Archive of Our Own

The first thing Eddie noticed when he cracked an eye open was that it was still night. The sliver of sky he could see through the hotel curtains was pitch black and starless under the city lights.

He glanced around the room trying to figure out what had woken him up.

The second thing he noticed was that he could smell cigarette smoke drifting in under the bedroom door from elsewhere in his big fancy pants suite.

He groaned as he rolled out of the ridiculously big bed he'd been sleeping in alone for the past couple of nights, practically having to fight his way out of the sheets. 

Cracking open his bedroom door, Eddie winced as his eyes adjusted from the darkness. The overhead lights were still off but one of the lamps in the living area had been switched on, the low light softly illuminating the room. He shivered as the winter air from the open balcony door hit him, sending goose bumps roiling over his skin. Grumbling to himself he snatched up a pair of sweatpants from the floor, pulling them on before shrugging his shoulders into his '85 varsity jacket, the name 'Harrington' emblazoned across the back shoulders.

He always took it on tour, only breaking it out in the dead of night when he needed to feel closer to home.

Or when it was shit fucking cold, he thought to himself, closing it over his bare chest and pulling the sleeves down over his fingers.

He felt the chill bite at his nose and cheeks, the draft coming through the door of his balcony which was opened slightly, a familiar battered yellow suitcase standing innocently to the side.

He pushed the door open the rest of the way to let himself through, revealing an ashtray with no less than five cigarette butts in it and Steve, with his back turned to him, still in his outerwear leaning against the balcony railing. A steady plume of cigarette smoke rose up from his fingers.

Stress smoking, never a good sign.

Steve jumped a little when Eddie slowly pressed himself against his back, placing a soft kiss on the back of his freezing cold neck and hugging his arms around him tight. Steve's posture immediately relaxed and it was like a weight had been pushed off his shoulders. 

The coldness of Steve's coat started to sink into Eddie's body. He pressed his nose between Steve's coat collar and neck and inhaled deeply, smelling damp chill, city fog, old beemer, cotton, amber and hairspray.

"When did you get here?"

Steve exhaled and stubbed his half smoked sixth cigarette out amongst the fully smoked five and turned in Eddie's arms, pulling him in tight and burying his icy cold nose and lips into Eddie's sleep warm neck. 

"I dunno, like forty minutes ago."

"It's not that I'm not thrilled to see you sweetheart, but why have you arrived at," Eddie leaned back in his arms, twisting, trying to catch a glimpse of the ornate clock inside, "three in the morning and not noon tomorrow like was planned?"

Steve pulsed his arms, squeezing tighter for a second before pulling away slightly to press a hard kiss to his lips, deep and longing, making Eddie's heart trip over itself.

"Wanted to be here. Missed you."

"Missed you too." He smiled softly to himself, took Steve by the hand and pulled him back inside, closing the door behind him. "So why didn't you come warm my bed instead of hiding out on a shit fucking cold balcony?"

"I needed to think. Unwind or something and smoke. And you need all the sleep you can get. I remember what touring is like, it's fucking exhausting." Steve allowed himself to be led into the bedroom by the hand, not even bothering to look around. The hotels all started to blend together after a while. Eddie helped him out of his clothes, seeing his sluggish movements and the beginnings of dark circles under his eyes before Steve practically collapsed backwards, burrowing himself deep into the sheets.

"Yeah but it's in hotels now, rather than in the back of my van and on friends of friends couches. And I am capable of sleeping with you in the bed next to me, I think we've proven that." Eddie shucked his own clothes off and snuggled in as close as he could. Steve's skin was still icy cold but it was worth it just to be able to touch him again.

He looked down as Steve wrapped around him like an octopus and even in the dark he could see the crease between his eyebrows.

"You doing okay?" 

Steve was silent for a moment before burying his face in his pillow.

"God, I really don't want to go to this thing tomorrow." He said, muffled.

"I thought you liked Trisha."

"I do but I don't think I'll like anyone else there."

"Maybe the groom's side will be better. You don't know him do you?" Eddie raised his head, pressing his lips against Steve's hairline, running his fingers through his hair.

"How could I know him? Trisha barely knows him. They've barely been together a year and they're blowing nearly six figures on an over the top wedding!"

"Christ. What were we even doing when we were together a year?"

"I dunno. Living with Robin against her lease, playing in shitty bars and trying not to get hate crimed?"

"Yeah. Sounds about right." Eddie lay his head back and continued to play with Steve's hair. "You could pull a sickie? I could push you down a flight of stairs?"

"Tempting but no. It'll only be more stress in the long term if I miss it. I'll have to listen to my parents bitch about how they haven't seen me in so long and why don't I put in any effort." Steve scoffed and muttered. "Like they put in any effort with me."

