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The bell to the door of Family Video rang, and in walked the loveable Mr. Eddie Munson, all dressed up in his favorite leather jacket and jean vest combo. A mischievous smile spread across his face as he walked up to the counter.
“Steve Harrington,” he called out in a sing-songy voice. He heard a small groan from the back of the store, and soon emerged a man with dark brown hair and gorgeous hazel eyes. He ran his hands through his hair, giving a small smile to Eddie.
“What’s up, Munson?” Steve asked leaning over the counter, using his arms to prop himself up. Eddie twirled his hair with his finger jokingly.
“We are going for a picnic tonight,” he replied, leaning in closer to Steve’s face ever so slightly. His hand came to hold up his head.
“Are we now?” Steve teased reaching over to Eddie’s hand. He began to play with one of the large chunky rings that Eddie always wore. A silver shield with a gold band. Eddie smiled over at him, moving his head around a little.
“Yes, I have it all planned out. Just you and me,” Steve continued playing with the ring but looked at Eddie’s face. He raised his eyebrows.
“Sounds to me like you’re asking me on a date, Munson,” he teased. Eddie shrugged, his mischievous smile still plastered on his face, his beady brown eyes staring into Steve’s. “Well I get off at 3,” Eddie leaned in just barely closer.
“Perfect. Meet me at skull rock then?” Steve just nodded. He removed his hand from Eddie’s, and instead rubbing the back of his neck with it. Realizing how close together they were, he stood up straight. His face flushed with red and Eddie winked at him before turning on his heel and walking out the door. Steve took a deep breath and walked back, Robin Buckley turning around immediately after hearing him walk into the room.
“What’d he want?” She asked him, wiggling her eyebrows at him. He waved her off.
“Robin, stop that.” He sat down in his chair across from her, shaking his head in disapproval. “We’re going on a picnic, apparently,” Steve’s face still burned with red.
“Ooooooooh,” Robin teased. Steve rolled his eyes before kicking off the ground to spin in his chair. He looked up at the ceiling as he spun around. “So, it’s like, a date, then?” Steve stopped spinning and looked over at Robin with annoyance.
“No! Obviously not,”
“Obviously,” Robin mocked. “How is a picnic not a date, Steve?”
“Because, Robin,” Steve sighed. Robin gestured at him to finish his sentence. “We don’t even know if he likes…” Steve paused, “Guys, let alone if he likes me!”
“Are you kidding me? Have you seen him?” Steve made a confused face, putting his hand up and motioning for her to explain what that even means. “He looks at you like you’re a five-course meal!”
“What? No, he doesn’t.” Robin gave him A Look, that said nothing other than ‘Are you kidding me? How blind can you be.’ Steve brought his hand up and rubbed at his temples. “I think you’re misreading it.”
“I’m not, but believe what you want,” Steve rolled his eyes and crossed his arms, sliding down into his chair.
“God, he really gets to me,” Steve said. He took a deep breath and huffed. “You know with girls it all comes so easy and natural but with him…” His eyes trailed off, looking around the room.
“Well, it’s different,” Robin offered.
“It shouldn’t be though. I mean just cause we’re both guys shouldn’t mean anything. I should still be able to pull off my natural charm and get by, but something about him just makes me freeze up.” Robin smiled, nodding slowly.
“It’s different.” She said again, more firm this time. Steve shook his head.
“I can kind of flirt with him, but then when I realize everything I just lose my head. I don’t know what’s wrong with me,”
“Steve, gay relationships are vastly different than straight ones. This is all new to you,” Robin reassured him. He looked down at the ground with those wide, deer-in-headlights-like eyes that he always got when he was stressing about something.
“That’s true,” he laid his head back onto the chair. “Man, thank god you were here though. I would’ve never figured it out. I’m really glad you’re my best friend Rob.”
“Yeah, without me you would be completely lost and hopeless,” she went back to sorting through the VHS tapes in the box next to her. “Chalking it all up to some trauma bond or something,” she joked. Steve shook his head.
“Funny,” he said sarcastically. Suddenly they heard the jingle of the bell, indicating the door had opened. Some customers walked in and were laughing amongst themselves. Steve lifted his head to look at Robin. “Your turn,” She groaned, but stood up and went out to attend to the customers. Steve let his head fall back down onto the chair.
