"This is surreal," Eddie chuckled. "If you had told me back in high school that I'd end up in bed with the most popular boy in school, I'd have said you were high, crazy, or both."

Eddie and Steve lay next to each other in the tangled mess of sheets in Eddie's bed, having moved their activities from the door to somewhere more comfortable. Eddie was tracing his fingers up and down Steve's chest and abdomen. It was ticklish but it felt too nice to ask him to stop.

"You're not the only one," Steve admitted. "And for the record, I wasn't that popular…"

Eddie snorted. "You were captain of the basketball team. Co-captain of the swim team. Guys wanted to be you. Girls wanted to sleep with you—more than a few guys wanted to sleep with you, too. You were the poster boy for all things popular and preppy. They literally called you King Steve!"

"Fine," he relented. "I might have been in vogue very briefly. All that went to shit when I became friends with Henderson's crew. King Steve is dead. Forevermore, I'll be known as The Babysitter."

"The ultimate babysitter with killer hair and a heart of gold," Eddie corrected him. "A certified badass with a hot bod. With shitty taste in music. And we can't forget ferocious Dragon Slayer."

"I don't think all of that will fit on my gravestone," Steve joked. "And there's nothing wrong with my taste in music."

"I've seen that garbage collection of cassette tapes that you claim to be music."

"Big talk considering your album is amongst my garbage collection," Steve shot back.

"Ah, but did you buy my album because you liked the music or because you wanted to have a picture of little old me to look at?" he teased, fluttering his eyelashes at Steve.

It annoyed Steve how hot Eddie looked when he did that. "I don't need the album. I've got the real thing right here, don't I?"

Eddie grinned. "Good point. While I can't abide your taste in music, I gotta say that your taste in men is exemplary."

Steve huffed out a laugh. "Don't ever let anyone accuse you of being humble."

"You don't like me because I'm humble," said Eddie, his voice low and rough. "You like me because I get your dick hard."

"Yeah, there's that," Steve acknowledged. "But it's not the only reason I like you."

"Is that so?" Eddie shuffled down the bed and planted himself between Steve's legs. "Tell me, Harrington. What do you like about me?"

"Um," Steve swallowed hard. He had a good idea what was about to happen next and the way Eddie's lips were looming dangerously close to his dick was making it difficult to concentrate. "I like the uh… sorry, what was the question?"

Eddie laughed softly as he ran his hands up Steve's inner thighs, wordlessly coaxing him to move his legs further apart. "I want you to list all the things that you like about me. Think you can manage that, sweetheart?"

Steve wasn't sure that he could but he'd certainly try. "Well, you're an amazing guitarist."

"Uh huh," said Eddie distractedly, pressing wet, worshipful kisses up Steve's inner thigh. "Keep going."

"You're smart, funny…"

"All very safe and generic answers. Tell me something real."

Steve huffed out a breath, searching for something real—something honest.

"You've got real pretty eyes. They're big and brown and—" Steve's breath stuttered as Eddie cupped his balls, massaging them in one hand while the other stroked his cock. "Eddie, this is really hard."

"Not quite," Eddie joked, giving Steve's hardening cock a squeeze. "So, you like my eyes?"

Steve nodded jerkily. "And when you sing, it makes me feel… I dunno how to describe it."

"Does it feel good?" asked Eddie, slowly stroking Steve's cock back and forth.

"So good," Steve groaned.

"Keep talking sweet to me, Big Boy."

Steve gave his head a little shake. "I um, I think your tattoos are really sexy, especially the dragon on your arm. And I like your hair. It's real soft, and I like touching it. And I like that you don't give a shit about it looking prim and perfect like I do with mine."

Eddie grabbed Steve's right hand and placed it on top of his head. Without prompting, Steve carded his fingers through Eddie's hair.

"I like your smile," Steve continued. "You've got a kind smile. And nice teeth."

Eddie stopped jerking off Steve and cocked an eyebrow at him. "Nice teeth?"

Steve grimaced. "I dunno. Look, clearly I'm not very good at this."

"Didn't you ever talk dirty with any of your girlfriends?"

"No, none of them were into that."

"Did you ever try?"

"Well, no," he admitted. "I guess it's not really something I imagine Hawkins girls are into."

"Well this Hawkins boy is into a little pillow talk," said Eddie huskily. "You willing to give it a try?"

He gave the slit of Steve's cock a tentative lick before running his tongue down the full length and back again. Steve gasped and reflexively grabbed a fistful of Eddie's hair.