Eddie knew parent talk wasn't the best topic to be getting into when Steve was already tired and stressed. He hadn't seen them in person for over a year, hadn't spoken to them over the phone in months and the last call was just to berate him into coming to the wedding and will there be a plus one, Steven? and still slumming it at community college Steven? and have you reconsidered our offer Steven?

"Okay." Eddie rolled the two of them over so he was straddling Steve's hips. "You're tired, you're stressed, you need to relax. And I," he pinned one of Steve's wrists next to his head, "am here," he pinned the other, "to serve." He rolled his hips forward, earning himself a punched out exhale and a clenched jaw.

"You need your sleep." Steve glared up at him. 

"Fuck my sleep, we'll sleep after." He pressed his wrists harder into the mattress. "Whadaya say, big boy?" He just barely let his lips graze Steve's as he whispered.

"How could I refuse?" He pushed himself up, closing the distance between the two of them.

For the second time that morning, Eddie, curled around Steve this time, was woken up by someone else in his hotel suite. Steve was still snoring away like a motorbike while Eddie lifted his head, trying to squint through the sleepy haze and saw Robin poke her head through his bedroom door.

The excitement at seeing Steve was visible on her face but Eddie hastily raised a finger to his lips to keep her quiet and gestured her inside. If Robin was here, that meant it was regular human wake-up time. But Eddie didn't much care for regular human wake-up time.

"The idiot drove here in the middle of the night so he needs at least a couple more hours." He whispered as he held his arm out to her. "His parents are on his ass again." She bent over him in a gentle hug, touching their cheeks together in a kiss.

He held onto her hand. "Buckley, you're looking as ravishing as ever."

"Munson, you look like you were dragged backwards through a hedge." 

"Thank you, I try. Here, take my place, I gotta pee." He used her hand as leverage to slowly worm his way out from under Steve, somehow not waking him. No sooner had he slipped out than Robin had discarded her outerwear and slid in, pulling the still sleeping Steve into her arms.

When Eddie re-entered his bedroom, Robin was running her hand through Steve's hair, a small smile on her face as she pressed her cheek to the top of his head. They looked like two halves of a whole finally rejoined. Eddie nearly bounced back in next to them and snuggled in close to the two, sandwiching Robin in the middle.

"Jesus, I don't remember you being this needy when we were younger." She whispered to him, rolling her eyes but pulling his arm tighter around her.

"Yeah well you were always nearby before you decided to break our hearts and the heart of every fair maiden in Hawkins and fuck off to the big city for your big fancy education. You're the soulmate to my soulmate so by proxy you're my soulmate once removed, I'm allowed to be needy."

"Whatever."

It was the kind of deep sleep where he wasn't sure what year it was or even if he was still on Earth when he woke up. It was the best sleep he'd had in over a month. 

Hushed voices drifted through his brain, trying to find purchase and make sense.

"Gina and Darren slept together at the Christmas party."

"They didn't!"

"They did! And it's causing a whole thing with HR, y'know, because of the recent 'dismissal'."

"Flora's going to have a field day with that."

"I know, right?"

Steve slowly blinked his eyes open, squinting through the thick layers of sleep fog coating his brain, trying to figure out if one of the voices he was sure he was hearing was just a figment of his imagination or if she was actually here.

How did she manage to get in between himself and Eddie without waking him up? And how did she manage to half wiggle under for that matter?

"Rob?" He sleep-slurred her name out, lifting his head from her shoulder and glancing between her and Eddie, the two of them looking back at him like he was a kitten who'd just done something unbearably cute.

"Hi Stevie."

Steve dropped his head back down and hugged her tight, snuggling back into her neck and holding her close. Before last night it had been a month since he'd seen Eddie and it was nearly as long since he'd seen Robin. Eddie was away making a name for himself touring in the metal-sphere, Robin was in the middle of her Masters degree in European Languages while Steve was struggling through his part time qualifications to become a kindergarten teacher, stuck back in the middle of nowhere Hawkins. 

It had only added to his stress when his parents called about the damn wedding but he didn't need to care about that now. They were here, in bed with him again, like it would often end up being all those years ago when they were starving minimum wage workers in dodgy accommodation with an even dodgier landlord.

"God, I forgot how clingy he gets on mornings like this." Robin teased even as she tightened her own arms around him.

"Tell me about it." Eddie ran his hand up and down Steve's arm.

"Shut up, the two of you." He pouted, snuggling in deeper.

It was nearly an hour later when they all disentangled themselves from one another.

Eddie had a radio interview to charm his way through, Steve had a wedding to suffer through and Robin… Robin didn't actually have anything to charm or suffer her way through that weekend. She was free. Both Steve and Eddie would be free Sunday as well. The three of them planned to stay in bed, nurse whatever hangovers they could induce tonight, eat a disgusting amount of food and watch terrible Christmas movies all day long. 

It sounded perfect.

But for now, Steve felt the slow dread of familial expectation crawl over his skin.

