Archive of Our Own ^beta

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He finds it under the couch.  Eddie’s not entirely sure how it got there, but he pulls it out and shakes it off, folding it and placing it on the counter, next to his binder of Hellfire notes (and song lyrics, and to-do lists, and cool concepts he needs to work on) so that he can’t forget it when he leaves tomorrow.  It’s a beautiful coat, very obviously well-made and expensive, durable and sturdy, but also soft. Eddie’s also not entirely sure how Steve manages to keep losing/forgetting/leaving it at Eddie’s, but he does.

What’s even weirder is that Eddie can’t remember Steve ever exactly wearing the coat, as often as it ends up here. Which in of itself is a shame, cus the coat would look so good on him, he’s certain, just the right rich, earthy brown, Eddie’s certain it’d suit his eyes so well, really deepen that honey colour, and it’d fit his shoulders too, and– okay, maybe he’s getting a bit off track here. 

The point being, Steve keeps forgetting a coat he never wears at Eddie’s place, and it’s definitely too nice to be left here. 

It is possible, Eddie muses, that Steve just brings it along in case it gets cold, which is exactly the sort of behaviour all their friends would call  him a dad for, but it is the sort of thing he would do. The only place Eddie has seen it, actually on Steve, was draped over his arm, or his shoulders, as he slips inside the trailer. 

But that’s not right either, Steve does bring extra clothing and snacks and sunscreen along, but generally that’s for everyone else. Not himself. He always seems a little lost whenever Eddie asks him if he’s had any water or food yet, or wants an extra blanket or something.

To sum it up, Steve’s coat is a bit of a puzzle. 

And Eddie’s confused (although, that’s pretty par for him), but he also likes puzzles. 

The first time he’d found it, he hadn’t really thought much of it at all. He and Steve had been lounging in his room, Steve folding and refolding the covers of the bed, ‘cus he gets all twitchy sometimes when it doesn’t sit right, and Eddie on the floor, notebook in hand, sketching out some ideas for his next session. It had been a really nice afternoon that turned into a really nice evening, before Steve had to go. They were just hanging out, doing nothing in particular, but doing it together. There weren’t many people Eddie could be like this with; he was all for being yourself, and not conforming to fit what others wanted you to be, but usually when he was around others, he had to be funny, or dramatic or entertainment of some sort.

Which! He was all those things, and enjoyed doing that, but there weren’t that many people that he didn’t have to do that for, that he was comfortable enough to just chill and not have to be performing. 

So naturally, Steve was one of those people. And Steve had, that evening, been lovely and sweet and sleepy and charming and had made hot chocolate for them both and Eddie had dragged out the end of the evening so that Steve wouldn’t go so soon (he did go so soon, but that wasn’t because it didn’t work, it’s just cus anytime Steve leaves is too soon) and eventually, Steve looked outside and sighed, and they both sort of drifted towards the door. 

Steve had pulled on his shoes and ran his hands through his hair and all Eddie could think about was kissing him goodnight, about convincing him to stay, about waking up too dang early tomorrow to go bug him at his morning shift.  

And then Steve had left and Eddie had gone back to his room and flopped on his bed, (but not on the side Steve had been on so that it would stay folded for a little longer and remind Eddie that he’d been here) and sighed about Steve being gone. He was just trying to reach over the spot to grab his book (without messing it up) when he saw a corner of something golden-brown peeking out from behind his pillows. 

His hand inched towards it. Something golden-brown and soft looking. His finger caught the edge of it. Something golden brown and it was soft and definitely good quality, and hidden behind the pillows of his bed. He gave up on messing up the bed and leant over properly to pull it out. 

 Now, is the coat the weirdest thing he could have found? Objectively, no. It's not. 

 It was obviously Steve’s (even if he hadn’t just been there Eddie would have thought so because it somehow smelt like him – all cinnamony and salty and just the slightest bit like hairspray – and Yes. Eddie knows he’s pathetic, okay. Anyways, the coat was perfectly Steve’s and Steve was perfect and he had somehow managed to leave a coat Eddie had never seen in Eddie’s bed. 

And Eddie definitely didn’t want to keep it.   

Now, a coat of that quality certainly should not be left in his trailer for long, so of course he has to give it back. So he does. And then it shows up again, on Eddie’s desk. And again, in the hall, the bathroom, his closet (and wasn’t that somethi–), and the hook on the wall next to Uncle Wayne’s hats. 

And now under the couch.

Bizarrely.

If he saw a freakin point to it, he might say it was on purpose, but like. Other than confusing the shit outta him? If this is some psychological-warfare ass prank on him, it’s certainly working. 

It is possible Steve’s just extremely unlucky. Like, maybe there’s some kinda minor curse on him that makes his life generally more inconvenient or something. (Which yes, is a ridiculous theory, but this whole thing’s beginning to make Eddie feel ridiculous. And also, weirder shit’s happened to him, so…)

The most likely thing though, is that Steve is just forgetting it. His head’s had enough trauma that sometimes he does forget things, and then always feels bad for it, which is why the first few times he forgot his coat, Eddie didn’t say anything. He just hung it up next to the door the next time he popped by Steve’s house, or left it on Steve's chair in his room, or, on one more memorable occasion, inside Steve’s car (while neither Steve nor his keys were in it). 

Eventually though, he did end up caving and just bringing it to Family Video with him, reminding Steve that he shouldn’t be leaving his coat just anywhere, cus what happens when he gets cold?? And Steve had given him a bit of a funny look, but had said Thanks, Eddie, I’ll try to be more careful, and if the only thing Eddie could ever hear again was Steve saying his name, he wouldn’t even be mad about it, metal be damned. Which, off track again. So. 

Anyways, the beautiful coat is all folded up and ready to be brought back to its rightful owner and. 

Okay, Eddie knows how this is gonna sound, alright? The stupidest, weirdest thing about this is that Eddie doesn’t want to give the coat back. Which, he knows, he freakin knows alright, that it’s creep behaviour, but just.

Anytime he he has to return the coat it takes him three times as long to get out of the house that day (which, yeah, he does take a while, but still), and until the coat is back in Steve’s possession or property or somethin, he feels a vaguely possessive of something that isn’t even his and he just wants to keep it and hoard it and hide it away in his house and call it ‘precious’ like he’s turning into fuckin gollum. 

