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inairbinad · 1 year

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Heaven, Indiana (3/3)

6.4k | T | also on ao3

A re-imagining of season 3, where Eddie and Robin are already looped in on the Upside Down madness, and Eddie joins Scoops Troop. Part of my Barb Lives AU from the Petals Verse, where everyone lives and the timeline gets wonky as a result. @steddie-week day 6 prompts: True / You Looking at Me, Looking at You cw: some blood/vomit (it's Starcourt, y'know)

Part One | Part Two

Eddie really hated puking. He hated the sweaty, clammy feeling it gave him, and the contrast of a cold, hard bathroom floor beneath him as he quite literally spilled his guts and tried to hold his own hair back. It was a horrible enough feeling when he had to barf in the privacy of his own bathroom. But doing it in front of the boy he’d managed to fall in love with and half-confess his feelings to?

Well that was just mortifying.

Eddie was in one stall, Steve was in the next, and Robin was babysitting them and making disgusted faces while she sat on the sink of the movie theater’s bathroom, insisting she had to make sure neither of them choked on their own vomit. Eddie wasn’t entirely sure where Dustin and Erica had wandered off to, something about filling in the rest of the party and calling in reinforcements that Eddie hadn’t really been listening to.

It was a little difficult to parse Henderson-speak when Eddie was higher than he’d ever been in his life, and entirely distracted by looking at Steve and the silver moonbeams of light that shone out of each one of his pores.

“Is the room still spinning over there?” Steve asked Eddie once they both seemed to reach a lull between heaves.

“Not really,” Eddie admitted with a sigh of relief. This night couldn’t be over soon enough. All he wanted was to go home and maybe take a nap in his shower, then once the water turned cold, crawl into bed for about a year and a half. He wondered if he could convince Steve to come with. “You?”

Instead of answering with words, Steve opted to slide beneath the partition between their two stalls, like he was playing a grimy game of limbo.

“Ew, Steve,” Robin groaned from her spot on the sink. “You have a gun shot wound, and you’re playing slip and slide on a public bathroom floor?”

Steve didn’t do more than hold his hand out of the stall and flip Robin off.

“Oh, way to thank me for saving your ass,” Robin grumbled, but went back to the magazine she’d probably stolen from somewhere in her travels.

Eddie really couldn’t be bothered with Robin’s reading material when Steve was sitting across from him, the sides of their legs pressed together, and with Steve now grinning at Eddie like a fool.

“What?” Eddie asked, wondering if he had something on his face. God, he hoped it wasn’t vomit.

“You’re pretty,” Steve said, practically beaming and sending Eddie’s heart jackrabbiting into overdrive.

“You’re high,” Eddie retorted, albeit weakly. Even though he knew his face had heated up, he was still surprised when Steve gently traced the tips of his fingers across Eddie’s cheekbone, which only deepened the blush further.

“So?” Steve shrugged, still smiling at him like Eddie was some grand prize. “We’re always high, and you’re always pretty, and even prettier after the high wears off. Which I’m pretty sure this one is doing now.”

“You realize I can hear you two, right?” Robin asked. “And how dumb you sound?”

Steve ignored her and took one of Eddie’s hands in his own. Eddie was wildly grateful it was the hand he could actually feel.

“You wanted to say stuff, before,” Steve said, drawing Eddie’s eyes in with his own. Eddie couldn’t help but think he was mesmerizing to look at, but he had to focus on what Steve was saying. He took a moment to focus, then nodded along to let Steve know he was listening. Intently. “I never really got a chance to say what I wanted.”

“Um, Steve?” Robin cut in again, her voice sounding more urgent now. “Should you maybe save the heart to heart for when you’re sober?”

Eddie appreciated the instinct to protect Steve from saying something he might regret, but he really wished Robin would shut the hell up.

“Shut up, Rob,” Steve muttered, and Eddie had to bite down on a grin. “I almost died. Again. And I’m finally thinking clearly.”

“Mhmm,” she relented right away with a small sigh. “Proceed.”

Eddie chanced a glance in her direction, and she shot him a wink and a smile before steadfastly turning her attention to her magazine. Eddie looked back to Steve.

