#teacher! steve harrington

[judasofsuburbia]

something something kindergarten teacher! steve who is so tired of going on bad dates. kindergarten teacher! robin who doesn't want him to give up.

“Really? The date went that bad?” Robin asks again. 

“Yes,” Steve drones. “I swear she looked like she’d rather be at the dentist than on a date with me.”

Robin makes a sad face at him. Steve continues to sort the paint jugs and throw out any that have been mixed with other colors. Robin finishes putting toys back into cubbies and sanitizing the fake food. 

“Okay so,” Robin starts. 

Steve immediately holds up a hand. “Don’t say ‘maybe she’s not the one but someone is’. I’m sick of this, Rob. I feel like I’m just better off alone.”

“Not true,” Robin argues. “You’re a catch. You’re attractive and good with kids. You make me laugh so hard my ribs shake. You’re a great listener and you make amazing cocktails. Great helmet of hair. Who wouldn’t want to date that?” 

Steve’s heard it all before. He loves Robin, he does, but it doesn’t seem to matter what she thinks of him because no one in this town wants to make it to date two with him.

He used to be so good at this. Always had a girl on his arm at football games in high school. Always had a date to prom. Always had some girl to make out with at parties. Even when he realized later on in his twenties that he liked boys too, he still couldn’t find one that took his attraction seriously.

Steve Harrington? Like both? Unheard of, apparently. 

Still, Steve didn’t want to start the first day of school on a bad note. “Thanks, Rob. I might need to lick my wounds for a second but I’ll get back on the horse I promise.”

“Good because our marriage pact could be closing soon,” Robin mumbles with a sly smile. 

Steve’s head whips around. “Are you‒”

“I have a ring picked out,” Robin practically squeals. 

Steve does his best to gently set down the paint jugs and rip off his latex gloves before darting across the room to pick Robin up in a twirling hug. He kisses her head repeatedly until she’s groaning, giggling, and shoving him off. 

“Rob, that’s amazing,” Steve breathes. He squeezes her tightly again. 

“You better keep your mouth shut,” Robin warns with a pointed finger. “It’s so hard to surprise Nancy Wheeler but I think I’m finally going to be able to.” 

Steve’s grinning from ear to ear as he mimes zipping his mouth closed. “Secret’s safe with me.”

The alarm on Steve’s phone breaks them out of their little love fest and suddenly the halls are filled with parents, children, and teachers gabbing to high heaven. Robin gives him a salute before crossing over onto her side of the classroom. Technically, there is a foldable partition between the two rooms but it will be a cold day in Hell if Robin and Steve ever actually separate their classrooms. 

Steve goes to stand by his door and greet his new gaggle of students. He high-fives each of them as they walk through the door and points to their assigned cubby and seat.

Fifteen minutes later, he’s looking around the room and sees that two seats are still empty. Dustin and Max Munson. He didn’t see them at parent-teacher night last week but he knows from their file that they’re fraternal twins from a single, widowed dad. He tries to keep an eye out for them but he knows the other kids are getting restless. 

Then he hears, “Oh, Mr. Munson, you’re actually in Steve’s‒sorry, Mr. Harrington’s class. He’s just right across the way.” 

Steve glances across the room and does a double-take. Across the room is the alleged Mr. Munson, this tall, lanky man with curly brown hair that hits his shoulders with a blank bandana tying down the top of his head, big brown eyes, a leather jacket with pins, a white tank top, and coverall sleeves tied at his waist. He’s positively breathtaking. 

Holding either hand are Max and Dustin. A little redhead with a baseball cap, overalls, and a striped shirt. A little brunette curly head with green khaki shorts and a shirt with a dragon on it. Mr. Munson smiles apologetically at Robin and walks across the room to Steve’s. Dustin bolts to his assigned seat and starts talking animatedly to Will Byers who looks a little scared out of his mind but is quickly rescued by Mike Wheeler who is just as excited. Max stays glued to Mr. Munson’s side as he walks up to Steve.

If Steve’s not mistaken, Mr. Munson looks him up and down before speaking. 

“Sorry we’re late,” Mr. Munson says and of course, his voice is pretty too. “This one is a little nervous about being away from her dad.”

Steve draws his eyes away from the strong neck and pale collarbones that poke out from underneath his jacket to the scared girl. He bends down to her level and gives her a soft smile. 

“Are you Max? I’m Mr. Harrington,” Steve says.

Max blinks, inching more and more behind Mr. Munson’s pant leg. 

“School’s kinda scary, huh?” Steve asks. 

Max nods.

“I know I get a little nervous on the first day and I’m the teacher,” Steve admits in a small, dramatic voice. He sees the tiniest sliver of a smile on Max’s face. “I’ve sat you next to Lucas Sinclair,” Steve points to the smiling kid on the other side of the room. Lucas gives a small wave. “He’s a very nice boy and I think he even likes the Bulls,” Steve gestures to Max’s hat. “So, I think you guys will have loads to talk about. We’re gonna have a really fun day, okay? And then you’ll get to tell your dad all about it.”

Max glances timidly around the room again and slowly lets go of her dad’s pant leg. Dustin rushes over and shows Max where her cubby is which detaches her completely. Max sits next to Lucas who does get very excited over her hat. Steve and Mr. Munson watch her relax little by little. 

“Holy sh‒shirt," Mr. Munson coughs and smiles sheepishly. "Wow, uh, you really know how to talk to them. Literally made her a friend within five seconds."

Steve stands and tries to regain composure now that the irresistible dad’s attention is on him. 

“Thanks,” Steve says quietly. “The first day is always a little tricky.”

Mr. Munson holds out his hand and says, “Eddie.”

Steve takes it, feeling a little dizzy over how firm his grip is and the callouses on his hands. “S-Steve. Harrington.”

“I’m sorry we couldn’t make it last week. Last-minute towing emergency for Chief Hopper,” Eddie says, finally dropping Steve’s hand. 

Steve playfully rolls his eyes. “I’ve been telling him for years that he needs to dump that old hunk of junk already. I’m guessing you work for Munson Mechanics?”

Eddie smiles boldly and glances down at his attire. “Yeah, that’s where I get this sick uniform. Very exclusive.”

“I’m jealous,” Steve laughs nervously, trying desperately to keep his eyes on Eddie’s face. But even then, his eyes are so pretty and his smile is so radiant. There’s faint stubble on his upper lip and jaw. Steve wants to run his fingers over it amongst other things.

“Well, I won’t keep you much longer,” Eddie smiles, clapping Steve on his back. “Maybe I’ll get you a free oil change for your trouble.”

“Oh, it’s no trouble‒”

Eddie leans forward a little and squeezes Steve’s shoulder. He whispers, “Or maybe I just want to see you when there are not twenty five-year-olds staring at me.”

From this proximity, Steve can smell his cologne and lingering car oil. He can feel his brain cells dying every second he inhales the intoxicating aroma. Steve breathes shallowly, too aware of the growing blush on his cheeks, and says, “S-sure. I’d like that.”

Eddie smirks and has the audacity to wink before going to each of his kids, ruffling their hair, and kissing them goodbye with a big wet smack on their cheeks. He passes by Steve again and murmurs, “I won’t say goodbye to you like that. Not yet, at least. Good luck with my little gremlins” before walking out the door. 

Steve hears the clunk of his boots echoing down the hall and each step makes his heart beat louder against his ribs.

He dares to look at Robin across the room who is staring at him with a smug grin on her face. She mimics getting on a horse and does a little lasso with her hand. 

Steve adjusts his glasses, clears his throat, and says in his best teacher voice, “Alright friends, who’s ready to start kindergarten?” 

EDIT 2/8: READ THE FULL FIC HERE 🤠

[ladydorian05]

A Home for Broken Hearts ~ Chapter 5

Co-written with the amazing @made-ofmemories

I'm so sorry for not updating last weekend, I honestly forgot 😅

But here's chapter 5… and if I remember correctly quite few things happen in this one.

Anyways, enjoy!

Masterpost

AO3

Chapter 5: Like Icarus, Steve is Falling

“EDDIE MUNSON!” Chrissy shrieks it’s followed by a cackle of manic laughter from Eddie.

Eddie is in an exceptionally good mood today, helped in part by the fact he’s gotten a rare weekend off from his job, his actual job that is. Unfortunately for Chrissy his good mood has somehow translated into him making it his personal mission to get on every last one of her nerves. They’ve only been at Hellfire for an hour, but Eddie has been all but bouncing off the walls the entire time. Steve doesn’t know how Chrissy has even lasted that long without threatening to throttle him. 

Steve can’t see what’s going on. He has his back turned to them, putting down large sheets of wood atop the foundations of the stage with some help from Robin who has also given up her weekend to help out. He and Eddie had finished the foundations a while ago, but after that it had become sidelined in favor of other projects.

“I think Eddie has a death wish,” Robin is facing the opposite direction to Steve and has watched the whole scene unfold with a smirk, she gestures to them with a nod and Steve looks over his shoulder.

There’s a paintbrush in Eddie’s hand and a streak of yellow across Chrissy’s cheek. It doesn’t take a genius to figure out what happened there. Chrissy’s face is glowing bright red beneath the paint, Steve half expects smoke to start pouring from her ears. 

Ten more minutes pass before Chrissy has finally had enough and Eddie makes his way over to Steve with a slip of paper in hand. 

“Chrissy has banished me from my own bar, can you believe it?” He’s all bright smiles and mirth.

“Yeah.” Steve chuckles, “I really can.”

Eddie feigns a shocked expression, “I’m going to ignore that,” His features turn back into something mischievous, “What do you say to joining Eddie the banished on his quest for-” Eddie pauses to look down at the list in his hand, “second hand furniture and lunch.” 

Steve can’t hide his smile at the ridiculous voice Eddie puts on when making his request. He wants to. He really does, he’ll take any excuse to spend more time with Eddie, but they’re nowhere near done with the stage and he can’t just abandon Robin. He looks at her, but she knows what he’s going to say before he even opens his mouth.

“Go, I got this,” She assures him.

He mouths a thank you to her as they leave, she shakes her head a fond smile on her lips in response. He owes her one, he makes a mental note to himself promising he’ll make it up to her another time. 

They take Eddie’s van to go run errands. As much as Steve hates to admit it, it’s the most practical choice. However, if he thought Eddie’s driving was hair-raising on the quiet roads in the early hours of the morning, it was nothing compared to driving during the busy weekend traffic that comes with driving into the heart of the city. 

Steve swears under his breath when the van swerves, narrowly avoiding a collision. They’re definitely going over the speed limit and Steve’s nerves are not cut out for this. Eddie seems unphased.

“You good there, Harrington?” Eddie asks, taking his eyes off the road for much longer than Steve feels comfortable with, “You’re looking a little peaky.” 

“Yup, I’m good. Can you just-” His voice comes out strained and tense, he is very much not good. He waves towards the road ahead when the words get stuck in his throat, “watch the road.”

“Relax, no one has ever died as a result of my driving,” Eddie informs him. A shit eating grin appears on his face when he adds, “yet.”

“Good to know.” 

Steve’s pretty sure he’s going to be the first. Either Eddie is finally going to drive them into a ditch or he’s going to have a heart attack before that happens.

The store Eddie leads them to isn’t one Steve has visited before, he’s walked past it a few times and never paid it much mind. Aquiles’ antiques and oddities. It doesn’t look much from the outside, exposed brick and a sun bleached sign that hangs above the storefront.

The smell is what hits him first as soon as they open the door, it’s not completely unpleasant, a slightly musty smell that reminds him of some of the old books Robin has. Visually it’s much more impressive. It’s like a treasure trove, every wall, shelf, and surface stacked with something different. There’s stuff everywhere and Steve isn’t sure where to look first. He tags along with Robin sometimes when she goes thrifting, but mostly they’re just looking for clothes and it’s never anything like this. 

“Wouldn’t this job be better suited to Chrissy?” Truthfully he has no idea what he’s doing here, he doesn’t know what he’s meant to be looking for. The only reason he’d agreed to the whole thing was because Eddie asked him to come. 

He picks up a small bronze statue from one of the shelves to inspect closer. It’s a winged man, torso bare and lower half wrapped in a sculpted cloth. The figure sits atop a plinth labeled with the name ‘Icarus’. Steve is vaguely familiar with the myth, he taught a lesson on Greek mythology once when covering for a 5th grade history class. 

“She trusts my judgment,” Eddie whisks past him and deeper into the store leaving Steve scrambling to place the ornament back on the shelf and catch up before he can lose sight of him, “Plus I’m pretty sure she only sent me out here so I’d leave her alone.”

“You think?” Steve teases and Eddie looks over his shoulder with a cocky smile. He totally knows he’s been a little shit all morning and he loves it, “So, what’re we looking for?” 

Steve nearly walks right into Eddie’s back, too busy looking up at the artworks hanging on the walls to realize Eddie has stopped walking.

“Picture frames,” Eddie explains, flipping through the box of them he’s found atop a table. 

Steve joins him, their shoulders pressed together as he huddles over the box to look. No two are the same. Some are just regular old plain wood, but others are more ornate with delicate carvings and colors ranging everything from olive green paint that’s chipping on the edges, to flawless shimmering gold. Eddie sets a few aside then moves on to looking at the larger ones leaning against one of the walls that are too big to fit in the box. 

The frames they pick out are a little worse for wear, the ones with the chipped paint and dented wood. Eddie says it gives them character. They’re browsing the rest of the store, admiring the trinkets scattered on each of the shelves. Eddie is behind him, looking through a stack of old records when Steve’s eyes finally land on it. A mid-sized chesterfield couch in a classic chestnut brown leather.

“Eddie!” Steve says a little too enthusiastically, Eddie flinches at his too-loud voice, “Look at this.”

“You in the market for a new couch, Harrington?” He saunters over to inspect it. He doesn’t look as impressed with it as Steve had been. 

“No, for Hellfire,” He explains, “It already matches the furniture you have, it’s perfect.”

“I don’t know.” Eddie sounds skeptical.He turns over the price tag attached to the side of it and his expression remains neutral, Steve takes that as a good sign, “It’s a bit…” He makes a vague gesture towards it with one hand, the other is holding the photo frames he has tucked under his arm, “well-worn.”

It’s definitely well used, Steve will admit. The leather is worn down and discolored in places and there’s a small hole starting to form in one of the seats, but it’s not past the point of being salvageable and it has a certain charm about it that Steve thinks would fit right in at Hellfire.

“It just gives it character,” Steve says, parroting Eddie’s description of the picture frames back at him with a grin.

Eddie contemplates it for a moment, drags a hand down one side of his face and sighs, “Chrissy is going to kill us, you know that right?”

“She kind of scares me.” He’s sure most people would laugh if he ever told them what he just told Eddie, but there’s more to her than her kind and sweet personality hiding beneath the surface. He’s sure of it and he isn’t in a hurry to push her enough and find out what that is.

“She should.”

As it turns out, convincing Eddie to buy the couch was the easy part. The difficult part comes when they’re trying to manhandle the thing into the back of Eddie’s van. It’s heavier than it looks, something they soon discover when they have to carry it all the way across the parking lot together after Eddie refuses the help offered by the shop owner.

“Nah, it’s ok man. We got it, don’t we big boy?” Eddie says, throwing a wink Steve’s way. 