Which. Actually, maybe he should write this down. That’d be a fun little artifact for the brats to find in his campaign, a coat that appears to be of wonderful quality and maybe protective abilities, but slowly drives the wearer mad, or some shit.

Anyways, he’s gonna figure out the puzzle one way or another, eventually. (Eddie kinda feels like this is the point where he makes a joke about being able to hide but not run, but, meh.)

It’s enough to know that Steve hasn’t lost his coat anywhere bad yet, and if it always ends up in his care, if it chooses Eddie to hide with, then he’ll gladly keep it safe for Steve whenever he does forget it.  

Even if it does sorta drive him crazy.

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See, the thing is. Steve didn’t think it’d be this hard to get it to work. 

In theory, all he had to do was leave his pelt with someone, and they would have him. 

Now, Steve’s not a full selkie, so he can go a bit without being in possession of his coat, it takes a bit for any effects to kick in, (which, actually, he’s not entirely sure what the side effects actually will be, his mom didn’t really like to talk about it it much,) but still, this should work.

And yes, he is kinda reverse engineering this thing, because usually what happens is that someone takes a Selkie’s coat and the Selkie is forced to marry them, but, surely, if it works with someone taking it, it should work with just giving it too, right? The other person in both situations ends up in possession of the pelt, so it seems like it’d work.

Of course, for that to actually come into effect, the possessor of the pelt needs to have it for more than 36 hours, apparently (or longer maybe, that’s about as long as he’s left it with someone else).

Anyways, Steve definitely thought that it’d be easier than this, and that it’d work and he’s sure Eddie feels the same way, and sometimes he wishes that Eddie wasn’t quite such a gentleman, and Steve makes the mistake of saying so to Robin.

“...I thought you liked that he was such a gentleman” Robin responds dryly, tilting her head to give him a particularly judgy side-eye. (Which, hey, that’s his move that he taught her. Talk about betrayal.) She adjusts her little name tag pin, struggling to straighten it for a moment before sighing and shuffling over to Steve. 

 He fixes it for her automatically and hands her another stack of tapes to get put back on the floor. 

“It’s just, I didn’t think it’d take so long, you know? I’m like, 85 percent sure he likes me, and anyways, I’m pretty sure he’s supposed to want my pelt.” He huffs slightly, dropping his head into his hand on the counter. “I just don’t get why it’s not working.”

Robin gives him another look. 

“Have you always been this dramatic? I’ve told you a hundred times, just ask him out like a normal person.” 

Which. Is fair, he supposes, but he’s not going to tell her that. 

“Gosh, can you blame a guy for wanting to feel pursued every once in a while? And besides, it’s not that simple. ” 

This time the look Steve gets is empathetic.

“I know.” She scuttles back to the counter to poke him between his eyes. “Now, are you gonna give me a hand, or sit over here by yourself sighing?” 

He looks at her finger and ends up cross-eyed, pouting a bit to make her laugh. She does, dragging him over with her to organize the kids section.

“Oh, I get by with a little help from my friends,” She sings, passing him a copy of The Secret NIMH to put on the shelf as they go, shimming her shoulders slightly. 

Later that night, as he’s getting ready for bed, he looks at the pelt draped over his desk. 

Eddie had brought it back to him yesterday, nagging at him again to be careful and that he’ll catch a cold if he keeps leaving his coat everywhere. At least now Eddie’s giving the coat back to him directly. For a while Steve’s coat would just show up again in his house, or his car once? For some reason? Anyways, for while Steve was concerned that a) he kept thinking he’d hid the coat but hadn’t and really was losing it, or b) that his pelt needed to be taken or else it would just kinda… ‘magic’ itself back to Steve, maybe??  Which, he knows doesn’t really make sense, but Steve technically a magic being, ok. It could happen.  (Robin laughed herself silly when she heard this theory. Steve doesn’t know how this works! Also, he’s seen magic monsters come out of walls. Who’s to say it’s impossible, hmm?).

Anyways, now that Eddie’s finally giving it back directly to him, like a civilised person, Steve’s not sure what to do about it. Steve wanders over to his bathroom and grabs his toothbrush. He’s been doing pretty well at hiding it, he thought, but maybe he needs to up his game? Or..

 Maybe it’s that Steve always knows where the coat is cus he’s the one hiding it. The few times his mom talked about it, and from what he’s been able to find in the library, Selkie’s pelts are always taken ( in someone else’s possession) and they are always hidden somewhere. Now, Steve’s been the one hiding his coat, but the Selkie’s in the stories never know where their pelts are, ( pelt location unknown) because their lover/husband/kidnapper– which, yeah, Selkie-human relationships have been kinda fucked up historically sometimes, but like. Steve can’t help that. What’s he supposed to do? Not find a mate?– anyways, because their partner hides it ( someone else hides it). Obviously, this isn’t working cus Steve knows where his coat is. 

So, all he has to do is have Robin hide the coat! 

If he gives Robin the coat and she hides it at Eddie’s, it’ll be, a) in someone else’s possession, b) his pelt location will be unknown, c) someone else will have hidden it. 

It’s perfect.

Foolproof, even. 

All he has to do is convince Robin to hide it for him! Which, now that he’s thinking about it, will probably be the hardest part of this plan. But still! Steve spits purposely in the sink, rinses off his toothbrush and wipes his mouth on the back of his hand. 

 He’s got a pretty good feeling about this plan.

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They’re making pancakes for lunch when he asks her. 

“Steve. Steve. Tell me you’re not serious.” Robin’s eyebrows are raised, and her mouth’s starting to curl up at one side. “” You want me to hide your coat ?”

“Robin, come on, it makes sense! If I know where it is, it won’t work. Somebody else has to hide it. It’s basic logic.” Steve whines, feeling his defence is futile. “It’s not even that hard, Rob, I just need you– would you stop laughing?” Robin’s shoulders are shaking and she’s got a hand covering her mouth. 

“I’m not, I’m not, go on with your logic.” Her voice wobbles when she replies, her eyes mirthful. Steve is not impressed. 

“Dude. I can see you not laughing.” He crosses his arms over his chest and gives her a look. “See if I make you pancakes again.” For some reason, this breaks her. As Robin’s dying of laughter, he lets the pancake in the pan stay a bit too long on one side. He might have been lying about not making her pancakes, but some of hers might be a little over done for a bit. 

