#I’m talking about Steddie

[theflatpackangel]

I often think about aus that involve the most crippling angst as well as fluff, but the question is, do I have the Will to write them?

[feralsteddie]

I love punk!Steve because the idea of Eddie Munson frothing at the mouth over the fact that he thinks a punk is that hot is so hilarious. Like Eddie is just always two seconds away from starting shit because he can’t believe this guy can just walk around looking that good and have that shitty of a music taste

Meanwhile Steve is so unbothered and really could not give less of a fuck about the punk v metal war around him. He’s too busy vibing and babysitting and making sure Robin doesn’t actually drool whenever a pretty woman smiles at her. He’s completely unaware that Munson is nearly hyperventilating and being held back by Wayne and Corroded Coffin by the scruff of his neck

[corrodedcoughin]

thinking about how if Eddie was cornered for a fight he’d probably play to his strengths and try to freak out his attackers by bouncing around like old timey boxers, looking like a kangaroo and punching the air while saying ‘oh you wanna go??? You wanna go??? Well let me tell you! There’s going to be three hits!!! Me hitting you, you hitting the floor and the ambulance hitting 80 when it takes you to the hospital. That’s right. The old left, right, goodnight. The ol’ razzle dazzle!’

And the guys just…leave? Because what is this guy doing? And why is he moving like that?

Eddie munson: 1, bullies: 42. Things are finally looking up.

What Eddie doesn’t know is that Steve Harrington was standing just off to the side and waved the bullies on when he saw it all kick off. Not wanting to interrupt Eddie’s…technique…he did what he could without raising suspicions

[sabbathbloodysabbeth]

Steve pornstar mustache this, porn mustache that but have you ever considered THE TRANS MAN STASH

It’s pride month transify that man

And trans steve with a mustache hits different because it’s not a full mustache like the porn one but it’s small blonde stubble above his lip that he continuously dyes when it needs to be done and he takes care of the little amount of facial hair he has and he gets a little cocky with it and as he matures and gets older the stash slowly becomes the porn stash but ahhhh

(Also his facial hair definetly only grows properly on his side burns, on his jaw and under his chin)

[navnae]

When Steve’s parents get a postcard from him they’re relieved because after they fought with him about being in a relationship with Eddie that put a huge dent in their relationship. They were taken aback when they say a picture of Steve kissing Eddie on the cheek and Eddie was flipping off the camera with his tongue out. On the back of the card was a message, it became clear who the message was written by just from looking at the hand writing.

“He chose me bitches and we’re getting married. Guess who’s not invited…YOU

HAHAHAHA!!!!!!

.p.s. He calls me daddy now :)”

Steve’s parents lost their minds completely after reading that and their dislike for Eddie grew stronger, then again that was Eddie’s goal.

[rebelspykatie]

Royalty AU where Steve becomes king after his parents die and they set up an arranged marriage proposal with Nancy before they passed away. He goes to visit her with Robin. Steve is overwhelmed and doesn’t really want to get married at all, but definitely not to Nancy. Robin’s crush on Nancy is glaringly obvious and he starts to feel guilty about being the one that gets to marry her.

So he starts hiding in the stables and riding the horses to get away from the palace. Nancy’s stable hand Eddie notices and thinks Steve is being a little shit for not asking if he can go out riding, until he catches him coming back with tear stained eyes. He doesn’t say anything to him the first time, but it keeps happening. 

He finally talks to him and has a moment where he goes uh oh this guy is great, repeatedly telling himself not to fall for a betrothed king. He respects Nancy and doesn’t want to get in the way of this arrangement, but he feels something for Steve so fast. He finds out that Steve isn’t crying over his dead parents, who he actually really resented especially now that he’s caught up in this agreement, but over the situation with Nancy and Robin.

They start taking rides together and get lost in the woods for hours, sometimes having picnics, sometimes swimming in the lake. Eddie’s favorite is when he teaches Steve how to toss knives. He gets close under the guise of showing Steve how to do it, pressing their bodies close together and just breathing Steve in.

Robin brings up his relationship with Eddie one night and Steve just has a complete breakdown, crying over the expectations put upon him by his parents, the weight of running a whole kingdom on his own, and his unexpected feelings for Eddie. Robin opens up about her feelings for Nancy and they hold each other while they cry, thinking it’s hopeless.

