Chapter Text
Sometimes, in the early hours of the morning, when nightmares ripped through him like paper thin fabrics in the hands of a child, he would want. In the daylight he would tell Robin that he wasn’t really looking for a girlfriend, that maybe that wasn’t for him. If it happened, it would happen. But he would go home, lay in his empty bed, in his empty house, with hardly a picture on the fridge, and he would yearn. He’d want and want and want, with all of his heart and it would overwhelm him. It made his head pound and his teeth clinch and he couldn’t take it. Somedays he’d think that he missed Nancy, but really he just missed having someone to be near. He’d be on the verge of tears for what felt like weeks. Just sitting in his bed, crying without being able to cry, and trying to remind himself that love isn’t just romantic.
That was before he met Eddie Munson.
“Stevie, Steve, Stevearoni,” Eddie was high tailing it inside the Family Video towards the more agreeable temperatures. Steve glanced up, smiling at his boyfriend. He loved when Eddie visited him at work, especially on random Tuesdays when they had no people. That means he got him all to himself. Eddie was leaning on the counter, his cheeks, nose, and ears were pink and he had a hat with a little blue puff ball on the end, decidedly not very metal, but very cute. “It’s colder than a witches tit out there.”
He laughed, a slow and melodic thing, reaching out to interlace his hands with Eddie’s. He'd always loved them. He loved how big they were, just barely bigger than Steve’s own. And he loved how his rings looked on them and how they always seemed to be just the perfect temperature to diminish his attention span to only the other man’s hands. When he did touch his hands Steve recoiled it quickly, “Babe, you’re like an icicle.”
“Did you think I was kidding, Harrington? It’s freezing out there. It doesn’t help that I’m out of the garage today, there’s only so many blankets I can pile on my bed before I become, like, the anti-princess and the pea. ” Eddie had always run cold, it was just how he was. He was only satisfied in the springtime, but fall? Winter? The man practically had chattering teeth 9 out of 10 times he went outside. He was always in way more layers than was strictly necessary, but that didn’t matter to him much. It didn’t help that his trailer didn’t have heating. He would just pile all the blankets and clothes he had on his bed and sit there, lips turning blue as he waited for some heat to accumulate. Recently he’d been running off to take extra shifts at the garage, which was both warmer inside and colder outside, a sad pendulum but any warmth and money is better than no warmth and no money.
Steve on the other hand ran hot, too hot sometimes, it felt like the only thing that would cool him down was cold showers and swimming. There he was reaching for Eddie’s hands again, holding them in his own warm ones to get them to a more reasonable temperature. “You know a blizzard is coming in the next few days,” Steve said as Eddie’s hands slowly turned decidedly non-icicle esc.
Eddie groaned, “Don’t remind me, Wayne and I both got the next few days off and we’re gonna be freezing our asses off.” He was pouting, sticking out his bottom lip and clearly wanting to cross his arms but didn’t want to be released from Steve’s warm hands.
“What if you and Wayne stayed with me?” He didn’t even think about it before he said it, and wasn’t that just par for the course? Eddie did that to him, made him say things he didn’t even think through. He didn’t regret the outburst, on the contrary. It only made sense, he had a heater and a generator for if the power went out. He even had a gas stove they could cook things on. There was no way he was going to let Eddie or Wayne get hypothermia on his watch.
“Wait- like really?”
“Really really.”
He seemed to consider it for a moment, “Well, getting me to agree is the easy part, getting Wayne to agree is another, but I’m sure he’ll bend, lord knows he hates being cold too.” It’s said in a matter of fact way, he likely knew better than anyone that, eventually, Wayne’s need to keep all of his toes would inevitably outweigh his hatred of causing people to help him.
Wayne did eventually break, agreeing to stay at Steve’s house but only for the blizzard. Steve was hoping he could change his mind about that, but until then he was glad to help. It took all of twenty minutes and a lot of “ no sir, it’s no problem, yessir I’d be happy to have you and Eddie, no my parents don’t care.”
