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The punch doesn’t land. Michael stands frozen before him, arm raised to swing as they both turn towards the shout on instinct.
Eddie watches in slow motion as Steve Harrington sprints down the alley towards them as if summoned from Eddie’s fantasies directly, determination on his face. The world returns to its regular speed as Steve reaches them.
Steve takes hold of Michael’s arm at the same time Eddie feels himself stagger back several feet from where the new altercation is happening. It’s not a conscious decision to put some space between himself and Michael, he’s too busy watching Steve use his momentum to make Michael spin with him, or risk getting his arm broken, to think too much about what his body is doing.
Steve lets go of Michael suddenly, which sends him staggering into the wall of the bar Eddie had exited with him just minutes before.
“Come on!” Steve shouts, suddenly in front of Eddie and grabbing him by the wrist, dragging him down the alley until Eddie gets his feet under him and then they’re both running. Steve takes a right, and even though Eddie’s van is to the left, he follows. He can come back for the van and might actually prefer to. He doesn’t want Michael to see what he drives.
They run a few blocks down before ducking into a different alleyway. It’s not necessary, this much distance and the hiding. Michael wouldn’t give chase. Eddie knew from experience that they rarely do, the men that don’t like hearing no.
“Are you okay?” Steve asks, turning on his heel to assess him for damage. Eddie's shoulder kind of smarts from when Michael shoved him against the wall, there’s a dull ache from his scalp where his hair had been yanked at, and he thinks if he takes off his jacket there will be a mark on his upper arm where Michael grabbed him when Eddie first changed his mind and tried to leave, but physically that’s it. Mentally, though?
Mentally, Steve just rescued him from a man that could be his twin, so that’s got to be telling. Well, twin is a bit of a stretch. There were no moles dotting Michael like constellations, no signature hair swoop (though hair length and color was almost a perfect match), and his butt was far too flat but there’s no way to deny he was a stand in for who Eddie actually wanted. Michael was even a jock, given what little Eddie and he had spoken about before heading outside to smoke together (or Eddie had thought that was what they were going to do).
So, all in all, is Eddie okay?
“Yeah. Yeah, fine,” Eddie lies.
“That guy threw you into the wall.”
The adrenaline is fading, and shame replaces it. How much of what happened did he witness? Why is Steve here? “And I’m fine. Thanks for the assist, but what are you even doing here?”
Steve frowns at him. “I was- I just, just was checking in on you. You weren’t answering the phone and Dustin was-”
“But how are you here!? How long have you been here?” Eddie interrupts, “how did you know where to find me?”
"Wayne told me you were in Indy." Steve takes a step back, puts a little distance between them. “I just drove around until I saw your van.”
Eddie blinks at him. “You drove around Indy, searching for my van. How- what?”
“Yeah! And lucky I did,” Steve says, like the idea of searching all of Indianapolis for one van isn’t insane. “That guy was gonna kick your ass if I hadn’t shown up!”
“He’d of gotten a few good punches in, at most, before I got away,” Eddie waves off Steve’s concern. “Not my first rodeo, Stevie.”
“This happens often? Why do you keep coming back!?”
“Why does the faggot keep going to gay bars? Gee, I don’t think we’ll ever know, Steve,” Eddie sneers, defensive for no reason. He hates that he does this. That he lashes out at people just concerned for his safety. Steve just threw a guy into a wall for daring to try and punch him, why can’t he just be grateful?
Steve scowls, “why’re you being a dick to me? What the fuck did I do?”
Eddie lets out a sigh, kicking at imaginary rock. “Nothing you don’t usually do.”
Steve throws up his hands and marches in a circle, apparently too frustrated for words and Eddie hates how smitten it makes him. It’s adorable. Steve’s anger is cute, and that’s the problem. That’s why he was at that bar, a gay bar, in the first place. To wallow in his unrequited love and maybe get off with a stranger he could pretend was Steve if he squinted and it was dark.
And now the man he is hopelessly in love with has come and saved him, once again; this time from a man who wanted something Eddie wasn’t going to give in an alleyway at 3:30 in the afternoon, who didn’t take “no” well, and everything had escalated from there.
