Chapter Text
For most of his life, Steve had expected to know at least one of the names that would appear on his arm on his 18th birthday. For a long time, he thought his platonic soulmate would be Tommy, they had been best friends since kindergarten after all, obviously they would be platonic soulmates. That belief wavered a bit when Tommy turned into more and more of an asshole in high school, but then again, Steve always went along with him, so maybe he didn’t deserve any better.
After his first brush with monsters and the Upside Down, he figured, maybe he had been wrong about Tommy being his platonic soulmate, but he was pretty sure Nancy would be his romantic soulmate. They had fought monsters together. That had to mean something, right? Then Nancy broke up with him and started dating Jonathan and Steve was painfully reminded that Nancy and Jonathan had teamed up before he even knew there were monsters and their bond seemed much deeper than anything Steve and Nancy had. He didn’t give up hope completely though, maybe fate would reveal that Nancy and him were meant to be after all, once he turned eighteen.
On his eighteenth birthday, Steve was alone. He had hoped - maybe even expected - that his parents would come home for this one. Turning eighteen, getting the names of your soulmates, that was a big deal, not just for the child, but also for the parents. But when his birthday came around, his parents weren’t home and hadn’t told him about any plans to come home.
Steve listened for the phone all day, wondering if his parents would at least call. Th phone rang a lot, but it was mostly the entire monster fighting gang calling. Joyce even invited him to the Byers’ house for the next day so they could have a little birthday party for him. Since he would probably be spending today with his parents. Steve didn’t correct her. He just thanked her for the invitation and asked if he should bring anything.
So on his eighteenth birthday, possibly the most important birthday in anyone’s life, Steve Harrington, former King of Hawkins High, sat alone in a too big house and stared at his wrist, waiting to see the names of the people who the universe deemed to be his soulmates. Maybe they would actually be willing to spend birthdays with him.
Steve didn’t know at what time he was born, he just knew it had to have been before noon, based on a snarky comment his mother had once made to his father in a fight about him “going back to work after lunch the day Steve was born”.
When Steve had woken up in the morning, there had been no names yet, so Steve waited. He made himself breakfast, cleaned the house a little, just in case his parents ended up coming home after all and then decided to bake some cookies that he could bring to the party tomorrow. Joyce had said he shouldn’t bring anything, but he felt like he had to bring something.
The entire time, he kept checking his wrist every few minutes. He knew there was supposed to be a short, sharp burning sensation when the names appeared, but he still felt the need to check.
Just after the cookies went into the oven and the phone had rung with the call of a classmate asking if there would be a big bash for Steve’s birthday and if he could come - clearly he had missed Steve's fall from grace - the burning sensation finally appeared. Steve cursed and almost dropped the phone in his haste to look at his arm.
“What the fuck?”
Robin Buckley
Eddie Munson
Those were the names on Steve’s wrist.
He knew both of them, he couldn’t picture Robin's face right now, but Eddie Munson was the weird Metal guy who sold drugs and was into that nerdy game the kids liked. How in the world could that be Steve’s platonic soulmate? He wasn’t sure he had ever said more than two words to Munson and he honestly had no interest in changing that. Maybe there was some other Eddie Munson in the world somewhere who was Steve’s platonic soulmate, because this one certainly couldn’t be.
Hopefully the universe was closer to the mark with Robin. Steve still couldn’t pull an image out of his memory, so he went to grab his yearbook to jog his memory. The yearbook reminded him that she was in the year below him and apparently part of the school band. Steve was pretty sure they’d shared a few classes at some point, but he couldn’t remember ever speaking with her.
Well, he could certainly change that. Just from looking at her picture, she might not be who he would have expected as his soulmate a couple of years ago, but she looked nice. He would speak to her soon, without letting her know why, obviously. That would be weird.
Steve flipped over to Eddie’s picture in the yearbook. Of course he had thrown up that weird devil’s horns hand gesture he always did. Steve wondered absentmindedly how the school had let a picture like that get printed.