While picking up Eddie to help him move all of his blankets to Steve’s house, he saw Max through the window of her own trailer, waving at them. She herself was covered head to toe in winter apparel, all blue and red. It took Steve a moment but he realized that oh, she also doesn’t have heating… and a blizzard is coming in two days… so Steve high tailed his ass over to her trailer, knocking on the door.
Immediately, Max opened it, he could see the full extent of the sheer amount of layers she had on, possibly four that he could see just from the layers of shirts stacked on top of each other like stairsteps, “What are you doing here?” She said it matter-a-factly, there were no introductions, no hellos or how are you’s, there didn’t need to be.
“Do you have heating?” It was pouring out of his mouth before he could even think of a better way to say it, a way that didn’t sound like he was shaming her. He was once again finding himself in the aftermath of speaking before thinking.
“No?” She answered slowly, he could see her breath in the air as she said it. “Why? You sellin’ em or something?”
“No- Well, would you like to stay at my house during the blizzard?”
She blinked at him, once, twice, “Your house got heating?”
“Yep.”
“Anything’s better than this cold ass shit hole.” She scratched at her nose, which was currently turning a bright shade of red.
Steve suddenly realized he had to respond to her, like you commonly do, “Oh! Awesome! Uh- move in day is tomorrow before sundown but you can get there sooner if you’d like, Eddie can pick you up, we’re actually moving his stuff to my house right now if you have anything you want us to run over there. So, yay! Sleepover!”
Huffing out a laugh, she said, “You are such a loser.” She then proceeded to slam the door in his face. Wow. These kids really need to check their attitude problems.
Steve hopped down her steps, one foot at a time as though he was playing hopscotch. He briskly walked over to where Eddie’s trailer was across the way, it currently held his boyfriend desperately trying to stop the mountain of blankets in his hands from falling on the dirty ground. He didn’t notice Steve, too caught up in his own world. There was a little whine as one almost fell to the floor.
He watched him struggle for a moment. It was just too cute, the way his hands struggled to keep it all in a general pile, he was leaning backwards to make it harder to fall to the ground with decent results. Steve finally took him out of his misery. Grabbing the top of the pile of blankets, finally being able to see Eddie’s face again, it was pale and he was sniffling from the cold. “Thanks.”
“Of course,” he threw the other man’s blankets into the back of the van. Eddie threw what he had left along with the others before practically running to the driver seat of the car. Steve rolled his eyes, he forgot to close the door. Hearing the engine roar to life, he closed the doors, the things he does for this man.
Climbing into the car, he could see Eddie wiggling in his seat to try and find some heat. It was sweet, really sweet. Eddie grinned at him and they started their drive over to Steve’s house.
It took Steve exactly an hour of peace before his phone rang, disrupting his perfect little world. He had been watching Eddie slowly move all of his things into Steve’s room, setting up his intricate system of blankets that Steve had been special enough to learn about. Wayne would be coming by tomorrow night before the storm. Steve picked up the phone, moving it to his ear before immediately moving it away again at the scream coming from the other side.
“YOU INVITED MAX AND EDDIE TO BE WITH YOU OVER THE BLIZZARD AND YOU DIDN’T INVITE THE REST OF THE PARTY!?” This kid really needed to check his attitude problem, Steve could find quite a few problems with that sentence alone.
“Language!” Eddie yelled across the room, which seemed to just make Dustin seethe more. He can just hear him throwing a pissyfit across the line.
"I DIDN'T EVEN CURSE!"
“Henderson, if you wanted to come over you could just ask, no need to yell at me from across a telephone line.”
“I’m telling the party, if we’re getting out of school, by god I’m not doing it alone, see you tomorrow, bitch.” The line went dead a second later, Steve pressing the receiver back into its place.
“That kid really needs to check his attitude, there is no fucking way he was raised like that.” He was facing Eddie again, who had stopped what he was doing to listen to the short conversation.
“I don’t know darlin’, you’re his mom.”
He scoffed, “If I’m his mom you’re his dad, he clearly got it from you.”
