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Steve was late to school, which was a somewhat often thing back in his sophomore and junior years but he’d gotten a lot better at it since the start of his senior. But in his defense he had just had a nightmare about all the kids being eaten by demadogs and he wasn’t even able to save one of them, so it was just a pretty shitty morning, and he had to drive by all their houses before school to make sure everything seemed okay.
However, being late to Mrs. Clicks class is a terrible decision and he did get detention. At least he wasn’t alone though, Eddie Munson was given a detention too for not finishing his homework. Still, it all just added extra crap to his morning. Nobody else in his other classes got a detention though, which kinda sucked because if he was stuck with just Eddie the guy might kill him.
Steve opened the door to Mr. Mundy’s classroom, he was the detention teacher for the day, and was probably the best teacher to get stuck with in detention as he was the nicest in classes. Or at least that’s what Steve was hoping. Maybe detention kids didn’t get the same treatment. The teacher was at his desk and Eddie was sitting with his legs up on the desk right in front of his. It was a rare sight to see him anywhere near the front of the class.
They weren’t alone though. A kid in Eddie’s hellfire thing, was sitting next to Eddie. There was a red-headed girl on the side closest to the door chewing gum. And then all the way in the back was Johnathan Byers, yeah of course he was there. Steve sighed as he stepped into the room, he sat behind Eddie in order to avoid Johnathan on the other side of the room.
“Alright, I’ve got some papers to print, and a coffee to grab, so I’ll be right back. And don’t think you can just walk out. I have a sheet with all your names and you will get another detention for doing so.” Mr. Mundy announced as he stood and turned toward the door. A blonde girl slipped in just before he left and he gave her a nod. She sat in the dead center of the room.
Okay, this wasn’t bad, five other people was good, as long as he didn’t talk to Johnathan and didn’t do anything to get punched by Eddie. Shit. He sat behind Eddie. Why did he not think that through? In fact, when he looked up from the desk, Eddie’s friend was glaring at him. Yeah, that seemed just about right. As of this point his crown was slowly slipping and Billy hated him and would shove him around any chance he got, but he wasn’t low enough to fit in with any of the other groups either. Steve was lost in the high school hierarchy.
“Well, teacher's gone.” The girl with the gum stretched. “Who wants to play spin the bottle?” She asked. Everyone’s attention was drawn to her, but it took a moment for anyone to respond.
“There’s more guys than girls, it doesn’t work.” The other girl replied. And the one with the gum rolled her eyes. “The guys would probably have to respin like three times before the bottle landed on one of us.”
“True spin the bottle, you land on a girl, you kiss her, you land on a guy, you kiss him, pucker up buttercups.” She spun in her seat to face the room. The door opened before anyone else responded and another girl stepped in. “And look at that, it’s evening out.” The gum girl pointed at the new girl who was standing awkwardly in the doorway.
“Uh, where’s the teacher?” She asked.
“Coffee.” Eddie’s friend answered.
“Oh. Am I getting an extra detention for being late?”
“Nah, he’s usually pretty chill about it as long as you show up.” Eddie reassured her.
“Usually? How often do you end up in here?” She asked. And Eddie just dropped his head on the desk in response. Which Steve thought was fair, since Mrs. Click did give him outlandish detentions sometimes like she hated him and enjoyed watching him suffer.
“Anyway, spin the bottle?” Gum girl asked before blowing and popping a bubble.
“Fine.” The girl in the middle groaned.
“Whatever, I guess it passes the time.” Eddie’s friend agreed.
“Betrayal.” Eddie muttered to him in response.
“Oh- uh- I- I don’t-” The girl in the doorway stuttered. Steve squinted at her, he couldn’t tell if he recognized her or not.
“Oh, you probably want to hear the rules first, bubble girl over here,” The blonde pointed at the girl with the gun, “Wants to play true spin the bottle, where if you land on a guy, you kiss him, but if you land on a girl you’d have to kiss her too.” The girl at the door nodded.
“Oh, uh- I guess I’ll play.” She fidgeted with her fingers.
“Fantastic, you three in or what?” Gum girl pointed at Johnathan, Steve, and Eddie.
“I guess, better than boredom.” Steve replied.