“What did you want to say?” Eddie asked, equal parts desperate and terrified to know the answer.

“That you’re one of the most important people in my life, too,” Steve said with a soft smile. “That I think you’re amazing, and smart, and funny, and that I’ve had a giant crush on you for like a year now.”

Eddie blinked rapidly, wondering if this was a drug-induced hallucination. Then he remembered every other time Steve had looked at him like this, every time Eddie had cycled through the same bleary excuses for not believing his own eyes. Steve looked at Eddie like this all the time, and Eddie refused to fuck up this moment. Not again.

“A year?” Eddie asked anyway, still stunned by that detail in particular. He thought back to what their relationship had been a year ago and, beyond Eddie ironically bowing to Steve in the halls as he passed, Eddie couldn’t come up with much.

“Yep,” Steve nodded, unabashed. “I saw you smoking outside The Hideout one night last summer and nearly tripped over my own feet because I thought you were so hot.”

Eddie, incredibly, actually remembered that night. It was one of the first times the band had actually played at The Hideout, and Eddie had been outside having a smoke to try and abate his nerves a little. Steve hadn’t nearly tripped over his own feet, either. It had been a full on stumble as some random girl he had been with (who Eddie now realized had been Robin) cackled and caught him. Ironically, it had actually done a lot to cement Eddie’s confidence that he must at least look the part of the guitarist in a rock band. “I thought you were scared of me.”

“Scared of how attractive you are,” Steve murmured, only looking mildly embarrassed when Eddie laughed. “What do you think?”

“What do I think, he asks me—” Eddie sputtered, still struggling to keep up. He couldn’t fathom a world where someone wouldn’t be happy to hear that Steve had been crushing on them for a year. Steve nodded at him, though, looking wide-eyed and worried about what Eddie might say next. Eddie gave his hand a little squeeze, desperate to reassure him. “I think I’ve got you beat, since I’ve had a crush on you since forever, Stevie.”

“Yeah?” Steve asked, and Eddie nodded more enthusiastically than he ever would have allowed himself to if he was sober. “Why didn’t you say anything?”

“Why didn’t I?” Eddie asked, confounded. As if assuming Steve could possibly be into him was a natural thought for Eddie to entertain. “Why didn’t you? You’re the one that’s spent the whole summer flirting with everything that walks!”

“Fake flirting! To make you jealous!” Steve laughed with a smile that was entirely too coy for his own good. “Seems like it worked.”

“I hate you,” Eddie grumbled, knowing exactly how unconvincing he was. He knew this was a thing Steve did to try and get someone’s attention, pretending he didn’t care. He’d given Dustin the same advice. He’d even told Eddie outright about it, in a moment that felt like about a million years ago, in a rusted out bus waiting around for a monster to track them down. Eddie just couldn’t quite ever believe that he warranted Steve’s special courting techniques. “You’re very good at pretending you don’t care.”

Steve nudged his knee until Eddie met his eyes again. Eddie could feel the tenderness he found on Steve’s face, the vulnerability, mirrored deep in his own chest.

“God, I wanted to kiss you so bad, the other night in your room,” Steve all but whispered, like somehow the confession still scared him.

“Why didn’t you?” Eddie asked, half-breathless. He’d already be diving across the small space between them to kiss Steve now, if he weren’t convinced he needed to brush his teeth first.

“Uh, your uncle barged in?” Steve reminded him, like that much should have been obvious. Eddie wasn’t sure barged was quite the right word, but he conceded Steve’s point. “Oh, and you’d just said you’ve never found any preppy assholes attractive?”

“Oh, right,” Eddie muttered sheepishly, knowing he’d have to explain that one. “I half-lied on the technicality that I don’t think you’re an asshole. But you sure as hell are attractive.”

“Oh,” Steve chuckled lightly, then bit his lip. “Well, thanks.”

“You’re welcome,” Eddie beamed, but then another question occurred to him. “But you got weird the next day! Whenever the hell that was,” Eddie said, unsure exactly what day it was now. “What happened?”

“I thought I took things too far, for one, and that you’d be weirded out,” Steve sighed, and shook his head at himself. “Then I went home and my dad started giving me shit for obviously smelling like pot. And after fighting with him I just kept thinking about how Wayne almost walked in on us…on me…doing, whatever it was that I was doing. And you guys have such a good relationship, and I don’t ever want to put you in a bad spot with him.”