Steve glances over at Robin again. She’s clearly trying to calm down, but anytime she looks at him, she starts up again. He flips the pancake. Rob takes until he’s plating up (3 of hers are over cooked, take that ) to calm down. Maybe he should have just asked Max to do it. No one apart from Robin knows what he is, but Max would do and not ask too many questions. If he paid her.  

“I’m just, I’m sorry, you just? Why??” She takes the plate from him, drowning her pancakes in syrup.

“It makes sense, ok. My pelt needs it to be in someone else’s possession, hidden somewhere and I can’t know where it is.” 

“I guess, but I’m not sure it’ll make that much of a difference.” She takes a bite and scrunches her nose slightly. “But I’ll do it.” She prods her pancake with a fork then flips it over.  “Dude, did you burn them?” She pokes it again suspiciously. 

Steve shrugs. “Mine taste fine.”  Robin turns her gaze on him, not fooled in the slightest, but just dumps more syrup on. 

“Anyways, yes, I’ll do it. I’m planning on seeing him today anyways, got some sorta film thing he wanted to show me.” She turns her attention back to her swamped pancakes, apparently happy enough with her surplus of syrup.  “Although, how exactly do you want me to sneak in your pelt?  Could I just shove it in my backpack?”

Steve considers this. He’s never really hidden it before because most people hardly seem to notice his coat if he’s carrying it anywhere, but Eddie’s always been able to find it when it’s left at his trailer, and Robin always sees it, especially if it’s on something else, like his desk. Granted, with Robin he’s pretty sure she can see it better because she knows. Still, it’s possible it’s more visible when other people have it then too. 

“That should work. Just try not to rumple it too much.”  

Robin grins at him. 

“Haughty, haughty” But he knows she’ll still take care of it. 

The coat’s back. 

He found it neatly rolled up and under his bed, in the back corner.  But that’s not the weird part, because finding this jacket has somehow become the norm. Oh no, that’d be too simple. 

Steve hadn’t been here. At all. Not since Eddie returned it last.  Not to mention, he’s been home practically the whole time.  This should be impossible. Like seriously, is the coat haunting him or something? 

It’s 2am. He returned the coat yesterday. Well, technically the day before, but still. He’s been up late working on a campaign, hit a bit of a road block, and got that urge to clean up a bit, the ones you only get when you don’t want to do something else. Usually, that something else is homework, not DnD, but beggars can’t be choosers, and at least his room is a bit cleaner. 

He’d been pulling stuff out from under his bed, (which yikes, actually, when was the last time he had done that?) and found the lovely coat getting grimy under there.  

Okay, Eddie’s clearly been taking this issue too lightly. He grabs one of his notebooks and finds a blank page, and starts a little list.

Observation 1, it’s rolled up neatly.

Observation 2, it was hidden far under his bed

Observation 3, he’s been in his trailer almost the whole time 

Observation 4, he hasn’t seen Steve today

According to observations 1 and 2, it couldn’t possibly be an accident; that was purposefully planted. Up until now, the most plausible situation was Steve forgetting it, but he’s been letting that excuse slide for too long. This was on purpose. However. This leads to the newest problem. 

How the fuck did the coat get in his room this time? Steve’s pretty incredible, but Eddie’s pretty sure he can’t magically make coats randomly appear wherever he pleases. There’s no way Steve stopped by sometime without Eddie noticing, and the only people that have been in the trailer were Wayne, Dustin and Robin. Which, hold on.  Eddie scribbles a little ‘Suspects’ list next to the first one, with Steve at the top.  Wayne’s obviously not connected, and Robin hadn’t gone in his room cus they were using the TV in the living room, so that leaves Dustin. 

It appears that Eddie needs to pay the little butthead a visit. 

(Although, he will wait until it’s a reasonable time actually, and shit he needs to go to bed.)

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Robin rolls over on the carpet. There’s just something about floor time with Steve that’s comfy and safe, that takes off the edge of her anxiety and quiets her brain. They don’t have a shift till later today, so they’re chilling in her room. Steve’s on his back, staring up at the ceiling. Robin wonders if he wants to change the placement of her glow-in-the-dark stars again. She imagines he’s blinking up at the ceiling now, soft and comfy and safe like she is, like he hardly ever is. 

She closes her eyes. Steve hums out a sigh, and she can see his expression beneath her eyelids. Eyes a little spacy, lids droopy, face pink, an almost there smile. Robin hums a little back, a little question. She hears a little rustling, and knows Steve’s turned his head towards her. She opens her eyes to look back at him. He blinks at her. 

“Did you manage to hide it okay?”

“Of course I did, Stevie. Easy-peasy. And he probably won’t find it for ages, considering his general lack of tidiness.” It wasn’t exactly easy-peasy lemon squeezy, eevy-ivy over,  considering how many cokes she had to give him to make him go pee and let her hide it without him seeing her, but it wasn’t really that hard either. Slipping it under his bed was maybe a bit of an obvious choice, but also, Eddie isn’t really the kind of person to sweep his floor every night. That is to say, it should be a while before he finds it. 

Steve’s eyes-lids are half-closed again.

“Mmmh. Thanks.”  

Robin rolls over towards him, misjudging how far apart they are, and crashes into him. She scoots back a bit and jabs him in the side. 

“No problem.” Steve catches her hand, traps it against his ribs. He likes doing that, keeping people close. She doesn’t mind. “What happens if this works?” 

“I’m not sure. I’ll just be his.”  And this is the part that always loses Robin. Like, even without looking at the moral implications of potentially ‘owning’ somebody else, what does it mean in practice? Robin’s pretty sure (well, ok, she hopes really hard) that the coat is’t actually Steve’s free will or anything, because no matter how nice Eddie is, it’d still be really weird if he could control Steve.  

“Are you going to tell him? Cus, I mean, you’re gonna have to eventually, I think, so maybe it’d be best to, you know, just get it over with sooner, and tell him about it”

Steve sighs again. This argument is a bit old, but the point is still important. 

“I don’t know Rob. It’s so weird.”  Robin yanks their joined hands closer to her.

