Chapter Text
Truth or dare felt childish, but maybe that's what the party needed. After the hell that was Starcourt burning down, and Hopper having disappeared, morale was low. Nancy, Jonathan, Robin and Steve had tried to uplift everyone's spirits, but no one was quite able to make things feel normal.
They still tried.
The Byers were just weeks away from moving from Hawkins, so Steve took it upon himself to host a small get together amongst the older party members, and if that meant struggling through awkward tension between himself and Jonathan so be it. It was, at first, awkward like he thought, but then the drinks started pouring and the four of them ended up giggling on the floor. Jonathan held Nancy's hand the whole time, Steve holding Robin's, laughing at the hilarity of the game they picked.
"Steve, truth or dare." Robin squeezed his hand while she asked. Everyone sat up when they heard her start the game back up.
"Dare me, Robs." Nancy oooh'd, smirking at Robin to make it something wild.
"Hmmm...Steve. I dare you to..." her eyes flickered between the couple in front of her. "Kiss Jonathan."
Nancy gasped and giggled, Jonathan's mouth hung open in surprise. Steve, however, just shrugged and leaned forward.
"Cmon Byers, you heard the lady."
"Really that eager to plant one on me?" Jonathan laughed, but a blush covered his face.
"Yeah, gotta win the game man."
Steve leaned forward even more, moving one hand to cup Jonathan's chin to pull him closer, delicately connecting their lips. His eyes slipped shut, and it felt like sparks flew. Without thinking, Steve wrapped his arm around the other man's neck and deepened the kiss, the action drawing out a squeak of surprise. And just like that, Harrington felt something shift inside himself.
He pulled away, huffing and face flushed a deep red, and everyone in the room stared in wide eyed surprise.
"Holy shit." Robin smacked the back of his head lightly.
"Uh..." Steve felt a bit panicked, sitting back even further until he was side by side with Buckley again. "I-i can see why you left me for him, Nance."
The air was still for a moment, Steve feeling a bit of tension at what just occurred and his stupid attempt at breaking it with a joke. Luckily, Nancy actually found it amusing.
"Steve!" Nancy exclaimed, her smile wide, and Jonathan soon joined her in laughing in disbelief.
"What? He's a good kisser! What can I say?"
Robin eyed him with a soft grin as they went back to joking around, Nancy's turn being up next. She grabbed his hand again and squeezed, a silent conversation occurring between the two.
"Nancy, truth or dare."
----
Byers leaving ended up being hard, not just on the Wheeler's but maybe, maybe Steve felt a small bit attached to the eldest brother. Whatever, though, one kiss created a small crush.
It happens.
Shortly after that incident, Robin and Steve drove to Chicago and rifled through a bunch of books and zines and pamphlets, some that made them blush like little school girls and others that made the gears in their heads start to turn. All this knowledge was overwhelming but...oddly enough he felt at peace with it. Robin herself appreciated the solidarity she felt, knowing about other lesbians like her made her feel so much less afraid.
Steve adapted fast, it made his best friend roll her eyes that he didn't freak out too much.
"It's because I have you." He'd said.
"Dingus." She smacked his shoulder with a book, but felt happy.
They did have each other.
And now, they had an issue.
----
Steve knew Eddie, vaguely; Tommy used to buy their weed from the guy and the kids had started playing Dungeons and Dragons with him that school year. He was weird, a freak, so it didn't really surprise Steve to see that a guy like him was flagging.
He thought.
He could've sworn.
"Hey Eddie." Steve startled the guy who was crouched on the floor trying his shoelaces in the video store. "Are you flagging?"
Eddie took a moment to look him up and down before quirking an eyebrow at the question. "Am I what?"
"F-flagging?" Oh no. He felt his face getting red. "The handkerchief, uh...or bandana or whatever its..."
"The hell are you going on about, Harrington? Is this a weird way of asking for drugs because it makes like, zero sense."
And what the fuck? Steve could've sworn Eddie would be--
"Ah shit, yknow what? Forget it." He rubbed the back of his neck bashfully, walking back to Robin in embarrassed defeat.
"What just happened?" Robin whispered, eyeing the metal head who strutted out of the store.
"I thought he was...yknow that thing we read about?"
"Oh yeah. He wasn't?" He shook his head, pursing his lips. "Maybe he was scared, didn't want to get outed?"
"Yeah. Maybe."
----
"Steve asked me something really fucking weird today." Eddie leaned haphazardly out of his chair, staring at his bandmates as they took a break from practice.