So it had been a combination of Eddie’s best guesses, and then some. The thought of all those storms raging in Steve’s head, the loneliness of his not feeling like he could talk to Eddie about any of it, nearly cracked Eddie’s heart in half.

“Stevie, you gotta talk to me when you get that trapped in that pretty head of yours,” Eddie said in his best mildly scolding tone. Steve’s lips twitched up in a smile, and the hopeful look in his eyes was almost too much for Eddie to bear. “Wayne knows I’m gay, anyway. He doesn’t care. In fact, he’s been pestering me about asking you out for months.”

The utterly earnest look of surprise on Steve’s face was so cute, and yet so heart-wrenching, that Eddie wanted to kiss it better.

“But he’s…” Steve swallowed thick, tried again. “He’s always so nice to me. He knows about… me?”

“He suspects, but I’ve never told him outright,” Eddie assured Steve softly. The look on Steve’s face from the utter bewilderment of being accepted for exactly who he was by a father-figure, made Eddie all the more grateful for Wayne. He knew all too well how thoroughly an disparaging father could fuck with your head, so he squeezed Steve’s hand again. “He sees how I look at you, though, and tells me to just do something about it. And complaining that you’re straight hasn’t ever been one of my excuses when he asks why we’re not going out, either.”

Steve took a minute to absorb the fact that Wayne loved him anyway, loved them both just as much as he ever had, and then some. Then, as quickly as he’d been clobbered by the revelation, Steve recovered with a smile.

“What were your excuses, then?” he asked, eyes shimmering with mirth.

“Obviously that I’m too handsome,” Eddie deadpanned. “And if you spent too much time mooning over me you’d go blind, so I’m protecting your poor eyes by staying away.”

“Oh my god,” Robin groaned, reminding them of her presence for the first time in a while. Steve just laughed, open and delighted at her commentary on the two of them go all gooey over each other.

“If we ever get out of this goddamn mall, I’m taking you on a hell of a date,” Steve said, then brought the back of Eddie’s hand up to his lips and planted a gentle kiss there.

If that gesture alone sent shivers dancing up Eddie’s spine, he wasn’t sure how he’d handle more affection from Steve moving forward.

The realization that Eddie was getting ahead of himself came crashing headfirst in the bathroom door with the whirlwind known as Dustin Henderson, again, who was panting heavily and looking frazzled. He didn’t seem to notice the way Eddie and Steve both scrambled to hide the fact that they’d been holding hands and gazing longingly into each other’s eyes.

“We have a problem,” he announced, probably more loudly than necessary.

“Just the one?” Robin drawled, setting her magazine aside.

———

Everyone seemed to descend on the mall at once, despite the fact that Eddie desperately wanted nothing more than to leave. After another round of trying to escape the keen eyes of Russian spies, Nancy, Jonathan, El and the rest of the kids had arrived at just the perfect time to save their asses yet again. Hot on their heels came probably the strangest team up of this tussle with the supernatural, so far: Barb, Hopper, Joyce, that Murray guy Nancy had told Eddie about, and some random Russian scientist with a friendly face and a cherry slushie.

They all took one look at Steve and Eddie's damaged faces and wanted to know what the hell had happened, but Eddie was much more interested in hearing about everyone else’s day. They took turns trying to catch each other up, particularly to fill Hopper and company in on what they’d be dealing with down in that goddamn bunker. Jonathan and Nancy’s day jobs at the paper had turned absolutely horrifying and disgusting, it sounded like, while Barb's day job at Melvald's with Joyce had gotten her swept up in a field trip involving kidnapping a Russian of their own with Hop. Apparently his name was Alexei, and he seemed more than happy to come along for the ride.

“So once we were close enough to town again, I used my radio to track down Nance and the kids,” Barb was explaining, with Nancy sticking as close to her side as Eddie had ever seen them do in front of everyone else. It seemed to have been a traumatic couple of days for everyone. “We were on our way to the fair to look for everyone, but apparently they were robbing a grocery store instead. Saved us all a trip and we came straight here.”