“Steve.  Dingus. You know Eddie. He likes all kinds of weird things, and I’m pretty sure you’re like his favourite weird thing.”  Steve rolls his eyes.

“Fuck off, I’m definitely not his favourite weird thing.  Did you know that there are Swedish metal bands?” 

Robin did not know this, which, what the fuck, Eddie. Robin was the language person, she loved music and different sounds and words and seriously, why was she hearing about this second hand? Also, Swedish? Hello? Sweden’s gotta be her favourite Scandinavian country. It’s cute that he’s telling Steve about this, but she would also like more info. That being said,

“I’m pretty sure you rank a bit higher than Swedish metal bands, Stevie. Seriously, he’s clearly nuts about you. Honestly, he’d probably be into it.” She sits up as she says this, and wiggles her eyebrows at him. Steve shoves her.

“I don’t know, Rob, I mean, I hardly even know how any of this works myself, and I have no idea how to tell him. Like, Surprise, Eddie, I’m secretly a seal sometimes? “ Steve sits up too, pulling his legs into criss-cross applesauce. 

Robin’s not gonna push today. She knows Steve knows what she thinks, and he knows she knows what he thinks, and there’s no point trying to make him think what she thinks cause she won’t think what he thinks and they’re both equally stubborn. 

 Besides, Robin wants to win the long game, and that won’t happen if they’re arguing about it needlessly.

“I don’t know, dingus. Maybe you should find a way that’s not so sealy.” The look she gets for that one is beautiful. 

“Really, Rob?” 

She pulls the bit out a little longer.

“Get it? Silly, sealy? Cus, you know, you’re a–”  Steve tackles her, and they scuffle around on her floor, squawking like children.  They’re still rough housing when the door opens.

“Is everything okay in here?” They both freeze, like stupid little kids getting caught, then turn to look at her mom. She gives them a look like she’s not sure what’s going on, because as physically close as they are, they certainly aren’t doing anything romantic. 

Steve breaks the ice, like he always does, and untangles himself from her.

“Hi Mrs.Buckley. How’s the pottery going?” As much as she admires Steve’s people abilities, she knows that her mom could talk about her projects forever, which is not really what she wants. Although, it does make a pretty decent distraction, which was probably why he said it. 

Luckily, (or unluckily? Maybe?) her mom seems thrown off enough by the question that she doesn’t give her usual long answer.

“It’s going well, thank you. I’m just waiting on a friend to send me some more paint. Do either of you want a snack?” She gives them another befuddled look, which is sort of fair. Robin didn’t really have any friends she was this close with as a kid, much less one that she’d wrestle with. 

“I made some cookies.”

“Thank you for the offer, Mrs.Buckley, but I’m okay.” Steve smiles at her. Charming bastard.

“Okay then, have fun I guess.” Her mom slips out of her room, probably going back to her project.

Steve looks at her and grins. She can't help it, she grins back. It’s stupid, so she giggles, then he giggles, and then they’re both giggling and shushing each other.  Robin finds it kinda funny that she acts way more childish now than she ever did as a kid, but maybe she’ll blame Steve. She gives him one last shove before lying back down. 

As much as she ribs Steve about it, Eddie is a pretty good guy, and he’d be good for Steve. Actually, that’s probably why Steve wants Eddie to have his pelt. As far as Robin’s been able to figure out, in good Selkie relationships, especially with humans, the Selkies are taken care of. So, subconsciously, Steve probably wants to be taken care of too, and Eddie would definitely do that. However, Steve is kinda touchy about being helped or looked after, (even though he’s such a mother hen) and bringing this up now probably won’t earn her any brownie points, (and she really doesn’t want Steve to burn dessert). So, she retreats to a safer topic.

“So, the next important thing is, are you going to take his name, or is he going to take yours?” 

“Rob- in!” 

Robin grins, Steve’s so easy to get riled up. In any case, he and Eddie will figure it out at some point, eventually. 

Chapter Text

Eddie shuts the blinds most of the way, and cranks the AC. He leaves the windows open too; the autumn air’s cool enough to bring down the temperature. He turns on the little corner lamp, backs up a bit to consider it, then moves it closer in. He walks around the table and makes sure that the wobbly chair is on the opposite side. 

Now, would some creepy music be too cheesy, or would it add atmosphere? Hmm. Too cheesy, probably. He checks the time. 12:47. Good, Dustin should be here soon. Eddie grabs his notebook and sits down facing the door, light behind him, wobbly chair in front of him. Steve’s  busy at work –probably stretching out the shoulders of that green vest with those stupid strong arms of his, which, yum – and Eddie wanted to set the scene, so Dustin had to bike today. 

There’s a knock on the door. Showtime. 

“Eddie?” Predictably, Dustin lets himself in, only to see Eddie, awaiting his confession. 

“So,” he drawls, “It is down to you, and it is down to me.” 

Dustin steps into the trailer. At Eddie’s gesture, he has a seat.

“Eddie, what? What’s happening? Is that- are you quoting the Princess Bride right now?”

“I have important matters to discuss with you, Henderson.” Eddie places his DnD manual on the table and shoves it toward him. “Do you swear to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth so help you the deities?”

Dustin places his hand on the book but protests anyway, the shithead.

“Eddie, what is going on right now, are you–”

“Do you swear?” Eddie stands up, leaning over the short table, aiming to loom over him. Somehow saving his ass from those stupid bats had caused Dustin to become even more of a snarky little shit, which means Eddie needs to do double the work to get the same effect he would have gotten prior to Spring Break 1986 (which, Eddie’s not really sure of the math on this; you’d think they’d respect him more, but. Apparently not.). 

Dustin glups. 

Bingo.  

“Alright fine, Fine, I’ll swear.” His voices pitches up slightly, and Eddie knows he’s got him. “I’ll tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth so help me the deities.”

“And on your mother.”

“And on my mother.” Dustin passes the book back to him, and shifts uncomfortably in his chair. Good, good.  “Now, will you tell me what the hell’s going on?” 

Eddie sits back down, and brings out the coat. 

“This.”  

Dustin looks at the coat and then back at him, somehow both uncertain and unimpressed. 

“This?”

“This.” Eddie pushes the coat across the table.

“Now, describe your whereabouts on November 14th, 1986.”