Meanwhile, Nancy is scheming with Eddie to figure out how they can switch partners and get out of the royal arrangement. Nancy is meeting with legal advisors and having tea with dignitaries of both kingdoms to discuss the impact their severed relationship would have on trade relations and public approval of Steve if he marries someone not noble. Robin is a royal of some kind like a lady or duchess, so Nancy should be fine. Steve is all alone in his kingdom, so she wants to make sure he’ll be okay.

Eddie is speed running through royal lessons with Mike and Will, learning everything he can about Steve’s kingdom. He starts taking sword lessons from Nancy. When they finally confront Steve and Robin with their plan, both of them sit there in shock clutching each other and it’s like there’s one brain cell pinging back and forth between them as they simultaneously come to the conclusion that it means their crush likes them back.

When Eddie goes back with Steve, there’s an official celebration for their newly announced engagement. Once Eddie settles in, Steve finds out about the sword lessons and suggests Eddie become a knight, where he meets the group tasked with protecting Steve and the kingdom from danger. Dustin, Erica, Lucas and Max are Steve’s personal protection squad.

[flowercrowngods]

steve ‘floor time’ harrington and eddie ‘no one touch or perceive me’ munson. they flinch at every noise even though they expected a good night, a stable night, but something changed and they’re in sensory overload. steve tries to take eddie’s hand but he pulls away immediately, shrinking in on himself. steve hums and cocks his head, signalling eddie to follow him.

they leave the loud and lively living room, the kids yelling all over each other, and find a dark and empty room and just lie on the floor for a while before they’re ready to come back. they don’t talk, don’t touch, just lie there next to each other. eddie takes steve’s hand when he’s ready for touch again. they start talking in hushed voices, bringing noise back, rebooting their senses, slowly and gently easing each other in again.

when they come back, hand in hand, mike turns down the music and lucas makes sure to remind people not to talk too loudly. the boys are drained, but the kids try their best. they’re all trying their best.

[steddielations]

*sighs dreamily* steve being eddie’s queer awakening

[artiststarme]

Just Another Miscommunication

Based on a prompt given by @i-less-than-three-you! I hope it met your expectations! I hope you guys like it and please leave your thoughts in the comments!

~*~*~*~

Steve had never been so hurt and offended in his life. After several months of dating Eddie in secret from the rest of the Party, they’d decided to tell them. Things were starting to get serious and they knew it would only be a matter of time before someone found out and spilled the beans to the rest of the group. 

Eddie had been a little nervous to come out, this was his first serious relationship in the middle of Nowhere, Indiana, he had a right to be worried. But Steve knew that everyone would take it well, they’d dealt with literal monsters so being gay in comparison had to be a smaller deal than that. 

What Steve hadn’t anticipated was how many shovel talks he would receive. He expected the one from Wayne (although that one still hadn’t come), maybe even one from Dustin. However, the rest of them had been a bitter surprise. 

His first shovel talk came from Robin. They’d been in the middle of a slow shift at Family Video when she decided to break the comfortable silence. 

“Hey Dingus, you know that you have to be careful with Eddie, right?”

“Robin, he’s a great guy. He’s not going to hurt me or whatever else you’re afraid of-”

“No, no, no. I’m saying you have to be gentle with him. This is his first relationship so you have to be gentle with him. You have experience from dating half of the girls in Hawkins, he doesn’t have that. Just, be careful not to break his heart, okay?” She looked at him imploringly until he nodded. 

“I’m not going to hurt him, Robin. We’ve been dating for months and we’ve never had a problem before. I’m not going to hurt him.”

“Okay, I just… wanted to make sure. Now, go rewind the tapes. We just got some more returns.” He groaned for good measure but moved along regardless. 

The next one later that day was Hopper. He was leaning against the Beemer in the staff parking lot behind Family Video waiting for Steve to get off work. 

Steve smiled at him and pranced over to give him a quick hug that wouldn’t impact either of their street creds. “Hey Hop, what’re you doing over here? Did I forget plans we had?”

“Nah kid, I'm just checking in. The kids said that you were seeing Munson now?” He cleared his throat and continued in a whisper. “You know, romantically?”

“Yeah, we’ve been dating for a few months. Why do you have a problem with that?” Steve glared at him while he waited for his answer. 

“Of course not! I just wanted to check in with you. And uh, I wanted to remind you that the Munson kid has been through a lot. Just, just don’t hurt him, okay?”

