Chapter Text
There were two things Steve Harrington were one hundred percent sure of: One, that Eddie Munson was the love of his life, and two, that he was dying in front of him.
Let's rewind to a week before, after school one random Friday. Steve was waiting for what seemed like an hour, leaning on his car, waiting for Robin to finish unsuccessfully flirting with Vickie. He sighed quietly, "Robin, come on."
The pep rally was finished just ten minutes ago, many students dressed in green and white, the Tigers' school colors, dispersing the building and walking to their cars or down the street to their homes. Robin, Steve's best friend, was part of the band, playing trumpet. Steve had offered her a ride home afterwards, for her house was a little farther out from the school. His sigh elongated, and his head went back, pressed against the cool metal of the car.
"Come on, Robin, just ask her out," he mumbled to his oblivious friend, who was no more than forty feet away from him, against the double doors of the school.
A sudden screeching of tires broke his trance, and he turned to see a big black van park next to him, peeling into the spot before the engine cut. A man with wild raven curls and a denim vest jumped out of the driver's side, a man he recognized to be the leader of the Dungeons and Dragons club at the school. He knew the man, only partly, due to Dustin, Mike and Lucas being part of the group. He had driven the kids to the meetings before, so he knew who the man was, but they never spoke, just passing glances.
The man, Eddie Munson, as he learned from Dustin, who loves to rave about the new older friend, noticed Steve staring at him.
"Harrington, I know I'm beautiful, but if you keep staring, I might get a little weirded out," Eddie said, opening the back of the van and pulling out a what appeared to be a beat up briefcase, black with marks indicating it got dropped a few times.
"You getting weirded out?" Steve replied, shaking his head, "Usually you're the one making people feel weird."
Eddie stopped what he was doing to look at the man. "You wound me, Harrington," he pouted, a hand flying to his heart as he faked being hurt. Letting go of the briefcase made it fall out of the van and bust open, the contents spilling out. "Jesus Christ! Look what you made me do, dude!" He got down on his knees and started picking up the various contents that fell.
Steve, immediately feeling bad, dropped to his knees and started helping Eddie pick up everything that fell. He took this opportunity to snoop, though he didn't understand anything that he picked up. "Dungeon Master's Guide? Character sheets?" He picked up a die, confused that it had twenty sides, instead of the standard six that he was used to. "Why does this one have twenty?"
Eddie looked over at Steve, smiling at how adorably clueless the man was. He moved in closer, gently taking the black and red die and holding it out between his ringed fingers. "This, my friend, is an important part of D&D. This controls your fate. Your character's fate, that is," he explained, "Anything you decide to do, you roll the die and if it's a good role, the Gods are on your side. If you fail your role, you fail your task, no matter how good your intentions are. This little baby leaves things up to chance. Fate decides." He stuffed it in his pocket, before returning to the task at hand.
Steve helped Eddie put everything on the ground back into his briefcase, making sure to make it look at least a little neat, though he couldn't help the little amount of dirt on some of the papers. "So most of the game is up to chance?" he asked, brows furrowing.
Eddie, after closing the briefcase, let out a small grunt as he stood back up, offering out his hand to Steve to get him on his feet.
Steve gratefully took it, and he noticed neither himself nor Eddie let go immediately, instead letting their hands stay clasped, their touch lingering, before Eddie cleared his throat and let go. "Kind of. But at the same time, not really. It's a little difficult to explain. Maybe if you want to learn more, you can come sit in on the session. I'm sure you have to pick up the youngins afterward anyway, so why not save a trip?"
Steve pondered the man's words, he pondered their entire interaction and his body's reactions to it all. Why was his stomach doing backflips? Why did his heart feel like it was going to jump out of his chest and into his throat? Why did he want to say yes?
"Ah, I guess," he replied, looking down at his feet, "I mean, you make a good point. I do have to bring the brats back home afterward. Though," his gaze went back up to Eddie, just now noticing how caramel the man's eyes were. They were beautiful. "I'm sure you don't want me around. I'll only get in your way."
"Don't wa- What? Of course I want you around, Steve!" Eddie wrapped an arm around Steve's shoulder, "I promise, you're not going to be a bother for anyone, especially me." He gave the man a wink, Steve's heart doing a backflip in response. "This is perfect, actually. Lucas is playing in the basketball game, so we need a sub for him tonight. He said he couldn't move it because it's the championship and he might get a chance to not be a benchwarmer this time." He sighed softly, shaking his head. "Shame we lost him to the dark side. He'd rather play a game where you shoot balls into laundry baskets than save the world."
