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The first thing to understand is that, even though Steve didn’t get into college and has spent the better part of the past two years working menial customer service jobs, Steve Harrington is smart.
Sure, he’s not like grades-smart in the way that Dustin and the other party members are, but he’s been known to plow through a book or two in his time. Baby Steve Harrington (approximately age 8) was even bullied in school for carrying a book with him everywhere he went. (Were they like War and Peace level books? Absolutely not, he was 8 at the time.)
Anyway, Steve ended up shedding all that stuff as he got older and honestly, he lost interest because hello ladies. People stopped bullying him for being a nerd and Steve tried to pretend that he wasn’t bothered when his high school friends knocked books out of people’s hands and made fun of them for their nerdiness.
After learning that their town sat on top of the rift to an alternate Hell dimension, Steve stopped caring about that stuff as much. Which is why one day, a beautiful day off from Family Video with no Robin or kids around to occupy his time, Steve picks up one of the books Dustin had dropped off at his house and demanded he read.
It took forever and Steve ended up keeping a dictionary next to him for when he got to words that he had no idea what they meant, but eventually, Steve went There and Back Again with Bilbo and cried when Thorin died because the line of Dúrin was no more. Then he picked up The Fellowship of the Ring and fell into the adventure with Frodo.
I wish none of this had happened, Steve thinks as he’s falling asleep one night, book slowly sliding out of his hands in the warm lamplight. But Steve’s not thinking of the Ring or the Mines of Moria. He’s thinking of Demogorgons and children banding together to save their town when really, the adults should’ve done something about this because, as Erica said, Operation Child Endangerment.
By the time spring break ’86 rolls around, Steve’s wrapped up Return of the King and he thinks about Frodo heading off into the Undying Lands and Legolas choosing Gimli to accompany him and something about that relationship in particular twists in Steve’s stomach. It’s not a bad twist, just – something that Steve doesn’t wanna think too hard about because he needs a lot more alcohol in his system and probably Robin right there next to him when he’s ready.
He’s still not ready when Eddie Munson holds a broken beer bottle to his neck but.
“I say,” Eddie starts, squatting under Skull Rock, “you’re asking me to follow you into Mordor, which, if I’m being totally straight with you, I think is a really bad idea.” And Steve knows, he knows he’s not supposed to know what Mordor is, but Eddie’s quoting Lord of the Rings and Dustin’s hopping up and down because he definitely knows what’s Eddie’s decision is. “But the Shire – the Shire is burning. So Mordor it is.” And all of them start following Dustin and his compass before Steve processes the fact that he’s more than a little attracted to the fact that Eddie Munson, on the run for murder and Satanism, chose to make a fucking Lord of the Rings reference to agree to hunting down a gate to the Upside Down.
He belatedly asks what Mordor even is but no one’s paying attention to him, so Steve lets himself take a breath. Nobody knows that he understood that entire little speech.
Of course, this doesn’t mean that things stay that way forever.
June rolls in with promises of a hot summer, and Steve has somehow found himself agreeing to play host to the party’s summer D&D campaign – located away from the general public since accusations of Satanism and devil summoning are a very real thing. He hasn’t caught any of the details of it, but Eddie’s apparently promised something suitably entertaining that all of the kids are willing to try their hand at it.
It’s character sheet day, and Steve (good mother that he is) is making sure that everyone has enough snacks while they all bounce character ideas around, Eddie sitting in a chair at Steve’s dining room table his throne, mostly there to smile and not answer when any of the kids ask him a question about the world he’s created. The most Steve’s gotten out of it is that it’s fantasy, which means there’s a lot of words like elves and halflings and orcs being thrown around.
Steve’s been half-heartedly complaining about the nerdiness since he first got roped into hosting it, but honestly, he thinks it’s good for them. It’s a healthy hobby for them to have and probably a healthy way to cope for the fact that they’ve nearly been killed by supernatural creatures four different times over the past four years. But he’s got a reputation to maintain (to them) and a role to play, and both of those things include two very important factors: Steve complains about babysitting and he doesn’t know what they’re talking about.
