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“No,” Steve said firmly, lifting the latch on the counter and ducking away from his best friend, “Absolutely not. I think that is quite possibly the worst idea you’ve ever had.”
“Actually, I think it’s the best. The Nobel people are going to be calling me any minute now,” Robin replied, skipping after him and grabbing some of the tapes out of the pile he was carrying.
Steve shot her a look, continuing to put VHS cases back where they belonged. When Robin didn’t budge or back down, he sighed, handing her the rest of his pile and putting his hands on his hips.
“So, your brilliant solution to my problem is to ask Eddie to be my Valentine?” Steve asked rhetorically, raising a brow. “You do remember that the whole problem is the fact that I have a crush on him in the first place, right?”
“I just don’t think the crush is the problem!” Robin shot back, attempting to throw her arms up in the air and fumbling the last few cases that were in her arms, “The only problem here is that you’re being kind of a pussy.”
Steve groaned and walked away from her, going back to the counter. He pulled himself up onto the stool they had there, spinning around idly and trying to distract himself from the dilemma at hand.
Robin was wrong. The crush was the problem. Actually it wasn’t just a problem—it was the thing that was going to implode the amazing life that he had carefully created for himself.
“You know I’m right,” his platonic soulmate stated, hopping up onto the counter and nudging her foot against the chair so Steve was stuck facing her directly. “You asked me to help you.”
“Help me get rid of it, not help me ruin everything,” Steve clarified. Robin let out an extremely long moan, putting both of her hands on his shoulders and shaking them both.
“Steve! He! Likes! You! Back!” She shouted.
“You don’t know that. Everyone’s acting like it’s a given he likes me back, when it isn’t,” Steve said, untangling himself from her grasp. The anxiety was starting to creep up his spine again, making the entire world start to grow right before his eyes.
This was the problem with falling in love with your best friend. Steve was practically a pro at crushes by this point in his life. For most people, it took a while to fall in love. They would go back and forth, trying to decide if the feelings were real enough, if the person was worth the risk.
Steve didn’t get that privilege. He fell in love like falling asleep, and when he did it was hard and fast.
When he had a crush, his mind would get stuck on a single person like glue, and there was nothing that would make the feelings go away until they ran their course. Normally he didn’t really mind it. He actually enjoyed the process. Knowing that eventually the love would fizzle out meant that he could have fun with the swooping delirious happiness that came with spending time with someone he was attracted to.
But this crush hadn’t faded. It only got deeper as time went on, and Steve was going to go insane if things kept going the way they were.
“Steve? What’s actually going on here?” Robin asked, lowering her voice into that gentle tone she liked to take when she knew she was starting to tread in dangerous waters. He let his head droop, taking a long deep breath before looking back up at her.
“He’s my best friend, Birdie,” Steve whispered, knowing Robin wouldn’t take offense. She was his soulmate, something that transcended the word ‘friend’. “I don’t wanna fuck that up. No crush is worth that.”
“It’s Eddie, Steve. He’s not going to hate you or anything, you know that,” Robin said, softly knocking her shoulder against his, knowing that Steve responded best to tactile displays of affection.
He leaned his body into hers, staring out at the rows of tapes and letting the worries plaguing his mind out into the air around them.
“I’m not worried about that. I know he would let me down easy. I’m worried about things changing. I don’t want him to feel uncomfortable, or awkward, or like he has to feel some way that he doesn’t…I just don’t want to have everything change again,” Steve admitted.
That was the reason he hadn’t said anything. Normally Steve had no problem with making his feelings known. Hell, he had told Nancy he loved her only a month into their relationship!
But this was different. This was Eddie. Smart, funny, sweet Eddie, who had fallen into his life out of nowhere, but had become so integral to Steve’s day to day that even just the idea of not having him exactly as he did now made Steve’s heart creep up into his throat.
