Sunday, August 3, 1986
"Alright, weary travelers, this is as good of a spot as any for us to halt our quest for fortune and glory. Let's break for dinner," Eddie says before grabbing his glass of water and taking a hearty gulp, hours of talking in his rumbly DM voice are murder on his vocal cords.
"What the hell Eddie?" Dustin squawks in protest, "you're taking it way too easy on Steve!"
Eddie rolls his eyes at Dustin, "Henderson, you've wanted Stevie to play D&D for how long now? If I let him die halfway through his first game I'm not a very good DM"
"You were never this nice to us when we started playing with you," Mike grumbles with a scowl.
He narrows his eyes at Mike, "because you'd played the game before Wheeler, Steve hasn't, and if you don't want to roll at a disadvantage it'll do you good to remember that"
The boys continue bickering and whining amongst themselves until Eddie starts to lose his patience.
"Enough! Sir Stephan is a knight of noble birth and I will not have you tarnishing his good name!"
Eddie sees Steve hide a smile behind his fist which is adorable but so not helping. They've somehow made it halfway through his one shot with only mild accusations of favoritism.
"Will you dorks stop arguing and come get some pizza?" Robin calls from the couch.
"Or don't, just means there's more for us," Max chimes in, a long string of cheese stretched from her mouth to the slice of pepperoni she's gobbling up at an alarming rate.
Eddie stands from the table, stretching his arms over his head, and catches Steve staring intently at the exposed sliver of his stomach. He grins down at his boyfriend salaciously and throws him a wink. Steve's cheeks are tinged pink as he jumps up and makes his way to the kitchen.
"Anyone want a drink?" Steve calls over his shoulder as he leaves the room.
The group responds with a chorus of requests and Eddie follows Steve, with a painfully unsublte, "I'll come help you carry all that Stevie!"
Eddie's barely makes it through the kitchen door before Steve yanks him over the threshold by the front of his shirt. Eddie yelps in response, but the sound is drowned out by Steve covering his mouth in a heated kiss.
"Sweetheart," Eddie groans as Steve wraps his arms around him and mouths at his neck, "do you want us to get caught?"
"You're driving me crazy," Steve argues, "you could have warned me about your sexy Dungeon Master voice, it's been so hard to keep my hands off you"
Eddie's eyes roll back as Steve bites down on his neck, "ah, ah! Baby, baby! They're gonna have questions if I come out of the kitchen with a hickey"
"Let's just tell them, I'm tired of hiding," Steve replies, leaning back a little to look in Eddie's eyes. His expression is so soft and sweet as his eyes flick back and forth between Eddie's to gauge how he feels about coming clean to the kids.
"Yeah," Eddie breathes, a huge grin overtaking his face, "yeah let's do it"
He leans in for another kiss, sliding his hands down into Steve's back pockets as he kisses him soundly.
"What's taking you dipshits so long? We—arghhhhh! What the fuck?!"
Eddie jumps back from Steve just as Dustin enters the kitchen, his shriek echoing off the cabinets as he claps his hands over his eyes. Before they have a chance to answer or explain the rest of the party has come to see what the racket is about and are crowded around behind Dustin, looking into the kitchen curiously.
"What's wrong? What happened?" Lucas asks, eyes scanning the kitchen for any apparent danger.
"Um, surprise?" Steve says, cupping the back of his neck awkwardly.
"Surprise? Surprise!? Steve, what the fuck?!" Dustin yells.
Mike rolls his eyes, "dude will you just tell us what the fuck is going on, you're being ridiculous"
"They were—they were—" Dustin stammers, gesturing back and forth between Eddie and Steve.
"What Dustin is trying—and failing—to share is that he walked in on Stevie and I in a compromising position," Eddie says, trying not to laugh, smile overtaking his face as Steve backhands his arm.
"What like Eddie was giving him campaign secrets?" Mike says with a glare, "man, I knew Steve was too good for a first-timer!"
"Hey!" Steve protests.
