Prompt: Steddie, laughter in the dark
(my inbox is open for ST prompts!)(Previous prompts)
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"Hey, Steve, c'mon," Eddie murmurs, budging at him with an elbow.
Steve mumbles something that sounds an awful lot like a small child asking for more minutes, and for a second Eddie nearly gives it to him. He sleeps so poorly usually, and he's warm against Eddie's side on the couch, head nestled against Eddie's shoulder. He doesn't let his guard down like this very often, and Eddie treasures every time he gets to see it. Evidence that he's beginning to relax, finally. Evidence that he trusts Eddie won't disappear if he closes his eyes for a minute.
But Steve had wanted this, so Eddie nudges him again. "C'mon, it's quarter past. You're gonna miss it."
Steve's dark eyes open and then scrunch shut as he takes a breath. "Already?"
"You've been asleep an hour," Eddie tells him, lamenting the loss of him as Steve straightens up and stretches and yawns.
Steve falls still with his head hung, leaning forward on his elbows, and Eddie traces the curve of his back with his eyes, wishing his hands could follow. There's a strange tension to him, like he really doesn't want to get up, or like he's expecting something bad to happen. Like the Upside Down might crack open again and swallow them up.
"We don't have to...?" Eddie ventures.
Steve laughs, but it's strained, the sort of hysterical like Eddie's told a joke, except he hasn't, and then Steve is on his feet and offering his hand to help Eddie up next. "C'mon, dude, we'll miss it. I want to see it. With you."
Eddie laughs under his breath and takes Steve's hand up. He puts his rumpled clothing to rights as they cross the trailer. He opens the door and spins in order to stand outside of it, ready to let Steve pass and close it behind him, mostly so that he can see Steve smile in thanks. Eddie's heart gives a little flutter, the way it always does when Steve smiles at him like that.
Together they scramble up on top of the van, and just as they reach the top, the street lights in the trailer park shut down. There are people all over standing on their porches, eyes raised to the sky, to the full moon shining brightly. Eddie risks a glance over at Steve, can't help his excited grin, and is relieved to see a matching smile on Steve's face.
"I haven't come out to see an eclipse in a long time," Steve admits, turning his face back up to the sky.
"I'm glad you came to see this one," Eddie tells him, watching the edge of the moon begin to darken.
Steve doesn't reply, he just leans over and presses his warm arm to Eddie's, chasing away the chilly October air. Eddie lets himself lean back - it's cold, he can get away with it - and stares up into the sky with him, watching the light of the moon slowly bleed away. It's perfect. Beautiful.
"Hey, Eddie?" Steve says softly, as the last sliver of moon is fading, plunging the night into darkness.
Eddie turns to find Steve looking at him instead of the moon, too close, not moving back, and his heart starts kicking extra hard against his ribs. "Yeah?"
Something unreadable flickers over Steve's features, and then his hand is sliding smoothly along Eddie's jaw, and Eddie lets himself be pulled in. He definitely does not give a breathy little whine when Steve kisses him, except for how he does. There are people all around them, anyone could look, but Eddie knows they won't. They're too busy staring at the full moon eclipse.
It ends too soon, only a few seconds, only a dry brush of lips, the warming rub of cold noses, Steve's breath mingling with his when they part, steamy tendrils visible in the chill night air.
Eddie's eyes open - he doesn't remember closing them - and he stares at Steve as the moon begins to unmask, silver sliver shining on the other side again. He has to swallow twice before he can find any words, takes a quick glance around to see if anyone had caught them, but everyone's faces are turned up to the moon, fingers pointing. He looks back, meets Steve's eyes, and can barely stand the fragile hope there.
"Eddie?" Steve asks, low and concerned. "Was that- are you mad?"
"Mad?" Eddie laughs, entire body a live wire desperate to ground himself with another kiss while knowing full well they can't, now that the moment has passed. "You insisted on watching this eclipse with me, you have been a nuisance about it for days since you found out. I really thought you were excited about the moon."
The more he talks, the bigger Steve's knowing little grin has gotten, and it's no wonder because Eddie cannot keep the smile off his own face. Steve had kissed him. Steve had planned to kiss him. Steve had picked possibly the most romantic way to kiss him, ever. Eddie doesn't know what to with that. It doesn't feel real.
"Well," Steve says slowly, and Eddie can already tell he's about to have regrets about whatever Steve is about to say in that tone, "I was excited, just... not about the moon. I guess you could say I'm over the moon, for you."
Eddie stares at him with as blank a mask as he can, knowing full well now that Steve had included Dustin in whatever this plan was, because there's no way Steve had come up with that on his own. He is better than puns. Eddie turns away when he cannot keep a straight face any longer, and starts getting down from the van, coughing to cover up his laugh.
Behind him, Steve laughs and starts following him. "Wait, Eddie, c'mon! Dustin said it would work!"
Eddie stops, perched on the very edge of the van's hood, and waits for Steve to catch up to him before speaks. He lowers his voice to a growl, staring at the front door of the trailer. "I am going to take you into my home, and make out with you to within an inch of your life, Steve Harrington, but only if you promise to stop taking dating advice from an eleven year old."
"He's fifteen," Steve says, and then shakes his head. "And he was right." Eddie looks over, almost sidelong, and Steve adds: "And I will never take dating advice from him again."
Eddie breaks a little, letting the warm feeling in his chest stretch and spread within him, and he finally relaxes. This isn't a joke. Isn't a prank. He'd just promised to kiss Steve again, and Steve wants him to keep that promise.
"You really..." Eddie swallows and clears his throat. "You really planned all this? Waited?"
"I tried to," Steve says, keeping his hands in his own lap. "I really... really like you, Eddie. And then you... when you told everyone, and suddenly I had a shot... I just... wanted to tell you in a way that'd be special."
Eddie blows out a breath, and leans closer, tipping his head. "It's you," he says, helpless. "It would have been special no matter when or where you did it. But I gotta admit... kissing me under a full moon eclipse?"
"Please don't say metal," Steve says, but he's grinning now.
"Pretty fucking romantic," Eddie says over him. They both laugh, and Eddie lays his hand down between them, palm up and fingers loose. Steve slips his hand in and, to his credit, doesn't look around to see who's watching. "Now, I believe I have a promise to keep."
He hops down, pulling Steve with him, all the way to the trailer, just as the moon begins to shine its brightest once more.
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