By the time he'd finished putting on his burgundy suit, a suit that Eddie had already tried to undress him out of twice and succeeded once, Eddie's PA was on the phone begging him to stop fucking your boyfriend and get your ass downstairs. The car is already waiting and you're going to be late!

"Say please."

Eddie had to hold the phone away from his ear as Rosie screamed at him, her volume audible clear across the room. 

"Alright, alright! I'm coming down now, asshole!" Eddie slammed the phone down and turned to Steve and Robin, smiling. "Rosie says 'hi'."

"There's no need to give her grey hairs, Eds."

"I wouldn't have to if she'd just learn to take orders." Eddie cocked his eyebrow at Steve. 

Like you do.

"Gross." Robin wrinkled her nose.

"The fact that she doesn't roll over for you is exactly why you like her, now go. I'm not getting on her bad side, she reminds me too much of Nance. I wouldn't be surprised if she had a grenade launcher stashed in her floral handbag."

Eddie grabbed the back of Steve's neck and pulled him in for a quick kiss. "I'll see you this evening?"

It probably wasn't a coincidence that Eddie and now Steve and Robin were staying in the same hotel that the wedding was at, but it made it very easy to disappear unseen for a while.

"Yeah, I'll try to slip away during the cocktail reception but I'll have to be back down for the meal." Steve took Eddie by the shoulders and steered him towards the door. "Go. I'll try to catch you on the radio." He'd probably be deep in the throes of wedding headaches by the time it was on but maybe he could slip out to his car for a few minutes to listen in.

With one last quick peck Eddie disappeared out the door.

"What does a PA actually do? Everything?" Robin asked.

Steve shrugged.

As with every wedding, there's always a hiccup. Steve had knocked on Trisha's door as she was in the final stages of getting ready only to be met with flapping arms, large hair and wide panicked eyes.

"Jessie's not here, Steve! Jessie's not here! She had to go back to her hotel to pick something up and she hasn't come back and no one else is available to go find her and I'm supposed to be getting married in an hour and my maid of honour isn't here! I can't get married without Jessie. She has to be here! I can't do this without her!"

Trisha would probably look beautiful if she didn't look so wild at that moment. The puffy sleeves on her wedding dress swayed with every movement while the fabric of her large skirt rustled as she paced frantically around the room. Her blonde hair was teased to high heaven and her large veil only made it look bigger. She looked every inch the 80's bride. Except it was 1991. But Trisha had always known what she liked and was unapologetic about it. And apparently she really liked the 80’s.

"Okay, okay." He grasped her elbows and tried to help her slow her breathing down. "I have my car here, I'll go get her. What hotel is she at?"

She seemed to deflate in relief all at once. "Thanks Steve. You're good people. She's at the same hotel your parents are staying in, I'm sorry but could you take your father with you? It'll be quicker with someone who knows the way."

He grimaced and she gave his hand a sympathetic squeeze.

"Anything for the bride on her wedding day."

Barely five minutes later he'd managed to wrangle his father into his old beemer and was tearing out of the hotel parking lot.

Joseph Harrington was complaining over and over about good timekeeping and how important it is to keep a schedule especially for a wedding and how you just can't leave certain things up to women, Steven. 

In what was probably not the most subtle way of shutting him up, Steve switched between the radio channels until he landed on the station he was looking for, turning the volume up as a familiar voice filtered into his car.

"-manhunt. The Boathouse Pt. 2 is the aftermath. It's about those people who will stick with you to the literal ends of the earth. Whereas The Boathouse Pt. 1 on my last album was about isolation and despair, Pt. 2 is about hope and family. It's dedicated to a very special group of people back in Hawkins," his dad's head turned slightly at the name, "that helped drag me out of the depths of despair." 

"And what did this special group of people have to say when you told them that Eddie Munson had written them an emotional eight minute ballad?"

"Oh!-"

"Is he talking about those serial killer murders?" His dad scoffed over Eddie and the interviewer chatting back and forth. "These D list celebrities will do anything to try to claw their way up the ladder. I bet you he's not even from Hawkins, just clinging onto a story to make himself relevant."

Steve had to try not to swerve from shock, glancing between his father and the road. "What?"

"That's what they do. They latch onto a bit of notoriety for ticket sales, Steven. This guy's just trying to get his name in the papers."

"Wait, so are you saying you don't think this guy, Eddie Munson, is from Hawkins at all, dad?"

His father scoffed again as Steve pulled up to Jessica's hotel. "If he is, I've never heard of him. Myself and your mother know every little thing that goes on in that town. It was the Creel boy that did those murders. Before that the town blamed some junkie for it."

Steve just stared at his father in silence as the opening chords to a song he remembered being played to him for the first time in bed months ago sounded around him.