"No, you doofus, they were making out, obviously," pipes up Max, sounding bored while she examines her nails.
There's a deafening cacophony of "what"s, "how"s, "what the fuck"s as Eddie turns to Steve and smirks, "well you wanted them to know," he shrugs.
"Alright, alright! Pipe down you heathens!" Steve yells over the noise. "Yes, Eddie and I are dating—"
That just sends the boys into another tailspin, with Dustin loudly asking why they didn't tell him, and Max telling him it's because he's loud and annoying.
"I-I think it's nice, you guys seem happy," Will pipes up.
Eddie takes Steve's hand and gives the back of it a wet smack, "well thanks, Will the Wise"
Will blushes, his eyes fixed on their joined hands.
"Are you all done harassing your gay dads? The Pizza is getting cold and I'm still waiting on my soda!" Robin yells from the living room.
Steve turns and grabs the sodas, pushing past Dustin who seems deep in thought.
Dustin gasps, raising his finger and pointing at Steve, " this is why you wouldn't date Robin! You're gay for Eddie!"
Max groans, rolling her eyes at Dustin before grabbing a can of pop and stomping back into the living room, muttering "idiot" under her breath.
"Dustin, we've been over this, men and women can be friends. And I'm not gay, I'm bisexual," Steve says, looking like his patience is wearing thin.
"What is bisexual?" Asks El.
Steve softens and smiles at her, "it means I like both men and women. And right now I like Eddie."
"You can like both? That's allowed?" Mike asks, eyes wide.
"What have I told you about forced conformity, Wheeler?" Eddie says passionately, "no one gets to tell you who you can and cannot love"
It takes him a second to realize what he's said, and judging by the excitement overtaking Dustin's face, the little shit has realized it too. Eddie jumps into action, wrapping his arm around Dustin and clapping his hand over his mouth.
"Anyways! Good talk everyone, let's go eat pizza!" he says enthusiastically, pulling Dustin into the living room and whispering menacingly in his ear, "drop it"
"You loooooove him," Dustin says under his breath, "wait…doesn't he know? You've gotta tell him!"
"Shhhh!" Eddie attempts to smother Dustin again but the little shit dodges his arms, "No he doesn't, and I'd like to be the one to tell him! Henderson so help me, if you don't shut your trap I won't just kick you out of the game I'll kick you out of my house"
"Okay, woah woah! Touchy touchy, you'd think a man in lo-o-o—" Dustin starts teasing, cut off by Steve coming through the door with the rest of the kids behind him and looking at them skeptically.
"What's going on?" Steve asks, eyeing up Dustin.
"Nothing, sweetheart, let's have some 'za!" Eddie exclaims frantically, giving Dustin a shove.
"Yeah, sweetheart ," Dustin chimes in with a shit-eating grin, before turning back towards the living room, "everything's cool"
Steve rolls his eyes, "there's that tone again, I swear that kid is gonna give me grey hairs"
Eddie laughs and grabs some of the sodas out of Steve's arms before dragging him towards the couch where Vickie, Robin, and Max are all chowing down.
As they eat their pizza Eddie keeps glaring daggers at Dustin and dragging his thumb across his throat. He can only hope that Steve didn't take too much stock of what he'd said to Mike, Eddie is so not ready to tell Steve that he loves him. He keeps telling himself that it's too soon, that he's never been in a relationship before and that he'll scare Steve off if he comes on too strong and too fast.
The kids fill Robin and Vickie in on the campaign so far, practically jumping down her throat when she expresses and interest in playing sometime.
"What we should do is have an all girls game, I play with my friends and it's way more fun without these stupid boys," Erica says, earning her a smack from Lucas and a loud protest from Dustin.
Eddie tunes them out in favor of staring at Steve across the room where he's sitting chatting with Robin, a bright smile on his face. He knows he's smiling all gooey at Steve but he can't help himself. He's so filled with love for this man it's ridiculous.
Steve catches his eye mid-sentence with Robin and flushes, giving him a secret little smile and wiggling his fingers at Eddie. Robin rolls her eyes and snaps her fingers in front of Steve's face, saying "dingus! Will you listen to me for five minutes without getting distracted?"