There was that damn nickname again, the one that had caused his brain to short-circuit the first time. It has a similar effect now. Steve thought he would get over it, his attraction to Eddie, that they could just be friends and Steve would be cool with that. So far, every smile and every friendly touch, only served to emphasize the fact that he was very much not getting over it. He thinks back to the statue he had picked up earlier, a warning not to fly too close to the sun, but maybe it’s too late and he’s already falling.

Because he has seemingly lost all sense of self control and common sense, he spends the rest of the walk from the store to the van staring at Eddie’s arms, all pale skin and tattoos, glistening with a thin sheen of sweat and straining under the weight of the couch. Eddie definitely catches him looking more than once. 

Eddie is in the back of the van, both hands hooked under the bottom of the sofa as he shuffles backwards, dragging it with him as Steve stands at the other side and pushes. Eddie sets it down with a grunt once it’s finally in place, clambers out of the van and lights up a cigarette. He shouldn’t find it as hot as he does, he shouldn’t… but he does and it does not help his current situation of trying to ignore his attraction.

“You smoke?” Eddie tips the pack in Steve’s direction, his voice is distorted by the cigarette between his lips.

“Nah.” Not anymore. He doesn’t mention that part, not wanting to make Eddie feel guilty for smoking around him. It had been a long time ago back in junior year smoking behind the bleachers because he thought it made him look cool, “Thanks though.”

Steve volunteers to go back to the store to grab the frames they bought before he can get caught staring again. He needs a minute to get himself under control. He doesn't know how he used to do this, back in his king Steve days, the shameless flirting with any girl who would so much as look his way. It has crossed his mind that perhaps he was never quite as smooth as he always believed himself to be, back then no one would have had the guts to tell him otherwise. No one until Robin came along that is, but king Steve was already long gone by that point. Now he's reduced to a bumbling mess and all Eddie has to do is stand there looking pretty and use a mildly suggestive nickname.

Maybe he just needs to go out and find someone to get it out of his system with, he abandons that idea almost as quickly as it pops into his head. He’s never had the best track record with random hookups. He’s never had the best record with relationships either and he doesn’t think he’d ever forgive himself if he messed things up with Eddie. Maybe this is what he’s destined to, thirsting over unobtainable men. 

Eddie is leaning against the side of the van when Steve returns, his head tipped back as he blows out a plume of smoke. He moves to help when he hears Steve approaching, balancing what’s left of his cigarette between his lips to free his hands so he can take some of the frames from him.

“Alright,” Eddie snuffs out his cigarette, those long legs of his striding away before Steve can register what’s happening, “Lets go, next task.”

“Which is?” Steve questions, jogging a few steps to catch up as they head down the main street.

“Lunch. You hungry?”

“Sure, I could eat.” Steve shrugs.

“Awesome, there’s a food truck that usually parks right around this corner that sells the best Cuban sub sandwiches. Trust me on this one, you’ll thank me later.” Eddie rambles, his face lighting up the way it always does when he’s talking about something he’s passionate about, today that is apparently Cuban sub sandwiches.

“The best?” Steve says, doing his best to sound skeptical even though he would absolutely believe anything Eddie told him right now, “I don’t know, Munson, you better hope it lives up to the hype or I’m gonna be disappointed. My trust in you shall forever be lost.”

“Oh it will, sweetheart.” Eddie assures him, a cocky grin on his face, ”come on, the girls must be hungry too.” He wraps an arm around Steve’s shoulders to pull him in closer whilst they walk then lets him go just as quickly. As if ‘big boy’ wasn’t bad enough for his heart, he just had to introduce another nickname.

Sure enough they round the corner and the food truck is right there in all of its bright red glory. The smell alone is good enough to make his mouth water. There’s a few people at the truck, but the queue is small. Eddie is like a man on a mission, eye’s locked onto his target as he marches towards the truck. Steve wonders briefly if Eddie has forgotten to eat again, it wouldn’t be the first or even the second or third time it’s happened in the short period they’ve known each other. Steve intends to follow him until something in the corner of his eye catches his attention. 

There’s a bookstore with a selection of second hand books laid out on a table out front with a sign reading ‘charity book sale’. Steve’s not much of a recreational reader, never has been. He's pretty sure he’s never opened a book that wasn’t part of a curriculum list, be it when he was studying or while teaching as a substitute.

Robin on the other hand can always be seen with a book in hand and he’s looking right at a slightly worn, but overall decent condition copy of ‘Le Petit Prince’. He owes her for covering for him earlier and given her fascination with languages it would be perfect, she knows some French but it’s not her strongest language and she always complains about wanting to improve it. 

“What’re you doing?” Eddie asks. He’s damn near pouting, it looks ridiculous and adorable all at the same time, “Food trucks over here,” He adds, bouncing on the balls of his feet as he waits for Steve to follow.

“I know, I- you go ahead I’ll catch up,” Steve says and Eddie doesn’t need to be told twice. 

Steve grabs the book and takes his time browsing the table out of curiosity. He doesn’t recognize most of the titles and any he does he recognizes from school or ones he’s seen Robin reading around the apartment. Eddie is almost at the front of the short line at the food truck when he heads inside to the cash register. 

“Steven?!”A wave of tension passes through Steve’s body, he can feel a headache setting in already, “Is that you?”

He thanks the cashier and takes the paper bag containing the book for Robin. There’s nothing blocking the door, maybe he could just make a run for it. No, that would only make things worse.

“Heidi?” He says, as if he hadn’t recognized her voice the second she had opened her mouth, “What are the chances of seeing you here?”

“I know right?” She replies, all fake cheer and false smiles. She’s as pretty as ever, makeup flawless and her blonde hair perfectly curled and cascading over her shoulders, “You’re not following me and my date are you?” She tries to frame it as a joke, but it falls flat. 

That’s when Steve notices the figure standing next to her, the ex she left him for no doubt. He’s taller than Steve and broader too with a muscle definition Steve could only dream of achieving. He can see why she left him, it still hurts, but he never had any hope of competing with Mr. Mcdreamy here. 

“No, just-” He shakes the bag in his hand and gives a tight lipped smile, “picking up a book.” 

“I didn’t know you read.” There’s an insult buried somewhere beneath that sickly sweet tone and Steve is left wondering how he never saw this before, the thinly veiled insults, the petty jabs, the sarcastic comments passed off as a joke when they really hadn’t been. Maybe she did him a favor when she broke up with him.

“Gotta read plenty, it’s part of being a teacher.” He inches his way towards the door rethinking his earlier plan of bolting out of there as fast as his legs can carry him.

“So you’ve finally found a school desperate enough to take you on?” She scoffs, the facade finally starting to fall. 

“There you are, babe!” Eddie’s arm is wrapped around Steve’s waist. He pulls him in close with the hand that comes to rest on his hip. Steve barely has a chance to process what’s happening, or when the hell Eddie even showed up, but his hand instinctively moves to rest on the small of Eddie’s back, “I wondered where you had wandered off to.”

It takes Steve’s brain a moment to kick into gear, it doesn’t help that he has Eddie pressed against his side clouding all of his senses. He feels the heat radiating off of Eddie, the sound of his voice calling him babe still rings in his ears and there’s the lingering smell of the smoke from his last cigarette mixed with the scent of his shampoo. He tries to commit it all to memory, Eddie is usually affectionate but this is on another level and he doesn’t know if or when he’ll get to experience it again.

“I didn’t go far,” He smiles and steals a glance at Eddie to find he’s already looking right back at him. If Steve didn’t know better he’d almost believe that soft, love-struck look in his eyes was real. He decides it’s best not to think about how much he wishes it was. Eddie was good at this, whatever this was, Steve hadn’t quite figured that out yet, “This is Heidi.”

“Oh, sorry I didn’t see you there,” Eddie apologizes, turning to Heidi and her date as if it’s the first time he’s noticing them. Steve is pretty sure it’s physically impossible for Eddie to not have seen the two figures standing directly in front of them, if the tight lipped smile on Heidi’s face is anything to go off she’s well aware of it too, “We were just on our way to grab lunch.” 

“Oh, well don’t let us stop you,” The fake sweetness returns to her voice.

“It was nice meeting you, Hailey.” 

It’s the wrong name. Eddie knows it’s the wrong name and Heidi knows he knows it’s the wrong name. There’s a tense moment of eye contact between the two of them, a challenge, but Heidi doesn’t rise to it. Eddie smirks, triumphant and looking oh so proud of himself as he lets go of Steve’s waist to link his freed hand with Steve’s and leads them out of the store.

“I don’t know what just happened back there, but thank you. I think?” Steve is dumbfounded and still trying to figure out what he just witnessed. 

“She seems like a total bitch,” Eddie is still holding his hand despite the fact they’re way out of Heidi’s view by now, “She’s the one who broke up with you the night we met, right?”

“Yeah, I don’t know what I was thinking. I didn’t really see it at the time, but thinking back on it now… she was pretty fucking mean.”

Eddie huffs a laugh, more of an amused snort than anything else, “You really know how to pick ‘em.”

“How did you know?” Eddie just looks at him, brow furrowed with confusion, “To y’know, act like that,” He squeezes Eddie’s hand for emphasis and hopes it doesn’t prompt him to let go.

He doesn’t know how much of the interaction with Heidi Eddie had heard, or what led to his decision to drape himself over Steve and pretend they were dating. He wasn’t complaining about it, but it was an interesting choice.

“I didn’t really. You looked uncomfortable then I overheard her asking if you’d gotten a job in that passive aggressive, well, aggressive as fuck tone and figured, I don’t know, maybe she’d leave you alone if she realised you had a super hot boyfriend,” He’s wearing a cheshire cat grin when he says the last part, leaning in much closer than necessary, so close that Steve can smell his shampoo again.

“Oh Robin was right, with an ego like that you and Dustin are going to get along great, maybe it’s not such a good idea to let you two meet after all.”

“Dustin? Wait? I get to meet your kids?”

“Just Dustin and Max. The one who always wears the cap and-”

“And little red, yeah I remember,” Eddie says with barely contained excitement. Eddie had listened to plenty of stories about them all ever since finding that photo in Steve’s room. At this point Steve thinks he might know them almost as well as he does. 

“They’re flying in for a few days next weekend,” Steve explains. “I was hoping to bring them by Hellfire, if you’re ok with it?”

“I’d be offended if you didn’t.”

They’re back at the van which means Steve has to finally let go of Eddie’s hand as they part ways and head to their respective sides of the vehicle. Eddie hands him the bag of food and Steve steals a peek inside, there isn’t much to see just 4 foil wrapped bundles, they smell delicious though and Steve is for once happy about Eddie’s erratic driving meaning they’ll get to their destination quicker. He could probably eat in the van, Eddie doesn’t strike him as the type to care. There’s fast food wrappers littering the footwell and the thing is literally never clean, still it feels rude not to wait until they’re at least back with Chrissy and Robin so he rolls up the top of the paper bag and places it by his feet with the book for Robin.

Steve reaches for the radio controls whilst they’re at a red light and he can feel Eddie’s glare on him the entire time until the light turns green and one of the cars in the queue of traffic behind them honks their horn at them. Eddie doesn’t actually do anything to stop him beyond the glaring so he continues twisting the dial trying to find a good station.

“Nope. Please no.” Eddie groans when Steve settles on some cheesy 80’s pop station playing the last few notes of a song before the radio hosts take over, “Turn that off.”

“You don’t like 80’s music?” Steve gasps, only mildly offended.

“Sure I do, Mötley Crüe, Metallica, Dio, not that.” He sends an accusatory jab in the direction of the radio. Steve really shouldn’t be shocked.

The hosts introduce the next song and Steve cranks up the volume despite Eddie’s protests, “Oh come on, this is a good one!”

Eddie grumbles a little more as the intro to ‘Total eclipse of the heart’ begins to play, but Steve has already decided to ignore him and bursts into song at the first verse. He’s a little uncertain at first, voice unsteady and wavering slightly until he gains confidence. Steve knows he can sing, he and Robin have performed dramatic renditions of this exact song in their kitchen more times than he can count, but that’s different, that’s Robin. Eddie has never heard him sing before and they’ve already established he is not a fan of this genre.

By the time the chorus rolls around he’s belting out the lyrics alongside Bonnie Tyler’s voice. Eddie glances over occasionally, never taking his eyes off the road for long and Steve can’t quite read his expression but he sees the smile tugging at his lips.

“Sing with me,” Steve insists during an instrumental part.

“I don’t know the lyrics.”

“Bullshit,” Steve smirks, leaning over the center console to get closer as he resumes singing, effectively cutting off any more of Eddie’s protests. 

He wishes he’d had the hindsight to take out his phone and start recording when to his utter surprise Eddie actually starts singing along. It’s barely more than a mumble at first, but with a little encouragement he’s belting out the lyrics alongside Steve.

Eddie’s voice is different to Steves, deeper and with a certain amount of roughness to it. Steve’s curious to know what he sounds like when he sings the music he’s more familiar with, when he’s on stage roaring out lyrics with his band. His little daydream is cut short when the song comes to an end and they both burst into a peel of delighted laughter.

“I knew you knew the lyrics!” Steve yells, voice way too loud for the small space of the van, but they’re both hyped up and the volume on the radio is still turned all the way up.

Eddie reaches over for the volume dial on the radio then gives Steve a shrug, “Sometimes I let Chrissy pick the radio station when we’re at Hellfire.”

“Damn,” Steve flops back into his seat, calming himself before he continues,“That’s good music. Sometimes I think I was born in the wrong decade. Don’t get me wrong, I like some of the newer stuff that’s out there too, and wouldn’t change the access to a Wifi signal for anything, but oldies are just something else.”

“I still don’t know if I’d call that ‘good music’, but I get what you mean,” Eddie agrees, he sounds a little breathless, “Sometimes I worry I won’t get to see my favorite bands live before they either stop touring or kick the bucket.”

“Jesus, Eddie, went a little dark there,” Steve comments with a dry chuckle, “You’re right though.”

They keep talking about music the rest of the way back to the bar, still engrossed in a discussion about all the Pop subgenres, that mainly involved Steve speaking and Eddie listening intently to his every word, when they reach their destination. So much so that Eddie fails to notice Robin’s form standing near the entrance when they walk inside Hellfire, startling Eddie when she welcomes them back.

“Jesus, Buckley! I almost dropped our food.”

“Heh, just what could have taken your whole attention to not see me?” Robin teases him. Steve notices a faint blush appear on Eddie’s cheeks before he covers his face with a piece of his hair. He finds himself feeling a bit disappointed that it wasn’t him that caught him off guard like that.

“Oh shush you, don’t mess with the person carrying your nutritious sustenance.”

“I don’t think you can call greasy subs and soda nutritious, Eddie.” Steve laughs, “Did something happen Rob? Why are you here on your own? Where’s Chrissy?”

“Crissy is in the back checking the storage room. I saw off a gallery patron and then I remembered I brought a donation too.” She tells them, placing her arms around her middle hugging herself. “I just, I don’t know if I- Steve? Help me find a place for it?”

“Of course, but Robin, you don’t have to donate it if you don’t want to or if you’re not ready, you know that right?”

“Yeah, yeah I know.” She says, her voice breaking a bit at the end. She clears her throat with a cough before continuing, “But it’s time, I’m ready to let go.”

“Okay, let’s find a good place for it.” Sensing her need for support, Steve pulls his best friend into a hug. “Did you leave it in the car?”

“No, it’s in my bag.” Robin answers, stepping out of Steve’s embrace.