“Dude, you know where I was. Here, with you.” Dustin gives him a look again. “Is this about you trying to convince me you don’t have a girlfriend again? Cus you hung out with me on a Friday? Because I know for a fact that Robin was here after I was.”

And shit, he’s losing him. Once Dustin gets going there’s very little that can make actually listen. Alas, Eddie must push on (but seriously, a girlfriend? He thinks Eddie wants a girlfriend when he knows Steve, the Just and Beautiful, exists? ).

“So then, on Friday November 14th, 1986, at the Munson trailer, did you or did you not have this coat on you with the intention of hiding it?”

Dustin looks incredulously at him, crossing his arms over his chest, and fuck, Eddie melts a little, cus that has Steve written all over it, and – No! Now’s not the time to think about Steve and kids and the future…and Bad! Bad Eddie! Focus!  Dustin leans back in his chair a little, and Eddie knows what’s coming. 

“What? No. No. Why on earth would I be sneaking a coat into your trailer to hide it?” Dustin starts to wave his hands around, gesturing wildly. “Why the hell would I do that? How the hell would I do that? What the fuck would I get out of doing that? In fact, why would anybody do that? Are you sure you didn’t just buy the coat and then forget about it?”

Now Eddie’s unimpressed. 

“Does it really look like something I’d buy, Henderson?” Because sure, it is a lovely coat, and would suit Steve perfectly, but it is decidedly not Eddie’s style. (And sure, maybe Eddie has done that sort of thing before, but not to Dustin’s knowledge). 

Dustin at least has the decency to look sheepish.

“Okay, fine. But why’d you think I brought it?”

“So you didn’t bring it? You swear?”

“Yes, I swear. On my mother and the deities and even on Steve.”

Eddie pauses. 

“On Steve?”

Dustin rolls his eyes. 

“Yes, on Steve.”

Aha.

“ I never brought up Steve. Why’d you bring up Steve if you’re not hiding his coat?”

Dustin looks at him as if his Goddamned mind has started to leak out his ears. 

“You think. That I. Am hiding Steve’s coat at your trailer.” He says it with that annoying know-it-all tone of his, and Eddie needs to reconsider. Dustin Henderson is good at many things, but lying is not one of those things. So either he miraculously got better at it in the 24 hours since he saw him last, or he’s telling the truth. Which means there’s only one answer left. Once you eliminate the impossible, whatever remains, no matter how improbable, must be the truth.

Steve’s coat is magic. 

Chapter Text

Henderson’s still blabbing on his little tirade, something about the ridiculousness of Eddie’s suggestion and what on Earth Steve has to do with this, but Eddie’s long since tuned him out. 

Steve’s coat is magical. It has to be. How else could it be turning up randomly in his house, especially since half the time he doesn’t see it with Steve ? Why Steve has made his coat keep showing up at Eddie’s house is beyond him, but Eddie’s not sure if that matters in light of this news. Steve’s coat is magic. Wait, Steve might be magic. Maybe Steve’s like a wizard, or a sorcerer, or a witch even. Beautiful, ethereal Steve Harrington, of course he could be magic. Eddie wonders if that’s what makes him so irresistible. And fuck, it definitely matters that Steve is leaving his coat here. 

Eddie gets up from the table and starts pacing.

“...Hey Eddie?” Eddie turns down the background noise and focuses on the task at hand. If he’s interested enough, he has no trouble getting lost in his work. 

 Now, what kind of magical being is Steve? Or perhaps it is just the coat that’s magical… but still. Is it some kind of blessing that it keeps showing up here? Or a curse? The main question still remains: What does Steve get out of it? 

Although, if it is magical, at least this could explain why Eddie never wants to let go of the darned thing. Eddie tries not to read into why Steve would want him to want something of his so badly, but his mind has always been a stubborn thing, and he has to physically shake his head to stop thinking about it. 

Eddie stops pacing and grabs a mug off the counter, twisting it in his hands idly. The most important thing he needs to do now is figure out what kind of magic is taking place here; if it’s Steve’s magic or the thing is magic and if it’s good or evil. 

Shit. 

What if it’s related to the upside-down? Steve would never, ever hurt his friends knowingly, but there’s a possibility he’s somehow being tricked into doing it. Or maybe Eddie’s the one being tricked… maybe the coat isn’t Steve’s or there is no coat, and Eddie really is going crazy. 

But wait, the coat is real (or at least not only confined to Eddie’s head, which is a less comforting thought but needs to be addressed) because Dustin saw it too. And the coat has to be Steve’s; Eddie can’t imagine it being anyone else’s. It’s so precious, too precious to be anyone else’s. It must be custom-made, because it would fit Steve so perfectly, so naturally, as if it had always been a part of him. Not to mention the lingering scent of Farrah Fawcett and cigarettes and cinnamon and all other good things. It could not belong to anyone else: it’s Steve’s and mine, Eddie thinks, and– shit . Magical though it may be, Eddie is not gollum, he refuses to be, and that is a freakin weird thing to be thinking about one of your best friend’s coats.  

Eddie pops the mug back down on the counter. He is a man with a mission; he must find out what this coat is, and nothing will get in the way of his noble quest–

“EDDIE! MUNSON! HELLO JERKFACE, IS ANYONE IN THERE??”

No one except a very loud Dustin Henderson, apparently. 

Eddie blinks down at him, pulled so abruptly from his thoughts that it takes him a good second to remember why Dustin was there in the first place.

“Slow your roll, dickhead. And quit calling me jerkface unless you want to roll with disadvantage this week.”

Predictably, Dustin glares at him. 

“So… are you gonna explain what that was about and why you’re so obsessed with this stupid coat or..” Dustin taps his foot on the ground, standing close to Eddie with his hands on his hips.

Predictably, Eddie thinks of Steve. 

“Hmmm, no. I don’t think I will, actually. You can go home now.” Eddie waves his hand at him dismissively, shooing him away. 

Henderson gawks, then looks incensed.  Eddie thinks he’d make a pretty good cartoon character; he’d look great with smoke coming out of his ears. 

“Are you KIDDING ME? I bike all the way down here because you wanted to interrogate me about a freakin coat of all things, act you’re possessed or something for a good five minutes, and now you want me to leave? Are you out of your mind?” Dustin’s back to waving his arms around, windmilling violently at Eddie as if that will make him change his mind. Although, Eddie did kind of space out and not respond to the kid for a bit, which is reasonable for him to get upset about, actually.

