Archive of Our Own ^beta

When Steve started his second semester, he hadn’t been expecting to like Home Economics so much. It wasn’t his first, second, or even third choice at all. He’d been planning to take Auto Shop but, well, then Mrs. Johnson–Hawkins High’s coolest teacher by far –had left for maternity leave immediately after giving birth and the entire class had been canceled. Suddenly, the ever-reliable Hawkins High faculty had scrambled to find new places to shove all the students meant to take Auto, and Home Ec was where Steve and all the other rough-and-tumble boys had ended up.

Privately, Steve didn’t really understand why they had offered the class in the first place. He was very happy for her—of course he was—but if she knew she was pregnant, why didn’t she just take the last semester off in advance?

Either way, Mrs. Johnson was at home getting everything set up for her new baby, and Steve was sitting in Mrs. O’Donnell’s Home Economics class. A class that, for the first time in Steve’s academic career, he excelled at rather than just barely scraping by. Most of the things Mrs. O’Donnell taught, Steve found he either already knew after years of being left to his own devices or seemed, strangely, to have some natural talent with.

Only the budgeting and financial stuff really caught him up. He’d never really had to think about how much he spent before, and he certainly never thought about loans or mortgages. His parents handled all of that and gave him a nice sum of money as an allowance instead of, you know, actually caring about their son. 

Mrs. O’Donnell would give them sewing assignments, but after the incident with Billy at the beginning of the first semester, Steve was no stranger to patching up the holes in Max’s shorts when she fell off her skateboard. She would have them cook a meal to share with the class, and Steve would ask Dustin what his favorite food was and make that. They would be tasked with creating a meal plan for a big family gathering, and Steve would pull out the recipes that Joyce Byers had shared with him, making sure that there was something in his plan for every one of the kids.

Needless to say, Steve had come to the conclusion that Home Economics was kind of his thing. Mike liked to make fun of him and call him a housewife when he would invite the kids over to have a sleepover at his house only to spoil them with their favorite foods and nag at them to not track dirt into the house. It used to get on Steve’s nerves, but now? Now, he didn’t think Mike was quite far off.

“Alright, class. Today, we will be starting our last project of the year. I’m sure you can tell from the board, but your final assessment in this class will be taking care of a baby,” Mrs. O’Donnell announced.

There was a mix of excited giggles and groans from the class, but Steve stayed silent, his leg bouncing with too much energy.

“Oh, don’t groan yet.” She smirked at the class, her years of teaching evident by the amusement she got from torturing them. “I haven’t even told you the best part.”

While Steve had been inwardly cheering from the moment Mrs. O’Donnell had written the assignment name on the board–what? He actually liked kids. Taking care of a fake one couldn’t be that hard–the cheering tapered off at her tone. There was more to the assignment. And she thought it was groan-worthy.

Mrs. O’Donnell waited until her pause was suspenseful enough, and then she revealed the second part of the project. “To better simulate what taking care of a baby looks like for most households, I will be putting you into pairs. You and your partner will both take care of one baby, so I suggest you get comfortable with them because you’ll be seeing a lot more of them for the next few weeks.”

Steve’s knee stopped bouncing, and he snuck a glance around the room to the people he could see. A couple of girls were looking at him and giggling, and he tried to suppress a grimace. He really didn’t want to get paired up with one of the underclassmen girls that had been fluttering their eyelashes at him all semester. The whole ‘King Steve’ thing had mostly fizzled out when Billy showed up, but it wasn’t gone, much to his chagrin. 

Luckily, the boys in the class outnumbered the girls. Steve figured most of them had signed up for Auto Shop just like him, and then, just like him , they had to take the only other available class.

If Mrs. O’Donnell really wanted to simulate the average American household with this assignment, she clearly overlooked the fact that she would need to include a few gay “couples” as partners.

Steve didn’t have a preference either way. If he was honest, Steve was keeping the position of his future partner open to women and men. He was not so blind to his own feelings that he couldn’t recognize when he was thinking about men the same way he had previously only let himself feel about women. That being said, he did not want to be paired with the freshman girls that had been swooning at him as soon as Mrs. O’Donnell announced they’d be in pairs.

By the time Steve had gotten out of his head, Mrs. O’Donnell was speaking again. “Once I assign you to a partner, please sit together so we can go over what this assessment entails.” As Mrs. O’Donnell called out names, Steve tapped his fingers against his desk quietly, trying to dispel his nerves.

Then, finally, Mrs. O’Donnell was looking at Steve with an expression he couldn’t figure out before calling out: “Steve Harrington and Eddie Munson.”

Oh, that’s right! Eddie Munson was in his class. It’s not like Steve had forgotten… How could he, when it seemed that the universe was out to make Munson fail? But, well, it’s not like the guy ever talked to anyone in the class. And he definitely didn’t talk to Steve even though Steve sat right in front of him.

Munson had only begun sitting behind Steve following the tragic and hilarious failure that was his spaghetti bolognese. It had actually looked pretty good at the beginning of class, but by the time it was Munson’s turn to present, the noodles had gone cold while the sauce stayed horribly lukewarm. As if that wasn’t enough, he had tripped on his way up to the front of the class and ended up spilling most of his pasta on the people in the front two rows. After that, Munson seated himself firmly in the back row, right behind Steve. Far away from the rest of the class.

And earlier that semester (pre-spaghetti incident), when they were working on their sewing project, Steve had looked over from his machine to find Munson’s eyes wide with panic as he tried to pull his sleeve out of the sewing machine. From just one look, it was clear that he had accidentally sewn it to the hem of the jacket he was working on. It took all Steve had not to laugh. He didn’t want Munson to think he was making fun of him, after all. It was just incredibly amusing.

The cream of the crop, however, had to have been when Mrs. O’Donnell had taken them on a fieldtrip to a laundromat. She had the staff show them around the machines and teach them what each button meant and how they worked. Steve had been doing his own laundry since he had turned 11, so he had hung back, barely listening. Munson had been close to the back of the group, messing around with all the different types of detergents, and Steve could tell it was another incident waiting to happen. Somehow, Munson had bumped an entire box of laundry detergent into the washer he was leaning on, and in his panic, he had managed to make the machine run. He flailed around, and Steve watched as Munson tried desperately to turn the washer off, to no avail.

Of course, Munson just gave up and backed away from the washer, getting as far away as possible so that no one could pin any mishaps on him. Steve had tried to keep himself from laughing and drawing attention to what was going on, but a few snickers slipped out. That had drawn Munson’s attention, but before he could say anything, the aforementioned washer had started shaking and spluttering until the laundromat was being flooded with suds. Steve was pretty sure Munson had gotten banned from going on fieldtrips after that.

Despite Munson’s supernatural knack for getting into trouble, Steve relaxed into his seat. Out of all the people in the class, Munson was probably the least likely to put any stock into the whole idea of “King Steve.” He’d made his whole thing about the status quo and societal expectations pretty clear, and that alone made him the best possible partner Mrs. O’Donnell could have picked for him.

So, brightened by the fact that he wouldn’t have someone cooing over him for the next month, Steve turned around with a grin and propped his elbows up on Munson's desk. Then, before he could really think about the words coming out of his mouth, he said, “Guess that makes us married then, huh darling?”

Munson, of course, stared back at him blankly, but instead of backtracking or something, Steve batted his eyelashes for good measure, really hamming it up.

Munson blinked at him once. Then twice. Then he raised an eyebrow and said, deadpan, “What the fuck are you talking about?”

Steve frowned only a bit exaggeratedly. “What? You think we're gonna raise a baby together and not be married?” He gasped in fake offense. “What kind of woman do you take me for?”

Eddie’s face spasmed like it wasn’t totally sure what expression to make. His mouth opened, then closed, then opened again. “Can’t say I took you for a woman at all, honestly.” 

Steve made a face. “Well one of us had to have the baby. Are you volunteering?”

Eddie looked totally lost. Steve could feel bad about teasing him so much except, well, this was kinda funny. And Eddie didn’t seem angry about it. More confused, really; Steve could understand that, what with his former reputation and all. But, if they were gonna be doing this project then it would be best for Eddie to figure out that Steve wasn’t that person anymore sooner rather than later.

Before Steve could tease him more, Mrs. O’Donnell was talking again. “Each pair will be getting a baby doll that you will be taking care of as well as a binder where you will log the events of each day. These binders are heavily detailed, so just answer the questions on each paper, and you should be fine.”

When she got to their desk, she set down a baby doll, a bag containing fake baby bottles, diapers, baby blankets, a baby sling, and their binder. She smiled at the two of them as she set down their whole kit, before sneaking a glance around the room and leaning forward conspiratorially to say, “It seems so far that some of the other groups are going to take care of their babies like divorced parents rather than… Well, how you two would.”

Steve and Eddie shared a confused look, but before they could ask Mrs. O’Donnell what she meant, she was already walking to the front of the classroom and clapping her hands together to get everyone’s attention.

“Alright, eyes up here! You have the rest of class time to fill out the birth certificate and create a schedule for your baby's care for the next three weeks. Once you’re done, I’ll come around to check them, and then you can leave early.” 

Steve turned back to Eddie. “I’m going to be so good at this! Just you wait.”

“Oh, really?” Munson said, crossing his arms over his chest as he leaned back in his chair. “What, you got some secret baby you’ve been practicing with that I don’t know about?”

Shaking his head with an eye roll, Steve replied, “I might as well, considering the shithead rugrats I've been running around after for the last year. Even though they’re in middle school, they still act like whiny babies sometimes. A fake baby should be a walk in the park compared to them.”

“Maybe if this was an individual project. But you’re partnered with me, Harrington, and I haven’t gotten a good grade on a single project this whole semester.” Munson grinned as if his grades didn’t bother him, but Steve could see the tension in his shoulders.

“Ah, ah, ah!” Steve tutted. “I may be partnered with you, but you’re still partnered with me. And taking care of children is kind of my thing. I’ll get you a good grade on this project, don’t worry!” 

Munson leaned back in his seat and crossed his arms over his chest. “You better be right about that, Harrington. I only need to pass this final to graduate, and I am not redoing my senior year for a third time.”

“I will be. Don’t worry,” Steve replied. Then, he picked up the baby and cradled it to his chest, carefully supporting its head. Eddie raised an eyebrow in response but otherwise didn’t comment, pulling the binder closer to himself and opening it to the first page.

After pulling a pen from his bag, Eddie looked at Steve and asked, “Do you have a name in mind? We can just go with whatever you pick.”

The baby in Steve’s arms looked generic enough that a specific name didn’t really call out to him. All he could think about was the names of the Party, and it felt weird to name his fake baby after one of them. It would seem like he was picking favorites. 

Although… If Dustin found out that Steve had named his fake baby after him, he would probably throw a fit more dramatic than the situation justified, and that alone made Steve reconsider his thought process. It would be hilarious, and Steve really wanted to witness it.

“I like the name Dustin,” Steve said casually, “What do you think?”

Eddie nodded once, writing the name down as he replied, “Sounds good to me.” He tapped the end of his pen against his chin before he tilted his head to the side and raised a challenging brow at Steve. “So since you birthed the kid, it gets my last name, right? That’s how it normally goes, anyway.”

Steve pursed his lips. “I resent that on principle, but,” he shrugs. “Yeah, sure. Not like I want him to be stuck with my name anyway.”

With a name picked out, all they had to do to finish the birth certificate was sign their names, write down the date, and wait for Mrs. O’Donnell to add her signature of approval. Mrs. O’Donnell seemed pretty busy diffusing arguments at the front of the class, though, so instead, Steve and Eddie started on their care schedule.

“My uncle works nights at the factory, so we can’t look after Dustin at my place after school. I don’t want to end up waking him up before he has to be,” Eddie said, writing down a note in the corner of the paper that read Harrington Estate after school.

Furrowing his eyebrows, Steve scrunched his nose at the note. “My family doesn’t own an estate, man. But other than that, I’m alright with you coming over when school lets out. My parents are never home, so we don’t have to worry about being too loud.” He leaned back in his seat for a second to think before he suggested, “We can alternate who has him on weekends and school days though, right? That way you don’t have to live at my house for the last month of school and neither of us gets more work.”

Eddie nodded along, writing down Alternate homes on weekends and caregivers during school .

Steve frowned. “These are just my ideas, though. If you’d rather we spent the night at your place every weekend, we can do that instead. I’m not exactly attached to staying at my house if you don’t want to.” 

Eddie seemed uncomfortable, and for a second Steve was worried that he had overstepped. Then, Eddie winced and said, “I don’t want to dump Dustin on you, but I actually have Hellfire on Fridays after school and band practice on Saturdays. So I can’t take care of him.” Eddie hesitated and rubbed at the bridge of his nose before continuing, “You could bring Dustin along if you think I’m slacking off. It probably won’t be your scene, though.” After flashing a weak smile at Steve, he mumbled to himself, clearly not intending for Steve to hear, “I don’t know how I’m going to tell the guys…”

“I guess we could do that. Do you have any other activities I should know about? If not, you can just copy this for the rest of the weeks and alternate who has Dustin at school and which house we stay at on the weekends,” Steve said, his eyes scanning the page before he looked up to meet Eddie’s confused expression. “What is it? Did I do something wrong?”

Eddie pursed his lips before gesturing toward the schedule with his head. “Don’t you have rich jock activities we need to plan around? Basketball practice? Parties? Date nights?”

Steve hummed, pretending to think before he shrugged, smirking playfully at Eddie. “I guess we could have a date night, but I don’t know of anyone that I could ask to babysit… Unless your uncle is available?”

After a brief bout of quiet choking, Eddie rolled his eyes. “Not with me! I meant with girls . You shouldn’t put your whole life on hold just to get an A on this final.”

Chuckling, Steve shook his head. “Don’t worry, dude. I quit basketball at the end of last semester, and I don’t throw parties anymore.” He winked at Eddie, feigning a scandalized look before adding, “And we’re married now, so the only dates I’ll be going on are with you anyway.”

“Come on, Harrington, be serious.”

Steve huffed and crossed his arms over his chest. “I am being serious. The only thing I do these days is babysit and play chauffeur for those kids I mentioned, and I don’t think that’s something we can plan around considering that I never actually know when they’re going to show up at my house.”

Eddie conceded and filled out the rest of the schedule in silence while Steve bounced the baby gently and examined it with curious eyes. Once Eddie was done, Steve waved Mrs. O’Donnell over, his eyes widening when he noticed that none of the other pairs had finished yet.

“Are you boys done already?” Mrs. O’Donnell asked, smiling as she looked between the two of them. Steve thought she looked pleased, but he wasn’t quite sure why. At their affirmation, she scanned over their work and nodded, signing the birth certificate. “Nice work! Let me just…” Her words trailed off as she took the baby from Steve’s hands, turning it over and flipping a tiny switch in its back. “There. Now you’re all set!”

After Steve took the baby back, he pulled up its shirt to look at the switch. “Uh, Mrs. O’Donnell? What exactly does this switch do?”

“Oh, I must have forgotten to mention. These dolls are supposed to be realistic, so they’re programmed to cry, eat, and sleep. Some kind of new funky technology the school is trying out. You’ll figure it out the more time you spend with it, but you need to take care of it as if it were a real baby if you want it to stop crying.” She stopped to consider something before she leaned over to keep the conversation quiet. “We used these dolls last semester, and quite a few students complained that they would cry in the middle of the night and nothing they tried had made them stop. If you find that happening, talk to me next class. I might have some tips for you.”

Mrs. O’Donnell walked back to the front of the room to tell the rest of the class about the switch on the back of the babies, so Steve started packing up his bag to leave. 

Eddie leaned over and whispered, “It kind of seems like she’s playing favorites, don’t you think? We’re getting, like… special treatment and shit.” With a raised eyebrow, he snarked, “Looks like you used that Harrington charm on her.”

Chuckling, Steve slung the baby bag over his shoulder and waited for Eddie to pack his things. “I don’t think it’s me she has a soft spot for. You’re forgetting that everyone else in this class also had to witness your final products from the previous projects. If you only need an passing grade on this project to graduate, I think Mrs. O’Donnell’s been giving you pity points all semester. That spaghetti was really depressing, man.”

Eddie made an affronted noise. “Um, excuse me! That is no way to speak to your husband. We can’t all be perfect little housewives like you, dear .”

A deep blush rose up Steve’s neck and he rolled his eyes. “Yeah, yeah, whatever. Hurry up or I’ll leave without you.” It was an empty threat, and Steve hated that he knew it. Steve was used to the kids calling him their mother when he started nagging at them, but the fact that Eddie also thought he was similar to a housewife was new, and he didn’t know how to feel about it just yet.

Once Eddie picked up Dustin and held him against his chest, Steve turned to leave, trusting that Eddie would be right behind him. He waved goodbye to Mrs. O’Donnell and then the two of them were making their way out to the parking lot in comfortable silence.

***

Okay, imagine that you are Eddie ‘the Freak’ Munson. You show up to school for your second attempt at senior year and sit in a class that you hadn’t wanted to sign up for because your other teacher went on maternity leave. In this class, you sit behind King Steve and you have to watch him show off and be perfect at everything. Including sewing. The fucker added embroidery to his pillow for gods sake! Then, your teacher announces that for the final project that you have to get an A on to graduate , everyone will be taking care of a fake baby.

“That’s not that bad,” you may think to yourself, but you’re wrong. You’ve failed at easier things, so you really shouldn’t be optimistic. Anything could go wrong, and that’s something you can’t afford this late in the year when you’re hanging onto the chance of graduating by the thinnest possible thread.

Of course, the final is also a group project, and your teacher, Mrs. O’Donnell, has partnered you with King Steve himself. Why she thinks it’s a good idea that will not end in your utter humiliation, you have no idea. He is a rich, preppy jock, and therefore he is the enemy of freaks like you. Not to mention, he’s friends with the kind of people that bully you and your friends for your nerdy hobbies and slightly abnormal presence. You and King Steve do not mesh.

Except someone must’ve forgotten to tell King Steve that because he then starts flirting with you. Jokingly, of course, what with the whole ‘woman’ thing, but still.

And once you finally get over that , you come back to reality to find King Steve planning out a schedule for the next few weeks, and you are suddenly acutely aware of just how well-acquainted the two of you will be. King Steve is telling you about the kids he babysits and he’s making time for your own extracurriculars.

Despite all this, you’re still trying to cling to your Munson Doctrine that very clearly decrees people like King Steve can not contain multitudes, so you ask him about his kingly duties.

“Surely, the king must have his own kingly duties to attend to,” you think to yourself. It’s a fair assumption, but you would be wrong. Because King Steve is no longer on the basketball team. King Steve does not throw outrageous parties. King Steve is not taking any fair maidens out on carriage rides and candlelight picnics.

King Steve babysits children. And that’s it.

That’s weird, right? Eddie thinks it is, at least.

Eddie followed Steve out into the parking lot, but when Harrington had made a beeline directly to his fancy rich boy BMW, Eddie shut that down right away. “Where do you think you’re going, Harrington?”

Steve turned to face Eddie and raised an eyebrow. “To my car? To drive to my house so we can do our project?”

Huffing, Eddie gestured dramatically to his van. “So, what, I’m just supposed to leave my van here?”

“Come on, man.” Steve rolled his eyes. “We don’t have to ride together. Just follow behind me in your van. It’s not a big deal.”

Eddie wiggled Dustin in the air with a look that told Harrington just how stupid Eddie thought he was. “And what am I supposed to do with our baby? Do you expect me to drive to your house with this little guy strapped into the front seat, ready to go flying out the windshield at the first abrupt stop?” With an obnoxious pout, he fluttered his eyelashes and said, “Whatever will we tell dear old O’Donnell?”

Instead of arguing further, Steve just groaned and mumbled something under his breath that Eddie couldn’t hear. Then, he said a little louder, “Fine. Give him to me. He’s probably safer in my car than in your death machine.”

Thank god. As much as Eddie put up a front, he really didn’t want to be the cause of their failing grade. He already had an abysmal track record; he didn’t need to dent Golden Boy Harrington’s crown with his mistakes.

So Eddie handed off Dustin to Steve in exchange for the baby bag and saluted him with a smirk as he ducked into the driver’s seat of his van. He tossed the baby bag into the passenger seat and started the car, grinning when the familiar sound of Ozzy Osbourne started blasting through his speakers. Yep. Definitely not the best environment for a newborn.

By the time Eddie pulled up in front of the Harrington house, he had managed to shake the bewilderment that had settled over him the second Steve had started fluttering his eyelashes and calling the two of them married. Nothing some good hard metal couldn’t fix. Hopefully, Harrington had gotten that married nonsense out of his system, and they could just go on with their assignment like civilized social enemies.