Eddie Munson couldn’t be his platonic soulmate. That just seemed too far-fetched. There had to be another Eddie Munson out there somewhere and Steve would meet him at some point. Because even if Steve had found himself sort of fascinated by Eddie ever since he showed up in Hawkins out of nowhere, there was no way that they were soulmates. Steve was completely sure Eddie hated him. How could he not hate King Steve? He remembered seeing Eddie at a few of the parties he used to go to. Eddie had always been at the edge, in a dark corner, waiting for people to approach him for a dime bag or something.
The popular crowd had tolerated him, his weed was always good and no one wanted to piss off the dealer, but Steve had heard what Tommy, Carol and the others had said behind Eddie’s back. He had even participated sometimes. At least he hadn’t hissed insults and worse after him in the halls, but he’d certainly never done anything to earn Eddie’s respect or give him any indication that he wasn’t just as bad as his friends. Because he hadn’t been better. Maybe he had even been worse because it was all such a calculated act.
Thinking about all that, Steve remembered that Eddie was a year older than him. Eddie had his soulmates names on his wrists for a while now and he had never even spoken to Steve since his birthday. Steve didN#t actually know when birthday Eddie's birthdaywas, but he also couldn't remember the last time Eddie had said anything to him, so it didn’t matter. If Steve’s name was on Eddie’s wrist, he probably would have spoken to him eventually, right?
Steve was startled out of his musings by the egg-timer he had said for the cookies. Hastily he put the yearbook aside and went to check on the cookies. The cookies turned out better than expected and Joyce shook her head fondly when he offered them to her the next day.
“I told you, you didn’t have to bring anything, Steve. It’s your birthday party.” She gave him a warm hug and Steve melted a little. Eventually his own parents had called last night, giving him a half hearted congratulation and asking if he had gotten names that they knew. He told them he didn’t, they would only be interested if it was someone with connections and if he told his Dad about having the name Munson on his arm… well, that wouldn’t go over well.
“Thank you Joyce. Don’t worry about the cookies, I felt like baking anyways.”
“Well I hope you made some for your parents as well. Didn’t they want to come today?”
Steve shrugged, he didn’t want to tell her that his parents hadn’t come back to Hawkins for his birthday. “Dad had an important meeting in Toronto today.”
Joyce frowned. “That was a short visit then.”
Steve just hummed noncommittally and changed the subject. “Am I the first one here?”
“No, Hop is manning the grill out back, Will is showing Mike and El some new drawing for that game in his room and Jonathan and Nancy are outside with Hop I think. The others should be arriving soon. You can go out as well, I’ll just finish the salad and then I’ll be out as well.”
“I can help you with the salad.”
Joyce laughed and shook her head. “No Steve, you go outside. I’m sure the others want to congratulate you too.”
Hopper gave Steve a slightly gruff but earnest one armed hug when he congratulated him. Nancy and Jonathan looked a little nervous when he came outside. Steve did his best to smile normally and shook his head slightly when he caught Nancy’s eye. She seemed to understand and relaxed. He didn’t think anyone had still expected her name to show up on his wrist, but obviously she and Jonathan had been a little worried. Things were still a little awkward between the three of them. Steve wished they weren’t but he didn’t know how to change that.
No one else brought up Steve’s soulmates or the leather cover that was now on his arm until Dustin made an entrance. He ran to tackle hug Steve as soon as he saw him and after he got through a weirdly convoluted happy birthday monologue that Steve wouldn’t be able to summarize to save his life, Dustin playfully tugged on the cuff around Steve’s wrist.
“So? Who is it? Anyone we know?”
Steve groaned. “Manners Henderson! That’s such a rude thing to ask!”
Dustin just shrugged. "It’s not like I would ask just anyone like that. But it’s you. Obviously I’m gonna ask you!”