Besides, every Holmes needs a Watson, and Dustin could be a valuable asset in figuring out what this magic coat is. Hmm. That might be really good, actually. 

“Alright, alright. Calm down, Henderson. As it so happens, I’m conducting a bit of an investigation, and you’re my first choice for help.” Eddie leans into Dustin’s space and into the flattery, grinning widely at him. “What do you say, old chap? Wanna give me a hand?”

Dustin stares suspiciously at him for a moment, before straightening up his spine. 

“I accept. Now, what’s the situation?”

Steve’s making soup. It’s partially to distract himself because he doesn’t know if Eddie’s found his coat yet, or what will happen if this works, and partially because the Dickinson’s kids popped by Family Video today and one of them was coughing, which means that Robin is convinced that she’s gotten a cold and is practically on her deathbed, Steve  and will be in no condition to work anytime soon and Steve refuses to work shifts without her if he doesn’t have to, so soup. Robin’s ‘sleeping it off’ at her place, so tomorrow he’ll have to stop by around lunch time. For once, neither of them are working Sunday, but Steve will likely need to find someone else to hang out with tomorrow night, cus Robin will want ‘recovery time’. 

Steve sighs. 

Maybe he’ll give Eddie a call, and they can watch a movie or something. It’s been a while since they’ve hung out one on one, and Steve’s missed it. There’s just something so soft about Eddie when they’re alone together, like Eddie’s sitting by the fireplace in the middle of winter, all warm and comfy and inside, away from the chaotic, if often fun, weather. Steve wonders if that’s what Eddie’s like inside, all gentle smiles and sweet words. He’s wonderful outside, playful and entertaining with the kids, can sometimes even be dangerous and unpredictable, with people that are threatening the group. But Steve gets to see him inside, relaxing and warm after everything outside, cuddly and soft and kind . 

Steve wonders who else gets to see him like this. 

Steve chops another carrot, and adds it to the soup. Robin’s right; he does need to figure out how to tell Eddie what he is. Steve knows Eddie’d be sweet about it, but then Steve would also have to explain what he’s been trying to do, which is a little harder. He’s never had to deal with this situation before; when he was with Nancy, he was trying so hard to fit in, that he had never even considered telling anyone about himself. He had buried being a Selkie deep, deep within himself, like Steve was his own grave, six feet under, filled with secrets. 

Steve adds some celery. Stirs the soup. Peers into the pot and gets a faceful of gentle steam. 

Robin’s the only person he’s ever told, someone who had trusted him with her biggest, scariest secret, so he trusted her with his. Robin confuses Steve, sometimes. Which is surprising, given how well he knows her. But somehow, she manages. One way or another, she can always tell when he needs a bit of extra time with things, when he has to go at his own pace or he’ll never get where he needs to go. That’s probably why she didn’t bug him more today. No one else has ever really done that for Steve before, not even Nancy. 

Eddie though. Eddie kinda does this too, actually. Eddie also confuses Steve, sometimes, the way he seems to know that Steve’s tired or hungry or cold, and makes sure that Steve sleeps or eats or wears an extra sweater. 

It’s nice. And unusual. And Steve clearly doesn’t know how to deal with it, and that’s where the pelt comes in, apparently. 

Steve puts the pot on simmer, and sets a timer. He probably made too much soup. 

Maybe Eddie and his uncle will want some. 

Chapter Text

It’s 9:37 AM.  Eddie is late. 

Dustin is doing him a favour and Eddie can’t be bothered to show up on time. He eyes the clock. 

9:38 AM. Eddie’s running late and it’s driving him crazy because this is important, damn it! Who knows what kind of scientific discovery they could be on to? Dustin reshuffles his stack of books and considers the options. 

It could be Upside-Down related, potentially, but the coat doesn’t really seem dangerous, and besides, Will or El definitely would have said something if they felt anything in the last couple of weeks. Which, seriously, Eddie?  Why the hell did it take him so long to let Dustin know? 

Anyways, the coat doesn’t really seem all that harmful, and Eddie was right about it looking like Steve’s.  So, Steve could either own a magic coat, or be magical, or Eddie just made something up again. 

But that can't be it, because if Eddie had been making something up, it would be way more interesting than a coat that just happens to show up sometimes, either with or without Steve’s presence. 

And also, Dustin had asked if Eddie had noticed any weird side effects of the coat, like if it glowed or made him feel funny or anything, and Eddie had said no, but he’d been really cagey and weird about it, and immediately changed the subject, which obviously means that he has experienced some side effects of the coat. 

Dustin had tried to get Eddie to give him the coat to observe overnight, but he wouldn’t let him do that either. Dustin looks at the clock again. 9:43 AM.

He groans and readjusts the books in his arms again. They were gonna stop by the library and research different fantasy creatures and cryptids, but it wouldn’t hurt to have a few of his things to look through.  Actually, if Eddie’s gonna take forever in getting here, maybe he should just start researching already. And Dustin definitely should be the one to take notes, considering the sparse amount Eddie had taken. It was a good thing Eddie had come to him, even if it took forever, because this obviously called for proper detecting. And Eddie? Well, clearly out of the two of them, Dustin was the better detective. Not to mention, Dustin was first and foremost a scientist, and, to quote Sherlock Holmes, Detection is, or ought to be, an exact science and should be treated in the same cold and unemotional manners. Obviously Eddie was too close to this issue, and needed an objective viewpoint, which was where Dustin came in. Granted, Eddie was pretty smart, and was actually halfway decent at figuring out weird things some of the time, so he’d be a good sidekick, at least. If only he’d get here– 

A horn blares in his driveway. 

Finally.  

Dustin rushes out the door and towards Eddie’s van, debating how much he’s gonna chew out Eddie for being late. He doesn’t really want to roll with disadvantage for the next week, and he really doesn’t want Eddie to decide that he doesn’t want Dustin’s help with the coat mystery– which, that definitely needed a code name, like yesterday– and yes Dustin would just go investigate by himself, but that’s not nearly as fun. And also, Eddie definitely knows more than he’s letting on. So, the lecture will be kept to a minimum. 

Dustin opens the passenger door.

