Archive of Our Own

Steve is a really bad liar. Like really, really bad. 

He should be better at it, honestly, with all the shit he got up to when he was younger and the whole knowing an evil dimension exists thing, but he’s not. He tries to lie and he just – freezes up, starts talking too much or doesn’t say anything at all, is either too specific with his lie or too vague, and whoever he’s lying to sees right through him every time. 

“I can keep a secret,” Steve tells Eddie, two months after they started sleeping together and two mornings after they decided that they weren’t just friends blowing off steam and Eddie nearly busts a gut because Steve said he wants to keep this new thing between them for a while. “I can!” 

“You can’t,” Eddie says, pulling a shirt over his head. “You lasted ten minutes after Robin told you she liked Nancy.” 

“That doesn’t count,” Eddie already knew Robin was a lesbian and Steve is pretty sure anyone who knows Robin knows she likes Nancy. The girl basically has cartoon hearts in her eyes anytime Nancy Wheeler is in a room. “You knew that already!” 

“Yes, but –” 

“And telling you things definitely doesn’t count, because we’re –” Steve trails off. “Together? A couple?” 

Eddie smirks. “Going steady?” 

“Shut up,” Steve says, sitting up on the bed and scooting to the edge. “My point is, of course I’m going to tell you things. You’re the person I want to tell everything to.” 

Eddie gives Steve a look sweet enough that his teeth ache and crosses the bedroom, coming to stand between Steve’s legs. “You’re sweet, you know that?” He says, brushing a stray strand of Steve’s hair from his eyes. 

Whatever it is he feels for Eddie, it’s overwhelming. It seems too early to name it, forget about saying it, but his chest is full of it when Eddie looks at him like that. Like Steve is all he ever wants to look at. 

Eddie leans down and kisses Steve, long and sweet, sighing through his nose when Steve slips his hands into the back pockets of Eddie’s unbuttoned jeans. He pulls back and bumps his nose against Steve’s own. “But you’re still a really bad liar.” 

“Fine, maybe, but this isn’t lying.” Steve says, reluctant to let Eddie step out of his arms. He’d keep Eddie here forever if he could, wrapped up together in bed. The world doesn’t need saving right now and Robin can handle the video store by herself. “This is just – not telling anyone.” 

“Name me one thing in the last two years that you haven’t told Robin,” Eddie says. 

Steve sits for a minute, thinking and coming up blank. 

“Oh my God, she knows we’re sleeping together?” Eddie says, an incredulous laugh coming off gorgeous lips. Steve has it so bad for him. “Steve!” 

“I – She knows I’m sleeping with someone. ” Steve stumbles on his words and throws his hands up helplessly. “She saw it on my face! She said I looked like I just had really good sex! ” 

“So, we’re definitely not going to get a single moment of peace is what you’re telling me,” Eddie says, snapping the button on his jeans. “Because you definitely have something on your face  right now.” 

Steve swallows and wrings his hands together. “Are you mad?” He finally asks. 

“About Robin?” Eddie asks, eyebrows pulled together. 

Steve nods. “Because I really don’t think she knows it’s you and even if she did, she would never tell anyone, you know she wouldn’t and –” 

Eddie takes Steve’s face in his hands. “Breathe, sweetheart. I’m not mad. I promise.” He says, stroking his thumb over Steve’s cheek. 

Steve exhales and closes his eyes, nodding. “Right, sorry. I just, um, sorry.” 

“Stop being sorry. You didn’t do anything.” Eddie says, leaning down to kiss Steve’s forehead. “And I won’t be mad if you let it slip to Robin. I’m fully prepared to be fielding questions when I see you guys tonight.” 

The thing that’s maybe the most and least surprising about Eddie is that he’s nice. Like, really nice. Even when they were just sleeping together, he was good to Steve. Gentle and kind, always letting Steve set the pace for them. It’s a lot sometimes, because Nancy was great, of course she was, but no one has ever been so sweet to Steve. 

“I can keep my mouth shut,” Steve doubles down. 

“If you say so, baby.” Eddie kisses him one final time. “You’re gonna be late for work. I’ll see you tonight.” 

Steve nods and watches Eddie go before he gets up and starts shuffling around to get ready. He hears footsteps go down the stairs, pause, and then come running back up. Eddie appears in the doorway again. “What?” 