"Oh fuck, I really like that," he laughed breathlessly.

Eddie smeared the wet tip of Steve's cock against his lips. "Tell me how good I look sucking you off."

"You look so hot," Steve rushed, desperate for Eddie to continue. "So fucking hot. I like it when you suck my dick, alright? I like everything that you're doing so please, don't stop."

Eddie smirked and lowered his head again, dragging the flat of his tongue up the underside of Steve's cock before closing his mouth over the tip, sucking and swirling his tongue over the shaft. Steve let out a string of curses and rambled words of praise as Eddie continued to slowly and expertly suck him off.

"Holy shit, you're good at that." he groaned. He was struggling to think straight, let alone form coherent sentences, "I uh, I like your ass! And your legs and your dick and—no, please don't stop!"

Eddie pulled off of Steve's cock with an obscenely loud pop. Using his free hand, he began pumping Steve's cock hard and fast. "You're rhyming off my body parts like a grocery list."

"You try stringing a sentence together when someone's sucking you off!" Steve lolled his head back and sighed. "You're getting off on torturing me, aren't you?"

"A little bit," he admitted. "Okay, I'll stop torturing you. Just relax and enjoy the ride."

Eddie licked a teasing stripe up the full length of Steve's shaft before closing his lips around the tip and giving it a light suck. Steve let out a shaky breath. Although Eddie had given him a reprieve from talking, and despite his nerves, he was determined to give it another try.

"You've got such a pretty mouth, you know that?" he said tentatively. "You look so good with your lips wrapped around my dick."

Eddie hummed with satisfaction, sending pleasant vibrations through Steve's cock. Steve still felt a little self-conscious but he kept going.

"Your mouth feels incredible, so hot and wet. I like how you look when you're sucking me off, like you're starving for it."

Eddie moaned again. Steve was slowly getting the handle of this dirty talk business. Feeling emboldened, he took a firm grip of Eddie's hair with both hands and gently began to thrust upwards into Eddie's mouth. His head was spinning but he knew Eddie would want him to keep talking.

"You're amazing at this. It's like your mouth was made to suck my dick."

Eddie hollowed out his cheeks and sucked harder, bobbing his head back and forth, pushing Steve closer to climax with each stroke.

"You're so fucking sexy," Steve breathed. "Every inch of you is perfection, I just can't get enough of you."

Eddie looked up at Steve with a dazed expression, his eyes foggy with desire, spit dribbling down his chin as he continued to suck him closer to climax. He looked utterly debauched and Steve had never seen anything sexier in his life.

"You're hungry for my dick aren't you?" Steve ran his thumb over Eddie's wet lips stretched over his cock. "You're my little cock slut. Best fucking cock slut in the world."

Eddie's amber eyes glazed over and he moved faster, pulling another wanton moan from Steve. Steve's breaths were coming out in short, sharp bursts now, his entire body tense as a bowstring stretched to its limit. He could feel that familiar, pulsing sensation of his impending orgasm creep through his groin and up his chest.

"I want you to touch yourself," Steve moaned. "That's it, grab your dick and jerk yourself off. God, you look amazing like that."

Steve didn't want this to end but the way that Eddie was looking at him with hungry, dark eyes, he wasn't going to last more than a few seconds. Steve spread his legs further apart, bracing himself for the impending climax.

"That's it," he purred. "Fuck me with your pretty little mouth until I cum."

The quiet, desperate whimper that fell from Eddie's lips as he came was what finally pushed Steve over the edge. Steve stiffened and his toes curled as the first wave of his orgasm crashed over him, obliterating every tangible thought from his brain in one glorious wave of ecstasy. A long, low groan burst out of him as he came in desperate throbs down Eddie's throat. For a few moments, he just lay there, struggling to catch his breath, feeling utterly spent. He felt Eddie climb back up the bed and flop by his side, swiping his long hair away from his sweaty face.

"That's one dirty mouth you got there, Harrington," he said appreciatively.

"So do you," Steve pointed out.

Eddie laughed and gave Steve a quick kiss on the mouth, probably trying to gross him out. He made to move away but Steve grabbed the back of his head and pulled him back, slipping his tongue past Eddie's lips. He could taste his own saltiness on Eddie's tongue, but he didn't care. When they broke apart, Eddie looked surprised but not displeased.

"I guess you do like me after all," he joked.

Steve laughed. "You're only realizing that now?"

"I might have figured it out the first time you grabbed my dick."