"Harrington?" Gareth asked
"Yeah, the guy Dustin worships."
"Aka, your favorite twerp." Eddie flipped him off in response.
"Anyways, he asked me if I was...what is it called..." He pursed his lips in thought. "Flagging?"
As soon as the word left his mouth Freak dropped his soda and sputtered, quickly trying to clean up his mess. Eddie eyed him questioningly before sitting up and playing with his rings.
"You know what that means?"
"Uh..." Freak looked taken aback. "N-no."
Everyone in the room stared at him, dropping the topic only when the garage door started opening.
"Shit, mom's home." Gareth sighed.
Freak sighed in relief, but Eddie picked up on it.
He just didn't say anything.
----
"Is Eddie really that nice to you guys?" Steve asked, poking Dustin for information on their daily drive home. He heard so much from the kid, and he could definitely take advantage of picking him up from school by learning more. So the guy had a unique look and nice eyes, and maybe he was the only other guy like him in Hawkins (he hoped), it didn't mean anything. And yet...
"Oh, duh. Why? You doubt me?"
"No, dude, I just remember him being a bit of an asshole is all." It is kind of attractive that Eddie was apparently so good to his kid--young friends too.
"He is a bit. But so are you." Steve nodded in silent agreement, he'd give Dustin that. But.
"So are you."
"Me?" Dustin feigned offense. "I'm the most perfect kid in Hellfire."
"Sure. I'll be sure to ask Eddie if he agrees." The kids' whole demeanor perked up at that idea.
"You're gonna talk to Eddie?"
"Maybe. He seems alright, and well, gotta know who's hanging around you guys right?"
"Oh man, finally. You might have a friend your age!"
"Hey! I have Robin."
"Mhm. Your so 'not girlfriend' Robin."
"We aren't dating, Henderson."
"Yeah whatever." Dustin smiled to himself and Steve rolled his eyes at the sight.
"You're such a pain."
----
"Okay okay, so I should..."
"Show up at Mayfield's, right? And around 7pm he should be home. Soooo, get there, get kicked out of Max's place by being yourself, and go 'Hey Eddie! Funny seeing you here'." Robin's idea made him groan as he stacked their returned tapes. "What? You have a better idea?"
"Robin, you try that with Vickie then get back to me."
"Vickie is different."
"And how is that?"
"Vickie is straight!" Thank God the store was empty, she was being so loud.
"She isn't! I'm telling you."
"Whatever. So what's your plan, Mr. Loves weirdos?"
"Knew I shouldn't have told you about Byers."
"I was there, couldn't have escaped me if you tried."
"My plan is to..." He froze mid sentence when the front door opened, and in walked Eddie Munson himself.
"Speak of the devil." Robin murmured in his ear. He shushed her and winked.
"Check this out."
Steve hopped over the counter, swaggering over to the guy in forced confidence.
"Hey, Munson." Eddie peaked up at him wearily.
"Hey?"
"You're uh, in a band right?" Eddie looked around nervously, clearly unsure of what was happening.
"Yeah...?"
"What kind of music do you play?"
"Metal...hey Harrington did someone put you up to--"
"Can I come see you perform sometime?" He not so carefully interrupted Eddie's anxious questioning. Eddie's eyes widened and his mouth hung slightly ajar.
"Um. I guess? What would Steve Harrington want to do with my band, though?"
"I want to uh, learn more about other genres of music." He improvised. Fuck he didn't think this through.
"Tired of Wham?"
"Hey now, what's wrong with Wham?" Eddie chuckled and relaxed a little bit.
"There's some good metal bands you could check out, I personally love Black Sabbath and Dio." Eddie gestured to his vest, turning a bit to show off the Dio design sewn into it.
"You should show me them sometime." Maybe too forward, too bold. Eddie went right back to eyeing him, as if he was trying to dissect his thoughts. The hesitation made Steve start to sweat, but finally...
"Yeah. I can do that. I live in forest hills, drop by sometime and I'll happily teach the King about good music." Eddie bowed jokingly, grabbing a movie from the horror section and left the building without checking it out. Robin groaned from behind Steve, who turned around and leapt for joy.
"Robin! Did you see that?"
"He stole a movie."
"But he told me to come by!"
"I told you he wasn't straight." Robin patted him on the back and smiled, feeling vindicated that she was probably right.
"We don't know that yet."
"Oh please, he is so queer."