“I’m going to leave our food and drinks on the bar and get some tools in case you require them Sir. Robin.” Eddie says, squeezing Steve’s shoulder as he passes by them. He’s been calling her Sir. Robin from time to time ever since she kept him from falling from the wobbly ladder he had been using by holding it steady.

“Thanks, Eddie.” she smiles at him.

“No problem.” He calls back.

“Come on, I have a feeling I know what your donation is so let’s find a good place on the wall for it.”

“What are you guys doing?” A couple of minutes later, Chrissy finds them in front of what they’ve been calling the gallery’s wall that holds the two items that started the gallery plus Chrissy’s and other people’s donations. Eddie is hammering a nail close to Steve’s scrunchie.

“Hey, Chris! I’m preparing the space for Robin’s donation.” Eddie chimes in.

“It’s a dream catcher, Vicky and I got one for each other and exchanged them.” Robin tells them, “She was my very first, very real relationship. We ended things on good terms and sometimes that hurts more because I can't hate her or blame her for anything. We just accepted that we didn’t work out anymore. We couldn’t even keep in touch.”

“No one's fault, Robs.” Steve says from a nearby table where he’s taking the food containers out of the plastic bag.

“Yeah, I know. Life tends to get in the way.”

“Can I see it?” Chrissy asks.

“Sure,” Robin places the dream catcher on Chrissy’s waiting hands.

“It’s beautiful, you picked a good place for it.”

“I wanted it to be close to Steve’s first donation.”

“Well, you can hang it now Robin. And thanks for sharing your story with us.”

“Aww come on, Eddie. We’re all friends now!” She hangs the dream catcher and grabs the marker Chrissy offers to her.

‘Vicky,

We just couldn’t

go on, hope she’s

okay and happy.

4 years, Hawkins.’

“Hey guys, do you mind if I don’t take a picture? I don’t want her to stumble upon it.”

“Not at all Robs, that’s one of the reasons why we ask for people's permission.”

“That’s great.” she sighs in relief. “Oh, I almost forgot! The tip.” She pulls a five dollar bill from her pocket and walks to the stool where they placed the now decorated jar of jam. “There, now come on, let’s eat, I’m starving.”

They wait until after they’ve eaten lunch to break the news to Chrissy of the couch waiting to be unloaded in the back of the van, hoping some good food will help soften the blow. Eddie left the interior designing to her. She had sent them out to search for wall decor, they didn’t need more furniture and certainly not a huge couch that she’d have the task of dealing with. She’d probably have to do some restorations to it and make sure it fits in with the other furniture and find somewhere for it where it doesn’t look out of place.

They needn’t have worried, much to Steve’s delight she approves. 

<Chapter 4 ~ Master post ~ Chapter 6>

[harringtonisms]

steve telling his students (teacher!steve, so true) about his super sweet and caring husband and they all think it's just some average, boring dude. and they find out that the guy who irons mr. harrington's clothes every morning and adopted 3 kittens so the siblings wouldn't be separated, is a rock musician, with tattoos all over his arms and is wearing a shirt that says sum shit like "the devil was an angel too" when he comes in for career day.

alternatively, eddie telling his bandmates about how super cool and tough his husband is & then one day some guy in a baby blue polo and pressed slacks shows up before their show to give eddie a specific pick and a kiss on the cheek and eddies band mates are like..........that's him? that's the guy who bit the head off a bat and hit billy hargrove with his car?

(edit: read steve's version here!)

[fifthnailinstevesbat]

thinking about married teacher steve and rockstar eddie.

steve’s students like to poke fun at him for “not being cool” or “trying to be cool”, and steve just feeds into it and plays up his cluelessness to modern things and what’s “hip” nowadays. he always just tells them they have no idea, and they’re gonna eat their words one day when they see how cool he really is, but all the kids just laugh and think he’s being sarcastic.

one day a group in his class is talking about the popular rock music star eddie munson, about his music and how much they love him, and steve joins in, asking them about eddie and what kind of music he makes and so on. he says something like “oh yeah, i think i know munson. yeah he’s cool, makes good stuff” and the kids are like “as if you know eddie munson, mr h, there is no way”. steve just chuckles and says “if you say so”

meanwhile eddie EATS EACH STORY UP when steve comes home with a something new to tell him all about what his kids were saying to him today

honourable mention but eddie also is WEAK for steve’s teacher outfits, the button ups, the vests, when he wears a tie WITH his glasses consider eddie a dead man.

on the last day of class for the year steve has given his class almost a free period of sorts to just chat and muck about being that it’s so close to vacation and all, and ofc the topic of steve’s uncoolness comes up again, and he’s just all laughs and smiles not even trying to fight back while they poke harmless fun at him, just looking smug as shit knowing these kids are in for a treat.

the bell goes and they all start to pack up their things to leave, and steve calls out to get their attention, remember the homework, stay safe, have a good break and all that, but THEN who else walks through the classroom door but eddie. munson. heading straight towards steve telling him “hey babe, ready to go?”

“yep, just let me grab my stuff” steve says back, and the class is stunned silent. eddie walks over to steve’s desk and puts a hand on his back as steve is leaning over it putting books and pages into his bag, “you guys are all free to go” he looks up to the class, smug as ever.

as he and eddie head towards the door, steve stops and turns around back to his class one last time, whisper shouting over his shoulder “who’s cool now?”

eddie is laughing infront of him as they walk out together, listening to the classroom they’d just left erupt into chaos.

[hairmetal666]

Steve doesn't date, not anymore. He goes to bars, clubs, picks people up and makes it clear it's just for the night; that it can't, won't, be for anything more.

He falls too fast and too hard; wants so badly to be loved that he loses himself to it. So, he doesn't date and he's fine. More than fine, actually. Not worrying about finding someone, about falling in love, lets him truly enjoy his life; maybe for the first time since childhood.

He goes with Robin to visit her parents in Hawkins, wakes up at the ass crack of dawn to go for a run. With the sun barely up, he doesn't expect to come face-to-face with Eddie Munson, smoking on a park bench.

They startle each other in the early Hawkins quiet, Eddie jumping hard enough that he drops his cigarette into the dirt at his feet.

"Christ, Harrington!" He snarls a little.

"Fuck, Eddie." Steve fights to catch his breath. "What are you doing out this early?"

He glances up, finds Eddie's eyes raking over this body in a way that makes him go hot all over.

"Haven't been home yet." Eddie smirks. And he can see that's true, Eddie is fully dressed, faint lines of mascara trail across his cheeks.

"Had a show?"

"Something like that." Eddie's cheeks pink, and he pulls a chunk of hair over his face.

Understanding dawns, and Steve points at him, delighted laugh bubbling in his throat.

"Don't--"

"You had an all night Hellfire meeting?" Steve cackles.

"Shut--Harrington, shut-up." But he's smiling too. "I'm in town this weekend. Dustin insisted!"

"You can tell him no, you know?" Steve giggles.

"Like you ever could."

Eddie stands then, and they hug, quick and tight. He practically crumbles into his friend's body, but then, that's nothing new. Steve breathes him in, immediately comforted by the familiarity of tobacco and leather and sweat and weed.

"I'm at Rob's. Come say hi?"

Eddie nods and they trek back together. They kept in touch, after Vecna, and their chatting is easy, like it's not been six months since the last time.

Eddie stays for breakfast tells them with a smile, "I was gonna call but--I'm moving to Chicago. That's why I'm crashing at Wayne's for now, stopped on the way--"

The rest of his words are smothered by the force of Steve and Robin's hug, Steve's heart beating an elated rhythm he doesn't bother investigating.

--

When Eddie makes it to town, they hang out as constantly as an adult with a day job and a touring musician can. It's nice, good, to see Eddie sitting on their couch. To watch him smoke a joint on the balcony. To hangout in his bed as he works on new music. It's just like the summer of '86, before they all went off to find their futures.

They're closer than they've ever been. Crashing at each other's apartments, sharing clothes, meeting for coffee and drinks and meals. There's not a day or night when they're free that they don't spend together.

Steve knows he's falling for Eddie; was halfway there already, and now--well, Eddie's beautiful and funny and smart and talented. He doesn't make a move, though. Because Eddie'll leave, like they all do, and losing Eddie will crush him more than anyone else ever has.

--

In June, Eddie's gone for a month, touring across the midwest. The day he's expected back, Steve's in the kitchen, rolling up fresh pasta, simmering sauce on the stove.

Robin stomps in, eyes flashing. "What are you doing?"

"Making dinner?" Steve raises an eyebrow.

"Steve."

"Robin."

They glare at each other across the kitchen. Steve breaks first. "What's wrong with making our friend dinner?"

"I don't want either of you to get hurt."

Steve freezes, swallows. "I'm not--I'm--I wouldn't."

"Just. Promise you'll be careful?"

He nods, squeezes his hands into fists. "Course, Rob."

And he means it, he really does, but when Eddie lets himself in, Steve runs to the doorway to pull his friend into a tight hug.

Eddie huffs out a burst of air on impact, laughing lightly. "Miss me, sweetheart?"

"So much," Steve whispers. He presses his nose into Eddie's neck, breathing him in, and he doesn't miss the way a kiss is pressed into his hair, the way Eddie's breathing him in too.

They fall into their natural rhythm immediately, Eddie following him to the kitchen, cooing and posturing that Steve made him dinner.

As Steve serves up the food, Eddie wraps his arms around his waist, leaning against his back. God help him, but Steve can't help relax into the hold, turning his head until their eyes meet.

Desire bleeds from Eddie's gaze, and Steve's breath hitches. He wants this so badly, knows he shouldn't, but he lets himself lean in until they share air.

But--he can't lose Eddie. He can't.

He turns away, lets the moment die. Eddie doesn't stay over that night, and Steve pretends like it doesn't make his stomach hurt.

--

They aren't as close after that.

Steve keeps telling himself it's because they're busy. The school year's starting up, Steve's got lesson plans to write; Eddie made an EP, it got interest, he's taking meetings in New York and LA. It's okay that they're spending less time together.

Until Eddie stops returning his calls.

He tries not to worry. But one call becomes two, becomes three, and he can't help it. He goes over, dread a knot in his stomach. Eddie opens the door, and he's shirtless with sweatpants slung low on his hips, hair loose and streaming around his shoulders. He looks happy.

"Steve? What are you--"

"You weren't answering my calls, and--can I come in?"

Eddie winces. "It's not a good time, Harrington."

He stands there for a second, stung, not sure what to say.

"Eddie, I--"

"Babe?" A voice calls from inside the apartment. "Who's at the door?"

Steve freezes. Can't think, can't move. He hopes it isn't obvious that his heart is shattering, but Eddie's blinking at him, panic written in the lines gathering on his forehead.

"Steve, Stevie, please," Eddie is saying, but he can't do this. He can't do this.

He walks away, all the way home, numb to everything around him.

The phone's ringing when he gets to the apartment. He ignores it. Goes to his room, locks himself in, crawls into bed.

The phone keeps ringing. He keeps ignoring it.

It isn't supposed to be like this. They weren't dating, weren't trying for a relationship; Eddie's supposed to be his. He curls into himself, sobs until his ribs hurt, until his eyes are as heavy as his heart, and he falls asleep.

--

Steve startles awake, disoriented, to someone knocking on his bedroom door. He has no idea what time it is, how long he slept, but he expects Robin to be waiting in the hall.

It's Eddie. Hair in a messy bun, face flushed, eyes too bright.

"I'm sorry," falls out of Steve's mouth before he can think of anything else.

"Steve, I--I don't--" Eddie shakes his head. "Do you want to be in a relationship with me?"

"Yes," Steve whispers. "But I can't lose you, Eddie."

Eddie reaches out, slender hand, cupping Steve's jaw. "I need you to really listen when I say this, sweetheart. You will never, ever lose me. Not a chance."

"You can't know that," Steve says. Tears break free, cascade down his cheeks. "I used to think who could ever leave me? You know, back before Nancy. But I realized that actually no one would stay. And I can't--with you I can't--"

"Sweetheart," Eddie chokes on a sob. "I'm yours. Have been for years. I will never, ever leave you, no matter what we are to each other. But I can't be in some of a relationship with you. You have me wrapped around your finger, and I--I need it all, Steve."

"I want you to have it, Eddie." He presses his hand to his heart. "This belongs to you, but I--I couldn't survive you leaving."

"I would stay, Steve. I will. I promise on everything I have, everything I am, that you would never, ever lose me."

Steve stumbles into Eddie's arms, totally gone, and their mouths meet in a clumsy kiss. It wrecks Steve, tears him apart, renders him down to his smallest parts only to build him back together. He knows now for certain that there is no one else in the world for him.

They break apart, but don't move out of each other's orbit. "I love you," Steve whispers.

"Stevie, sweetheart, I love you more than anything." His fingers wind their way into Steve's hair, gentle, holding him. "I promise you'll have me for forever--fuck, longer than forever. My soul will find yours wherever we end up. I swear it."

[pencilscratchins]

i have reached the part of the steddie hyperfixation where i make them domesticated men in their 50s. having a blast! (twitter) [ID in ALT text]

[forestmossling]

reporter @ an accomplished rockstar!eddie’s boyfriend, steve harrington, a middle-school teacher in a dorky sweater vest: how does it feel dating somebody who’s waaay out of your league?

eddie, pushing himself in front of the camera: amazing, i never thought i’d be this happy

inspired by @singswan-springswan’s meme

[mysteriousxmidnight]

Rockstar!Eddie who is out clothing shopping and gets swarmed by fans, so he runs and hides in what he thinks is an unoccupied dressing room, only to come face to face with a half naked Steve Harrington who blinks at him in surprise.

Steve’s trying on outfits for his best friend’s wedding, and that’s how Eddie ends up being his plus one.

[ladykailitha]

The Rockstar and the Teacher

Just thinking about a rockstar Eddie and a school teacher Steve who have been together for a decade, but Steve is kept out of the limelight by his choice.

He doesn't want to have his kids harassed because of who he's dating. Plus the whole gay man= pedophile in the minds of most parents.

Things are going great until they aren't.

Steve sees a tabloid with the headline "Eddie Munson photographed outside local bar with boyfriend, hints there may be a spring wedding!" and he's furious. Like seeing red, pissed off.

Because the guy next to Eddie is not Steve.

Whoever he is, he's dressed the same as Eddie. Leather jacket, long hair, chains everywhere.

But he barely has time to get worked up because even though Eddie had been in LA working on the band's next album, he is bursting through their house in Hawkins's door.

Eddie skids to a stop when he sees the tabloid on their kitchen counter and holds up his hands.

"I'm sorry, baby," he mutters and Steve chokes back tears, "I was trying to get home before you saw that."

"Why would you do that to me?" Steve cries.

Eddie slowly pulls out his phone like he's getting it out for a cop and hands it over to Steve, who takes it with a frown.

"It's not me, sweetheart," Eddie says. "I can prove it."

Steve looks at the phone and it instantly opens to Steve's face.

Eddie can see the hope spark in Steve's eyes as he looks through Eddie's phone.

Text message after text message about Eddie planning on getting Steve a necklace with both of their initials on it from Steve's favorite jewelry designer.

Eddie's phone pinging him at a nearby bar, but not the one the photo is showing him coming out of at the time it was taken.

Then the final evidence. A fan photo of Eddie and the girl taking a picture just outside of it the other bar at the time other Eddie was supposedly getting his picture taken with his "boyfriend".

"My management and PR team are on it, Stevie," Eddie tells him. "We think it was a setup from the jewelry guy. He lured me to the bar so that they could stage the pap photo."