“Just,” Eddie swallows and he almost looks nervous. “Nothing. Have a good day. Seven o’clock, my place. Don’t be late.” 

“I won’t,” Steve promises and Eddie grins one more time before he’s gone. 

Steve hadn’t really meant to start seeing Eddie. He wouldn’t call it an accident and he’d never say it was a mistake, it just hadn’t been on purpose. He didn’t even realize he had a thing for Eddie until the other man’s tongue was in his mouth and Steve had his hands up his shirt. It was a surprise. A moment of oh, maybe the reason I want to be around him all the time and I can barely stand going more than a day without seeing him is because I like him while Eddie kissed him senseless with his back pressed against the arm of the couch. 

They hadn’t talked about it after, but Eddie would come to his place or Steve would go to Eddie’s and they’d hang out and smoke and Eddie would force terrible music on Steve, and they’d fall into bed together. Wash, rinse, repeat. Two months where they barely went a day without some kind of contact. Eddie stopping by the video store or Steve calling him after work, just to say hi. Steve had made his peace, at least for a while, with that. Friends with benefits that would eventually grow out of the need for it one day, move on to other relationships and never speak of the spring and summer of 1986. 

But Steve craves stability. He wants a relationship, someone that wants him as much as he wants them and wants him for him. The girls he took out, they wanted high school Steve. Suave and charming, smooth and flirty without ever coming on too strong. Steve wasn’t that guy anymore. He couldn’t… dilute himself anymore. He didn’t know how to. And Eddie never seemed interested in anything but what Steve was. He called Steve beautiful and laughed at his jokes and always kissed him goodbye after they spent the night together and Steve was getting too stuck on something that wasn’t his to have. 

So, he told Eddie he couldn’t do it anymore. In the middle of Eddie shrugging his jacket off in Steve’s front room doorway, going on about some new album he planned on forcing Steve to love, Steve had told Eddie he couldn’t see him anymore. 

Steve will never forget the look on Eddie’s face. Hurt written all across his features, frowning. Steve hates when he frowns. Eddie’s got a face made for joy, the way it lights up in his eyes and makes him flash his teeth in a grin. Steve apologized, told Eddie he couldn’t just have sex with him anymore, he was getting too attached. 

And then hurt had turned to confusion and Eddie said, “When was this ever just sex, Steve?” like it was never even a question for him. 

And it hadn’t occurred to Steve that Eddie would just like him. They were complete opposites, unlikely friends and an even more unlikely couple. Maybe that’s what makes them so good. He’d ask Eddie, but Eddie would probably just grin and say something about tarnishing Steve’s royal reputation. 

“Someone’s cheery this morning,” Robin says when Steve walks into the store, her eyebrows raised. “What’s gotten into you?” 

Steve shrugs and drops his stuff behind the counter, hopping up on top of it next to where she’s leaning. “Nothing. Can’t I just be in a good mood?” 

“You can. It’s just out of the ordinary for you.” Robin shrugs, going back to sorting her stack of returns. She sorts by genre, then by alphabetical title. It’s meticulous and Steve doesn’t think it actually cuts down on how long it takes to put them back out, but he never says anything. “This new person in your life must be special.” 

This is why he has a hard time lying to Robin. It’s the lilt to her words, the way she senses the changes in his moods and what causes them without him ever having to say a word, the way she presses without Steve realizing what she’s doing until he’s already told her everything. He ducks his head to hide a smile he can’t help from forming. “He is,” he says without thinking. 

Robin’s head snaps up. “What did you say?” 

Steve feels the color drain from his face. “They are,” he tries. 

Robin’s gaze zeroes in on him and she takes a slow step towards him. “No, no. You said ‘he is.’ Steve Harrington, do you have a boyfriend?” She whispers, so low Steve almost can’t hear her.

Oh, God. Maybe Eddie was right. Maybe Steve can’t keep a secret. He bit off more than he could chew and now he’s choking on it under Robin’s piercing but gentle gaze. “I – Rob,” is all he can manage to choke out. 

Robin shakes her head and takes his hand in hers. “It’s okay. Don’t say anything. Yes or no questions?” 

It’s a thing they do. When the thing is too big or too hard to talk about, they play a game. Simple yes and no questions, until the thing doesn’t feel so all-consuming. “Yes,” he says. 