"Funny," said Steve sarcastically before adding more seriously, "I like how authentic you are. I've spent my whole life trying to fit into different molds but never really feeling like I really fit in anywhere. But you, you're unapologetically yourself. It's probably my favorite thing about you."

Despite having just had Steve's dick in his mouth, it was those words that made Eddie look bashful. He lowered his gaze and shrugged. "I tried being a lot of different things, too. But I realized that I wasn't very good at pretending just for the sake of fitting in. Everyone thought I was a freak regardless of what I said or did anyway, so I figured I might as well be myself."

"You're not a freak," Steve argued but Eddie shook his head.

"Being a freak isn't an insult," he explained. "It's just daring to be different. It's marching to the beat of your own drum. It's being unapologetically yourself..."

"It's being authentic," said Steve.

"Exactly. My freakishness is my armor."

Steve considered Eddie's words in silence for a few moments. "Then I guess that I like that you're a freak."

Eddie gave him a warm smile before kissing him again. A pleasant fluttering sensation grew in the pit of Steve's stomach, the same kind he used to get when he'd kiss Nancy. He's spent years trying to recapture that feeling with anyone else, yet here it was, with the most unexpected person in the world. It made him feel a little anxious, but he didn't pull away. He liked Eddie. And he was pretty sure Eddie liked him, too. Whether he liked him enough to do this again was another question.

Eddie was pushing Steve back on the bed and climbing onto his lap. The libido on this guy was going to be the death of Steve, he was sure of it. Still, he wasn't one to look a gift horse in the mouth. They could discuss the finer details of their 'liking' each other later.

"Pay attention," said Eddie.

"I am paying attention."

"Then what did I just say?"

"You said I had a cute ass," Steve joked.

"What did I say after that?" Eddie prompted.

Steve flexed his shoulders and took a firmer grip of the acoustic guitar. Eddie said he always kept one close by in case inspiration struck or he just felt like playing.

"Press my fingertips down firmly on the G chord, then switch to C chord. Like this," Steve strummed the strings of the guitar, slowly switching between G and C. It felt awkward and unnatural to have his fingers splayed apart like this, but it felt good to make real music. He looked round at Eddie and grinned. "I did it!"

Eddie was sitting behind Steve, his arms wrapped around Steve's waist and his chin resting on Steve's shoulder. He kissed Steve's neck and said, "Not bad for your first time. Just think how much better you'll get with a little practice."

Steve wasn't sure if Eddie was talking about the guitar or Steve's recent foray into sleeping with guys (well, one guy, anyway), but there was only one of those things that he was keen on practicing with Eddie.

"Would you mind playing something for me?" he asked.

Eddie looked surprised at the request but he didn't turn Steve down. He shuffled away from his cozy position behind Steve and sat next to him on the edge of the bed. He took the guitar from Steve's hands and strummed it a couple of times.

"What would you like me to play?" he asked.

"Do you know any Duran Duran?" Steve chanced.

Eddie snorted. "You're in luck. I do know one of their songs."

He started strumming the guitar to the funky beat of The Reflex , tapping his foot in time to the music. Steve started bobbing his head and began to sing. "You've gone too far this time, but I'm dancing on the Valentine! I tell you somebody's fooling around with my chances on the danger line—"

Eddie abruptly cut off the music. "Okay! That's enough Duran Duran to last me a lifetime."

"Well, I appreciate you humoring me," Steve laughed. "Did you really invite Simon Le Bon to your party just to impress me?"

"I did, yeah," He flashed Steve that crooked smile that always gave him butterflies. "Did it work?"

"Oh yeah," Steve nodded. "I was really impressed until he hooked up with Lizzie."

"Yeah, I didn't see that one coming," Eddie's smile faltered. "I'm sorry about last night. Getting jealous like that… it isn't a good look."

"Don't worry about it," Steve assured him. "I didn't really help matters bringing her along."

"But even if you did bring her as a date, it wasn't my place to get jealous," Eddie argued. "It's not like you're my boyfriend."

"Right," Steve nodded. "Um, I actually wanted to talk to you about that."

Eddie twiddled the tuning pegs of the guitar, avoiding Steve's gaze. "What's to talk about?"

"I guess what we're doing," said Steve carefully. "Like, are we going to do it again or…"

Eddie glanced up at Steve. "Would you like to do it again?"