Eddie gasped theatrically, “how dare you! I’ll have you know Munson genetics means he is perfect in every way. It was your genetics that made him a brat ” He sent a flat look Steve’s way, which Steve just snorted at. He did absolutely get being a brat from Steve.
“Sure, perfect-ly annoying.” Eddie got up from his position on the bed, his arms in a circular shape like a cowboy waiting to grab his gun at a shootoff. He was very purposeful with his movements, wanting Steve to see exactly what he was doing, like Steve wasn’t constantly looking at him anyway. He moved one foot towards the door in a side step, and then another. Steve in turn moved in the opposite direction. They danced around each other for a second before Eddie’s back was to the door.
Eddie tackled him, throwing him onto the bed and straddling his hips. It was a quick movement, one that knocked the breath out of Steve, but not for the reason it probably should have. “If he has your genetics then he’s one lucky motherfucker, because I’ve never seen someone as pretty as you,” he leaned down ever so slowly, like he was taunting him. He knew how badly Steve needed to be kissed right now, could see it on his flushed face. As though he were a dying man and it was his last wish. He reached his lips, breathing over them without touching, less than a millimeter apart. “But, I gotta say the Munson genes are stronger, baby.”
Steve softly hit the back of his arm where Eddie’s hands were next to his head, holding himself up, “Asshole.”
“You love it.”
And Steve couldn’t help but grin because he really did. Eddie finally, finally, connected their lips and it was like Steve could suddenly breathe again. Like every cell in his body fed off of the energy that was Eddie and the way he held him.
_____________
Cooking was an artform that Steve Harrington had semi-mastered, though almost all of what he learned was on his own accord. He remembers being so hungry he felt he was going to pass out the first time his parents went on a business trip without a babysitter. He’d stood there in his little pajamas, excited that he got to do all of his favorite things today. Just having finished taking a bath with lots of bubbles and putting on his favorite pajamas. They had cars on them, pretty red ones, just like the one his dad used to drive. He remembers vividly how he desperately tried to reach the peanut butter on the top shelf of the cabinet, feeling like he was feet away from the object of his desires. He had to climb up the cabinet and he grabbed the jelly from the fridge after a long fight with the peanut butter and bread. The sandwich didn’t look as good as his old babysitters, hers were perfect and cut into little triangles, but it would have to do. He finally went to put it on a plate when he moved his little hands over the counter, the jelly crashing to the floor and shattering all around him.
He had frozen, terrified as he waited for his mother to walk in the door and yell at him for what he had done, but she never came. He had to fix this himself, Mommy would never know and if she didn’t know she wouldn’t tell Daddy, and then no one would be mad. He just had to act like nothing happened, that’s what he’ll do, he’ll fix his stupid, stupid mistake. He slowly picked the glass off of the ground, only cutting his small hands twice, which he was proud of himself for. The harder part was cleaning it up, he’d cleaned things before but never well. He ended up scooping the offending jelly into his hands and putting it in the sink to wash down the drain. It took him a total of an hour and he was still so hungry but he wasn’t sure he deserved it yet, but he couldn’t deny his stomach any longer. He ate his sandwich, the jelly seeping into the small cuts on his hand, burning him.
He knew what to do now though, having become well acquainted with small cuts and bruises all over his body. He went to his bathroom, crawling up on his stool to reach the medicine cabinet. Inside was a first aid kit, red and safe and sterile. He washed his hands of all of the jelly on them, cleaning the cuts before putting band-aids on them. It wasn’t the best work, but he was so proud of himself. He is a grown-up now! He was cooking for himself, he was doing all the things his mommy did when he was very young. Well, really more things that Tasha did when she was here, she was his babysitter before she had to go to college.
Steve had another mission to go on, he had to replace the jelly, otherwise his parents would know that he had broken it. Walking into his room and climbing up onto his chair next to his desk, He reached out, grabbing his piggy bank. Opening the cork and shaking it to get everything out at once in a desperate attempt to fix his mistake. He counted six dollars in quarters, that would be enough. He put on his favorite red shoes and walked out their big blue front door. He was so small in comparison, the world around him such a daunting thing without someone there to hold his hand, tell him he was doing good.
