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“Why are we doing this?” Mike asked Dustin who was adjusting something on the tripod holding up his new camera.
It was a Wednesday afternoon and the school was mostly deserted and which meant the AV room was free for Operation: Eddie’s Surprise.
“I told you. We are all saying something for Eddie’s birthday. He is turning 21 next week and that is kind of a milestone, especially when you factor in he was almost killed in an alternate demonic dimension.” Dustin was now following a cord backward toward an even bigger mess of cords.
“No, I get all that, but whose idea was this?” Mike shook his hair out and placed his palms on his knees, taking a glance around the room. It was the room Hellfire used for their campaigns and it looked eerily empty without everyone’s personality. Come to think of it, Mike felt transported back to the 4th grade on picture day.
Dustin’s head perked up, his face conspicuous and he shrugged. “I thought it would be nice.”
Mike squinted his eyes at his best friend, not for a second believing that, but decided to leave it be for now. The stool he was sitting on was uncomfortable as hell and he wanted to get home.
“Alright, well let’s get this started.” Mike ran his hand through his hair and chewed on the side of his cheek. “Wait, what do you want me to say?”
Dustin slammed the wires down in true Dramatic Henderson fashion and placed his hands on his hips as he stuck Mike with a glare. “Jesus Christ, Wheeler, have you never received a fucking birthday card in your life? Channel someone who cares and say something kind to Eddie!”
Mike flipped Dustin off just after Dustin hit the record button on the camera.
Mike sat up straighter and clapped his palms together. “Happy birthday Eddie!” He waved at the camera, but he waved with both his hands and it ended up looking like magician jazz hands. “I hope your, uh, day is great.” He did a thumbs up.
Dustin tilted his head to the side as he watched his friend morph into the dorkiest human being on the planet. Mike had always been a tad more normal passing like Lucas around their peers in various social settings, but even Lucas had his nerd moments. Dustin always thought it was his height and that mop of hair that seemed to conceal just how geeky he truly was.
Filming Mike now Dustin was connecting dots. So many dots. He let out a chuckle, making Mike pause his bullet points of why Eddie was a Great Friend.
“Anyway,” Mike rolled his eyes and smiled. “Thank you for keeping an eye out for us little sheep last year. Happy birthday!” He waved again, this time with only his right hand, and stood, walking out of the shot.
Dustin stopped the recording and smirked at Mike.
“What?” Mike pulled a bitch face.
“Nothing,” Dustin crossed his arms. “Oh, nothing.”
Mike squinted at Dustin again and that’s how they were standing, Mike squinting and Dustin grinning, when Max walked in.
“What are you freaks doing?” She asked as she took a seat on the stool, pulling her headphones down from her ears to rest on her shoulders.
Dustin could call Mike out for his innocent, schoolboy crush on their DM, but he wasn’t that mean. “Oh, nothing, Mike just recorded a nice message for Eddie is all.” Dustin grinned. Okay, so he was partially a little shit.
Mike furrowed his eyebrows at Dustin, then they softened before he rolled his eyes. “Can I go now?”
“Yes, be gone!” Dustin walked over to the camera.
“Hey, Dustin, uh, do you think you could press record and then… leave?” Max played with her braid.
“Oh, sure!” Dustin poked his head out to the side. “Want some privacy?”
Max flung her braid over her shoulder. “Yeah, I just, I–”
“It’s okay, Max, I get it. Just knock on that door when you finish.” Dustin smiled and then pressed record before walking out the side door.
“You know, when my mom and I moved into the trailer park, I thought it was going to be the worst thing ever. The air smelled like burnt gasoline-infused sewer water and I am still not sure if it was you or the Williamsons who smoked all that pot that I got my first contact high from. Oh, and I hated that month when your band had to practice at your place because Gareth’s garage was being repainted. You guys had zero respect for curfew.” Max shook her head, but a kind smile started to form on her lips.
“But, that first night, after we were settled in, do you know what happened?” Max laughed softly. “You knocked on our screendoor to the tune of some metal song I couldn’t begin to tell you the name of and you were holding a casserole dish and said WHAT made the ‘rock on’ sign which I don’t think I’ve seen you make since, so I don’t know if that was just for us or something, but anyway.” She shook her head.
“Steve has been a big brother to me for a while now, ever since…” Max swallowed and tapped her fingers along the boney side of her bare knees. “Even before, he was always there.
“You were also there before you knew about all this insanity. You looked out for me when I was just that redhead kid with a chip on her shoulder in the trailer park.” She smiled into the camera. “So thank you for that, big brother.” She smiled. “And happy birthday, ya freak.” She grinned wider, the word freak being used as a term of endearment.
Max knocked on the door and Dustin comes back in to stop the recording.
Next, Erica walked in and took center stage, all flair, and all sass. She pulled the stool closer to the camera, holding out her right hand two centimeters from Dustin’s face when he complained.