“Uh, no.” Johnathan rubbed the back of his neck. Gum girl looked at him like he had just cursed her first born child. But Steve knew he wasn’t going to play, he’d just started dating Nancy and she would not appreciate him kissing everyone he had detention with. Eddie groaned, his head still on the desk.
“Fuck it.” He sat up, and gave gum girl a wide grin, “Why not.” She clapped her hands. “But this is still betrayal Gareth.” He muttered to his hellfire friend, and Steve finally had someone’s name.
“Good, and now we’re actually even Martha.” Gum girl glared at the blonde with a smile. Martha. Another name. Martha rolled her eyes.
“Let’s just get these desks out of the way.” She stood up and pushed her desk, and the desks behind it to the back wall. Everyone except Johnathan did the same so they had space in the middle to sit on the floor. On Steve’s right was the girl from the doorway, next to her was Gareth, next to him was Martha, next to her was Eddie, and next to him, also on Steve’s left, was gum girl with her backpack. Gum girl pulled out a bottle and placed it at the center of them all.
“Who wants to go first?” Gum girl asked. Gareth shrugged.
“I guess, but I do want to know if we have to kiss each other's lips or if it’s allowed to be on the cheek?” The girl thought about it for a moment before shrugging as well.
“I guess the cheek’s fine if both people are too uncomfortable.” She finally responded. Gareth spun the bottle, and it landed on gum girl. He nodded.
“Could I get your name before I kiss you?” He asked and the girl laughed.
“It’s Emily.” She told him. “And you can kiss my lips if you want.” They both scouted foward and kissed and then Martha spun the bottle, it landed, again on gum girl. Martha laughed a bit awkwardly.
“Cheek?” She asked.
“Yeah that’s alright.” Emily answered with a shrug, but did look rather disappointed. The two scooted forward and Martha gave Emily a peck on the cheek. After they were backed up Eddie spun the bottle. It landed on the last girl Steve still didn’t know the name of. Eddie fiddled with his rings.
“Can I just kiss your cheek?” He asked. And she nodded.
“I’d honestly prefer that.” She scooted forward, and Eddie followed. He gave her a peck on the cheek and they both slid back to their spots. Emily spun next, and it landed on her. She laughed.
“Anybody got a mirror?” She joked as she spun it again. It landed on the other girl beside Steve he really needed to ask the name of. “Am I allowed to kiss your lips? Cheeks just aren’t much fun.” Steve watched the girl's face go red.
“Uh, s-sure.” She tugged on her short hair a bit before shifting forward. Emily slid forward as well and kissed her. The girl's face was so red Steve crossed his fingers while repeating ‘please don’t let anybody else notice’ over and over in his head. Gum girl smiled at her before sliding back to her spot. Steve could have imagined it, but her cheeks looked a bit pink too. The other girl took a second before returning to her spot though. Steve felt bad for her, she probably wasn’t making it through this whole game without being outed.
What? Shit. Was he allowed to feel bad about that? Fuck. If his father knew he did he’d probably punch him in the face and kick him out of the house. Holy shit. But he did feel bad. And he couldn’t change that, he was trying, but he just couldn’t not feel bad. Gum girl slapped his arm.
“Dude, it’s your turn.”
“Uh, right.” Steve spun the bottle. Maybe he shouldn’t care about his father’s opinions though. The guy couldn’t even bother to come home every now and then to visit with his son. He practically stopped showing up after Barb died. He only came back around new years for his stupid party with all the other rich parents and traumatized children. Steve blinked out of his thoughts to see the bottle pointing at Martha. They kissed, and she giggled as she slid back to her spot in the circle. The short haired late girl spun next, and fucking damn it, he really needed to ask what her name was. It landed on Gareth. She bit her lip.
Yeah, she was going to be outed if she kept refusing to kiss guys on the lips but let gum girl. Shit. But this was a detention with all the non-cool kids, or freaks like Eddie and Gareth, or outcasts. Or at least he was pretty sure they were. Steve was also pretty sure Will had a crush on Mike so Johnathan hopefully wasn’t homophobic. Maybe she stood a chance. The girl opened her mouth to speak while Steve was thinking but no words came out.