Steve couldn't believe it. His father had no idea who Eddie was. The more Steve thought about it the more it made sense. His parents' gossip channels were limited to the likes of Mrs. Hagan and Mrs. Carter, people who never strayed outside of their bubble, who wouldn't deign to gossip about 'the lower class' of the town because really, what could they be up to that was as interesting as the Cunningham's foregoing their expected 'Vote Bush' sign for a 'Vote Dukakis' sign on their front lawn a few years ago.

He was still in a bit of a daze when he found Jessica frantically trying to call a taxi from the reception desk, a ratty ancient stuffed bear in her hand.

Trisha nearly broke down in tears when she saw Jessica and definitely did break down in tears when she was handed the bear and Jessica whispered to her, "I kept my promise." 

"Robin, if you touch that last slice of pizza, I will throw you off my balcony."

"Try me, you giant stick insect. I'll snap you in two and drown you in your own toilet. And get your fucking hand off that bottle of wine, there's only one glass left in it and it's mine."

"Well lucky for you there's two other bottles waiting to be cracked open. I put my dibs on this one." Eddie held the bottle over his head out of Robin's reach as they both sat cross-legged on his giant bed, the TV spewing out some festive Hallmark nonsense in the background.

"You didn't dibs it! When did you dibs it?"

Eddie brought the bottle down just enough to lick a stripe up the side, his tongue piercing clinking off the glass before raising it over his head again. "Dibsed."

"That's disgusting! You don't know where that's been!"

"I'm a rockstar, Robin! Live fast, die young!"

"Gimme that bottle!" Robin lunged forward, making a grab for it as Eddie scrambled backwards, the bed suddenly disappearing underneath him as he tumbled to the ground, somehow not spilling a single drop jumping back to his feet and running from the bedroom.

He barely got two steps before he felt himself get tackled from behind and dragged down, he and Robin turning into a tumbling mess of grabbing hands and kicking legs.

He had managed to lock his thighs tight around her ribs, stopping her from climbing forward, her hands clawing at his chest when he felt the bottle he was holding behind him get snatched from his grip.

"I can't leave you two alone for five minutes."

Steve glowered down at them attempting to look irritated but only managing to look like a harried mom, as usual.

Eddie and Robin slumped in defeat, he loosened his legs from around her and she dropped her head and arms onto his stomach.

"You won't like it, it's Chardonnay and I resent that statement." Robin glared up at Steve as he took a swig from the bottle and grimaced at the taste. "Everything was perfectly fine until your idiot decided to get greedy. He's the one who got us into this position."

"I'll have you know I have stacks of letters from women who would kill to be in your position." Eddie squeezed his thighs around her ribs again.

"Go and find one then!" She attempted to swipe for his face, knowing it was out of reach.

Eddie looked up at Steve. "Sorry sweetheart, doctor's orders. I gotta go out and fuck a woman."

Steve just snorted into the wine bottle. "I'd like to see you try."

"I could totally fuck a woman!"

"No you couldn't, you don't even like the word clitoris."

"Well according to the women I've spoken to, the clitoris often gets ignored by men anyway so I should be fine."

"God, I'm so happy I'm a lesbian." Robin pushed herself up with a hand on Eddie's stomach.

"Ah! Don't do that, I'm full of pizza and wine!"

"Yeah, my wine!"

"My wine!"

"No. My wine." Steve sat down next to the two of them, his back propped up against the back of the sofa and took another swig from the bottle.

Robin and Eddie shared a quick glance before pulling apart from each other and settling themselves on either side of Steve, laying their heads on his shoulders.

"That bad?"

"Yeah." He gulped around another mouthful. "That bad."

"You can always stay up here, you don't have to go back down."

"I do though. If I don't go back down I'll just be making it worse for myself. I'll never hear the end of it." He swallowed again. "I wish I could bring you two down with me."

"You can't just invite people into a wedding, Steve. There's like a headcount n' shit."

"You could dress up as the bride? If anyone can invite people in, it would be her."

Steve shook his head. "White isn't my colour."

"Probably wouldn't help the parental harassment to have the local serial killer on your arm either."

"Funny you mention that. I was in the car with my dad when you were on the radio. He has no idea who you are. Thinks you're inserting yourself into the story for fame."

"You're joking."

Steve made a disgusted noise at the bottle in his hand as he swallowed. "Nope. He called you a D-List Celebrity."

"Like he'd know. Granted 'big' in the metal community doesn't translate to 'big' in the mainstream but I do okay for myself." Eddie looked across Steve to Robin. "When was the last time you met them?"

"Honestly I can't remember. I think some time in '89? They kept calling me Rachel and insinuating I was pregnant with Steve's spawn."

Steve snorted again. "You wish. I'd have great spawn."

"Okay, I'm cutting you off." Robin snatched the wine bottle back from him. "At least until you get some of that overpriced wedding food into you."

"But why?" Steve frowned with the saddest kicked puppy face Eddie had ever seen and it nearly made him demand the bottle back.

"Spawn. Who says that?"