Steve frowns at the phone in his hand, his fingers gripping it so tightly that his knuckles go white.

"Why?"

Eddie runs his hands over his face. "Honestly?" Steve nods. "To get you to come out in the public eye."

Steve looks at the phone and then back at the paper on the counter. Eddie can see his heart sink.

"I'm sorry," Steve murmurs. "I've been selfish. If I had just gone to LA with you been your partner all of the time, this wouldn't have happened."

Eddie takes Steve's face in his hands. "You are my partner all of the time. Even when we're apart. You weren't being selfish. You had just gotten your degree when we made it big. You wanted to use what you had paid for, and rightly so. This is on them, not you. Never you!"

Steve lets out a shuddered breath and then nods. "Okay."

He lets out another breath and Eddie smiles as Steve straightens his shoulders and cracks his knuckles.

"Give me two hours and I'll have this sorted."

Eddie doesn't doubt it.

****

Two hours later, Steve comes out in a beautiful cream suit and silver mesh top.

Eddie looks up from his place on the sofa and licks his lips slowly. He had been messaging Chrissy, his manager while Steve was doing whatever it was in his office.

"Wow, baby you look good enough to eat."

Steve grins. "It's a good thing you're hungry because we're going out to dinner."

Eddie stands up quickly and puts a hand on Steve's waist. "Are you sure you want to do this? We don't have to. We're already suing everyone for defamation of character and libel."

Steve grinned. "Oh yeah. I've already spoken to Robin and Chrissy and they're onboard."

"K, baby."

****

They arrive at the restaurant and they sit in Eddie's little two seater.

"Last chance, Stevie," Eddie said, looking out at the waiting reporters. "Just say the word and we'll go somewhere more secluded."

Steve shakes his head. "Let's do this."

Eddie gives his hand a squeeze and gets out first.

"Eddie! Eddie!" one reporter calls out. "What do you have to say about that picture in The Sun?"

"That's not me," he says calmly. "That's not my boyfriend. I would never cheat on him that way."

Then a burst of questions asking about his real boyfriend as he moves around the car to open the other door.

Steve steps out looking like sex on legs. But also like nothing anyone pegged as Eddie's boyfriend.

Eddie kisses his hand and Steve blushes.

Suddenly all the questions are directed at Steve, asking if he's the boyfriend? How long have they been dating? What's his name?

Steve just bats his eyelashes and says quite clearly, "I would ask you to respect our privacy during this trying time."

BOOM!

Mic drop.

The reporters clam up, the cameras stop flashing as they stare at him in open mouthed shock.

Eddie swoops in and gives Steve the biggest kiss. And the only reason it was even caught on camera was because the video camera hadn't stopped rolling.

They go inside and Steve gets two messages on his phone and Eddie asks if he's going to look at them, but he shakes his head.

"It's probably just Robin wanting all the inside scoop."

So they finish their meal and walk back out to the valet, hand in hand. It's then when Steve pulls out his phone. He was right about the first message, the second one was from a private number and merely said:

-Ben fatto, mio caro*

Steve smiles and kisses the the screen before tucking his phone back in his pocket.

As they drive home, Eddie asks about the texts.

"Just my mom telling me she was proud of me in the only way she could."

Mrs. Sophia Harrington was too conceited to send him anything directly, especially since Clint Harrington had cut Steve off years ago due to him being gay. But she could send a single message from a private number that she would never use again, to let her son know that she was proud at how well he had handled the reporters.

Eddie just smiles and they drive home in comfortable silence.

****

Steve goes to work the next morning and stops in at the principal's office. He smiles when he realizes the press hasn't figured out who he is yet. But it will only be a matter of time and he knows it.

The principal holds up a printed copy of his resignation and demands to know the meaning of it.

So Steve tells him.

"Steve..." the principal whines when he's done.

"You know you're going to have parents banging down your door the second it gets out," Steve explains. "It's easier for me to just walk away now and not wait for you to have to fire me."

The principal sighs but agrees. "You'll be missed."

Steve nods and stands up. At least he'll have time to say goodbye to his kids.

By lunch time it's gotten around the school that he's leaving but not why.

Steve had sworn his kids to secrecy so everyone could say goodbye, but a couple of his students come and hang out with him at lunch to talk about it.

"I knew you had to someone cool," the one kid says. "You knew too much about Corroded Coffin to be lame ole Mr. Harrington."

Yeah, Steve isn't going to miss that one kid.

He makes it through the school day and some of the parents have setup an impromptu farewell party on the front lawn of the school.

It's a tearful goodbye, but Steve feels lighter as he makes his way to car with all his things, then he has in years.

****

The news breaks on who he is later that night and Steve doesn't envy the principal's headache tomorrow, but cuddled up with Robin and Eddie on his sofa, he really can't find it in himself to give a fuck.

They'll later go on the Tonight Show and talk about how Steve had been in the closet for years and how he was forced out by this stunt with the photo. He talks about how other celebrities had been forced out too and that apparently it's not just for famous people.

That because he was with a famous person that meant he had no rights either and how that has to start changing.

He's happy he's out now, but it should have been on his own terms and not the media's.

There ends up being a spring wedding, but just the following year as Eddie and Steve tie the knot, two beautiful rings on their hands and a dazzling necklace at Steve's throat with their new initials on it EM and SM.

There is a mysterious gift of two tickets to a private villa in Italy after their honeymoon that has them both grinning like fools.

****

Here's a little gay Italian Steve for you.

*Well done, my dear

Tag List: @mira-jadeamethyst @rozzieroos @itsall-taken @redfreckledwolf @emly03

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@useless-nb-bisexual @disrespectedgoatman @counting-dollars-counting-stars @tinyplanet95

[morganbritton132]

Eddie filming a tiktok before one of the soccer meets (maybe like day long blitz tournament) in a cheerleader outfit. Phone set up before he came downstairs, catching Steve scrolling on his phone, filling his water, checking the time and reminding Eddie they had to leave. And Eddie’s like, pretending it’s normal while Steve is just blinking at him.

He threatened to do it, and they all assumed he had forgotten but no, Eddie’s middle names are ‘committed to the bit’ (family name)

I think it’s infinitely funnier if Steve doesn’t notice that he’s wearing a cheerleading uniform for like, a while.

Eddie sets the camera up in the kitchen since Steve spends the majority of his time before a game in there pacing, and then he just stands there in the middle of the room. And waits. And Steve does not notice. It’s like:

Eddie: *standing in the middle of the kitchen in a red and gold cheerleading uniform*

Steve: *walks pass to double check the schedule on the fridge to make sure he has the time right*

Steve: *walks pass while putting on his jersey*

Steve: *walks pass to fill their cooler with drinks and sandwiches*

Steve: *walks pass to refill his water bottle*

Steve: *walks pass to triple check the schedule*

Steve: *walks pass looking at his phone*

Steve: *walks pass while texting Robin*

Steve: *walks pass to look at the schedule again*

Steve: *walks pass while reminding Eddie that they need to leave in fifteen minutes*

Steve: *stops right next to Eddie to read an article about Joe Jonas and Sophie Turner*

Eddie: Babe, do these shoes match my outfit?

Steve, looking away from his phone and directly at Eddie’s shoes: If you’re going to have your legs out then you need to put sunscreen on them because you… *finally notices*

Steve:

Steve:

Steve:

Eddie: 2,4,6,8 who do you appreciate?

Steve: …This outfit

[judasofsuburbia]

the seventh heaven (when i kissed the teacher) || steddie teacher/parent au

rating: teen and up || pairing: steve harrington/eddie munson || word count: 6061 || read here

summary: Eddie leans forward a little and squeezes Steve’s shoulder. He whispers, “Or maybe I just want to see you when there is not 20 five-year-olds staring at me.”

From this proximity, Steve can smell his cologne and lingering car oil. He can feel his brain cells dying every second he inhales the intoxicating aroma. Steve breathes shallowly, too aware of the growing blush on his cheeks, and says, “S-sure. I’d like that.”

Eddie smirks and has the audacity to wink before going to each of his kids, ruffling their hair, and kissing them goodbye with a big wet smack on their cheeks. He passes by Steve again and murmurs, “I won’t say goodbye to you like that. Not yet, at least. Good luck with my little gremlins” before walking out the door.

or: kindergarten teacher! steve is ready to give up on dating when single dad! eddie walks into his classroom. now he sees everything in a different light.

tw: mentions of eddie's wife passing

(thank you all so much for the love on this ficlet!! they grabbed my heart too so here's a whole fic for them! tagging people who replied to the original post: @zerokrox-blog @bibliophilepixie @georgiaspeachy @lilaclilyroses @strangeforest @writingfanficsfan @ninjapirateunicorns @aghostcup @hopefulcookieoperatorpersona @mackdaddyofheimlichcountyy @annabanannabeth @marsbars97 @trashcanniballecter @queerriotgrrrl @ilovecupcakesandtea @photoaesthetic

[ladydorian05]

A Home for Broken Hearts ~ Chapter 6

Co-written with and headder by @made-ofmemories

So... I took an involuntarly break, by this I mean that I just couldn't bring myself to proof read for the tenth time and actually post the chapter until today.

Anyways, sorry for the wait.

Masterpost

AO3

Chapter 6: In shades of grey with specks of light

“We should get back to work,” Eddie lets out a child-like whine at Steve’s suggestion. 

They’re lounging on the couch they bought at the antique store the previous weekend. Steve is sitting with his legs sprawled, if Robin were here she’d no doubt chastise him for ‘man-spreading’. Eddie, on the other hand, is pressed into the corner with both of his legs draped over one of Steve’s thighs. Steve’s hand rests on Eddie’s leg, his thumb absentmindedly tracing patterns against the bare skin of his knee. He’s starting to wonder if Eddie owns a single pair of pants without holes in them, if he does he’s sure he’s never seen them.

“We’ve been working all morning,” Eddie complains, “Plus, my bar means my rules and I say we deserve a longer break.”

Eddie lets his head roll to the side, resting against his shoulder as he looks away from his phone and over to Steve with a pout and honestly, how is he ever meant to argue when Eddie is looking at him like that?

“Alright, fine you win,” Steve says, not putting up much of a fight and settling into his seat. He didn’t really want to move anyway.

The place was starting to come together, it was almost unrecognizable from the construction site Steve had walked in on that first night Eddie had brought him here. Most of the heavy construction work is done, Eddie is hoping they can get whatever is left done without the need for contractors so the place has been quieter than usual for the past few days. Currently it’s just Eddie and Steve, Chrissy and Robin having announced they were going to grab some coffee a few minutes ago.

“Hey look.” Eddie turns his phone towards Steve, dragging him from his thoughts. It’s an instagram page, the instagram page for the ‘broken hearts gallery’ to be precise, “10,000 followers.”

“Holy shit.” 

“Yeah holy shit,” He has his nose buried in his phone again as he resumes scrolling, “And to think it all started with a scrunchie.”

“She texted me, you know.” That grabs Eddie’s attention, phone locked and dropped onto his chest as his focus shifts to Steve, “Heidi, I mean,” He clarifies.

“What did she want?”

“She broke up with Mr. McDreamy, again.” 

“Oh.” Eddie’s face drops and a conflicted expression takes over his features, as if he’s trying to appear unbothered but can’t quite hide the disappointment.

“I blocked her number.” Eddie’s features relax again, “The way she spoke to me that day in the bookstore… it kind of reminded me of my mom. I don’t know how I never saw it before.”

“That’s…”

“Pathetic?”

“Not the word I was looking for.” Eddie gives him a soft smile, “I don’t think you’re pathetic. I do think your mom sounds like an asshole though, no offense.”

Steve huffs a laugh, always straight to the point.

“None taken, but if you think that’s bad wait until you hear about my dad.”

“Ah parental trauma, we’re getting into the real shit now,” Eddie says, tone lighter than the subject matter would suggest, “Tell me about them.”

“They weren’t really around much for most of my childhood or teenage years, business trips mostly. My dad was a cheating asshole and  my mom didn’t trust him enough to let him go anywhere on his own. I don’t know why she put up with him honestly.” 

He remembers feeling so lonely more than anything. Something all the nannies when he was a little kid and parties he’d throw as a teenager could never fill, “He wanted me to run the family business. I never wanted that, I didn’t know what I wanted at that point but I knew I wanted to do something that made me happy instead of following their expectations. My highschool grades were average at best and the thought of me attending community college, well, they didn’t like that very much either. They kicked me out in the end.”

He doesn’t talk about his parents much, never feels the need to. Aside from Robin there’s only a handful of people who even know anything beyond the fact he no longer has contact with them. But he trusts Eddie and sharing these things feels so natural.

“I’m glad you didn’t listen to them.”

“Yeah?”

“Yeah. You deserve to be happy.” The sentiment makes his heart swell. For all his goofing around and occasionally brash personality, Eddie had a sweeter side that Steve was starting to notice would creep to the surface every now and again. He liked it.

“They’re kind of the reason I started collecting stuff. We had this huge house, but it always felt so empty,” The words flow out like water from a tap and Steve doesn’t think he could do much to stop them even if he tried. 

He takes a glance at Eddie, wondering if he’s still paying attention. He’s leaning forward, twisting one of his chunky rings around his finger, and hanging off Steve’s every word.

“There were never any photos, or knick-knacks, or little mementos from family vacations. It felt like living in a show house. So, I started collecting things from people I cared about and then when I got older, relationships. I Kept them hidden in a box under my bed because I knew my dad would make me throw them out if he found them.”

Eddie is looking right at him with that intense gaze of his. Steve has been on the receiving end of that particular look an increasing amount lately, the kind that makes him feel as though Eddie is staring right into the depths of his soul. It still makes him want to squirm just as much as the first time, though it’s not an entirely unpleasant sensation.

“And here we all thought you were just some crazy hoarder,” Eddie jokes, breaking the tension in the air.

“Well, Robin says I have attachment issues, so.” Steve snorts. “What are your parents like?” He’s cautious, not wanting to push despite his curiosity. He knows Eddie lived with his uncle for a while and he’s never mentioned his parents so he isn’t expecting a happy story.

“My mom died when I was a kid. My dad, well, while all the other dads were teaching their kids how to play baseball he was teaching me to hotwire cars and pick locks.” He chuckles dryly, no amusement behind it, “He’s in jail now. Shocker.”

“Shit, I’m sorry.”

“Don’t be. I’ve been with Wayne since I was 11, he’s my real family.” He shrugs with a smile, the same fond smile he always has when he talks about his uncle.

“I get it. I have someone- well several someones- like that too.”

“The kids?”

Steve nods, “Partly, remember El and Will?”

“Yeah.”

“Well, Will has an older brother, Jonathan. We weren’t close at the time, it’s uh, a long story.” Understatement of the century, “But, he found out about my parents kicking me out and it turned out he’s a better person than I ever gave him credit for. He convinced his parents to take me in for a while. They helped me out until me and Robs could get a place of our own. They’re better parents to me than my biological ones ever were.”

He shifts in his seat, careful not to jostle Eddie too much. The weight of his legs over his is nice, grounding almost.

“Whoever said you can’t choose your family was a liar.” 

Steve hums in agreement. The kids, Joyce, Hopper and hell, even Jonathad had been the ones to fill his monotonous gray life with light.

He should call Joyce, it’s been a while since he heard her voice, Hopper’s too. A pang of guilt hits him at the thought, though he knows they’d never get mad at him for it. His gaze wanders along with his thoughts, lingering on the corner behind Eddie dedicated to all of Steve’s donations.