He hopped out of his van with the baby bag swinging from his shoulder and joined Steve at the front step where he was unlocking the door.

“Take your shoes off when you come in. I don’t want you tracking in whatever shit is on the bottom of those boots,” Steve said, pushing the door open and toeing off his own sneakers in the entryway.

Part of Eddie wanted to wipe his soles on the pristine white tiles just to spite Harrington, but he and Uncle Wayne always took off their shoes in the trailer, so he figured he could extend that courtesy to Steve, even if it pained him.

Once the two of them were standing in the foyer of Harrington’s annoyingly massive house, Eddie realized that he had no fucking idea what they were supposed to do for the rest of the day. Yeah, they were supposed to look after this fake baby, but surely it couldn’t cry for the next several hours? Eddie did not want to spend all that time alone with King Steve in his fucking palace.

Steve didn’t seem to be having the same issue, though. He walked into what Eddie could only assume was the living room and gestured for Eddie to follow him. When Eddie plopped down onto one of the couches, Steve handed him Dustin and said, “You just sit with him while I get started on dinner. Turn the TV on or something if you get bored. I’ll probably be in there for a while.”

Sorry, what? Eddie blinked down at Dustin like the baby could solve his confusion before turning to Steve with his eyebrows furrowed. “It’s only 3:20. Why are you making dinner?”

Eddie watched as puzzle pieces clicked in Steve’s head before he put on a disgustingly sappy smile and said, sickeningly sweet, “You worked so hard today, darling. I just figured you deserve a nice homecooked meal.”

Eugh. Eddie’s face scrunched up and he rolled his eyes. “Fine, don’t tell me. I don’t care.”

Harrington’s grin dropped, but he didn’t say anything else as he walked out of the room. Whatever. Eddie was not going to play along with whatever new humiliation tactic Steve was testing out on him. He could just sit in silence with a fake baby that he couldn’t even properly play with.

After several minutes of excruciating waiting while Harrington clattered around in the kitchen, Eddie sighed and submitted. Fine. He could at least put the TV on in the background. And not because Steve had suggested it. 

The first show that came up was Cheers, and Eddie just sighed and let it play. The background noise mixed with Steve’s infuriatingly comfortable couch lulled Eddie to sleep almost immediately. Just a short nap. He had been up late last night, after all.

That “short nap” ended up turning into Eddie’s head lolled back into the cushions with loud, obnoxious snores and drool crusting on his chin. It wasn’t exactly a pretty sight. Suddenly, Dustin was wailing and Eddie shot up, almost knocking the baby off his chest from the abrupt awakening. It took a couple of seconds before Eddie was lucid enough to understand what was happening, and in that time, Steve had run into the room wearing an apron covered in flour. Still keeping up the housewife charade, huh.

“What happened?” Steve asked, out of breath, “I heard a shout.”

Eddie sighed and rummaged through the baby bag on the floor next to the couch. “I fell asleep, and the crying woke me up. Go back to the kitchen; I’ll deal with this.”

Steve raised an eyebrow and smirked. “You saying women belong in the kitchen, Munson? I gotta admit, I expected more from you…”

“That’s not what I meant, and you know it, dude. I’ve got Dustin under control; you just go back to whatever it was you were cooking,” Eddie grunted, pulling out the baby bottle and pressing it to the doll’s face until it started making drinking noises.

Steve shrugged and walked away, but not before calling over his shoulder, “Don’t forget to burp him!”

Not dignifying that with a response, Eddie sunk back into the couch and fed Dustin until he was done drinking. The sounds the doll made were oddly realistic, and Eddie found himself more inclined to be extra careful with Dustin as he patted his back to burp him.

For a while, Eddie rocked Dustin gently as he tried not to fall back asleep, and before too long, Steve came in to let him know that he had finished cooking dinner.

“Dinner’s ready, honey.” Steve called from the doorway of the living room, grinning at Eddie like he was the funniest motherfucker alive.

The whole “being married” bit was going to get old real soon.  

Eddie sighed and joined Steve in the kitchen, his jaw dropping when he inhaled the frankly mouth-watering scent wafting off of whatever Steve had made. Maybe he shouldn’t have given Harrington as much shit if this was the stuff he was whipping up in the kitchen.

Setting Dustin carefully on the counter and leaning him against a vase, Eddie sat down at the breakfast bar and tried not to seem too desperate. “So… What do you have there, Harrington?”

“Chicken pot pie,” Steve said, cutting a couple pieces and serving them on plates. “You seemed to enjoy it when I made it for our class, so I figured I’d make some more that you could take home with you. I’m definitely not going to eat it all myself.”

Eddie flushed at the implication. Because Harrington was right. He had really enjoyed the chicken pot pie Steve had brought to class. In fact, Eddie had taken one bite and briefly considered marrying Steve just for the homecooked meals. And that was before the guy had flirted with him. He just hadn’t wanted Steve to notice. Look how that worked out for him.

“Thanks,” Eddie said awkwardly, never taking his eyes off of his plate as Steve slid it closer to him. Fuck, it smelled good.

Without waiting for Harrington to sit down across from him, Eddie started shoveling bites of chicken pot pie into his mouth, all the while wondering how much longer he had to stay before it was socially acceptable for him to get the hell out of Harrington’s mansion. Surely, he could leave right after he finished eating…

Unfortunately, Eddie had gotten too caught up in his thoughts that he had finished his portion before he could realize. He hadn’t even had the chance to savor the last bite like it deserved. With a put-upon sigh, Eddie pulled out the baby binder and filled out the reflection for the first afternoon briefly before he patted it once and moved to stand up.

“Well, Harrington, this was… interesting. I need to head out now, but I guess I’ll see you around school. Good luck with the baby!” Eddie gave him a smarmy salute and turned around to walk out the door, finally free until the next afternoon.

Harrington jogged forward before Eddie could get very far and stopped him with a hand on his shoulder. “Hey, wait. I made you a Tupperware with some of the leftovers for you and your uncle.” Once Eddie turned around, he pressed the container into his hands and nudged him back to the door. “I’ll see you tomorrow, Munson.”

Huh. Weird. That seemed like a suspiciously nice thing for Harrington to do… Whatever. At least Wayne would get a healthier dinner than usual.

***

Steve was surprised when the baby doll had only burst into tears once or twice during the night. It wasn’t as much of a disruption as he had expected, even with the knowledge that his own nightmares would keep him up past a reasonable time. He was hesitant to think that babies weren’t actually as much of a problem as people said since that would most certainly bite him in the ass later in the month when he was running on four hours of sleep every day.

So once Steve was fully awake, he stepped into his en-suite bathroom and got to work styling his hair until it was perfect. He’d had the same morning routine for years, and he was not going to let some weird alternate dimension or a fake baby get in the way of that. Pulling on a clean polo and a pair of his favorite jeans, Steve rummaged through the baby bag until he found the carrier sling. It took him some time to figure out how it worked, but once he did, he had little Dustin tucked against his chest securely.

The drive to school was another obstacle, considering Steve didn’t have a carseat, and the idea of having Dustin strapped to his chest while he was behind the wheel seemed way too dangerous. Instead he just swaddled him in blankets and laid him on top of the baby bag, praying that he wouldn’t get into an accident in the fifteen-or-so minutes it took for him to pull up at the school.

To his immense luck, Steve managed to park in front of the school with five minutes to spare before his first class and no dents on the doll’s head. However, the looks he got from the various girls in the hallways made him grimace. Of course they would find some way to turn this assignment into something to fawn over him for.

Steve ignored their lingering looks just like he always did and got through his first few classes without much fanfare. He’d had to answer his teachers’ confused questions, but that wasn’t much of a struggle. Even so, when Steve finally slumped down at his lunch table, he pointedly ignored the long sigh that fell out of his mouth unbidden.

A snort sounded from in front of him. “Long night, buddy?” Jonathan asked, the corners of his lips quirking up at Steve’s apparent misery.

He grinned in response. “Yeah, but that’s not why I’m so exhausted.” Carefully, Steve removed Dustin from the baby carrier and propped him up on their lunch table. “Mrs. O’Donnell gave us our final last class. You’re looking at the birthgiver of little baby Dustin.”

Nancy snorted across from him. “Dustin, huh? Have you told him that you named your new baby after him?”

Rolling his eyes, Steve leaned down to grab his packed lunch that he had prepared the night before from his bag. “Not yet. I can’t wait to see his reaction. I just know he’s gonna flip his shit.”

When Steve sat up, his eyes locked onto Eddie as he walked past him with his own lunch. He grinned and called, “Hey, Munson!”

Eddie turned his head and caught Steve’s eye for a moment, but his face remained surprisingly blank, and he turned back around without acknowledging Steve in the slightest. Not even a small nod or something to at least signal to Steve that the previous afternoon hadn’t been some weird dream.

Frowning, Steve turned back to his table and took the doll’s hands in his to play with them. Suddenly, he didn’t feel very hungry anymore.

Nancy narrowed her eyes at him, the same way she always did when there was a puzzle or mystery that she was trying to figure out. “What was that all about, Steve? Since when do you talk to Eddie Munson?”

Steve looked up at his friends, searching between their eyes as he tried to figure out something to say. Jonathan looked between the two of them consideringly before he fixed Steve with a small smile. With a short glance over at Eddie’s lunch table, Steve sighed and replied, “It’s nothing, Nance. He sits behind me in one of my classes, and I was just going to ask him about something. Obviously, he doesn’t appreciate me talking to him in public.”

Shaking her head, Nancy shot a glare at Eddie even though he wasn’t paying their table any mind. “He’s not the type of person you should be bothering with, Steve. If you need help with one of your classes, just bring whatever it is to our next study session.”

When Steve made eye contact with Jonathan, it seemed like he didn’t quite agree with his girlfriend’s sentiment, though with what aspect, Steve wasn’t sure. Though, Steve didn’t exactly agree with her either. They’d only spent an afternoon together so far, but Steve found that Munson was actually pretty funny, even when he wasn’t trying.

“It’s fine, Nance. It wasn’t that important, anyway.” Steve snuck another glance at Eddie, the corners of his lips downturned at the image he saw. 

The man seemed particularly riled up as he hopped on top of the table and began another one of his spiels about conformity and societal norms that no one really paid that much attention to. His speech this time gave off an impression that he didn’t believe people could change. That personalities are static and sometimes, societal lines are needed because certain personalities don’t mesh.

Wow. Way to make it obvious, Munson.

Almost like Eddie could hear his inner thoughts, he turned and made eye-contact with Steve for much longer than could be passed off as a coincidence. Steve frowned and turned away to pick at the leftover pasta in front of him. Nice to know his attempts at being cordial weren’t appreciated.

After a moment, Jonathan slid a plastic container across the table with a small smile at Steve. “Here, man. I’m not gonna eat it.”

Steve opened the lid to reveal one of Mrs. Byers delicious, melt-in-your-mouth, chocolate chip cookies and raised a doubtful eyebrow at him. “Not hungry, huh?”

Rolling his eyes, Jonathan chuckled quietly, “Man, just eat the damn cookie. This is the last time I try to be nice to you.”

Giving Jonathan a grateful smile, Steve nibbled on the cookie to keep himself busy, expertly avoiding Nancy’s inquisitive stare. 

Eddie’s rant played on a loop in his mind, and Steve found himself hurt by the insinuation that even after a full evening together, Eddie still didn’t believe he had changed from the guy he used to be. For once, he was grateful for his bitchy, judgemental past. It meant he could turn up the play-flirting to the max and truly be the “mean girl” that he expected Steve to be until Munson finally gave in.

After lunch was over, Steve wandered through his classes in a fog, his brain sifting through as many plans as possible to get Eddie to admit that he had changed. Surely the person he used to be wouldn’t flirt with men as brazenly as he was, right? Eddie could at least admit that, right?

Steve leaned against the hood of his car with Dustin cradled in the baby sling, waiting for Munson to walk out into the parking lot. His van was still there, so Steve knew he hadn’t left yet, and considering they were going back to Steve’s house to work, he’d have to show his face at some point.

Unfortunately for Eddie, he decided to walk out of the school with his little Hellfire friends in tow. Oh, this would be fun .

Steve flounced over to their group and smiled sweetly at them as he placed a gentle hand on Munson’s upper arm. “Hi, baby,” Steve crooned, fluttering his eyelashes at Munson menacingly. One of the guys behind Eddie choked on air, and it took everything in Steve to hold back a smirk. “Are you ready to go home?”

Munson’s face made a complicated series of twitches until it eventually settled on a scowl. “Okay, cut the bullshit , Harrington.”

Steve’s flinch in response may not have been an act (even though they weren’t actually dating, hearing the word “bullshit” when he was trying to flirt never got any easier), but the pout he gave Eddie definitely was. He took a couple steps back and feigned hurt. “W-what? Are you mad at me, Eds?”

Eddie’s jaw dropped and he kept looking between Steve and his friends as if they could explain to him what was happening. Then, his mouth snapped shut and he narrowed his eyes. “Are you doing this because I ignored you in the cafeteria?”

Playing with his hair, Steve looked down with the most pitiful expression he could muster. “Well, it wasn’t very nice…”

“Dude, it’s not that big of a deal! Stop pouting at me,” Eddie huffed, throwing his arms up in the air exasperatedly.

Steve immediately dropped his flirty attitude and crossed his arms in front of his chest, unimpressed. “Ugh. It’s so hard to flirt with you when you keep calling me dude .” Then, he turned to Eddie’s friends and smiled. “Hey, you guys must be Munson’s friends. I’m sorry we had to meet like this.”

One guy opened his mouth to reply, but Munson interrupted him, gaping incredulously. “Oh, so you’ll apologize to them, but not to me?”

Raising an eyebrow, Steve replied, “Why do I have to apologize to you? All I did was flirt, and considering we’re married, I didn’t think you would mind.” Stepping back into Munson’s space, Steve cocked his head to the side and stared up at Eddie from under his eyelashes as he walked his fingers up Eddie’s arm. “Do you mind, baby?”

While Eddie turned bright red with the most indignant expression Steve had seen on anyone but Dustin, one of Eddie’s friends stepped up with a shit-eating grin and shook Steve’s hand. “Nice to officially meet you, Harrington. I’m Gareth.” He gestured to the doll strapped to Steve’s chest. “So, old Edward here got you knocked up, huh?”

Steve grinned at Gareth before changing into his doting-wife act and letting out a faux long-suffering sigh. “I told him I didn’t want to become a teen mom, but he just couldn’t keep his hands off of me,” Steve replied, shooting Eddie a smarmy wink.

Nodding sagely, Gareth smirked and noted, “Yep, that sounds like Eddie.”

“Gareth, stop encouraging him!” Eddie hissed, elbowing his friend in the ribs.

“Ow! Okay! Jeez, man.”

Steve checked his watch and frowned. He hadn’t realized how much time had passed since he had started waiting for Eddie to leave. “I hate to cut this short, but Munson and I need to work on our Home Ec final. I’m pretty sure I’ll be sitting in at Hellfire this Friday, but that depends on you guys. Eddie can discuss it with you some more later, though…”

Gareth’s eyebrows shot up, and the rest of the guys stared Eddie down with intense determination as if they could hold a conversation entirely through their eyes.

Wincing at their reactions, Steve grabbed Munson’s wrist and started pulling him away towards his van. That was not a conversation they needed to have right away. “It was nice meeting you,” he called out with a friendly wave.

As soon as they were outside the driver’s side door, Eddie ripped his wrist out of Steve’s hold and crossed his arms in front of his chest. “What the fuck are you doing, Harrington?” he seethed, his fists clenching and unclenching repeatedly.

Steve took a couple steps back, his eyebrows furrowed at the aggression emanating from Eddie’s body. “Uh… I was meeting your friends?”

Eddie scoffed in bitter disbelief. “Your whole flirting routine is tired,” he continued as if Steve hadn’t said anything. Then, he started doing a goofy dance accompanied by a stupid voice that Steve figured was supposed to represent him. “Ooh wow, we’re two guys taking care of a fake baby. Haha, that means we’re gay ! It’ll be sooo funny for me to flirt with the Freak in front of his friends.”

Okay, so that “turn up the flirting” plan backfired spectacularly.

Blinking owlishly, Steve rushed to defend himself. “What? No, dude, I wasn’t making fun of you or anything.” Eddie rolled his eyes like he didn’t believe him, so Steve continued hurriedly, “I was just trying to make the project more fun. I figured it would be kinda boring to just sit around waiting for the doll to do something, and I thought you liked make-believe shit since you play that Monsters and Magic game or whatever.”

“Dungeons and Dragons,” Eddie corrected him under his breath like he just couldn’t help himself.

“Right, Dungeons and Dragons,” Steve conceded with a soft huff. “What I’m trying to say is that I thought it would be a fun way for us to pass the time. It’s like when everyone played house as kids.”

Eddie scanned Steve’s face with suspicion, and although Steve knew he was telling the truth, Munson still didn’t seem convinced. “You’re expecting me to believe that King Steve wants to play house with me , Eddie ‘The Freak’ Munson? I’m not an idiot, Harrington.”

Steve was quickly losing his patience with their conversation. “I never said you were. Honestly, man, I thought we were getting along pretty well yesterday.” He frowned, deliberating for a moment before ultimately deciding to confess, “You know, when Mrs. O’Donnell paired us up, I was relieved. With all your cafeteria speeches, I thought you would be the least likely to think of me as some kind of king.” Steve gave a bitter chuckle. “Evidently, that was just some naive hope. So, sorry for trying to joke around with you like we’re friends. It won’t happen again.”

Eddie’s face twisted into a scowl, but before the man could spit more hurtful words at him, Steve pulled the baby bag off his shoulder and pushed it into Eddie’s chest firmly. Then, he pulled Dustin out of the sling, pressed a quick kiss to the top of his head for luck, and handed him over. As much as this interaction was pissing him off, Steve didn’t really want to be the reason that Eddie couldn’t graduate, and that meant having to relinquish his time with the baby.

“I’ll pick him up from you tomorrow at the end of the day,” Steve called over his shoulder, already having turned around to walk back to his car.

It was only once Steve had pulled out of the parking lot that he let his face fall, dropping the self-assured facade he had put up when it became clear that his attempts at befriending Eddie Munson were futile. While he drove home, Steve analyzed the few interactions they’d had in the past day and a half, inwardly kicking himself for not noticing all the signs that his attempts at friendliness weren’t reciprocated.

Just Steve’s luck to think that he had found a friend in someone that wasn’t his ex or the guy his ex left him for, only for it to turn out that the guy never thought of him as a friend in the first place.

***

When Eddie watched Steve walk away, he hadn’t expected to feel a sharp stab of guilt. He wasn’t in the wrong! He shouldn’t feel guilty. Especially not for the way Harrington’s voice had wobbled when he called him out with that pitiful kicked-puppy expression.

But it didn’t make sense. It just didn’t make sense! Sure, Harrington said he was just trying to make their project more fun, but that didn’t have to involve flirting with him!

Steve had already driven away though, so now Eddie just looked like an idiot, standing outside of his van with a fake baby in his arms, staring out into space like it could solve the mystery of Steve Harrington. Whatever! There’s no way someone like King Steve can contain multitudes, so he’s better off just working alone and trading Dustin back and forth with Steve like divorced parents.

Ugh! Curse Harrington and his stupid joke about them being married. He’d gotten the idea stuck in Eddie’s head, and now Eddie was entrapped in his scheme.

With a dramatic huff, Eddie whirled around and got into his van, setting the baby down in the passenger seat and strapping it in. It probably wouldn’t do anything to stop him from flying out the windshield, but it was the best Eddie could do. In his own quiet act of rebellion against assholes like Harrington, Eddie blasted his favorite metal cassette that he owned as loud as he could bear.

Every time Eddie had a thought that maybe Steve hadn’t been completely wrong, he turned the music up a little louder. By the time he pulled into the trailer park, Eddie was convinced his ears were about to bleed. Stupid Harrington and his stupid logic. It was all just so stupid, stupid, stupid!

If Eddie ended up failing Mrs. O’Donnell’s stupid final because of a fight with Steve Harrington , he would certainly not blame himself when he didn’t end up graduating. Even if—maybe, just possibly—the whole thing could have been avoided just by communicating better. Or, more accurately, if Eddie hadn’t automatically assumed the worst of Steve, even when he had given Eddie no indication that he was being malicious with his words.

Once Eddie parked in front of his trailer, he turned the volume down in his car so that he wouldn’t get jumpscared in the morning and grabbed Dustin to take him inside. Wayne was at work, so Eddie flopped onto the couch and set Dustin beside him before turning on the TV. That was basically what he did at Harrington’s house anyway, so caring for the baby on his own couldn’t be too bad.