Robin holds up a hand and hops over the counter, running to the door. She flips the sign from open to close, even though the store opened ten minutes ago. Keith might chew them out, but he likes the fact that employing Steve Harrington brings the pretty girls in, and he knows that Steve and Robin are a package deal. They’ll be okay to close for a little while. 

Robin comes back and sits on the counter across from him, her face serious despite the sparkle in her eyes. 

“Okay. Do you have a boyfriend?” Robin asks. 

Steve nods, wringing his hands together. She says it so casually, like the shock isn’t in that it’s a boy anymore but in the fact that Steve finally found someone he likes enough to label the relationship. He likes Eddie more than enough to label it. He’d shout it from the rooftops if he could, if it wouldn’t turn them both into town pariahs. 

Robin beams at him. “Is he cute?” 

Steve can’t help but grin back. “Yeah,” he says. 

“Is he nice to you?” Robin says. “Don’t lie. I’ll know.” 

Steve thinks back to this morning when Eddie had pressed closer against his back and dropped a kiss to the knob at the top of his spine, mumbling a good morning, gorgeous against his skin. “Yes,” he assures. 

“Good. I’d hate to have to kill him.” Robin says it on a laugh, but Steve really thinks she’d at least cause bodily harm for him. “But you’re hiding it, right? It’s a secret.” 

Steve nods. 

“And you ’ re okay with that?”

“Yeah,” Steve says. 

“Steve,” Robin warns. 

“I promise,” Steve says, reaching out and offering her his pinky. “He didn’t ask me to. I asked him. I promise I’m okay with it.” 

Robin links her pinky around his. “One more question,” she says. 

Steve nods. “Lay it on me.” 

Robin leans in and says, “Do you think he might be the one?” 

Steve looks around and then leans in to meet her. “I really fucking hope so, Rob.” 

Robin laughs and swats at his chest. “God, you’re a cheese ball. I’m so fucking happy for you. Now, help me put these returns back.” She says, hopping off the counter and picking up a stack of tapes taller than she is. 

Steve grabs his own stack and follows her through the shelves, pestering her about her crush on Nancy and smiling when she gets as flustered as he was a minute ago. 

What he doesn’t tell her is that more than once, Steve’s caught Nancy tracking Robin’s movements with starry eyes, entranced by Robin’s animated rants. Robin’s smart. She’ll catch on eventually. 

–

“Is that a hickey?” Dustin exclaims in the middle of movie night.

They’re all crammed into Steve’s living room, surrounded by snacks and blankets. Eddie’s head is turned to his left as he says something to Robin about the movie. The couch really only fits four people, but they’ve crammed five onto it, and Steve can press close to Eddie without anyone thinking too much about it. 

Eddie, always cool, turns to Dustin. “None of your business, Henderson. Watch the movie.” 

But Max has already paused the tape and turned in Lucas’s arms to eye Eddie. “So it is a hickey,” she raises one red eyebrow. 

The kids are all staring at Eddie and they’ve drawn Robin and Nancy’s gaze, too. Steve guesses quizzing Eddie on his sex life is enough to get them to stop making heart eyes at each other. 

“Yes, children of my charge, I have a hickey. Astute detective work, D, really great stuff.” Eddie says, flicking the bill of Dustin’s hat. “Now, turn around and watch the movie.” 

“I didn’t know you were seeing someone,” Nancy says, waggling her eyebrows. Jesus Christ, the last thing Steve and Eddie need is Nancy Drew on their case. “Who’s the lucky gal?” 

And that makes Eddie freeze. “He’s, uh, just someone I met. Don’t worry about it.” 

Steve tries to survey the kids’ expressions at the mention of it being a guy. There’s no notable change, save for Will, who looks like he’s having some kind of revelation and pulls his knees up to his chest, drawing a look from Mike. 

“Sorry, I shouldn’t have assumed,” Nancy brushes over it and then pushes on. “So you met a guy. You have to tell us about him.” 

“Yeah,” Robin drawls, nudging Eddie’s shoulder with hers. “We wanna know about him. Right, Steve?” 

All eyes in the room land on Steve and he’s sweating. “I’m not particularly invested in Munson’s love life, so.” 

Robin eyes him but Steve doesn’t get a chance to decipher before Eddie is leaning into his space and saying, “Aw, don’t be like that. No one could replace you, princess.” 

