Author's Note:

CW: Homophobia, f slur

Chapter title from Figure You Out by Djo because I cannot stop listening to it

Thank you for the love and support on this story, it means a lot to me that people are enjoying it

Chapter 9: Somethings In My Mind and I'm Focused On You

July 28, 1986

It's been an uneventful morning for Eddie, he's alone at the bookstore since Frank trusts him enough to open up by himself now, and Eddie's grateful for that trust. He keeps himself busy by dusting and reorganizing the shelves, checking the paperwork for new releases that will be arriving this week, but his mind keeps wandering back to Steve.

Eddie has to keep pinching himself because it seems like yesterday and this morning was a dream, and did it actually happen? He tries to keep his self destructive thoughts at bay because really it shouldn't have been so easy, it shouldn't have happened so fast. For Eddie Munson life has been one struggle after another, culminating in what he thought was going to be a fitting end for his shitty life. But then he was pulled out of the Upside Down by none other than Steve Fucking Harrington, the guy he'd had a crush on since sophomore year, the guy who he realized he never actually knew until Dustin Henderson was spouting his praises at every opportunity. If Eddie is honest with himself his crush on Steve had never fully gone away, as much as he had willed it to. He had resigned himself to having a silly superficial crush on a handsome jock and left it at that. Dustin's insistence that Steve was a good dude, a hero even had brought back that stupid crush full force, and he had found himself incredibly curious about the new and improved Steve Harrington.

He was loath to admit that he'd gone into Family Video several times hoping to see Steve, curious to see what Dustin was talking about. He hadn't been disappointed per-se but he also wasn't blown away by Steve, flirting with every pretty girl who came into the store while Eddie had browsed their selection. He had been surprised that Steve had treated him like a regular customer, politely asking if he had found what he was looking for and telling him to have a nice day. A regular guy slogging through his regular customer service job, okay maybe not an entirely regular guy since Eddie still found him stupidly handsome which led to many return visits to Family Video. But now Eddie knew now that Dustin's reverence for Steve was justified, he'd seen it first hand in the Upside Down.

Maybe that's why he was having a hard time grappling with the concept that Steve Fucking Harrington liked him back, the man that dove in head first (literally) to protect his friends and the people of Hawkins. Eddie had known he was fucked from the moment he held that broken bottle up to Steve's neck. He had felt his little nothing crush come back full force, growing and pulsing with a life of its own over the course of their insane journey in and out of the upside down. That's why after it all he'd tried to keep a bit of distance, give himself some space to heal, his heart some space to heal and move on from his unrequited feelings.

Eddie's wandering thoughts about Steve are thankfully halted when a middle aged woman enters the shop and asks Eddie for help locating the latest Danielle Steel novel. She's gushing about how much she loves all of the author's books and Eddie is nodding along politely while he retrieves the book for her. Thankfully she's content to talk at him rather than engage him in conversation, but he counts it as a win since most women her age usually give him dirty looks, especially when he's wearing his regular clothes.

Huh maybe Robin was onto something with my Clark Kent disguise.

Just as he's leading her back to the counter to ring up her purchase the bell above the door dings and Steve steps inside the store grinning at Eddie.

Eddie tries to control himself and not break into a huge grin while telling the lady her total. He looks over her shoulder at Steve who's pretending to browse but is not very convincing since he keeps smirking and glancing over at Eddie. Goddamnit he's handsome.

Eddie was ready to jump over the counter as soon as he was done helping his customer, but she was taking her sweet time counting out her change and talking about the "lovely" weather. The bell over the door dings again and Eddie is about to call out a greeting to the new customer before his mouth snaps shut. Fucking Tommy Hagan. What the fuck is he doing here?

"I thought that was you Harrington, what the fuck are you doing in a book store?" Tommy calls out to Steve, walking up to him and clapping him on the back.

The lady in front of Eddie huffs and glares over her shoulder at Tommy. Eddie's doing everything in his power to keep from laughing since she apparently hadn't realized who he was, but she clearly had no patience for Tommy's loud entrance and rude language.

"Jesus Tommy keep it down" Steve responded, taking a step back from Tommy.

Finally his customer is ready to leave and gives Eddie a heartfelt thanks and a promise to come back soon. Without her there he can listen in to Tommy and Steve's conversation. He busies himself with paperwork behind the counter, being much subtler than Steve was with his browsing. Hopefully he won't recognize me either thinks Eddie, I hate that fucking prick.