“Are you really not going to donate anything?” 

“Hmph?” 

“The gallery, are you going to make a donation?” Steve repeats as Eddie tucks his phone into his pocket, “You’re the only one left. I have, Chrissy has, even Robin has.” 

“I told you, I don’t really keep stuff from my relationships.” Eddie shrugs.

“I don’t believe you. You must have kept something.”

“Well, actually.” There’s a moment of realization and then a strange smirk appears on his face, one that screams pure mischief and Steve’s suddenly a little concerned about what he’s just let himself in for, “there is this one thing. ”

“I knew it!” Steve twists his body to better see Eddie, “Will you donate it?”

“Sure, I’ll bring it by later after you’ve picked up Dustin and Max from the airport.”

“Shit, what time is it?” They’d never let him live it down if he was late. He’d lost track of time after they decided to take their break, he has no idea how long they’ve been sitting there.

Eddie looks down to the watch on his wrist then back to Steve, “Nearly 12.”

Steve lets out a groan and worms his way out from under Eddie’s legs, “I gotta go.”

“Right now?”

“Yeah, I know, I know,” He says when he sees Eddie’s expression. He’s pretty sure Eddie would spend the entire day lounging on that couch with him if he could, Steve doesn’t think that would be such a bad way to spend a day either, “I won’t be long. I’ll bring Dustin and Max with me when I come back, okay?”

The airport is busy, even outside where Steve is waiting next to his parked car. It’s Max’s fiery red braids weaving through the crowds that he notices first, one hanging over each shoulder and a pair of sunglasses perched atop her head. 

“STEVE!” Dustin’s shout is the only warning he gets before he launches himself in Steve’s direction, tackling him with so much force he stumbles back a few steps, if it wasn’t for his back hitting the car Steve is sure they’d both be flat on their asses.

“Henderson!” Steve chuckles, wrapping one arm around him and using the other to scrub his knuckles across the top of his head which is protected by a cap, “How was your flight, kiddo?”

“The inflight entertainment system didn’t even have Star Wars, can you believe it? What is this?, The 80’s? There’s digital copies everywhere!” He sounds deeply offended, Max just rolls her eyes. It’s good to see that they haven’t changed.

Max steps up to give him a much calmer hug once Dustin has finally let him go. She looks tired when she pulls away, it’s not even 1pm but he has no doubt it’s already been a long day. Travelling has always taken its toll on her whether it was a car journey or a 4 hour flight, he can’t even begin to count how many times she had fallen asleep on the back seat of his car, head resting on Lucas’ shoulder.

They’ve both flown in from LA, their first stop before heading home to their parents for summer break. Max had been itching to get back to California ever since her shitty step father had moved them halfway across the country when she was barely a teen. She’d gotten into UCLA majoring in marine biology and hadn’t looked back since. Dustin made it into Caltech, an offer he couldn’t refuse. 

Steve had never been prouder, of all of them, but it had hurt seeing all of his kids scattered across the country. He and Robin had moved to Chicago shortly after, there was nothing left for either of them in their small hometown once the kids were gone.

“Alright, come on shit-heads help me with this stuff we need to get going.” He pops open the trunk and throws in one of the duffle bags from the small pile of luggage that has been dumped on the tarmac. 

He isn’t sure who the bag belongs to until Dustin screeches, “Hey be careful with that!”

“Well come help me then!”

The apartment is empty when they get there to drop off Dustin and Max’s belongings. Dustin will be sleeping in Steve’s room and Robin is sharing her room with Max. Steve had drawn the short straw and ended up agreeing to crash on the couch for the week, not wanting to deal with Dustin's snoring, he’s sure his back won’t thank him for it- Christ, he’s getting old.

“Where’s Robin?” Max calls from her room.

“She’s probably still at Hellfire. She left to get coffee with Chrissy before I went to pick you guys up,” Steve calls back from his room where he’s dumping one of Dustin’s bags onto the bed, apparently not carefully enough judging by the wide eyed ‘really?’ expression he gets in return. He shrugs in response.

“Can we go there?” Dustin is trailing after Steve, close on his heels as they head for the living room where Max meets them. 

“Sure, do you guys want a minute to settle in first? I know you had a long fli-”

“We can go now,” Max interrupts and Dustin nods enthusiastically. 

They’re outside before Steve has even stepped out of the elevator. He shakes his head with a fond smile and follows them.

“What’re you doing?” Dustin is asking Max when he catches up.

“Uh, getting into the car, what does it look like I’m doing?” She replies with a familiar disinterested tone.

“That’s my seat.”

“You sat shotgun on the way here, it’s my turn.”

“Steve, tell her!” 

“She’s right.” He shrugs, still smiling. He really has missed them, petty arguments and all, “You can sit up front on the way back.”

Dustin huffs about the seating arrangement a little at first but for the most part it's peaceful on the short drive to Hellfire, the sound of the radio drowned out by the overlapping chatter and bombardment of questions directed at Steve. Will Eddie be there? What’s he like? Is he as cool as you said he is? Have you told him about us? What did you tell him about us?

Eddie has, surprisingly, moved from the couch when the three of them walk into Hellfire; it's instead occupied by Robin and Chrissy sipping on little paper cups of coffee and sharing a box of pastries that sits on the cushion between them. Robin stands, putting her coffee down in such a rush that some of it spills into the rim of the plastic lid when she sees them. 

Dustin tackles her similarly to how he had done Steve earlier and Max wraps her arms around the both of them when Robin beckons her over to join in the hug.

“I missed you both so much!” She has her face pressed into Max’s hair and she’s squeezing them both so tight Steve’s not sure how either of them are breathing.

“Where’s Eds?” Steve asks Chrissy, she’s still on the couch watching the reunion with a soft smile and he speaks quietly so as not to disturb them. 

“Eds?” Max breaks away from the hug and turns on Steve with an expression that can only mean trouble. ‘Quietly’ was not quiet enough as it seems. Dustin seems unphased, his attention focused on Robin and the animated conversation they’re having.

Right on cue Eddie appears from wherever it is he has been hiding and Steve breathes a sigh of relief, he’ll escape her grilling and most likely teasing for a little while yet. She won’t forget though, Steve knows that much, he may be free for now but he’s just delaying the inevitable. 

“You must be Max.” Eddie is wearing a 1000 watt smile and Steve has to admit it’s endearing to see how excited he is about meeting Steve’s kids, “I’m Eddie, Steve’s told me a lot about you.”

“Nice to meet you.” She extends her hand to shake and Eddie accepts, she glares at him the whole time as if she’s looking right through him. She’s testing him, sizing him up. Steve’s seen her do it a thousand times before. He relaxes just a little bit when they break the hand shake and Max’s expression softens with a nod, not quite a smile, but something close to approval. 

“And that leaves, Dustin, right?” 

Dustin whips around at the mention of his name, he’s had his back turned to the three of them up until now, catching up with Robin and not paying a lot of attention to whatever it was the rest of the group were up to.

“No fucking way.” 

“Dustin!” Steve pinches the bridge of his nose, that was not how he was hoping that particular interaction would begin.

“I knew your voice sounded familiar!”  He yells, completely ignoring Steve and vibrating with excitement, jumping up and down on the spot. “I heard you talking in the background when I called Steve sometimes, but I could never figure out why I felt like I knew you.” Dustin’s eyes are so wide Steve’s surprised they haven’t fallen right out of their sockets.

“My- wait. Is your last name Henderson by any chance?”

“Holy shit,” Dustin says and Steve has given up at this point. He’s completely lost and by the looks on the faces of the others he’s not alone, “Eddie, Supreme-DM, Eddie?!”

“The one and only Sir. Dalastor Henderghton.” He bows low and with a flourish of the hand as if he’s introducing himself to royalty. 

“Ok, I’m confused,” Robin announces, interrupting whatever it is Eddie and Dustin have going on, “Would one of you like to share with the group? What the hell is happening right now?”

“Do you two know each other?” Chrissy adds with a quizzical tilt of her head.

“We play D&D together online,” Dustin explains, then turns to Steve for backup, “Steve, I told you about him right?”

“Yeah- yeah you told me but I- my Eddie is your Eddie?” Dustin gives a sideways glance at the implication but he doesn’t comment. Steve is sure it’ll be added to whatever teasing he’ll have to endure from Max later over ‘Eds’.

“It’s a small world,” Eddie brings a hand up to pat Dustin’s shoulder before it settles there as if they’re old friends, Steve supposes they are in a way.

“I don’t understand, you’ve seen photos of Dustin before, how did you not recognise him?” Steve’s brow is furrowed, his mind working to keep up as he connects all of the dots.

None of the kids have ever seen photos of Eddie, but Eddie has seen Dustin countless times before, in the photograph on Steve’s dresser and in the countless pictures Steve has on his phone. Granted, a lot of the pictures were from back when they were still teenagers but they hadn’t changed that much, certainly not to the point of being unrecognizable. 

“I’ve only ever heard his voice, some of our party members don’t activate their cameras.”

“My laptop doesn’t have a camera.” Dustin smiles sheepishly, scratching the back of his neck. Caltech whizz-kid, smartest person Steve knows and he doesn’t own a laptop with a camera, figures.

“I can’t believe I got to meet the person who inspired your character before we even met face to face,” Eddie looks to Dustin and Steve follows his gaze with a single raised eyebrow. Dustin is very pointedly avoiding eye contact with both of them.

“Not cool, man!” Dustin says in a hushed tone, “That was said in confidence and away from the party’s ears for a reason!”

“No one here is part of the party.” Eddie points out. Dustin sighs and covers his face with one hand, rubbing at the corners of his eyes with his thumb and forefinger.

“Are you guys sticking around for a while?” Chrissy interrupts before the conversation can turn into bickering.

Steve looks to Robin who gives a tiny raise of her shoulders, he turns to look between Dustin and Max instead, “It’s up to you guys.”

“Yeah,” Max answers on behalf of both of them, “We can stay.”

“Good, there’s plenty to be done.” Chrissy is smiling, that warm welcoming smile that could convince anyone to go along with anything and Max trails after her without question when she heads towards the meticulously laid out tables and chairs she had been sanding and varnishing earlier. Most of their furniture is second hand, they look for the cheaper beaten up stuff then Chrissy works her magic. ‘Upcycling’ she had called it once.

Eddie leaves with Robin, whispering conspiratorially between themselves as they go. Steve expects Dustin to follow, but he’s just standing there staring at him with a borderline creepy smile on his face.

“Alright, out with it. Let’s get this over with.”

“Your Eddie huh?”

“So, you made a character based on me, huh?” Steve bites back, trying not to sound as smug as he feels. Or as flattered.

He finds the whole thing quite endearing really, and he’s fairly certain he’ll start to tear up if he thinks about it too hard, so he jokes about it instead. A very unhealthy technique for dealing with his emotions that he’s sure he picked up from Robin.

“Shut up.”

“I won’t talk if you don’t.” 

“Deal,” Dustin agrees.

“Alright, come on.” He bats the brim of Dustin’s cap as he passes, pushing it down over his eyes. 

Eddie and Robin are over by the stage, leaning into each other and giggling like a couple of school girls and he wants to know what has them so amused. They immediately change their tone when they see Steve approaching, Eddie is hiding something behind his back and they’re standing up straighter and trying their best to school their expressions into something more neutral but they’re both terrible at it.

“What are you two up to?” Steve asks, already resigned to whatever shenanigans he’s about to willingly let himself be dragged into.

“Well,” Eddie starts, the word drawn out and dramatic, “remember when I said I had a donation for the gallery?” Steve nods, “I went back to my apartment while you were picking the hobbits up and-”

There’s a pair of handcuffs dangling in front of Steve’s face. Not the cheap kind lined with fluffy faux fur that Steve has seen in the past, no these are made of what seems to be a high quality leather with a chunky buckle on each cuff and a thick silver chain joining them together. They look expensive.

He’s staring, he knows he is and he knows he needs to say something but he can’t seem to find a single word to force out of his clenched jaw. His cheeks are burning, his face is no doubt glowing an embarrassing shade of red. He forgets about Dustin standing by his side until he hears his barely contained snicker and then his eyes are widening, darting between Dustin and Eddie while the panic sets in. The way he sees it he has two options, covering Dustin’s eyes or snatching the cuffs from Eddie… maybe both. Yeah, both. Both is good.

“Dude, you know I’m like twenty now right?” Dustin asks, clearly witnessing the internal struggle Steve is going through and deciding to spare him. 

It still feels strange hearing it. Sometimes it’s easy to forget they’re young adults now, no longer the little 14 year old trouble makers he remembers. Hell, Mike is as tall as if not a little taller than him now, most of them have part time jobs and their own apartments. 

Steve splutters, still not quite able to find his words, this time it’s Robin who comes to his aid, “Come on, Chrissy is calling for us.”

“What no she-” Dustin screws up his face as if she’s started speaking in another language, he quickly cuts himself off when she gives him a pointed glare, “Oh- actually I think I can hear her now, yeah, see you in a bit Steve we’ll be-” He gestures vaguely in the direction of Chrissy and Max on the other side of the room, ushered along by Robin who throws a wink in Steve’s direction before they go.

“What’s wrong, not into kinky stuff, Harrington?” Eddie asks with a smirk once Robin and Dustin are gone.

“No, no it’s not that,” He says in a rush, “I just didn’t peg you for the type.” He realizes too late his choice of words and Eddie’s face lights up with amusement.

“Oh I’m full of surprises,” It’s barely more than a whisper. Steve isn’t sure when they got so close, but he can feel Eddie’s breath on his cheek as he speaks. He’s gone just as quickly as he appeared, the distance between them growing despite Steve wanting the opposite, “Where should we put them?”

“Are you sure you want to get rid of them?”

“Yeah, it’s not a big deal. I have others and my ex bought these ones.”

Others. Steve gulps, trying not to let his mind wander. It’s ok. He can be normal about this. But all he can think about are the mental images of those leather cuffs wrapped around Eddie’s wrists, or maybe how they’d feel against his own skin and- yeah he is so far beyond being normal about this. God, someone needs to just put him out of his misery before he does something really stupid and messes this whole thing up.

“Right,” He squeaks. 

They decide to hang them on the wall in the end, next to the purple scrunchie Steve donated. Robin gives him a knowing look when they join the others and Steve has no doubts that she’s going to want all of the details once they get back to the apartment. He’s not sure he’s ready for that conversation yet.

Eddie only writes ‘He wasn’t the one.’ with no duration of the relationship beside the handcuffs. Steve briefly wonders what it would mean to be his one.

<Chapter 5 ~ Master post ~ Chapter 7>

[steddieas-shegoes]

it's not ever what it looks like

for @steddielovemonth prompt 'love is saying you're sorry'

rated m | 3,299 words | cw: language, implied sexual content | tags: angst with a happy ending, arguing, established relationship, hurt/comfort, rock star eddie munson, teacher steve harrington, modern au, steve thinks eddie is cheating on him but HE ISN'T I PROMISE, marriage proposal

💔💔💔💔💔💔💔💔💔💔💔

It wasn't the first time Steve woke up to pictures and articles about Eddie being seen with some model or actor, but it was the first time he'd actually been worried.

Eddie had been distant lately. Usually, when he was on tour, he'd call Steve on his lunch break and text him when he got off of work, and he'd try to Facetime him after his show if it wasn't in a different time zone.