"You said it first!"

"Lies."

Steve allowed his head to thump backwards onto the sofa before pulling his wrist up to look at his watch.

"I gotta head back down." He groaned as he pulled himself to standing, his cheeks just a tad rosier than when he'd arrived. "I'll see the two of you later, don't drown in alcohol until I get back." He kissed Eddie again, tasting overpriced white wine and cigarettes, hugged Robin to his side and left the room without a glance back.

The two of them made their way back to the bed in silence, while a couple with perfect hair and perfect teeth frolicked in the snow on the TV.

One moment everything in his brain was slow, sluggish and a little upset. Eddie had spent years listening to the shit those people had put Steve through. He'd seen the layers of falsehoods and upper-class brainwashing Steve had worked so hard to unlearn. He hated leaving him alone down there like a sheep amongst wolves, ready to be picked apart at the slightest hint of weakness.

Then the next second it was like lightning struck his brain and he thought that if anyone was going to be the perfect person to pull this off with, it would be his soulmate once removed. 

His cheeks felt a little warm and he had a nice soft buzz going on as he pulled Robin to her feet and gave her a quick once over scraping her up and down with his eyes. She quirked an eyebrow at him but stayed still, happy enough to have complete control over the wine bottle. Based on her slightly glazed look she was happily tipsy too.

"Do you think you'd be able to fit a pair of my pants past your hips?"

Maybe the grey check. She'd look good in the grey check.

Robin shrugged, downing the last of the contested bottle. "It's never been a problem before."

Eddie smiled down at her. "Perfect." 

He pulled his closet door open and began rifling through, throwing clothing haphazardly behind him.

"Eddie, what the hell is going on in your head?"

"You ever crashed a wedding, Buckley?"

To Steve's surprise he wasn't having the worst time. Yeah his father had openly made fun of his chosen profession in front of others. And yeah he'd suggested that men interested in that kind of work were delicate without ever actually revealing to the group that Steve was one of those choosing that work. And yeah maybe his Aunt Marie had talked his ear off about Trisha's new husband and wasn't it nice to have a wedding in the family and oh, have you met anyone recently Steven? 

So yeah. It wasn't great but it could have been worse, right?

Trisha would occasionally rip him away from his parents and drag him to the other side of the room to gossip about some inane thing or another. He suspected, as the night wore on and she got steadily drunker, that it wasn't just for his benefit, but for hers as well. Apparently her mother had already started asking when she planned to pop out her first offspring. 

He noticed throughout the evening that the only people she seemed to actually like being around were a handful of her bridesmaids and one groomsman, the groom himself was noticeably absent. Most of the other parents and family she avoided like the plague when she could. 

She'd pulled him over to her group at some point. 

"I have fun people for you to meet!" She'd said. 

Trisha practically hung off Jessica every moment they were together and he was getting serious signals from the groomsman which he resolutely ignored.

Steve was constantly having to shrug out of shoulder touches and arm squeezes from a steady revolving door of women as well. His father's face had morphed from being proud that his son was pulling so much female attention to incredulous as each and every one was turned down to some kind of vague disappointment when it became obvious Steve intended to leave alone tonight.

He found significant improvement to his evening, strange as it sounded, when he found a crying five year old tucked into a dark corner after she fell on the dancefloor and scraped her chin. He'd brought her back to her mother who was sitting around one of the tables that had been pushed to the side with a few other moms and an occasional smattering of younger and older children popping in and out with boundless energy surrounded by the thumping music and coloured spotlights of the dancefloor.

The women were easy to talk to and absolutely fawned over the idea that he was studying to be a kindergarten teacher, and the kids were cute and fun to entertain.

It couldn't last, unfortunately as his father caught him by the elbow and practically dragged him away hissing at him to stop trying to pick up married women, Steven. Steve had to bite his tongue hard to stop a retort on the irony of that statement coming from his father's mouth.

He was deposited into a congregation of the groom and groomsmen who were all about his age standing around the bar. They attempted to rope him into their pissing contest of who'd be the first to bang Jessica, who was apparently the hottest thing at the party according to Trisha's new husband.

He didn't bother to hide the disgust on his face as he slid further down the bar, away from them and ordered himself another drink. If he couldn't be with his people or hanging around with the moms and kids, he wasn't going to examine that right now, then he'd just have to get resolutely drunk until he could fuck off to where his mind kept wandering.

Back upstairs.

He kept thinking about what they were doing and how much he'd like to be doing that too instead of this shit.

What were they talking about?

Were they snuggled up in bed?

Having a two person rave?

Those two were fire and wind and when they were left alone together it usually resulted in him stumbling into some hairbrained scheme or a new piercing.

Once he'd come home and found them in the middle of giving each other new stick n' pokes.

It's not like he and Eddie hadn't done the same thing but at least they were sober at the time.

The first opportunity he saw to get back upstairs to them, he'd take it.