It was winter and he was very cold. He'd put on his big jacket that Mommy said he had to wear outside in the winter, but his legs weren’t covered that well. The thin fabric had the cold air ripping through him, but he fought on. It started to snow around him as he trekked towards the local grocery store. He finally got there, grabbing the first jelly he saw in the small isles, the one lowest to the ground before heading to the counter. The woman there was pretty, she smiled so kindly at him. Looking back, she was likely worried.
“Where is your mommy, sweetheart?” Her voice was just as pretty as she was.
He put his items on the belt, barely able to reach the surface. “She’s in the car.” He knew enough to not tell her the truth, that would get his Mommy in trouble, so he lied. Adults liked when kids lied, he’s not sure why but he knows they do. That’s what his Mother and Father liked, when he would pretend to be happy and not cry at restaurants even though the food made his chest burn and he wanted to curl into himself to just make it stop.
“That’ll be two dollars, honey.” Steve reached into his pocket, pulling out his quarters for her. He looked at her, fear painting his face as she counted them, like there would suddenly not be enough. She handed the change back to him, along with the jelly in a plastic bag, “Stay safe out there, you’re a very big boy for doing this for your mama.”
“Thank you, ma’am.” He had to be kind to the woman, he padded over towards the door, using all of his strength to get it open. The walk home was tiring but his parents never noticed the jelly being a different brand or the glass in the trash can.
He was much more careful when making the sandwiches after that, but he soon got sick of them. It took a while but he finally learned how to turn the stove on and off, getting on his little stool so he could see over the pot. The first thing he made was pasta, and it would have been absolutely disgusting to anyone else, but to Steve? Well, he loved it, he had put all of the ingredients together like a wizard making a spell.
And that’s the day Steve fell in love with cooking. He would walk to the store and get the supplies he needed and he had gotten the recipe book from the counter, following the directions as well as he possibly could. Things made sense in the kitchen, that was the best part. You were told what to do and if you did it you always got the same result. Steve loved rules, because rules meant he knew what he couldn’t do, and as long as he didn’t do them, his parents wouldn’t yell at him.
Steve stirred a pot of soup, realizing that he was stuck in his own world. He’d been cooking all morning while he waited for everyone to show up. Eddie had joined him about halfway into the day, happily breathing in the home cooking smells and sitting on the island counter. He had brought his guitar with him and had softly been playing Steve songs, he’d even sung a few times. It was heavenly, two things Steve loved more than anything put together, Eddie and cooking. Every now and then he would turn to Eddie, putting a spoon in his mouth to try the food. Eddie would always close his eyes around it, like he was taking it all in. He could see his Adam's apple bob when he swallowed it and Steve would always be so entranced, though he always was with Eddie.
“Delicious, baby.” He’d say and Steve would flush just a bit and pull the spoon back, a proud grin on his face as he turned back to the task at hand, trying not to think about how pretty he was.
Eddie paused his playing for a moment, he was wrapped up in Steve’s yellow cardigan and still seemed to shiver every few minutes or so. “Hey princess, you’re a really good cook.”
Steve’s eyes left the pot for a second, catching genuine affection in Eddie’s eyes. He hummed, “Yeah?” He knew that it was just a dig for compliments but he couldn’t be bothered to care. Eddie didn’t seem to mind though, his fingers still on the fretboard while he thought for a moment.
“I never grew up with home cooked meals and here you are making enough food to feed an army. Anyone else would have thrown in the towel and just made soup from a can but not you, you’re making soup from scratch. And even better, it’s fucking delicious, baby. It’s so good. You’re so talented it’s insane.”
Steve nodded, allowing the words to seep into his skin. He turned away from the soup, he knew it would be fine for the moment. He walked into Eddie’s space who happily put a finger under his chin, tilting his head up ever so slightly. The other man kissed his cheek, it was so soft, barely there at all but it made Steve’s body go warm and staticy all the same.