But for the past week or so, he had excuses. They sounded legitimate until one of the afternoons he said the band was caught up in an interview so he couldn't call and Jeff called him ten minutes later to ask where Eddie was. Even with that, Steve hadn't assumed he was cheating.

Steve figured maybe Eddie was just tired or his social battery had run out. Those kinds of things happened before occasionally.

But not daily for over a week.

He was barely even responding to texts, and the ones he did respond to were hours later and hardly adding to any conversation.

And now this article.

There was a picture of Eddie standing with his arm around some guy who was taller than him, both of them laughing, looking at each other like...well. Steve knew that look because it'd only ever been pointed at him, but now he was seeing it pointed at just some guy.

The headline read EDDIE MUNSON GIVING UP HIGH SCHOOL SWEETHEART FOR SUPERMODEL SUPERSTAR?

Steve decided the only way through this was to read the entire article. At least then he could probably convince himself they were wrong.

Except the article went on to explain how Eddie hadn't brough Steve to any shows yet this tour, and how he'd been flirting more with the crowd after the show instead of just during it, how he was seen at two bars over the last week when he usually doesn't go out after shows.

It went on to say that these pictures were taken shortly after they'd been seen sneaking away from a group of people they'd been hanging out with and that they seemed very close for the entire night. The article said the guy was a male lingerie model who made it big posing for Gucci last year. He'd just landed his first film role as a supporting actor and was looking to land a lead role soon.

Steve hated him. And he was getting a terrible feeling in his gut about what was going on.

He had 26 unread texts, most of them from Robin, Dustin, and Gareth.

All of them had said mostly the same things:

I can't get ahold of Eddie.

He wouldn't do this.

Something else is going on.

Call me when you can.

The last one was Gareth, and it's not that he and Gareth weren't close, but they never talked on the phone.

He tried not to think about he didn't have a single message or missed call from Eddie.

Steve called Gareth.

"Steve. Shit, I'm glad you called."

"What's going on?"

Gareth sighed. "Ed's kinda losing it. But before you call him-"

"Why would I call him? Shouldn't he be the one to call me? If he wants to be with some supermodel, he should probably be the one to break up with me, right?" Steve could feel tears gathering in his eyes, stinging the back of his throat. "I'm not sure why I have to be the one to hurt and do the breaking up."

"Steve-"

"Is there something you needed Gareth? Or were you just trying to defend your friend?"

"There's nothing to defend! I swear-"

"Yeah. Well. Tell him to call me if he wants to explain anything, I guess."

Steve hung up just before a sob ripped from his throat.

He never had to worry about Eddie being a famous rock star, spending 6-7 months of the year gone, meeting all kinds of flashy celebrities. Eddie loved him so much, he never had any doubt that he'd always be his first choice.

Until now.

It was a shitty feeling and he had to be at work in less than an hour.

No time to wallow.

He sent a quick text to Robin to let her know he was okay, but needed to focus on getting through work, then shut off his phone.

"Is everything okay?" the art teacher, Mrs. Phineas, asked him on their lunch break. "You seem out of it today."

"Just a migraine," Steve gave a half-smile, hoped it was enough to convince her to leave him alone. He still hadn't turned on his phone, and at this point, he didn't really want to.

She tilted her head to the side. "When are you off to see your man?"

"Don't know," he shrugged, ignoring the tug in his stomach, the sudden weight in his chest.

"Ah," she said, turning back to her soup. "Something happened."

"Nothing happened!"

"You look two seconds away from crying," she gave him a deadpan look. "Did he hurt you?"

Mrs. Phineas was a little older than Wayne, close to retirement, and had been his closest friend from the moment he started teaching at this school nearly six years ago. He'd told her everything about Eddie, their relationship, his hopes of Eddie taking a longer break after this tour so they could have some time just the two of them, maybe make a real plan for their future.

Steve nodded once.

Her hand covered his and she squeezed his fingers in her own. "I may not know him half as well as I know you, but I know that boy loves you. You two will get through this, whatever it is."

"I dunno if we will," Steve whispered, scared to speak louder and risk the tears falling. He'd been doing so well today.

She patted his hand and went back to eating, saying nothing else about it.

His students had caught on early that he wasn't quite his usual self, and the group of second graders had been on their best behavior because of it. As the dismissal bell rang and he started calling for bus riders to line up, someone walked through his door.

Eddie walked through his door.

He bit back the anger, knowing his students loved Eddie and wouldn't know he was here for any reason other than to say hello.

"Mr. Munson!" A few of them yelled as most of them ran up to him instead of getting in the line Steve asked them to.

"Hi kiddos!" Eddie was faking it, but luckily the students couldn't tell. "Sorry, but you guys have to listen to Mr. H right now. I promise I will come say hi again tomorrow."

The students grumbled about it and Steve took in his appearance.

He had dark circles under his eyes like he hadn't slept the night before, his hair was in a messy bun instead of perfectly arranged to fall on his shoulders, and he was wearing Steve's hoodie that had suspiciously gone missing the last time he'd been home.

The fact that Steve's first thought was how badly he wanted to pull him into a hug was not a good sign.

He checked names off the list as they filtered out the door and then called the car riders to line up. He went through the list and made sure everyone made it into the hall where they'd be called when their parent pulled up before turning back to Eddie.

He closed his door and made his way to his desk, ignoring the way Eddie awkwardly stood by one of the student desks in the front.

"What are you doing here?" Steve asked, signing off of his work email and organizing tomorrow's lesson plan.

"I needed to explain-"

"Right."

"That article wasn't supposed to come out yet."

Steve's jaw dropped. So he wasn't going to deny it, he was just gonna act like it was the media's fault for releasing it before he could talk to Steve.

"Yeah. So you decided to come break up with me in person because you got caught cheating instead of doing it over the phone right before the article hit online. Got it."

Steve was not going to cry about this. Not in front of Eddie.

He was going to go home, shower, try to eat something, and then he was going to cry for the next 10 hours.

"No, Steve, you don't understand."

"You're right, I don't. I don't understand how you could throw away a 10 year relationship for a model who doesn't even know your middle name. I don't understand how you can fly all the way here and interrupt my day at my job to try to explain to me why you were so cozy with a guy who doesn't even know that you like your hot chocolate with Bailey's instead of regular milk. I really don't understand how you couldn't even bother to text or call me one single time since the article to even try to explain anything." Steve wiped his eyes furiously, angry that his tears were betraying him. "I don't understand why you would expect me to care for reasons."

Eddie wordlessly picked Steve's phone up off the desk and powered it on. He set it down in front of Steve and waited.

Texts and calls and emails came through all at once, hundreds of notifications lighting up his screen.

Many of them from Eddie himself.

"Go ahead. Open them," Eddie didn't sound mad, he just sounded resigned.

So Steve read through the texts, many of them different renditions of 'please Steve, call me' and 'I love you sweetheart I'm sorry.' Not promising.

But then he started playing the voicemails.

"Stevie, it's really not what it looks like. It's never what it looks like. You know that. Please call me as soon as you can. I love you."

"I can explain everything if you call me back. I promise you it isn't anything more than a business thing. Everyone in the band can tell you. I swear. Just. Please."

"I'm getting on a flight to you now. I'm gonna keep trying to call you even when I land. I need you to know what's going on."

"Just landed. I'm on my way to you. The guys are a little pissed, but you're more important than the show tonight. I'm not doing my own thing until I know you understand."

Steve looked up at him, tears still falling down his face.

"Well?" He asked, broken.

"His name is Wyatt. He's trying to make it in the acting world and he was pretty much told he was the top choice for playing lead in a movie that's in early stages of development," Eddie spoke quickly.

"Great for him."

"It's actually great for all of us. The movie is a biopic of Corroded Coffin. He's expected to play me."

At any other time, Steve would be proud, he'd be jumping up and down at this chance for them, and he'd be kissing Eddie without a care in the world.

But he still saw that picture and that article, and no matter how much "business" was going on, it was pretty clear that wasn't all that was going on.

"So you thought sleeping with him would help him get into the role? Or did you just wanna get into him?" Steve bit back.

"The article was wrong! The picture was just really conveniently timed! You know the media are vultures, Stevie. How many times have they written about us breaking up? How many times have they said Gareth and I have secretly been married for the last two years? How many times have they tried to post shitty things about your relationship before me to prove that you can't possibly be queer?" Eddie pulled Steve to his feet and cupped his face in his hands. "I've been spending the last two weeks talking with him and the producer and the guys to see what might work best for production. They want us involved in as much of the writing and filming part as possible. And he had time in his schedule to come to a show last night, so we all took him out after so he could get a taste of what it's like for us. He's really excited for the role and all of us are really excited for the movie."

Steve felt stupid. Well, maybe not stupid. His feelings were valid and he wasn't dramatic about what he'd seen.

But he did feel a little shitty about doubting Eddie.

Eddie, who had literally flown across the country to explain in person so that there was no way Steve could misunderstand him. Eddie, who once Doordashed him soup from his favorite restaurant when he was sick even though he was in Europe. Eddie, who sent letters to the kids in his class once a month to talk about how important music is and following your dreams. Eddie, who loved him for ten years and wouldn't have let anyone get in the way of what they'd built.

Steve fell against Eddie, buried his face in his neck and his hands in his shirt. Eddie's arms wrapped around him, his voice saying something against his shoulder. Steve couldn’t hear him, but he didn’t think he needed to.

He just needed to feel him.

“I’m sorry,” Steve said against his neck. Tears soaked the hoodie under him, and Steve could feel tears against his own button down. “I shouldn’t have- I’m sorry.”

“It’s okay, sweetheart.” Eddie shook his head. “I’m sorry I didn’t tell you sooner. I wasn’t supposed to tell anyone until the article hit, but I was still gonna call you and warn you but I didn’t and I’m sorry.”

“It’s okay. This is part of the whole lifestyle. I should be used to it,” Steve shuddered as Eddie’s hand scratched at his scalp. “I should’ve reacted better.”

“We both didn’t treat this the way we should’ve.”

Steve snorted, nodded as he found the spot Eddie had tattooed on his neck a couple years earlier. He pressed his lips over the tattoo of his lip print.

“You flew across the country over this,” Steve pulled away and looked at Eddie, vision blurred from crying. “Just to make things okay.”

“I needed you to know. I needed to hold you. I needed to have you in front of me. And I wanted to celebrate the fact that we’re getting a movie about our lives,” Eddie smirked. “I wonder who will play you. Someone with a nice ass is a must. Their hair will have to defy gravity. Don’t know if they’ll find anyone with that smile, though.”

“Me? Why would they need anyone to play me?” Steve played with the string of the hoodie. “That might be kinda boring.”

“How would they make a movie about me and not include you? You’re the reason I ever made it past Hawkins, sweet thing,” Eddie leaned in to kiss his bottom lip. “Maybe they’ll just cast you. No one else could pull it off.”

“Eds-“ Steve blushed. “Wait. Okay, I trust you, but what were you doing in the picture?”

Eddie laughed. “He had just finished telling me about his boyfriend who lives in Italy. He’s apparently just a regular guy in finance who has no interest in the whole fame thing. Sound familiar?”

“Sounds like you two have a lot in common.”

“The picture was me asking if we could crash at their home in Italy next summer on our honeymoon,” Eddie said casually.

Steve froze. “Honeymoon?”

“I’m open to other places, but you still haven’t been to Italy and I know how much you wanted to see Rome and Florence,” Eddie was smirking.

That bastard.

“You are ridiculous, you know that? I’m over here planning how I’ll survive a breakup with you and you fly across the country to propose with a honeymoon planned before I’ve even said yes! You know how crazy that sounds, right?” Steve shook his head. “You’re lucky I love you. You’re lucky I’m not interested in big romantic gestures.”

“Damn. Hold on, let me make a call,” Eddie reached into his pocket for his phone.

“What?”

“I gotta cancel the big romantic gesture,” Eddie explained as he typed furiously on his phone.

“What the hell are you talking about?”

“It was a whole thing. Robin was involved. There may have been 500 flowers ordered. I think it’s too late to cancel the singing telegram though.”

“I genuinely can’t tell if you’re being serious,” Steve wouldn’t be surprised if at least some of that was true.

“Oh, I’m serious. The ring was being set on the bed in the middle of a heart made of rose petals. I didn’t half-ass a fucking thing, angel.”

Steve pulled his phone out of his hands and set it on his desk. “Don’t cancel anything. I changed my mind. I am very much into big romantic gestures when it’s you doing them.”

“It was a team effort. I mean, I had to move it all up unexpectedly, but this was all gonna happen next month when I came home." Eddie pulled Steve into a long kiss, tongue tracing his lips. He pulled away to rest their foreheads together. "I'm not doing this just because of what happened, but I need you to know you're it for me. You've stuck by me through failing senior year, through being broke trying to book gigs all over the midwest, through the stress of our first album being released and the unexpected overnight fame, every album and tour since then, every time I've had to miss things that matter to you because of the band, all of it. You love me anyway. I don't always deserve it, but I'm grateful."

Steve's lips pressed against Eddie's again. "I love the life we have. I love you."

"I'm not asking you without the ring. I made so many plans. Robin will murder me in my sleep if I don't go through with them," Eddie laughed. "So can we get out of your classroom before I do something inappropriate and get you fired?"

"I mean," Steve glanced at the clock. "Technically all the students should be gone. We could lock the door..."

"Steven Harrington! How dare you suggest I fuck you over your desk in a school! I can't believe you would tell me to unbutton your jeans," he said as he unbuttoned his jeans. "And get on my knees." He got on his knees. "And suck you until you can't stand anymore."

"Eddie!" Steve chuckled, shoving his hand in Eddie's hair. "We should at least lock the door."

"So you're not saying no?"

"Why would I say no?"

"That's what I'm saying!" Eddie got back up and ran to the door, flipping the lock and turning back to Steve with flushed cheeks. "This is like, maybe three of my biggest fantasies in one, so I may actually come in my pants."

"You're ridiculous."

"Baby boy, my hand is my only friend on tour, you know that. How can I possibly hold myself back when I've got your dick in my mouth?" Eddie dropped to his knees again, looking up at Steve with something close to reverence.

"It's not in your mouth yet," Steve smirked as he tugged his waistband down enough to free his cock.

"Oh, I missed you," Eddie said directly to Steve's hard cock. "Steve, I want you to fuck my mouth until I pass out."

"I'm not doing that."

"Okay, well I'll settle for until I have to tap out."

"Fine. But it's not gonna be long for me," Steve shook his head. "Missed you, too."

"The sooner the better, sweetheart."

[hitlikehammers]

take the call

rating: t ♥️ cw: off-screen car accident (but EVERYTHING IS FINE), hurt/comfort, softness ♥️ tags: established relationship, married steddie, hurt/comfort, rockstar Eddie/teacher Steve, Steve's heart of gold is very possibly going to be Eddie's undoing one of these days, well-worn-soul-deep love

for @steddielovemonth day eighteen: Love is terrifying (@starryeyedjanai)

set in the 00s, with Steve and Eddie having two decades of loving under their belts, now ♥️

Eddie isn’t expecting a call, any call, really; he’s in the studio, like, if he gets a call someone takes a message or whatever.

And in fairness, Eddie doesn’t get the call.

He gets a message.

“Eddie?”

He rolls his eyes kinda automatically, kinda thoughtlessly at the cut of the audio track to let the mic system override from outside the booth.

“Okay, so, like, don’t freak out.”

