#steve is a very good gift giver bc he pays so much attention to his friends i’m right don’t argue

[patheticgirlsteve]

Steve is an excellent gift giver, ask anyone in the Party, and they’ll tell you all about what they got from Steve for their last birthday. They’re not incredible gifts because of how much he spends on them or how fancy they are (they’re usually not very expensive and aren’t very fancy). No, they the best gifts because they’re useful.

Steve is a HUGE believer in giving practical gifts. He only gifts things that he knows his friends are going to use, things that they could probably buy for themselves, but Steve likes to give them to them instead.

For Dustin’s 15th birthday, Steve gets permission Claudia to teach Dustin how to drive. (Claudia says yes of course, because as much as she loves her son, she was not looking forward to being an a car with him at the wheel just yet Possibly ever.)

For Robin’s graduation, he buys her a new set of luggage so that when they go on their Hot Girl Summer Roadtrip that they’ve been planning (and eventually when she needs to move into her dorm) she’ll have a place to pack her stuff.

For Christmas, he buys El a bunch of different colors of glitter glue and film packs for the Polaroid camera Jonathan had bought her for her sracpbooking.

He spends an entire year saving up all of his quarters to give to Mike on his birthday, because he knows that Mike can never find any when they all go the arcade. (Mike can’t even pretend that it’s a bad gift, he wants to, but he can’t.)

It’s not just holidays and special occasions either, if Steve is out and about and he sees something that he knows one of his friends would love he buys it and gives it to them. Just because.

He’s at the sporting goods store getting himself some new running shoes and sees a set of sweat bands in Hawkins High colors and gets them for Lucas.

He notices that there’s a whole in one of Max’s gloves in the middle of December and buys her new pair to slip into her coat pocket when she’s not paying attention.

When he’s helping Joyce cook dinner for the Party one time and he sees her frowning at a old dented frying pan he goes out and gets a her new stainless steel one to see place the old one.

After everything Vecna and Upside Down related has been settled for good and he and Eddie have become tentative friends Eddie learns about this particular habit and skill of Steve’s. But he doesn’t realize at first that it’s Steve who’s giving him gifts.

It starts simple, a new pack of Eddie’s favorite kind of ballpoint pens that he used for everything (song writing, campaigning writing, and occasionally even doing his homework) slipped into his backpack, timed perfectly, as he had just used up his last one.

He doesn’t know how they got there, and tries to recall if he had bought them himself and just forgotten about it, but he doesn’t think he did. He decides not to question it too much though, why look a gift horse in the mouth?

The next thing he finds is a new notebook left in the passenger seat of his van after a hangout with the whole crew, again timed perfectly, he wanted to write a new campaign for Hellfire soon and needed someplace to write out all his plans.

He knows that it’s a gift this time because he sees a sticky note on the cover that’s says, “For Eddie :)”. He doesn’t recognize the handwriting, but he smiles at the wobbly little smiley face his anonymous gift giver has drawn.

The next gift comes in the form of a black velvet scrunchie, stuffed into the pocket of his leather jacket. It must have been put in there at some point when it was hanging up at Steve’s house during their group movie night that weekend. He uses it to keep his hair out of his face and because he thinks it’s cute.

Eddie starts to figure it out not long after that.

He and Steve are hanging out together, just the two of them, not for the first time. Eddie is playing his guitar on his bed while Steve is telling a story on the other side of the bed. They both startle one of Eddie’s guitar strings snaps with a loud twang. Eddie sighs, knowing that he’s gonna have to go get new strings soon now. Steve leaves not long after that with a goofy smile and a wave “good night”.

Two days later when Eddie gets home from Hellfire, he finds a pack of new strings taped his the front door without a note and Wayne has no idea how they got there. But Eddie knows. Who else could it have been but Steve?

And Eddie realizes that maybe all of the little gifts that he’s been given over the past couple of months were all Steve’s doing. Steve Harrington, reformed jock, ex-douchebag, genuinely good guy. Steve Harrington who’s Eddie has been trying gish best not to crush on ever since he had seen Steve wearing Eddie’s vest in the Upside Down.

Operative word there being “trying”, Eddie had been failing miserably and had gone and fallen for the guy against his better judgement. He couldn’t help it! Steve was just so nice and funny and thoughtful and HOT and Eddie was only a man, okay? He had been powerless to resist the Harrington Charm.

He goes to Steve’s parent’s house after he restrings his guitar with Steve’s gift to confront him. He’s not upset about the gifts, he’s just confused. Because why would Steve be paying such close attention to Eddie that he can buy such useful things for him? Why would he spend his money on Eddie at all?

When he opens the door Steve doesn’t look surprised to see Eddie there, but he does look nervous, which gives Eddie pause. Why is Steve nervous??

“You got the strings then, i’m guessing?” Steve asks, stepping aside to let Eddie in.

“Yeah, I got the strings, Steve. They kinda hard to miss, you taped them to the front door,” He teases as Steve closes the door behind them, neither of them moving to step into the living room.

“Well, I didn’t want you to miss them. We’re they the right kind? I wasn’t sure which kind to get so I asked the guy at the music store and he helped me figure it out, but if I got it wrong just eat me know and I’ll go get the right ones,” Steve isn’t looking at Eddie as he rambles.

“Steve,” Eddie cuts him off, feeling brave.

“Yeah?” Steve looks at Eddie now, and he can see the mix of fear, anxiety, and hope shining in Steve’s eyes.

“They were the right kind,” Eddie smiles.

“Oh, good,” Steve exhales. “I’m glad.”

“Steve,” Eddie says again, quietly, trying not to spook Steve who is clearly already nervous. “Have you been giving me gifts this whole time?”

Eddie is delighted to see Steve blush. “Uh, yeah, I have been. I do that a lot, I like giving gifts to the people I care about, I guess.”

“Steve,” Eddie can’t help his smile as he repeats Steve’s name again.

“Yeah,” Steve agrees, like Eddie had asked his opinion on something. His eyes are wide, the hope that Eddie noticed in them earlier has grown.

“Stop me if I’m wrong,” and Eddie really must be braver than he thought, because he leans in and kisses Steve.

Steve kisses him back almost immediately, and it’s not rushed or forceful. It’s soft and careful, no urgency to it, and it makes Eddie dizzy with how perfect it is.

And Eddie can’t help but think that this is by far the best gift that Steve’s given him.