Unfortunately, Eddie had failed to factor in the fact that he had fallen asleep on Steve’s couch the day before. This time, sleep was escaping him, no matter how tight he closed his eyes, and he was about ready to throw something.

So instead of wasting the day away by sleeping, even though that had been his plan, Eddie decided to sit with his thoughts and dissect them so that he could finally come to the conclusion that he was right and Harrington was the one being the dick. Because Harrington had to be the one in the wrong. If he wasn’t, then that meant Eddie had completely blown up at him for no reason.

Eddie leaned back until he was lying flat on the couch with Dustin propped up on his chest. “What do you think? Was he making fun of me?”

Dustin didn’t reply. Obviously.

Frowning, Eddie continued, “Let’s assume that he wasn’t making fun of me, and everything he said earlier was true. Why would he be so comfortable with that? This feels like something those freshman girls would fawn over, so it doesn’t make sense for him to act like this with me. Is he really not the homophobic bullying asshole that I always thought he was?”

Eddie shook his head firmly. “No, I remember how he acted last year. He couldn’t have changed into a completely different person in a year.” Relaxing his neck, Eddie let his head fall back until he was staring up at the ceiling.

“He didn’t seem to be lying, though,” Eddie mumbled to himself quietly.

As he lay there, Steve’s actions throughout their first day together flashed through his head. When Mrs. O’Donnell called out her chosen partners, Steve hadn’t groaned or made a joke at his expense. When they filled out the care schedule, Steve worked around Eddie’s activities. At Steve’s house, he had packed leftovers for Eddie specifically because he remembered just how much Eddie had enjoyed his pot pie during class.

Those didn’t seem like the actions of someone who was making fun of him. Honestly, it sort of seemed like Steve was trying to be… Hang on. What was it that Harrington had said before he left? Something about joking around like they were friends?

Ah, shit . He was such a fucking asshole!

Scrambling up into a sitting position, Eddie sat Dustin on Wayne’s armchair and grabbed one of his unused notebooks. Then, he started writing. He went through multiple iterations, tearing pages and crumbling them at his feet before beginning again, only getting up when the baby started crying. By the time he was finished and happy with the end product, it was dark out, and Wayne was supposed to be home any minute.

Retreating to the confines of his room, Eddie made a plan to get to school super early and not give Harrington a chance to avoid him like Eddie had done earlier that day. If that meant he had to wake up at the asscrack of dawn, he would do it.

The next day found Eddie speeding through Hawkins at 7:00 in the morning to get to the school before Steve, ignoring the more annoying traffic laws. Luckily for him, Harrington’s BMW wasn’t in the parking lot yet, so Eddie parked his van, grabbed his things, and loitered by the entrance so that Steve couldn’t sneak past him. He grabbed a cigarette from the pack in his pocket, put it between his lips, and lit it.

For several minutes, Eddie blew smoke rings in the air to keep himself occupied, pointedly blowing away from where Dustin was strapped to his chest. The baby may be fake, but Eddie didn’t want Mrs. O’Donnell to dock points because their baby smelled like smoke.

Soon enough, Steve pulled into a parking spot, and Eddie used the opportunity to put his cigarette out on the heel of his boot and rush over to meet him.

“Harrington! Look, man, I–”

Steve interrupted him quickly. “What do you want, Munson? You have Dustin during school today, so I don’t understand why you’re trying to talk to me right now.”

Okay, he really pissed Steve off. Hurriedly, Eddie scrambled to pull out the creased notebook paper in his back pocket. He reached his hand out as if he was going to hand over the paper before he thought better of it and unfolded it himself. “Will you listen to what I have to say first?” Eddie asked, folding and unfolding one corner of the paper nervously.

Steve’s eyes flicked down to Eddie’s hands, and for a moment, Eddie expected him to push past him without another word. “Fine. What is it?”

“I’m sorry, Steve. I overreacted yesterday,” Eddie began, occasionally looking down at his notes to remember what he had spent the last night drafting. “I had these expectations in my head of what you would be like, but you didn’t fit into any of them. It threw me for a loop, man! I was just waiting for you to reveal that it was all some kind of trick.”

His face scrunched up in confusion, Steve asked, “Why would I try to trick you?”

Eddie huffed a cynical laugh, shaking his head at the floor. “I realize now that you’re not that kind of person anymore, but the person you were a year ago would have used this opportunity to mess with me. I hope you can forgive me for being a little skeptical that you would be nice to me of your own free will.”

For several tense seconds of silence that seemed to stretch into hours, Eddie watched as Steve stared down at the ground with an unreadable expression. Then finally, he spoke. “I don’t think you’re a freak, you know. I’ve always thought you were pretty cool.” Raising his head, Steve met Eddie’s eyes. “I meant what I said yesterday; I was relieved to be partners with you.”

“And now?” 

Steve gave Eddie a little smile. “I forgive you. I can understand how someone like me suddenly flirting with you out of the blue might freak you out…”

Beaming, Eddie fluttered his eyelashes at Steve and cooed, “I just couldn’t handle your effortless charm, sweetheart.”

Steve blinked at him, awestruck. Then, he burst into raucous laughter. “Oh, so now that you’ve decided I’m not making fun of you, you want to play house with me?”

Eddie shrugged mischievously with a shit-eating grin, “Hey, it was your idea! I was going out of my mind last night just waiting for Dustin to do something.”

“I told you it would make everything more fun!” Steve crowed, seemingly having given up his grudge against Eddie to make fun of him.

In the time it took for Steve to accept Eddie’s apology, the rest of the student body had begun arriving. As much as Eddie wanted to fully confirm that Steve was no longer mad at him, he didn’t want to completely ruin Harrington’s reputation just by being seen with him, so they parted ways with Eddie’s assurance that he would meet Steve after school to head to his house.

***

By the end of the first school week, Steve was positive that parenting a child was something he wanted more than anything. Sure, the crying in the middle of the night was exhausting, but taking care of something other than himself filled a little hole in his heart that he hadn’t realized was there. It had to be a new void, but Steve couldn’t think of something that would have caused it. Or, more accurately, he didn’t want to think about the thing that he was fairly certain caused it. Whether it be monster-inflicted trauma or “bullshit”.

To Steve’s delight, Eddie helped more than he expected him to. After their first little wobble, they worked together like a well-oiled machine, and it was refreshing to have someone on the same page as him for once. Not to mention, Eddie was funny, especially once he settled into Steve’s company and realized they weren’t adversaries. Henderson always said Steve needed to get more friends his age, but it wasn’t until Eddie that Steve realized just how right the little shit was.

Eddie made great company and a great co-parent. The problem lay in the fact that Steve may or may not have grown too fond of Eddie too quickly. To the point that he was furiously cleaning every inch of his house in preparation for the first weekend that Eddie was supposed to stay over. Yes, Eddie had already seen his house, and yes, he probably wouldn’t care about a mess, but Steve cared. Steve cared more than he probably should.

He had skipped out on Eddie’s offer to watch his Hellfire session, instead opting to take Dustin home and make sure there was nothing unsightly in his house that Eddie could make fun of him for. Sure, they had recovered from their fight, but Steve still wanted to make the best impression possible.

The now-familiar puttering of Munson’s van got louder as Eddie approached, and Steve scrambled to find any lingering messes that the man could tease him over. Just as Steve fluffed up the last throw pillow on the couch, the doorbell rang. Steve took his time walking to the door so it didn’t seem like he had been waiting for Eddie to arrive.

“Hey, Harrington!” Eddie grinned, stepping into the threshold as soon as Steve opened the door. “You missed a riveting session today. I almost managed to kill off everyone’s characters this time.”

Steve nodded along, trying to be supportive but not quite understanding what Eddie was on about. Then Eddie was slipping off his shoes without Steve having to ask, and Steve had to walk into the kitchen to hide the light pink flush creeping up his neck.

“Sounds like you had fun,” Steve replied. Then, like the perfect host his parents had taught him to be, he asked, “Can I get you something to drink before I start on dinner?”

Eddie looked around the kitchen as he followed Steve in. “Just water is fine. Where’s Dustin?”

Pulling out a glass and filling it in the sink, Steve replied, “I think I left him sitting on the couch.”

Then, Eddie was gone, only to pop back in after a moment with Dustin in his arms. He sat at the breakfast bar in the kitchen and pulled out a notebook.

For a while, they worked in silence separately, but Steve never found it uncomfortable. It was the comfortable kind of silence that came with company he felt at ease with, and it seeped into his skin. The knowledge that Munson was one of those people for Steve should have surprised him, but after their week together, it really didn’t.

“Are you craving anything for dinner or should I try to whip up something new?” Steve asked over his shoulder.

Eddie hummed, not looking up from his notebook. “I trust your judgement, Harrington. Whatever you think sounds good.”

Rolling his eyes with a snort, Steve opened his fridge and tried to mentally connect recipes to the ingredients he had left. He was pretty sure Eddie was more of a noodles and bread fan, but he needed to sneak at least something healthy into his diet. There was a block of parmesan and a head of broccoli, and Steve knew for a fact that he had more butter and cream that he really knew what to do with.

He could probably just make a pasta dish with the extra box of bowtie pasta and the leftover chicken he had cooked the night before and just add broccoli to that. Maybe with cut cherry tomatoes, basil, and garlic. Hopefully something that wouldn’t make Eddie regret giving the decision to Steve.

While Steve waited for the pot of water to boil, he took the opportunity to start on some of his homework, keeping an ear out for the ding of his egg-timer next to the stove. After getting up and putting the pasta into the pot with a pinch of salt, Steve had managed to complete most of the homework that he hadn’t done during his study block.

Dustin had cried a couple of times while Steve cooked, but Eddie had handled it easily. Steve was honestly looking forward to having Eddie over longer than he had during the week. If he tried hard enough, Steve could probably convince Eddie to have a sleepover in the living room after watching a movie or two. It would be nice to have another friend around. Especially one that wasn’t a middle schooler.

“Hey, so, Eddie… What do you want to do after we eat?” Steve walked around the breakfast bar to rest an arm around Eddie’s shoulder, leaning his chin on the crown of Eddie’s head as he spoke.

Eddie seemed to freeze, his body going rigid as his pencil stilled on his paper. “Oh! Uh. What do you– Ahem . What did you have in mind, baby?”

There was a weird husky quality to Eddie’s voice that confused Steve, but he had probably just gone too long without speaking and his voice had become rough with misuse.

“I mean I have a couple movies that we could watch. Blade Runner and Grease ? They just don’t seem like your style…”

Something Steve said made Eddie wilt a little into his chair, but he still considered Steve’s words, responding, “ Blade Runner has Harrison Ford, right? He’s been in a lot of stuff recently. Have you seen it?”

“No, not yet,” Steve replied, shrugging. “I know it’s been out for a couple years, but I never got around to it. I was kind of hoping you hadn’t seen it so I could watch it with you.”

Before Steve could get a read on Eddie’s reaction, the timer on the kitchen counter went off, and their dinner was ready. Well, it was probably an adorable blush, but Steve would have plenty more opportunities to make Eddie blush, so it wasn’t too much of a loss.

Eddie seemed to really enjoy the pasta. When Steve caught him trying to eat the noodles plain without any of the broccoli or cherry tomatoes, he huffed and grabbed Eddie’s plate doling it up with all the necessary add-ons. “I didn’t go through all that work just for you to eat plain pasta.”

Luckily, Eddie just rolled his eyes good-naturedly and let Steve fix his plate. Their dinner was fairly casual in terms of conversation, both boys still trying to get used to spending so much time with someone they didn’t know anything about.

“So where are your parents? Working late?” Eddie asked, panting open-mouthed when he bit into a too-hot piece of chicken.

Steve hid a snicker at Eddie’s antics. “I think they’re in New York on a business trip. Or maybe it was Chicago? Either way, they’ve been gone about a month and a half, maybe more, so I have the house to myself.”

Eddie blinked, and Steve prepared himself for either the pitying looks that always accompanied people’s reactions when he tells them that his parents aren’t exactly in the picture, or the pats on the back and congratulations from jocks in the lockerroom that wanted him to throw massive ragers every night. But instead, Eddie just replied, “Now I see where all your cooking prowess came from! Sucks that they’re missing out on having a perfect guy like you for a son, but honestly, it’s their fucking loss.”

Speechless at Eddie’s candid response, Steve felt a blush creep up his cheeks. Eddie called him perfect and didn’t even look at him like he was some poor, sick, Victorian child. It was such a breath of fresh air that Steve felt himself relaxing even more into Eddie’s company.

“Thanks, Eddie. I’ve kind of given up on trying to get their approval. Besides, there are other people that I value the opinions of much more. Like the kids I babysit. And you.”

Fluttering his eyelashes, Eddie leaned over the table. Then he put on an over-the-top Southern Belle voice and said,  “Aww, you value my opinion, Harrington? Aren’t you mighty sweet.”

While Steve definitely found it funny, he didn’t want Eddie to brush off his genuine appreciation, so he replied, matter-of-fact, “Yes, I do. You’re pretty cool, Eddie Munson.”

To his delight, Eddie turned red and averted his eyes, shoveling more pasta into his mouth than was necessary. Steve hid a smile behind his hand and tried not to make Eddie too embarrassed by his poorly concealed amusement.

After about a minute and a half of silence filled only by the sound of Eddie’s fork scraping the bottom of his plate to get the last scraps of food, Eddie pushed his chair back and stood up with a sharp, “So, how about that movie?”

Before Steve could respond, Eddie was already taking their empty plates to the sink to wash them and then rushing into the living room. Okay, Eddie was definitely weird, but Steve kind of liked that about him. It was charming, in a way. Certainly a welcome change from the people he used to surround himself with.

“Sure! Why don’t you get Blade Runner started, and I’ll get us some blankets. Do you want a beer or something?”

Eddie considered it for a moment before he shrugged, “Eh, fuck it. Sure, darling, I’d love a beer.”

Nodding, even though Eddie wasn’t facing him anymore, Steve grabbed the fluffiest blankets he could find in their linen closet, then pulled out two cans of beer out of the fridge. When he made his way back to the living room, he sunk onto the couch next to Eddie, their shoulders barely an inch apart, and pressed a blanket and can of beer into his hands.

Steve tucked his feet up and curled into his blanket next to Eddie, flipping the tab of his beer and settling in as the beginning of the movie started playing. A dystopian future rolled across the screen, but Steve found himself unable to focus on anything but the press of Eddie’s thighs against his own. 

Look, it’d been well established that Steve was aware of his own bisexuality. The problem wasn’t that he was grappling with the beginnings of what he recognized as feelings for Eddie. The problem was that Eddie only just started getting comfortable around him, and they still had three more weeks of the project. If he tried to put the moves on him and Eddie didn’t reciprocate, they would have to suffer through continuous interaction until they both graduated and never had to see each other again.

On the other hand, Steve could always play it off as some attempt at play-flirting that lined up with their ongoing charade that the two of them were married with a child. And although he didn’t enjoy the idea of rejection, he had withstood his fair share of it at the beginning of his high school career, asking out any girl he found remotely attractive.

Resolute in his decision, Steve leaned further back into the pillows and threw his arm across the couch cushions as if he was making himself comfortable, letting the tips of his fingers brush against Eddie’s shoulder and tangle in the locks of hair that were resting there.

Eddie went rigid under Steve's touch, but after a glance in Steve’s direction that he steadfastly ignored with his gaze locked on the TV screen, Eddie relaxed back into Steve’s warmth with a quipped, “Putting the moves on me, baby? Well, you did make me dinner, so I guess I can’t complain that I’m not being properly wooed.”

“Just watch the movie, Eddie,” Steve replied, his amusement audible as he used his free hand to cover the pleased grin that was taking up residence on his face.

That was the most of their conversation for about half of the movie, Steve not willing to touch any more of Eddie’s shoulder than he already was. Of course, Eddie cut in with facts about the movie or the production and occasionally a quip or two about the plot that Steve found just a little more entertaining than the film itself.

It was only a little while later that Eddie jolted forward, spilling his beer down the blanket in his lap, and Steve only realized when the strands of hair he had been brushing at the nape of Eddie’s neck were pulled out from between his fingers. 

“Aw, shit. I’m sorry, man, I know how hard it is to get the smell of beer out of fabric like this,” Eddie groaned, setting his beer can on the side table next to the couch as he tried to rub the beer out of the blanket.

Steve waved him off. “Hey, no sweat, dude. I’ll just throw this in the wash, and then we can finish the movie. Don’t worry about it.”

While Steve wasn’t exactly excited to see whether the beer smell actually came out of the fabric, he didn’t expect his parents to be home any time soon, so they definitely wouldn’t notice a missing blanket if it actually was ruined. On his way back to the living room, Steve grabbed a new beer for Eddie to account for the contents he had spilled.

As soon as he walked back up to the couch, he took one look at Eddie bundled up in Steve’s blanket and let out a long-suffering sigh. Raising an unimpressed eyebrow, Steve held up the new can and wiggled it back and forth. “I stand up for a second to clean up your mess and get you a new beer, and this is how you repay me?”

Eddie fluttered his eyelashes up at Steve obnoxiously. “Aww, sweetheart,” he pouted. “Can’t we just share?”

Steve huffed and dropped down on the couch, so uncomfortably close to Eddie that he was almost sitting in his lap. He pulled one edge of the blanket until it was covering both of their legs fully. “You better not be a blanket hog, or I don’t think this marriage will last much longer.”

Eddie snorted, and they settled into a comfortable silence as the movie continued. Unfortunately, Steve was still catching up on minimal sleep, and the background noise of the TV mixed with Eddie’s warmth was lulling him into dreamland. Next thing he knew, his head was resting in the crook of Eddie’s neck, and he was snoring, though the sound was muffled into Eddie’s skin.

Maybe spending every weekend with Eddie wouldn’t be as awkward as he had imagined.

***

On the Monday after school following Eddie’s “sleepover” at the Harrington household, Eddie’s world turned fully upside down. And it’s all because he finally met the “shithead rugrats” Steve talked so much about.

“Steve! Steve! Oh, thank god. You haven’t left yet.”

Turning to look, Eddie’s eyes widened at a small herd of middle schoolers approaching them at breakneck speeds. For a second, he thought they might attack, but Harrington looked over with a wide grin and a glint in his eye that could only be described as fond. “Henderson! What's up? What are you all doing over here?”

The first kid with the wild curly hair gave Steve his best puppy eyes and pouted. “My mom had to take an extra shift at the hospital. I need a ride home.”

Eddie smirked when Steve rolled his eyes and pinched the bridge of his nose. These must be the kids he had mentioned earlier. For some reason, Eddie had expected them to be smaller.

“I don’t know, Henderson, I’m kind of busy right now. Can’t you get Jonathan or Nancy to take you?” Steve said wearily.

One of the other kids with greasy black hair crossed his arms over his chest and glared at Steve. “Nancy and Jonathan are working on the newspaper after school. She told me at breakfast that she called you yesterday to remind you.”

Nancy, huh? That kid had to be Wheeler’s little brother or something. No wonder he had no respect for Harrington. From behind Steve, Eddie tried and failed to hide a snort, effectively drawing the attention of the gaggle of children.

“Who are you?” The black kid spoke up, narrowing his eyes suspiciously.

Eddie gasped loudly, clutching at his chest as if he had just been pierced through the heart. “You mean old Harrington here hasn’t talked about me? Me, the father of his child?” Dipping low in a dramatic bow, Eddie proclaimed in his best Dungeon Master voice, “Before you stands The Eddie Munson, metalhead, town freak, and bard of great renown! The pleasure is all yours.” Eddie lifted his head to throw an over-the-top wink at Steve before he let the act drop and grinned, “I’m Steve’s friend.”

Delightedly, Eddie noticed that the curly-haired boy and the one with the bowl-cut had sparkling eyes following his theatrical introduction.

The red-haired girl snorted into the black boy’s shoulder before little Wheeler rolled his eyes and snarked, “No, you’re not. Steve doesn’t have any friends.”

“None his age anyway,” the red-head added with a smirk.

Huh. That couldn’t be right.

“I’m friends with Nancy and Jonathan!” Steve cut in with an affronted expression.

There. That seemed more like it. There was no way someone like Steve Harrington didn’t have any friends.

Only, Wheeler rolled his eyes and disagreed with a bored, “Well, they don’t count. You have to be friends with them. You’re trauma bonded. ” 

The way he said it made Eddie think he was just repeating a term he had only overheard from his parents. Besides, what could have happened to trauma bond Steve Harrington, Jonathan Byers, and Nancy Wheeler together?