“What do you want me to say, Steve? Thank you for protecting me? Thank you for always managing to show up exactly when I need you? If so, thank you!”
“Why does it bother you that I care if you’re safe or not!”
“Because it’s you!” Eddie screams.
Steve’s eyes widen and his lips part in shock, a look that morphs into hurt. “I… see. I- let me walk you back to your van and I’ll get outta your hair.”
Eddie hates that he’s hurt Steve, because he’s an asshole that lashes out. He knows that whatever conclusion Steve’s come to in his mind is wrong. He knows that Steve is blaming himself, trying to find out where he went wrong but he didn’t. Eddie did.
“Not yet. Please. If Michael’s still there I don’t want him to see what car I get into. Y'know. Just in case.” Eddie doesn’t say it to get sympathy points, but he watches as Steve softens anyway.
“Yeah. Yeah, of course.”
They wait in silence, and Eddie hates how tense it feels. But he made this bed.
They end up on opposite sides of the alley as they wait. It’s been about fifteen, twenty minutes of silence. Steve leans back against the wall, arms crossed, and he switches from staring at one end of the alley to the other. He doesn’t expect the guy who attacked Eddie to just pop up but… Well, better safe than not.
Eddie sits across from him, one knee propped up, the other stretched in front of him. He hasn’t looked up from his lap since he sat down.
Steve should be mad. Eddie’s being a dick for no reason. He’s not mad, though. He’s… hurt.
He’s always sort of suspected he was the problem. Eddie’s been hot and cold with him since they saved the world together. He originally thought they were friends, and that Eddie’s distance and anger would creep in when Steve was coming on too strong.
And, like, not for nothing, but Steve knows he attractive. He’s caught Eddie looking, and that guy back in alley- Steve can’t deny they look similar. If that’s the type of guy trying to beat up Eddie in back alleyways, then-
Steve shakes the thought from his head. That was probably just a coincidence.
“I think it’s been long enough,” Eddie says, though he makes no move to stand up.
Steve pushes off the wall. He heads straight for Eddie, to offer him a hand up. Getting up is harder than getting down some days, he knows, with the scars. Eddie looks surprised, but he takes Steve’s hand.
They stand for a moment, before Steve steps back, turns away. He gets about five steps away.
“Wait, Steve,” Eddie says. And Steve stops. “I-I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have said- any of that.”
“Apology accepted,” Steve says. Even though it’s not true right now, he knows it will be. He starts to turn around to face Eddie but-
“Stop! Don’t- can you please not turn around? I-I got something I need to say, but I don’t think I can do it to your face, man.”
“What? Why?” he asks but stays put.
“ ‘Cause I- Can you just listen?”
Steve sighs, putting his hands on his hips and dropping his head down but he doesn’t move.
There’s a moment of pause, probably where Eddie’s expecting verbal confirmation, but Steve stays silent. “I-I can be a dick, and I get pretty defensive-”
Steve snorts at that because, yeah. Yeah, he does.
“-when, when I’m scared. And man, you fucking terrify me.”
He sucks in a sharp breath. Maybe he wasn’t too far off with his earlier thoughts of himself and that guy.
“And now you- you saw Michael. And, and maybe you saw enough to… see a resemblance?”
“... Yeah.”
“So, uh, I am- I’m fucking terrified but we both know we can’t- I can’t keep doing this. It’s not fair to you, that I take things out on you. Especially around the things I feel. So, I’m sorry.”
“Why are you sorry? I’m the one who- who did something to make you scared,” Steve is confused. “I’m- I look like the guy who attacked you. I get it.”
“Steve,” Eddie sounds different. “I- I mean, yeah, he was going to throw a punch but that’s not- we went into that alley together.”
Well, now Steve does whip around because, “What? Like… willingly?”
Eddie cringes but doesn’t look away. “Yeah.”
Furrowing his brow, Steve says, “why? I don’t- if you knew he was going to hit you, why’d you go?”
