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The Mayfield house was quiet besides the occasional whisper and burst of laughter from the two girls sitting across from Steve. El was hunched over some embroidery floss taped to a book, twining the orange and yellow together into a triangle pattern Steve couldn’t remember the name of… chevrolet— chevron? He thinks that’s the one; like the gas station. She was whispering her process to Max in a hushed tone, Steve only able to catch the odds and ends as he stared down at his own unmade bracelet.
It consisted of simple black and red, twined together in more of a sad braid than anything. He’d tried to listen to the instructions the girls were giving, but no matter how hard he’d tried he couldn’t seem to come up with anything as cool looking as theirs. On his wrist sat one with blues and yellows, the yellow thread strung out in a heart shape amongst the blue and every time he shifted his arm, the tattered end of the floss tickled the skin of his wrist.
He moved to twist the red over the black string, huffing as his last knot came apart and began to unravel — the admittedly shitty — pattern he’d started to come up with. His brows furrowed, eyes darting over to El’s hands that seemed to know what they were doing as if it was second nature. Maybe her powers gave her an advantage. Or maybe Steve was just insanely terrible at this.
“Okay, I give up!” He groaned, throwing his hands in the air as his bracelet unraveled completely and he was left with just four strings taped to a book again.
El looked up from what she had been doing, staring unwaveringly down at the mess Steve had in front of him and offering a shy smile. Max hummed indignantly, looking somewhere just past Steve's head as she snickered at him.
“Having trouble?” Max asked rhetorically, the sarcasm dripping in her tone making Steve roll his eyes and cross his arms over his chest defensively.
“Obviously! I don’t get how you guys do this. Mine looks like—“ He glanced down at his work again, “—Well it doesn’t look like anything now, it’s completely come apart.”
Max’s face spread into a knowing smile, tilting her head as she reached over to feel around for Steve’s set of thread. “This is the one for Eddie, right?” She hummed nonchalantly, already very much knowing that Steve had, in fact, been making one for him. Steve’s face grew scarlet, his cheeks burning as he looked around the room indifferently.
“Yes. Which is why it has to look good.” He conceded, uncrossing his arms as he glared down at the offending thread. “Can't have it looking like some kid made it.”
“Okay, rude.” Max tutted, pushing her hands under herself to scoot closer to Steve. He watched her cautiously, making sure her arms didn’t give out suddenly or anything on the way. Luckily, she made it over to him in one piece (not that he thought she couldn’t), grabbing for his floss again and pulling the book closer to her. “Okay, so watch me very closely. I’m not doing it for you or it won’t be special.” Steve nodded instantly, leaning a bit to watch her process over her shoulder.
She explained to him how to do a simple swirly looking pattern, pointing to one on her wrist that she was recreating. Steve felt it looked a little goofy, but he hoped Eddie would like it nonetheless. Once she had a few rows, she pushed it back over to Steve to try on his own. He messed up a few times, El joining them to tell him what he was doing wrong since Max couldn’t see it herself. Finally, when it seemed he’d gotten it down, it turned out to be quite easy and Steve swore he could do it by muscle memory at that point.
“You got it, Steve?” Max asked, her eyes untrained towards his hand and he nodded before quickly realizing his mistake.
“Uh— Yeah, I got it. Once you get it, you get it.” He smiled and she nodded with her own little smile in return.
“Good, because if you and Eddie broke up over a shit bracelet, I don’t think Dustin would be very happy.”
Steve scoffed, continuing on the bracelet as he shook his head. “He wouldn’t break up with— He wouldn’t break up with me over a bracelet, would he?” Despite very much knowing Eddie wouldn’t, Steve couldn’t help but make sure that his hands were steady and his knots were right.
Max rolled her eyes with a laugh as she scooted back over to their own work, El crawling over to rejoin her side. “It would be a stupid thing to break up over.” Max mused, leaning into El as the girl began to pick back up her own work. Steve nodded nervously, staring at the half made jewelry in his grasp as he chewed on his bottom lip.
After a few minutes, a lot of mess ups and having to untwist and retie the strings about half-a-million times, Steve triumphantly held up a finished bracelet.
“Got it! Eddie’s bracelet is done.” He cheered excitedly, cradling it in his hands like it was a newborn baby to show to El, who flashed her own bright smile.
“Looks good, Steve.” She praised, her short curls bobbing as she bounced on her knees.