This is what they’ve always done. Eddie lays a little over-the-top sweet talk on Steve, smiling and leaning too close. Steve rolls his eyes and pretends to hate it, shoving Eddie off and huffing. “Don’t call me that shit,” he grumbles and thanks a higher power that the dim light in the room hides the blush on his cheeks. 

“I can’t believe you’re dating someone and you didn’t tell me,” Dustin huffs, crossing his arms. “This is awful. I feel betrayed. I thought we were friends.” 

“The drama, Jesus Christ.” Eddie groans, rubbing his hands over his face. “I didn’t tell you because number one, it’s not the same as dating a girl. It’s not that easy. Number two, you don’t need to know everything I do, so mind your business. Number three, it’s still new and I’m definitely not jinxing it by running my mouth to you losers.” 

Everyone goes solemnly quiet. 

To, well, everyone’s surprise, it’s Mike that speaks up. “We don’t care if you’re gay,” he says, like Eddie’s the biggest dipshit in the world. 

Will looks like he’s going to cry. Steve and Robin share a look behind Eddie’s back. 

“I’d have said it a little more eloquently, Michael ,” Nancy scolds. “But he’s right. We don’t care. I’m sorry I pushed it.” 

Steve’s heart is hammering so hard that he’s sure everyone in the room can hear it as he moves his hand just so and brushes his knuckles against Eddie’s leg discreetly. They could tell their friends, Steve thinks. Nothing has to change. Steve always knew, really, that telling the kids and Nance and Robin wasn’t what he was afraid of. It’s speaking it into existence. It’s putting a label on it for everyone to look at and the pressure that always comes with that, no matter how much you try and avoid it. The kind of pressure that drives people apart. 

Eddie clears his throat and sniffs. He looks a little teary from Steve’s point of view. “Um, thanks,” is all he manages to say. 

“And when you’re ready to tell us about him, if you ever are, we’ll be ready to listen,” Lucas smiles. He’s the most well-spoken of the whole group, Steve thinks, always coming in with the perfect words at the right time. He’s a perfect juxtaposition to Max’s bluntness. 

Eddie nods. “Okay, if you’re all finished, there’s a movie that’s begging to be watched.” 

It was El’s turn to pick and she chose The Breakfast Club . Everyone knows Eddie’s just diverting the attention. Lucas leans forward to push play again when Max says, “Wait! Just one question.” 

Eddie gestures with his hand like he’s giving her the floor and Max says, “Is he hot?” 

Lucas rolls his eyes and Eleven bursts into a fit of giggles and Eddie just grins. “Yeah. He’s a total smokeshow.” 

Steve blushes again and Dustin makes a dramatic gagging sound, but Max says, “Nice,” with a shit-eating grin and then presses play on the movie.

With everyone’s eyes finally averted, Steve drops his hand off his lap onto the couch, laying his pinky over Eddie’s and reveling in the shy grin he earns for it. 

–

Eddie is a casually affectionate guy. An arm around Robin’s shoulders, a ruffle of Dustin’s hair, a gentle pat to the side of Steve’s face. He’s touchy and he has absolutely zero concept of personal space, and he’s been like that since Steve met him.  A few months ago, Robin got on some kick about love languages after she read about them in a magazine, and she was obsessed with diagnosing everyone. 

Robin’s is words of affirmation. Nancy’s is acts of service. Steve’s is quality time and Eddie, to no one’s surprise, is physical touch. 

A few months back, when Steve had nothing but a hopeless crush, the touches killed him. Drove him insane with wishing for more and wishing Eddie would stop before Steve keeled over of a heart attack at twenty years old. 

Now, he revels in them. When they’re alone, Eddie can’t keep his hands off Steve. Fingers brushing through his hair, arms wrapped around him in bed, hands clasped together in Steve’s car. Eddie never leaves without kissing him goodbye. Steve might be in love. 

No one really bats an eye when Eddie touches Steve and Steve lets him. The touches are always friendly or mindless enough that it’s not worth looking at, and everyone knows that anything perceived as flirty is just a part of Eddie’s favorite pastime: riling Steve up. 

Eddie got a job at the record store a two towns over, where people come in and don’t look at him like he’s going to summon the devil with a snap of his fingers. He likes it and Steve’s happy, even if it cuts into the time he gets to spend keeping Eddie all to himself. 

They’re at lunch with Robin and Nancy, and Dustin had to tag along. He says he’s not going to be forgotten just because Eddie and Steve have decided they’re best friends now. 