“We needed supplies,” Lucas cut in, defending their little shopping trip by gesturing to a large bag of fireworks he had slung over his shoulder. And apparently there were more in the car. Eddie wasn’t sure how those were supposed to help anything, but he’d reached the screaming headache and other injuries portion of coming down off his truth serum high. Steve looked like he was in about the same boat, but still had a dreamy expression on his face.

Eddie somewhat giddily realized that might just be about him, though.

Then there was an entire ordeal with a disgusting little meat monster coming out of El’s leg, and Eddie had to take a minute to go puke into a trash can. With Nancy tied up helping Hopper and Joyce armor up to make their descent into the bunker, Barb separated herself from her girlfriend long enough to bring Eddie a bottle of water and a pack of gum.

“You a thief too, now?” He asked with a grateful nod. He drank half of the water in one go, and Barb tsked at him.

“I know you’ve been hungover enough times to know drinking that fast will only make you barf again,” she rolled her eyes at him.

“Don’t care,” Eddie gasped. “You spend a day and a half trapped down there and getting tortured, then we’ll talk.”

Barb bit her lip, looking ashamed, and Eddie instantly felt guilty for sounding like a dick.

“Was it bad?” Barb asked, tone softening.

“Steve had it worse, but, yeah,” Eddie sighed and sat next to her on one of the benches in the mall’s little common area. He looked over to where Steve was chatting with Robin in hushed tones with a lot of frantic hand gestures between them. He couldn’t hold back a grin.

“You do anything about that yet?” Barb asked, blunt as ever.

“Yes, actually,” Eddie grinned at her. “Near death is wildly helpful in that regard.”

“Don’t I know it,” Barb laughed, her own eyes darting in Nancy’s direction. Eddie hadn’t been around yet when they got together, but he knew it was in similar well-if-we’re-gonna-die-we-might-as-well-kiss circumstances. “I’m happy for you two. And I’m glad you’re okay.”

“I’m glad you survived a trek through the woods with the other stubborn couple and a random science guy,” Eddie said, hoping he was remembering the details of Barb’s tale correctly. She laughed, so he guessed he had.

“Alexei’s pretty cool, actually,” Barb shrugged. “I can’t really talk to him, but I swear to god he and Murray have been flirting in Russian.”

“What?” Eddie asked, feeling his eyes blink stupidly at Barb. “For real?”

Barb only smiled, then nodded her head in their direction. Indeed, Murray had just slapped Alexei’s shoulder as they both broke down into giggles, like Alexei wasn’t about to lead the adults on a mission that they might not come back from. It was a wildly silly noise coming from two grown men, though, and managed to spark some more joy in Eddie’s heart.

He was fit to burst soon, he thought, if only they could get out of this current crisis.

“I’m starting to think all these monsters are just discriminating against us queers, at this point,” Eddie mumbled, and Barb cackled.

“You might be right,” she conceded.

———

By the time a fucking flesh monster and Billy Hargrove possessed by the Mind Flayer were chasing them around the mall, Eddie was very much regretting his decision to work through the summer. He thought maybe, just maybe, if he hadn’t been so hellbent on watching Steve scoop ice cream in tiny shorts, none of them would have ended up in this position.

But then, maybe, Steve would have ended up down in that bunker alone, and Eddie stopped that train of thought in its tracks.

Hunkered down behind the Orange Julius counter with Steve, Nancy, Robin, and Barb, barely daring to breathe and hoping the monster in the food court wouldn’t find them out, Eddie grabbed on to Steve’s hand for dear life. Even if they were about to die, Eddie knew in his heart that this summer with Steve, and the months before, had been worth it.

Eddie just wasn’t going to let his whole life pass him by without getting a first kiss with Steve Harrington out of it.

He turned his face towards Steve’s, and found they were already unbearably close together. The girls were watching them, six eyes wide with terror and excitement alike, but they quickly faded from Eddie’s awareness. All he could see was Steve, his perfect pink lips, his poor bruised and battered face, his eyes warm like honey, and knew this might be their only chance.