Steve smacked the back of little Wheeler’s head. “Careful, Michael. I’ll remember this the next time Nancy won’t drive you to the arcade. You won’t get any sympathy from me.”

Steve didn’t disagree?

Once again, imagine that you are Eddie ‘the Freak’ Munson. You have finally, finally, processed the fact that King Steve, a rich, preppy, used-to-be jock has been flirting with you, and you will be spending lots of time in close proximity with him for the next few weeks. Congratulations. The mind-boggling reveals don’t stop there.

Apparently, one of the kids that King Steve babysits is the little brother of his ex-girlfriend, Nancy Wheeler. While that is a little strange, it’s not weirder than the other things you’ve found out about King Steve in the past week, so you’re willing to let it slide.

Only… little Wheeler, one of the middle schoolers that King Steve babysits, seems to regularly bully King Steven ‘the Hair’ Harrington. This child claims that King Steve doesn’t have any friends. You want to laugh because… surely King Steve has friends. He must. But King Steve isn’t disagreeing.

Suddenly, you’re living in a world where King Steve, housewife extraordinaire, flirts with men, babysits the brother of his ex-girlfriend that publicly dumped him for local loner Jonathan Byers (power to the freaks!), gets bullied by middle schoolers regularly, and is apparently a friendless loser. It’s enough to make you feel like you’ve stepped into an alternate dimension where everything is like Hawkins but weirder and illogical. But alternate dimensions don’t exist, so instead you just assume you’re dreaming.

Eddie pinched his arm, but his nails dug into his skin painfully. Somehow, the fact that it wasn’t all a dream made everything stranger. He didn’t have time to dwell on that, though, because Steve was turning to Eddie with tired eyes and a weak smile.

“So, I guess you should get to know these little shrimps. This probably won’t be the last time you see them…” Steve gestured to each of the middle schoolers in turn while he introduced them to Eddie. “That little shit is Mike, Nancy’s brother. Then Will, Jonathan’s brother. This is Dustin, and these two are Lucas and Max.”

In the middle of shaking Dustin’s hand, Eddie’s eyes widened and his head shot up to lock eyes with Steve. Did he seriously name their fake baby after one of his own little children? For shame! Steve’s face was carefully blank with a warning in his eyes, effectively stopping Eddie from spilling the beans. King of Hawkins High was right. All that housewife stuff from before was bullshit.

However, Eddie was not one to be cowed by a mean look. “Dustin, huh?” Eddie smirked at Steve before turning back to the kid in front of him. “Steve’s told me a lot about you.”

The rest of the kids groaned while Dustin preened and Eddie found his smirk growing wider when Lucas whined, “Come on, Steve! I thought you said you didn’t have favorites.”

Steve tutted at him, and Eddie hated how endearing he found it. “Because I don’t!” He shook his head and let out a long-suffering sigh before continuing, “It doesn’t matter right now. Who else needs a ride home?”

Eddie snickered as all of the kids except for Max raised their hands. Steve frowned at her for a moment before scanning the parking lot. Whatever he was looking for he must not have found because his frown deepened and he sighed.

“You might as well come along too, Max,” Steve said before he turned to Eddie with a sheepish smile. “Sorry, darling. I didn’t know this was going to happen.” Over Steve’s shoulder, Eddie caught Dustin mouthing Darling? to Will, and he couldn’t help but agree with him. Never in his life had he imagined that he lived in a world where the word “darling” would leave Steve Harrington’s lips in his direction, and even after a week, he still wasn’t used to it. “I can meet you at my place after I’m done taking the twerps home.”

“You’re taking him home? Why can’t we come? We’re your friends too!” Dustin complained while Will and Lucas nodded in agreement behind him.

As far as Eddie was concerned, these kids were incredible entertainment. Steve had already mentioned that they would be around, and frankly, Eddie wanted to see what kind of drama they could cook up. Any buffer between his sanity and alone time with Steve Harrington was greatly appreciated.

Eddie chuckled and set a hand on Steve’s shoulder. “It’s alright, Harrington. You said they’d probably be around at some point. I don’t mind them hanging out with us if they really want to join.”

Little Wheeler grimaced. “Are you sure you guys were really going to just hang out? You said you’re the father of his child… I’d rather not see Steve kiss anyone ever again .”

Okay, well… Eddie didn’t really mean the kind of drama that could get him hate-crimed. He was already inwardly bracing for Harrington’s inevitable barrage of homophobic venom to be spat out furiously like a rabid dog frothing at the mouth, and he didn’t exactly want to catch any of the splash damage. They may have gotten to know each other over the past week, but Eddie hadn’t exactly used that opportunity to figure out if Steve was chill with the gays.

“Don’t be homophobic, Mike,” Max chided, slapping his arm.

“I’m not homophobic, Max,” Mike retorted, failing to dodge her attack. “I’m Steve phobic. There’s a difference.”

Eddie stood stunned, watching Steve carefully like he was a startled ram about to charge. There. That had to do it. Any second, Steve would say something to reaffirm his masculinity and Eddie could finally put that last brick into the wall in his mind that blocked out the Steve Harrington is both attractive and attainable delusions.

Only, that moment never came.

Steve raised an eyebrow and put his hands on his hips in a pose that Eddie could only describe as motherly. “Alright, just for that comment, no one gets to come over. I’m driving you all straight home, and you have Wheeler here to thank for that.”

Nothing? Seriously? No, “ Ew, gross, I’m not gay” or “I’d never kiss Eddie ‘the Freak’ Munson, are you insane?” Eddie’s world was seriously turning upside down.

However, Steve’s comment caused more of an uproar with the kids than Eddie expected. Dustin and Lucas were standing on either side of Mike to argue with him, not caring how loud they were being. From out of his peripheral, Eddie caught Steve winking at Will and grinning when the boy tried to hide his laughter behind his hand.

Seeing this side of Steve Harrington made Eddie’s head spin, so you could hardly blame him for clapping his hands together loudly and shouting, “Be quiet and listen to your mother!”

Amazingly, the kids listened, turning to him with scrunched-up expressions and unimpressed eyes. They were quiet though, so Eddie was going to take what he could get.

Steve rolled his eyes at Eddie’s exclamation and used the ensuing silence to tell the kids, “Here’s what’s going to happen. I’m going to drop you all off at your own homes, and you will be civilized in my car. Once I get to my house, I will radio you to let you know, and then you will not bother me. Is that understood?” 

They all mumbled their assent, so Steve nodded once and turned to Eddie. Eddie raised a smug eyebrow at him, but Steve didn’t give him the satisfaction of a reaction. Instead, he took the baby bag off his shoulder and slipped it over Eddie’s arm. “You take this and head to my place. I’ll meet you there when I’m done with these assholes.”

“Um… Steve?” Will started, tugging on his backpack straps nervously. “No one is at my house right now. I don’t really want to be alone out there, especially after…”

Dustin held up his hand and bounced on his feet. “You can come over to my house, Will!”

“Nope,” Steve said, flicking the bill of Dustin’s cap. “I know you’re well aware that you can’t have friends over without supervision, Henderson. If your mom is at work, you can’t have Will over.”

Whining, Dustin stomped his foot petulantly, an action that was certainly unbecoming for an eighth grader. “But you could supervise us!”

Max rolled her eyes and raised an unimpressed eyebrow at Dustin. “No, he can’t, Dustin. He has a date! You’re really going to get in the way of Steve’s first date in months .”

Hang on… Steve’s first date in months ? King Steve wasn’t going on endless dates to frolic in the meadows with the various swooning maidens of Hawkins High? That realization practically bowled Eddie over with its absurdity. He paused for a second, giving ample time for Steve to interject with a claim that he went on plenty of dates, but no outburst came.

So instead, Eddie cooed at Steve and fluttered his eyelashes, holding a hand up to his heart as he poked the metaphorical bear that was Harrington’s still-unrevealed homophobia. “Awww, Stevie. You didn’t tell me this was a date! I would have dressed nicer.”

“Can it, Munson,” Steve grumbled, though he seemed more frustrated with Eddie hopping on the kids’ bully train than the implication that he was going on a date with Eddie ‘the Freak’ Munson.

Eddie watched, bemused, as the kids settled into silence and stared daggers at little Wheeler. Mike threw his head back and groaned. “Fine!” Then, he turned to Steve and said, completely monotone, “I’m sorry that I said I was Stevephobic. I didn’t mean it. Please let us hang out at your house.” The lack of emotion in Mike’s voice was honestly pretty impressive, though Eddie supposed it didn’t exactly make for an effective apology.

However, before Mike had even finished speaking, Steve broke out into a bright grin. “Alright, you’ve convinced me. Why don’t you radio El, and I’ll see if Hopper will let me pick her up?”

The kids all cheered, and Eddie found himself smiling at them softly. Those little twerps were starting to grow on him, just a little. But now that they had a plan, Eddie could just drive behind Steve on the way to his house.

“So we’ll just meet at your place, right?” Eddie asked. Steve smirked wickedly, and Eddie’s smile dropped immediately, suddenly reminiscent of why Steve had become King in the first place. “What’s that smile for? What are you doing?”

With a single clap of his hands, Steve told the kids, “I don’t have enough space in my car for all of you, so Max and Mike, you get to ride with Eddie. Lucas, Will, and Dustin, you’re coming with me. I’ll put up my bike rack, so Eddie doesn’t have to worry about stuffing your bikes in his van. Come on, chop chop, children!”

***

With Eddie spluttering behind him, Steve fixed the bikes onto the bike rack on the trunk of his car, ushered his portion of the kids into the backseat, and hopped into the driver’s seat. Just as he was about to pull away, he rolled the window down to wave at Eddie and called out, “You better keep our son safe, or I’ll be filing for divorce!” Eddie flushed and Steve snickered as he drove away.

Once they were driving, Dustin and Lucas recounted the events of their school day to Steve excitedly, Will chipping in when they forgot something important. Steve nodded along, asking all the right questions like it was second nature. As much as he groaned about it, Steve really enjoyed taking care of the Party. They never judged him for the kind of person he used to be, and Mike only bitched at him because of Nancy. While it was true that he barely had any friends his age, Steve didn’t feel very lonely. Not when his home was constantly filled with the laughter of the middle schoolers that had adopted him like stray cats.

Eventually, the boys fell into a natural silence, though it didn’t last long. Dustin was the first one to speak up, leaning forward until his head was next to Steve’s seat. “Are you and Eddie dating?”

“No, Henderson. We’re just doing this project together for our Home Economics class.”

Lucas made a doubtful noise. “Well, why did you call him baby, then?”

Oh. Right. Steve sighed, leaning his head back against the headrest. “Our project is to take care of a baby for a few weeks, so we’re pretending that we’re married.”

“So you’re not dating, you’re married,” Dustin said matter-of-factly. Then, he gasped, “Wait, you’re too young to be getting married!”

Will sighed. “They’re only pretending to be married, Dustin. He just said that.”

“That’s stupid. It’s just a school project. Why would you want to pretend to be married to some guy?” Lucas commented, unaware of the tension making its home on Steve’s shoulders.

“Alright!” Steve interjected, effectively cutting off any other comments. “How about we talk about something else? What’s new in your little nerd game?”

The whole reason Steve had separated the kids this way was for Eddie to have a harder time dealing with Max and Mike’s bickering. Now, Steve could only hope that they were being just as much of an annoyance as the boys were.

Luckily, Steve’s suggestion had turned into an over-the-top explanation of the newest game that Will had started for them. From the rearview mirror, Steve could see Will blushing at all the excited praise coming from Dustin and Lucas. The drive to his house wasn’t very long, and Steve had gotten a head start, so they pulled into the driveway before Eddie’s van arrived. As soon as he parked, the boys were scrambling out of the car to get inside.

Steve called after them, “Remember to take your shoes off!” He heard varying noises of assent, which he took to mean he would need to vacuum later. “And take turns calling your parents so they know you’re with me!”

Then, to his delight, he heard the yelling from Eddie’s van before he saw it driving down the street.

“Okay, shitheads! Out of my van!” Eddie barked, closing the driver’s side door harder than necessary before grabbing the baby bag from the passenger seat. When he locked eyes with Steve, he huffed. “I know you did that on purpose, Harrington.”

Steve batted his eyelashes and smiled innocently. “I’m sure I have no clue what you’re talking about, sweetheart.”

Max and Mike hopped out of the van, still arguing with each other. It wasn’t until everyone was inside that Steve noticed the baby in Max’s arms.

“Eddie! You left our baby in the care of one of the children?” Steve admonished, putting his hands on his hips in his signature “Mom” pose. Eddie, to his credit, looked appropriately cowed.

Raising the baby up, Max stopped arguing with Mike to say, “Yeah, why do you have a baby?”

“Ugh, gross. I knew you two weren’t just friends.” Mike scrunched his nose and glared at them with his arms crossed in front of his chest.

“Don’t take that tone with me, Michael,” Steve said. “To answer your question, Max, Eddie and I are partners for a project in Home Economics. We have to take care of a baby together for the next few weeks.”

Max hummed, turning the doll in her hands to look at it better. “Huh. It’s kind of ugly.”

Eddie flicked the back of her head lightly. “Watch your mouth, kid. That’s our son that you’re insulting.”

She stuck her tongue out at him and retorted, “Looks like it got your genes.” Eddie spluttered, but Max didn’t give him the chance to speak again. “So have you named it?”

Eddie glanced between Steve and Dustin, opening his mouth to reply, “Yeah, his name’s Du-”

“DJ!” Steve interrupted. “His name is DJ.”

“Stupid name,” Max muttered, handing the baby over to Eddie.

Lucas stepped closer to look at it. “What does DJ stand for?”

Steve huffed, rolling his eyes. “Why does it have to stand for anything, Sinclair? Why can’t his name just be DJ?”

Before Lucas could reply, Eddie locked eyes with Steve with a shit-eating grin. Steve had a feeling he was about to get his payback for the car ride. “Actually, Lucas, it stands for Dustin Jr.”

Immediately, Dustin stood up and pointed an accusatory finger at Steve. “You’re replacing me with a fake baby? How dare you! After everything we’ve been through together, this is how you repay me? First, you didn’t tell me that you had gotten married, and now this…”

“I don’t have favorites, he says…” Lucas mocked as he pouted and slumped on the couch next to a snickering Will.

“Okay, fine!” Steve held his hands out to try and calm the chaos. “Yes, I named our baby after Dustin, but I only did it because I thought when he found out, he would react the funniest. And I was right! I don’t have any favorites, okay? I care about all of you equally.” He paused for a second, pretending to think with a mischievous smirk. “Except you, Mike. There’s a special place at the bottom of the barrel for you.”

Mike flipped Steve off, but he was hiding a small grin.

Eddie stepped a bit closer to Steve to snark in his ear with a raised eyebrow, “You’re married?”

“Only to you, baby.” Steve winked at him. Then, he pretended to straighten up seriously. “Oh, honey, is the dementia setting in already?”

Eddie shoved his shoulder lightly, rolling his eyes as he moved to set the baby bag down in the kitchen. “Yeah, whatever.”

Just as things were finally starting to settle, with Steve taking out the binder to start filling out the daily care form, DJ started crying. Scooping DJ up, Eddie bounced him in his arms while Steve grabbed the bag. He pulled the baby bottle out without looking and handed it to Eddie easily.

DJ made drinking noises as Eddie held the bottle to his mouth, no longer crying. Then, when he wouldn’t drink anymore, Eddie handed the bottle to Steve and lifted DJ to his shoulder to burp him. 

“I think we should get paternity leave from school for this project. I mean, Mr. Benson already threatened to kick me out of class if he cries too much…” Eddie sighed and lifted DJ from his shoulder to cradle him to his chest. “They’re not exactly being lenient with me this year.”

The image of Eddie holding their baby so tenderly prompted a tinge of pink to spread up Steve’s neck. Eddie wasn’t even looking at Steve when he spoke; he was staring at DJ with this look that Steve had never seen on his own parents.

He couldn’t imagine that same look on Nancy's face. Sure, they weren’t together anymore, but that didn’t change the fact that Steve had once imagined his picket fence future with her. Not that he was imagining that future with Eddie! They had only just started taking care of DJ. It didn’t matter that Eddie handled him like he was something precious; he couldn’t just latch onto the first person outside of his trauma-bonded family that he had spent time with and start imagining a future together…

Steve had to look away from Eddie before Dustin called him out on his staring. That kid was way too perceptive. The silence had started to stretch for too long, so Steve said the first thing he could think of.

“Why don’t I help you study?” Immediately, he winced at how overeager he sounded to his own ears. “Well, I’m not exactly the smartest, but if we do it together, I’m sure you can pass this year and show your teachers that they’re wrong about you.” Steve gave Eddie his most charming smile and hoped that he hadn’t come across as desperate. Because he wasn’t. He was just offering to help a friend. Because they were friends now.

Max scrutinized Steve for a moment before she smirked. “You know what they say! Two heads are better than one.” Steve narrowed his eyes at her as she shrugged at him innocently.

“Uh, sure…” Eddie said, looking between the two of them curiously, though he seemed surprised by Steve’s offer. “We’re already spending almost every moment outside of school together, so we might as well spend some of that studying.”

Steve led Eddie to the kitchen so that he could sit at the breakfast bar with DJ, his books spread in front of him while Steve made snacks for the Party and called Hopper. He got out the materials he would need to make sandwiches and dialed the number for Hopper’s office at the police station as he got started.

“Who is it?” Hopper’s gruff voice answered.

Placing the phone in the crook of his neck while he started making the sandwiches, Steve said, “Hey, Hop! It’s Steve. I’m watching the kids at my house right now, and I told them I would check to see if you’re cool with El joining.”

“You got anyone else there besides the kids?”

Steve glanced up at Eddie playing with DJ’s doll hands as he jotted notes in one of his notebooks. “Yeah, Eddie Munson. We’re partners for this Home Ec project, and he’s helping me babysit.”

Eddie looked up at Steve when he said that, giggling slightly. He held DJ up in a sitting position and mouthed “babysitting” at Steve, who rolled his eyes and grinned in response.

“Come on, Harrington. You know we can’t have other people knowing about her.”

“I know, Chief, but listen! He’s great with the other kids, he dealt with Max and Mike’s arguing, and you know he can keep a secret. I know you’re just trying to protect her, but that’s what I’m here for.” Hopper sighed on the other end of the line, but Steve used that opportunity to press on, “Plus, Eddie and I are pretty much going to be attached at the hip for the next few weeks.”

“Fine,” Hopper relented, “but if El comes home and tells me that she gets a weird vibe from Munson, he’s getting a warning from me, and she can’t be over at the same time he is. You got that?”

“Yes, sir. Thanks, Hop.”

“I’m just about done with my shift, so I’ll drive her over soon.”

Steve said goodbye and put the phone back in its cradle when Hopper hung up. Finishing the sandwiches, he placed them all on a plate and brought them into the living room where the kids were watching a movie that he didn’t recognize. Probably one that Dustin had brought over to watch with him that he had inevitably slept through.

“Alright, shitheads! I’ve made sandwiches, and Hop is bringing El over after his shift. You know which sandwich is yours, so I don’t want to hear any whining about someone else eating your food. Eddie and I will be in the kitchen if you need anything.”

Mike waved his hand backward, never looking away from the TV. “Yeah, yeah, thanks, Mom .” The rest of the kids made similar noises of barely-listening agreement.

Rolling his eyes with a scoff, Steve joined Eddie at the kitchen bar and started working on the binder.

Date: April 22nd, 1985

Caretaker(s): Steve Harrington and Eddie Munson

Activities:  

Reflection/Observations:

Steve frowned as something dawned on him. Before, he had just been going through the motions with the worksheet, but now he was confused. What kind of activities was Mrs. O’Donnell expecting them to do? DJ was a baby . It’s not like they could just take him for a swim or out clubbing. Not that he really wanted to go clubbing with a doll anyway…

“Do you think O’Donnell will dock points if our binder is repetitive? There’s not a lot we can do with him anyway, right?”

Eddie shrugged, “I don’t think it’s that big of a deal what we write as long as it’s done. You could add that he’s socializing since your other kids are here too…”

Sighing, Steve wrote in the binder the feeding and how Max had held DJ while Eddie drove, but once that was done, all he could do was move on to some other homework assignment.

Ever since Jonathan and Nancy had gotten together, Steve had been expecting to trudge through his classes, barely passing without her help. Only, she had reached out a few weeks later offering to study with him, and Steve wasn’t really in a position academically to turn her down. Plus, it had been really helping him! He almost considered inviting Eddie to their next study session…

Except he was already asking so much of Eddie just by having them spend the next three or so weeks almost entirely in each other’s company. Requesting that they add Steve’s ex-girlfriend into the mix didn’t really seem like the best idea. Besides, they only had a little over four weeks left of the year! Steve could do without Nancy’s help if it meant he got to work with Eddie and get him to graduate. She’d understand. Hopefully.