He’s not thoughtless at all about the way he clocks the tension in Jeff’s voice even across the speaker system; it’s entirely automatic how he freezes, how he looks up and locks eyes with his friend through the glass and sucks in a sharp breath for the look on his face: pained.

Maybe, maybe scared.

Eddie’s heart drops somewhere near his knees, but beats there so fucking hard.

“This lady called, and she said she found Lainie’s card inside the case of a phone she picked up,” and okay, okay, that’s…that’s random but maybe it’s about their assistance manger, who just got her contract confirmed and got fancy new business cards for it and has been handing them out to everybody she sees, even gave Eddie extras to pass on to Steve, maybe he can share them at the school as if anyone at even a hoity-toity private 6-through-12 school would have a reason for a card from a record label but she’s excited, and Eddie’s excited for her, and Steve loves the people Eddie works with, and not just because they’re attached to Eddie and he loves the things that come with Eddie as a given—but that’s also true, and always has been, but—

“She, um,” Jeff’s voice is filtering through again, and Eddie clocks that there’s…there’s something more to it, more than his brain’s willing to grasp just yet but his body’s apparently picked up on because he thinks the slightest breeze would knock him over and shatter him into pieces, for the tightness in his body; he’s not focused enough to count the separate beats of his pulse but he can tell it’s quick enough already, still weighed down near his feet, that counting would be kinda hard, would take effort:

“She found the phone at a car crash?”

So: the more-to-it. The thing his body already knew.

Eddie…Eddie doesn’t even need to know what comes next to know he cannot fucking breathe.

“Sounded kinda like, uh, like it could have been Steve’s phone,” Jeff is trying to tell him, and part of Eddie hears it, part of him does but most of him is white noise, is pins-and-needles, is underwater and drowning and not even fucking thinking of fighting the pull because he can’t, he’s heavy at the legs and his lungs are seizing and there’s, he’s—

“Because it, umm, she found the card because the case was broken?” and just last night Eddie’d watched Steve pop off the case and slide the cards behind with a laugh and a promise to take them with him not today—because it’s one of those federal holidays that only schools notice happening, like the post office is still open—but definitely tomorrow, never knew which of the kiddos at the Rich People School might be a budding metalhead underneath their uniforms—

“And she said the case was, um, like bright—“

Green.

Electric lime neon fuckin’ green because after three times of Eddie taking Steve’s phone by accident he’d come home with that endearing eyesore, and a kiss to the bridge of Eddie’s nose and a soft hard to confuse that, babe nuzzled against him and—

“It could maybe have just been a coincide—“ Jeff’s talking but Eddie can’t fucking hear it, not really, not when he’s letting the door slam behind him and ripping off his headphones to drop to the groundnut when he’s gasping hard enough to crack a rib, not when the floor’s gone out from underneath him and his vision’s tunneled and nothing seems real, and everything feels too real, every world ending possibility shuddering through his foggy mind alongside every heartbreakingly perfect memory blossoming up unbidden just to serve as a reminder, an underscoring of what he stands to lose, what maybe he’s already fucking lost—

He meets Jeff’s eyes without the glass between them as he grabs his keys from his jacket on the couch and makes himself take the breath that’ll fuel the voice, that’ll give him words, just one word, he needs, he fucking needs—

“Where?”

_______________________

Eddie shouldn’t have driven himself, he knows that.

Like, on some other plane of existing, he’s sure he knows that.

But on this plane, he rips past his bandmates, all the extra people with them for recording, jams the close-door button before anyone can follow him into the elevator because he happens to know this one’s quicker than the stairs even on a good day, and this—

Eddie’s shaking so goddamn hard he can barely get one foot in front of the other, he really doesn’t think he can manage ten fucking flights of steps.

He burns rubber on the way out of the parking lot, and the nearest hospital to where Steve would have been—on his day off, because holiday, he’d have bene close to home, he mentioned food shopping, he thought he might make stir-fry but he wasn’t sure, they hadn’t made a vegetable haul from the Asian market downtown in a couple weeks and they need to, they need to but Steve wasn’t feeling like going on his own, because he might not say it out loud but they both know he enjoys Eddie’s excitability when new items hit the shelves and he can’t read the language they’re labelled in so he guesses frantically until the man who owns the place takes pity, only laughs a little and explains what this spice is for, or that that crazy looking thing’s a fruit, and they ultimately buy whatever it is because Eddie wants to try it now, because he got invested and—

Eddie should pull off the fucking road; his head’s a mess, he can’t see for the way his eyes are welling, streaming, the way he’s shaking with sobs that don’t exactly burst forth, just leak from his lashes as he trembles horrifically because…

Because they were maybe gonna have stir-fry, tonight. Even without the good vegetables.

They were—

Eddie thinks it’s fucking cruel, kind of unbearably so, that his brain’s dead-set on still processing the mundane little perfections of his life as if every single one of them might be dashed to pieces, might be hanging by a thread, might be entirely fucking gone, and he, he…

He can’t. He just, he fucking can’t.

Because that the thing, isn’t it: the scenarios he’s imagining aren’t hypothetical—they’re all memories, too. Steve bloodied, Steve bruised, Steve’s bones broken and flesh torn. Steve still, too still; Steve’s skin under Eddie’s hands when he can’t find a pulse because Eddie’s shaking, same as now how Eddie is fucking shaking—

Eddie knows all those things. They’re so long ago, now, so distant but his fucking cells will never forget every single moment he saw the man he loves bigger than his own goddamn life hurt like that; be risked like that. Be lost like—

And that’s the difference. That’s what is unravelling him as he speeds through the streets quicker than he should, probably breaking more laws than he could count and definitely more than he gives a shit to notice: it’s the losing.

Because the first times, even the times that came after Steve was his: they didn’t come with the loss of so much time, so much of themselves, so much glorious life that they’d built between them, the struggles and the triumphs, the hard choices and the easy things that weren’t choices at all: everything hand-in-hand, every night spent curled around each other, all of them, all of him, inside that chest since he was twenty fucking year old, and Eddie doesn’t just not know how to be outside of what he shares with Steve.

Eddie doesn’t think his own heart can survive, if if Steve’s isn’t next to him.

Eddie’s damn fucking sure no part of him would want to.

It takes him a minute to steady himself enough to get out of the car, once he finally reaches the ER. Steady his body, but more his fucking soul because the whole of him is shaking, is crying out, is wailing unfettered and breaking because he’s terrified, he is goddamn terrified of what he’s going to find when he walks in but he has to, he has to because whatever awaits him, that’s his husband, that is the love of his whole goddamn life and if the worst is going to come for him he’ll face it like he’s faced everything else: at Steve Harrington’s side.

If the worst comes for one of them, then it came for them both.

So he’s stumbling, shuddering, but resolute in his chest when he flies through the sliding doors, eyes still swimming, unfocused but he makes himself take a deep breath—it takes a few tries, and he doesn’t quite succeed, it’s still a tremorous thing and his lungs are still in revolt, but it’s something, and he’ll take something; he has to to take something—

“Eddie?”

He almost doesn’t register it, the voice from the sick-spiral of his memories, all the love on the table to be forfeit—

He almost doesn’t register that his name’s not coming from inside his head.

“Oh my god, what happened?” There’s a flurry over motion in front of him, and he blinks rapidly to try and pin it down because it looks familiar, it smells familiar, it aches familiar in his chest but:

“What is it, what’s wrong?” and fuck, it feels familiar when a hand reaches for his cheek where it’s still damp, tacky for the tears; when another hand slides itself into Eddie’s and draws him in, a hand that fits like no other hand in this world or any other, ever—

“Are you okay?”

And the hand on his cheek turns him and follows his eyes and it takes that long for him to clear his vision properly, but now he’s just blinking so much because that, that can’t be, even if it feels in every goddamn way like it really is, but it can’t…

It can’t be Steve here, whole and on his feet and looking at Eddie with so much worry, so much heart as he tilts Eddie’s chin a little this way, that way, squints to try and see…something.

Eddie’s breath tears out of him in a wet fucking gasp;

“Am I okay?”

Because Eddie’s really not the one to fucking worry about here, Steve had—

“You’re in a hospital, Eds, that’s not usually where you go when you’re okay,” Steve’s eyes widen as he he slides both hands now to Steve’s head, holding him still and assessing…something, maybe, Jesus: Eddie doesn’t know, but he does know that the touch on him now makes his…makes his heart feel safe and he’d been fucking terrified he’d never feel that again.

“Fuck, what happened, baby, did you hit your,” and fingers are dancing gentle across points on Eddie’s skull, so delicate and careful and he can’t fucking help it—

“Are you real?”

Because he needs to know, he needs to know with words because this feels…this feels right and warm and impossible but also true, so.

He needs to know. “Am I…?” Steve’s lips part and his brow furrows before his jaw clenches in that dependable way he has of squaring up to the monster at hand, no matter the kind.

“Shit,” he breathes out slow but then he nods: resolved; “shit, okay. Okay, let’s find—“

“You are real,” and it turns out Eddie didn’t actually need him to say it. He just needed to see the flash in Steve’s eyes when he was ready to take on the world for the sake of love, the way he positions himself a little different in front of Eddie as he keeps one hand at Eddie’s cheek but then slides to brace more at his neck, purposeful, like he’s splinting a wound or something, and then a hand grabs for Eddie’s own again and: oh.

Oh yes. That is Steve Harrington, living and breathing and solid and real, because no one else protects like this.

No one.

Eddie’s heart stumbles, jackrabbits around a little, almost like a reset: like it knows as the implications sink in to Eddie’s mind that it’s not destined to break anymore.

“Yeah,” Steve agrees too easily, distracted as he tugs the gentlest bit at Eddie’s hand, toward the nurse’s station; “yeah, and we should—“

“And you’re okay?”

“I’m fine,” Steve shrugs it off, but Eddie…Eddie’s vision is clearing. His pulse is settling. He can hear above the static and his limbs are getting lighter.

“You’re one-hundred-percent okay, not a scratch on you, not a single thing wrong,” he needs to make sure, like, so fucking sure.

“I am fine, Eddie,” Steve turns to look him straight on, exasperated and anxious and vibrant with it, so alive in it; “but you’re—“

Eddie’s hand moves almost without his conscious consent, definitely without a plan to grab at Steve’s arm and pinch his skin because Eddie was vaguely toying with the idea of pinches himself, and maybe with poking Steve a few extra times to make sure he didn’t disappear, but apparently his brain landed on: pinch Steve, avoid confirmation bias if your head wants to lie enough to make him real just you you, because you need him that bad.

Steve startles, and turns those beautiful brilliant bronze eyes on Eddie, stretches wide as he gapes a little at his husband.

Eddie…Eddie is here, in front of his living-breathing-gorgeously-aghast husband.

“Okay, oww,” Steve drops Eddie’s hand and pulls back, leaving Eddie’s head to its own devices as he looks a little shocked, shooting just shy of a glare Eddie’s way: full of questions.

Eddie—now that the biggest one’s solved, and solved so perfect, so gentle and sure and he doesn’t have to bury the soul of him; he doesn’t have to bury his soul—but now?

Eddie also has some fucking questions.

“Where’s your phone?” seems the most relevant to start with.

Steve blinks, frowns a little:

“It got lost in the crash—“

“Crash?” Eddie’s tone pitches up to squeak a little because: Steve’s here and whole in from of him, yes. But fuck, there was still a crash? He was—

“Not mine, my car’s still parked at fucking Jiffy Lube,” Steve adds with a huff; “I saw it happen so I stopped and—“

And Eddie knows his husband. He knows his husband better than he knows himself, and Eddie’s kinda made it a point of pride for how self-aware he’s grown to be these days, in living this life and loving Steve beyond the bounds of living at all. But he knows his Steve, and so he knows damn well what happened.

Car runs into car. Steve sees it and jumps out to help. Because Steve Harrington is a protector. Steve Harrington is a helper. Steve Harrington is the best man Eddie’s ever known.

Soon as he jumped into the fray, he wouldn’t have thought once about a fucking phone.

And Eddie, Eddie just, he needs to—

He grabs Steve’s hands and wraps them around his own waist, lets them go and then pulls Steve tight to his chest and buries his face in Steve’s shoulder as Eddie winds his way around his husband, feels him breathing, feels the tickle of his hair.

“You’re gonna kill me, Stevie,” Eddie whimpers, that going tight now all over again:

“You’ve got the biggest heart of fucking gold the world’s ever seen,” he moans into Steve’s collar; “and you’re going to fucking kill me.”

Steve doesn’t say anything, but his hands move up to rub Eddie’s back, rote and learned and he might not wholly get, yet, what Eddie’s putting together, and where Eddie’s head’s been, what his heart’s been through, but the first thing he knows, and does like clockwork, is to love of his partner, to soothe him even if he doesn’t know what for.

“Someone found your phone, and they, umm,” Eddie licks his lips, takes a suffering breath and tries to straighten but he’s not ready, not yet: he slumps right back onto Steve’s shoulder:

“They called the studio.”

“Shit,” Steve hisses, bunches his hands in Eddie’s shirt and draws him tighter to his chest: “shit, they interrupted,” and oh, fuck no, fuck regretting the interruption—

“They told me they found it at a crash site,” Eddie grits out, the hurt of it still raw, like just saying the words no matter where they landed in trust, just recalling those minutes that felt like full nightmarish lifetimes, reopens the tender wounds it’d left in hims; “they found it with the case broken,” and Steve leans back, then, eyes saucers as he meets Eddie’s gaze, breath catches harsh.

“Oh,” Steve whispers, eyes darting back and forth between Eddie’s, taking the whole of him in and then he exhales so heavy:

“Oh, babe,” he murmurs, fucking mournful before he takes his hands and links them behind the base of Eddies’ skull and draws him in to the center of his chest, envelopes him there whole: “come here.”

And Eddie falls into that chest—rising-falling-living—he falls into Steve so fucking fast

“I am totally fine, I promise you,” Steve breathes again Eddie’s ear, close and dear and real: “car’s fine—“

“I don’t fucking care about the car—“ Eddie tenses up, appalled at the implication that he gave one single goddamn thought to the car— “No, like, as proof,” Steve’s quick to correct him, to ease the hackles on him; “I wasn’t in the crash, but it was pretty bad and,” Steve shrugs a little then adds soft: “I keep my first aid certs up to date for a reason, I figure, right?”

Jesus; yes, okay. Steve’s savior complex had largely mellowed to a non-interdimensional-threat level with time but he’s meticulous about keeping every skillset he’d gone out of his way to learn from professionals before they’d gone up against the Upside Down for the last time sharp and at the ready for anything: even now.

Fuck, but this beautiful, brilliant, impossible man.

“I was helping, best I could, until the EMTs got there,” Steve tells him softly, fills in the gaps because he knows Eddie’s mind, all the pictures it paints for itself, and in times like these it’s always the worst possible pictures—he knows Eddie needs the slate wiped clean with the truths, blessedly softer, in this:

“Police wanted me to stick around for a statement but the girl who was driving the first car, she was so panicked and she didn’t want to go alone so, umm,” Steve huffs a little, shifts against Eddie gentle and solid and here: “she said she knew me, she was pretty desperate I think, so I rode here with her,” and of course he did, of course he did because he’s Steve; “now I’m just waiting to make sure she gets out of surgery okay,” he squeezes Eddie then, like a punctuation, and it feels so, so fucking good; “also still have to give the goddamn statement, but fuck knows that’s just hurry-up-and-wait,” he turns, and he kisses Eddie’s hair then and Eddie feels something snap in him, give way and the lingering tension spill from his frame as he gasp a little on a breathy exhale:

“I love you so much,” and he does, god: god, but how much he loves this man.