“You’re late.” Dustin states sternly, doing his best to look the way Steve does whenever he’s annoyed. Eddie just smiles at him, not phased in the slightest. 

“Good Morning, Dustin the Inquisitive! Dustin the Curious! Ready for a day of investigating? Go ahead and find something to listen to, by the way.” Huh. Eddie hardly ever lets anyone pick music in his van. He must be in an extra good mood today. Dustin paws through his tape collection.  Black Sabbath, Ozzy, Dio, Rush, which, wait, was that there last time? Metallica, of course, Queen, Bowie, The Police, Chicago? What the hell ? Eddie’s got a fucking Chicago cassette in his car? Dustin glances at Eddie out of the corner of his eye while he puts Holy Diver . This is beyond weird. Dustin can see Eddie liking Queen and Rush, and at least respecting Bowie, and maybe The Police, but never, ever, ever Chicago. 

Maybe this is one of the side effects from the coat. A sudden change– read decline– in taste. No wonder he didn’t tell Dustin about it. This only makes it more important to get to the bottom  of this. Dustin turns up the volume, looks over at Eddie again, and sets his jaw. 

Don’t worry Eddie, I’ll solve The Curious Case of the Cursed Coat. 

Unsurprisingly, the library had little in the way of useful materials, so it’s good that Dustin had the foresight to bring along some of his books. They’re back at Eddie’s now, so they don’t have to worry about anyone overhearing, or being too loud and getting kicked out. Which is good, cus they’d definitely be getting kicked out by now.

“Eddie, we need  to look at possibilities from DnD. Literally every other thing we’ve encountered that’s magical was related to DnD.”

“Henderson. All of that ‘magical’ stuff was related to the Upside-down. This, I’m pretty sure isn’t.”  Eddie flips over a page in The Mothman Prophecies. “But sure, knock yourself out.” Eddie frowns down at the page. “Huh. Do you think Steve might be Mothman?”

Dustin blinks at him, and gives him a judgy look. 

“...Mothman?”

“Yeah! You know, man-like cryptid with huge moth wings?”

“Mothman? Even if he was real, isn’t he from West Virginia?”

Eddie gives him a blank look now. 

“First of all, West Virginia isn’t that far away, all things considered. Second of all, we’re trying to figure out if Steve’s magic. Why would him being Mothman be that much weirder, than anything from DnD?”

A perfect example here of why Dustin ’s leading the investigation.

“There are multiple reasons as to why you are wrong, starting with the fact that Mothman has nothing to do with coats, and even if he did, wouldn’t Steve’s coat then have, oh, I don’t know, a moth pattern on it maybe?” 

Eddie stands up and gestures outwards with his hands, as if they’re in an auditorium or an amphitheatre and he’s giving an important speech (and not in Eddie’s trailer arguing about freaking Mothman). 

“It’s a possibility is what I’m saying!! You can’t just disregard anything if–” Eddie’s cut-off by the phone, thankfully. Could the coat be something not related to DnD? Sure, but everything else they’ve seen has been, so it’d be smarter to check that out first, then research other possibilities. Besides, really? Mothman ?

Eddie answers the phone on the second ring. 

“Hello, you’ve reached the Satanic help-line, press 666 to speak to a demon and press-?” He must be interrupted by the person on the other end of the line, but for some reason he just breaks out into a cheesy smile.

“Yeah, yeah. I know, sure” Eddie pulls some hair in front of his face when he talks, and leans closer in. Once again, he seems unusually agreeable. Now, Dustin loves the guy, but it’s just a fact that Eddie can be kinda temperamental, or quarrelsome. Cantankerous even, on occasion. The last time Dustin had called him when Eddie was working on a project, he’d gotten a line about ‘Chop-shops’, a grumpy I was in the middle of something, shithead, and no R-rated horror film, which, seriously? That’s the hill these guys are dying on? Dustin knows (which, okay, ‘knows’ might be a bit much, but he gets the general gist, at least, of) what Eddie and Steve were up to when they were his age, and they should be grateful he’s not out smoking drugs.  

The point being: there’s something fishy going on with Eddie. He’s acting all… well, Dustin’s not entirely sure, but something about this phone call is weird. “Too happy” sounds dumb, but Dustin’s not sure how else to describe it.  

The phone call continues.

“What? Yes, I had breakfast today. Did you?... Uh-huh. That’s what I thought. Hypocrite!”  Eddie crows, twisting his hair between his fingers and swaying in place. He’s quiet for a moment, and then hums into the receiver. He doesn’t quite look nervous, but maybe that’s not far off. 

Wait a minute.

• Eddie’s in a good mood, even though he got interrupted, both in his task, and on the phone. 
• He’s twirling his hair and humming 
• He’s got a goofy grin,
• He seems a tad nervous

Conclusion: Eddie’s talking to a girl.

Dustin was right! He knew it! He freaking knew it! Eddie’s been denying it, but clearly Eddie’s got a girlfriend. 

Dustin starts flipping through the books again, nonchalantly. Hopefully Eddie won’t think he’s paying that much attention, and might slip up and say her name or something. 

Eddie laughs into the receiver. 

“ That, I can do, your graciousness.” 

Is that, like, a couple's nickname? It’s a bit weird, but then again, Eddie’s kinda weird, so it does fit. 

“Hmm? Tonight?  Well! I think I could probably pencil you in… Yup! Sounds great! Alright, see you then, Stevie!”

Dustin faceplants into his book. 

Eddie’s talking to Steve. 

Ughhhhhh. Not a girlfriend after alllll. 

Except!

This actually makes perfect sense! 

• Eddie’s nervous
• Fidgety (more than he usually is)
• Unusually good-tempered

Conclusion: Eddie’s acting weird because of the effects of Steve’s coat and, of course, talking directly to Steve would make that stronger. 

So, thus far, the effects of Steve’s coat seem to be:

• Out of character tastes (decline in music)
• Mood swings/temperment changes (eg happier, more nervous)
• Being extra fidgety

And this is only Day 1 of Official Observation. Who knows how much Dustin’ll find out, if he keeps up his research. Steve may not be Mothman, but he certainly is something. 

And it’s up to Dustin to figure it out.

Chapter Text

Steve gets up early on Sunday.

It’s not that he particularly wants to, but he went to bed wired, which means his dreams were horrifying and he woke up stressed– half an hour before the sun’s up. 