“Change can be a good thing,” Robin said after a long pause. She tilted her head back and looked at Steve from the very side of her eye. “You’re not going to know until you ask,”
That was true. Not asking left them in the weird limbo tango of (fake?) flirting and deep introspective talks that had Steve reeling. It had been heaven at first. Now the not knowing was complete torture. AT this point, even finding out Eddie didn’t want him would be a relief.
But that meant he had to somehow get the courage to tell Eddie how he felt. And that was scarier than taking on a dozen fully grown demogorgons.
“Look, if it doesn't go well, I’ll be right here to nurse your broken shattered little heart,” Robin said, hopping down off the counter and ruffling Steve’s hair. “But I’ll bet you ten bucks I’ll be telling this story to your kids and making them see how much of a Dingus their Daddy Steve used to be before he finally told Papa Eddie he wanted to date him.”
Steve huffed out a soft laugh, ignoring the instant fantasy that popped up from Robin’s words. Eddie, a little older, chasing around a tot who was shrieking in glee. A tiny little darling with long dark curls and big bambi eyes…
No. Nope. No. Those kinds of thoughts were dangerous. Addictive, but dangerous.
“Why do I love you so much?” Steve groaned, dragging himself into a standing position.
“Because I’m the best,” Robin declared, handing Steve his keys and starting to push him towards the door. “Now go home early and figure out a plan. I’m sick of listening to you pine.”
“I’m your boss,” Steve pointed out. Since Keith had high tailed it out of Hawkins, Steve was officially the manager of their dear dear Family Video.
“Go!” Robin shouted, shoving Steve out the door with a wave, “Just tell him!”
If only it was that easy.
“Nancy, normally you’re the smartest person I know, but that might be the dumbest thing you’ve ever said to me,” Eddie stated, dragging a hand through his hair and glaring daggers at the phone in front of him.
“No, it’s just not what you want to hear,” Jonathan said, blowing out a long column of smoke and idly watching it hang in the air above them. Argyle snickered from where he was lying on the floor next to his boyfriend, holding out a hand to take the joint
“Zip it peanut gallery,” Eddie snapped without any heat, leaning his chair onto its two back legs and staring up at the ceiling of his new bedroom.
It was white.
He missed the weird designs that came from the water damage of the trailer.
“Where did that phrase come from?” Jonathan mumbled.
“I think it’s from Charlie Brown,” Argyle whispered back, not being quiet in the slightest, “You know the peanuts?”
“Oh yeah!” Jonathan exclaimed, giving his boyfriend a dopey smile.
Both of them began to hum the theme song to Charlie Brown.
“Wow, my friends ladies and gentlemen,” Eddie said, gesturing to the non-existent crowd. “So supportive, so helpful in this time of great crisis.”
“We would be more supportive if you weren’t being such a baby. You know what you have to do,” Nancy’s voice was tinny through the speaker phone, but Eddie could just tell she was rolling her eyes.
“I have to go, but I’m still right!” she said, calling out quick goodbyes to all three before hanging up. Eddie put the phone back on the hook and let out a quiet growl, throwing himself onto his bed and burying his face in the pillows.
They had been talking for five hours straight, and he was still as mixed up as he had been when they started. He had called Nancy in a fit of desperation after Argyle and Jonathan had asked if Steve and he wanted to go on a double date, still not understanding why they weren’t already a couple. Unfortunately for him, she had agreed with them, and told Eddie to go for it.
“He’s my best friend,” Eddie said for the thousandth time, throwing the pillow onto the floor and hitting his head against the mattress, “He’s…He’s Steve!!”
“Steve who has a huge crush on you too,” Jonathan pointed out.
“That’s not the point, Jonathan,” Eddie said, giving the younger boy a haughty look of derision. “The point is, he hasn’t asked me either. Maybe he doesn’t actually want anything more out of this?! Maybe I’m going to fuck it all up.”
“Maybe he’s scared,” Jonathan countered, not looking exactly sober, but definitely seeming way too aware to be totally high.
Scared? Steve?