As if there were anything in the world that could make Eddie or Steve forget about Dustin Henderson. 

The girls ride together and Steve brings Dustin, Eddie driving separately because he has a shift at four. 

Three fifteen strikes and Eddie swears under his breath, sliding out of the booth and fumbling his wallet out of his pocket. 

“I got it, don’t worry. Go,” Steve shoos. 

Eddie beams at him and says, “Thanks, sweetheart,” which is easy enough to explain away. 

What’s not is the fact that Eddie leans down and kisses the corner of Steve’s mouth. 

Steve feels his face go red and eyes go wide, Eddie freezing in place. Robin sputters on her lemonade and Nancy simply raises a knowing eyebrow. Steve kind of wants the floor of this diner to open up and swallow him whole. He just thanks God that it’s empty except for them and the bored looking waitress filing her nails behind the counter. 

Eddie leans back with equally wide eyes and immediately turns and smacks a kiss to Dustin’s forehead. 

“Gross, man.” Dustin says, but Eddie is committed to his cover and he’s already standing behind the girls, kissing the top of Nancy’s head. She allows it, unbothered as ever. Steve is going to throw up his fries. 

“If you kiss me,” Robin turns as Eddie leans in, “I’m going to run over your guitar with Harrington’s car.”

“Such a charmer, this one,” Eddie grins and taps the underside of her chin with two fingers. “See you later!” 

Steve watches him run across the parking lot to his van, peeling out of the spot like he stole it. 

“That was weird, right?” Dustin asks. “Eddie’s weird, but that was weird even by his standards.” 

Nancy laughs and shrugs. “Nothing about him really shocks me anymore.”  

Robin eyes Steve across the table and he feels about two inches tall, desperate to slide under the table and pretend this very weird and very telling lunch date didn’t happen and he dreamed it all. “You’re a little red there, Steve.” 

Steve clears his throat. “Warm in here,” he lies. 

“Sure,” Robin smirks. 

Dustin is due at the arcade to meet the rest of the party, so Steve pays the check and gets the hell out of there, dropping Dustin off as quickly as he can and then going home. He spends the rest of the day ignoring the ringing phone and trying not to panic. 

It’s not like – it’s not like he cares if they know, really. It’s not about that. Well, it kind of is, but it’s not all at the same time. Nancy and Robin would be cool and Dustin would think it was gross, like watching his parents kiss, but something about it sets his teeth on edge all the same. 

What if they break up? Then, someone has to stop coming around, or they both have to bite the bullet and be around each other all the time, and Steve can’t speak for Eddie, but that would kill him. Their friends knowing means their friends being invested in them together, it means they’ll come to expect it as a fact of life, and if they split up, everything changes. Spending all that time with him and forcing awkward niceties for the sake of everyone around them, standing on a fragile dynamic until it snaps like dry rotted tree branches and drives the group apart. Steve can’t take that. This is his family and if he lost it because he screwed up another relationship, he doesn’t know what he would do. 

Eddie feels like a sure thing. But Nancy did, too, and look how that ended. 

Eddie pulls in the driveway at half-past eleven and rushes in the house, panic and apologies written all over his face. “Steve,” he starts. 

“How sure of this are you?” Steve blurts, shoving his hands in his pockets to keep from fidgeting. 

Eddie freezes halfway through taking his jacket off. It’s exactly how he looked the other night, when Steve said they had to stop seeing each other. “Of what?” 

“Of me. Of us.” Steve says. He rocks up onto the balls of his feet and back down again. “I don’t – today, in the diner, you know, it wasn’t ideal, but it’s not – it’s okay, you know? If they know, they know, and I just – I don’t want to break up.” 

Eddie takes his jacket off slowly and tosses it over the back of the dining room chair. He walks over to Steve and takes his face in his hands. “Harrington, what are you talking about? Who’s breaking up?” 

Steve shakes his head. “I don’t know. Forget it. How was work?” He changes the subject, stepping out of Eddie’s gentle grasp. 

“Work was hell because I wanted to be here with you,” Eddie says, following Steve into the kitchen. “Now, will you please tell me what you’re talking about?” 

Steve will never get used to that. The way Eddie says the sweetest, most romantic shit in the same way he might mention that it’s raining outside or that he’s out of smokes. “What if we break up?” 

