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Jesus, it’s cold, Eddie thought, as he attempted to pry the window open with his frost-bitten fingers. His feet shuffled about on the snowy roof, and he shook from the effort, but the stupid thing wouldn’t give.
“Psst, hey!” The boy whisper-shouted, with hands cupped against the frosted glass. Peeking through the window, Eddie saw that the bedroom he crouched outside of was empty, the hallway light glowing warm and yellow, casting faint shadows across the bed, with all its sheets crumpled and thrown to the carpeted floor. He’s probably in the bathroom or something.
Eddie huffed a sigh. It really felt ridiculous, freezing his ass out on this roof in particular, after everything that had happened the year before. Summer had come and gone, and so had Autumn. The residents of Hawkins, Indiana had taken the aftermath of the ‘earthquakes’ in their stride, working to rebuild what was destroyed in the battle against Vecna.
People accepted Eddie’s alibi with no small amount of reluctance, but nevertheless, picked up where they’d left off, collectively ignoring his existence. With Christmas right around the corner, it was like everyone was determined to forget as much of the past year as they could. There wasn't much else they could do, with the feds on the Local Freak’s side.
Still, despite the generous compensation the US government had provided him and his uncle, the money didn't help him sleep at night, which is what brought him to this particular situation.
Eddie glanced over his shoulder, preparing himself to wake the entire neighbourhood, before rapping his knuckles against the windows aggressively. “Harrington, open up! Hellooo!” Soon after, the thumping of footsteps was heard, followed by the very tired, very annoyed voice of the man himself.
“Christ, okay! I got it, man!” the babysitter yelled, tripping over his own feet to reach the latch to let Eddie in. He pushed the thing open without warning, and Eddie tumbled to the ground at Steve’s feet. “What’re you doing here, Eddie? It’s like three in the morning!” the younger hissed as he pulled the other to his feet.
“Buckley’s busy quote-unquote ‘studying’ with Wheeler. I’d rather not interrupt their, uh, girl talk.” Eddie supplied, with a grimace. It was no secret to their closest friends that there was something going on between the two ladies, as much as they tried to hide it. Their sexual tension was quite frankly, very intense.
“Right. And I was the next on your list because…?”
“- Because, your majesty, I figured you would be up for the same reasons as I am.”
"Oh," Steve made a noise of understanding. "Right."
It was at that moment that Steve really started to take in Eddie’s appearance: he was still wearing his pyjamas, and the thin tee-shirt and sweats did nothing for his frost-bitten and shivering state.
After a few seconds of Steve just staring vacantly at Eddie’s general appearance, it felt like the room was getting warmer. Eddie cleared his throat and looked to the other expectantly, and it was like the man’s babysitter instincts kicked in. Steve turned towards his closet and grabbed some spare clothes, throwing them in the direction of his bed.
“Put these on, and I’ll get you something warm to drink.” He gestured towards the clothes, then disappeared down the hallway once he saw Eddie move to reach for the PJs. Eddie picked the offending items up gingerly, inspecting the green, white and yellow jersey and matching joggers in his hands. They definitely weren’t his usual style, but he wasn’t going to look a gift horse in the mouth. The back of the sweater was emblazoned with large letters spelling out ‘Harrington’ in upper-case, and Eddie felt himself flush at the idea of wearing Steve’s name on him like one of his high school conquests. As if that would ever happen, he had to remind himself. King Steve Harrington was a notorious womanizer, even if he seemed to be striking out recently. Though he did think the poster of Han Solo on the wall was quite an… interesting choice. He entertained the idea of Steve lusting for Harrison Ford's glistening abs in secret, as he shucked off his damp pyjamas. The thought made him want to laugh.
Once he was all dressed up, Eddie paced about the bedroom, searching for anything potentially incriminating. Steve was a guy after all - there were playboys in here somewhere, he just knew it. He scanned the desk drawer, bookshelves, and lastly under the mattress, but there was nothing there. Is he a eunuch or something?
Just as he bent down to open a wardrobe drawer, Steve came into the room with a steaming mug of cocoa in each hand. Eddie sprung up immediately, like a thief caught red handed, and threw him a shameless grin. Steve did a bit of a double take at that, not expecting the scene in front of him.
Eddie raised his hands in the air in mock surrender. "I was wondering, Stevie," His grin widened, like a Cheshire cat, "how a lady's man such as yourself could possibly not have any porn mags stashed away anywhere."
That managed to shake Steve out of his stupor, and Eddie watched delightedly as the poor guy's face flushed red. "Um, what?" Huh. If he didn't know any better, he'd say Steve was staring at the jersey he was wearing. As the guy set the mugs down on the bedside table, Eddie decided that this was a hypothesis that absolutely needed testing. For science.
Oh, this was going to be so much fun - but for now, he was feeling pretty tired. Eddie said as much to Steve. "I can take the floor, if you want? Or the couch. I'm not picky." He glanced at the expensive-looking carpet, and thought that it would probably be softer to sleep on than his bed back home. "Or we could share?" Eddie held his breath. Steve's eyes widened comically at the suggestion, but he didn't seem put off, though.
"Sure."