Chapter Text
With everyone back and (mostly) safe in Hawkins, one thing could not get out of Steve Harrington's mind
Eddie
He didn't know why he had gotten so stuck in his head, ask him a year ago, there'd be no way he'd be thinking about Eddie "The Freak" Munson. But between his time in the Upside Down with him, the smug little comments he made, and the trailer incident, Eddie Munson had wormed his way into Steve's brain and he wouldn't get out. And it's not like this was subtle either.
"Earth to dingus. If you keep gazing at Munson with those lovestruck eyes, I'll never be able to change your bandages properly." Robin had huffed one day. Steve hadn't even noticed he was turned towards Eddie, but he could easily blame his daydreaming on the pain from the Demobat wounds… along with the flush in his face. Robin wasn't blind though, she could easily see spot his crush, even a blind man could. But she could also tell that it would be easier trying to push a boulder up a hill rather than get Steve to actually confront the fact that he had a crush on Eddie. Robin wasn't the only one to notice Steve's fascination with Eddie either. Nancy was more astute and aware than any of the four or the kids combined.
"You know, Eddie's favorite movie genre is fantasy/horror." She commented offhand one day.
"Um, okay? Glad to know Nanc, why are you telling me?" Steve replied, confused about what her motives could be.
"Oh, he had been mentioning it the other day, and since you still technically have a job at Family Video, I was thinking you could grab a nice one and watch it with him on your shift," Nancy said, a small smile gracing her face. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Steve's face begin to tint with a pinkish-red blush.
"Oh… uh y-yeah thanks Nanc." He replied, a small nervous stutter appearing in his reply. Then the climax of his crush (no pun intended) came because of the trailer incident. Steve had had a fairly eventless day, so he thought it would be a good idea to head to Eddie's trailer early. It was a fairly hot day and he was glad that he hadn't decided to wear his usual polo shirt, he would've sweated through it easily. Knocking on Eddie's door, he tried to still his fidgeting hands. Whenever he had his shifts at Eddie's, the period between when he knocked and Eddie opened the door, butterflies decided to go to his hands instead of his chest. Opening the door, Steve was greeted with the sight of Eddie with his hair in a ponytail, a cigarette lying loosely on his lips, and Eddie wearing nothing else except a pair of boxers. Steve, to say the least, was stunned speechless.
"Oh Harrington, didn't expect to see you so early. What, you miss me or something?" Eddie asked him, the heat making his voice a smoother tone which didn't help Steve to wrangle his mouth into doing what he wanted it to do.
"Yeah I- wait I-I mean I was close by already so I thought…" Steve trailed off, now struggling to keep his eyes from drifting down toward the one article of clothing Eddie was wearing. Eddie meanwhile, was having a field day with the fact that Steve Harrington was flustered once again by his presence.
"Mhmm, I gotcha. Gotta say though, you do look pretty warm. Your cheeks are pretty flushed." Eddie smirked, causing Steve's cheeks to flush even harder. Unfortunately for him, that comment stunned him into a further spiral of trying to get words out of his mouth. And before he realized it, Eddie stepped forward, placed two fingers under Steve’s chin, and tilted it upwards.
"Come on sweetheart. You know I don't bite." Eddie said to him (barely holding back an "unless you ask me to" unknown to Steve). Even though the thought of Eddie biting him… anywhere was firmly planted in his head, Steve finally got his mouth to work.
"You uh… you normally walk around like that?" Steve questioned, gesturing towards him. Eddie's face grew into a confused look until realization struck him. He looked down and muttered a simple oh before slamming the door shut to get changed quickly. Thankfully, in the period when Eddie went to get dressed and him coming back to the door, Steve was mostly able to calm himself down. But the image of Eddie nearly naked and the "Come on sweetheart" comment would not leave his head no matter what he tried to do. His shift with Eddie was good, no doubt about it. But there were two facts now cemented between the two of them. Steve saw Eddie almost naked, and Eddie could tell that Steve liked what he saw. His watch shifts, especially after that incident, always had Steve leaving light-headed and floating in the best way possible. He could handle his watch shifts regardless- while Joyce and Hopper were coming up with a way to help clear Eddie's name, Nancy, Robin and himself (as well as some of the kids) would take shifts to watch over Eddie and help pass the time- but it was getting to the point that he wasn't sure if he would make it out alive from his shifts with Eddie's flirty little comments and lack of personal space. He didn't know how Eddie Munson was living in his head, but no matter how much he tried to dance around his crush, he wasn't truly complaining.