She sat on the stool, crossing her right leg over the left, and placed her hands on her hips. “Eddie Munson.” She announced and followed it with a pause. She was staring into the camera, transferring some sort of message with her commanding eyes outlined in neon purples and blues. “You old, long-winded, theatrically loud, expressively inappropriate, long-curly-haired freak.” She removed her hands from her hips to fold under her chest. “It is your birthday.” She squinted at the camera again and paused.
Dustin threw his hands up in annoyed disbelief.
“You have guts, Eddie Munson. You have guts and you deserve to have the best birthday a quasi-former town pariah can get. When Dustin came to me, no–begged of me–to come to record a few kind words I was not completely on board. A “cinematographic birthday card” he called it. I said,” Erica flung a hand back to her hip, tilting to the side with all the attitude in her five-foot body. “A cinema what now ?” She laughed loudly.
“But once he explained his vision or whatever, I understood better. It’s actually kinda sweet. He tried to tell me it was his idea, but,” Erica held up her hand to whisper to the camera as if Dustin was standing five steps away. “We both know who it was. Ya boy Friday, Steve.” She rolled his eyes. “That boy.” She shook her head.
“Anyway,” She curled her hands along the curve of the stool and shrugged. “Happy birthday, Eddie. You are the most badass nerd I think I know.” She held up a peace sign and then hopped off the stool.
Dustin began talking off-screen.
“Robin is running late, not that you’d be surprised. And Erica, Jesus shit, I hope her shot wasn’t completely blurry. If it is, I will not hear the end of it even though I fucking told her to sit on the stool where I marked it on the floor, but whatever.” Dustin ranted all the way to the stool and as he dragged it back to the X he taped it on the floor with masking tape.
“I have three best friends I have known most of my life. They are like brothers to me. Sometimes I wonder if we could technically be brothers since we’ve been in the literal trenches together countless of times. Bonds have been formed. Blood has been shed. We’re brothers.” Dustin nodded, seeming to be reminiscing.
“But then Will moved across the fucking country, Lucas got popular, and things just seemed to be weird. Weirder than the awkward freshman feelings.” He laughed. “But then! Mike, Lucas, and I were sitting at that lunch table when you popped your head between Mike and I’s heads asking us where the nerd convention was, but you weren’t mean or cruel about it.”
Dustin laughed like he had that day, full-face laughter and unfiltered joy. “You welcomed us into your world and we felt like we got Will back for a while.” Dustin grinned. “Now, obviously, you and Will are very different individuals, but I don’t know. It was nice. You looked out for us like a big brother would do. Which was nice because Steve had graduated and Jonathan was in California. We did have Nancy, but Nancy is scary in a very different way than you.” Dustin paused again, thinking.
“Anyway, thank you. You are the best and I love you, man. Thank you for sticking with us all the way to Hell and back. Erica was right. You have guts and you are one of the most badass dudes I know.”
Dustin stood up. “Happy Birthday. Hope it's a great one! Ahhh!!!!—” Dustin was cut off short when Robin came barreling into the AV room.
“Am I late? I am late aren’t I?” Robin had her hands up. She had her messenger bag hanging off her shoulder and tangled around her elbow. Her hair was pulled into a messy ponytail at the top of her head and it looked like she ran from Hawkins Community College to the high school.
“You are late, but it's okay.” Dustin motioned to the stool with his hands before walking to the camera. “Go ahead, Robin, whenever you’re ready.” Dustin smiled and Robin sat, untangling her book bag with a loud, echoing thud that made him cringe thinking about the audio.
“Okay, so Steve will be here any minute. Mrs. Clickity Clackity caught him in the hall and you know Steve.” Robin rolled her eyes, not addressing the camera yet. This message was for Dustin. “Always so polite.” She pushed her flyaways out of her face and then looked at the camera.
“Okay, so, Eddie! Eddie Munson. Had I known back in 9th grade that you would become such an integral piece of our little family when you told Mr. Moody to go fuck himself when he tried to tell you that you were better off playing the trombone instead of the cello, well, I would have just not believed me?
“But then again there’s a lot that has happened to me in the past year that is definitely filed between Bonkers and Bat-shit Crazy. Did the Robin fill out that Scoops job application thinking she would be meeting her platonic best friend soulmate that summer? No. Or that said platonic best friend soulmate would be Steve Harrington? Also big fat no. Or that Steve Harrington’s ex Nancy Wheeler would become my girlfriend in the non-platonic soulmate kind of way? Hell to the hell no.” Robin chuckled.
“He does that doesn’t he?” Robin smiled softly at the camera. “Appears and then before you know it,” She shrugged. “He’s under your skin and you can’t imagine it being any different even when it seems so foreign.