Steve sighed and shook his head. “You’re the second person to tell me that today. I’m not going to hurt him, alright? I love him.”

“Yeah but things change, kid. You feel like that now but you might end up hurting him later. Just be careful, alright?”

“Yeah, fine.”

“Good. Do you want to come over to the house for dinner tonight? I know El and Will would love to see you.” Hopper smiled and nudged his arm. 

With his mood thoroughly dimmed, Steve shook his head. “Nah, I have to run some errands and then I’m just going to run home. I’ll see you around though.”

He said his goodbyes to Hopper and ran over to Melvald’s to pick up a prescription and a couple of snacks for his place. While he was there, he saw Joyce and decided to make some friendly conversation. 

“Hey Mrs. Byers, how’s Will doing? Is he glad to be back in Hawkins? I know the kids like having him here to DM their nerd game.”

Joyce gave him a tight smile as she rang up his items. “Hi Steve. Yeah he likes it, I think he missed the boys, you know? Him and El weren’t big fans of California.”

“Yeah, I get that. Max always says it’s a lot hotter so I can’t even imagine. How’re you doing?”

“I’m doing well, thanks,” she said while scanning his various chips and snacks. “What’re all of these for?”

“Eddie. He can never choose just one flavor to munch on so I just keep a bunch on hand for him to choose from,” Steve answered, smiling at the thought of his boyfriend. 

“You know, I've been meaning to talk to you about that,” she said, glancing around the empty store. 

“Have you?” Steve asked apprehensively. He and Joyce didn’t get along super well so he was a little nervous for her to judge his relationship.

“Yeah. I want you to know that I support you guys and you both always have a safe space with me. But I just wanted to make sure that you took it easy with Eddie. That boy’s been through a lot and I know you didn’t always feel… accepting of queer relationships. Eddie is sensitive and you could really hurt him. So just, be gentle with him or I’ll have to send Hopper over to get your head on straight. Are we clear?”

Honestly, Steve was kind of lost but he nodded in spite of that. “Yep, crystal. I’m not going to hurt him, Mrs. Byers. Have a good day!”

Jesus Christ, did everyone think he was going to hurt Eddie? He knew that he made some questionable choices in the past as King Steve but he’d been trying to be better. Why couldn’t anyone see that? 

When he got home, he saw various bikes laying all over his front lawn. Now, the kids could just want a pool day to get out of this disgustingly warm summer weather. However, if they were looking to give him yet another shovel talk, Steve might just lose it. 

As expected, all of the kids were situated on his couch and turned to look at him when he walked in. They looked like they were staging an intervention for him. 

“Okay look, I’m really not in the mood for this. If you want to use the pool, fine. But if this is yet another shovel talk to warn me not to hurt Eddie, you can leave.” Steve crossed his arms as he looked at them and only Max was brave enough to go against him. 

“If you hurt Eddie, we’re going to have El open another gate to the Upside Down and feed you to a demogorgon,” she said in a deadpan voice with a blank face. 

El snapped her head to look at her then back to Steve. “Steve, I will not. Max, Steve is like my brother. I will not feed him to a demogorgon.” 

“What they mean to say is that we don’t want to see Eddie get hurt. If you hurt him, we’ll have to take matters into our own hands,” Dustin continued diplomatically. Both Lucas and Mike nodded but Will just shook his head in panicked confusion. 

“Dustin, I thought we were coming here to congratulate him and tell him we supported him! Why are we threatening him? Steve won’t hurt him!”

The other kids argued that he definitely could and actions needed to be taken to prevent that. Will and El just kept trying to jump in and defend Steve. 

And Steve just stared at them. “Okay, thanks so much for the threats. Everyone besides Will and El can leave. You can come back when you stop planning different ways to murder me when I hypothetically hurt Eddie.”

Steve gave all of the kids, besides Will and El, one last glare before he walked into the kitchen to make himself a coffee. Maybe that would ward off his approaching headache. He could hear muffled arguing from the living room where Will and El, his new favorite kids, were no doubt defending him. But alas a few moments later, he heard the noise stop and saw El pop her head into the kitchen. 

“I am sorry Steve, Will and I thought that we were coming to congratulate you on dating Eddie. We did not know that they would threaten you. Friends do not threaten to kill other friends.”

