Work Text:
Steve sat on the couch with his laptop, struggling to make sense of the dancing words of the document in front of him as Eddie sat next to him. Steve worked in admissions and was put in charge of reading and editing a few new grants for the next year. The formal language of grants was new to him, and he could feel the throbbing headache that came with reading such small print on the computer.
Even with his attempts to increase the font and lower the brightness, fifty-five pages of print was becoming a little too much for his eyes. Rubbing only made the pain worse and the blue light glasses hadn’t helped enough to warrant wearing them.
His eyes were burning like twin wildfires as he squinted. Giving up, Steve sat back with a groan of annoyance. He’d have to just wake up early to finish it.
“You want me to put in those dry eye drops we got?” Eddie asked.
Steve turned to glance at him.
Eddie wore his usual sweatpants and tee, and the headset for the game he was playing was balanced around his neck. He sat in an easy folded seat with the Switch controller balanced on his knee. His paused game of Mario Kart blinked on their TV.
“Yeah, but I forgot them at my desk.” Steve blinked hard and squeezed his eyes shut before opening them, hoping the tingling pain would subside, but the burning continued.
Eddie closed out of his game and set the controller aside to turn to Steve. “I’ll pick some up tomorrow so there’s some at the house. But c’mere lemme see ‘em?”
Steve scooted closer to Eddie. Slowly but surely, Steve pried his eyes open and winced at the way they seemed to sizzle in protest. He blinked, and tried to keep them open so Eddie could inspect them.
“Shit, Stevie, they’re an angry red,” Eddie sympathized. “Can I?” Eddie reached for the laptop at Steve’s nod and pulled it onto his lap. “You said you’ve got fifty five pages to go through? And this is just one grant?”
Steve tilted his head back against the couch. “Yeah, something like that.”
“I can read it to you,” Eddie suggested, as he scrolled through the document. “Geez, they fit a lot in these. But if you’re able to listen and take notes, I don’t mind reading it.”
Steve shook his head slowly in protest. “Eds, it’s your time off. You should be kicking Dustin’s ass in Mario Kart.”
“Your eyes look like they want to fall out of your skull,” Eddie pressed. “You said you’ve got like, what, another week or so of this?”
“Yeah, meeting’s at the end of next week. And I’ve got three grants to go over.”
Eddie winced, and started reading.
“Eds…” Steve cracked open one red eye. “You really don’t have to.”
“I want to.” Eddie gave Steve’s knee a squeeze.
So Steve nodded and closed his eyes as Eddie began to read.