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“Stevie!” Eddie called.
Steve startled out of his half asleep state. He hadn’t slept well the night before. He kept having nightmares.... “Hmm?” He yawned. “What is it, bubba?”
“Will you paint my nails?” He held out the nail polish Uncle Wayne had gotten for him.
“Oh. I would, but I don’t know how to paint nails.” Steve has never painted anyone’s nails before.
“I can teach you! I’ll paint yours, then you can paint mine!”
“Um....” Steve didn’t particularly want to go out in public with his nails painted. He had to work tomorrow and Hawkins wasn’t very accepting.
“You can take it off before work. I won’t get mad.”
“Okay,” Steve agreed. Eddie looked so hopeful. It was hard to say ‘no.’
“Yay! Pick a color!” Eddie put all the bottles of nail polish on the coffee table.
Steve picked up a navy blue.
“Okay! Be right back!” Eddie ran to the kitchen to get paper towels so he didn’t accidentally paint the table instead of Steve’s nails. He also grabbed q-tips and nail polish remover in case he painted Steve’s fingers or hands by accident. “Ready?” He grinned, shaking the navy blue polish.
“Yeah. Go ahead.” Steve sat on the floor in front of the coffee table and put his hands flat on the paper towels.
Eddie took the top off and started with Steve’s left pinky nail. He stuck his tongue out slightly as he worked, trying to be careful not to get the polish anywhere but Steve’s nails.
Steve had to fight back a coo at the cute faces Eddie made and all the little huffs of annoyance when he accidentally painted his fingers.
“Done!” Eddie finally exclaimed. “What do you think?”
Steve looked down at his nails. “I love them, Eds. They look great. Thank you for painting them for me.”
Eddie smiled brightly. “You’re welcome! Don’t touch anything until they’re dry, but then you’re gonna paint mine, right?” Eddie picked up the black nail polish. He’d be tempted to go for something a little more colorful while he was little, but he had summer classes the next day. He was finally going to graduate this year! Just a little late, but as long as he went to all of his summer classes, he’d graduate. He couldn’t wait!
“Of course. I think I can figure it out, but just let me know if I’m messing up, okay?”
Eddie nodded and stacked a couple of blocks while he waited for Steve’s nails to dry.
After a few minutes, Steve tentatively poked a nail, exhaling in relief when he didn’t mess it up. He really didn’t want to mess up all of Eddie's hard work. He’d feel bad removing the nail polish in the morning, but he just couldn’t go out in public with his nails painted. He admired Eddie for being able to, though.
“Okay, you ready?” Steve asked. “You sure you want black?”
“Yup!” Eddie put his hands on the paper towel and bounced slightly on his butt.
Steve shook the bottle of nail polish like Eddie had done, then took the top off. He carefully painted Eddie’s nails, doing exactly what he’d done, except he got the nail polish on his fingers a little less.
“So, what do you think?” Steve asked when he finally finished. “Did I do okay?”
Eddie looked down at his nails. “You did perfect! Thank you, Stevie.” He gently bonked his head against his friend’s shoulder.
Steve rested his cheek on Eddie’s head. “You’re welcome, Eds. I’m glad you like it.”
“I have to go show Ozzy how good you did!” Eddie got to his feet and ran to show off his nails to each of his toys.