Steve wasn't sure why his face was heating up the second Eddie touched him, but it did. He wasn't sure if he was gay or not. Asking Robin gave him a lot of sarcasm, but actually helped a little bit. She had said that he may be bisexual, since he was in love with Nancy for years, and he did have thoughts about other men before. But Eddie? He was starting to think he had a thing for the metalhead. Was Eddie gay, though? He wasn't sure. He didn't want to ask though, it was an inappropriate thing to ask anyone. Assuming wasn't a thing he wanted to do, but he didn't know how Eddie acted around other people. He'd know if the guy was flirting, though, would he?
All this time Steve was lost in his thoughts, Eddie was in front of him, waving a hand in front of his face. "Steve? Hey, Earth to Steve," he said, in a sing-songy way, "Stevie, come on." One hand gently cupped Steve's face, the other one gave soft slaps to his cheek.
With a blink, Steve snapped out of his thoughts. "Huh? What did you ask?" The blush in his cheeks was coming back, and not because he had just been slapped.
Eddie's brows furrowed in confusion. "I didn't ask you anything? Stevie, are you okay?"
Stevie. He liked that, a lot. "Yeah, I'm good. Just spaced out a little. When's your game start?" He didn't want to tell Eddie that he was lost in the man's beautiful eyes.
Eddie put his hand over his heart again, letting out a fake pained moan. "Am I not interesting enough for you, dear Steve? You get lost in thoughts?" A smirk appeared on his face, and he chuckled softly. "Or in my beauty?" He leaned down to grab the handle of his briefcase, then wrapped his arm around Steve's shoulders again. "Come on, you're joining Hellfire."
The men walked out of the parking lot and into the double doors to the school. Steve paused, looking back outside, but Robin was already gone, presumably with Vickie, since he hadn't seen her in the parking lot. Eddie led him down the hall and to a seemingly abandoned hallway, where they stopped at a door. It had a hand drawn sign on it, the same symbol as the one on Eddie's shirt. Hellfire Club, it read. Eddie reached into his pocket and pulled out a key, swiftly unlocking the door and opening it, before ushering Steve inside.
"My humble abode away from my humble shithole trailer," he stated, turning on the lights to reveal a giant table in the middle of the room, adorned with folders blocking one of the chairs, and a colorful map. The room had red lights and posters, drawn by Eddie, Steve presumed. "Here, sit next to me."
Steve sat in the seat that Eddie tapped on, watching the man open the briefcase and set things up on his side of the table. He reached over and grabbed a character sheet, as well as a thick book, placing them in front of Steve.
"The first and most important thing you need to start, is a character. You have to pick out your race and class. All the adornments, like their personality, their quirks, even their favorite weapons, they come second. Number one is race and class," Eddie leaned forward, his chest pressed against the back of Steve's chair as he opened the book, flipping through a few pages. "Here are the races. You can be an Orc, a Dwarf, an Elf, anything in these pages here. Just look through them, read about them, then come back to me when you pick one you like, okay?" He looked down at Steve, giving him a small smile as his hand gently patted the man's shoulder.
Steve returned the smile warmly, still wondering whether Eddie was like this with everyone or just people he wanted to date. He hoped it was the latter, but he wasn't going to come right out an ask. "Okay, sounds easy enough." He leaned in and flip through the pages, weighing his options for each one. "I can be a human? That doesn't sound much fun. Why not be something badass? Like a Tiefling, or a cat person?"
Eddie let out a soft laugh, the sound warming the room, making Steve's heart flutter. "A Tabaxi?" he corrected, "They're humanoid, you know. Half human, half cat, basically. So by your logic, only half badass."
Steve rolled his eyes at Eddie, who was busy looking through notes and setting up little figurines on the colored map. "You know what? What the hell? I want to be a cat person." He closed the book.
"A Tabaxi," Eddie reminded, placing one last figurine on the table, before going back over to his clueless friend. If he can even call him his friend. His head was on Steve's shoulder, and he grabbed the pencil from the man's hand, writing down a few things on the character sheet in front of him.
Steve couldn't help but to lean into the touch, and Eddie smirked. "Come on, Stevie," he said, his voice low and gentle, "I'm trying to help you." His voice was like honey to Steve's ears. "Now you have to pick out a class." He moved even closer to Steve, testing the waters as he flipped through more pages of the book, going to the correct pages. "A bard, a rogue, ranger." He listed off a few.