“You’re such a dork.” He turns back to his soup as Eddie finally moves his hands across the strings on his guitar, playing some metal song Steve couldn’t remember the name of. That only lasted a few minutes before Eddie left the room and returned with one of his blankets wrapped around himself.
“Steeeevvvvveeeeee,” he whined, getting Steve to turn his head away from cutting vegetables to face his boyfriend. Eddie tapped his feet on the ground like a grumpy child, “I’m cold.” It sounded petulant and a little bit silly but Steve could see his fingers were turning pink
Steve laughed, turning back around to the task at hand, “then put on a jacket.”
“I already have a jacket on!”
“I know, it’s mine.”
Eddie whined again, he wasn’t getting the response he wanted. His arms moved out just a little bit like he wanted desperately to wrap them around Steve but couldn’t quite figure out how to go about asking. “But it’s not enough! I’m still cold!”
Steve rolled his eyes, “fine, come here,” he opened his arm out, not even looking in Eddie’s direction. The other man immediately attached himself to his back, wrapping one of his blankets around both of them and crossing his hands around his waist. One of his hands went under Steve’s shirt and he shivered in response, “Jesus your hands are cold.” He felt a wave of déjà vu slide over him as he said it, laughing to himself. “No idea how, it's burning up in here with the oven and burners on.” He acted like this was some great sacrifice he was making but in reality he needed this just as much as Eddie did. They slotted together perfectly, Eddie putting his chin on Steve’s shoulder, nuzzling his cold nose into his boyfriend’s neck and closing his eyes.
He was clearly basking in the lovely warmth of his beautiful boyfriend and the soft smells coming from the oven when a cough broke the silence. Eddie jumped backwards and Steve’s head flew to face the noise.
It was Wayne (thank god) holding a bag of chips and looking slightly embarrassed. He had seemed to have walked in through the front door, which was unlocked, and just went into the kitchen to put the chips away. “Sorry for interrupting, I brought some chips from the trailer for later.”
Eddie had clearly relaxed once he saw it was his uncle, moving to put his arms around Steve again. “Heya Uncle Wayne.” He rested his head on Steve’s back so he was facing him as he spoke.
“See you’re mighty comfy.”
“Oh fuck off, old man.” There was no heat behind his words, Steve could feel him smiling against his back from him burrowing into him for more warmth. Cold bastard.
Wayne laughed, his head tilting backwards in the same way Eddie’s did. That must be where he got it from. “You see the way he’s talking to me, Steve? No respect for his elders, degenerate.”
“I hear you Mr. Munson, no respect for your hard work.” Steve didn’t even look up as he said it, continuing to cut vegetables to put in the soup.
“Exactly, see this is why I like you mor-”
“La la la la la I don’t hear this,” Eddie said, cutting off Wayne with a singsong voice, “I am the most respectable boy in all of Hawkins. Mother’s and uncles love me. Wayne, stop trying to steal my boyfriend with your weird hospitality powers and dad-like skills. Next thing I’m gonna know you’ll be making a table together and he won’t have any time for me.” Steve knew he was pretending to pout, putting on a show for the joke of it all. That’s just how Eddie was. The air in the room was light and playful and it made Steve feel cozier than he’d ever felt in his kitchen. His parents never did anything like this, he didn’t even think his parents knew that he cooked, he’d never made anything for them. It’s hard to make people food when they’re never around.
“Alright boys, as much as I love bickering with you, I am tired and will be promptly passing out. So excuse me and good night.” Wayne made his way out of the room before either could respond so Eddie just put his chin back on Steve’s shoulder, staring down at what he was doing.
“Kids should be arriving soon,” he could feel his breath on his neck. He leaned backwards into Eddie’s space, suddenly desperate to be as close to him as possible.
“Yeah, which means it’s about time for me to start putting this into containers.”
“Need some help?”
“That would be lovely.”
__________
They had just finished putting everything in the fridge when the doorbell rang, Steve tried to be quick to open the door. On the other side was Nancy, Mike, Max, Lucas, and Erica, all looking frozen to the bone.