----
"Why does Steve want to hang with me suddenly?" Eddie questioned in between handfuls of popcorn. The movie he snuck off with ended up being kinda crappy, but his friends still enjoyed the free entertainment.
Freak seemed tense again.
"And what's up with you, first the flagging thing and now this? You're acting weird." Eddie added on after catching Freak's mood shift.
"Nothing. Just... Eddie do you know any queer people in Hawkins?"
"Other than you? No. Why?"
"Cause uh, maybe he thinks you are."
"Me?" Eddie gestured to himself dramatically. "Why would Steve- and why would he want to hang out with--"
Realization dawned on him.
"Oh no."
"Yeah." Freak grimaced. Gareth and Jeff started laughing hysterically.
"Steve Harrington is hitting on you!" Gareth shouted out in glee. Eddie felt a tad bit faint, unsure of what to think.
"No way, Steve isn't like that and-and I'm not...!"
"Why else would he know about flagging? That's a very inside queer thing. Straight people don't know about that, Eddie." Freak sighed. "Face the music, Steve's crushing on you."
"No way. Not me. Why me? I'm not like that! Just because I dress different doesn't mean..." He shifted in his seat to remove the bandana from his pocket.
I mean, fuck. Sure Steve was attractive but that didn't mean shit. Right?
----
He brought it upon himself, really. Steve was sweating, nerves wrecking his usual can-do attitude when it came to flirting. He was the champion of getting people to fall for him, and now he was reduced to a heap of anxiety and fear. It didn't help he couldn't decide what to wear.
"You get crushes fast, Stevie. Look at you! You can't even get your ass out of the bathroom right now!" Robin shouted from his bedroom. True enough, he had been in there for 45 minutes.
"Says the girl who fell head over heels for Vickie within a week of school starting." Robin harrumphed in defeat, the sound of her flipping through a magazine being the only noise filling his otherwise dead silent house.
Steve combed his hair with his fingers, turning every which way to look before groaning and styling it a different way, then another. Then another. Never did he feel like such a mess about his hair...well no that's not true. Nancy Wheeler made him rethink his once swished hairdo back in high school, but otherwise this was odd for him.
He turned again in the mirror, focusing his attention on his outfit now. A simple yellow sweater with sweatpants a bit too tight. To show off his 'assets' as Robin had said teasingly when he chose the outfit. Steve didn't want to be sloppy, but he didn't want to seem too uptight and worried about hanging out with Eddie. Keeping it casual, but cute; that was his game plan.
He still wasn't sold on Eddie Munson being queer, rumors were that he was a bit of a flirt with women, but much like Steve he could be bisexual. He hoped and prayed that Robin's instincts were right, and he wasn't barking up the wrong tree. At the very least, he didn't think Munson would out him, and even if he did, would people believe him?
Steve kept reminding himself that.
He marched out of the bathroom and sighed, lifting his arms out a bit to show off his look to see if Robin approved of the whole thing one last time. When she whistled, impressed, he smiled ever so slightly.
"Lookin' good."
"Thanks. Hope Eddie thinks so too."
"Go get 'em, tiger."
----
He didn't call ahead, and he didn't find him outside for a while, so the plan actually was to just show up at his trailer and hope he wasn't busy. Robin was a stalker and figured out his band schedule pretty quickly, and Dustin was more than happy to answer when asked about their Hellfire times. The kid was positively giddy that the two were going to spend time together, oblivious to Steve's internal dilemma about their potential hang out session.
Fixing his hair once more in the car mirror, he hopped out of the vehicle and cast a worried glance over at the Mayfield trailer.
He should stop by after this.
Knocking on the trailer door was hard, it was as if his hand didn't want to listen to his brain, but once it was done there was silence. Nobody answered, so he pulled himself together and knocked again, louder this time. Finally, the sound of someone shuffling inside the home could be heard and the door swung open, nearly hitting Steve in the head.
"Hello-- Steve?" Eddie blinked down at him in disbelief. Steve cleared his throat and willed his voice to sound normal.
"Hey. Got time to teach me about music?" Eddie was wearing just boxers and a loose t-shirt and oh god it took all of his brain power to not stare at his lower region. Even though in his current position, it was difficult not to.
"Uh. Yeah. Yeah, sure." He seemed caught off guard, a little panicked as he gestured Steve inside. When the door shut behind him the man got a chance to look around the place, take it all in.
"Lots of mugs, and hats."