Steve seemed to be on the same wavelength, because he dragged Eddie’s lips toward his own in complete desperation. It was rough, at first, quiet panting and teeth clacking in the heat of now, now, now. But then Steve softened, and Eddie melted into him. His lip stung from where it had split open, but Steve soothed it over with his kiss, a perfect melding of sweet and stinging that left Eddie feeling high all over again. Steve tasted like blood, and sweat, and hope.

The sound of a looming mammoth clacking its deathly jowls eventually drew them apart, but Steve didn’t go any further than resting his forehead against Eddie’s.

“Ow,” Eddie breathed out, not daring anything louder than a whisper. Steve huffed out a tiny laugh in understanding, and dragged his thumb across Eddie’s bottom lip. Then Steve looked at him with such determination in his eyes that Eddie knew they could do anything together.

Defeating a Mind Flayer didn’t seem all too difficult, after that.

———

With a fractured orbital bone, several broken ribs, and one hell of a concussion, Steve didn’t get out of the hospital for a couple days after the complete clusterfuck at Starcourt. Eddie supposed it could have been worse, since everyone made it out alive and the gate was finally closed again, but none of them were without their lumps after another bout of fighting to keep hell from spilling out into their world.

Eddie really was rather fed up with something going wrong every few months.

The kids were all glued together, frequently camping out in the Wheelers' basement so none of them had to deal with the subsequent nightmares alone. Hopper was still beat up from having to tussle with a Terminator-wannabe of a Soviet spy when he, Joyce, Murray, and Alexei shut down the gun. El still couldn’t use her powers properly, Nancy and Barb were more attached at the hip than ever after not being able to reach one another throughout the whole ordeal, and Jonathan was more interested in partaking in Eddie’s leafy products than he ever had been before. To top it off, Robin was practically glued to Steve’s bedside with Eddie, wracked with guilt for leaving them behind in the bunker—though they kept pointing out that she’d saved their lives by doing exactly what she did.

Eddie himself had a broken elbow that required a funny looking little splint that kept him from extending his arm too far, in the hopes he wouldn’t eventually end up needing surgery for it anyway. He was dreading the prospect, since he absolutely hated hospitals, but he was more than happy to brave one to be there for Steve. It made him all the happier when he finally got to pick Steve up and bring him home, though.

“He’s not allowed to blow his nose for a while, no air travel, and no sports. Avoid any balls flying near his face for a few weeks,” the nurse who was discharging Steve instructed Eddie. It took a truly Herculean effort for Eddie not to make the joke, but she narrowed her eyes suspiciously at him anyway.

Steve signed a few forms and then Eddie was allowed to wheel him out to his van.

“I really could have driven myself home,” Steve argued for the millionth time as Eddie helped him into the car. Eddie just rolled his eyes fondly.

“You’re not going home, so no, you couldn’t have,” Eddie informed him cheerfully, then closed the passenger’s side door and trotted around to hop in the van himself.

“What do you mean, I’m not going home?” Steve asked, looking at Eddie skeptically.

“You said your parents fucked off on their big vacation anyway, right?” Eddie asked, barely containing his seething distaste towards the Harringtons for not caring that their kid had been tortured and beaten to a pulp. Steve merely nodded. “Then you’re coming home with me and Wayne for a while. We’ll take care of you.”

“Are…” Steve swallowed, looking a little emotional over it. Eddie wondered if they still had him on drugs. “Are you sure?”

“Positive, Stevie,” Eddie smiled, then reached over and squeezed Steve’s knee before starting the van. Steve bit his lip, watching Eddie drive mostly one-armed and resting his head back against the seat. Eddie couldn’t really wait to get Steve home so he could kiss him.

“We don’t have to drive in total silence, you know,” Steve pointed out after a minute.

“Aren’t you sensitive to sound?” Eddie asked, already wondering if he had a cassette in here that Steve would like.

“Not really, this time” Steve shrugged. “Not right now anyway.”

Eddie didn’t think any screaming guitars would be the best way to test it, so he begrudgingly leaned forward and did something he almost never did. He turned on the radio. To Top 40, no less.

Steve stared at Eddie for a long moment as the sound of Madonna reverberated through Eddie’s van, probably for the first time ever.

“Oh my god,” Steve said finally, sounding completely stunned. “You really do like me.”