“But, I am not supposed to wax platonic poetry about dingus. No.” She shook her head. “I am here to talk about you and how amazing it will be for you to legally buy beer now. Also, it is pretty amazing you exist.” She gave the camera two thumbs up. “And I know Steve feels the same–about you existing, not the beer.” She laughed.
“So happy birthday and I hope you enjoy all the festivities!” Robin steepled her fingertips and let out an evil chuckle as Steve entered the room. “Bye!” Robin chirped before jogging past Steve, leaning over to pinch his ear and pat the side of his face.
Steve swatted her arm away but laughed good-naturedly.
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Eddie was wearing the birthday hat El put on his head (The Byers-Hopper family flew in just the day before) and he had a plate of cake crumbs balancing on his left knee while his right hand was holding Steve’s. They were sitting on Steve’s patio and everyone was there.
They had grilled hot dogs and burgers and had just finished the cake when Dustin announced phase two of his birthday party. Eddie was thrilled to have phase one. He thought phase one was the whole party and Eddie’s heart was full of happiness, joy, and love for this family.
As Eddie watched each member of that family say the sweetest things about him, to him, his hand went from simply holding Steve’s to wrapping around his arm like a snake while the side of his head was resting on Steve’s shoulder.
The tears started slowly with Max’s message. The tears got heavier with Erica’s and Dustin’s. He laughed his way through Robin’s rambling, but when he saw Steve appear on screen, he couldn’t help but hold his breath.
He knew this was Steve’s idea and that he had enlisted Dustin to bring it to life. No one said as much to Eddie, but he just knew. Steve was a huge romantic and this was such a lovely thing to do.
Steve pressed a soft kiss to Eddie’s head as they watched on.
“Well, I kind of listened to Robin talk–”
“What the hell, Steve!” Off-screen Robin objected.
“—and she’s right, the past year has been pretty insane. Meeting you. Getting to know you, taking the time to know you not just while fighting Vecna, but all the days after… it's been the most comforting feeling–aside from knowing Robin.” He smiled.
Eddie smiled at the Steve on screen who was now blushing all over. He felt Steve’s chin slide to the back of his head which told Eddie he was hiding because he was bashful. Eddie slid his hand to Steve’s knee and gave it a reassuring squeeze.
“Eddie, you make me feel brave. I think you make a lot of us feel brave. I don’t know if it’s your bravado or your hair or the way you couldn’t hold a poker face if it could save your life,” On screen, Steve chuckled. “The love inside of you is contagious and it empowers.” He smiled softly, pausing as he looked on.
Eddie felt like that stare was boring holes into his heart. There were the words left unsaid in that look, things for his own ears only. Things Steve would tell him later when they were alone.
“Thank you for existing, thank you for your accepting nature, thank you for being a part of our weird family, and thank you for loving me.” Steve grinned ear to ear at that and the fucker even threw in a cocky wink. Eddie would have been on the floor had he not been sitting in a patio chair. “I love you and happy birthday.” Steve finished up by blowing the camera a kiss.
It was such a dorky thing for him to do, but it was something Steve always did to Eddie in person.
Mike started to snicker. Eddie tossed his paper plate at Mike’s head, the crumbs dusting the top of his head like dandruff. Mike glared back at him and Eddie simply flipped him off. Mike rolled his eyes and turned back to Lucas and Will.
Eddie then turned to look at Steve. Steve, who was looking down at their hands still intertwined. Eddie knew everyone else would soon expect him to say something and then they would move on to phase three, the swimming party, but at that moment he wanted to kiss his boyfriend.
“You said it back.” Eddie grinned and nosed along Steve’s hairline. Eddie had told Steve he loved him a few nights ago. Eddie thought Steve had fallen asleep and Eddie was close to passing out himself, and well. It came out and Eddie had wondered if Steve even heard him. “You totally heard me, you sneak!”
Eddie pushed his forehead against Steve’s temple, pressing quick, soft kisses to his cheekbone and temple. Finally, Steve turned to face Eddie and their lips pressed against each other for a soft kiss. “I love you,” Eddie whispered.
“I love you, too,” Steve whispered back before they broke apart.
Eddie was about to say something else when he watched, almost in slow-motion, as a giant blue water balloon came sailing out of nowhere and exploded against the left side of Steve’s face.
Steve’s eyes closed instantly, but they fluttered open and what once was quiet devotion for Eddie was replaced with crazed joy in his eyes. “Oh, they’re so dead.” He said to Eddie.
“You want to get them or should I?”
“Birthday boy first,” Steve winked. “Here,” He leaned in and kissed Eddie quickly before he reached under his chair and handed Eddie two yellow water balloons.
The group had an epic water balloon fight that ended when Mike managed to push Steve into the pool. Then it was a Mambo line of canon balls into the pool.
Everyone had fun, but Eddie was the happiest of them all. He had a very happy birthday this year and he wouldn’t trade any part of the past year–Vecna and demon bats included.