Steve was actually a little touched by that. And also annoyed. ”I’m not showing them to you, so quit tugging!” He pulled his arm out of Dustin’s hands. “One of them is a junior, I don’t think I’ve ever spoken to her, but I know who she is. The other name I don’t know.” He wasn’t planning on telling anyone about the ‘Eddie Munson’ on his arm, it was just too strange.
“Oh, who is it? Is she hot? Do you think she’s your romantic or your platonic soulmate?” Dustin’s voice was full of excitement.
“Robin Buckley, she’s in Band. She’s cute I think. I don’t know, I haven’t ever really paid attention to her. I’m assuming she’s my romantic soulmate, the other one is a guy, so…” Steve might have imagined it, but he thought he saw Will flinch at his last words.
“Robin? I know her, we had to do a project together last year in English class. She’s nice. I wouldn’t have thought she was your type though, or you her’s.”, Nancy threw in before anything else could say anything.
Steve shrugged. “I have no clue, apparently the universe thinks we belong together. Who knows.”
“That’s so cool! You have to tell her!” Dustin was still way too excited and Steve pushed him into a chair.
“Calm down dude. I can’t just tell her, that would be so weird. Imagine someone came up to you and said ‘Hey, I just turned 18, guess what, you’re on my arm.’ No one wants that.”
Dustin deflated a little. “Well, I guess… but you should still talk to her tomorrow.”
Mike punched his arm. “He can’t do that! She might know that his birthday was yesterday or notice the cuff and know what’s up. He needs to be subtle!”
“He could wait for the next pep rally or game or something and compliment her on her playing.” Lucas suggested and suddenly Lucas, Dustin and Mike threw suggestion after suggestion at Steve with occasional input from Will, Max and Eleven. Steve tuned them out pretty quickly. He’d talk to Robin eventually.
Joyce gave him an encouraging smile. “I’m sure it will work out. You don’t need to rush it. Sometimes it takes years to figure it all out.”
There was a look in her eyes that made Steve wonder about the names on her arm, but he had much better manners than Dustin and didn’t ask. Instead he just thanked her and went to get another burger from Hopper at the grill.
Eventually the kids moved on to other topics and they had a fun afternoon together, Steve wasn’t sure he had ever enjoyed his birthday this much. Before all of the Upside Down stuff happened, he had usually thrown a big party with way too many people who he barely knew. Most of them probably hadn't even known it was his birthday party. It had been fun, sure, but it hadn’t felt like this. This was for him, with people who actually cared about him.
Before he was old enough to throw his own parties, his parents had mostly ignored his birthday or had a nanny organize a party for him. Only with the right kind of guests of course, he had never been asked who he wanted to invite. If he was lucky, a few of his parent's guests brought their kids along.
He very much preferred this. Just hanging out with the people he considered his family more than his parents at this point, with inside jokes, food he actually liked and presents that might not be as expensive as the stuff his parents bought him, but that were thoughtful.
El and Max had made him a collection of handmade bracelets in different colors that he could use to cover his soulmates markings. Will had made him an amazing drawing of him facing the Demo-dogs with his nail bat, made even more impressive by the fact that he hadn’t even been there to see it happen. Jonathan and Nancy gave him a framed collage of pictures of all of them. Mike and Lucas presented him with a copy of one of their DnD rule books, telling him he could join in a session whenever he wanted. He didn’t want to, but it still meant a lot to him. Dustin gave him a bag full of Farrah Fawcett products, which led to Steve chasing him around the yard in revenge for spilling his haircare secrets. Everyone else nearly fell over, laughing. Joyce and Hopper got him a set of baking pans, since Steve had kept borrowing one of Joyce's because he didn't have that size. Judging by Hopper's curious look when Steve unpacked the present, he had no hand in picking out this present. Steve felt tears prick behind his eyes looking at all the gifts and at everyone there in the backyard. Who needed soulmates, if he had people like this around?