The dude had torn a demobats guts out with his teeth. Steve wasn’t scared of anything or anyone. Eddie was the coward between the two of them, hence why he was in complete and utter turmoil about his neverending crush.
“My dude. It’s simple,” Argyle said, sitting up and shaking his head. “Do you want to always wonder what might’ve been?”
Well, Eddie had called them over to give him advice, and that was some pretty damn good advice.
Eddie had spent most of his life hating guys like Steve Harrington. He had hated Steve specifically in fact. Not only was he the king of the school, he was also disarmingly pretty, which was exceptionally frustrating for teenage Eddie.
And then he had gotten to know him, and it was even worse .
Because Steve was good. There was no other word for it. Steve was one hundred percent certified good. Sure, he could be a bitchy little brat at times, but beyond that was a soft heart that opened up to just about anyone who got past that first wall. A soft heart, a brave soul, and loyalty that ran deeper than the grand canyon.
How was Eddie not supposed to fall for that?
So Steve was good, and for some reason he thought Eddie was good, and every minute they spent together left butterflies in Eddie’s stomach. Eddie might’ve been able to stand it if they only ever interacted in group settings, but they were always alone, always just the two of them. Steve came over when he couldn’t sleep, which was pretty much every night, and Eddie went over to his whenever he was lonely, which was pretty much always.
They had fallen into step with each other in a way that was so natural it hurt. Eddie had never met someone who so easily accepted him exactly as he was. It was like he never had to explain anything, never had to dial himself back. He was so used to being ‘too much’ that being ‘just enough’ to Steve was dizzyingly wonderful.
Did Eddie really want to risk that? Could he handle losing that steady warmth and devotion?
“I think you’ll regret it if you don’t,” Argyle tacked on, interrupting Eddie’s thoughts. “Take it from me brochacho, you don’t want to look back and wish you’d taken the chance when you could.”
That was the other side of the coin. There was the fear of things not going well, and also the fear of missing out on what might’ve been the best thing he ever did.
Did Eddie want to forever wonder what might have happened if he had taken the leap? Did he really want to start running again?
“No, I don’t,” Eddie finally sighed, grabbing the phone.
If he was going to do this, then he needed help.
“What kind of ending was that?!” Dustin exploded as the credits on the movie rolled. The rest of the party began to join in with confused nods and disgusted looks.
“So what…happened?” Will finally asked, looking at the rest of them in hopes that at least one of them understood the end of the movie.
“No clue,” Mike said, staring down at the box.
Picnic at the Hanging Rock had been a Robin recommendation, one of the many she had given them when she found out how they planned to spend Valentine’s Day.
The Party had decided that since they were all single (for the moment) the best course of action would be an all day movie marathon of cheesy Valentine’s horror movies. It was a very specific niche, but surprisingly they had found a ton of them at Family Video. So armed with a dozen movies, a ton of junk food, and the desire to forget Valentine’s existed, the seven of them were camped out in the Wheeler’s basement for the foreseeable future.
“Ugh I need to get that out of my head,” Lucas shuddered, grabbing a fresh bag of M&Ms and ripping it open, taking some and passing the rest to his sister “What’s up next?”
El looked down at the cases, picking up two and examining them.
“ Bride of Frankenstein or My Bloody Valentine,” she read slowly, handing both to Will before holding up the big blue bowl in front of her, “Also we need more popcorn.”
But as they began to call quick not-it’s, the phone rang. All seven kids paused for a second before they were all scrambling to be the one to answer it. Max beat them all, mostly because she was willing to actually beat them all. The rest of the party quickly sidestepped her crutches, except for her one unfortunate victim.
“Hello, Wheeler Residence,” she said with a smug smile, watching Mike hop on one foot and give her a super dirty look. Just as she reached the phone, Dustin’s walkie talkie sitting in the corner crackled to life.
“Hey brats, where are you?” Steve’s voice floated across the room. The entire group looked between the walkie and Max, unsure of which new distraction they should be focusing on.