A hand caressed his shoulder.

"Buy me a drink?"

He turned to see brown curly hair and brown eyes but they weren't his. She'd been one of the women he'd rejected earlier.

"Not tonight." He pulled his shoulder out of her hand and turned his face away from her. He leaned his elbows heavily against the bar as he heard her retreat and hung his head, counting down the minutes until he could leave.

He could still feel her hand there like some kind of cold brand.

"Steve!" He heard Trisha call his name from somewhere across the room, her voice nearly drowned out by the music. At this stage his patience for everyone, including her, was starting to wear thin and he couldn't help letting his head drop a little before trying to gather his strength.

The groom and groomsmen nearby had scattered like cockroaches at the sound of her voice, leaving him completely alone at the bar. 

"I have fun people who want to meet you!"

Steve inhaled in a large calming breath that did not calm him at all and took a hearty swig of his Hot Toddy before turning to face her and nearly shooting hot whiskey out of his nose.

Standing at either side of his cousin, Steve saw his romantic life partner and his platonic life partner, looking at him with matching Cheshire Cat grins. He stared at them wide eyed for a moment before opening his mouth to ask what the fuck when Trisha barrelled onwards.

"Steve, this is Eddie Munson. He's a musician. Like a famous one?" She looked to Eddie for confirmation who was watching Steve through darkened eyes, dragging his tongue piercing along his teeth. He snapped his attention to Trisha and gave her his most bashful smile. 

"I guess you could say that. I interviewed with 98.8 Radio today, maybe you caught it?"

"Oh cool! That's that station that plays all that metal music right? I didn't catch it but I'm sure it went great."

"Maybe Steve heard it?" Eddie turned his attention back to him, giving him that crooked sneaky smile he wore whenever there was an enemy waiting around the corner in D&D.

Steve bounced his eyes between the three of them. Eddie had put Robin into one of his suits, a grey checked number with a black shirt, one of his necklaces hanging around the collar. If he had to guess the makeup was Eddie's as well, messy eyeliner applied to the both of them in a way that managed to look on purpose. Which was an achievement in itself seeing as they were definitely not sober doing it. She smiled up at him with a happy and innocent expression, one hand in her pant pocket as if she couldn't think of a single way her presence here would be unexpected.

Trisha was grinning widely, her eyes unfocused.

Steve was having a very difficult time not eyeing Eddie in the most inappropriate way possible. Screw that, he was finding it difficult not to grab him by the belt and throw him onto the bar to have his way with him. 

He was wearing his usual black on black on black but the first few buttons of his shirt were undone, allowing his tattoos to peek through. There were chains hanging from his hips, his neck, his wrists and his ears, the usual rings adorning his fingers. He was wearing those pointed boots that gave him just enough height to be taller than Steve, the exact same thing he'd done on Halloween night all those years ago. Their first night together.

He looked so very edible.

Fuck it.

He leaned his elbows against the bar behind him, pulling his black dress shirt tight across his chest and stomach, cocked his head loosely to the side allowing some hair to fall into his eyes and schooled his expression into one of slight boredom. It all tasted vaguely of King. "Nah. That kind of music isn't really my thing."

Eddie narrowed his eyes in a playful glare.

"Oh well," Trisha waved her hand, "he's here in the city on tour, how cool is that?"

"Cool enough for you to grace us with an invite to your wedding, Trisha. Thank you again, by the way. We're honoured to even be here." Eddie batted his big damn doe eyes at her, sending her into a fit of blushing giggles.

"Oh my god, no. It's an honour to have you here. I'll get to tell people I had a celebrity at my wedding." She giggled at him again, squeezing his shoulder and turning her glazed eyes back to Steve. "I think he's gay." Trisha tried to whisper with her hand cupped around her mouth, using Eddie's shoulder to anchor herself as she leaned a little too far into Steve's space, slurring her words and tapping her nose.

Steve looked Eddie up and down. "Oh, really?"

Eddie continued to stare at him with that same heated gaze.

"Don't be a dick about it Steve, you're not in East Jesus Nowhere Indiana anymore. This is the city. We're accepting here."

"I'll keep that in mind." He deadpanned knocking back the end of his drink, allowing his neck to extend long as he gulped. He ran his tongue against his bottom lip as he lowered his head and Eddie swallowed around thin air.

"And this is… Rosalyn?"

"Robin."

"Right, oh my god, sorry." Trisha giggled again, switching her full attention to Robin, one arm snaking around her neck, the other hand on her forearm, running her thumb up and down the skin. "Robin. She's his PA." Trisha was leaning heavily against her, her eyes firmly on Robin’s lips.

Steve and Eddie made quick eye contact before Steve was met with a panicked 'help me!' look from his platonic soulmate.

"His PA, huh? That's really interesting." Steve smiled innocently, dazzlingly, at her as her panicked gaze grew hard, anticipating his next question. "Tell me, Robin, what does a PA do exactly?"