So Steve closed the binder and slid it to the side before he turned to face Eddie. He was staring down at a notebook like it had personally offended him. Steve stifled a laugh and dragged it toward himself to read it; Eddie let him with a long-suffering sigh.

“What are you working on?” Steve asked.

“Some math shit. I’m in Algebra 2 and Mr. Donaldson changed up the material this year, so it’s not like I can use anything I might have learned last year.” Eddie’s face scrunched up in a frown and he grumbled under his breath, “Stinky old bastard.”

Steve nodded sagely. “Yeah, I have Mr. Donaldson this year too, and he’s always on my case about something.” He hummed to himself for a moment before grinning. “You could always ask Dustin for some help. I’m pretty sure he did my math homework for me a couple weeks ago when I wasn’t paying attention. Kid loves that kind of stuff.”

Scoffing, Eddie fixed Steve with an unimpressed look. “You want me to ask a middle schooler for help with my homework? I have more dignity than that, Harrington.”

Steve leaned back in his chair and smirked. “I’m not saying you ask him for help directly. Maybe just leave the worksheet out on the counter. He’ll probably get bored and fill it out for you without asking first.”

Eddie smiled weakly. “I should at least try to do it myself first, right? I don’t want to be forced to drag Dustin along the stage with me if I graduate.”

“ When you graduate,” Steve corrected, standing up from the counter. “I’m going to join the kids for their movie. Holler if you need something!”

***

A little while later, Eddie was jotting down notes for his upcoming campaign when the doorbell rang. Steve was busy making dinner for the kids, and they were all too absorbed in their movie to open the door, so Eddie got up to answer it. He assumed it was their other friend that Steve had briefly mentioned, but if it was one of Harrington’s rich elderly neighbors, he would have no trouble riling them up with his general presence. Eddie could only imagine the look on those old farts’ faces when they saw no-good Edward Munson corrupting perfect little Stevie Harrington.

However, when Eddie opened the door, he wasn’t expecting to see the Chief of Police, Jim Hopper. His eyes widened and he floundered for a moment at Hopper’s disgruntled expression. “Chief! I don’t know who called you, but I swear I’m here for perfectly legal reasons. Harrington and I are partners for a school project. This isn’t a drug thing!”

Hopper raised an unimpressed eyebrow. “I would hope not, otherwise I wouldn’t be letting my daughter come over here to hang out with her friends.”

Eddie gaped as a young girl about the same age as the rest of the kids stepped out from behind Hopper, studying him with hard eyes. She looked him up and down, and Eddie shivered as a prickly feeling soaked into his scalp. Before Eddie could say anything to welcome her, she nodded at him once and walked past him into the house.

With a begrudged sigh, Hopper fixed Eddie with a stern look. “If I hear anything about illegal activities going on around these kids, it won’t go well for you, Munson.”

Luckily, before Eddie could reply, Steve had come to stand behind Eddie. “Come on, Hop, leave him be. You know I wouldn’t let anything illegal happen around these kids, even with Eddie’s influence.”

Hopper grunted, but the edges of his mouth twitched up curiously. Huh. Maybe that Harrington charm worked on adults too. Eddie was pretty sure there was no way Steve got through high school on intelligence alone, so his charm must have helped.

“I’ll be back by 9:30 to pick her up.”

Steve grinned. “Sounds good! I hope you didn’t feed her because I’ve made us all dinner.”

Chuckling, Hopper reached over to ruffle Steve’s hair, much to Eddie’s shock. “You know she won’t eat anything I give her if she knows she’s coming over here to your cooking, Harrington.”

Privately, Eddie thought that made a lot of sense. He had no idea what Hopper’s cooking tasted like, but he’d tasted Steve’s cooking, and it didn’t seem like a fair competition. 

Steve slung an arm around Eddie’s shoulders as Hopper walked away with a quick glare to Eddie.

“Don’t worry about him,” Steve said, leading Eddie back inside. “He’s just really protective of his daughter.”

Eddie gave him a look and chuckled a little. “Maybe to you. I’m not exactly an upstanding citizen, my dear . I can’t count the amount of times he’s brought me into the station for dealing. Why didn’t you tell me he would be coming over?”

Raising a quizzical eyebrow at him, Steve crossed his arms in front of his chest. “You were sitting right next to me when I called him. I thought you knew.”

Eddie flushed. Fuck. That was right. He must have been distracted by… something that absolutely did not rhyme with Greve Grarrinton’s Grass. Before Eddie could give Steve some half-assed excuse, a couch cushion flew from the living room and whacked him dead in the nose; he would have fallen if Steve hadn’t reached out a hand to steady him.

“Mike, you idiot!” One of the kids yelled. “You hit Steve’s new boyfriend!”

Steve rushed into the living room with Eddie on his heels. Eddie’s hand flew up to cover his mouth as he took in the mess before them. At some point between Eddie opening the door and Hopper’s daughter joining her friends, an all-out pillow brawl had started. The look on Steve’s face almost made up for getting hit with a pillow projectile.

Pinching the bridge of his nose, Steve huffed. “I told you, Henderson. He’s not my boyfriend.” After looking between all of the kids, Steve said, “I thought you were watching a movie.”

Max shrugged. “We got bored.”

Just before Steve could tell them off or whatever babysitter thing he had to do, Eddie noticed Dustin holding DJ to his chest tightly. “Woah, woah, woah. When did you grab DJ?”

The boy stuck his chin out at Eddie. “He started crying after El came in. Since he’s my namesake and successor, I felt it was only right for me to take care of him. I just bounced him until he stopped crying.”

Steve leaned closer to Eddie to mutter in his ear, “See, I told you. If you leave something out long enough, Dustin will claim it.”

Eddie rolled his eyes and pushed Steve away lightly before stepping forward to take DJ out of Dustin’s hands. “As his father , I’m taking him off your grubby little paws. You kids go back to your… civil war or whatever it is you were doing.”

As Eddie walked away, he snickered to himself at Steve shutting down their game and making them clean up the mess they had made. Househusband Harrington. Never in a million years had Eddie expected that.

By the time the living room was clean, spurred on by Steve’s watchful eye, the dinner Steve had so painstakingly prepared for them was ready. Steve gathered all of the kids into the kitchen to make their plates while Eddie leaned against the kitchen counter casually, filling out another care record in his binder with DJ propped on his hip.

Eddie looked between the clock on the wall and the food on the stove with a frown. He was conflicted, okay? He had already stayed a lot longer than he usually did after school, but the idea of leaving without eating any of that mouth-watering casserole sounded like actual hell. Curse Harrington and his god-given gift for cooking!

One by one, the kids took their plates into Harrington’s dining room and sat down at the table. When Eddie didn’t immediately move to join them, Steve rolled his eyes and grabbed Eddie’s arm to drag him to the casserole dish. 

“Make your plate, honey,” Steve crooned with a teasing wink. “We can’t start our family dinner without the whole family there, right?”

Eddie blinked and nodded without any pushback, suddenly stunned by the idea that, even while joking, Steve had considered him a part of the family he had created with those kids. Because they were a family. Eddie had seen the way they all interacted with each other, and it wasn’t difficult to see that they all considered each other family.

Steve thought he was a part of that family.

But that didn’t have to mean anything! They were pretending to be married, after all, so it made sense for Steve to joke about them being a family. In fact, Harrington had probably meant it as a joke the whole time. Eddie was the one blowing it out of proportion. 

And over what? It’s not like Eddie had a crush on Steve or something. They were just friends. Because Steve was straight! And also because Eddie didn’t have a crush on him.  

By the time Eddie had come back to himself, he was sitting at one end of the Harringtons’ fancy dining room table with Steve directly across from him at the head of the table. Some of the kids were giving him weird looks, and it wasn’t until he looked down at the table that he realized everyone else had already started eating.

Apparently Steve had noticed too because he called down the table, “Everything alright, baby? Do you not like the casserole?”

Eddie flushed, ignoring Max’s snicker. “Sorry, I got distracted.” Before anyone could ask him another question, Eddie shoved a bite of the casserole into his mouth. A delighted moan snuck through his lips unbidden as Steve’s delicious cooking danced over his tongue. 

Fuck , that casserole was good.

Mike scrunched up his nose. “Ew, keep it in your pants, dude.”

Rolling his eyes, Eddie smirked at Mike. “Oh, please . You should all be reacting like this! I’m pretty sure this is the best casserole I’ve ever had.”

At the other end of the table, Steve turned red. Then, Dustin spoke up and said, “Yeah, Mike! Plus, Steve said he made it special for El since it’s her favorite.”

“This is true.” El nodded eagerly, beaming as she continued, “My casserole is very good. Hopper does not cook dinner like this.”

Sufficiently cowed, Mike huffed and took another bite of his food in silence. 

Closer to Steve, Will and Dustin were chatting with their heads close together, and Eddie managed to catch the words “magic missile” and “natural twenty”. His eyebrows shot up to his forehead and he felt a manic grin spread on his face.

“Do you kids like Dungeons and Dragons?” He asked, fully expecting the raucous shouts overlapping each other as all four boys asked him questions. “Okay, okay. One at a time!”

Lucas went first. With wide eyes full of awe, he said,  “You know about Dungeons and Dragons?”

Eddie beamed, putting on his best Dungeon Master voice as he leaned forward and winked. “ Know about? You’re looking at the leader of Hellfire, Hawkins High’s one and only Dungeons and Dragons club!”

Once again, the boys scrambled over each other to ask him questions while Max watched with vague disinterest and El continued eating, sneaking bites from Mike’s plate while he wasn’t paying attention. Mike’s question came first.

“What class are you?”

That was easy. “Bard, of course,” Eddie replied. “But that’s only when I play. As of right now, I’m the DM.”

There was a chorus of nods, all of the boys in complete sync with each other, which Steve seemed to find hilarious. Then, the four of them huddled together over the table to discuss what else they wanted to ask him, and Eddie used that moment to sneak a glance at Steve.

Steve smiled gently at Eddie—which was not doing anything for him, shut the fuck up—and mouthed, You’re their new favorite.

Not true, Eddie mouthed back, a warm feeling in his chest that he refused to put a name to.

“Okay, Eddie,” Dustin began, the boys leaning out of their huddle. “How long do your players last in a typical campaign?”

Eddie smirked sinisterly as he leaned back in his chair and crossed his arms in front of his chest. “Let’s just say if I were to DM a game for you boys, you shouldn’t get too attached to your characters.”

Mike narrowed his eyes, “How strict are you about players having the necessary physical components for a spell or enchantment?”

Then Lucas cut in, rapid-fire, “When the players are out of combat, do you keep track of how long a spell lasts for?”

“What’s your favorite class?” That one was Will.

“I can be generous, just a rough estimate, and paladins,” Eddie answered their questions one by one, shooting a wink at Steve at his last answer. Unfortunately, Steve only tilted his head like a confused puppy, so that attempt at flirting had gone to waste. 

Fake flirting! Not real flirting! Eddie was not flirting with Steve Harrington.

Dustin seemed to catch his meaning, though, and he looked between Steve and Eddie with a considering frown. Eddie wasn’t sure what exactly he had found, but the boy nodded seriously to himself and turned back to the conversation without a word.

Before the D&D talk could continue, Max rolled her eyes and groaned, “I’m sick of this nerd talk. Steve, I can’t believe you had the opportunity to make a cool new friend, and instead, you found another nerd.”

Steve shrugged. “I don’t know what to tell you, Mayfield. It’s like they flock to me.” Then he turned to face Eddie and blew a kiss at him. “At least I got this sweetheart out of it.”

Max pretended to gag and slid her chair back to stand up. “Okay, I can’t eat any more after watching that revolting display.” She picked up her plate and made her way to the kitchen, El following her lead after finishing off both her casserole and Mike’s without his knowledge.

As soon as everyone had finished eating and the kids had washed their dishes, Steve herded theminto the living room to grab their bags. Will and El, however, sat on the couch after giving their friends hugs goodbye.

Steve grabbed his car keys from a small bowl in the foyer of the house before turning to Eddie. “I’m going to take these kids home, then I’ll be back. Will and El are staying over a little longer until Hopper comes to pick her up and either Joyce or Jonathan call to say that they’re home. I hope you don’t mind entertaining them until I get back.”

Eddie shrugged. “Yeah, sure. I’ll only head home when you get back anyway.”

Without another word, Steve was out the door and Eddie was left alone with two children that he didn’t know. “So… Do you kids want to listen to some music? And I mean real music, not the ABBA shi– uh, stuff that Steve plays in his car.”

Both kids looked at each other before shrugging. “Sure,” Will said. “What kind of stuff are you going to play?”

Grinning wickedly, Eddie rummaged through his bag before revealing a cassette with a flourish. “Only the music of Gods, young Byers. Prepare to be changed.” Eddie ejected whatever cassette had been in Steve’s speaker before and put in his Ride the Lightning tape.

When the opening song, “Fight Fire with Fire” began, the first few chords sounding out into the space, El moved to sit on the couch closest to the boombox. Then, when the intense guitar came in, her eyes went wide and she beamed.

“Bitchin’!” She said to Eddie, bouncing on the cushions where she sat.

Eddie laughed, “Hell yeah it is!” Hoping to get them both more into the music, Eddie began to headbang, his hair whipping back and forth as he pretended he was in the band, performing some righteous air guitar in front of the fireplace.

Giggling, El tried to mimic him, though her hair had only just reached the bottom of her neck, narrowly missing her collarbones by a couple inches.

“Come on, Byers! Come play drums for me!” Eddie called, grabbing Will’s hand to drag him up to the “stage”, prompting him to start hitting the air with pretend drumsticks.

When Steve finally returned home, he was the sole audience member of their performance. He leaned against the doorframe of the living room, watching them with a sweet smile. Eddie caught his eye and winked, pointing at him and bringing a fake microphone to his lips to pretend that he was singing only for him.

Then, like an absolute fucking dork, he pulled out a pretend fishing rod and went fishing. Steve rolled his eyes, but when Eddie started reeling in his catch, he laughed and hopped over like a fish out of water. Eddie beamed, grabbing Steve’s hand and making him dance around the room with him.

El was giggling, and Will was watching them with wonder in his eyes, so Eddie counted it all as a win. Especially when Steve started headbanging along with them, messing up his artfully-styled hair just to make them laugh.

They danced until the tape went out, the four of them collapsing onto the couch with big smiles and tired lungs.

“Eddie, you are very fun,” El said, turning her head to smile up at him.

Something in Eddie’s chest clenched and he ruffled her hair with one hand, the other going to pull a lock of his own hair in front of his face. “Awww, you flatter me.” Then he sighed. “Well, as exhilarating as this was, I really have to get home. I’ll see you tomorrow, Harrington.”

Steve and his little ducklings followed Eddie to the door where the man once again pressed a Tupperware of leftovers into Eddie’s hands. “Share some with your uncle, okay?”

Eddie felt the sudden urge to get closer or do something impulsive, so he took a sharp step back toward his van. “I will, but only because you told me to.” He winked and immediately turned his back to begin his drive away.

Fuck, he needed to get his shit together.

***

On Friday morning, Steve was just about to leave for school when he noticed a sheet of paper left on the kitchen island. When he picked it up to scan it over, he blanched when he registered Eddie’s name scrawled across the top. 

Oh, shit. Eddie’s math homework from several days ago that he had been working on throughout the week. Mr. Donaldson was such a hardass, and there was no way Eddie could talk his way out of the punishment that was sure to be the result of his forgetfulness. As much as Steve knew Eddie wanted to pretend they didn’t know each other at school, he couldn’t just sit around and let Eddie potentially fail his math class because of some stupid social standard.

So he rushed to school even though he always showed up at least ten minutes early, and as soon as he parked, he began searching for Eddie and his van. He wasn’t outside, so Steve walked through the doors of the school and began scanning the halls for Eddie’s distinct form.

Luckily, he didn’t have to look for long. Eddie was leaning against a locker surrounded by the Hellfire guys. Or at least just Gareth and Jeff. Quickly, Steve jogged up to them, gave a friendly wave to the other two boys, and then smirked at Eddie.

“I believe you left something at my place last night,” Steve purred as he leaned close to Eddie’s ear. It was loud enough that it was clear he said it purely for the amusement of the other boys.

Eddie backed up just slightly and raised an eyebrow. “Harrington? What do you need?”

Pulling his bag off of his shoulders, Steve rummaged through it until he found the offending paper. “Here. Your math homework. I know how much of an asshole Mr. Donaldson can be, and I didn’t want you to get reprimanded for forgetting it. Especially since everyone would probably just assume you hadn’t actually done it, even though I know you did.”

Eddie’s eyes widened and he smiled sheepishly. “Oh! I had no idea! Thanks, baby.”

Shrugging nonchalantly as if it brought him no extra effort, Steve said, “No worries, darling. I’ll see you later, right?”

Without waiting for affirmation, Steve walked away to his first class, accidentally making eye contact with a girl on the other side of the hallway. She narrowed her eyes at him, but he paid her no mind.

He went through his next few periods mechanically, going through the motions as each class began wrapping up their final lessons, projects, and tests since there were only three weeks left before graduation. Walking out of one of his classes on the way to his study period, Steve bumped into a solid figure as he tried to organize the notebooks in his hands.

“Woah there, sweetheart. You seem excited to see me.”

Steve blinked and stepped back to come face-to-face with Eddie. “Oh!” Steve furrowed his eyebrows. “Couldn’t you see me walking toward you? You could have avoided that collision.”

Eddie laughed. “Where’s the fun in that?”

Backing up to lean against the nearby lockers casually, Steve smirked. “So… You’re talking to me in public now?”

With a grimace, Eddie scuffed the toe of his boot against the ground. “Yeahhh, looking back on it, that was kind of a stupid decision. It’s not as big of a deal as I originally made it out to be.”

“Well, I’m glad you’ve come to your senses,” Steve said with a cheeky grin. “What did you come to talk to me about? It must be important if you’re sacrificing your reputation like this.”

Eddie ducked his head. “I just wanted to thank you. For bringing me the worksheet I left at your place.” Then, he shared a look with Steve as he continued, “Mike Lewinsky claimed he left his worksheet at home and Mr. Donaldson seriously tore into him. I just know it would’ve been worse for me if it wasn’t for you.”

“No sweat, man. It took no extra time, and it gave me an excuse to talk to you.” Then, he paused and grinned at DJ in Eddie’s arms. “Plus I got to see our little baby!” Steve leaned down to press a kiss to the top of DJ’s head, smirking when he looked back up to see Eddie flushed bright red.

Nodding rapidly, Eddie said, “Right, well… Um, great chat. I’ll see you after school before we head to my place?”

“That’s the plan.”

“Okay, so…” Eddie opened his mouth like he was going to say something more but decided against it. “I’ll see you later, Steve.”

Steve watched Eddie walk away with a small smile before turning to head to the library for his study block. As he walked, he passed a girl with short dirty blonde hair, and he frowned when she locked eyes with him and glared. What, was he dressed offensively or something? 

He raised an eyebrow at her, cocking his head to the side slightly. Almost like she hadn’t expected him to look her way, the girl’s eyes went wide, and she scuttled away before Steve could ask her about her evident distaste.

Whatever. He had more important things to worry about than someone who had it out for him. Namely, how to keep his feelings for Eddie in check at their next sleepover that weekend.

***

Eddie scrambled around his room trying to shove any mess under his bed or in drawers—anything to keep his messy nature out of sight, at least for a little while. Steve Harrington was coming over. And not just to stand outside the trailer awkwardly to pick up some drugs heavier than weed.

It seemed stupid to get hung up on Steve’s opinions of his home, but Eddie had spent the better part of two weeks hanging out at Steve’s house, so he felt a little justified in wanting to make his trailer look just as nice in comparison. For all he knew, Steve might not have even known the trailer park existed… If he was trying to curb Steve’s expectations, he’d need the inside of the trailer to look pristine .

Though really, what Eddie was most nervous about was Steve and Wayne’s inevitable meeting.

Wayne was an incredible judge of character; Eddie had seen it time and time again. The problem came with both Eddie’s perception of Steve and Wayne’s perception of the Harrington name. Of course, after the past couple weeks, Eddie had grown to really enjoy Steve’s company, but what if Wayne took one look at him and decided he was no good? 

Whatever. That wasn’t Eddie’s most pressing concern when Steve was on his way to the trailer at that very moment . Fuck!