“Hi Eddie,” Max said into the receiver, only adding to the mystery.
Eddie and Steve were both calling at the same time? And not together like they normally would?
“Can you hold on for just one minute?” Max said to the phone, making the decision for all of them. “Thanks.”
She carefully muted the phone and maneuvered over, getting settled with the rest of them in a cluster around the walkie.
“What’s up Steve? Over,” Lucas said, taking point.
“I need help,” Steve said, making the entire group stiffen up.
‘Help’ could mean a thousand things, but the use of the walkie and the cryptic message spelled all kinds of trouble.
They had almost made it a whole year. Couldn't they just get through one full year?
“You need to say ‘over’,” Lucas reminded him, giving them all a minute to steel themselves against what might be coming.
“I wasn’t finished, jackasses,” Steve said irritably, unintentionally making them all loosen up.
If something was wrong wrong, then he wouldn’t be annoyed with them. Bitchy Steve meant things were safe. Whatever it was, this was normal. Blissfully normally.
“I need your help with something. Over,” Steve tacked on at the last second to avoid another lecture about walkie-talkie etiquette.
“Uh yeah, we got that. What do you need help with?” Erica said, laying on the sass thick to hide the fact that she still looked pretty spooked.
“I need help….setting up a date for me and Eddie,” Steve finally said, making the entire group collectively lose their shit. They kept their hands off of the walkie-talkie as they shouted at each other in glee.
It had been months of watching Steve and Eddie dance around each other, endless weeks of blushes and shy compliments and meaningful little touches. It was adorable, but it was also painful, and it was finally about to come to a happy ending!
Even Mike seemed excited, or at least happy at the prospect of not having to watch Eddie and Steve flirt anymore.
Max waved her arms around, getting the rest of them to quiet down before she grabbed the walkie-talkie from the table
“Steve, we’d love to help but we need one second, over,” she announced. Steve agreed, and she silently began to point towards the phone, making gestures that only Erica seemed to understand. The youngest quickly got up and scampered over to the phone, holding it up to her ear.
“What do you want, Eddie?” she asked, getting straight to the point. The party watched as her eyes widened in glee, and she held a hand over her mouth to smother any laughter that wanted to escape.
“Oh? You want our help with wooing Steve tonight?” she said when she got control of herself, waving at all of them to try and keep them silent. “Absolutely. We’ll be over in a few hours to figure out the details. Bye!”
“Steve, we’re gonna be over in half an hour. Over and out,” Max said the second Erica hung up the phone, slamming the antenna down just as they all began to howl with laughter.
“Wh-wh-what is going on?” Will managed to stutter out.
After months of waiting, had their two babysitters finally both decided to confess on the same exact day?! Was this real?!
“Chaos,” El said with a sage nod.
“Excellent,” Mike replied, smirking as they began to put their heads together and plot.
Valentine’s had just officially become fun.
“What the hell?” Hopper said the second the back door of the truck closed. He was glaring at Steve and Eddie from the rearview mirror, making both of them shrink in their seats.
“Your guess is as good as ours,” Eddie muttered.
This was the wrong thing to say. Exceptionally wrong. Both of them flinched as Hopper took an exaggerated breath in, his hands clenching up around the steering wheel.
“I just had to leave Joyce in the middle of Enzo’s because I got a call from El saying you two got arrested for arson ,” Hopper said calmly. Too calmly. Most people thought an angry Hopper was a dangerous Hopper. Everyone in their family knew better.
A calm Hopper was a dangerous Hopper.
“So I’m going to repeat,” the police chief said, his peacefulness rapidly evaporating into pure fury. “What the HELL?!”
This was the point where it would be best to just start begging for mercy. They should just give Hopper whatever he wanted and hope it was enough to put out some of the flames of his fury. This was the moment to just spill their guts and hope for the best.
The problem was neither of them even understood how they had ended up in this situation.