"I'm back visiting my folks for a few weeks but we should hit up some parties while I'm here. I've got some wild stories to share" Says Tommy

"Honestly Tommy I don't really care about your 'wild stories' and I sure as hell don't want to go to any parties with you. I'm sure you're having a great time partying it up at college" Steve Snarks, rolling his eyes.

"C'mon man I thought we were past this, you don't even want to catch up for old times sake?" Asks Tommy. Needy much?

"When would we have gotten past this man? You never apologized, never owned up for how you behaved, as soon as I was tired of your bullshit you latched onto Billy and were even more of a dick"

Tommy is standing with his back towards Eddie so he can't make out his expression but he can tell from the way his body slumps that Steve's hit a nerve by mentioning Billy. As bad as Eddie feels for Max for losing her brother he definitely didn't miss Billy Hargrove, that dude was fucking dangerous. Billy and Tommy had been downright terrifying together, egging each other on with their macho pissing contests. Eddie was lucky that they never gave him too much of a hard time since they knew he had the best weed, but they'd roughed up Gareth and Jeff a few times.

"Fuck you man, Billy died a hero, not much I can say for you though, fucking loser who couldn't even get into college stuck here in Hawkins in a dead end job" spits Tommy.

Fuck, Steve really touched a nerve there.

"Last I heard Jason Carver and the rest of the basketball team beat the shit out of you for defending that fag Munson who killed Chrissy Cunningham. Talk about a fall from grace King Steve" Tommy continues, his voice getting more elevated.

"You don't know shit man, Eddie didn't kill Chrissy, the toxic chemicals at Hawkins Lab did. Jason went fucking nuts and almost got us both killed. He raised a fucking mob, Billy's little sister got hurt, they took things way too far."

Eddie's surprised Steve is able to spout off details of their cover story like that, especially when he's getting pissed off. Steve keeps looking over Tommy's shoulder at Eddie, but Eddie can't meet his eyes. He's just glad that no one else is in the shop, he's barely holding himself together at the mention of Chrissy's name. Breathe, breathe, it wasn't your fault, there's nothing you could have done for her, breathe.

"Oh it's Eddie is it? Jesus Christ, King Steve's buddies with all the freaks now huh?" Taunts Tommy, getting up in Steve's face and grabbing his collar.

That snaps Eddie out of it, "I think you should leave now" he says in his most threatening voice, hand wrapping around the bat that Frank keeps under the counter in case of emergencies.

Tommy spins around to look at him, the idiot seems to have forgotten he's in a public business and that there was someone else there.

"Speak of the Devil and he will appear. I didn't recognize you without all your jewelry and leather, Freak" Tommy laughs cruelly.

"Back off man, get the fuck out of here" says Steve grabbing Tommy's shoulder and shoving him towards the door.

"So that's why you're in this fucking book store, I knew you weren't here to buy anything, you're here to see your boyfriend" sneers Tommy.

"Leave now before I make you regret coming in here" says Eddie, his voice full of warning as he pulls the bat out and lifts it to the counter.

"I'd like to see you try, faggot" challenges Tommy

"That's ENOUGH" shouts Steve as he grabs Tommy's arm and wrenches his hand behind his back, pushing him towards the door and shoving him out. Steve slams the door behind Tommy and locks it before Tommy has the chance to wrench it open again.

"Whatever you freaks, have fun fucking each other" shouts Tommy through the door as he storms away.

Steve watches Tommy leave through the window and lets out a sigh of relief, resting his forehead on the door. "Jesus fucking Christ I hate that guy" he says under his breath.

"I dunno he sounded kinda jealous about us fucking each other" Eddie teases, trying to break the tension.

Steve laughs at that and comes around the counter to hug Eddie, wrapping his arms around Eddie's middle and burrowing his face into Eddie's neck.

"Hi" Steve says softly, his mouth moving over Eddie's skin and making him shiver.

"Hi" Eddie says back into Steve's hair as he wraps his arms around Steve and rubs his back.

"I came to surprise you and see if I could take you for lunch, Robin's covering for me since I let her talk to Vickie on the phone for half the morning"

Eddie's heart flips at that, it's not fair how adorable and sweet Steve is, he hates that such a nice gesture has been ruined by a chance encounter with stupid Tommy.