“I love you too, baby,” Steve mouths against his head and Eddie closes his eyes and nuzzles his a little closer as he puts it into words, because it feels like he needs to, it feels like in Steve’s arms like this, pressed up close to him to feel this undeniable life in him: it feels like the coast is clear enough to risk it, to confess:

“I was so fucking scared,” and the words only break a little, and that’s more than Eddie honestly expected.

“I am so sorry,” Steve bows his chin down to graze lips against Eddie’s hairline, delicate and intimate and shivery, trembly down Eddie’s spin for the best of reasons, now.

“Not your fault,” Eddie’s quite to counter, to make clear, because: “shit, you didn’t do anything, I just…”

Eddie makes himself pull back and meet Steve’s eyes, reaches out to frame his face, dear and desperate:

“I can’t lose you,” he moans a little, begs a little, says it with a bare line of something primal echoing in it, scraped straight from his bones: “I cannot ever lose you.”

“I know,” Steve turns and kisses one of his palms, and those two words hold the promise of five more they’ve said so many times, and held so true between them for so many year, through so fucking much:

It’s the same for me.

And to be loved the same as he loves is a fucking privilege; it’s heady and it’s wonderful and Eddie needs it, needs Steve, more than goddamn air.

“Sit with me?” Steve covers Eddie’s hands with his at his cheeks, and nods a little toward the blessedly-quiet collection of chairs by the windows; “while I wait?”

“Nowhere else I’d go,” Eddie says it like the given that it is, and pulls Steve close to kiss him full, to press his lips to Steve’s and drink his warmth, his breath, to feel it sink int past his heart and pump through his veins:

“Not ever, Stevie,” he speaks against Steve’s lips, all of him in it, every vow inside it:

“Not ever.”

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[hairmetal666]

The note shows up in Eddie's mailbox cubby on Valentine's Day.

It's nothing fancy, loopy cursive handwriting on lined paper:

"I know this is probably silly but I can't go another day without saying it, and today seems appropriate for this kind of confession. Seeing you in the morning is the best part of my day. You're so gorgeous it leaves me breathless. I hope you don't mind if I don't leave my name. Just wanted you to know that you're beautiful."

His eyes fill with tears that he blinks back, a goofy smile stretching his mouth wide.

"You good there, Munson?" Robin Buckley asks.

"Oh, yup, yeah, all good." He laughs. "Just got one of those 'you're my favorite teacher Mr. Munson!' notes."

He squeezes the letter to his chest before slipping it in his pocket.

---

The worst thing about Eddie's new job is that someway, somehow, Steve-fucking-Harrington works here too. PE teacher, JV basketball coach, of-fucking-course. Once a douchebag jock, always a douchebag jock. What makes it all worse is that he's still the prettiest guy Eddie's ever seen.

---

The first week of March, there's a commotion in the hallway that has him rushing out of his room, ready to breakup a fight. He finds Harrington already there, holding Dustin Henderson and Will Byers by their shoulders. Troy Walsh and James Dante stand across from them, wearing matching snarls.

Of course Harrington is picking on little nerd kids; he knew it. But before he steps forwards to break it up, Steve speaks, voice low and angry. "You want to tell me what happened here, Troy?"

"Byers tripped. He really should watch where he's going," Troy says. James laughs.

Steve's glare goes even more icy, more disdainful (it's so fucking hot, Eddie hates it). "You want to take that again? And try being honest this time, or you're suspend from the team."

Troy splutters for long enough that Eddie finally notices Will's stricken face, the sketchpad and snapped colored pencils littering the linoleum.

"I saw you take those things from Will, and unfortunately, I'll have to call your parents and you will be responsible for purchasing a new sketchbook and pencils. You're also benched for the next four games."

The boys shout, but when Steve raises a hand they quiet immediately. "You want to complain more, or do you want it to be five games?"

"No, sir," they answer before scampering off.

Harrington faces Dustin and Will. "You boys okay?" he asks them.

"We're good, Mr. H," Dustin answers.

"Glad to hear it." Steve begins collecting Will's ruined belongings, stops to study one of the drawings.

"This is really good, Will."

Will flushes. "Thanks. It's my character for dnd,"

"Dnd? That's that game that El and Max are always talking about? With the character sheets and the dice?"

"Yeah!" says Dustin. "You know it?"

Steve's smile is a little bashful, and it tugs at Eddie's heart in a way he has to ignore. "Not much. Just from what the girls have said. You want to tell me about it?"

"Really?" Their eyes light up.

"Really. You can stop by the gym during lunch. Only if you want to, though."

"Cool," says Dustin.

He pats them both on the shoulder, and they hurry away, leaving Steve and Eddie suddenly alone.

Eddie should head back to his class, hasn't been needed in this situation at all, really, but before he can disappear, Steve spots him and his eyes widen.

"You need something, Munson?" Steve's cheeks go a faint pink.

He shakes his head, feels wrong-footed. "Uh, that was really cool what you did just there."

"They're really good kids," Steve says. "I know them a little. Used to babysit El Hopper." He slides his hands into the pockets of his khakis and, seriously, fuck Harrington for looking like that in a pair of Dockers.

"Babysitter, Harrington? Never thought I'd see the day. Or that you'd be the one defending a bunch of nerds," Eddie says. He means it teasing, but Steve's face warps into a frown.

"Y--yeah, I guess. I mean. I'm trying not to be that guy anymore, and Robin's really helped--"

"Shit, man, I'm sorry. That's not what I meant, at all--"

"--I feel terrible about all that shit I pulled back in school. That King Steve stuff? I was awful and you didn't deserve--"

"Steve!" Eddie cuts him off. "I forgive you. For everything." He looks down at his shoes. "For all I didn't want to believe it, you really have changed."

They're both pink faced now, avoiding each other's eyes. "Thanks," Steve says. "I should get going, but--for the future-- I really wouldn't mind--um--trying to be friends."

The grin that passes across Eddie's face is huge. "Yeah, Harrington, I'd like that."

Eddie has to run to make it to his classroom on time. He passes Dustin and Will and the rest of their gaggle of friends, rushing them along, but forgets all about it as he steps in front of his third period juniors.

---

He and Steve are...friendly now. They chat, they joke, they share smiles that have Eddie's heart beating too fast even though it's not like that. Turns out Steve is kind and funny (a little bit of a bitch too, but in a way that ties Eddie's stomach in knots), and a hell of a teacher.

---

His freshman are in small groups, peer-reviewing an essays, when Max Mayfield catches his eye. She's one of his favorite students and absolute trouble.

"What's up, Mayfield." He asks.

"Are you friends with Mr. Harrington?" She asks.

He chuckles. "Sure, Max, we're friendly enough. Why?"

She narrows her eyes, like she knows he's not being totally honest. "Oh, nothing. He just talks about you all the time."

He's blushing horribly and Max, and all of her friends, smirk up at him. "He does?" He chokes out.

"Mmhmm," Lucas Sinclair says. "Says he thinks you're really cool."

"Definitely one of the best teachers here," Mike Wheeler adds.

Eddie rolls his eyes. "Okay, very funny, guys. How're your essays going?"

They answer, but before Eddie goes to help another group, Will says, "he really does like you, Mr. Munson. A lot."

El nods earnestly up at him. "It is true," she says. "I know him."

"Thanks, kids. I'll keep that in mind." He gives them a smile, tries not to let their words get to him. When he reaches the next group, though, he notices his hands are shaking.

---

Gifts start turning up in Eddie's cubby. It starts with a bag of oatmeal chocolate chip cookies from his favorite bakery. There's a small note that says "from your secret admirer," on the packaging. Every two weeks or so, something new shows up in his little mailbox; a woven friendship bracelet, a yellow rose, Hershey kisses, a delicately painted dnd figure that gives Eddie a small crisis because it's his own bard character, an Iron Maiden cassette, a bag of dice that almost brings him to genuine tears.

Eventually, he gets another note. This one is typed and reads: "I would love to have coffee with you 11am this Saturday at the Cafe on Main Street."

---

He walks into the cafe at 10:50am, wearing his favorite pair of ripped black jeans and a burgundy button-down, his hair pulled into a loose bun. He doesn't recognize anyone there.

Eddie gets in line, studies the menu, and the little bell above the door rings. He whips towards the sound to find none other than Steve Harrington in little wire rim glasses, a butter colored sweater, and jeans the man must have painted on, Jesus Christ. Honestly, the whole thing is enough to give Eddie a coronary (and to, embarrassingly, chub up in his own tight jeans).

"Steve?" He asks. He's overwhelmed with the (stupid, stupid) hope that it's been Harrington all along. "What are you doing here?"

"Henderson asked me to meet him. He around?"

"Uh, no?" Eddie feels heat creeping up his throat.

Steve shakes his head, as though he expected as much. "You alone? We could grab drink."

"I can't believe this." Eddie hides his face in his hands, knows it's gone horrifyingly crimson.

"What's wrong?"

"My secret admirer told me to be here now, so we could meet," Eddie's misery slices through his words. "I'm such an idiot."

"I--your--what?" Steve stammers.

He gathers himself enough to look Steve in his hazel eyes and ask, "I'm assuming it wasn't you leaving notes and gifts for me at work?"

And he expects Steve to say no. To laugh and ask why he'd ever do something like that, but instead, instead he flushes a deep red. "O-only one note."

"What?"

"I, uh," Steve clears his throat. "I left you a note. On Valentine's Day. I--we weren't friends yet, and I wanted you to know how much I liked you. It's --uh--it's pretty silly, huh? Robin's--"

"Steve," Eddie interrupts. He's going to tell Steve that he reads the note often enough that he has parts memorized; that it's the kindest thing anyone has done for him, but what he says instead is, "Dustin Henderson told you to meet him here at 11?"

"Yeah. Said he had something to show me."

Eddie remembers running into Will and Dustin and their friends that day in the hall, the weird conversation in class, the dice and the miniature. Something must click for Steve at the same time because his mouth drops, blush getting somehow deeper.

"Oh my god. Henderson! I'm gonna kill him. They figured out I had a crush on you."

"They WHAT?" Eddie says, loud enough that several looks are aimed their way.

"I'm so, so sorry, Eddie. Holy shit, this is so humiliating. You have to believe me, I had no idea they were doing this. God, I'm really starting to think it is possible to die from embarrassment."

"You have a crush on me," Eddie says instead of any of the dozens of helpful things he could say.

"Um. Yes?"

Eddie takes a deep breath, straightens his spine, and asks, "You wanna have coffee with me?"

"I'd really like that." Steve's return smile is so beautiful, it makes Eddie weak.

---

Eddie Munson is making out with Steve Harrington in the backseat of Steve's BMW. He and Steve spent the day together. They've kissed for so long that the sun has set, both of their lips are swollen, their skin red from stubble, and Eddie is nowhere near ready for the night to end.

Steve breaks away, gently pulling their mouths apart, but arms still tight around Eddie. "Hey, what kind of gifts were they giving you anyway? The kids?"

"Oh," Eddie blushes. "Uh, cookies, a dnd mini, lots of candy, a set of dice."

"Oh my god," Steve says, he pulls a little more away. "Oh my god, I'm going to kill her, Jesus Christ."

"Who are are you killing, sweetheart?"

Steve groans. "Robin. She was helping them. We found a set of dice at this little bookstore and she told me to get them for you, and--" he breaks off with a helpless, frustrated noise.

Eddie doesn't mean to, but he starts to giggle.

"It's not funny!" Steve says.

That only makes Eddie laugh harder. "Your best friend," he squeaks. "And a group of literal children set us up. That's hilarious, Harrington."

Steve's mouth drops and for a second Eddie thinks he'll be upset, but then he's giggling too, his whole face crumpling into it.

Steve pulls Eddie close once the laughter subsides, his eyes trained on Eddie's lips.

"We could pretend we didn't get together," Eddie manages to say.

"What, like, make them think they failed?"

"Yeah. We could tell them I got stood up, but you and I hung out. Had a bro day."

Steve giggles again, and it's the best sound Eddie's ever heard. "I'm absolutely on board with this plan, but you should definitely kiss me some more."

"Oh, yeah?" Eddie asks, his voice low. "And what'll I get out of it?"

"Why don't you get over here and see."

As if Eddie could turn down an invite that enticing. He slides a hand behind Steve's head, drawing him in, and they're kissing like they never stopped. It only been a few hours, but Eddie knows--without a doubt--he's already head over heels.

[artaxlivs]

"What is it?" Eddie asks, dipping down to brush the tip of his nose against Steve's bicep.

"No," Steve shakes his head, hides his face between his shoulder and his pillow, "you'll laugh."

"I always laugh, Harrington." Eddie grins, bites the meat of Steve's arm playfully, "Bullying you is how I express my love."

Steve snorts out a laugh, rolls himself halfway up and yanks Eddie in to tuck under his chin before curling around him. "You must really love me."

Eddie noses along his jaw, kisses the underside, sticks out his tongue and licks it, "I really do." And he does. Obsessively. Who wouldn't? Steve is...perfect. But real, too. Sweet and kind. A little bitchy. Kind of an air head. Great ass. Hands that can make Eddie hard from across a room. And that side smile? Fuck. Yeah, he really does.

"Tell me," Eddie demands, pushing Steve over onto his back and grappling his hands until he's holding them down on the pillows next to Steve's head.

Steve's pupils dilate, his breath catches but he wrestles Eddie back over onto his back, flipping their positions again, "If you tempt me with that sweet ass of yours, Eds, I won't tell you." Then he sort of growls, dipping down to nibble up the column of Eddie's throat, pressing his hands into the pillows, tangling their fingers together as he slides his legs down and presses his hips into Eddie's.

Groaning and arching up into it, Eddie moans, "You're being distracting on purpose!"

Leaving a trail of wet lip prints, Steve kisses down Eddie's chest, whispers, "Am I?" into the warm skin there. Sinks his teeth in gently, makes Eddie pull a breath in sharp between his teeth as he writhes under Steve.

"Steeeve." Eddie whines. Then he almost gets the wind knocked out of him as Steve clamors up and flops down flat on his chest like damn golden retriever.

"Okay, okay, I'll tell you." Steve says, biting his own lip and looking down into Eddie's eyes. He's nervous so Eddie doesn't poke fun again, just waits, runs his hands up and down Steve's naked sides and along the waistband of his sweats. "I want to ...I want to go to college," He finally gets out, setting his jaw, determined. "I want to be a teacher."

Eddie smiles, big and bright because he's so proud that this is his guy, this is his person. This man who loves to help people. Who loves to protect them and make sure they feel loved. It's the perfect career choice. How did Eddie get so lucky?

He knows, though, that Steve doesn't do great with praise or adoration. That it makes him uncomfortable. That he needs to be teased, needs to fade into the background, be unassuming and unobserved. Unlike Eddie who kicks lunches off tables and proclaims himself a freak. So instead of gushing about what a great teacher Steve's gonna make, Eddie teases, "Do I get to call you Mr. Harrington during sex? Will this lead to sexy roleplay?"

Sighing, Steve rests his forehead on Eddie's like he's not totally turned on even though they can both feel just how much of a lie that is, "If, by sexy roleplay, you mean am I gonna make you write lines while I jerk off without you - then yes."

Eddie makes a strangled noise in his throat because, yeah, he's actually super into that, Mr. Harrington.