“Cheek?” Gareth asked, turning to face her. The girl nodded and then gave him a peck on the cheek before snapping her gaze to the floor. Fuck. Steve really hoped nobody in here cared, because there really wasn’t much of a chance they weren’t going to notice. Gareth spun again, it landed on Eddie. Gareth shut his eyes and smiled awkwardly. Steve could tell he didn’t want that outcome. Steve looked at Eddie, who also looked like he was regretting all his life decisions as he slowly pushed himself into the middle of the circle. Gareth scooted forward as well and gave Eddie a peck on the cheek.
“Fucking awkward.” He muttered as he slid back into his spot. Eddie nodded, going back to his as well. Martha spun next, and it landed on Steve, they kissed again. Then it was Eddie’s turn, he spun the bottle and it landed on Steve. Eddie sighed, and squinted at the bottle like he might be able to get away with saying it was Emily or the other girl. But it was definitely pointing at Steve.
“For fucks sake.” He muttered under his breath before looking up at Steve. “You’d probably rather I jumped out the window-” Holy shit, did he really think Steve hated him that much!? “But since I’m not doing that, is your cheek the next best option?” He slid across the whole circle to sit in front of Steve.
“Firstly I would not rather you jumped out the window-”
“Yeah okay.” Eddie gave him a peck on the cheek before quickly scrambling back to his spot. Surprisingly Steve did not mind the feeling. Which he knew was going to spiral about later, but he successfully shoved it away then, instead focusing on the fact Eddie really believed Steve would be happy if he jumped out a window. And while yes, that probably wouldn’t kill him in this school, Steve knew that was the point he was getting at.
The thought was shaken though when the bottle Emily spun landed on him. Steve turned to face her but she gave him a peck on the cheek. What the fuck? Hadn’t she just said that was less fun? She probably hated him to. He couldn’t remember ever bullying her, but she definitely saw and heard about him. Damn it. Why did he have to be such a dick? Everyone in the room probably hates him. Fuck.
He spun the bottle, before Emily could hit him again. It landed on Eddie, who rolled his eyes. Steve shot the guy a grin and Eddie gave him a skeptical, and probably worried look. Steve slid over to Eddie and kissed him on the lips. He then slid backward and stared at the wide-eyed and completely shocked expression on the boy's face. Steve hoped he no longer thought Steve wanted him dead.
The girl next to him spun the bottle again. Steve honestly stoped paying attention with the thoughts of the girl he doesn’t know getting outed spiraling in his skull, the fact that everyone in the room hated him, and the fact that Eddie thought he wanted him dead all distracted him pretty well. Plus the fact that Eddie had kissed his cheek, and then Steve kissed his lips, and he liked both those things adding to the chaos despite him trying to push them out with the other three. He couldn’t be gay anyway, he liked girls, he knew he liked girls.
“Steve?” Gareth waved a hand in front of his face.
“Huh, what?” He blinked at the boy in front of him.
“It’s your turn. Emily slapped you too, what the hell is wrong?” The kid actually looked concerned. Shit. Steve glanced at everyone else, even Johnathan was looking at him with pity. Fucking damn it.
“Uh, nothing.” Steve lifted his arm before realizing Gareth was in front of the bottle and he couldn’t shrug this off as easily as he’d hoped. “I can’t spin the bottle though with you sitting in front of it.” The boy hesitantly moved back to his spot and Steve spun the bottle. It landed on the girl beside him and he gave her a peck on the cheek and a small smile. She smiled back and then spun the bottle. Steve glanced back at Eddie, he looked just as worried as the rest of them a second ago, and he still did. Wow. Steve didn’t want the pity of any of them, but it did feel a little nice at the same time. He blinked and almost slapped himself. He was not an attention hog anymore and he needed to stop thinking like that.
“Dude, are you sure you’re good?” Gareth. Steve shook his head.
“Um, yeah.”
“Liar.” Johnathan. Fuck. It had to be Johnathan.
“I’m fine.”
“Right. Well I have to kiss you.” Gareth rubbed his neck and Steve looked down at the bottle that was pointed at him.
“Oh.”