He’s about halfway through a game of solitaire when he hears Will pipe up. “I think I’m gonna make my character’s hair brown like Legolas,” he says, and Steve absently notes the way Dustin’s head perks up.
“Are you kidding?” Dustin, predictably, asks. “Legolas is blond. Thranduil’s hair is blond, so Legolas’s blond.”
“What?” Steve and half of the room flinch when Mike screeches. It’s enough to make him glance up at the kids just to make sure nothing’s actually wrong. “His hair is brown! It’s described as brown in the books.”
“Technically, the books just say his hair was dark,” Lucas chimes in, sounding far too happy for what Dustin and Mike are taking as a very serious debate. Max snorts, muttering an affectionate “nerds” before turning back to her character sheet and borrowed dice.
“Okay, so then he’s got dark brown hair like Arwen,” Mike corrects himself. “But he wasn’t blond.”
“Henderson might be right about this,” Eddie cuts in, and though Steve isn’t looking at them anymore, too busy trying to figure out where to put the seven in his hand, he can picture the way Eddie leans forward over the table. “Thranduil is described as having golden hair, so there’s a good chance that Legolas inherited those shining locks.”
“Oh, okay. Well, I can just change it,” Will starts.
“No, Legolas has dark hair!” Mike says, louder now. “Will, don’t change it – it’s still Legolas.”
“Not if Legolas is blond,” Dustin shoots back.
“Legolas’s hair is never described properly in the books,” Steve thinks aloud after putting the seven down after moving a three to an open spot he hadn’t seen. “He’s mostly described as being dressed in green and brown, and yeah, Lucas is right, his head was described as dark, like, once but it was night so most of their heads would be dark. Not to mention,” he continues, blissfully unaware of the silence that’s fallen since he started talking, “there’s the whole continuity thing about the different types of elves and their hair color. Like, Galadriel’s type of elves were meant to be blonde but Elrond’s were meant to be dark hair? Plus there’s the fact that Arwen’s hair is black –”
Steve suddenly realizes that the sound of teenagers arguing is gone. He looks up from his game to find the entire room staring at him, ranging from awe (Dustin) to disbelief (Mike) to something that makes Steve think of girls in high school adjusting their shirts so that he could see them almost flashing him (Eddie.) “Oh,” Steve says.
That’s apparently the cue for chaos to be let loose.
“You’ve read Lord of the Rings?” Mike, skeptically, like Steve hasn’t just pulled facts from the books off the top of his head.
“That’s so cool!” Will, thrilled.
“Why didn’t you tell me?” Ah, Dustin, bordering on betrayed.
“Does this mean that you’re a nerd?” Lucas, in a tone that’s eerily reminiscent of Erica (who, sadly, could not attend today’s gathering. Tina was having a party).
“Who’s Galadriel?” Max, perhaps the only one asking the real questions here.
El and Eddie are the only ones who don’t saying anything, for very different reasons. El, for example, has turned from Steve to look at Eddie with her eyebrows furrowed while Eddie’s jaw has dropped open and if Steve didn’t know any better, he’d say that Eddie was blushing.
Steve shrugs, clears his throat, and puts down his deck because he’s got a feeling he won’t be able to finish his game now. “I’ve read all of them, including that new one, released by what’s-his-face’s son? Took me a while, but it was pretty good once I just started accepting whatever new shit was thrown at me,” he says, looking at Mike. “I didn’t tell you,” he continues, turning to Dustin, “because I hadn’t gotten the chance. I finished like two weeks before everything went to hell with Vecna.”
He turns to Lucas. “Listen man, we’re both straddling the line between jock and nerd here, so if you ever want my help with basketball again, you might wanna reconsider how you’re asking that.” Lucas’s grin falls off his face so fast as Steve turns to Max. “Galadriel’s a cool elf lady, like scary powerful. Kinda like El.”
