Work Text:
You rushed around your kitchen, gathering the things you needed for your cake recipe. You had a checklist of a million things you needed to do bouncing around in your brain.
Opening your fridge, you grabbed your carton of eggs and opened it to find a nightmare.
One solitary egg stared you down from the confines of the crate, lone and defiant.
The bastard.
You needed four of them for the two cakes you had to bake. One was for the shrimp squad for an ‘end of campaign’ session/party that you had somehow-you were a pushover, that was how-gotten wrangled into supplying a dessert for.
’Pleeease, it’s for our DM and he totally deserves it!’
Having DM’d yourself before, they knew how to twist your arm.
The other cake…well, it was for you. A reward for surviving through another frigid Indy winter.
But you couldn’t make either with only one egg.
“Noooo, nonono, please,” you pleaded, like another three eggs would take mercy on you and materialize in the container like magic.
When the laws of physics didn’t bend themselves to your will, you realized you would have to go to the store and buy more. You looked dejectedly out your apartment window at the snow and ice covered sidewalks, wind picking up swaths of the white fluff and blowing it about. You were sure you could hear a sad violin playing in the background of your life.
Wait, Steve! You could check and see if he had any eggs to lend you. You had never been more thankful that Steve and Robin shared the same apartment building with you.
Picking up the phone, you dialed their number, praying that either of them were home and that they had your coveted ingredient. You nervously gnawed on your lip, twirling the phone cord around your finger, several kinks in it already from previous fiddlings.
“Harrington/Buckley residence.”
“Steve!” He almost dropped the phone as you practically shouted at him in your excitement from the receiver. “I need your eggs!”
“...would it kill you to say hello like a normal person?”
“Hello! Please tell me you have three eggs to spare for the poor?”
“Yeah yeah, I’ve got your eggs. Calm down wonder woman. You can swing by to pick them up whenever.”
“Perfect! I’ll be there soon!”
You hung up the phone and started to leave, before thinking better of it and turning around to grab a bowl for your bounty. Then you were out the door and skittering down the stairs in your well loved Judas Priest Screaming for Vengeance shirt and worn jeans while you went through a mental checklist of all the things you needed to do.
You stepped through the apartment door, tunneling in with single minded focus and making a beeline for the fridge where your prize awaited. Opening the door and removing the carton, you started grabbing eggs and putting them in your bowl. You heard footsteps from up the hall and glanced up in acknowledgement.
“Thanks for the eggs, Ste-” you paused, gawking at the unfairly attractive man who rounded the corner.
He looked as confused as you were.
“You’re not Steve.”
“Uhhh, no?” He said with a tilt of his magnificently maned head, still trying to figure out what was happening and if he missed the memo that he was somehow supposed to be Steve today.
“They moved-”
“-last week,” you finished weakly, the mortifying reality of the situation starting to creep up on you.
Your auto-pilot kicked off, leaving your poor overworked monkey brain to put the pieces together. Steve and Robin had just moved to a newly renovated apartment on your floor, and their friend Eddie had taken theirs.
And in your haste you had taken the same route you always had to get to their apartment.
Now you were in their friend Eddie’s kitchen.
Stealing his eggs.
Like a sociopath.
“Ohhhh my god!” The tragic violin music of your life had shifted to a comedy laugh track, and you were the joke. “He said I could borrow eggs for my cakes and I came here out of habit and I -I am so, so sorry! I swear I’m not normally like this.” Scatterbrained, you had meant.
“What, you mean you don’t normally walk into stranger’s kitchens and steal their eggs?” He teased good naturedly, getting his footing back under him and feeling much more relaxed now knowing you were an acquaintance of mutual friends.
“Believe it or not, no. Not really a hobby of mine.”
“Because you’re a law abiding citizen?”
“Because I’m introverted,” you said, deadpan.
That took him off guard and pulled a laugh out of him, and oh that smile was dangerous. He was so cute you could die, but it was rude enough to steal his food without also dropping dead in a smitten heap on his floor.
“I’ll just um, put these back.”
You began putting the eggs back in, trying to salvage the scraps of your shredded dignity.
He ran his tongue along his bottom lip and fiddled with his rings as he watched you, pondering to himself. You seemed nice enough, and something in him made him want to stretch your time out together, despite having just met you.
“Actually, tell you what, give me a slice of whatever you’re making and you can keep the eggs.”
You paused with an egg in hand in consideration, surprised by the offer. You supposed it was the least you could do for barging into his space like an animal. You didn’t think there were ‘Sorry for breaking and entering’ Hallmark cards.
“I think I can work with that,” you answered with a smile. You would gladly relinquish a slice of your cake.
“It’s a deal then!”
He held his hand out to you and you gripped it in a handshake. Warm, calloused fingertips wrapped around your hand, the cool, smooth metal of his rings a pleasant contrast against your palm.
“Oh, I’m sure you figured it out, but I’m Eddie, by the way.”
You knew of Eddie.
Eddie, who Steve and Robin kept trying to get you to meet because they thought you would hit it off. You would always come up with flimsy excuses, perfectly content to be a recluse with your small group of friends. Or so you told yourself, but truthfully you were more lonely than you wanted to let on. Now you regretted not meeting him sooner. Not to mention you probably could have left a better first impression than…whatever this was. You would certainly leave a lasting one, though.
“So uh, does the pretty egg thief have a name?”
You laughed softly, feeling heat flood your cheeks at the easy compliment, managing to mumble your name out despite your heart beating in your throat.
Recognition dawned on his fair features.
“Oh, you’re the friend they’re always telling me I need to meet.”
Evidently your friend's scheming worked both ways.
“Ah, sorry I’m pretty-”
“-busy,” he finished for you.
“Yeah,” you breathed. Fake busy is what you were.
His lips twitched at the corners, threatening to pull up into another smile. Which you only noticed because you couldn’t stop looking at them. Did this man have a carry license for those lips? Corralling all your willpower, you managed to draw your gaze where it should be, back up to his eyes. Then you wondered why you had been looking at his lips when his eyes were so lovely.
Clearly you needed to get out more.
It was only when you felt the caress of his thumb against the back of your hand that you realized why he was trying not to smile.
You were still holding his hand.
You squeaked-squeaked-like a damned rusty doorknob, and yanked your hand back.
Although you had just met, Eddie missed the feeling of having your hand in his, as it seemed to fit so well. He shook off the strange feeling.
Clearing your throat, you grabbed the bowl of eggs, trying to put on a front that you weren’t an absolute social buffoon.
Being brave and looking back up into his eyes, he really did have such lovely eyes, pretty with an easy underlying kindness lurking in those chocolate pools, you thank him.
“Thanks again for the eyes!” Jesus tapdancing Christ. “The eggs! Thanks for the eggs!”
“Happy to be of assistance.” he laughed, pink dusting his cheeks at your slip up.
“When’s a good time to bring you the consolation cake?”
“Uhhh, either tonight or tomorrow after 6:00?”
“Tonight it is!” You said, backing towards the door. The fresher the cake, the better.
“I look forward to it.”
You couldn’t help but make one last parting remark. “You know, you should really keep your door locked. All kinds of weirdos could just walk in.”
“Maybe I like weirdos!” He shouted after you, and you couldn’t help but smile as you pulled the door shut behind you.
When Robin called you later inviting you to movie night, you may have said yes a bit too quickly when she said Eddie would be there.