“Alright come in, come in, we don’t want you freezing your asses off out here.”
“No thanks to you taking your sweet ass time opening the door,” Mike. Always with his loving personality.
He rolled his eyes, “Oh I’m sorry, it’s not like I’m letting you stay at my house during a blizzard or anything, if you wish to sleep outside and get hypothermia by all means!”
Nancy didn’t even let him finish, halfway through the door already. Lucas looked apologetic as he passed by at least. Steve closed the door behind them and ushered them to the living room.
“So, I’m gonna wait for everyone to get here because I’m not explaining sleeping arrangements twice, you can get in beds if you’re cold but you can also stay out here near the fireplace.” They all nodded at Steve, generally milling about.
Everyone else showed up soon after, Jonathan brought Will and El, and Eddie went to pick up Dustin and Robin.
They were finally all in Steve’s boring old living room, white furniture and cream colored walls and all. El, Mike, and Max were sitting on the floor, Nancy and Jonathan shared the loveseat, Eddie was manspreading on the couch with Robin lying horizontally with her legs over Eddie’s. Lucas had taken the big brown chair to the left and was practically drowning in it and Erica sat on a stool, peering over everyone.
Steve stood with his hands on his hips , looking over the small group. “A few things, Eddie is starting a fire in the fireplace, because he’s obsessed with the shit-“
“Thanks again sweetheart!”
“Yeah, yeah, first, do NOT touch the fireplace, don’t even go near the fireplace, in fact if you’re touching the brick you’re too close. I’m not taking one of you to the hospital for burns when the roads are iced over.” He paused, looking each of them in the eye to show them how serious he was. “Second, don’t do anything stupid, you know what stupid is. It’s easy, if you have to ask yourself hmmm, I wonder if Steve would consider this something stupid, then don’t do it. Third, Do not go rifling in my parent's closet, I have never been there and do not plan to know what ghostly shit they’re hiding. Fourth, don’t go into the guest bedroom down the hall, that’s Mr. Munson’s room, we will all be leaving him alone, do you understand? Alright now I’m gonna show y’all your rooms, you are not stuck to these rooms but generally do not fuck in my house please and thank you.” Hearing Robin giggling as he turned around.
Turning his head to the side, he realized that no one had gotten up. “Now people, chop, chop, follow me.” They all got out of their chairs or seats on the floor following him down a hallway.
Steve paused in front of the first bedroom, a boring old thing. It had white walls and blue bed sheets, looking like it had never once been lived in, to be fair, it hadn’t. “This is my parents bedroom, I am entrusting Nancy and Robin to this room, please don’t do anything weird.”
Robin and Nancy laughed, staying downstairs as he directed everyone else upstairs to the guest bedrooms, “These two rooms you can divide amongst yourselves, Jonathan you are welcome to pick between any of the three rooms, sorry you got the short end of the stick.” Jonathan nodded, making his way downstairs to where Nancy was.
Steve turned back to face those in front of him, “Now, I would prefer you to stay decidedly not co-ed, but if you must then I can’t stop you.”
Max grinned, grabbing El’s hand and walking inside one of the rooms. The other boys seemed to accept rather quickly that they were stuck in the other room and began to look around it. He was left with a singular Eddie, “What about me, where do I get to sleep, princess?”
He rolled his eyes, “with me, obviously.”
Eddie gasped, “You mean to tell me, I, Eddie Munson, get to sleep in the same bed as Steve Harrington? If I didn’t know any better I’d think you liked me, Stevie.”
Then he was smiling, he knew this game, he’d been flirting his whole life, but all that went through his head was how much he adored the man in front of him. How silly he was, how they’d been dating for months and yet here he is, pretending like Steve’s this new blushing boy. Leaving Eddie to his own devices, Steve checked on everyone once more before going to find out what his boyfriend was doing.
He found him carrying pieces of wood inside for the fire, rearranging them to get a box shape. Turning and noticing Steve walk into the room, he said, “You got any newspaper, pretty boy?”