Time had passed so painfully slowly. They had a few more customers here and there but for the most part, it was pretty mellow. Steve and Robin mostly just sat in the back watching various movies the whole time. When their coworkers finally came to relieve them, and it was time to clock out and go home, Robin teased Steve one last time before they parted ways.
It was a little past 3:30 by the time Steve finally got to Eddie, who waited underneath Skull Rock smoking a blunt. When he saw Steve he smiled, biting his lip and jumping up to greet him. He threw the blunt on the ground and stepped on it to snuff it out. Steve gave him a small wave. Eddie wrapped his arm around Steve’s shoulder, practically pouncing on him.
“Harrington,”
“Munson,”
“You took so long to get here, I was worried you weren’t gonna show,” Eddie teased him.
“Hey, I came as fast as I could,”
“Oh you did, did you?” Eddie gently rubbed Steve’s shoulder. Steve’s heart pounded in his chest. It felt like it was going to leap out and flop around on the ground like a fish out of water at any moment. He took a deep breath to attempt to calm himself. It didn’t work.
Eddie walked him over to a small blanket laid out under Skull Rock. Steve gave a small smile before Eddie practically pushed him down to sit. Eddie walked around the blanket and sat down across from him. He leaned to the side, stretching and twisting around before he came back up with a small, brand new picnic basket in his hands.
“Bought it specifically for this occasion,” Eddie said, plopping the basket down and opening it up. He moved the lining wrap out of the way, pulling out a few small Tupperwares which held some gorgeous-looking food. Sandwiches and some kind of pasta. Steve’s stomach grumbled as he looked down at it.
After graduation, with nothing else to do, Eddie had become something of a chef. In between times writing and playing music, he would go over to Steve’s house, raid their fridge and pantry, and make the most delicious meals Steve Harrington had ever eaten in his whole life. But, maybe he was just biased. It was how they had grown so close over the last year, apart from the whole, you know, saving the world together thing. Most of Steve’s time was spent either with Robin at work, or Eddie, whether he was at Steve’s house cooking and chatting, or they were at Eddie’s trailer smoking and watching horror movies.
Steve scanned all the food that Eddie laid out. He placed two Tupperware in front of each of them, one sandwich and one pasta each. No matter how many times Eddie cooked for him, nothing could curb the excitement Steve got when he was presented with a plate of Eddie’s food. He grabbed the sandwich first, opening up the Tupperware as Eddie pulled two forks out of the basket for the pasta. He took a bite and practically moaned.
“So good,” Steve said with his mouthful. Eddie gave him a smirk.
“I would hope so,” They both ate their food, making some small talk, but it was mostly in silence. The sky darkened as time went past. It wasn’t until they started to feel small raindrops on their arms that they realized this was because dark clouds began to form. After they finished eating, they scooted over until they were shoulder to shoulder and mostly sheltered from the rain by the rock. It was still comfortably warm, but Eddie grabbed the blanket and wrapped it around both of them nonetheless. “I had no idea it was gonna rain,” Eddie said. Steve smiled slightly, staring at his feet.
“I thought you had it all planned out,” He teased. Eddie gave him a small shove and they both laughed. The rain started coming down harder, and they sat there, so impossibly close together.
“You know, Harrington,” Eddie began, both of them turning to look at each other. “A year ago, if you would’ve told me that I’d be sitting there having a picnic in the rain with King Steve Harrington, I would have laughed in your face.” Steve nodded in agreement.
“And if you would have told me a year ago I would be having a picnic in the rain with The Freak Munson, I would have called you crazy.” They both chuckled softly, just staring at each other. Steve could feel how red his face was like there had been a fire that was lit on it. His heart still felt like it was going to leap out of his chest.
And it hurt. It hurt how badly Steve liked Eddie. Ever since they fought Vecna together, there was always something different about Eddie. The way Steve looked at him, talked to him, and touched him, was always different. Steve never even came to realize this until he ranted to Robin about it.
“Something’s wrong with me I know it,”
“Yeah, yeah, I’ve heard it a million times. Steve Harrington having girl troubles? No way! He must actually be human, then.” Steve bit his lip.