Knock, knock.

Speak of the devil, and he shall appear with perfectly styled hair and a charming smile.

Eddie threw open the door to the trailer, completely calm , and plastered on his most normal, welcoming smile. “Stevie! Boy, aren’t you a quick one. It’s like we only just hung up the phone, and now you’re here.”

Chuckling lightly, Steve rocked back on his heels and said, “I mean, it’s been at least thirty minutes, so… Not that quick.”

“Right, right…” Eddie answered. “Well, uh. Come on in!”

Eddie stepped to the side with a slight bow and a long sweeping gesture inside which Steve laughed at before complying. He watched nervously, wrapping a lock of hair around his finger and pulling it in front of his face as Steve took in his surroundings, trying to analyze every minute change in his expression in search of any disgust or disappointment.

Instead, Steve turned to him and grinned. “Wow, your place is so cozy! I’m not sure what I was expecting, but I love it.”

Nodding, Eddie tried to lean against the wall casually as he replied, “Haha, yeah, it’s always like this.”

Steve snorted and shook his head at Eddie fondly. “So, what’s the plan? Do you want to watch a movie, or…” He trailed off, apparently out of ideas.

“Well, we could hang out in my room for a bit,” Eddie suggested shyly. “My uncle’s at work until the morning, so he’ll probably get home when we wake up.”

“Oooh,” Steve teased, “Trying to get me in your bed that quickly, eh, sweetheart?” 

Eddie spluttered with a nervous chuckle, still trying way too hard to appear calm. “Well, you know me! Just can’t get enough of you!”

Winking, Steve smirked like he knew exactly how Eddie was really feeling. “The feeling’s mutual, darling.”

Not responding more than a short burst of laughter, Eddie led Steve down the hallway to his bedroom. He threw open the door and took a leaping step to flop face first onto his bed. Then, muffled into his pillows, he said, “This is where the magic happens.”

Steve laughed and flopped down on the bed next to him. “Magic, huh? So this is where you plan all your Demons and Spells games?”

Eddie lifted his head out of the pillows to glare at Steve, his bangs all mussed up on his forehead, and said, “I know you know it’s called Dungeons and Dragons.”

Propping his elbow up and resting his cheek in his palm, Steve grinned at Eddie. “Yeah, but I love that you feel the need to correct me every time. It’s cute.”

Immediately, Eddie dropped his face back into the pillows to muffle his involuntary squeak. He was quiet for a moment, gears turning slowly in his head. “Would you… Um, do you want to make a character sheet with me?”

“Oh, for like a game? You want me to join Hellfire?” Steve asked, something twinkling in his eyes that Eddie couldn’t place.

Eddie flipped over so he was lounging on his back and waved his hands, backtracking slightly. “Well, you know, we’re in the middle of a campaign right now and all, but I could maybe fit you into a oneshot? Or your kids would probably be excited to play with you if that’s more your speed. I don’t know, it was a stupid idea, we can just watch a movie or something.”

“No, no. I want to make a character sheet with you,” Steve assured him. He leaned forward to place his hand on Eddie’s shoulder and squeeze comfortingly. “It’ll be fun.”

Flushing down to his neck, Eddie sat up until he was cross-legged on his mattress and reached to his nightstand to grab his notebook. Trying to save face after his embarrassing ramble, Eddie grinned at Steve and said, “I’ll have you know, I’m quite skilled in character creation. You’re lucky I’m helping you.”

Steve snorted. “I’m honored to learn from the master,” he quipped, clasping his hands together next to his cheek and fluttering his eyelashes obnoxiously.

Instead of responding, Eddie elected to focus on the crude character sheet template he was sketching in his notebook. Then, just for more of an excuse to get his shit together, he drew a little doodle of Steve brandishing a sword in the notes section. Once he had wasted as much time as he could, Eddie resigned himself to his fate and turned to face Steve.

Apparently, while Eddie had been distracted, Steve had leaned over the side of the bed to pick up DJ and rest him on his chest. And now he was bouncing him up and down. Eddie felt like one of those comic book characters with a little lightning bolt going straight through their chest and a bubble above their head that says “ZING!”  

And he did not appreciate it.

In an attempt to brush past the feelings he never planned to examine, Eddie started walking Steve through the basics of character creation. This he could do. Acting as a DM basically turned him into a wittier and more confident person; one that wouldn’t get flustered with a single drop of Harrington Charm.

At first, Eddie had assumed that Steve was just humoring him, but he actually looked interested as he asked all the right questions. It was actually fun . Steve had some interesting ideas for his character that Eddie was surprised by.

“Okay, what if… Can I have him be like a… Henderson called me their beserker once. Can I do that?”

Dustin called Steve their beserker? Even after they’d gotten closer, Eddie couldn’t imagine Steve being the kind of guy that fit the role of beserker, but he had no qualms with Steve basing his character that way.

“You can do anything you want, Stevie,” Eddie said, leaning over to bump their shoulders together. “For a beserker, you’d be like an unarmored fighter made for battle. You can have a shield, but you benefit from not having any armor. Your character would be strong and tough, either a hired mercenary or a wild hunter. That’s up to you.”

Something about Eddie’s character description made Steve blush prettily, though Eddie couldn’t figure out if that was because of his words or the implication that Dustin thought of him as a strong and capable protector (for whatever reason). While Steve thought about it, Eddie added more doodles to his character sketch to incorporate some beserker qualities.

Steve nodded. “Yeah, I like that. So now what?”

Eddie walked him through the game traits that a beserker would have, helping him develop a solid character that could support his party. Steve seemed to be getting more into it as they went on, and Eddie felt a little giddy sharing D&D with him. Not because he liked him or anything.

But it felt special! D&D was special to him, and now suddenly Steve was starting to be kind of special to him too and… Well, he was having more fun than he expected. It was nice to be close with Steve like this. On purpose instead of just existing in the same space.

Soon though, Eddie caught Steve yawning a few times too many. At first, he didn’t want to call him out on it, but then it got more and more prominent to the point that Steve had started smiling sheepishly at him and apologizing.

Eddie took pity on him, gently saying, “Well, I think your character is pretty much complete now. Maybe we should head to bed, huh, darling?”

Steve flushed. “We don’t have to just for my sake.”

Scoffing, Eddie waved Steve off with a mischievous grin. “Oh, no. I’m not doing this for you. I’m literally about to fall asleep.” To illustrate, Eddie leaned back until his head touched his pillow and pretended to immediately pass out. “I’m so tire– Hoooonk, mimimimi… Hooonk, mimimimi.”

With a startled laugh, Steve pushed at Eddie’s shoulder lightly. “Oh my god, you’re so stupid! I can’t believe that made me laugh,” he groaned, trying to hold back his giggles.

Eddie felt like he could float away with the butterflies in his stomach. Sure, he’d made Steve laugh before, but there was something so free about this one that made his fingertips tingle and his heart melt into a puddle.

But he didn’t have a crush on him or anything! It was just a very nice laugh.

(That excuse was starting to sound tired, even to his own ears).

Once their laughter died down, Eddie excused himself to the bathroom to change into his pajamas, offering for Steve to use the bedroom while he was gone. While in the bathroom, Eddie splashed cold water on his face and pointed at himself in the mirror as he glared and said, “Don’t be weird. Offer him the bed. Do not share with him. The couch is plenty comfortable. Don’t make him uncomfortable.”

With a deep breath, comfortably dressed for bed with his old sweatpants and ratty band t-shirt, Eddie left the bathroom and knocked on his bedroom door. “You decent in there, Stevie?”

Steve opened the door in a t-shirt, one of Eddie’s old flannels, and probably the tiniest gym shorts Eddie had ever seen and replied, “Totally and completely.”

As far as Eddie’s dry mouth and wandering eyes were concerned, Steve wasn’t exactly decent, but he couldn’t say that, so instead he just gulped, averted his eyes, and said, “Alright. Well. you take the bed. I’ll be on the couch if you need anything.”

Steve frowned. “What? No, I can’t let you do that. This is your house, man.” His eyes seemed to sparkle as he continued, “We can share your bed. I don’t mind.”

Not quite sure how to respond, Eddie hesitated, suddenly feeling so so weak. “Oh. Uh, okay. Sure.”

Fuck .

Because Eddie couldn’t keep his stupid mouth shut, he was shutting off the lights and then they were sliding under the covers of his queen-sized bed. Barely big enough for the both of them, especially considering Eddie liked to sprawl out when he slept.

Much to Eddie’s surprise, though, Steve didn’t seem to mind, curling up close to Eddie’s side. Probably just to share warmth. Because the other reason Eddie could think of didn’t seem possible.

“Is this okay, Eddie?” Steve asked, keeping his voice quiet in the dark, though they had no real reason to.

Swallowing audibly—which was embarrassing enough on its own—Eddie squeaked out in reply, “Yeah, sure. No problem, man.” Then he sucked in a sharp, quiet breath and tried to keep still as Steve scooted closer to rest his head on his chest.

Steve huffed out a soft laugh, and Eddie attempted to hold back a shiver at the warm puff of breath that brushed against his collarbone. “Thanks, Eds. You’re so warm and cozy. Like a space heater.”

“Wayne says I run hot,” Eddie whispered in reply, wincing at the stilted awkwardness in his voice. Way to make it weird, Edward.

His words slurred together, making it clear that he was half-asleep already, Steve murmured, “Yeah, you are pretty hot.”

Eddie held his breath, somehow feeling like he was floating out of his body. Surely, Steve just meant that temperature-wise, right? He had to. If he didn’t then… 

His rapidly spiraling thoughts were immediately silenced by the soft snuffle that came before Steve’s first snore. Whatever Steve meant, he could figure it out in the morning. Or maybe with some peer review from his friends.

Although it took him a while to fall asleep, somehow the comforting weight of Steve on his chest brought Eddie to the edge of dreamland until he blinked for the last time that night.

***

Blinking away the sleep crusting his eyes, Steve snuggled deeper into the warmth encompassing him, not quite ready to be fully awake yet. It was only once the blanket draped over his back shifted and groaned that Steve realized he wasn’t wrapped in a blanket at all.

Eddie Munson was spooning him.

Eddie’s soft curls were brushing against Steve’s exposed collarbone. Eddie’s firm hand was clutching the front of Steve’s shirt. Eddie’s forehead was pressed between the top of Steve’s shoulder blades.

Holy shit. Steve wanted to melt back into Eddie’s hold and sleep in past noon. It was a Sunday. They had all the time in the world, right?

Humming quietly, Steve nuzzled back into Eddie’s arms carefully, trying not to wake him up for fear that he might freak out and pull away. Instead, Eddie just snuffled and pulled Steve closer by his chest, his hand still wrapped in the front of Steve’s shirt.

Unfortunately, just as Steve’s eyelids were fluttering closed to fall back to sleep, a muted metallic clang sounded from the front of the trailer, and Steve tensed. His fight or flight instinct kicked in, and though Eddie hadn’t woken up from it, Steve felt obligated to stand guard and protect him if it came down to it.

Slowly, Steve extracted himself from Eddie’s hold and slipped out from under the covers. His nail bat was in the trunk of his car, but it sounded like the noise came from in between, so he would have to make do without it. He eased the door open and chanced a glance into the hallway, his eyes narrowing at the sound of ceramic clinking further in.

As sneakily as he could, Steve crept through the hallway, keeping light on his feet as he went. Just before he entered the joined kitchen and living area, he peeked around the wall. He needed to get a better idea of what he would be up against before rushing in, after all.

Only… There was a man in the kitchen. Not a monster. Just a man who looked to be about sixty puttering around the kitchen like he owned the place. 

Wait, didn’t Eddie say he had an uncle? …Oh.

Steve released a long, relieved sigh and slumped against the doorway. He wasn’t trying to be silent anymore, so his breath must have alerted the man to his presence.

Instead of turning around to face him, the man just made a gruff noise of acknowledgment and said, “You’re up early, Ed. Got something special going on today with that boy from school?”

Steve cleared his throat awkwardly and stepped forward. “I, uh… assume you’re referring to me, sir,” he said sheepishly.

Finally, Eddie’s uncle turned around, looking quite shocked to see him. Did Eddie really not tell him Steve was coming over? “You’re not my nephew,” he said.

“No, sir,” Steve replied. “Eddie’s still sleeping. I’m Steve. Steve Harrington.” He stuck out his hand for the man to shake.

He returned the handshake, but his eyes narrowed slightly as he looked Steve up and down. “Harrington, huh?” He hummed consideringly before introducing himself. “I’m Wayne. Eddie’s uncle.”

Steve smiled as charmingly as he could. “It’s nice to finally meet you, sir. Eddie’s mentioned you a lot.” 

Then, his eyes landed on the food Wayne was making for himself. A bowl of cereal and a mug of coffee. He inwardly cringed. Eddie had said that Wayne worked nights, right? There’s no way that’s all he was going to eat after a long workday.

Thinking fast, Steve stepped further into the kitchen. “I was just coming in here to make some breakfast for me and Eddie,” he lied smoothly. “Would you like me to make you something too?”

“Go for it, boy,” Wayne grunted. “I’m sure whatever you’ll whip up will be better that anything I could manage.”

With permission, Steve rummaged through their fridge looking for milk, cheese, eggs, sausages, and potatoes. There were no potatoes, but they did have a bag of ready-made frozen hashbrowns, so he grabbed that instead.

While Wayne sat close by drinking his coffee and flipping through the newspaper, Steve started work on a hodgepodge breakfast of loaded scrambled eggs. He worked in silence, not quite confident in his ability to make small talk with Wayne just yet.

Once Steve was about halfway through the cooking process, Eddie trudged out into the kitchen, rubbing his eyes, apparently lured by the smell of the sausages cooking. With his eyes still closed, he groaned, “I can’t believe you willingly woke up this early. I don’t think my brain’s even turned on yet…”

Wayne huffed a laugh and flipped to another page in the newspaper casually. “That’s for sure.”

Immediately, Eddie’s eyes flew open. “Oh! Wayne!” He looked from Wayne to Steve and back again. “Uh, so Steve stayed over last night…”

“I can see that,” Wayne replied, a small smile tugging at the corner of his lips.

Turning back to the pan of eggs in front of him, Steve smiled fondly to himself. Everyone at school seemed to think that Eddie was scary, but that couldn’t be farther from the truth.

“Did you sleep well, Eddie?” Steve asked, winking at Eddie over his shoulder where Wayne couldn’t see.

Eddie turned red, though Steve was pretty sure he had no clue they had woken up spooning. “Uh, yeah.” He stepped up to the counter next to the coffee pot and grabbed a mug from the hanging rack holding their apparently vast collection. “Want me to make you some coffee?”

“I’m not really a coffee guy. Thanks for the offer, though.” Steve smiled at him and stepped to the side to bump their hips together. “You just sit down and I’ll finish up our breakfast.”

After several minutes with Eddie bouncing his knee as the pan sizzled, Steve served up three plates and moved to join Eddie and Wayne to eat. Eddie seemed intent on shovelling his eggs into his mouth as fast as possible despite them being fresh off the pan.

“So, Steve…” Wayne started, watching him appraisingly. “Are you the boy that’s been sending Eddie home with meals every day?”

Steve felt his cheeks get hot. “Yes, sir. I always make too much for just me, so I’m glad he’s not letting it go to waste.”

Wayne hummed, taking another bite of his food and letting Steve stew in the silence for a moment. “Well, you’re a damn fine chef, boy. You sharing any of that with your folks?”

“Uh, no, actually,” Steve admitted sheepishly. “My parents are out on trips most of the time. It’s usually just me or the kids I babysit at my house.” He paused and blew a kiss at Eddie with a smarmy wink. “And now Eddie!”

After a brief moment of silence, Wayne nodded. “Well, it’s lucky for us. Lord only knows the kind of food Eddie’s been fueling his body with. At least with you around I know he’ll get a vegetable or two in his system.”

Steve chuckled, kicking at Eddie’s feet playfully under the table. “Don’t worry, sir. I’ll keep him eating healthy for you.”

Wayne waved Steve off with a small smile. “Now, now. None of that sir business, you hear me? Call me Wayne.”

“Thank you, Wayne,” Steve replied.

Across from Steve, Eddie’s eyes were wide and he was looking between Wayne and Steve with his eyebrows raised to his forehead. Steve cocked his head at him and when they met eyes again, Eddie beamed at him, his cheeks dusted pink.

They traded pleasantries for a while until Wayne needed to head to bed and Steve took their plates to the sink to wash them. Eddie and Wayne spoke in hushed words in the hallway in front of Wayne’s bedroom. Whatever they were talking about, it made Steve’s stomach flip and spin.

Once they were done speaking, Wayne stuck his head back into the room to say to Steve, “You’re welcome over any time, Steve.”

Steve smiled shyly, surprised he had been able to win over someone parental figure so quickly. “Thank you for having me, Wayne. I hope to see you again soon.”

Wayne nodded at him once, and then he was gone, the door to his bed room shutting with a click .

Then, Eddie was rushing into Steve’s space with a radiant smile, shaking Steve’s shoulders excitedly. “Oh my god! You won him over so quickly, dude!”

Steve slapped Eddie’s hands away lightly. “What can I say, baby, parents love me!”

Eddie snorted and hopped up onto the kitchen counter to watch Steve fill a mug with orange juice. It was a Garfield mug, so Steve thought it was appropriate. He took a sip and moved to stand between Eddie’s legs.

“You’re a real cuddler, you know that?”

“What?” Eddie blinked a couple times, a confused smile still gracing his features.

Steve bumped his hip against Eddie’s knee. “This morning, when I woke up. You were spooning me. Had your hand against my chest and everything.” Eddie flushed bright red, but Steve didn’t let him try to make excuses. “Don’t apologize, Eds. It was cute. I would have stayed with you a little longer if I hadn’t heard your uncle come home.”

Eddie made an adorable little squeak, opening and closing his mouth with no real sound coming out. Then he snapped himself out of it and raised a suspicious eyebrow at him. “Are you joking right now?”

“Nope!” Steve answered, popping his ‘p’ playfully. “You were like my own personal blanket.”

It started to seem like Eddie believed him, but when Steve leaned in a little more to flirt with him more directly, a cry sounded from Eddie’s room.

They looked at each other for a moment before Eddie said, “Looks like DJ needs something.”

Steve sighed and stepped out of Eddie’s space. “Yeah, I’ll go check on him. I should be heading home soon too. Henderson wants me to drive the little nuggets to the arcade this afternoon, and I need to be ready for them.”

Calming down DJ and packing up all of his things in silence, Steve got ready to leave. He stopped at the door, still wearing Eddie’s flannel from the night before and turned around to face Eddie.

“I’ll see you on Monday?” Eddie asked.

“See you then, sweetheart,” Steve replied.

***

The Monday following the Cuddling Incident, as Eddie had so eloquently dubbed it, Eddie floated through his classes in a daze. He was jumping through hoops in his mind trying to justify how his heart’s reactions to Steve were purely platonic. Because they were!  

The number one rule in the Munson Doctrine (never fall in love with a straight boy that could crush your windpipe in one punch) hadn’t failed him in all his nineteen years on the Earth, and he would not let it fail him now.

A little nagging voice in the back of his head whispered, “What if he’s not straight?” but he wrestled that voice into submission. He couldn’t afford to let hope take control. Not when Steve had actually become… a friend?

Eddie’s dissociative romp through his classes led him to the Hellfire Club’s table at lunch, and he flopped into his seat with a long-suffering sigh.

“Woah.” Gareth leaned closer to examine Eddie’s face. “Dude, you look like shit. What happened? I thought Harrington was staying at your place last weekend.”

Letting his forehead drop to the table, Eddie grumbled, “That is exactly the problem, my dear Gareth the Great.”

Jeff snorted. “That doesn’t sound like a problem to me,” he teased.

“Well, it is,” Eddie huffed. “You weren’t there, Jeffery .”

Frank reached a hand out to poke Eddie’s shoulder. “Then tell us what happened so we can tell you whether it actually is a problem or not.”

So he did. Eddie sat there recounting his weekend with Steve complete with his own internal dialogue and commentary about his completely platonic feelings. When he was finished, his friends exchanged glances with each other before staring at Eddie deadpan.

“What? That’s seriously what happened. Why are you staring at me like that?” Eddie pouted, feeling ganged up on.

Apparently wordlessly designating Gareth the leader, the other boys kept silent to let him speak. “First of all, you need to drop the whole platonic act, dude. You’re just deluding yourself. I understand you’re trying to keep your heart safe, but I feel like you’re just stopping yourself from seeing what’s right in front of you.”