“It’s alright El, it’s called a shovel talk. Usually a family member gives one to the boyfriend so they know not to hurt them. I got a lot of them today so I’m annoyed,” he explained to her gently. 

“But, you will not hurt Eddie. You love him so why do people keep telling you not to hurt him?” She asked him in confusion.

“They care more about Eddie and they think I’ll hurt him,” his words visibly angered him so he backtracked a little bit. “It’s fine El, really. I’ll get over it.”

She moved towards him and pulled him into a hug. “I love you Steve and I do not think you will hurt him. Even if you do by accident, I will not feed you to a demogorgon.”

He barked out a quick laugh in surprise, “thanks El, are you and Will going swimming?”

“No, we are going home to paint miniatures for Will’s new DnD game. Would you like to come with us?” She pulled back from the hug enough to look up at him. 

“Nah, I’m just going to relax here but thanks for the offer. Have fun, okay?”

“Okay Steve, thank you!”

Then, Steve was alone. He was emotionally exhausted and hurt. How could everyone, besides Will and El, believe he’d hurt Eddie? He’d changed so much over the years and now he felt like he was right back where he started. How could they have such little faith in him? 

~*~*~*~

Eddie was expecting to spend a nice night with his boyfriend after a few long days without seeing him. Between work, spending time with the kids, and practicing with the band, it felt like forever since he’d gotten to spend any quality time with Steve. But when he walked through the ajar door of the Harrington home, he didn’t find a boyfriend that was happy to see him. Instead, he found Steve sitting on the kitchen counter with a troubled look on his face.

“Stevie, you alright? I hope it’s okay that I came in, the door was open,” he stepped closer to Steve and pressed a gentle kiss to his forehead. “What’s going on?”

“Has anyone given you the shovel talk about dating me?” Steve asked him, his eyes staring into his eyes desperately. 

“Um no, why? Should they have?” Eddie asked, confused. 

“I don’t know, I guess not. Nearly everyone in the Party has given me one. Robin, Hopper, Joyce, the kids. Why haven’t any of them told you not to hurt me?”

“You want me to get threatened?” Eddie didn’t understand why Steve was so upset. Did he think that he was going to hurt him?

“No! I just- why does everyone automatically assume you’ll be the one to get hurt? Why won’t they tell you not to hurt me? That’s just as much of a possibility as me hurting you!”

“You think I’m going to hurt you? And you’re mad that no one else thinks so?” So Steve expected him to fuck this up?

“Yes!” Steve nodded at him. 

“I would never hurt you Stevie and I’m upset that you think I would. Why would I do anything to ruin this? You’re so perfect Steve that I would never do anything to mess this up.”

“Ed-”

“No! What’s the point of dating at all if you’re just waiting around for me to break your heart? That’s all I do though, right? Eddie the Freak, destroyer of all things good. Is that it?” All of the happy feelings that Eddie felt when he first walked through the door were long gone now. What, Steve was just waiting for Eddie to ruin everything like he always did? What the hell.

“Eddie, that’s not what I meant!”

“Whatever Steve, I’m sorry that you’ve seen this coming the entire time and I’m sorry you were right. I should’ve known that I would fuck this up too.” With that, Eddie marched out of Steve’s house and directly to his van. Admittedly, he shouldn’t have left. He should’ve stayed and worked this out with Steve. 

However, he didn’t want Steve to see the angry tears that streamed down his face on his drive home. He knew deep down that this was all a misunderstanding but Eddie couldn’t get over the fact that Steve was just another person that saw the worst in him. 

~*~*~*~

Wayne walked into the trailer to find it completely dark and silent, both unusual for Eddie. His nephew constantly left all of the lights on regardless of whether he was in the room or not, a quirk that took a toll on both Wayne’s annoyance and the electricity bill. And silence was not a commodity often associated with Eddie. The boy was loud in all senses of the word so for the trailer to be quiet, devoid of guitar riffs or excited rambling, was worrying. With a peek out the door, Wayne saw that Eddie’s van was out there which meant that he was home. 

When he looked into Eddie’s room, he saw a pathetic lump hidden under the covers with only an unruly mop of curls poking out. The covers twitched slightly as the lump sniffled. “Eds? Y’alright?”

“No,” he muttered, hiding his face deeper into his pillow. 