Steve just shrugged, “Somewhere, I’ll check my dad’s office.”
“Sounds like a plan.” He turned back to what he was doing, meticulously making the perfect fire before it could be lit. Steve thought about Eddie and fire as he went into his father’s office to find some newspaper. It just made sense, Eddie obviously loved fire, the way it moved, the way it burned everything it touched, the way people needed it to live. It was necessary and harmful all at once, and that’s how Eddie saw himself, necessary and so, so destructive. He could burn houses down and destroy empires in days if he wanted to. And Steve would let him . Steve would watch as he tore this house down brick by brick, grain by grain, and he would applaud when it was finished. He’d stand there and say you did wonderful love, what's next? And Eddie, sweet beautiful precious Eddie, could say anything and Steve would follow him. He’d walk through hell and come out singing a song Eddie had written, no one had loved him like Eddie and no one else ever would. He loved Eddie in a way he could never love Nancy, he loved Eddie to his own demise. But that was the thing, Eddie would never even imagine hurting him, he’d protect him from the horrors of the world and then some, if the world was against him he’d fight the world.
Before he knew it he was back in the living room, handing Eddie some old newspapers to set in the fire. Eddie grinned at him before carefully placing them through it almost like a bouquet of wood and grain. “Let’s light this sucker, yeah?”
They had a small congregation returning to the living room, Max and Lucas were both sitting in the big chair now, and Robin was sitting on the couch again, nearly hanging off of it. Eddie popped open the lighter he carries with him, setting one of the pieces of newspaper in his hands on fire before placing it in the middle of the fireplace, watching it spark and burn the pieces of wood around it. He turned to Steve, the look on his face was nearly maniacal, but god was it beautiful. He was enraptured in the way it looked, the way the fire slowly spread into a massive force of flame and heat. It was addicting watching Eddie like this, watching him become enamored by this thing he created.
He pulled Steve into his space, which Steve happily leaned into. Whispering right into his ear he said, “You see that, baby.”
“Mhm.” It was just as quiet, the world around them fading away.
“That’s what I call a bonfire. Maybe one day I’ll build you a fire outside, somethin’ you can cook over, that sound nice?”
Steve’s eyes were trained on the fireplace but he couldn’t stop himself from looking back at Eddie. His hair was shining in the light and the flames cast a beautiful shadow over him, warm and passionate. “Yeah, that sounds real nice.”
“Good.”
Erica coughed, “Alright lovebirds, get a room.”
“We’re in a room.”
“Preferably one I am not in.” He could nearly feel her eye roll.
_________
The storm had just hit Hawkins when everyone was passing out. It was gorgeous, the way the blankets of snow covered everything it touched, turning everything white and shining. The way the wind beat on the windows in a parade of sound. Steve was checking on everyone before he went to bed, making sure that they were all comfortable. Walking into the living room, he found Lucas and Max curled up together. It was sickly sweet, she was holding his hand against her heart while her head was against his chest, likely hearing his heartbeat and allowing it to calm her. They were wrapped around each other, covered in blankets, Max had one tightly around her shoulders and Lucas seemed to be making sure it didn’t move unconsciously. The brown chair was just big enough for the both of them to lie on top of each other comfortably, wrapped up in each other. He could see Lucas was still awake, but fighting to keep his eyes open as he stared at Max’s sleeping face. Steve couldn’t help it, he loved young love.
Lucas finally looked up, making eye contact with Steve. He was immediately embarrassed but Steve gave him a smile and a thumbs up, turning to check on everyone else. Down the hall Robin, Nancy, and Jonathan were all passed out on his parents bed. Nancy in the middle with Jonathan’s head on her chest and Robin halfway off the bed. Steve couldn’t help but laugh at his best friend, moving to put her arm under the blankets, he knew she’d thank him if she could.