Eddie narrowed his eyes. “What are you talking about?”

“Eddie,” Frank began. “You’ve had a crush on Harrington since sophomore year. We’re all well aware of it.”

Staring down at the cafeteria table and pushing his food around, Eddie grumbled, “I did not have a crush on him.”

Jeff made a noise of doubt. “It was pretty obvious, man. I mean, every other sentence out of your mouth was something about pretty rich boy jocks or that freshman Harrington .”

Crossing his arms over his chest, Eddie huffed and fixed Jeff with a glare. “Okay, maybe I did, but I don’t see how that has anything to do with my current predicament.”

Frank gave Eddie a pitying look while Gareth gaped at him incredulously. “Are you being purposefully obtuse? It has everything to do with it!” Gareth cried. Eddie shushed him frantically so Gareth rolled his eyes and continued, a little quieter, “Dude. That sophomore crush didn’t go away. You still like him.”

Before Eddie could cut in, Frank added, “You kept telling us about how when he flirts with you, you get butterflies or how when he gets up in your personal space, you feel your face getting hot. Obvious signs that you still have feelings for him!”

Eddie still wanted to argue, but… Obviously, he knew they were right. He just didn’t know where that would leave him. Sure, he could come to terms with the fact that his crush has been flirting with him for weeks, but that would just leave him majorly depressed when he remembered that Steve was only pretending. It wasn’t real. It couldn’t be.

“You guys are forgetting something,” Eddie grumbled. “Maybe I do have a crush on Harrington, but that doesn’t change the fact that he’s straight. I have no chance with him. None. ”

Jeff got up from his seat across from Eddie to pull up a chair next to him and put his arms around his shoulders. “Look, I love you, man. I really do. But even as your friend, I could not flirt with you for two weeks straight. Especially not while making it seem genuine! You may think Steve is straight—Hell, Steve, might think he’s straight—but no straight man could do something like that.”

“Eddie, you literally said that he started cuddling you last night,” Frank reminded him. “No one was around. It was just you two. Why would he initiate something like that if he didn’t want to be up close with you?”

Eddie tried to think of a rebuttal, but he kept coming up blank. Screw his friends for being nerdy and thinking logically. They were really making it hard for him to live in denial!

Gently, Gareth poked at Eddie’s shoulders until he relaxed them and they dropped away from beside his head. “Hey, man, listen… You were there, not us. This is just what we think based on what we’ve seen and what you’ve told us. If I thought Harrington was a nasty bully, I would not encourage him to flirt with you.” He paused, a shit-eating grin spreading on his face. “Honestly, I’m just trying to get you some bitches, dude!”

Whacking Gareth’s hands away with a pitiful pout, Eddie shook his head. “I really hate you guys, you know that?”

“We love you too!” They chorused impishly.

***

When Nancy pulled Steve out of class Tuesday afternoon and led him to the alley behind the gym, his entire body shriveled with the stabbing pang of familiarity that the location evoked in his chest. And from the look on his friend’s face, it didn’t seem like she had brought him there to apologize for what had gone down the last time they had been there.

“What’s going on, Nance?” Steve asked, trying to hide how on-edge he had become. “What did you want to talk about?”

Nancy stood in front of him and crossed her arms across her chest. “You haven’t shown up to any of our study sessions the past couple weeks, and you didn’t even call beforehand to let Jon and I know that you wouldn’t be there.” The tone of her voice indicated that she already knew why he hadn’t shown up, but she wanted him to confirm her suspicions first.

Frowning, Steve averted his eyes from Nancy’s face just in time to catch a flash of light brown hair, hand-me-down jeans, and red Converse disappear behind the wall of the gym. Great. It looked like they would have an eavesdropper for what was sure to be a very uncomfortable conversation.

“Sorry about that, Nance. I got caught up with some other school stuff. But I’m definitely graduating, no matter what I get on my finals, so it isn’t that big of a deal right?” Steve replied, electing to omit the fact that he was spending that time with Eddie Munson. Nancy had already made it clear what she thought of him, and he didn’t need an argument.

But then Nancy hummed, a twinge of frustration to the sound, with a raised eyebrow, and Steve felt his heart sink all the way to the pit of his stomach.

“Interesting that you should say that, Steve. Does getting high with Eddie ‘the Freak’ Munson count as school stuff to you?”

Steve gaped. “I’m not getting high with Munson, Nancy, what the fuck?”

Scowling, Nancy took a step closer and poked at Steve’s chest. “Don’t lie to me! I saw you talking with him in the parking lot after school yesterday, and when I followed your car home, his van was parked outside your house. Why else would he be at your house if not to sell you weed?”

“Eddie’s my friend!”

“He’s a bad influence, Steve. Not to mention a drug dealer! ” She whispered those words with an awful concoction of fear and disgust like she could be hunted for even speaking them out loud. “You could get in a lot of trouble hanging around him.”

“I don’t understand why you’re so concerned with the people I surround myself with. You made it crystal clear last semester that I’m just bullshit ,” Steve sneered, ignoring the way his heart still clenched at the word. 

“I’m worried about you, Steve. Jon and I are your friends.”

Steve continued speaking as if she hadn’t said anything. “You know you still haven’t apologized for that, right? You called me and our entire relationship bullshit, never apologized, and now you want to have a say in who I spend my time with?”

She threw her hands up in the air in exasperation. “I’m only looking out for you!”

Steve ran a hand through his hair to hide his eye roll. “I don’t need you to! And I certainly don’t need you to protect me from Eddie Munson. He’s been a better friend to me these past few weeks than you have the entire year.” Then, Steve scoffed. “At least he helps me look after the kids. After everything we went through, I thought you’d put more effort into making sure they’re safe.”

As far as Steve was concerned, that was one of the best things about Eddie. Especially after seeing just how gentle and sweet he could be with a baby. He really was exactly what Steve needed.

Nancy’s jaw dropped. “You let him near the kids?”

In a no-nonsense tone, Steve replied with a glare, “Yes, I did, and they love him. So maybe you should re-examine your worldview and understand that sometimes you can be wrong. And in this case, you are.” She opened her mouth to argue, but Steve just sighed and interrupted her, “I’m done talking about this, Nancy. Go back to class.”

Nancy huffed, but she knew when an argument was over, so she stomped away, dissatisfied with the outcome of their conversation.

Unfortunately, Steve only got a second to catch his breath before the owner of the light brown hair and red Converse peeked their head around the gym wall.

“Okay, I’m really sorry for eavesdropping, but that was the worst trainwreck I have ever had the misfortune of overhearing. Like, I’m surprised that I want to take your side since I was under the impression that you’re a total asshole, but Miss Priss over there was definitely not in the right. I mean, you told her straight up that she never apologized to you, and she still didn’t take the time to apologize! That was rough, dude. You handled that really well as far as I’m concerned.”

Steve’s jaw had slowly dropped lower and lower the more the girl before him spoke until he was gobsmacked at the ease with which her words flowed forth. She looked vaguely familiar, but that still didn’t solve why she was standing in front of him and giving her opinion on an argument she had no stake in.

“Right. Well, thanks, I guess… Who are you?”

The girl froze. “Oh, shit. I totally forgot. Uh, I’m Robin? Robin Buckley? I sit behind you in Mrs. Click’s class?”

Steve wracked his brain for any memory of who he sat by in Mrs. Click’s class, embarrassed that he didn’t really remember. “Okay. I appreciate your input, Robin. Is there anything else you needed, or can I go?”

Robin took a step closer with her hand in front of her chest. “Wait, don’t go yet! I actually came to talk to you about Eddie.”

Tentatively, Steve relaxed. “Oh. You must be one of his friends. Are you part of Hellfire?”

Although she seemed surprised that Steve knew what Hellfire was, she pressed on without questioning him. “Yeah, we’re friends! Or… Well, we’re more like acquaintances. He’s in jazz band with me.” Robin scuffed the rubber toe of her shoe into the dirt. “To be honest, I came here to give you the platonic equivalent of a shovel talk because I’ve seen you two talking and Eddie looked pretty happy with you, but I wanted to make sure you weren’t just going to use him and his friendship to get a discount on drugs. But I just heard you tell Nancy that you weren’t doing weed with him, so now I feel kind of stupid.”

At Robin’s concern for Eddie, Steve allowed himself to relax fully and lean back against the wall of the alley. He opened his mouth to speak before pausing for a second, his gaze landing on a pink triangle pin attached to Robin’s shirt collar.

He knew what that pin meant. After he had realized that he liked boys the same way he liked girls, Steve had driven up to a library in Indy where no one would recognize him and found as much literature about people like him that he could find. He didn’t care if it was history or fiction, he wanted to learn everything he could.

Steve knew exactly what that pink triangle represented.

For Robin to be wearing that pin on her shirt, she had to know what it represented too. Of course, he had no way of knowing if she was someone like him, a supporter of people like him, or just some girl that didn’t understand the history of the symbol, but he wanted to take a chance and find out. If only to have someone to gush about Eddie with that didn’t happen to be thirteen years old.

“You think Eddie looks happy with me?” Steve asked curiously.

Robin’s eyes went wide and she backtracked immediately. “In a friendly way! Like, it looks like he enjoys your company. Don’t drop him just because I said he likes being around you!”

Steve chuckled softly. Well, that confirmed at least one of his suspicions. “Don’t worry, I’m not planning on dropping him. I enjoy his company too. Maybe a little more than he does if he only looks happy with me in a friendly way.” He winked at her, hoping she would catch on to the meaning behind his words.

With a relieved exhale, Robin let her body relax. Then she seemed to process what Steve had just implied. Straightening up immediately, her mouth opened and closed while she tried to figure out how to respond. “Oh! You– But I thought you were… How did you–?”

Grinning wide, Steve cut her off. “Don’t hurt yourself, Buckley.” He pointed at her pin, “I saw the pink triangle. Figured it would assure you way more if I told you that I have a crush on Eddie than it would if I tried to convince you that I wasn’t using him for drugs.”

“I like girls!” Robin squeaked out, still staring at Steve in something akin to shock and awe. “I just thought since you told me about your gay thing, I should tell you about mine. So we’re even and stuff.”

Steve laughed. “Then I guess we’re even and stuff.” They stood in silence for a moment, just processing, and then Steve spoke back up. “So… You wanna eat lunch together?”

“You wanna eat lunch with me?” Robin asked breathlessly, flapping her hands at her sides.

Shrugging, Steve smiled like it was obvious. “Yeah. There’s no way I’m eating with Nancy and Jonathan today after all that, and I haven’t quite won over all of the Hellfire guys yet. Plus, it’ll be nice to have a friend to talk to about this kind of stuff, you know?”

“More than anything,” Robin agreed easily, beaming at Steve like the shining sun.

So instead of going back to class—they only had 15 minutes left, so it’s not like it mattered—Steve and Robin walked into the cafeteria early, scoping out the best table for them to sit at that was both far away from where Jonathan and Nancy sat and also not near somewhere people like Hargrove sat at. Luckily, they found one in the corner close to where the Hellfire Club sat, though Steve was pretty sure Robin knew why he wanted to sit there more than anywhere else.

Steve always packed his own lunch since he knew his cooking was infinitely better than whatever shit the cafeteria cooked up, so he sat down while Robin went to get in line for her food. The bell rang for the beginning of lunch with Robin at the front of the line, so he didn’t have to wait long for her to take a seat across from him.

“Looks like your little loverboy has entered the building,” Robin teased, laughing when Steve immediately looked up from his leftovers to search for him.

At first, he assumed she was just messing with him, but then he saw Eddie walking between the tables with his friends. Eddie glanced over to Nancy and Jonathan’s table, doing a double take when he didn’t see Steve.

Robin cackled, and Steve ducked his head down to hide his blush.

“Aww, he was looking for you! Aren’t you two just the cutest little things ,” Robin crooned in an old granny voice, pinching Steve’s cheeks as she wheezed with uncontrollable laughter at his misery.

Steve groaned, “Yeah, yeah, I get it. Is it too late to revoke my friendship with you?”

“Yep!” Robin chirped. “You’re stuck with me now, dingus. Better get used to it.”

Although Steve tried to play up his frustration, he was finding that Robin was pretty fun to hang out with. Plus, when she teased him about his crush on Eddie, she was much sweeter than Tommy and Carol had ever been about Nancy. 

Speaking of Eddie, Steve looked up from where he had ducked his head to see Eddie standing on his table and giving another one of his speeches, though this one was not as pointed as his last one had been. It certainly looked strange for him to rant about the disparities between social classes with their baby strapped against his chest. Resting his head in his hands, Steve watched Eddie flaunt around, smiling fondly at the ease with which Eddie cradled DJ while simultaneously throwing barbs at Hargrove and his goons.

“Oh, wow,” Robin said, prompting Steve to tear his eyes away from Eddie. “You really do like him. I mean, I didn’t think you were lying, but I will admit that there was a little smidgen of doubt. Seeing this, though… Yeah, you’ve got it bad.”

With a huff, Steve sat up and fixed Robin with a faux-annoyed glare. “We get it, I have a massive crush. Why can’t I make fun of you for a girl that you like?”

Robin smirked and crossed her arms in front of her chest. “Because I never have embarrassing crushes. And having a crush on Eddie is embarrassing .”

“Oh, yeah?” Steve raised an eyebrow. “Then who are you crushing on right now?”

She stuck her nose up at him. “Tammy Thompson.” Her tone made it obvious that she thought Tammy Thompson was a solid pick and there was no way it was embarrassing. She was dead wrong.

“Tammy Thompson?” Steve exclaimed, though not loud enough to draw any attention, as his eyebrows raised high on his forehead. “But she’s a total dud!”

Robin gasped, offended. “She is not! ”

Steve shook his head, looking at Robin like she was stupid. “Uh, yeah she is . You know she wants to be a singer and move to Nashville and shit, right?”

“Okay, so she has dreams! God forbid a woman wants to make a name for herself.”

“She can barely hold a tune, Robin.” Steve attempted a frankly perfect impression of what Tammy sounded like when she tried to sing, grinning when Robin tried to cover his mouth with her hand, shushing him.

As she scanned the cafeteria to see if anyone was looking at them, she hissed, “Oh my god, keep it down! You sound like a muppet.”

Eager to rile Robin up even more, Steve replied, “ She sounds like a muppet! She sounds like a muppet giving birth .”

Robin burst out laughing with a snorting kind of cackle, effectively drawing the attention of the nearby tables. Steve didn’t care though, joining her in laughing so hard he wheezed. At one point, Robin did her own impression and Steve thought for sure he would throw up from the intensity of his laughter.

Yeah, they were going to get along great.

***

When Eddie stepped out of his last period before lunch on Thursday, he was not expecting someone to grab his arm and pull him to the side in the hallway to talk, but it’s better than someone pulling him aside to beat him up, so he let it slide.

“Hey! Buckley! From band, right? What can I do for you, my lady?” Eddie grinned, bowing at her cheekily.

Immediately, she began rambling. “Hey, so I know we don’t exactly hang out or even talk, but I was wondering if you wanted to sit with me at lunch. I know you sit with your club, but well, I was kind of hoping you could make an exception just this once. It’s not because I’m lonely or anything, though! You’d be joining me and my friend.” She paused for a breath. “Okay, i said my friend, but really he’s your friend too. Your friend first. Er, whatever.”

Eddie laughed. “Woah, woah, woah! Calm down there, Buckley. Who’s this friend of yours and how do I know him?”

“It’s Steve Harrington.”

Eddie blinked rapidly, then his jaw dropped. “You’re friends with Steve? I thought the little shrimps said his only friends were Nancy and Jonathan.”

Robin sucked in a breath through her teeth. “Yeah, you see, they kind of had falling out on Tuesday. Nancy and Steve that is. She was all upset because he was skipping out on their study sessions to smoke weed with you, and he was all like Uh, no I am not! but she didn’t really believe him. So Steve defended your honor. I don’t know if I should really be telling you this considering I wasn’t even supposed to hear it, but it was about you so…”

Huh. Hadn’t Mike said something about the three of them being trauma bonded? That didn’t seem like the type of friendship to sink with one tiny blow to the hull. And about Eddie? It’s not like he thought Robin was lying, but he kind of wanted to hear it straight from the source.

“Well, if Steve is waiting for us, we better not keep his majesty waiting, right? Come on, Buckley, lead the way!” Eddie said, nudging Robin forward in the direction of the cafeteria.

She scoffed. “Oh, please. I know you’re just dying to see him. You didn’t need this excuse.”

Eddie waved her off with one hand. “Semantics, my dear. Semantics.” 

Robin walked them through the cafeteria between the tables to get to a small table in the back that was occupied by none other than Steve Harrington himself. As they approached, Steve looked up from his leftovers and beamed at them.

“Hey, Eddie! I’m glad Robin found you,” Steve said, patting the seat next to him and beckoning for Eddie to sit.

“Hey, I heard that you and your girlfriend had an argument about me the other day… I’m sorry about that, man,” Eddie said, plopping down into the offered seat.

Steve tutted and dismissed Eddie with a wave. “Nancy’s not my girlfriend. We broke up.”

“Yesterday? Over me? You– I thought–” Eddie stuttered, his mouth opening and closing in confusion.

Smiling softly at Eddie’s flustered expression, Steve replied, “Last semester. She’s dating Jonathan Byers now.”

Robin raised an unimpressed eyebrow, “Didn’t she cheat on you with him?”

“Yeah,” Steve said, shrugging like it didn’t affect him.

At that new piece of information, Eddie’s jaw snapped shut into a scowl. “But you sit with them at lunch! I thought you guys were friends! You babysit their brothers! ” Eddie’s hair whipped around wildly as he demonstrated his confusion and horror with extravagant arm waving.

Steve smiled sheepishly, rubbing the back of his neck as he looked away. “Yeah, well… Before you, they were my only friends. I didn’t want to sit alone at lunch, so I sat with them. It’s no big deal.”

Robin made a noise like she didn’t agree, but she still changed the subject before Eddie could ask any more questions. “Hang on… You aren’t friends with Eddie for the weed?” She asked, winking at Steve as if it was an inside joke the two of them had. Eddie was still offended.

“Nah,” Steve responded casually, sharing a sly grin with her. “I’m mostly friends with him for the eye candy. I mean, awooga , seriously.”

Eddie scoffed in disbelief, rolling his eyes with a deep flush. “Har, har. Very funny, Steve.”

Steve leaned closer to Eddie and trailed his fingers across Eddie’s hand. “Aw, come on, baby. You know I’m only teasing.” Then, he sobered up, his tone going serious. “Not about the eye candy thing, though.”

Huh. Now that Eddie’s friends opened his eyes, it certainly did seem like Steve was flirting with him. At least a little bit.

Across from them, Robin tried to hide a laugh into her hand, the other holding DJ close to her chest. Steve stuck his tongue out at her, and she responded in kind before turning her attention back to their baby.

Crossing his arms over his chest, Eddie smirked. “What’s the matter, Buckley? Never seen a baby before?”

She raised a challenging eyebrow at him. “Oh, I’ve seen a baby before. Just not one as ugly as him!”

Eddie gasped dramatically, clutching at his heart and falling over sideways to land in Steve’s lap. He sucked in raspy breaths and reached a hand up to cup Steve’s cheek. Steve indulged him, playing along and sniffling like he was shedding a tear.

“Stevie… My love. I don’t think I have much longer left to live.”

“No, Eddie! You can’t! Don’t leave me like this.”

“I’m dying, big boy. Dying of heartbreak! ”

Robin rolled her eyes. “Oh my god, you’re both such dinguses!” Both boys turned to shush her, Eddie lifting his head up so he could see her over the cafeteria table.

“You can’t leave DJ without a father, Eds. We need you. This family needs you!”

“I’m sorry, baby,” Eddie whispered before he went limp in Steve’s hold. Then, he lolled out his tongue. “Bleh…”

Steve hiccuped, blinking away imaginary tears as he wailed, “How could Robin break apart my family like this!”

She groaned, “ Okay! I get it! Your baby isn’t ugly, you two are just annoying.”

Immediately, Eddie righted himself and grinned at her. “See, was that so hard?” Then he and Steve dissolved into laughter while Robin shook her head at them fondly.

After they had all calmed down from that riveting performance, Eddie made quick work of his own lunch and started scooting closer to Steve to see if he could steal a bite or two. To his surprise, Steve just slid the container over without saying anything, too wrapped up in his conversation with Robin.

Their back and forth banter was pretty interesting to listen to, and Eddie realized it probably sounded just like his D&D rants with Hellfire sounded to Steve. Entertaining in a confusing way. The way Steve and Robin bounced topics back and forth like an Olympic game of tennis was hard to follow, but Eddie didn’t mind.