Wayne sighed and kissed all thoughts of coffee and a nap goodbye. Nonetheless, he sat at the edge of the bed and pulled at Eddie’s shoulder until he turned over. His eyes were red and irritated and his skin was flushed. “What the hell happened to you? I thought you were spending the evening with Steve? He do something?”

Eddie’s face screwed up in sadness as more tears welled up in his eyes. “Why do you automatically assume Steve did something? I’m the one who always fucks everything up, Uncle Wayne. Me! Why is everyone threatening Steve not to hurt me?”

Wayne looked at him in bemusement for a moment. “So you did something?”

Eddie made a muffled noise of outrage and pulled the covers back over his face.

“Boy, I can’t help ya if ya don’t use yer words. Tell me what happened and we’ll fix it,” Wayne tried to reassure him.

“Everybody has been giving Steve the shovel talk and telling him not to hurt me. But no one has given me the shovel talk to tell me not to hurt him. So Steve was upset and told me that I would be the one to hurt him and he was offended that no one else thought so. And then he said that I would be the one to hurt him!”

Wayne just looked at him for a long moment before lightly smacking the side of his head. 

“Hey, what the hell!” Eddie yelled in surprised anger as he yanked the covers off of himself. 

“Don’t be a dumbass then! Steve was trying to tell ya that he was hurt and ya turned it around on him! The kid’s not saying that yer gonna hurt him, he’s saying he wants people to stop assumin’ he’ll be the one to hurt you when he feels so much for ya.”

“So he’s not saying that I’m going to fuck everything up?” Eddie asked quietly.

“I think he’s sad that everyone else is taking your side and assumin’ that he’s going to be the one that ruins things. He just needed ya to listen.”

“What have I done?! How do I fix this? Uncle Wayne, help me!” Eddie jumped out of bed and started pacing in front of him. 

Wayne sighed again, he didn’t ask to be roped into these situations. “Look Eds, go to him and say that you’re sorry and you took it the wrong way. Then tell him that I gave you a shovel talk cause if you hurt that kid again, I’m gonna do more than smack ya upside the head, ya hear me? Now get goin’. Ya best stay over there so I can get some rest, alright?”

Eddie laughed and jumped off the bed, “thanks Uncle Wayne! You’re the best! I’ll go fix it and then tell you about it over carry-out later! Love you!”

Wayne shook his head as he watched Eddie run out the door, “love you too, kid.”

Both boys came back to the trailer a few hours later with takeout in tow. Eddie’s smile was beaming once again and Steve looked relieved. He gave Wayne a quick hug and a whispered thank you over the burgers and Wayne knew that they’d fixed things. There would be many miscommunications between the boys in the years to come but as long as they had Wayne to play interference, they’d be alright.

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[infinite-orangepeel]

whenever someone tries to hate on eddie munson by calling him ~cringe~ it’s like “ya that’s kinda the whole point ???? he’s a cringe-fail-loser-genderless-dark-angel-cast-out-of-heaven AND he wears rings. why else do you think i’ve been hyperfixated on him for seven months straight ????” the cringe is just part of the appeal !

[asexualasshat]

I couldn’t think of more music bracelets so I made ones for my guys

[amethyst-crowns]

“Oh Mr. Harrington!!”

WIP

[straight4joekeery]

Eddie: What? I'm not aggressive!

Steve: Last Tuesday, you wacked me with a pair of crocs and stole my chocolate chips?

Eddie: Survival of the fittest, bitch.

~~~~~~~~~

Eddie: That’s the longest worm I’ve ever seen.

Steve: That’s a snake.

~~~~~~~~~

Steve: State your name, rank, and intention.

Eddie: Eddie, Eddie, fun.

~~~~~~~~~~

Eddie: I can’t believe all these people are wearing black. black is supposed to be my thing, they’re all just posers.

Steve: Eddie, for the last time, we’re at a funeral.

~~~~~~~~~~

Eddie: Which is correct, seven and five IS thirteen, or seven and five ARE thirteen?

Steve: Neither.

Steve: Because it's twelve.

~~~~~~~~~~

Eddie: I need you to come meet me, and I need you to come alone.

Steve: And I need you to be less vague and weird.

~~~~~~~~~~

Steve: I have to say, I'm a little embarrassed for you.

Eddie: This is a sports-related injury. It makes me look cool!

Steve: Tripping over a basketball on your way to the bathroom is not cool!

~~~~~~~~~~

Eddie: Hey there Vecna, It's me, ya boi.

Steve: Eddie, NO!