"What does any of that mean?" Steve turned his head to look at Eddie, their faces barely an inch apart. The heat rose to his cheeks and he blushed profusely, but didn't pull away. He only got redder when he noticed Eddie's gaze flickered from Steve's eyes, down to his lips, then back again.
"Mr. Harrington, are you trying to seduce me?" Eddie's voice was a low, hoarse whisper. His hot breath on Steve's now dry lips.
Steve's heart was beating out of his chest, being the only sound he can hear. He wanted nothing more than to close the minute gap between them, but before he could gather up the courage to do it, the door burst open.
"Oh, god dammit, Steve," It was Dustin's voice to break the silence, "What are you doing here?"
Eddie sighed, clearly annoyed that the moment had been ruined. He pulled away and turned to the boys entering the room and taking their seats. "Since Sinclair decided that basketball was more important than the fate of the world, and since you all failed to find a sub for this session, I had to find one myself! Once again doing all the work. So Harrington was kind enough to say yes."
Steve cleared his throat, clearly still flustered, but trying his hardest to regain his composure. "I only said yes because it's saving me a trip from picking up you shitheads later on. Since none of you give me gas money, that is."
"Steve, we're fifteen," Mike replied, giving Steve a look, before going back to unpacking his notes.
"Yeah, old enough to get jobs!" Steve said, "Maybe then I wouldn't have to babysit all of you all the time. I can have free time."
Dustin scoffed. "To do what, exactly? Get rejected by girls at the video store?"
"Watch it, Henderson. I'll leave right now and make you little bastards walk home," Steve warned, pointing directly at Dustin, though the threat was for Mike as well.
Eddie whined a little, clearly not wanting Steve to leave. "But you haven't even picked out your class yet!" He sat next to him in his chair and pointed to the book. "Pick out a good one."
Rolling his eyes, Steve met Eddie's gaze, closing the book. "I already picked one. I want the one with the bow and arrow."
"A ranger?" Mike asked, nodding, "We can use a ranger, actually."
"Good choice, Steve," Eddie purred, patting him on the shoulder, "A ranger is beneficial for surprise and ranged attacks. You don't have to be close to the enemy to land a hit on them." He grabbed Steve's sheet and began filling out the bubbles for him, adding in the needed stats for what the character needed. "Now, you need a name."
Taking a moment to think about it, Steve tapped the table with his fingers. "Garfield," he replied, looking over at the bemused metalhead.
Eddie let out a surprised laugh. "Not every cat is Garfield, Steve. But if you really want to name him that, then I will not stop you," he explained, one hand holding the pencil, the other on Steve's shoulder.
"Yeah, Garfield," Steve nodded, giving Eddie a smile, "I want to be Garfield. My fur is orange and I'm fat."
The others rolled their eyes, but laughed in response. "Okay, Garfield is in our party now."
"Might as well be," Dustin grumbled, "Steve Harrington is playing a nerd game with us."
Steve stood, the chair squeaking in response. "I'll leave right now."
Eddie frowned. "But we hadn't gotten to the fun part! We didn't get to play!"
Steve met Eddie's sad gaze and sat back down. Not wanting to make him upset, he pushed in his chair. "Okay, Munson, I got my character sorted out. Let's play."
The frown on the man's face quickly turned into a full on grin at the response. "Let's play! Welcome to the Hellfire Club, Harrington!"
His face grew serious as he began the campaign, opening with a dialogue about where the party left off, what the adventurers were doing and how Sir Garfield came to join the party. He was quick to help the new member with everything he needed, explaining in a soft, gentle voice what each thing means and how to do certain things when they came up. Soon, the party meets an enemy, and they decide to fight.
"Roll for initiative."
As the rest of the party used their own dice to roll, Steve looked over at Eddie, confused.
Eddie smiled. "You're adorable when you're clueless," he commented, "You have to roll the twenty sided die so I can know who goes first in the fighting order. Since you don't have any dice, here." He took out the D20 from his jeans pocket, the one Steve was asking about earlier. "This is my lucky one. It's been good to me. You can use it." He gave it a kiss for good luck, before dropping it into Steve's hand.
"So I just...roll it?" Steve asked, moving it around in his hand.
"Yep, and then tell me the number it lands on."