Eddie laughs, but it’s humorless. “He wasn’t going to hit me, not at first. We were going to share a cigarette. Or, like, I thought we left for a smoke break; we’d been chatting it up at the bar and I wanted to not have to strain to hear him, but Michael thought that was me using 'have a smoke’ as an innuendo. He didn’t turn into a dick until I told him I wasn’t going to blow him in broad daylight.”
“Oh!” Steve is shocked, and given the confused look on Eddie’s face now, he thinks his own face shows shocked confusion.
“What did- did you think Michael was just there to beat me up?” Eddie asks.
“Yeah! What else was I supposed to think!?” Steve doesn’t- what? If Eddie… “So, you were, like, attracted to him?”
Eddie doesn’t say anything. He looks almost as wired as he did the night they found him in the boat house, terrified and running on adrenaline alone, but he manages to give Steve a nod of confirmation.
“So, you’re attracted to guys that… look like me?” Steve says out loud, trying to piece the puzzle together. Eddie is turning red, but he nods another confirmation. “But then why aren’t….” he trails off, remembering the shout that really started this conversation.
’Because it’s you.’
It won’t matter what Steve looks like, he realizes. Eddie just isn’t attracted to him. In general, as a whole, as a person.
“Oh,” Steve says again, unsure of what else to say. “I- I get it. I wouldn’t- I wouldn’t want me either, but, uh, thanks for like, saying it plainly. Do- Can I go, now? Or do you- I’ll walk you to your van if you’re still worried about Mitchell.”
“Michael,” Eddie corrects while just staring wide-eyed for a moment before he shakes his head and exclaims, “What? What are- What are you talking about!?”
“I- You said the problem was me!” Steve says back, trying not to raise his own voice back. “What do you mean what am I talking about!”
“What do you think this is about!?”
“That you hate me! And you’ve been trying to pretend you don’t! Probably for Dustin’s sake or something. But you don’t have to! You don’t have to force yourself to hang out with me.”
Seems like Eddie wasn’t expecting Steve to say that, if the dropped jaw look of disbelief on his face is anything to go by.
“So, can we go now? Are we- is this done?” Steve says, bitchy in his humiliation.
“Steve. Steve, I don’t hate you! How did- what have-” Eddie cuts himself off with a quiet 'fuck’ as he looks down. Steve watches as Eddie seems to steel himself against something before he looks back up and says. “Dude, I’m like, in love with you. And I was trying so hard to hide it but I... I guess I did that. A bit too well if that’s your conclusion.”
Steve doesn’t even know how to process that. That’s not- how can that be- but Eddie said it. He looks like he might have a heart attack at any moment now, but he said it. “What?”
“Don’t make me say it again, man.”
“No, no I think I need you to. Because there have been so many times when I thought we were flirting, and it might go somewhere but then you- you’d suddenly be a dick again. I thought it was because I was making you uncomfortable with my flirting.”
“You were flirting with me!?” Eddie screeches.
“Yes! For months! I thought you knew.”
“No! If I fucking knew I wouldn’t be driving to Indy when I can afford to, trying to find some knock-off Steve Harrington to try and get my rocks off with!”
They both just stare at each other for a moment before Steve feels the laughter building in him, and it comes out as a high-pitched giggle that builds into full on laughter. It brings tears to his eyes, and he hears Eddie’s laugh joins his after a moment. The ridiculousness of the situation and their inability to communicate catching up with them.
“This mean you’ll quit being a dick to me all the time?” Steve asks, once the laughter has died down.
“Well, I’m kinda a dick in general, so no,” Eddie says, offering a small smile. “So, are we… okay?”
Steve pretends to think on it before saying, “yeah. We’ll be okay. But we should get back to Hawkins. And, uh, maybe you wanna come over and we can talk more? Figure this out?”
Eddie’s small smile becomes blinding. “I’m following you home, Harrington. Best of luck getting rid of me now.”
Steve smiles back and closes the distance between them to give Eddie a quick, teasing kiss. Eddie leans back in, but Steve stops him with a hand to his chest. “No. More talking first. I-I’ve started too many relationships by skipping that bit and, uh, they never last. So, home?”
Eddie grins. “Yeah. Home.”