Robin waved her free hand in front of her, like she was trying to disperse smoke. "Oh, you know, this and that."

Eddie seemed to take the opportunity as Steve was distracted, sidling up to the bar right next to him, leaning forward and pressing their sides flush together. "Buy me a drink, big boy and I'll tell you all about it." He bumped his hip against Steve's.

Despite the fact that he'd been flirted, fucked and loved by this man for going on five years now and all his Kingly bravado just a few minutes ago, he couldn't stop a blush crawling up his neck at a brazen old memory brought forward. The grin Eddie gave him in response was sinful.

"Oh you're barking up the wrong tree there, Eddie." Trisha giggled again, "Straight as a pole that one is. Resident ladies man of small town Indiana."

Eddie bit down on his bottom lip trying to suppress his smile while Robin coughed loudly into her hand, hiding her laugh.

Steve ran his hand through his hair in that way he knew drove Eddie wild and only spared him a short heated glance. "As she said, resident ladies man. Robin, can I get you something?" He fixed his gaze on her, flashing his most charming smile and tried not to look when Eddie pouted up at him with his big sad eyes that almost always made him give in and a pushed out bottom lip that Steve wanted to tear into with his teeth. He held firm, though, despite himself he was having too much fun. "You strike me as a Tequila Sunrise type."

It was her favourite drink, all three of them knew it. Robin cocked an eyebrow. "I don't know how I feel about tequila. I have this friend who gets loose-lipped due to tequila. But I'll take a Long Island Iced Tea if you're buying."

Eddie's favourite drink.

Steve's platonic life partner was a dirty traitor.

"There's tequila in that too."

"It's hidden under all the others."

"Trish!" Jessica had appeared next to the bride and whispered something in her ear. Trisha rolled her eyes and let out an exaggerated sigh.

"Of course he is. I gotta run you guys, but have fun! Mingle! Happy to have you here Eddie, Robin."

As she bustled off, there were a few heartbeats of silence between the three of them. 

It wasn't until Trisha was well and truly out of sight and out of earshot that his two idiots devolved into laughter, clutching the bar for support as he rounded on them.

"I can't believe that worked!"

"What a fuckin rush!"

"I am going to kill the both of you." He was attempting to use his 'mom' voice as he put an arm around both of their necks but he couldn’t help his joy bleeding through. "You couldn't think of a job other than PA? We just talked about how we didn't know what the fuck a PA does!"

"It wasn't my turn to use our brain cell!" Robin gasped out as she and Eddie clutched onto each other, collapsing into another fit of laughter. 

"Jesus Christ, how drunk are the two of you?"

"Just a little." Robin pinched her fingers together.

"We opened the Pinot Grigio while we were figuring out what to wear."

Steve rolled his eyes, trying to suppress a smile. "Wow, my heroes. Glad you had a full fashion show while my soul was dying down here."

"We didn't really-"

"Well we did turn on that one song-"

"The whole album nearly-"

"We look so good though!"

"So hot!"

"I'm gonna have to give her that suit, don't you think, sweetheart? She's a fuckin knockout in it." Eddie spun Robin under his arm.

Jesus Christ he loved those two stupid idiots too much.

"You're not wrong." Steve caught the eye of the bartender and ordered a Long Island, a Tequila Sunrise and two vodka shots and a Whiskey Sour while Eddie was busy swinging around with Robin in front of the bar, barely following the beat of the music behind them. 

The bartender gave him a look that asked are they yours? Steve nodded, shrugged and said simply, "I gotta catch up." Knocking each shot back quickly before shoving the other drinks into their hands. “What on earth has possessed the two of you?”

"I wanted the opportunity to flirt with a mysterious stranger with great hair who hated where he was so much he might just do something filthy in the men's bathroom later."

"Great, when you find him could you point him in my direction? I could use a stress reliever."

“What happened to being straight as a pole? Resident ladies man?”

“A hometown satanic cult leader got his claws into me.”

“Yeah they'll get ya like that.”

“And you?” He looked down at Robin who was innocently slurping her drink up through her straw.

She shrugged. “There was nothing on TV.”

It was amazing how much energy having his two favourite people around had injected into him. He was dragged out onto the dancefloor with them, perpetually spinning around each other, jumping up and down and screaming the lyrics to themselves as the songs changed between whatever was topping the charts that week and whatever high energy Christmas music the DJ could find. At some point he and Trisha and Robin and Eddie engaged in a kind of elaborate waltz competition to see who could lead their partner around the perimeter of the dancefloor the fastest. Steve was able to keep a firm enough grip on Trisha but Robin had no such reservations, swinging Eddie around like he was some kind of ragdoll.

Steve would occasionally catch sight of his parents watching him with suspicious eyes from the corner of the room but he was always whisked away almost immediately by Robin or Eddie.