“Yeah, I’m gonna kiss your cheek.” Gareth told him, and he moved forward and kissed Steve’s cheek before sliding back into his spot. Martha spun the bottle.
“Are you sure you want to keep playing?” Eddie asked.
“Yeah.” Steve replied.
“You’ve spaced out like three times now.” Eddie still had a worried expression.
“Twice.” Steve argued.
“Three.” Emily crossed her arms. Steve looked down at the bottle, it had landed on Eddie. Eddie pointed to his cheek and Martha gave him a small peck.
“Are you sure you’re alright?” Eddie asked, giving the bottle a spin.
“Yes, I’m fine.” Steve’s voice came out a bit angry. Shit. The bottle landed on him. Double shit.
“Yeah, I can’t do this.” Eddie stood up. “I’m out.” He walked over to the hoard of desks and sat on top of one. Emily sighed.
“Thanks a lot Harrington, couldn't of’ had your little crisis later?” She stood up too and sped over to the wall right next to the door to lean on it.
“I’m not having a crisis, for the last time I’m fine.” Steve really did not mean to sound that angry. Shit, shit, shit. Why did he always have to fuck everything up.
“Right, I space out when I’m fine too.” Martha rolled her eyes before finding a chair to sit in. Steve stood up and went over to the same wall as Eddie but sat a bit further down than when he first got in the room. The girl he still didn’t know the name of followed him and sat on the desk right beside him as Gareth joined Eddie.
“It was kissing him wasn’t it? You didn’t hate it like you thought you should?” She whispered to him. Steve’s eyes went wide and he snapped his head over to face her. “It’s okay. You don’t have any control over it, that’s just the cards you’ve been given.” She continued to whisper.
“I- that’s- I don’t- I’m not gay.” He whispered back, each word getting quieter. The girl nodded, but he had a feeling she didn’t believe him. She did however stop talking.
“I think she is though.” Steve tilted his head toward gum girl, who was now talking to Martha. “I’m pretty sure she blushed when you guys kissed.” He whispered to the girl next to him. “I could be wrong though.”
“Yeah, she also blushed a bit when Gareth kissed her.” The girl whispered back.
“Oh. I didn’t notice that. Sorry.”
“But you did see her blush for me?” The girl asked, with a smile.
“I thought I did.” Steve replied. The girl continued to stare at him with that smile. “What?”
“So, she likes guys, and girls?” Steve blinked. What? That was a thing? “She’s bi?”
“She’s what?”
“Bisexual? She likes both.” Steve’s jaw dropped.
“That’s a thing!?” He yelled. Fuck. Everyone turned to look at him. He felt a blush climb up his neck and into his whole face. Fuck.
“What’s a thing?” Eddie asked.
“Nothing.” Steve found a very interesting scratch on the floor tile and glared at it.
“Right, you're a huge liar.” Eddie’s feet stepped into his view. Shit. “There's nothing bothering you, you're fine, and you totally didn’t just yell right now at any kind of realization.” Steve did not look up. “Okay Harrington, you get on my nerves on a regular basis but this is fucking ridiculous, just vent about your rich people problems, talking about will make you feel better, I promise.” Eddie sat on the floor within Steve’s view, and Steve looked away.
“I’ll pass.”
“Come on Harrington.” Eddie stood back up and leaned into his view again. Steve looked away and Eddie followed his gaze each time. So Steve looked up at the ceiling. Good luck with that. Eddie loudly hopped up on the other desk beside Steve. It drew Steve’s attention before he looked back toward the ceiling. Eddie had perched on the desk like some kind of bird, putting all his weight onto his toes and calves. Steve knew he’d fall over if he tried the same stance. Eddie grabbed the side of Steve’s face and gently moved his head to face him. Okay, that might work. Steve did not look away. In fact, much to his dismay he might have slightly leaned into the touch. Fuck. “What’s wrong?” Eddie’s asked again.
“It’s stupid.” Steve replied, and finally went to move his head. He pulled it out of Eddie’s grip too easily for Eddie to have even been trying to keep it there.