~~~~~~~~~~

Eddie: I was going to suggest we do Marilyn Monroe and JFK roleplay, but I’d get way too into it.

Steve: What- how?

Eddie: You’d be like “come to bed … Mr. President” and I’d be like, “I need to increase the amount of American military advisors in South Vietnam by a factor of 18.”

~~~~~~~~~~

Eddie: Y'know, I once knew a man who said to me: “When life gives you lemons, make lemonade.” He also had a pair of sideburns that would cause even Jude Law’s face to weep in forfeit. You put those lemons in a sack and beat your enemies with ‘em! And maybe if you beat ‘em hard enough the bag will split open and lemon juice will spray into their eyes, causing intense burning pains as you crush them into a citrus-y pulp!

Steve: Wait, wait, wait, wait. Their heads or the lemons?

Eddie: Whatever caves first!

[robindium]

Robin: Truth or dare? Steve: Dare Robin: I dare you to kiss the hottest person in the room Steve: Hey Nance? Nancy: *blushing* Yeah? Steve: Can you move? I'm trying to get to Eddie

[aroadside-attraction]

Thru Hiker Eddie and Trail Angel Steve

When he was a kid, Eddie used to go on little day hikes with Wayne- it got him out of that awful house, and Wayne always taught him something new about how to get by out on the trail. As he grew older, the hikes got longer, until Wayne was taking him on 2, 3 day backpacking trips. When Eddie finally moved in with him, hair shorn and scarred in ways people couldn’t always see, Wayne took him out for a full week. It took over half of it for Eddie to start acting like himself again.

After that, hiking was their thing. It was what they did anytime they got into a disagreement, any time that Hopper brought him home by the scruff of the neck with threats about this being the last time he’d get off with only a warning- they took to the woods and walked until something in both of them settled.

So when Wayne died, too young but entirely content with his life, Eddie knew what he had to do. He was going to fucking Cheryl-Strayed his grief and hike the PCT from border to border. Wayne had talked about wanting to do it a million times, but he could never afford the months that he’d have to take off to do it. But Eddie was making decent money as a musician and the only real plus side of this whole situation is that he could convince his manager that between the grief and the stark beauty of the Sierra Nevadas, he’d come out of this with two or three albums worth of material.

Becoming a Trail Angel had honestly been an accident, for Steve. Robin had accidentally found herself engulfed in a group of backpackers on a day hike out at Walkers Pass and had endeared herself to them immediately. So when Steve showed up to the parking lot to give her a ride back to town, he was met with a group of ten or so chatting up a storm with his best friend. He agreed to take them all back to town, as long as they were patient enough for him to make trips- he could only squeeze five in at a time, with their packs. It was on his third trip that he realized no one in the car knew Robin, and that they’d just assumed he was a Trail Angel. After they explained what that actually was, he found he liked the idea- it was a decent drive over the pass, and the people were great. So the next day, when he noticed a group of hikers that he had brought down the day before sitting at a bus stop, he pulled over and asked if they wanted a ride back up.

The way it escalated after that, well. Yes, technically it was completely under Steve’s control, but he’s never really been able to help the way he just wants to, well, help people. He’s off for the summer, but the time people start showing up at the pass, so it’s pretty easy for him to go up to the trailhead and perform a little trail magic- in the summer months his trunk is always full of snacks and water and half full trash bags, and he’s always willing to load a few strangers into his car for a ride back to town. Once the crowd thins out, though, that first summer, it leaves him feeling a little hollow. See, Steve’s not a big hiker. Sure, he’s fit enough that he could probably pull off at least being a section hiker, but hiking leaves him too alone with his thoughts for his taste, so taking on the PCT doesn’t really feel realistic. But the way the hikers talk about it? The magic they experience along the way? The clarity they reach? Steve wants that. So, he does something a little stupid. He follows them.

Lone Pine, Bishop, Mammoth, he follows them all the way up to Mount Shasta before he turns back for home. Two or three days in each town, he got real familiar with the people at the back of the pack of that year’s Northbound hikers. And it felt good, to have something to do over the summer, a way to get his own little taste of the PCT.

It becomes a thing, every summer. He does what he can for the majority of the hikers as they enter the Sierras, and then he follows them up California. The towns tend to treat him just the same as the hikers- he takes up odd jobs that none of the hikers seem inclined to take, does what he can to help the communities as he drifts through, even makes friends with the local angels. And it settles something in him, sends him back into the school year ready to deal with the chaos of his fifth grade class.