“Robin. What if,” He thought about his words carefully. “What if it’s not a girl this time.”
Steve will never forget the look Robin gave him. It was so difficult for Steve to understand, or even recognize his feelings for Eddie. Sometimes he wondered if it would’ve been better for them to never have even met at all. Eddie had made Steve question a lot of things, not just his sexuality, but who he was as a person.
For most of his life, at least what he could remember, he was known for the way he could always just get girls. They swooned over him and just fell into his arms. He was so used to always just getting what he wanted, that when he couldn’t have Eddie, it was pure torture. But he wanted him so bad. At some point along the way, he realized just how stupid he sounded every time he gave advice to Robin. He now understood how terrifying this all was.
It wasn’t just terrifying, it was downright mortifying. If Steve made even just the slightest of wrong moves, he could lose Eddie forever. And not just Eddie, but everyone.
But right now, at that moment, as rain fell down all around them with loud smacks as it hit leaves and trees and the rock, as he looked into Eddie’s eyes, he didn’t think of anything. His mind was all foggy, and he felt so weak. Their faces were so dangerously close. There was a moment where Steve wanted to turn away. He didn’t want to lose Eddie as a friend, no matter how much he wanted him to be more than that, and Eddie must have read his mind because suddenly Steve felt a soft, warm hand on his cheek.
Eddie stared deeply into Steve’s eyes, softly stroking Steve’s cheek with his thumb. Steve felt his whole body tremble. If they were standing, he was certain that his legs would have given up underneath him. His eyes slowly looked down to Eddie’s lips, lingering for a moment. Eddie’s hand moved, and his thumb gently traced a line down Steve’s lips. Steve’s eyes quickly shot back up to Eddie’s as his thumb pulled gently on Steve’s bottom lip. This had to be a dream.
Steve shut his eyes tightly as if he was trying to wake himself up. Eddie’s hand slowly moved down to his neck. Steve’s breaths were shaky and shallow. He opened his eyes just in time to see Eddie’s face rush forward.
Their lips crashed together, and Steve’s eyes widened as he realized that Eddie was kissing him. Eddie Munson was kissing him. He was absolutely certain that his heart was no longer in his chest. Before he even had time to process the whole thing, or even kiss back. Eddie pulled away. No . Steve thought. It felt like someone had slapped him as he saw the look of pear fear in Eddie’s eyes.
Eddie went back to face forward, avoiding looking at Steve’s eyes. “Oh my god,” He muttered softly, more to himself than to Steve. “I’m so sorry,” Steve could hear the panic in his whispers. “I’m so fucking sorry. I-” Eddie stumbled over his words. “I don’t know what came over me, I really shouldn-” Eddie was interrupted by Steve, admittedly pretty violently, grabbing his face and smashing his lips into Eddie’s. Eddie’s hands were in the air in shock, and his eyes were even wider than before if that was even possible.
They both softened into the kiss. Eddie placed his hands gently on either side of Steve’s neck, and Steve wrapped the hand that wasn’t on Eddie’s face around his waist. Eddie pushed himself closer to Steve, leaving barely any space left between them.
It felt like a giant weight had been lifted off of their shoulders. The kiss was like a breath of fresh ocean air. It had felt like they had both been running away from everyone else for so long, and now they had a moment to stop and take a break. Get some air and recharge. As Eddie Munson reveled in the pure joy he felt in this moment, Steve Harrington was effectively losing his mind.
All the confusion and inner turmoil that Steve had struggled with the last year or so had completely faded from his mind. The only thing he could think about was Eddie’s lips on his. Eddie’s hands on his neck, and his hands-on Eddie’s waist and cheek. He smiled into the kiss, making Eddie do the same.
They only stopped for a moment, fearing if they didn’t they might both die from suffocation. Everything felt right, in a world where everything was so wrong.
They kissed and kissed and oh god, Steve Harrington had never felt happier. Maybe he had struggled for so long to find a girl because Eddie Munson was the one he truly belonged with. For a long time Steve couldn’t even think to accept this fact, but now? Now he did.
For the first in his life, Steve finally knew what he wanted.