Eddie thought about telling him to shut up, or to playfully rescind his previously confessed feelings. But the problem, or lack thereof, was that what he felt for Steve ran so much deeper than what he’d already admitted to. Even if Eddie was way too afraid to say it yet, he already knew he loved Steve with his whole heart.

So he leaned into the feeling, opting to show it if he couldn’t quite say it, and started to sing to his boyfriend.

“And I can’t hear the traffic rushing by, just the pounding of my heart and that’s why,” Eddie crooned, relishing the way Steve’s eyes widened in surprise that Eddie knew any Madonna lyrics at all. Working in a mall and hanging around Steve hadn’t really done him any favors there, he would admit. “You must be an angel, I can see it in your eyes.”

Once he got over the initial shock, Steve took Eddie’s free hand into his own across the center console and sang along.

———

After a gourmet meal of pancakes for dinner made by Chef Wayne, Steve was all but ready to pass out again. Eddie happily got Steve all tucked into his bed with everything he might need within arm’s reach—water, painkillers, earplugs, a sleeping mask he’d picked up at the hospital gift shop, and a bag of Wayne’s chips (willingly offered up), to start. Eddie knew the ropes, seeing as this wasn’t the first concussion he had helped to nurse Steve through. He desperately hoped it would be the last, though.

“You always take such good care of me when my head gets rocked to shit,” Steve said as he laid back and let Eddie fluff his pillow with a slow smile.

“Yeah, well,” Eddie shrugged, then gently laid his palm against Steve’s cheek. “The way our lives go? I’m sure you’ll get the chance to return the favor some day.”

“I fuckin’ hope not,” Steve said, stern like a warning. Then just as quickly he faded back into the softness of the bed, turning his face to kiss the center of Eddie’s palm.

Eddie returned the favor by pressing a soft peck to Steve’s lips. “Me, too.”

“How’s your elbow?” Steve asked, watching Eddie putter around some more.

“It’s fine,” Eddie assured him. It was nothing compared to what Steve had to deal with. “Don’t worry about me. Get some sleep.”

“I’ll worry if I want,” Steve mumbled, but that was all the back talk he bothered to muster. Eddie winked at him and, not wanting to seem presumptuous, started to retreat back out into the living room to take up on the couch for the night.

“Where are you going?” Steve asked sleepily, but looking at Eddie in alarm.

“Um,” Eddie hedged, just as Steve folded over the blanket and patted the bed beside him in invitation. “Nowhere, I guess.”

Steve smiled contentedly as Eddie crawled in next to him, then managed to maneuver all their broken pieces together until they were comfortably slotted against one another. It was still hot as fuck out, so they’d both stripped down to their boxers, but that was about as sexy either was capable of at the moment. Eddie was more than gratified just to be laying there next to Steve, each on their sides and chest to chest, with Steve’s head pillowed on Eddie’s bicep and his hand resting on Eddie’s hip.

It was the first time Eddie really got to take in the extent of Steve’s injuries up close, beyond what was just on his face, anyway. There really wasn’t an inch of him that the bastards hadn’t gone for. Steve’s entire torso was a mottled mess of blue and yellow bruises, his one eye was still bloodshot and swollen, and he had a row of stitches on his bicep from where that bullet had grazed him. It was infuriating and excruciating to see, and all Eddie wanted to do was grind the people who’d hurt Steve to a pulp.

Most of them were long gone, though, so Eddie settled for the next best thing—relishing that Steve was there at all, on the mend, in his bed, and wanting to stay.

Eddie felt Steve watching him take it all in, and like his brain so frequently did, it provided him with a song. Eddie tried to hold in his laugh, but Steve was way too attentive to miss it.

“Are my bruises funny?” Steve inquired with a quirked brow.

“No!” Eddie said quickly, horrified by the implication. He couldn’t stop more absolutely senseless giggles from pouring out of him, though. “God, no, that’s not why I’m laughing.”

“Clue me in then, Munson,” Steve urged with a little squeeze to Eddie’s hip.

Eddie sighed, knowing how he was going to sound. But Steve knew all about Eddie’s mind that ran on Honeycombs and metal alone, and he was still here. So Eddie admitted it. “Just Ozzy, is all.”