"Well, yeah," he admitted before adding quickly, "but only if you want to. I know that you're busy with touring and you're gonna have people throwing themselves at you all of the time. It's cool if you do want us to keep doing whatever it is that we're doing and it's cool if you don't. I am a-okay either way."

Eddie smirked at Steve. "I would love to suck your dick again, Harrington."

Steve blushed. "Thank you. I mean… yeah, that'd be cool."

"Unfortunately, I'm not gonna be around much for the next couple of months. With the tour and all…"

Disappointment settled in the pit of Steve's stomach. "When do you leave?"

"Tomorrow morning. We're playing in St. Louis in a couple of nights' time."

"Awesome. Really awesome…" said Steve half-heartedly. "You guys will be amazing. But then you always are."

"Thanks," Eddie hesitated before asking, "I'm gonna be real busy, but if you're okay with me calling you from time to time…"

Steve nodded. "Yeah, sure. I'm down for that."

"I guess next time we'll see each other will be whenever Henderson needs our help with tuxedos for the wedding."

"He actually called me about that a couple of days ago, he's trying to pin down some dates for us all to meet up for a fitting," said Steve. "He also said he's got 'something special' planned for us."

"That sounds ominous."

"Yeah, he wouldn't elaborate when I asked him what he meant. Knowing him, he'll want us to dress up in Dungeons and Dragons costumes or something."

"That would be awesome."

"That would not be awesome," Steve argued. "I'm not wearing pointed ears and plastic feet to my best friend's wedding."

"We'll just see about that," Eddie laughed. "We still need to make plans for the bachelor party."

"I'm not gonna lie, I thought you were gonna suggest we perform some Satanic ritual in the woods and sacrifice a goat."

"I haven't ruled it out," Eddie joked. "Although it's probably worth mentioning that I'm peenatarian."

Steve frowned. "What's that?"

"It's like being pescatarian, except the only meat I eat is your dick—"

"Oh my god!" Steve groaned. "That's such a dumb joke."

"You like my dumb jokes," he smirked. "So, I was thinking I fly us out to Cape Canaveral for the weekend. Check out some spacerockets, talk to a couple of astronauts, then go barhopping at night. Sound good?"

"The barhopping does," Steve quipped. "Don't worry about my flights and stuff, I can pay for all that."

"It's really no problem," said Eddie. "I can afford it."

"So can I," he insisted.

That wasn't strictly true, but he didn't want Eddie to think he was a freeloader. The only reason he'd agreed to take the limo to the show was because El and Mike were already going to use it. Eddie looked like he wanted to argue but thought better of it. Instead, he shrugged.

"Okay. If you change your mind, the offer still stands."

"I won't." Steve watched as Eddie played a few notes on the guitar before asking, "Would you mind playing something else for me? Something that you like this time."

Eddie sat in silence for a few moments, contemplating what he should play, before starting a tune that took Steve by surprise. It wasn't a rock song but a blues number. Eddie closed his eyes as his fingers slid across the strings, lost in the music. Steve didn't know the song but it was raw and emotive and made his heart pang a little although he couldn't explain why. When Eddie finished the song, he opened his eyes and smiled sadly at Steve.

"That was beautiful," said Steve sincerely. "What was that?"

"Muddy Waters," he explained. "He was my mom's favorite."

"What was she like?"

"I don't remember a lot about her," he confided. "But I do remember she had a beautiful singing voice. She was like an angel."

Steve was silent for a long moment. "I bet your mom would've been proud of you."

"I hope so," said Eddie quietly. He cleared his throat and fixed a smile to his face. "Any more requests?"

"Do you know how to play anything by Queen?"

"Hell yeah, I know how to play Queen!" Eddie exclaimed excitedly and started playing the first few chords of A Crazy Little Thing Called Love.

Steve nodded along with the music but he wasn't really listening, too preoccupied with the prospect of being separated from Eddie, potentially for months. It wasn't appealing, but he didn't really expect Eddie to pause touring on his account. And like Eddie said, they weren't boyfriends; what they were remained unspecified. As much as Steve wanted clarification, he also didn't want to scare Eddie off by coming across as too keen. He'd always blamed his eagerness to settle down and have a family with Nancy as one of the main reasons she'd broken up with him. He wasn't about to make the same mistake twice. He would just have to play it cool. He'd play it so cool they'd call him Steve 'The Cucumber' Harrington.

Steve was so lost in his own thoughts, he didn't even notice when Eddie stopped playing. Eddie nudged him on the shoulder. "You alright, Harrington?"

"I'm fine," he lied. "Play something else."