Steve meets Eddie the way he meets all his hikers- set up with his car at the Walkers Pass trailhead, a friendly smile and a good snack in hand. They don’t exchange many words- Eddie had really just come down for the pit toilet, but he’s still torn on whether it’s any better than shitting in a hole in the woods. Eddie heads back up, expecting to never see the pretty boy with the moles ever again.

Until he’s there at the trailhead just outside Independence. He accepts a ride, then, and trades names with the trail angel. And again in Bishop, where he learns that Steve does this every year. He looses him for a bit, until he snags a ride from Steve down to Meyers. That time, he tells Steve why he’s on the trail- it’s the first time he’s ever ridden down in Steve’s car without any other hikers present, so it’s a bit easier to open up. The ride back up to the trail the next day is significantly quieter.

Eddie’s not quite sure when the songs he’s writing in his old beat up journal go from grieving to longing. It’s hard to trace, when the emotions can feel so similar sometimes. He thinks some of the songs in the middle of it all are about both. He feels a bit guilty about it all- this trip was supposed to be about Wayne, about closure. It wasn’t supposed to go like this, falling for this elementary school teacher turned trail angel who is clearly sorting through his own shit if he spends his summers chasing people who are chasing their own dreams.

But still, Eddie writes. He writes songs like he’s never written before. Sure, he’s got plenty of songs about lusting after boys and those big scary feelings nobody wants to talk about but everyone wants to hear. But nothing like this weird sort of pining for a guy he’s spent maybe a total of 6 hours with.

Still a little reckless in his grief, Eddie leans into it. He fosters his longing little feelings until it blooms into a full blown crush. At that point he’s creeping ever closer to Mount Shasta, the place Steve had told him was his last stop coming down from the trailhead at Sierra City. He wasn’t eager to bring this last meeting closer, but he knew dragging his feet might cause him to miss Steve all together as he heads back down the road to home.

Nothing happens at Mount Shasta. Steve tells him it’s his last day before heading back- he’s got a long drive ahead of him, so he won’t be shuttling anyone up to the trailhead the next morning. He wishes Eddie a shy farewell as he climbs out of the passenger seat one last time- jokes that if he ever finds himself on the trail again, Steve would be more than happy to give him a ride.

The rest of his hike is rough. He’s got a tangled mess of emotions that it takes the next thousand miles to sort through, his grief over his uncle twisted up with this fresh grief of his weird little totally unrequited crush in a wholly unpleasant torment. The last 98 miles, he forms a plan.

He gives himself until the next June. Time to mourn, time to see if the feelings fade, time to put out the album he wrote on the trail. He names it something poetic, maybe something to do with trail magic or the nicknames of the hikers he met along the way. Maybe it’s after Wayne’s favorite trail. Maybe it’s simply called The Pass, a nod to the place he first met Steve.

The next June, when the weird feelings are still there and he missed Wayne but it doesn’t feel like it eats him alive every day anymore, he packs himself into his car and drives the 140 miles up to the Walker’s Pass trailhead. He provides a little magic- food and drink and a friendly face- while he waits for his angel to return. And he does, driving back up that windy road and pulling into the parking lot beside him.

Eddie asks him to dinner, and Steve accepts. Turns out he’s been harboring a crush for the past year too. It goes great, and even though they have to wade through the long distance- Eddie’s got his life in LA and Steve’s not quite ready to leave his town- and the trail- they make it work.

They get married up at Walker’s Pass. It’s Steve’s goodbye to the trail, despite having moved to the city a year prior. His own little bit of trail magic to carry with him the rest of his life.

The trail provides, after all.

[navnae]

Yes everyone loves Steve being an absolute sweetheart and him being the kindest soul, but if there’s a chance that Eddie can piss him off just to bring out that bitchiness in him then he will. For some reason it’s so hot to Eddie when he hears Steve saying “fuck you” or “fuck off” when he’s angry. Eddie knows it’s very rare to see that side of Steve but it’s definitely worth his while when he does.

Also as a fandom I don’t think we talk enough about Steve being snappy and mean, it’s probably the hottest thing I’ve ever seen on television. That’s just my opinion though 😗

And bring back the shorts!!! please and thank you ;)