“What’d he do now?” Steve asked, completely unfazed.

“He sang, ‘you, looking at me, looking at you,’” Eddie crooned, taking special care to point out the position the two of them were still laying in.

“I wanna talk to you,” Steve sang the next line, not missing a beat before he laughed. Now it was Eddie’s turn to be impressed.

“Oh my god,” he gasped, only half-playing up his surprise as he echoed Steve’s earlier joke. “You do like me!”

“Har har,” Steve rolled his eyes, but his smile was sparkling.

“Really though,” Eddie hummed, sliding ever so slightly closer to close the gap between them. “Who knew you’d turn out to be such a rocker?”

Steve looked almost proud to hear it, and Eddie wasn’t sure he could love him any more if he tried.

“Not a metalhead?” Steve asked. “All I get is ‘rocker?’”

“I mean,” Eddie bit his lip like he was about to break some bad news. “You do still wear polo shirts.”

“True,” Steve conceded with a low rumble of a laugh. They were so close that Eddie felt it down to his toes. “Should I stop, then?”

“Only if it means you wear no shirt at all,” Eddie said, then gently dragged his fingers up the plane of Steve’s bare chest. “I like you just as you are.”

Steve’s breath hitched at that, like he wasn’t quite used to hearing it. So Eddie resolved to tell him every single day.

“I like you just as you are, too,” Steve murmured, then slowly trailed his hand up the exposed skin of Eddie’s side until he could thread his fingers into Eddie’s hair. Every inch of skin Steve had touched felt like it was on fire, but Eddie’s whole brain lit up like fireworks in the middle of a mall when Steve said, “It’s all for you anyway, baby.”

They hadn’t really gotten to kiss properly since that first frantic one. Not with people surrounding them or having to sneak clandestine, rushed kisses in between bouts of nurses coming and going from Steve's hospital room. They’d snuck a few sly ones since Steve had gotten home to the trailer, but Eddie wasn’t trying to torture Wayne by making out with his boyfriend in the living room, either.

Eddie was feeling a little starved of Steve’s lips.

Resolved to thoroughly fix that, Eddie started by peppering the barest of kisses against every inch of Steve’s face that he could reach, soft and slow with the all of reverence he knew Steve deserved. He was careful not to press too firmly around his hurt eye, instead only brushing his lips past the bruises and broken bones in the hopes that maybe they’d heal a little faster.

Steve let out a satisfied sigh as he melted further into Eddie’s arms, and Eddie took that as his cue to move on to Steve’s mouth. He gently nudged his nose against Steve’s, barely able to stop smiling long enough to press their lips together in a slow crawl.

There was no rush, this time around, not now that they were finally safe in Eddie’s bedroom. They took their time, exploring each other’s mouths at a leisurely pace until their lips were swollen and slick. Eddie was almost lazy in the way he finally licked inside Steve’s mouth, with all of the wet heat of a summer thunderstorm languidly passing through. The roll of Steve’s tongue against his own was enough to drive Eddie half-crazy, so he sought to deepen the kiss by tangling his hands up in Steve’s hair and pressing in closer.

Steve whimpered at the feel of Eddie’s fingers against his scalp, and Eddie quickly drew back with wide, worried eyes. “Did that hurt?”

“No,” Steve drawled, eyelids heavy in a sublime mixture of sleepiness and satisfaction. Eddie knew he had to stop while he still had some wits left, but he still resumed a slow massage of Steve’s head and neck. The more his fingers moved, the more blissed out Steve became.

Eddie felt like he’d discovered he had magic powers.

“So what did I miss?” Steve eventually asked around a yawn, apparently determined not to let sleep drag him under just yet. “While I was cooped up in that dumb hospital bed?”

“Not much,” Eddie shrugged, trying for casual. In reality, a lot had happened, but he wanted Steve to rest.

Steve seemed unimpressed with his performance. “Come on. Please? I could use a little bit of gossip—make me feel better.”

Steve honest to god pouted, and Eddie realized he would never be able to say no to that face for as long as he lived.

“Fine,” he relented right away, then tried to figure the best place to start. “Robin’s devastated that she missed Chrissy’s Fourth of July party, and thinks she’s never gonna see Chrissy again now that the mall’s closed.”