Eddie hides a smile behind a lock of hair, sure he might be terrified of scaring Steve away by declaring his love in words, but maybe he can express his love in other ways, ways that will encourage Steve to return his overwhelming depth of affection.
He allows himself to be dragged into Mike and Lucas' conversation about Gelatinous Cubes, all the while plotting different ways to express his feelings.
Saturday, August 16, 1986
Steve rests his hand on Eddie's lap as he drives down Cornwallis towards the Hopper-Byers' new house. It's on the nicer end of Dearborn, not too far from the Wheelers and Sinclairs, which the kids are way too excited about. Personally, Steve thinks Hop might crack a tooth at the idea of Mike living that close, but Joyce is cajoling him into being a good sport about it.
Steve smiles over at Eddie as they drive with a metal mix that Eddie insisted on playing on the stereo. Surprisingly, they're all love songs, some of them so loud and heavy you can barely catch it, but the lyrics—whether they're screamed or sung—are all about falling in love.
He thinks it's pretty fucking cute that his boyfriend has this larger-than-life persona—with a sense of style to match—that's always made the housewives of Hawkins nervous, but really Eddie is just a giant sweetheart under all that hair and leather.
Eddie's tapping his foot along to the beat, alternating between nervously fidgeting with his rings and Steve's fingers in his lap while looking out the window.
"You don't have to be nervous, babe," Steve says, trying to soothe Eddie's anxious energy, "it's just gonna be people we know, no one's gonna give you a hard time"
"Wha—oh yeah…" Eddie says, swiveling his head to look at Steve, "don't worry Stevie, I'm fine"
Steve's not convinced, but he lets it slide. He glances at Eddie's guitar case in the backseat, but quickly dismisses the thought that Eddie could be nervous about performing in front of their friends when he did it a few months back at Dustin's birthday. Plus, Eddie's a natural born performer, the lunch tables at Hawkins High can personally attest that he doesn't get nervous entertaining a crowd.
When they join the party everyone is in the backyard, sitting at the rickety little tables that Joyce set out while Hopper mans the barbeque. Eddie gets pulled away to talk to the boys about D&D, so Steve makes his way over to Robin, Vickie, and Nancy.
"Hello laaaaadies, how are we this fine evening?" He asks making Robin groan and roll her eyes at him.
They chat for a while about their upcoming plans for college, it'll be weird when Nancy leaves next month but he's excited for her and proud of her ambition. Vickie asks if Jonathan is joining Nancy at Emerson and then falls over herself apologizing when Nancy gently tells her that they broke up. Privately Steve thinks it's probably for the best, not that he has any lingering jealousy about Nancy and Jonathan's relationship, he just feels that Nancy has ambitions bigger than Hawkins, bigger than a high school relationship. It's easy for him to see now how he could have held her back, and he's glad that she's continuing to put herself and her dreams first.
"You're gonna do great things Nance, I just know it," he tells her, giving her arm a friendly squeeze.
"Thanks Steve, that means a lot," she responds with one of her soft smiles, her big blue eyes gazing at him fondly. It's a look that used to drive him crazy, but now just fills him with platonic affection for her.
"You seem happy," Nancy continues, glancing behind him, "happy with Eddie I mean"
She always was too perceptive for her own good, "yeah, I am, I really am Nance"
"You two are good for each other," she says, "I think you balance each other out"
Steve smiles, turning to look at Eddie and smiling when he sees him gesturing wildly while talking to Dustin and Will.
"Yeah, I guess we kinda do"
He chats with Nancy a bit longer, until they notice that Murray has trapped Eddie in a conversation and he's going increasingly red.
"You better go save him," Nancy says with a laugh before walking over to where Max and El are sitting on a blanket making daisy chains.
Steve walks over to Eddie and Murray, only catching the tail end of what Eddie is saying grumpily, "alright dude, calm down, I will!"