“Holy shit,” Eddie says faintly in the silence that follows.
Max takes one look at him before she starts gathering her and El’s papers, grabbing dice and shoving them into her pockets. “Nope, not hanging around for this. Come on, dipshits, get your shit and let’s go.”
“What, why – ” Dustin asks, head bouncing from Steve to Max.
Will seems to pick up on what Max is getting though, gathering his papers just as quickly. Mike starts to pack up as soon as he realizes that Will is packing, and Lucas and Dustin start packing after that. El’s still frowning at Eddie, who hasn’t looked away from Steve. “Is Eddie okay?” she asks Max.
Max laughs a little. “He’s fine, El. He just needs us to get out of here.” She stands and heads for the door, pulling El by her free hand and leaving the boys to scramble after her with Dustin still asking why're we leaving, we just found out Steve’s read Lord of the Rings –
The front door shuts behind him, and Steve realizes that Max knew what the look on Eddie’s face meant. (There’s a split second where Steve processes the fact that Max probably knew to make herself scarce because of Billy and then Steve immediately pushes that thought so far out of his head.) Where this leaves him is sitting on the edge of his couch so that he can reach the coffee table with Eddie practically across the room at the dining room table looking for all the world like he wants to eat Steve.
“Did I say something wrong?” Steve asks when Eddie just keeps looking at him.
Eddie laughs once, sharply. “Wrong? Harrington, you just dropped names and facts from a book series that I didn’t even think you knew existed, let alone had read. Forgive me for needing a little bit of time to process this information.”
You’re an idiot, Nancy Wheeler of the past whispers in Steve’s head, a memory that Steve didn’t even know he had floating to the surface, the girls’ bathroom at Hawkins High flitting through.
“Oh,” Steve says, and the tiny ball of pride that had been growing at being able to prove Mike wrong and answer questions about books that the kids clearly love dies a little in his chest. Eddie doesn’t have to say it, but Steve’s heard it enough by now to know that Eddie thinks the same thing of him that Nancy and Robin do: that he’s an idiot, an idiot for not even being able to get into college.
“No, no, not like that,” Eddie says, and Steve turns back to his game when Eddie stands up so fast that the chair tries its best to screech against the floor.
“No, it’s fine, I get it.” Steve waves him off and picks up the deck again, pulling the next card. Huh, King of Hearts.
“Dammit, Harrington, fuckin’ – I’m trying to.” Eddie’s loud as he crosses the room, muttering to himself about something that Steve’s trying not to hear because he’s focusing so hard on the stupid card in his hands and trying not to cry about being called stupid again.
He’s focusing so hard that he jumps when Eddie sits down next to him, the cushion dipping under Eddie’s weight. Steve still doesn’t look up. “Harrington,” Eddie sighs after a couple of seconds. Then, softer, “Steve.”
Steve almost crumples the card in his hand. “What.”
Eddie huffs out a breath, the air from his mouth hitting the side of Steve’s face where Eddie’s leaning forward, trying to make Steve look at him. “I’m trying to tell you that was one of the hottest things I’ve ever seen and I’m pretty sure you think I was insulting you.”
The loop of You’re an idiot you’re an idiot you’re an idiot comes to a screeching halt in Steve’s brain. “What?” He has to look at Eddie now, never mind that his eyes are probably red and his nose is seconds away from starting to run and he can feel the way his cheeks have started to flush because he’s about to cry.
Eddie shakes his head with a small smile, holding eye contact now that he’s gotten Steve to look at him. “You know Lord of the Rings. That’s like the Holy Grail of being a nerd, and you know it well enough to drop facts like that off the top of your head. That’s – insane, actually.”
“Oh,” Steve says for the third time in ten minutes. Then, “You were trying to fuck me with your eyes.”