It wasn't long after that that Steve and Eddie collapsed into chairs coincidentally back at the mom and kids table, though the only kids still out were some of the older teenagers sneaking sips of drinks when they thought no one was looking. They both used their inebriation as an excuse to sit closer and share more touches that was probably smart as they talked in their weird dark mom corner. They had become so oblivious to the world around them they didn't even notice Robin was gone until she slid back into her seat next to Steve with a red face, untucked shirt and destroyed hair.

She slid a slow hand up his arm to get his attention and when he turned his head towards her, she asked over the music, "You know the maid of honour?"

"Jessica? Yeah, I've spoken to her a few times today. She seems nice."

"Oh, so her name's Jessica?"

"Yeah?"

"She's pretty hot right?" Robin didn't look at either of them once. She was just staring slightly dazed at something over Eddie's shoulder.

"Uh…" he glanced his eyes back over to Eddie who seemed just as confused by the conversation as Steve was. "Yeah, she's cute."

Robin nodded pensively, as if deeply considering something. "I just hooked up with her in the bathroom."

Steve had to quickly grab at the half empty beer glass Eddie knocked over.

"I really just said that, didn't I?" Her face was only getting redder.

"Oh my god."

"Why? Did it not actually happen?"

"No, no, no. It happened… oh boy did it happen."

"Holy shit, Buckley!" Eddie swung around to her side of the table and crashed into the chair next to her, pulling her tight against him. "College really has been an education for you hasn't it? I'm so proud!"

"Oh my god I can't believe I just did that!"

"The groomsmen would be pissed if they found out." Steve ruffled her hair, making it even messier. "They had a bet going on about who'd be able to pull her first."

Eddie smiled now pawing at her hair, trying to drunkenly get it to lie flat before placing his hands over her head like a crown. "What a King."

"Did they really?" Robin looked up at Steve like she wasn't sure how to feel about that bit of information.

"Could you imagine telling eighteen year old Robin who was barely able to look Vickie McNulty in the eye about this?"

"She'd lose her shit."

"She'd lose her shit!"

The three of them tried to stifle their giggles and failed miserably. It wasn't much later after that that Steve noticed people had started to send surreptitious glances in Eddie's direction, word getting around that he was someone. And in this group of social climbing vultures, that only spelled trouble.

The second Steve saw someone approach with that look in their eye, trying to get something from him, an autograph, a photograph or whatever, he was on his feet. It wasn't difficult to do his quick round of goodbyes, Trisha's smile was dazed and Steve wasn't sure she could even tell who she was talking to, Jessica blushing and keeping her steady on her other side, unable to look Steve in the eye.

His parents were a bit more of an issue, his mother grabbing his arm in a claw grip, pulling him closer, the two of them starting to grill him.

Who are those people Steven?

Is she wearing pants?

What are you doing talking to them?

At a formal event?

Someone needs to tell that man to get a haircut, he looks like a damn girl.

A hand interlaced with his own. "Stevie, honey. I'm not feeling very well, can we go?"

The three of them turned to look at Robin who was looking up at him with wide imploring eyes, clutching close to his hand and arm. Over her head he saw Eddie leaning against the wall by the door, sending a wink his way.

Steve placed a possessive arm around her neck. "Of course." And planted a kiss on the side of her head.

"I've gotta run." He barely spared a glance at his parents as he began to turn away. 

His father caught his arm, his look stern.

"We'll talk about this later, Steven."

They wouldn't talk about it later, Steve would make sure of it. He just nodded as his dad before quickly stalking towards the exit.

"We'll talk about this later, Steven." Robin mimicked causing the two of them to descend into snickers as Eddie threw his arm around Robin, the three of them heading back upstairs under peals of laughter.

They collapsed onto Eddie’s large bed, almost having to fight themselves to keep their eyes open.

Steve found himself very much awake a second later when a hand wrapped around his tie, pulling him close and suddenly he was being pressed down into the mattress with Eddie's tongue down his throat.

He had just managed to unbuckle Eddie's belt and pull his shirt from his pants when a finger poked him hard in the ribs.

"We will not be having a repeat of Valentine's Day 1988." Robin muttered into the pillows.

"You're a terrible wingman, Buckley. You already got yours tonight."

"Out!"

Steve looked up at Eddie. "Still want to do filthy things with a mysterious stranger in a bathroom?"

To Mrs. Patricia Harrington, Mrs. Jessica Harrington and kids.

Mr. & Mrs. Hopper request the pleasure of your presence at a small gathering to celebrate the elopement of 

Mr. Steven Harrington 

& 

Mr. Edward Munson

On October 31st 2004 they were wed in an intimate and impromptu ceremony attended by three close family members.

Please join us in marking this occasion at 

1 Cartersville Rd, Hawkins, Indiana 

29th January 2005

R.S.V.P. to phone number provided before 7th January 2005