“Why would we do that?” Eddie asks, stepping up behind Steve and wrapping his arms around him. 

“Because – I mean, you told Dustin, it’s not that easy dating a guy, especially not here, a-and maybe you won’t want this forever, you know? Want me forever.” Steve rambles, his voice wobbling. “And if we break up, that’s like – it messes the whole group up. People will feel like they have to take sides and one of us is probably going to stop being around and the kids will be upset o-or worse, we’ll both keep being here and we’ll have to pretend it doesn’t suck.” 

Eddie turns Steve gently in his arms so they’re facing each other, his hands slipping just under the hem of Steve’s shirt to rest on his hip. 

Steve can’t stop talking. “I mean, that would kill me, Eddie. It would kill me to keep having to  be around you and pretend I’m not in love with you, you know?” He exclaims.

Steve doesn’t even realize what he’s said until Eddie’s face becomes unreadable and he whispers, “You’re in love with me?” 

Steve feels that same feeling he did at lunch, like he wants the floor to cave in and take him down with it. “I – I’m messing this up, of course I am, I know it’s way too soon to say that and I’m –” 

Eddie catches him between words in a kiss, boxing Steve in against the counter and holding him tight, like he’d die if he had to let go. His hands are everywhere, running over Steve’s back  and then resting on his neck  and then sliding into his hair. Eddie kisses like he does everything else, with reckless abandon and everything he’s got. Steve would maybe die if he ever had to lose this.  

He almost did. All those months ago in the Upside Down, when he carried a bloody and barely breathing Eddie back through the portal. He almost never got to know what it was like to be in love with Eddie, to be the object of all that sweet affection.  

“You didn’t mess a thing up,” Eddie breathes against his mouth when he pulls away. “And you’re out of your goddamn mind if you think there’s anything in this world I’m ever going to want like I want you.” 

Steve rests his forehead against Eddie’s. “Okay,” he breathes. 

“I love you, okay, and you’ve probably fucking ruined me for anyone else, so you’re stuck with me now.” Eddie promises, holding Steve’s face like he’s something precious. “So unless you want out, then you don’t have to worry.” 

And Steve feels a little stupid and a lot in love when Eddie kisses him again, lifting Steve up onto the counter and making a home in the V of his legs. He feels a lot stupid when Eddie runs his mouth over Steve’s neck and whispers that he loves him. He feels like the biggest idiot in the  world when Eddie takes him upstairs and presses him down into the mattress and spends the rest of the night taking him apart until Steve can’t move, can’t speak, can’t think, can’t breathe with how much he wants this forever. 

Later, as they’re falling asleep, Steve says, “I want to tell them.”  

Eddie smiles into Steve’s chest. “Whatever you want, sweetheart.” 

–

It’s late August and the kids are about to head back to school. Nancy is headed up to study Journalism at the University of Indiana and Robin is headed down the road to Hawkins Community and Technical while she figures out what she wants to do with the rest of her life. 

“Screw college,” Eddie says when Steve asks if he’s going. “Unless you want to go. Then college is great.” 

Steve thinks he might. 

He throws them a pool party on the last weekend Nancy will be in town, a send-off for her and Robin and something to put the kids in a good mood before they head off for another year of high school. They’re so much older than they were when Steve met them. They’re not little kids he has to babysit anymore, they’re growing up right in front of him and before long, Steve will be sending them all off to college, too. 

Steve is bouncing around the house nervously while he waits for the kids to start showing up. He bought them pizza and there’s more soda than they could ever drink and an ungodly amount of popsicles in the freezer. He feels like he’s buttering them up for something. 

“Baby, will you relax?” Eddie says, jogging downstairs in swim trunks and one of Steve’s worn out shirts. “We’re not telling the world here.” 

Steve sighs and runs his hands through his hair. “I know, I know. I can’t help it. When I get nervous I –” 

“Become a homemaker?” Eddie teases, pressing a kiss to Steve’s cheek on his way past. He’s got blacked out sunglasses on his head holding his hair back like a headband and he’s sunkissed from hours outside with their friends this summer and Steve loves him. “Don’t be nervous. Twenty bucks says they already know.” 

Steve laughs. “Yeah, probably. You’re right. I’m being ridiculous.” 

Eddie holds his hands up to say you said it, not me , and Steve hears a car roll into the driveway. Out the kitchen window, he sees kids piling out of Nancy’s car and start towards the front door, Nancy and Robin trailing behind them. She must have packed a couple in the trunk, because she has the whole crew.