Steve sucked in a breath, examining it for a second, admiring the red numbers that contrasted against the black plastic, then rolled it.
"Twenty, baby!" Eddie laughed in surprise. "Your first ever dice roll and you get a crit hit! You get to go first, Harrington. So," he lowered himself to Steve's eye level, "What will you do?"
Riding from the high of both getting a good roll and Eddie praising him, Steve decided to gamble. "I'm going to attack."
Hours passed as the campaign went on, with the party slaying many beasts, raiding many chests and Steve nearly dying from mistaking a mimic for a chair. As the session came to an exciting and satisfying close, Eddie rises from his chair. "Very good session, everyone! You slayed the beast and ultimately saved the kingdom. And Sir Garfield," he beamed at Steve, who melted at the praise, "You were certainly a wonderful addition to the party. I'd like you to join the club officially, I'm extending the exclusive invitation to you."
"A-are you sure, Munson?" Steve asked, looking up at the leader, "Because I'm not sure if the others would like that. Besides, I get enough of them outside of this club."
Eddie looked over at the rest of the members. "Gentlemen, what do you think? And you better remember how Stevie here saved Henderson with yet another crit hit when he was stuck in the magic trap."
The boys looked at each other, doing a little huddle and talking for a moment, before pulling away.
"Yeah, you were alright," Mike finally said, the other nodding in agreement.
Eddie placed a hand on Steve's shoulder, giving it a gentle squeeze, leaving it there. "Looks like you're in, Harrington." His voice was soft as he addressed the man, as if not wanting to scare him off. Eddie knew he can come off as intimidating, mean and scary. He didn't want Steve to feel unwelcome. In fact, he wanted the man there. It would be a good way to get to know him. He wanted Steve around more, he liked the guy.
Steve reached up and put his hand on top of Eddie's. "Okay, fine. You convinced me."
"Yes!" Eddie exclaimed, grinning from ear to ear. "Garfield has joined the party! Steve Harrington has joined the party."
"Yeah, don't cream your pants," Steve joked, though he loved it. He stood up, stretching. That chair is wildly uncomfortable. "I have to remember a pillow next time." He turned to Dustin and Mike. "Come on, guys. Pack up. I'm taking you home now."
The two did as told, talking amongst themselves about their favorite moments in the session. Gathering their things, they walked out of the room.
"We'll be at the car!" Dustin yelled, "Bye, Eddie!"
Eddie gave a flourished bow at the other members, before beginning to put away his things into the briefcase. Session notes, books, the figurines, all went back into his case as he hummed softly to himself.
Steve watched him for a moment, letting the room fill with the soft humming as he helped Eddie pack everything up. "Hey, ah, this was really fun," he said, eventually breaking the silence, "I'm glad you convinced me to sit in with you." He watched Eddie finish packing, his eyes going from those callused, ringed hands, to those strong arms, and that ass. That glorious, perky ass.
Eddie smirked, feeling the eyes boring into his body. "Why, you're certainly welcome, Harrington," he replied, turning towards Steve, "But as much as I love you ogling my body, I did also like you spending time with me." His hand reached over, grabbing at Steve's shirt.
Steve went flushed, breath hitching in his throat. He wasn't sure what was happening, but he was allowing it. He felt only a little ashamed that he let his mind wander deep into the gutter.
Noticing the change in expression, Eddie's brows raised, and his smirk grew. "Stevie baby, relax." He moved closer to the man, wrapping his arms around his neck, "Aha," he whispered to himself, finding the tag of the colorful polo shirt, "Medium." He fixed the collar, smoothing it down to its original style, before pulling away and moving to one of the other tables in the slightly small room.
Steve watched Eddie intently, mouth agape just slightly as he tried to figure out what the guy was doing. Until something hit him in the face. He grabbed it before it fell to the floor. It was a shirt, a raglan black and white shirt with a devil skull and a phrase written on it, Hellfire Club. Same shirt Eddie was wearing right now.
"For you," Eddie said, shrugging, "It's a medium; that's what size your shirt you're wearing now is, so it should fit. It's a member only thing to get this shirt, and since you're a member now, you should dress like one." He looked over at Steve, trying to get a read on what the guy was feeling, but shook his head and looked down when he couldn't.