Steve didn’t talk to Robin the next day, or after the next pep rally, or the next game. He didn’t talk to her at all for the rest of the school year. He also didn’t talk to Eddie, but he had never planed on talking to him in the first place. He just kept going as normal, he went to class, tried to keep his grades at an acceptable level, had lunch with Nancy and Jonathan and otherwise kept his head down while trying to avoid Billy and Tommy.
He couldn't stop watching Eddie and Robin, though. Whenever their paths crossed or he saw one of them in the cafeteria, he couldn't keep his eyes from wandering over. He didn't share classes with either of them this year, which was probably for the best. It would have been hard to hide his staring if they shared a classroom every day. This way only Nancy and Jonathan shot him knowing looks when he spend too much time looking in Robin’s direction again.
Eddie made enough of a scene at lunch every day that they hadn’t gotten suspicious of Steve looking in Eddie’s direction for too long yet, but Steve needed to be careful. It was hard to stop watching Eddie Munson once you started. There was something magnetic about him that Steve didn’t understand and couldn’t define. Sometimes, very rarely, Steve thought he noticed Eddie watching him back. It made him wonder, for brief moments, if he was on Eddie’s arm as well. But that was impossible, there was no way this Eddie Munson was Steve’s platonic soulmate.
He wondered what his Eddie Munson would be like. In moments when he was unusually honest with himself, he wondered how his soulmate Eddie Munson would ever be able to live up to the Eddie Munson he knew now. Steve would never admit it to anyone, not even to himself, but he had always been a little fascinated with Eddie "the Freak" Munson, ever since that middle school talent show, maybe even before. Seriously, a 13 year old with a buzz cut, dressed in all black, with an electric guitar that was a little too big for him and a band called "Corroded Coffin", who wouldn't be fascinated by that?
And yet, he had never spoken more than three words with him, beyond a mumbled “sorry” when bumping the other in the hallway, or vague acknowledgments required for class. Steve was not planning on changing that.
Robin was a little more straight forward. Now that Steve had become aware of her, he realized she was cute. In a nerdy, clumsy kind of way. He hadn’t spoken to her yet, but from what he could tell, she was nice. Funny even. He was still a little confused why the universe thought they were soulmates, they didn’t seem to have much in common, but he was willing to trust it. When he found the right moment, he would talk to her.
The right moment didn’t come and suddenly it was the end of the school year and Steve was graduating. Barely. His dad was pissed, especially when he found out that Steve hadn’t gotten into any of the colleges he’d applied to. If Steve was honest, he was a little relieved not to be leaving Hawkins. Sure it would be nice to leave the small town life, all the High School drama and - most of all - the memories of all the Upside Down shit they had gone through, behind, but he was too scared that something would happen again and he wouldn’t be there to protect his friends. The thought of finding out something happened to them after the fact scared him more than he wanted to admit.
So Steve stayed. His dad yelled at him and told him if he wanted to waste his life like this, he would at least have to get a job, otherwise he wouldn’t ever see another penny from him. Steve promised he would start looking as soon as graduation was over, but his dad fucked off on some vague business trip before the ceremony, Steve’s mother followed him just like always. Joyce, Hopper and the kids were once again the people there for him for another important milestone that was graduation.
Even without his parents around, Steve looked for a job. They would come home eventually and Steve didn’t want to see what happened if he didn’t have a job when they did. Plus, he had to do something. Might as well get some work experience and earn a little money.
He considered applying as a lifeguard at the pool; he’d done that before, but then Max told the group that Billy got hired there and there was no way Steve was spending his summer anywhere close to Billy Hargrove if he could help it. So he kept looking.
The new mall was just about to open, and there were lots of job listings in the paper because of that. The ones Steve qualified for were all some form of customer service job and he couldn’t care less which one he did, so he picked three at random and sent in a few applications. The one he ended up getting was at an ice cream parlor called Scoops Ahoy. Steve was fine with it and the kids were hoping for lots of free ice cream, so Steve took the job. He regretted it the second he saw the uniforms.