Next was the upstairs guest bedroom, inhabited by Dustin, El, Will, and Mike. Dustin was fully laying on the floor, no idea how he got there, El was curled up into a ball at the top of the bed and Will and Mike were wrapped up in each other. Steve could see El was shivering so he got an extra blanket from the hallway and put it on her, no child of his would be cold under his watch.
Finally, he checked the last guest bedroom, finding Erica spread out on the large bed like a starfish, covered in blankets. It was fitting that she ended up with her own room, just how she would like it. He turned off the light as he left, happy to know all of his kids were safe.
He walked to his room after checking on everyone, finding Eddie there. His bed looked a foot higher with the amount of blankets Eddie had piled onto it, and yet his boyfriend was still shaking like a leaf. He heard the door open, his head immediately popping up from under the blankets, “Ah look who finally decided to arrive.”
“Thought you’d be next to the fire all night.”
He laughed, “And miss a chance to sleep with the Steve Harrington? Nice try buddy.”
His hair was up in a bun, he could tell that much. He could also see that he wasn’t wearing a shirt, which surprised him in this weather. Eddie gave him a look, “You gonna get in the bed or are you gonna stand there and freeze?”
“You’d like that wouldn’t you?”
“What, no, it’s not like you're warm and comforting or anything. Everyone knows I keep you around for your magical cooking abilities.”
“I’m not your personal space heater, Munson.”
“Aww, but baby you’re so good at it.” He reached over as best he could, grabbing Steve’s hand. It was sweet, and to be honest, he was getting kind of cold.
Steve finally moved the blankets aside to get to his boyfriend. The minute he was laying down Eddie was wrapping himself around him like a koala. His arms tucking themselves under his torso to warm up his fingers. His skin was icy cold and when Steve’s warm ones met them, suddenly it’s like the world made sense again. He calmed automatically, his breathing steadying and Eddie finally stopped shivering. They pressed into each other like it was their only job in the world. Eddie could hear his heartbeat and he once again nuzzled his nose into Steve’s neck, entangling their legs together.
He couldn’t help it, the way his heart started beating faster and his cheeks started heating up. He just… he never thought he would get here, to some place so perfect for him. It was like Eddie Munson was the only thing that could cool him down, they fit together like puzzle pieces. They were made for each other, he could feel Eddie’s skin heat against him and he hummed, clearly enjoying this as much as he was. The yin to his yang if you will, Eddie would always be there to cool him down, and he’d always be there to warm him up. If that wasn’t some soulmate connection then he didn’t know what was, some life changing shit that he stumbled across. He knew he was lucky, he even thought he was the luckiest man in the world. To get a boyfriend who loves him the way he’s always wanted, always yearned for? It’s as though his prayers were answered.
His weeks of yearning and yearning and yearning for some love that will fix him, prove that he can be loved, was answered. But it wasn’t answered in how he thought it would. Yes he got a love, but it didn’t fix him. Eddie picked up the broken pieces and proved they could be loved, inspiring Steve to work on himself. Forcing him to love all of the parts of himself, even the jagged pieces he didn’t like. Eddie took Steve’s hands in his own and said I love you, all of you, and I always will. You’re never getting rid of me, through thick and thin you’re stuck with my dumbass and I’m going to be trying to prove to you everyday why you should keep me around.
Eddie Munson was single handedly the best thing that had ever happened to him, and he was going to spend the rest of his life making sure he knows it.
“How many blankets have you got on this bed, Eds?”
“Nine, baby.”
“Nine?! How do you live like this?”
He snorted, “You have a problem with nine blankets when there’s literally a blizzard outside, like I’m not single handedly saving your ass from hypothermia.” He shifted against the bed, somehow getting closer to Steve.
Steve smiled down at him, closing his eyes after a long battle to keep them open, “Love,”
“Hmm?” He opened his eyes for that, finding him looking up through his eyelashes. He could feel the movement from his chest as he said it.
“Tell me a story.” His eyes closed again, ready to be whisked away into this beautiful world his boyfriend had crafted in his mind.
He moved slightly, getting more comfortable for the long road he knew he was going to twist down, “Once upon a time and all that shit, there was a prince-”