“Urg.” The boy groaned beside him, before dropping out of his bird pose and purposefully falling onto the desk and sitting criss-cross applesauce. Which did again draw Steve’s attention before he looked away. Eddie was definitely going to fall and hurt himself. “It doesn’t matter if it’s stupid, in fact, it’s easier if it’s stupid, stupid things really do just go away once you finally talk about them.” Steve looked back at Eddie.
“What?”
“Have you just, never vented about your problems? Like, to anyone?”
“Uh, well- sort of? I think?” Steve thought about the times he’d call Tommy or Carol to talk about the stuff his parents said or did. But they made sure to laugh about it, and not sound too mad, just sarcastic but happy, like all the shit they had to put up with was completely normal. There might’ve even been a time Steve thought it was completely normal. But then he met Joyce, Mrs. Henderson, Hopper, and Mr. And Mrs. Saintclair. Mike's parents sucked, and Steve wished he could fix that, but he couldn’t. But he did admit to himself that he would prefer for his parents to at least be present and emotionally unavailable than straight up unavailable.
“When?” Eddie asked.
“Last year.” Steve muttered, looking away again. Gareth had inched his way over at that point. But at least Emily, Martha, and Johnathan weren’t playing attention. He might’ve even been exaggerating, he’d already broken it off with Tommy and Carol before this point in the year, so it was about two of three months over a year. He hadn’t even vented to Nancy, he’d call her when he wasn’t doing well and they’d talk about nothing, he’d ask how she was and what her plans were for the week, and stuff like that and she never caught on, which was good because he didn’t want her too, but now he didn’t even have that.
“Yeah, you really need to talk to someone.” Gareth sounded worried, and Steve didn’t even want to see the look on the kids face. “That’s not healthy.”
“What did you do to my room?” Mr. Mundy was back. Steve looked over to his appalled expression. At least he looked more awake from earlier. The girls at the door laughed, and then covered their mouth with mortification. Mr. Mundy then found the bottle on the floor in the middle of the room and shook his head. Steve let out a quite chuckle as well before slapping his hand over his mouth.
“Oh, and I need to go to the bathroom.” Eddie stated.
“Yeah, okay.” Mr. Mundy waved his hand to the door and stepped aside so Eddie could leave. Eddie however grabbed Steve’s wrist, yanked him off the desk, and dragged him out the door with him.
“You can’t fight in the halls during detention.” Mr. Mundy called after them.
“We aren’t.” Eddie replied.
“Or smoke in the bathroom!”
“We aren’t doing that either!”
(Steve, our narrator could not see it but Mr. Mundy shook his head and pointed after the two looking over at the rest of the kids for an explanation. Johnathan, Gareth, Martha, and Robin all shook their heads with amused expressions, having no idea what that was. Emily however smiled at the teacher.
“I think they’re going to go make out.”
“Steve Harrington and Eddie Munson?” Mr. Mundy asked. Emily nodded.
“If you have a problem with that, I will punch you, I don’t care that you’re a teacher.”
“I don’t get paid enough for high school drama and relationships.” Mr. Mundy shook his head, walking back over to his desk.
“Steve’s straight though. He likes girls.” Johnathan argued. Robin and Emily laughed.
“Nah, I think your friend there is Bi.” Emily replied.
“Firstly not my friend, secondly, what is that?”
“When you like both?” Emily answered.
“Thats a thing!?” Johnathan stood up. The girls all laughed.
“Yeah, that’s a thing.” Martha nodded. — Now back to the Steve POV)
Eddie dragged Steve into the bathroom.
“Dude, what the hell-” Steve started yelling.
“I hate you, I really do, but I am incapable of watching anyone suffer, for whatever reason I always have to intervene, so just tell me what’s wrong.”
“I’m fine. I’m not suffering, you don’t need to help me.”
“Oh, fuck that, drop it Harrington, your stupid act isn’t going to get you anywhere, everything your dealing with will bubble over and explode in your face, so talk about it.”
“Okay fine, I’m not having a great day, but that’s all.”
“What’s making the day so bad?”
“Well I woke up from a nightmare this morning, which is stupid, but still sucks, and then I got detention, which I deserved, but still sucks, and then- well- that game.”
“What about the game?”
“I can’t just- did you- nothing.” Steve looked at the floor.
“It’s not nothing.” Eddie crouched down to be in his view and Steve laughed.