“Thank you.” He pulled it closer to himself again, not able to shake the buzzing under his skin from the thought of giving it to his boyfriend.
Steve was always one for giving, it felt baked into his bloodstream at this point. Whether it was giving gifts or taking the kids to the arcade and buying them tokens till he was flat out broke. He didn’t care, as long as the people around him were happy. And sure, maybe it was the people pleaser in him, but he found joy in it, so it couldn’t be all that bad.
A knock followed by the door opening abruptly shook the three on the floor from their respective work, Steve glancing up to see Eddie shutting the door behind himself with a wide grin.
“You know, when you knock, you usually wait for someone to answer the door first.” Max sassed, not having shot up from what she was doing as her hands continued to intertwine floss.
Eddie chuckled, his smirk not faltering as he stepped over a pillow on the floor, ruffling Max’s hair on the way. “I’ll just walk in next time then, Red.” He snarked back, Max’s hand shooting up to bat him away as El giggled from her spot.
Eddie then turned to Steve, a much softer smile gracing his features as Steve stared up at him with his bracelet clutched in his fist protectively.
“I’m just here to get my handsome, sexy boyfriend, then I’ll be out of you girls' hair.” He chirped in that theatrical way he always did, playing up his words just to annoy Max.
She rolled her eyes, shaking her head as she faked a gagging noise. “Ugh, gross, just take him.”
Eddie chuckled, his shoulders bouncing as he held out his hand for Steve to take. Steve slid his own into the other man’s as he was hefted up from the floor with much chagrin from his healing scars. Once at full height, Eddie leaned in to place a chaste kiss to his lips with a soft, “Hey, baby. Missed you.”
Steve opened his mouth to speak, a dopey smile spreading across it before he was cut short by another gagging noise.
“Please get out of my house before you guys do this shit.” Max muttered, faux annoyance in her tone, but Steve could clearly see the smile she was trying very hard to hold back.
Steve laughed gently, patting Eddie on the back as he stepped around him to the door. “Okay, well, if you guys need anything we’re—“
“Across the street, yeah yeah. We got it, goodbye Mom and Dad.” Max waved over her shoulder, Eddie padding back over to hold open the door with his own chuckles filtering into the room as Steve stepped out into the night.
“Good night, my fair ladies.” Eddie hummed before shutting the door with a flourish of his hand. Steve glanced around at the quiet trailer park as he walked down the steps, still able to hear the girls giggling to themselves as Eddie caught up to walk beside him.
“Did you guys have fun?” Eddie asked, leaning his shoulder into Steve’s as they crossed the small road between the Munson and Mayfield trailers.
Steve smiled to himself as he flexed the bracelet still held tightly in his palm, nodding gently, “Yeah, we did.”
He could see the small smile on his boyfriend’s face out of the corner of his eye, something private and intimate to it before Eddie spoke again. “That’s good. Love seeing you be sweet with our kids.” And well if that didn’t send a pleasant shiver down Steve’s spine, he wasn’t sure what would. The running joke of him and Eddie being the party’s parents could sometimes be more annoying than funny, but when Eddie said something like that, it always made Steve’s insides feel warm and gooey.
As they stepped up to the Munson’s porch, Steve felt a hand on his wrist, glancing over to see Eddie studying the blue and yellow heart bracelet on his wrist. His eyebrow rose slightly as his eyes caught Steve’s with a sly smirk, “Max claiming you as hers now, sweetheart?”
Steve felt a flush spread over his skin with the way Eddie looked at him, quickly rolling his eyes as he pushed at his boyfriend’s shoulder blithely. “Shut up, it’s a friendship bracelet.”
“Oh, yeah? With little hearts on it?” Eddie nodded, seemingly unconvinced with the answer as he hopped up his trailer steps to unlock the front door.
Steve rolled his eyes as he stepped into the house after it was opened, taking in a deep breath as the familiar setting washed over him. Eddie hummed to himself as he shut the door again behind them, kicking off his sneakers before wrapping his arms around Steve's waist, his chin on the man’s shoulder. “Looks to me like she has a crush on Steve Harrington, just like every other girl in Hawkins. Can’t say I blame her.” Eddie purred into Steve’s neck, his breath ghosting over Steve’s ear, causing goosebumps to erupt along his skin.
“She does not.”
“Oh, baby, she so does. But too bad for her, you’re spoken for.” Eddie peeled himself off Steve’s back, giving his ass a pat as he skipped around him and farther into the main room. Steve huffed, his bottom lip jutted out in a scowling pout as he crossed his arms over his chest.