From Steve’s perspective, the kids had agreed to help him set up a late night romantic picnic by the lake. It was a perfect idea, because the lake was where Eddie and Steve had really had their first moment together. They had even offered to put little lanterns out on the water, just to make the whole thing absolutely perfect.
From Eddie’s perspective, the kids had been helping him to set up a fantasy boat ride on Lover’s Lake. Not only was it one of the most romantic places in Hawkins, it was also a great way to rewrite the start of their journey. Lover’s Lake could be a good place for them, instead of a place that reminded them of a narrowly avoided apocalypse.
Yet somehow the night had ended with a boat on fire in the middle of the Lake and a call to the cops from a very distressed old lady.
“Our children are little demons,” Steve finally said, hoping that would be enough to explain.
“I- you-” Hopper stuttered out a few more starts to various sentences before he just stopped himself, angrily starting the car and peeling out of the parking lot. They drove in complete silence, Steve and Eddie sitting as far from each other as they could in the back, both staring out the window on their respective sides.
Hopper slid into the parking lot outside of Enzo’s with ease, tires practically screeching as he put the car in park and turned in his seat to face both boys.
“Here is what is going to happen,” Hopper started, enunciating each word with completely cold rage, “I am going to go back inside, to enjoy a nice, quiet, peaceful evening with my new wife. You are going to stay here and talk.”
“About what?” Eddie asked hesitantly, sharing a brief look with Steve, who seemed just as petrified.
Hopper sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose and shaking his head.
“I really don’t like getting involved. If I had my way, none of you would date until you’re thirty,” he muttered, pursing his lips and turning to face forward again, undoing his seatbelt as he continued. “But this little dance of yours has now become a health hazard, so you’re going to talk out whatever is going on here, and not set the forest on fire while you do.”
With that he exited the car, slamming the door for emphasis and trudging towards the restaurant, leaving Steve and Eddie in the most uncomfortable silence they had ever had.
This was somehow even worse than the charged silence between them when Eddie had been holding a broken bottle to Steve’s neck.
“Today’s been such a disaster,” Steve finally groaned, burying his face in his hands.
“Yeah,” Eddie agreed with a hollow little laugh, wrapping his arms around his middle and hunching his shoulders, “Definitely not what I had planned.”
“What were you planning?” Steve asked softly, afraid to get his hopes up, but unable to keep them completely down.
After all, Eddie had also been at the lake for some reason. Maybe it had something to do with him.
“I have no idea,” Eddie responded, snuffing out any flame that had started to spark in Steve’s chest, “What were you planning?”
“No clue,” Steve murmured, hating the way all of his courage had instantly disappeared. He had spent the better part of the day psyching himself up for this exact conversation, and he had thought he was ready, but face to face with everything he could possibly want, he faltered.
“I just-” Steve trailed off, searching for the right thing to say, the right thing to do.
Finally it hit him that there wasn’t going to be one. There was no perfect way to confess, no ultimate act that would ensure things went right. All he had was the truth, and the truth was going to have to do.
And apparently, Eddie had been thinking the same exact thing.
“I don’t want to fuck this up,” they both blurted out at the same time.
Oh.
Oh.
All at once, it was easy. The same easy that everything was when it was them. Steve and Eddie both took a moment to laugh, and Eddie slid over till they were pressed up against each other, the distance suddenly feeling incredibly stupid.
“You like like me,” Steve said teasingly, unable to help the huge smile that was growing on his face.
“Oh my-” Eddie cut himself off with a snort, raising his eyes to the sky, “Yes darling, I like like you. I like like you a whoooole bunch.”
Steve turned so they were face to face. It was dark, but the street lamp outside gave off just enough light that they could see each other. Eddie had the same silly grin as him, and his beautiful doe eyes were sparkling.
“Be my Valentine?” Steve whispered, reaching up to cup Eddie’s cheek.
“Thought you’d never ask,” Eddie replied, leaning forward and giving Steve the best first kiss he had ever had.