“Last chance to change your mind,” Eddie says just before the front door opens. 

Steve grins at him. “No way,” he says. 

It’s hard to corral them all into the living room with all the excitement, but Eddie says he’s withholding pizza and popsicles until they all sit their asses down and listen to what Steve has to say. 

“We don’t need ground rules anymore,” Max says as she plops down at the counter. “We’re not babies.” 

“It’s not ground rules,” Steve assures. 

“Really? Cause this seems like –” Dustin starts. 

“Maybe you’d know what it is if you’d hush for two minutes,” Eddie says fake cheery as he comes to stand next to Steve. 

Dustin mimes zipping his lips and sits with his eyes glued to Steve. “We’re listening.” 

Steve nods and claps his hands together. “Right, so. I just wanted to tell you guys –” 

“You’re dating!” Robin exclaims. Steve swears she’s worse than the kids sometimes. “I knew it!” 

Steve drops his face into his hands and Eddie laughs. “Got it in one, Buckley, very nice.” 

“Thank you,” Robin says smugly, accepting a high five from Nancy.

“Is that it?” Will asks. 

“What do you mean ‘is that it’?” Steve asks. “I just shared something deeply personal with you!” 

“Well, yeah,” Lucas says. “But –” 

“We knew that already,” Mike finishes for him. “Like, were we not supposed to?” 

Eddie is basically doubled over beside him, wheezing through a laughing fit. “No, you weren’t supposed to know! We were very careful.” Steve says, throwing his hands into the air in annoyance. 

“Eddie kissed you at the diner,” Dustin says carefully. “And then tried to cover it up by kissing everyone else.” 

“And I thought Steve was going to bust a blood vessel when Dustin saw the hickey on your neck,” Max points out. “He looked concerning.” 

“Plus, you called him a smokeshow,” Robin laughs. “And he was red as a beet!” 

“Alright, alright, enough! I get it, I’m very obvious.” Steve sighs. “Well, now you know.” 

“Oh, Eddie’s just as bad.” Max says. 

“Worse,” El agrees. 

Robin sighs dramatically and leans into Nancy, who giggles at the theatrics. “He woke up in the hospital with Harrington heart eyes and hasn’t stopped wearing them since.” 

“Alright!” Eddie says suddenly. “Enough of that. This is a pool party so go – I don’t know, horseplay in the pool or whatever.” 

The kids take off like they heard a starting gun and Steve turns to look at Eddie. “You had a crush on me,” he teases. 

“No, I didn’t. Shut up.” Eddie says. His cheeks are red. “You were hot. I’m a simple man. And I was high.” 

Steve reaches out to pull him in and Eddie steps out of reach. “You liked me,” Steve sing-songs. 

“A fact that is not true now,” Eddie says. “Come on, I’m gonna make you put me on your shoulders so we can kick Nancy and Robin’s ass at pool chicken.” 

Steve follows him to the patio but stops when he sees Nancy rubbing sunscreen on Robin’s shoulders. Robin’s giggling at whatever Nancy is saying. “Wait,” Steve stops him. “Do you think Robin and Nancy finally…?” 

“Got their shit together?” Eddie asks. “Yes. And we’re the inspiration.” 

“Fuck yeah we are,” Steve says, catching Dustin and Mike shoving each other’s heads underwater while El and Max antagonize them. “Hey, you two qu–” 

He doesn’t get to finish his scolding because Eddie has wrapped both arms around him and thrown them into the water, shirts and all. He comes up, sputtering around a mouthful of water. “Dude!” 

Eddie laughs and pulls his shirt over his head, tossing it haphazardly onto the concrete. “Just wanted you to have a little fun instead of standing around being their mom all afternoon.”  

“Oh, excuse the hell out of me for not wanting to have to drive those dumbasses to the emergency room,” Steve grumbles, pulling his own soaked shirt off. “My bad. How dare I.” 

“You can be forgiven,” Eddie shrugs, floating over to take Steve into his arms. “Just because you’re so pretty, though.” 

Steve rolls his eyes but he lets Eddie kiss him anyway. 

“God, gross!” Dustin yells. “It’s like watching my parents make out.” 

“I knew he’d say that,” Steve says, and Eddie’s answering laughter is warmer than the August sun.