve though. Eddie never thought he would have such close friends. Once he failed his first senior year, he knew he was going to be left behind for the rest of his life. Everyone else was moving on to the next phase of their lives and Eddie was stuck in the same one. The next year proved no different, and he had no hopes for this year.
But then, spring break happened, a time that both ruined his life and made it so much better.
He gained a real friendship with the kids, one that goes beyond D&D and music taste. He gained Robin, someone he’s shared so much with and has a closeness with that he’s never had before. Those relationships are just as awesome and unbelievable as his relationship with Steve.
It is May now. The class of 1986 was graduating in just a few short weeks. Eddie’s 20th birthday was this weekend and he was spending it studying with his friends and boyfriend.
“Do you seriously not want to do anything else for your birthday?” Steve asked for the millionth time while Eddie was trying— and failing— to listen to Robin quizzing him on chemistry. Eddie glares at him over his shoulder.
“What I want is to graduate this year,” he says in a very annoyed tone. He shifts himself so he’s not leaning against Steve’s chest anymore. He keeps his focus on Robin. “I’m not going to do another year in this shithole. I’d be a four year senior, Steve. Four years. That means I would be graduating with the freshman from my original senior year. I rather die than have that happen.”
“You’ve been doing very well, Eddie,” Robin said, flipping through more notecards. “You’ve kept yourself from failing, now all you need to worry about is finals and tests are easy.”
“Says you, AP and Honors student,” he snarked bitterly.
Robin rolls her eyes. She takes a deep breath in and looks up from her cards, wiggling in her seat. “Okay, are you ready?”
“How are things going with you and Vickie?”
Eddie groaned loudly and shoved behind him, knocking Steve onto his back with a shout. He got up from his boyfriend’s lap and stood above his fallen form. Steve looked up at his frustration and crossed arms with a sad frown. He threw out his arms and leaned into his face. “Dude! Come on!”
Steve threw out his arms too. “I’m sorry, but I wanted to know! I’ve been rooting for them to get together for months!”
At that, Eddie turned to look at her, eyes wide in shock. Robin rolls her eyes and sits back on the couch. She drags herself onto her back so that only her head and neck rest against the back cushions. She brings the note cards up to cover her blushing cheeks and radiant smile.
“Oh, you little bitch,” Eddie climbs onto the cushions next to her, grabbing her arm and shaking her around. She laughs and sits up to try pushing him off, shaking him with the cards. “You bitch! When were you going to tell me?! How long?!”
“Not even a week!” Robin shouted. She gestures around lazily. “It’s not even official! Her parents are still religious, she’s still in the closet, and she’s leaving for NIU in august. We agreed it was just going to be this summer. Steve just found out two days ago.”
Eddie looks back at Steve in offense. His boyfriend just shrugs and drags the packet of Oreos closer to him, pulling the cookie apart so that he could eat the marshmallow fluff inside.
“I can’t believe you two kept me out of this.”
“We did not!”
“You did,” Eddie shakes his head disappointedly and slides off the couch to sit with Steve. He steals an Oreo and peels it apart, handing it to Steve. “My girlfriend got a girlfriend and my boyfriend never told me. Y’all are a bunch of backstabbers. Can’t believe this.”
Steve throws a cookie piece at him. It gets stuck in his hair.
“Hey, hey!” Robin snaps her fingers and waves them at the couple. She raises the cards and her eyebrows, reminding them what they were doing previously. “Back to work, okay? Ed, what’s Avogadro's number?”
“Uh…” Eddie scratched his neck, avoiding eye contact by picking the cookie out of his hair. He shared a look with Steve for only a moment before he took a deep breath in and faced Robin. “So you’re okay with just a summer fling? You’re cool with that?”
“Eddie—” Robin cut herself off with a sigh and dropped the cards onto her lap to run her face with both hands. Steve took that moment to not so subtly take the card on top and show it to Eddie. His eyes widened. He waved frantically at Steve to put it back before Robin noticed. The other cringed and with tense shoulders, snuck it back into Robin’s lap just as she threw her hands back down. “Yes, I’m okay with it! I already told Steve that I’m okay! I realized a while ago that I don’t have a future with her, but I still like her. Might as well have the highschool sweetheart dream for a summer before we both never see each other again.”
“Hey, don’t say that,” Steve sat back and leaned into Eddie. “She could be your sweetheart. And that stuff really doesn’t matter. Look at me— two years ago, I was certain me and Nancy were going to be together after highschool, but that didn’t work out at all. Do you think I expected to turn out like this?”
Eddie let out a playful wince and an “ouch, Harrington.” It was playful, but the hurt came from a small, real place.
In the past few weeks since becoming official, Eddie and Steve have fallen into a comfortable lull, one that they both loved. Really, he did love how they could be so effortlessly in love, but the lull did cause some insecurities to arise. Sometimes he worried Steve was getting bored with his experimental phase, or that he was starting to miss women.
Of course, he’s brought this up with Steve. After nights where they were lying in Steve’s bed or the occasional moment they stayed at Eddie’s. He asked bluntly, if he ever wishes they were more public or if he “missed boobs so much.”
Steve would say the same thing he is saying now. Taking his hand and saying:
“I love where I’m at now, trust me. I wouldn’t ask for anything else,” he is looking into Eddie’s eyes, making sure he understands that. When he gets a smile, he continues talking to Robin. “But still, you shouldn’t worry and try planning this stuff out. You and Vickie could actually work out. Maybe one day she could be your wife.”
Robin rolls her eyes. She busies herself fixing the notecards, obliviously turning over the card Steve previously tried stealing. “Don’t get too cocky, Steve. That’s not happening anytime soon.”
“You never know when people might change their minds about us. It could be any day now.”
“Wow,” Eddie chuckles sarcastically. He leans back on one arm, holding Steve’s hand to lie over his stomach. “Look at him. Only been gay for a couple months, still trusts that the government cares about its people. Just wait until another peaceful protest turned riot comes up in the news. You’ll lose faith in America in no time, baby.”
Steve leans heavily into him and jabs his fingers in his sides, making him scrunch up and giggle. He pecked his cheek and wrapped himself up against him.
“Okay,” Robin sighed for the millionth time. She flipped the card around and leaned into her words. “What is Avogadro's number? C’mon Eddie, you know this. I believe in you.”
Eddie groaned and squeezed eyes tight, chin tilted up towards the ceiling as he tried to think of the answer. Steve was being very helpful by pressing tiny kisses to the side of his neck and whispering encouragement.
“Six point… something something. Fuck.”
“You almost got it.”
Eddie ended up passing his exams with a 70%, something he would never have been able to do without Robin. And a little bit of Steve. And Dustin was forcing him to study a lot by making jokes about seeing him next year.
If he knew that all he had to do to graduate was get eaten alive by weird-looking bats, kiss a lesbian, and turn a jock gay, he would have done it a lot sooner. But honestly, he agrees with Steve.
He loves where he’s at now.