"Will what?" Steve asks, sizing Murray up, he hasn't spent much time with the man but apparently he's very perceptive and loves to meddle.
Eddie clams up, cheeks still red, "nothing Stevie, Murray was just leaving"
"I was?" Murray says, giving Eddie a look, "fine, I know when I'm not wanted," he sniffs, leaving a wake of his strong cologne as he stalks off to bother Hop.
"Damn that guy rolled a nat 20 on his perception check," Eddie says with a wry chuckle.
Steve only half understands what that means but he decides to leave it, instead wrapping his arm around Eddie's shoulders.
"You having fun babe?" Steve asks as he squeezes Eddie affectionately before dropping his arm.
As much as he'd love to pick Eddie up and give him a kiss he controls himself, hating that he can't get away with the same public displays of affection he could with Nancy.
"Barrells of laughs over here," Eddie says with a sarcastic smile.
Steve furrows his brows in concern, and Eddie laughs, brushing his thumb over the crease, "okay don't look like that, I am having fun! Just if you see Murray corner me again save me sooner"
"Wouldn't have taken you for a damsel in distress Eds," Steve jokes.
"Oh dear! When will my handsome knight come rescue me," Eddie says in a high-pitched voice, swooning with the back of his hand splayed across his forehead.
Steve gives him a shove and they both dissolve into giggles until Hopper calls out that the burgers are ready and everyone swarms the barbeque.
Later on, after the sun has set and everyone's crowded around the firepit with blankets, talking and telling stories the kids demand that Eddie grabs his guitar and plays music for them. Eddie protests for about five seconds before he caves to their increasingly loud demands and snags Steve's keys to go grab his acoustic.
Steve's actually been looking forward to hearing Eddie play again, with the Corroded Coffin boys out of town and Eddie's less-than-stellar public reputation there haven't been any opportunities to see Eddie play. Steve thinks back to Dustin's birthday, when Eddie had sung and played his guitar for them all, that was probably the first time that Steve was aware of his attraction to Eddie. The deep timbre of his voice caressing the words, his fingers adorned with their rings moving expertly over the frets, it was a sight to behold. Eddie had even played a Weird Al song much to Dustin's delight. Steve's excited to hear what Eddie's going to play tonight since he's been suspiciously tight-lipped about it.
A hush falls as Eddie settles back in his chair, setting his guitar on his lap and checking that it's in tune before launching into the first song. He plays a couple of oldies that Hopper, Joyce, and Murray seem to love, and Steve bets that Eddie asked Will and El what music their parents like. Because Eddie is thoughtful like that.
Steve can't take his eyes off Eddie, watching him across the group, he's glowing in the firelight and he's so damn beautiful it takes Steve's breath away.
Eddie starts the third song Steve doesn't immediately recognize it, since it sounds different on a guitar than on a piano like the original. The moment he places the tune a huge smile overtakes his face, when Eddie looks up at him and begins singing Steve is so overcome with affection that his eyes start to feel a bit misty.
Where are those happy days? They seem so hard to find
I try to reach for you, but you have closed your mind
Eddie learned ABBA for him, Eddie's playing his favorite ABBA song for him, fuck, Steve loves him so much it feels like his heart is going to burn a hole in his chest.
So when you're near me, darling
Can't you hear me, S.O.S.?
Steve's face is hurting from how hard he's smiling, he can't look away from Eddie and it seems like Eddie has the same predicament since he gazes lovingly at Steve throughout the whole song. Steve's sure that everyone is going to tease them about this, but he doesn't fucking care, not when the man he loves is serenading him.
Notes:
Chapter Title from "Blister In the Sun" by the Violent Femmes
S.O.S. Is my favourite ABBA song so it gets to be Steve's too. When I was in high school a boy I had a crush on played it at an open mic and it was amazing.
I posted this ages ago on ao3, so sorry to anyone who was waiting for it here, I have way more fics posted on ao3 so I encourage to find me there under weird_witchcraft
You can find me on Twitter and Tumblr as Mojowitchcraft