If Steve thought Eddie was blushing earlier, that’s nothing compared to what Eddie does when Steve calls him out. Eddie turns so red so fast, he doesn’t have time to bring his hair up in front of his face in his signature move of embarrassment. “I-I wouldn’t say that,” Eddie tries, like Steve’s gonna believe him for a second.
Steve’s pretty sure he’s missing a few steps and he’s probably not at his prettiest since he’s gone from on the edge of crying to suffering the emotional comedown, but he’s been thinking about and not thinking about kissing Eddie for too long to let this opportunity slip by him. So he puts down the deck of cards, and he slides one hand up to cup Eddie’s jaw, cutting Eddie’s excuses off just with a touch of his hand. “Shame if that’s not what you were doing,” Steve says, dredging up some of that long-dead Harrington charm. “And here I was about to offer to kiss you for it.”
“I’d be okay with that,” Eddie says, his eyes blown wide as Steve leans into his space.
“Yeah?” Steve teases. “You want me to kiss you, Eds?” He can feel Eddie’s heart thundering under his hand.
“Yes.”
“Good,” Steve says, shifting the angle so he doesn’t ram their noses together. “Cause I wanna kiss you.”
Steve’s got tears stuck to his eyelashes and Eddie’s lips are chapped but Steve honestly cannot remember the last time he kissed someone because he wanted to – Nancy? Before their breakup? So kissing Eddie feels a little like coming home to Steve, who’s honestly always loved the intimacy that comes with a good kiss. Which isn’t to say that this is a good kiss – hell, it’s barely a kiss since Steve’s nose is still stuffed and Eddie’s sitting there like a deer in headlights but still.
Steve’s kissing someone he wants to kiss, someone he’s been wanting to kiss for months. It settles something empty in his chest, just a little reminder that maybe his love life isn’t completely hopeless. “You gonna kiss back?” Steve asks, pulling back just far enough so that their lips brush when he speaks.
Eddie bursts into motion then, swinging himself into Steve’s lap and bringing both hands up to cradle Steve’s face in his hands before kissing Steve. He’s not quite as careful as Steve was – their noses bump together only once and not as hard as Steve was expecting – but Steve soaks up the taste of Eddie’s mouth (mostly chips and soda –Steve had said no smoking and no drinking around the kids, and Eddie had agreed) when Eddie leaves his lips parted.
It’s messy and Steve’s got an arm wrapped around Eddie’s waist, dragging him closer, Eddie’s hands sliding back to cradle Steve by the base of his skull instead, and Eddie’s rings are catching a little in Steve’s hair, and Steve honestly cannot think of better kiss in his life.
When they break for air, they’re both panting, their foreheads pressed together like they don’t wanna separate, both of Steve’s arms around Eddie’s waist, Eddie’s hands still getting tangled in Steve’s hair. “Hot, huh?” Steve asks once he’s got some air back.
Eddie chuckles, turning so that their noses brush together. “You realize this means that Dustin’s gonna try even harder to get you to join the campaign now, right, Stevie?”
Steve laughs right back, shaking his head a little. “Only if I get you to do the math for me,” he jokes. “Lord of the Rings is one thing, but I’ve never been able to understand all the math you guys do for D&D.”
Eddie shoves him a little, and Steve lets him lean far enough back that they can grin at each other like idiots. “Oh, so you can quote Lord of the Rings but you can’t do math?”
Steve rolls his eyes. “I never said – ” Eddie kisses him again and Steve can’t say he doesn’t mind this method of shutting up.
(The next day, Dustin says, “Oh my god, he has blond hair –” and Will, with a grin, says, “Actually, Legolas was never described in the books.” Dustin throws popcorn at him and Eddie has to refrain from kissing Steve the way he wants to in front of the kids.
Instead, he settles for a proud look when he sees the smile on Steve’s face where Steve’s busying himself with a game of solitaire. Eddie’ll get the chance to kiss Steve later – apparently, it’s part of the whole boyfriend package.)