The shirt was soft in Steve's hands, felt like it was made of cotton. He rubbed the material between his index finger and thumb, savoring this moment, savoring this day. This past few hours with Eddie had been exactly what he needed, time spent with his friends and a hot guy, playing a game he initially never thought he would play. It was fun, though. "Thanks, Eddie," he responded, sincerity in his voice, "This means a lot to me." He closed the gap between himself and Eddie, smiling as he patted the man's back.
Hearing those words and feeling the hand on his back made Eddie's heart soar. Beaming, he let out a quiet chuckle, before meeting Steve's gaze. "Anytime, Steve," he replied, voice soft, "I'm just glad you gave it a chance, because look at what you discovered! You had fun! You learned that you like the game, and that you're not half bad at it. Plus, I learned that you're not entirely intolerable." He joked.
Steve let out a dramatic gasp, doing the same thing Eddie did before, holding a hand to his heart. "Now I know how you felt, Munson! You're breaking my heart here." He laughed.
Eddie threw back his head to laugh, a magical sound Steve would do anything to hear again. "Aw, come here, Harrington," he wrapped an arm around Steve's shoulders, giving him a side hug. "For real, though. You were great. I really had a great time hanging out with you."
Those words were sobering for Steve, and he couldn't stop his body from wrapping an arm around the man's waist, pulling him closer. "I had fun too," he replied, now standing in front of Eddie, barely a gap between their bodies.
"Well, what say we do it again sometime?" Eddie's voice was a whisper now, as if not to disturb the moment. His hand reached up to place itself onto the nape of Steve's neck, his other hand moving forward to grab Steve's hand, pulling him closer.
Steve allowed Eddie to manipulate his body, bringing him even closer to the metalhead. His hand moved up to cup his cheek, it was smooth, clean shaven. "That sounds like fun," he murmured, and he stepped even closer to the man, bodies flush to each other. The dark denim vest was making creases on his wrist as his thumb traced along his jawline.
This was definitely flirting, Eddie wouldn't let someone do this to him if he weren't gay and also interested in them. And he definitely knows that Steve is very interested in him by now. Guy was a stoner but definitely was smart enough to figure out that Steve Harrington, the ladies' wet dream, the jock everyone wants to be, was trying to kiss him. Eddie didn't understand what the guy saw in him, though. He was the weirdo of the school, the freak. The one that stands on top of tables in the lunch room to make a point to his friends. He had learned in science class many years ago that opposites attract. Maybe this is one of those times.
"Careful, Stevie," he murmured, breath hot on the jock's lips, "Keep looking at me like that and you're going to make me fall in love with you."
Steve's breath caught in his throat, not caring about his composure anymore. Cat's already out of the bag. "What if that's the plan?" he replied.
Eddie chuckled softly, eyes crinkling as he did so. He let go of Steve's hand, instead placing it on his neck, the cool metal of his various rings making Steve shiver. "Well, then, you're doing a damn good job of it already," he whispered, moving the jock impossibly close, leaning in.
Steve's heart pounded out of his chest, closing his eyes and leaning in response, but before their lips finally touched, yet another door bursting open interrupted them.
"Steve!" It was Dustin again. "Quit making out with the Dungeon Master! Come on, we gotta get home. Been waiting forever." He didn't even register what was happening, just that his ride home was taking forever and he wanted to get back to his house to talk to Suzie.
The death glare Steve threw at Dustin was doubled by Eddie, adding a dramatic sigh. "You, Henderson, need to learn to stop cockblocking everybody with your impatience," he snapped, "We were in the middle of something." He let go of Steve, giving him an apologetic look as he stepped away.
"Come on, Henderson." Steve reached into his pocket and fished out his keys, jangling them as he went for the door. He gave a small smile as he looked back at Eddie. "See you next time," he said.
"Yeah," Eddie sighed, "Until next time." He put his hands in his pockets, frowning as he felt something in there, a roundish plastic ball. Pulling it out, he saw it and went for the door. "Hey, Harrington!" he called, earning a groan from Dustin outside the door. "Here." He pressed the twenty sided die into Steve's hand, "Keep it, as a reminder of your triumph here. And, of me." A shy smile crept onto Eddie's face.
Steve looked down at the piece of plastic, smiling fondly at it as he rolled it in his hand. "Thank you, Munson," he replied, "Though I won't need any help keeping you in my mind." He paused, leaning in and kissing Eddie on the cheek, before walking out of the room.
The entire walk from the car, the drive to Dustin's house, then Mike's, and then to his own, the die remained in Steve's hand the whole time.