“They’re in the same class…” Steve said, sounding like he wondered if he’d gotten that wrong. Eddie just snorted.

“That’s what I told her,” Eddie said. “I’m ninety percent sure she’s gonna need a wingman for that one.”

“Sounds like a fun senior project for you,” Steve said, wiggling his eyebrows. That was another thing Eddie loved about him. He didn’t judge Eddie for a moment for having to repeat senior year for a third time. Eddie bit down on a lovesick grin as Steve asked, “What else?”

“Max says Billy skipped town the minute that thing was out of him, thinks he went back to California,” Eddie informed him.

In reality, Eddie hadn’t been entirely sure Billy would survive at all. Not after seeing how completely encumbered he had been by the Mind Flayer, and especially not after seeing him stare the damn thing down in trying to fight it off. But in the nick of time, the gate closed, and the human goop monster became nothing more than a disgusting biohazard that would be wildly difficult to explain to the cleaning crew.

“I know he helped in the end, but good riddance,” Steve said with a grimace. Eddie couldn’t help but agree, but based what limited information Max had already let slip, Eddie wished Billy’s dad would follow suit and skip town, too. “What else?”

“A little bird named Jonathan told me that Hop and Joyce are finally going on a date tomorrow,” Eddie said, knowing Steve would enjoy that bit of news even more. It seemed he was right, based on how Steve’s face lit up. “Which apparently is a bit of a miracle in itself, since Joyce was so upset that she almost left him behind.”

Eddie hadn’t gotten to witness any of it, because he and Steve were too busy getting checked over by paramedics at the time. But according to Jonathan, Alexei had dragged Hopper out of the mall himself, and had to practically wave the big man in Joyce’s face just to get her to realize she hadn’t accidentally killed him.

“Sounds like them,” Steve chuckled. “Do we know if Alexei gets to stay?”

“Murray won’t hear of anything else,” Eddie confirmed with a nod. “He’s been threatening government officials left and right to make sure he gets asylum.”

“Seems like another pair to keep an eye on,” Steve remarked, and Eddie couldn’t help but agree.

“Speaking of government goons,” Eddie said in a faux chipper tone, “there’s lots of them lurking around town again. Haven’t seen this many since the lab closed.”

“Yeah, that was hard to miss, even for me,” Steve said. “They’ve been crawling all over the hospital making sure no one got any wild ideas about the Soviet-shaped bullet hole in my arm. Their official story was that I got stupid with some fireworks.”

“Well, in all fairness, we did that, too,” Eddie said with a sly grin.

“Yeah okay,” Steve agreed with an almost proud smile. “How are the kids?”

“Communal sleepovers, but otherwise surprisingly fine,” Eddie said. “It actually worries me how well they deal with this shit, year in and year out. El still can’t use her powers, though.”

“They’ll come back,” Steve said, full of confidence. “I don’t know how they deal with this shit either, but I feel like maybe we could learn from them.”

“Maybe,” Eddie agreed. He started tracing featherlight patterns into Steve’s chest with his fingertips, enjoying the way he left a trail of goosebumps in his wake. Steve smiled at him, sleepy and serene, and Eddie knew he’d doze off pretty soon.

“How’s your head?” Eddie asked softly. “Need another pill before bed?”

“Hurts, but no pills yet,” Steve sighed. He was already averse to taking them, Eddie noticed. “I’ve got a better idea.”

“What’s that, sweetheart,” Eddie murmured, softly brushing some hair away from Steve’s face. Steve leaned into the touch and hummed.

“Kiss it better?” Steve asked, a smile playing at his lips.

Eddie really had no chance of saying no, and honestly wouldn’t have dared to entertain the thought.

“Always,” Eddie promised. Before he leaned in, though, he snatched Steve’s camera off his over-cluttered nightstand, still sitting where Steve had left it the week before, and held it aloft above their heads. Hoping the angle was right, Eddie closed his eyes, gently pressed his lips to Steve’s forehead, and snapped a photo.

Eddie knew this was a memory he’d want to hang on to.

#steddieweek2023 #steve harrington #eddie munson #stranger things #fanfic #dani's drafts #petals!verse

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