"Yeah, my Uncle Wayne loves that stuff."
"My mom collects teacups."
"Cool." Steve hummed, moving to take off his shoes. He felt Eddie's eyes on him the whole time, a small grin growing too.
"You're so uptight, let loose a bit."
"Huh?" Steve stammered a little, looking up after his shoes were finally removed.
"Don't gotta take your shoes off in my house, princess." And oh, didn't that stir up strange feelings inside him.
"Oh. Uh, just was taught to do that I guess. Don't want to dirty your floors." Eddie once more stared at him, as if trying to dissect his brain, and it made Steve shiver.
"Well." Eddie clapped, smiling wide. "Onto the music lesson!"
Munson skipped towards his bedroom at the end of the hall, Steve trailing behind him slowly. The guy gave him whiplash.
----
"Black Sabbath isn't too bad." Steve spoke up for the first time in half an hour.
They sat in Eddie's mess of a room while the cassette tapes played, filling what otherwise would've been complete silence. It took a bit to adjust to the lighting, and how very much Eddie this space was. The used condoms that narrowly missed the trash can were kind of gross, and he admits he grimaced a little. But the posters were interesting, and his guitar that was hanging up was sort of pretty.
"Too bad? They're great. I love Ozzy." Eddie exclaimed dramatically from his spot on his bed.
"Yeah. They're pretty good, Eddie." Steve added gingerly, and he wasn't lying. It was something different, new, just like his crush.
"Wow! Steve Harrington called a metal band good. Pigs must be flying." Eddie scooted over to his window and peaked outside for emphasis. "Nope, no piggies."
"Shut up." He rolled his eyes, reaching over to smack his arm. When Eddie reached over for the window his ass was more in view and honestly, even though it was flat it was still a bit of a nice sight. Then again, poor Jonathan also lacked in that department but he still stared a little. Just a smidge.
Steve cleared his throat and looked away, Munson taking notice and blushing ever so slightly. Just enough to be noticeable.
Did Steve fuck up by being too obvious?
"So, uh, what does Steve do now that he's out of the hellpit of high school?" Thank god he broke the silent tension.
"I'm mostly working, or carting kids around. Sometimes I read."
"You read? I thought you were illiterate this whole time." Eddie's eyebrows raised in jest.
"Dude! I've gotten super into reading now that I'm not forced to. School ruined it for me, honestly." His crush hummed in agreement and looked at him in consideration.
"You ever read 'The Hobbit'?"
"No. Is it good?"
"It's my favorite, but it's a bit big." Steve gulped, mind going someplace dirty. "You can try it if you want. Might be too nerdy for you."
"No!" Steve half shouted on accident. "I mean...no, I'd like to try it."
"For real?"
"Yeah." He breathed out, watching Eddie move to grab a huge book out from under his nightstand.
"Give it back after, yeah? It's precious." He said the last word oddly, smiling at it afterwards. Steve grabbed the hefty object and beamed at how worn with love the thing was.
"I will."
----
"Holy shit." Eddie ran into Gareth's garage like a mad man. "Guys."
The band members stopped rehearsing and eyed him, silently urging him to continue.
"He said he liked Black Sabbath, and you won't believe what happened after."
"He try to kiss you?" Gareth giggled at Jeff's guess.
"No, something crazier."
"Well, spit it out then." Gareth groaned, setting his drumsticks down.
"He said he'd read The Hobbit, knowing it's my favorite. Steve. Harrington. Reading that massive chunk of fantasy lit."
"Holy shit, he's really crushing on you, dude." Jeff laughed a little, but Freak looked a bit uncomfortable.
"What is it?" Eddie asked, feeling like he just fucked up a little bit.
"Don't lead him on, Eddie."
"I'm not! I'm just gonna be friends with the guy. He can crush on me and still be my friend, right?"
"You're going to be friends with Steve Harrington?"
"He doesn't seem that bad, especially if Dustin loves him so much." Eddie shrugged.
"Just...don't be a prick about his crush, okay?" Eddie pondered Freak's frigid request and felt a bit of guilt, even though he hadn't done anything.
"Relax, I'm not planning on it."
Eddie admitted to himself that their little hang out was fun, and Steve was a bit cute with how nervous he was. Also, when waving goodbye that night he did happen to glance at Steve's backside a little. It was a nice ass! Good to look at, aesthetically pleasing and nothing more.
If Eddie was a girl, he'd understand why they wanted him so bad. He would too.