"What a softy you are, yeah I was going to go to the diner and grab lunch, Frank's a regular there and he's introduced me to all the waitresses, they're nice"

Steve gives Eddie a quick kiss on the neck and pulls back "sounds good, lead the way"

But Eddie's not quite ready to let Steve go yet, so he pulls Steve back in and captures his lips, giving him a sweet kiss and trying to put all his emotions into it. Steve responds eagerly, opening up his mouth to tangle his tongue with Eddie's and pushing Eddie back into the counter.

"Easy Stevie, the door may be locked but there's still windows" Eddie huffs against Steve's lips.

"Don't care" mumbles Steve and he's kissing Eddie again and pressing into him and it feels so good that Eddie almost loses himself in the kiss, before he snaps out of it and pushes Steve back gently.

"Seriously Steve, we need to be careful. If you think Tommy was bad you don't want to see how fast gossip spreads in this town, it's better to be safe and private." Eddie pleads, he knows Steve doesn't quite understand what it means to be in a gay relationship in this town, and well, neither does Eddie, but he knows that there's no sense in putting themselves in danger.

"You're right," Steve sighs, "I'm just trying to make up for the fact that I didn't kiss you goodbye this morning." He runs a hand through his hair and chuckles, "this is going to take some getting used to I guess"

"I'm sorry Steve, I know it's easier with girls, to be able to show affection in public, I'm sorry you can't have that with me" Eddie feels himself getting emotional, stressing that Steve's life is going to get more difficult with them together.

"Hey, hey, don't apologize" look at me Eds, he pulls on Eddie's downturned chin with his fingertips and looks him right in his eyes, "you're worth it, trust me" Steve says, then gives him one more peck and pulls away.

Eddie feels his heart stutter and thinks about all the ways he's going to show Steve how much he's worth it when they're alone in bed again.

"C'mon then, you probably shouldn't keep Robin waiting too long" Eddie says as he leads the way out of the store, locking up again and flipping the sign to say Back in 30 minutes.

They get to the diner and are greeted by Eddie's favourite waitress, a lady named Doris who's smart as a whip with a sharp sense of humour, she takes their orders and gives them a knowing look as she leaves their table.

"Is it just me or is she totally on to us?" Asks Steve quietly.

"Oh she definitely is, but Doris is the best, she definitely doesn't care, I wouldn't be surprised if she's a friend of Dorothy herself."

Steve looks baffled, "a friend of Dorothy?"

"Oh honey I have so much to teach you" laughs Eddie.

They get their food and continue talking and laughing together, and Eddie remembers that Wayne wants Steve to come over for dinner.

"So, no pressure, but Uncle Wayne wants me to bring you over for dinner sometime" Eddie says shyly.

"Oh, meeting the parents already? Is he going to ask me what my intentions are with you?" Steve teases.

"Honestly he probably will" Eddie laughs "anyways he's met you already and he likes you, he just wants to get to know you better now that we're…"

"Dating. Got it, sure, when's a good day?"

"Well I think he's got an earlier shift on Wednesday so we could have a late dinner with him when he comes home, and you could… spend the night if you want"

"I want. That sounds great, I'll come over after work and help you with dinner"

"That sounds great" Eddie says warmly, smiling at Steve, his boyfriend, Jesus that sounds sappy even in his head.

Steve snags the bill before Eddie can protest, "you can pay for the next one" he says with a wink. And they walk back to the bookstore.

"As much as I want to come in and give you a proper goodbye I should head back, Robin's probably mad I've been gone so long.

Eddie does a quick glance around the quiet street and reaches out and gives Steve's hand a quick squeeze, "it's alright, I'll talk to you later, bye sweetheart."

Author's Note:

For those who don't know "Friend of Dorothy" is slang for an LGBTQ+ person.

There's some debate on if it dates as far back as the Wizard of Oz book in the early 1900's or the movie in 1939, but just like Eddie's hanky in the show it was a way of queer people identifying each other under the radar.

Hope you enjoyed this chapter even though not much happened! Next up: dinner with Uncle Wayne. And I'm also working on a different Steddie one shot that's gotten totally out of control. Hopefully that will get posted in a few days.