“Okay, but I’m going to punch myself in the face for this if you hadn’t already noticed, and I’ll punch you in the face if you're mean about it.” Steve looked back up so Eddie could stand again.
“I probably won’t be, and I’ll have to stop you from punching yourself, kinda part of the not able to watch others suffer thing.” Steve laughed again.
“Right, well, the girl who was next to me, I’m 100% sure she’s a lesbian.” Eddie’s smile dropped. “And I was worried everybody else could see it too, and- well that’s not really something the majority of people are very nice about.” Steve rubbed the back of his neck, and Eddie’s smile slowly reformed.
“You were worried about her safety?” Eddie asked. Steve nodded. “Wow, I- I thought you were homophobic. I was worried the most about you noticing.” That hurt. It was fair, he definitely threw around the word queer a lot early in his junior year. But it still hurt. Steve nodded again. “Anything else?” Eddied asked.
“Uh, yeah.” Steve did not mean to do that. Now was not the best time for honesty, he already did honesty, at least one of his issues was allowed to stay hidden. “I- I mean no, no, that’s everything.” Steve tried to fix it.
“What else?” Eddie asked. Shit. Steve gave him a wide smile,
“Nothing, really, that’s all.”
“Bullshit.” Steve flinched. Fuck. He had to flinch. Eddie’s eyes widened.
“Uh- I- shit.” He looked at the floor again, then quickly back at Eddie before he crouched down again. “Uh, that wasn’t a today problem, that was a couple months ago. I promise. The other today problem was also part of the game.”
“How about you tell me both then?”
“Um,” Steve sighed, “Okay. Uh, to the whole bullshit thing, that’s kinda how Nancy broke up with me, she called us dating bullshit, and just me in general, which hurt, but it hurts even more knowing she’s right, I kinda am bullshit, but I did love her, and that was the farthest thing from bullshit, and can I please stop saying that stupid word now?”
“Yeah, I’m sorry, that must’ve really sucked. But you aren’t bullshit, like as a person.”
“Really? You barely know me and you hate me, but sure, I’m totally not, you know.” Steve shuffled his feet on the floor and his gaze dropped to them before he snapped his eyes back up to Eddie knowing he was just gonna follow them.
“Steve, I- that’s- well- I don’t know if I hate you right now, you actually seem a lot better.” Eddie’s pulled his hair into his face to hide behind it,
“I’m not. I still suck.”
“I’m pretty sure you’re wrong, you don’t want me to jump out a window, you aren’t homophobic, you apparently care about more than yourself, and, uh-”
“For starters, I never once wanted you to jump out a window, or die, or get hurt, or anything like that, ever. Secondly wow, what an accomplishment, I don’t judge people for having crushes on someone who's worth having a crush on, wow. And, I don’t, or not enough anyway.”
“I guess that’s nice to know. And actually, on the planet we live on, that is an accomplishment, so thank you. And thirdly, it is enough, and the fact that you think it’s not kinda proves that, people that don’t care wouldn’t care enough to think it’s not enough.
“Thanks.” Steve shuffled his feet again, rubbed the back of his neck, and brought his eyes back up to Eddie’s face every time they darted away.
“Now what’s the last thing bothering you from today?” Eddie asked with a small smile.
“Oh, that. Yeah, you’re gonna go back to hating me for this one”
“Somehow that fact that you say that makes me doubt it.”
“I um- well I sort of- I liked- I might’ve-” Steve took a deep breath and turned away from Eddie. He might try to follow the gaze but he just couldn’t say it while looking at him. “I liked it.”
“What?” Eddie did indeed move into the gaze. Steve turned away again.
“Kissing you.”
“Oh.” Steve watched Eddie’s nod out of the corner of his eye. He prepared himself to be hit, or at least for Eddie to storm out of the bathroom. But he leaned back into Steve’s view. “Really?” He asked, a small shimmer in his eyes. Steve nodded, trying his hardest not to look away. “Wow.” Eddie stood up straight. A little more out of Steve’s vision, thank god. “Uh,” Eddie kicked the floor with his heel, “Could we kiss again then?” Steve turned back to Eddie, looked him in the eyes, and nodded.