Honestly, it had been a while since Eddie had to make any new friends. He kind of liked it.

***

When Friday afternoon rolled around again, Steve made plans for Robin to come over to help him babysit DJ and the Party. While it acted sort of as a trial run similar to how pet owners might slowly assimilate a new animal to their pet, he wasn’t planning on dropping her as a friend if they didn’t approve. He’d just have to hang out with them separately.

Of course, the kids were already at his house when Robin arrived, Steve having driven them home after school with El dropped off earlier by Hopper. He’d had to make Mike, Will, Lucas, and Dustin squish together in the back, but Max had been grateful for the front seat, so all their whinging was worth it.

The doorbell rang and Dustin, ever the energetically nosey brat, ran to open the door.

“Uh. Hello, small child,” Robin said, caught off guard when Steve hadn’t been the one to answer.

Calling behind him without taking his eyes off of Robin, Dustin yelled, “Steve, I thought you said you were having your friend over! Where’s Eddie?”

Immediately, Steve was rushing over. “Eddie’s at a club meeting tonight, shithead. I already told you that. This is Robin.”

Max walked up behind Steve and snorted. “Okay. So when’s your friend getting here?”

“ Robin’s my friend.”

Peering around Steve’s side, Max eyed Robin up and down. “Hmm. No. She’s too cool to be your friend.”

Cackling, Robin winked at her. “I sure am. But unfortunately, I’ve lowered my standards. Now, can I come in? I was promised pizza.”

Steve ushered her inside, throwing Max a stink eye as he did, and brought her into the living room to meet the rest of the kids.

“Alright, twerps, listen up! This is Robin. She’s joining us for Indiana Jones tonight, so play nice. I’ll be ordering us pizza, but you have to decide on the toppings for the two pizzas that you’ll share. No one’s getting their own. Is that understood?”

There was a chorus of “Yes, Mom ” and various other affirmatives that Steve rolled his eyes at, but then Mike crossed his arms over his chest with his signature Steve-did-something-I-don’t-like expression.

“So we have to share pizza but you and your new girlfriend get your own?”

Dustin elbowed his side. “Dude! You know we always share pizza. Don’t be a dick.”

With an agitated air about him, Steve put his hands on his hips. “First of all, I’m not made of money, Wheeler. I’m only getting three pizzas; two for you, and one for us. Secondly, Robin is not my girlfriend. I don’t want you guys getting it twisted. I am not interested in her like that.”

Curiously, Will seemed to relax at that, but it wasn’t clear why until El spoke up from next to him and said, “What about Eddie? You are interested in him?”

Steve smiled sweetly at her. “Yeah, El. But don’t go telling him about that. It’s still a secret.”

El beamed, miming zipping her lips while Will nodded seriously with sparkling eyes next to her.

As if on cue, the telephone rang in the kitchen.

“Introduce yourselves to Robin while I take this call. And no shit-talking me!”

Immediately, Mike and Dustin started saying childishly mean things about him like ‘Your hair is crunchy’ or ‘You smell like butt’ and other such eloquencies. Without joining in, Robin sat next to Will and El, trying to strike up a conversation with them while Steve went to answer the phone.

“Harrington residence, this is Steve speaking.”

“Shit, is that how you answer the phone? No wonder everyone in Hawkins thinks you’re their perfect golden boy.” The familiar voice crackled through the receiver.

Steve straightened up immediately. “Eddie! Hey, baby. I thought you had Hellfire.”

From his tone, it was clear that Eddie was majorly peeved. “Yeah, we were supposed to. Ms. Allen didn’t tell us that she was getting the drama room repainted, so now we can’t use it to host until next week.”

“Ah, shit. That sucks, man.” Steve frowned, twisting the phone cable around his finger. Then, he had a selfish little idea and chanced a look into the living room. The kids hadn’t started the movie, instead electing to grill Robin until they were satisfied. “Well, uh… Why don’t you bring your stuff to my place and host it here? You know I have the space.”

There was a commotion on the other end of the phone. “Seriously? You’d do that for m— uh, us?”

“Yeah, of course! And I mean, I have the kids over, but they’ll probably want to watch you guys play. You saw how they were the other day.” At this point, Robin had left the kids to wander over to the kitchen and listen in. Steve tried to shoo her away with one hand while he twisted his finger in the cord with the other.

“Hey, that’s completely fine with me! Seriously, sweetheart, thank you so much for doing this.” Faint whispering in the background that Steve assumed was the rest of the club.

“It’s nothing, Eds. Really. I want you here. Why don’t you and the guys head over and I’ll set up our dining room for you?”

“Sounds perfect, darling. I’ll see you soon.”

As soon as the phone was resting in its cradle, the kids were swarming him and asking a million questions.

“Was that Eddie? Is he coming to watch Indiana Jones with us?”

“I heard you mention guys plural . You have more friends?”

“Oh, come on! It’s like you never have time for just us anymore.”

Steve tsked at them and put his hands on his hips. “Didn’t your parents ever teach you not to eavesdrop? And I’m not ditching you guys, I’m just letting Eddie host his club here tonight since their usual place is getting repainted. We can still watch Indiana Jones .”

Robin blinked at him rapidly. “Hang on, you’re letting Eddie host Hellfire in your house? His Dungeons and Dragons club?” She crossed her arms over his chest. “Oh, you are gone gone.”

Mike pushed forward until he was in front of Steve. “Wait! They’re going to play D&D? Here? While we’re also here?”

Steve narrowed his eyes suspiciously. “...Yes. I can’t tell if you’re upset about that or not.”

For the first time in a while, Steve saw Mike get genuinely excited. “No way! This is going to be so cool! Can we watch them play?”

Chuckling, Steve reached over to ruffle Mike’s hair, smirking when he tried to dodge away. “I already told them you’d want to watch, so I don’t have a problem with it. Do you guys want to help me set up the dining room for their game before we order pizza?”

There was a raucous chorus of yesses from all the boys as they ran into the dining room and started moving the furniture around, while Max and El stayed back next to Robin. They giggled to each other and pulled Robin back into the living room with them to… gossip? Steve wasn’t sure what they were doing, but they were having fun and that’s all he cared about.

Since the boys were distracted, he pulled out a notepad from a drawer in the kitchen by the phone and started writing down what he assumed the kids would want to order from the pizza place. He was about 85% sure that they would be gunning for pepperoni or some other pizza with meat while the girls would want a plain cheese.

“Hey, Rob! What do you want on our pizza?” Steve called out to the living room.

She groaned. “Uh, I don’t want to say. You’ll think I’m gross…”

Scoffing, Steve said, “I would literally be a hypocrite if I called whatever you want gross. Dustin thinks my pizza topping choices are the most disgusting combination on earth.”

“Okay, okay, fine.” Robin got up and joined Steve in the kitchen, probably to save face in front of the kids, since she asked, “Can I have corn, shrimp, and pineapple?”

Steve’s jaw dropped. “No fucking way!”

“Aww, come on,” Robin whined pitifully. “You said you wouldn’t think I’m gross.”

Steve reached one arm out to rest his hand on Robin’s shoulder and squeezed it comfortingly. He stared directly and seriously into her eyes as he replied, “Robin, that is literally my pizza order. You want the exact same toppings that I do.”

“Holy shit.”

“I know!” Steve crowed, shaking her back and forth excitedly.

At the commotion, the girls ran back in to join them and check out what they were so excited about, so Steve used the opportunity to ask what they wanted. 

El looked up at Steve and said, matter-of-fact, “Onions.”

Steve blinked, surprised by her conviction. For some reason, he expected something weirder than just onions, but if that’s all she wanted, he wasn’t going to argue. When Steve turned to Max to see if she had any reservations she just shrugged, so he wrote down their order, added another one for the Hellfire boys, and pulled the phone off the cradle to call the pizza place.

In about ten minutes, the boys had deemed their set-up of the dining room satisfactory and moved back into the living room to announce this fact to the rest of them. Just as they came bounding into the room, however, the doorbell rang.

Steve moved to open it quickly, stopping Dustin when he tried to sprint to the door with a hand against his chest. “Come on, man. Chill out!”

“We want pizza!”

“And you’ll get it . Just give me a minute. ”

He opened the door with a smile and came face to face with Eddie and the rest of his club. “Hey, guys! Come on in. Take your shoes off in the hallway, and then you can head straight to the dining room. The boys set up the room for you, whatever that means, so I hope it’s to your tastes.”

Gareth grinned. “To our tastes? This isn’t a dinner party or anything, right? We’re not underdressed, are we?”

Steve rolled his eyes good-naturedly and gestured them all inside. “Of course not. Pizza’s on the way. Me and the kids were going to watch Indiana Jones, but when they heard you were going to play D&D, they decided to ditch that plan and watch you instead.”

Chuckling, Eddie turned back to say to his friends, “I hope you’re ready for four middle school boys critiquing your every move, gentleman!”

Once everyone was inside, Eddie quickly set up his notebooks and DM screen at the head of the table while his friends gathered around with their character sheets in front of them. Somehow, Dustin had found a flat tray for them to roll their dice in, and they boys filed in to take the unoccupied seats.

Since they were all distracted, Steve turned to Max and El. “Do you want to watch too, or do you want to hang out in the living room with me and Robin?”

“Well, what will you be doing?” Max asked, her eyes narrowed.

Robin shrugged. “Gossip, probably. I might convince him to let me paint his nails.” She leaned in closer to them to stage-whisper, “Don’t tell him, but I brought a bunch of nail polish.”

El giggled and grabbed Robin’s arm to drag her back into the living room.

Steve moved to join them, but before he did, he turned to wink and blow a kiss at Eddie. To his immense delight, Eddie pretended to catch it in his hand, but that delight melted when Eddie threw it up in the air to catch it in his mouth, giving Steve a shit-eating grin as he did.

Laughing, Steve followed the girls back into the living room to make a braid-train with El and Max while Robin painted his nails and DJ sat in his lap. They were a mismatched little family, but Steve loved it. His little shitheads and his little shit of a husband.

***

At the end of the day on Friday the next week, Eddie walked into Home Ec with Steve at his side. Usually Mrs. O’Donnell would let everyone leave early once they checked in with her, but it was their last day of the project and she had graded their binders, so Eddie figured they’d just be wrapping everything up.

As everyone got situated at their tables, Mrs. O’Donnell came around with a polaroid camera and started taking photos of each pair with their respective babies. When she got to them, she smiled and said, “Hello, boys. I’m taking photos of everyone to commemorate this moment. Would you like to do a fun pose or just hold it between you?”

Eddie turned to Steve and they shared a grin before he replied, “Oh, we’re totally going to pose. What do you think, Stevie? Double cheek kiss.”

Steve smirked. “Sounds good to me.”

So together, they both held DJ up between their faces and pressed a kiss to both of his cheeks. The camera flashed as Mrs. O’Donnell took the first picture. “Hold that pose for me, boys! I want to make sure you both get a copy.”

It was a little awkward to stand like that as the first photo printed, but it was totally worth it to see the finished product when they shook out the film.

Sitting back at their table with their heads huddled together, Steve carefully penned a caption for the photos since he had a steady hand and legible handwriting. It said, DJ and his dads ‘85 . Eddie watched him blow out the ink carefully, trying to hold back the frown that was starting to form on his face.

It was all becoming real. Sure, DJ wasn’t a real baby, but the impact he had on their lives was. He and Steve had looked after him for three weeks, and now they would have to hand him back and act like he hadn’t made a difference in their lives.

And yeah, Steve would understand how Eddie was feeling, but Eddie still wasn’t completely convinced that Steve would want to be around him after everything was over. Sure their little circles had converged a little bit, but Steve’s whole crew already had their thing going. Eddie would just intrude.

He was snapped out of his train of thought when Mrs. O’Donnell returned to the front of the class and clapped her hands firmly together.

“Alright, students! Now that we’ve all settled in and had our photos taken, I’d like to thank you for a wonderful final project and an engaging semester. I can honestly say it has been a joy teaching you these past few months, and I hope you will go into the world more confident in your ability to take care of yourself. That is the goal, after all.” 

Scanning their faces, Mrs. O’Donnell must have seen bored looks from some of her students because she sighed wearily. “But I digress.” She took a moment to hold up a short stack of binders and continued, “I know what you’re all waiting for. Your last grade of the year. I’ll be coming around now to hand them back to you in exchange for your baby. Once you’ve done that, you may go home early. To the seniors, congratulations. To everyone else, I’ll see you next year.”

For once, Eddie sat next to Steve and found he had nothing to say. It’s not like he expected them to fail or anything. They had made a pretty good parenting team, so Eddie was fairly certain he was finally graduating. It was just the anticipation. The not knowing.

Finally, Mrs. O’Donnell got to their table. When she set their binder down in front of them, she winked and said, “Nice job, boys. I knew you two would work well together.” Then she addressed Eddie specifically. “I’m proud of you Mr. Munson. Congratulations.”

Eddie blushed. “Thank you, ma’am.”

After she walked away to the next pair, DJ in her arms, Steve turned to Eddie and bumped their shoulders together kindly. “You wanna do the honors?”

“No, no. Let’s do it together.”

With both of their hands on the front cover of the binder, they flipped it open to reveal a bright red A+ circled on the front page next to their names. Eddie felt faint.

Steve wiggled in his seat, shaking Eddie excitedly. “Eds! Baby, you did it! Wayne’s going to be so happy for you. We get to graduate together!”

Eddie was pretty sure he answered Steve, but his mind felt like it was in a fog. He was done. He’d finally done it.

When Steve moved to grab his things and leave, Eddie followed him on autopilot, aware that Steve was speaking but not processing any of the words leaving his lips. As if his mind was split into two halves, he answered Steve without ever knowing what either of them were saying.

Then they were outside, and the bright afternoon sun woke Eddie up just enough to hear Steve ask, “So… What now?”

Eddie swallowed hard, taking a chance. “We could, uh, hang out? If you wanted. I don’t have any plans.”

“That’d be nice,” Steve replied absently. Sighing, he tilted his head at Eddie curiously. “Does standing out here empty-handed feel kind of weird to you? It’s like a persistent feeling that I’m forgetting something even though I know I’m not.”

“Yeah…” Eddie mused. “It’s like nothing’s changed, but it’s still wrong somehow.”

Nothing’s changed. Even after three weeks together, the two of them exist like planets in separate orbits. They might pass each other for a moment, but they’re bound to their own path.

Maybe his friends were wrong after all…

“Actually, Harrington,” Eddie started. “I have to go. See you.”

Then, like a complete coward, Eddie ran.

***

Steve was worried. After Eddie had run off the other day, it had been complete radio silence from him. Now graduation was that afternoon, and Steve still hadn’t heard from him. He had tried leaving messages on the Munson’s answering machine, but they all went unanswered. It had been days, and Steve was starting to think he had said something to upset him.

Everything had seemed fine at the end of their class. Sure, Eddie had been acting a little spacey, but Steve had been feeling the same. He couldn’t figure it out on his own, so naturally, he went straight to Robin.

“Hmmm… I don’t know, Steve. Maybe he got spooked and ran?”

Furrowing his eyebrows, Steve frowned. “But what could he have gotten spooked by?” Then, after a loaded pause, he asked, “Was it me? Do you think I came on too strong?”

Robin’s face scrunched up like she was close to tears and she sat next to Steve on his living room couch. “Oh, Steve… He likes you. It’s so clear that he does!”

“Then why is he avoiding me?”

A weary sigh escaped Robin’s lips as she leaned back into the cushions and let her head fall back. “Maybe… Maybe he’s trying to protect himself? Unnecessarily?”

“Maybe,” Steve conceded.

Later on, after Steve had donned his cap and gown and Robin was checking him over to make sure he looked okay, he asked, “Should I try to talk to him again or leave him be?”

“It’s your last chance, isn’t it?” Robin replied, brushing off lint from his lapel. Then she pulled out a pack of bobby pins and stuck a couple between her teeth as she tried to pin his cap in place. “Euw shud go hor ih!”

“Maybe I will,” Steve nodded, wincing when Robin firmly moved his head back to where she wanted it. “Sorry.”

Then, getting out of the car in front of the school with Robin armed with her camera. “I’m nervous, Robbie.”

“Everything’s going to be just fine, bub,” she soothed, patting his back as she moved to join the audience in the gym and he moved to join the rest of his class. The class of ‘85.

Throughout the ceremony, Steve moved on autopilot, his brain running through every scenario possible for when he confronted Eddie later. What if Steve had only been imagining Eddie’s soft blushes? What if there really wasn’t anything stirring between them? How could he bear the realization that the best few weeks of his life had not been what he thought?

Steve Harrington walked the stage and received his highschool diploma with only Eddie Munson on his mind.

As soon as Principal Higgins congratulated the senior class of ‘85. As soon as everyone threw their caps in the air. As soon as the crowds of proud parents left their seats to flock to their children. Steve went looking for Eddie.

It was fairly easy. Even dressed in the same boring cap and gown as everyone else, Eddie stuck out. He was still adorned with his chunky silver rings, though for once his beautiful curly hair was pulled up into a bun.

Steve moved smoothly through the crowd, avoiding anyone who even looked his way as he made a beeline to Eddie. Luckily for him, Eddie had his back facing Steve, so he hadn’t seen him approaching.

“Hey, Eddie,” Steve said, tapping Eddie’s shoulder to prompt him to turn around. “Congratulations. I’m really proud of you.”

Eddie spun around and blanched. “Oh. Steve. Thanks.”

Addressing Wayne, Steve waved and gave him a charming smile. “It’s nice to see you again, Wayne. I’m glad you could make it to the ceremony. Would you mind if I stole Eddie away for a bit?”

Steve caught Eddie shaking his head at Wayne, but Wayne just winked at Steve and replied, “I don’t mind at all, boy. You two have fun!”

In spite of Eddie’s half-hearted complaints, Steve dragged him away and through the gym’s side door that opened into the alley. The same alley where Nancy called him bullshit. The same alley where he met Robin. The alley where he would…

“You’ve been avoiding me.”

Eddie winced sheepishly and turned his head away to look anywhere but at Steve’s face. “Yeah… My bad, man. Been busy with… stuff.”

Steve stared at Eddie in silence for a moment of two, just taking in his features. He wanted to memorize them. Memorize just how beautiful Eddie looked in case their conversation went down in flames. 

“Eddie…” He stopped and stared down at his feet, eyes suddenly misty. “You know I had so much fun with you the past month. I’ve always thought you were cool, but being around you one-on-one was like… Like being showered with shimmering stardust.” Steve chuckled self-deprecatingly. “I know that sounds really stupid, but I mean it. You made everything way more fun just by being you.”

Across from him, Eddie looked like he was shaking.

“You’re going to make an amazing father one day, you know. And I…” 

“Steve…” Eddie tried to cut in.

Steve shook his head. “No. I need to say this.” He took a wobbly breath and continued, “I really like you. Like really like you. I think I could even love you, Eddie Munson.”

It was like a weight was lifted off his chest. He could breathe fully again. His ears no longer sounded like they were stuffed full of cotton balls. He said it. 

It was out there in the universe, and now it was up to Eddie to decide what to do with it.

“Really?” Eddie breathed, his voice awestruck with wonder. He twisted his rings around his fingers.

Steve nodded. “Yes, really.”

Eddie took an aborted step forward like he was unsure whether he was allowed to. When Steve stayed right where he was against the brick wall, Eddie stepped forward again until he was close enough to take Steve’s hands in his own. “I really like you, too. You’ve been driving me insane this past month.”

Reaching up to tuck a loose curl behind Eddie’s ear, Steve smiled softly and murmured, “I have a feeling you’re going to drive me insane for a while .”

His eyes flicking down to Steve’s lips, Eddie whispered. “Steve… Can I kiss you?”

“Please,” Steve answered, tilting his head up to meet him easily.

Eddie slid one hand down Steve’s side to rest at his waist, the other tangling in his hair at the nape of his neck. Steve melted into him, cupping Eddie’s cheeks with his hands as he brushed his thumb soothingly against his cheekbone.

While Steve was no stranger to kissing, he could confidently say that kissing Eddie Munson was unlike anything he had ever felt before. Every press, every tug, every sigh was packed with elation and longing and content.

Steve hummed against Eddie’s lips, unable to stop his smile from growing and breaking their kiss. Giggling, he leaned his head forward to rest against Eddie’s forehead.

Chikchik.

A short flash of light burst the bubble the two boys had wrapped themselves in, and when they turned to look, Robin grinned at them cheekily, holding up her camera.

“Don’t mind me. Just immortalizing this moment on film for posterity’s sake.”

“Robin!”