“That and she’s like 15.” Steve tacked on, cringing to himself at the thought of that alone.
“Right you are, Stevie.” Eddie nodded, spinning on his heel before he flopped onto the couch, the old cushion giving no bounce as he simply sunk into it.
“That and uhm—“ Steve cleared his throat, scratching at the back of his neck as his earlier excitement was replaced by sudden nerves.
He wasn’t really sure why he was suddenly so nervous to give Eddie the bracelet; it wasn’t like he was proposing or something, but it felt almost more personal somehow. Maybe because it was something he made; he didn’t want Eddie to hate it and never look at him the same again. Not that he really thought Eddie would think any differently of him, even if he handed him just a piece of string, he was sure Eddie would be grateful. But the anxiety still clawed at his belly and rooted hazardly in his gut.
When Steve looked back up at Eddie, his boyfriend was eyeing him concernedly, his brow raised in a silent question. Steve swallowed his pride as he stepped around the coffee table to sit next to Eddie, the cushion bowing under the weight so the boys were pressed together from shoulder to calf.
“Close your eyes and hold out your hand.” Steve muttered, Eddie tilting his head before nodding and silently doing what he was told.
“Okay uhm— So I made this for you, but uh— I don’t know if you’ll like it or whatever. It’s not that good and I just learned how to make them today and I had to make it because it’s supposed to be special and—“ Steve’s ramblings were cut short by a hand on his knee, ringed fingers squeezing into the soft divots around his kneecap on either side.
“Babe, whatever you hand me right now, I’m sure I will fucking cherish it until I die.” Despite Eddie’s eyes being closed, Steve could clearly see the genuine mirth swimming across his face, a small smile tugging on his boyfriend’s lips that made Steve let out a deep breath.
“Right uh— okay, here.” Steve placed the bracelet into Eddie’s cupped hand, not having looked at it since before they’d left Max’s house. It didn’t look as bad as he felt it had, Max and El had been good teachers in that respect at least.
“Can I open my eyes now?” Eddie asked benignly, a knowing smirk dancing at the corners of his mouth.
“Yeah.”
Eddie opened his eyes slowly, darting from Steve’s face down to the bracelet instantaneously. The smile that spread across his features was breathtaking, dimple popping as his eyes scrunched up at the corners with the force of it. The look on his face was of pure astonished elation, holding the bracelet gently as he inspected it with an incredulous gaze.
”This is for me?”
“Yeah, I didn’t know what colors to choose but I thought red and black went with— oomph!” Steve was quickly cut short as Eddie leapt forward from his seat, barreling into Steve’s chest as his arms snaked around him in a tight bear hug. Steve let out a cackle, one of his own arms reaching around Eddie’s waist as the other came up to bury his hand into the man’s curls.
“This is the best fucking gift I’ve ever gotten, Steve. I love it.” Eddie pulled away after a moment, looking back down to the bracelet with glee. “Put it on me.” He demanded, handing it to Steve, and holding out his arm so that Steve could fasten it there amongst the leather and chains on his wrist.
Eddie shook out his arm after it was successfully tied, jewelry jangling as he ran his tongue over his teeth and glanced back up to Steve. “I’m never taking it off until I die… They'll have to bury me with it.”
Steve felt a blush rise up his neck, rolling his eyes fondly as he let out a dubious laugh. “It’ll probably fall off before then.”
“Then I’ll just have to keep re-tying it.” Eddie stated matter-of-factly and Steve felt that he couldn’t do anything to argue with that logic.
“I’m glad you like it.” Steve voiced tenderly, his index finger running over the rivets in Eddie’s palm before he intertwined their fingers.
“I love it, babe. I love you.” Eddie corrected, leaning forward to capture Steve’s lips in a brief kiss, before moving to press one to his jaw and his cheek. “Thank you.”
Steve smiled smittenly, one of his hands reaching up to cup Eddie’s cheek before he turned his head to rub his nose against his boyfriend’s. “You’re welcome. I love you too.” Steve breathed before capturing Eddie’s lips in another, more passionate kiss.
After a few seconds, Eddie pulled away, his own hand coming up to grasp the one Steve pressed to the side of his face and turned his head to nuzzle into his palm. “Now let’s get high and watch movies.” He grinned, nipping at the skin on Steve’s wrist where Max’s bracelet would sit before pushing up from the couch.