He puts on his old running shorts and one of Robin’s bagger t-shirts. His room’s kinda chilly this time of year, and Steve’s got goosebumps on his arms.  He wonders if it’s always been this cold in November.

Steve tromps downstairs, pulls on his shoes at the door, and steps outside. Everything’s still frosty and shiny, and he needs to squint his eyes for a minute. Steve takes a breath of the crisp air, and runs his hands over his arms. Maybe he should have put on sweatpants.

Oh well, he’ll warm up soon enough. 

Steve does a few quick stretches, and then is off, looping his neighbourhood before running a bit closer in town. Today he’ll go up past the plant, and back. That’s one of the few landmarks that doesn’t make him think of the Upside Down, and after the dream he had, he’s not ready to face Skull Rock, or Benny’s, or the cemetery. 

It doesn’t really matter though, cause he’ll still have to come back to his house.

Steve shakes his head, and focuses on something else. Robin’s not feeling well, so he needs to go to hers around noon for lunch. And he wants to hang out with Eddie, which means he should probably call sometime this morning. But not too early, cus Eddie isn’t usually awake by 9:00, which means that even if he gets up to answer the phone, he might not really remember what they talked about later. So, maybe, elevenish? Cus that way he won’t seem too desperate, like he’s been waiting for Eddie. 

Steve passes a couple houses, most still dark inside. He was right, he’s warming up a bit already. When he gets back to the house, he’ll have a shower, then clean up a bit. And he should probably eat something as well. And he should probably check the calendar and find out when he’s gotta pay the bills, and if there’s anything important up this week, or if he promised anyone rides. He checks his watch. If he hurries, he can probably shave a minute or two off his usual time- not that it really makes a difference, cus the things he’s running from aren’t in the real world.  Steve pushes himself further, and pushes his messy thoughts to the back of his mind. He can stress later, for now, he’s just gonna run.

When Steve gets back, he puts on the coffee machine and rushes through his usual shower routine to get out when it’s done. He puts in a bit of milk and enough sugar to make the Robin in his brain poke fun at him, which, sue him, he likes sweet things. Steve thinks vaguely of Eddie. Brain Robin smirks and Steve blushes. 

He really needs to figure out what he’s doing. 

Steve wanders over to the calendar. Apart from work, his week is pretty clear, surprisingly. He’s not sure if he’s happy about that or not. He needs to get some groceries soon, but apart from that, he’s mostly just driving Robin to work. 

Also, today's a full moon. Steve always feels more lively on the full moon, and on more than one occasion he’s dragged Robin outside with him dancing, spinning and giggling, feeling full and giddy and alive. 

It’s always nicer to spend the full moon with someone, Steve’s found, even if they aren’t dancing, and it’s always better to be outside. Even running from a party with Tommy and Carol on occasion had given him that lift, more than the normal amount adrenaline alone would. Of course, whirling around with Robin was better.

Maybe he can convince Eddie to spend tonight outside with him. 

Steve checks the time. It’s probably not a good enough time to call yet, and he’s got cleaning to do. Steve takes another sip of his coffee, sets it down on the counter, and heads off to do the laundry. 

Robin’s dying. She definitely has some sort of fever, no matter what her mother says, and her throat’s all scratchy and her stomach hurts, and seriously, this could be bad. She thought she caught something from the Dickinson’s stupid little snot-nosed brat, but now she’s not sure. She could have appendicitis; she has all the symptoms, if not super severe yet, and appendicitis is exactly the sort of thing that would take Robin Buckely out, not the Russians, not weirdo bats from hell, but appendicitis.  Maybe she should rewrite her will. 

Steve had better be the one to plan her funeral. Actually, he should have planned her funeral already anyway, if he’s a real friend. Which, she should ask him. If he has already, or if he can. She’s planned one for him, like a real friend. 

Robin snuffles, and shuffles to the kitchen. Her parents had to go into work today, and she’s lucky that she had today off already, although she’d rather spend it with Steve. Speaking of, she wonders how he and Eddie are doing. Eddie will probably lose his mind a little when Steve tells him what he is, but like, in a good way. And then he and Steve can kiss and Steve maybe won’t be so mopey and stressed, which, Steve’s kinda been extra of those lately, and Robin thinks that maybe Steve’s just blue in November, cus he kinda was last year too, but maybe Eddie will help with that. He probably is already helping, actually, like Robin being around is helping, so that Steve’s not on his own.

She should maybe give Eddie a call and tell him he needs to hang out with Steve tonight so that Steve’s not alone. Actually, maybe she should give Steve a call and tell him to tell Eddie to come over. Although, it is possible Steve’s already done that, if he isn’t too busy being morose.  

Robin pushes her hair back with her fingers and ugh; it feels all sweaty and stringy and ew. 

It’s definitely a fever. 

Robin turns the kettle on and pulls the stupid kitchen blinds closed so that the sun doesn’t destroy her eyes and maybe she’ll give Steve a call cus she misses him, extra even, because she’s sick. She pulls down a mug and roots through the cupboards, unable to find honey or tea. 

She grumps. 

The doorbell rings.

She hopes it’s Steve. He’ll know where the honey is.

Robin drags herself over to the door, and opens it. 

Steve.

Thank fuck.

Steve blinks at her and opens his mouth, but she beats him to it. 

“Have you planned my funeral yet?” 

Steve scoffs.

“Obviously. What kind of friend do you think I am?”  Steve rolls his eyes before squinting at her. “But no, I didn’t need to, because you are fine actually, and it’s not appendi-whatsit, just a cold.”

She glares at him, and tries to argue, but Steve-with-a-mission allows no rebuttal.

“Hush.” he snaps. “I have soup.” 

Sure enough, Steve’s got a pot in his hands. Robin wasn’t aware someone could hold a pot so petulantly. It’s probably because he can’t put his hands on his hips. 

“Now,” he sniffs indignantly, “May I come in?” 

She moves out of the way slightly, and he gently pushes past her. He heads the kitchen and puts the pot on the stove. 

“I want to boil it again, because steam’s supposed to be good for sore throats.” He grabs a wooden spoon as he says this, and turns the burner on. “You can, like, stand next to the pot and breathe deeply or something.”

Robin loves her best friend. It’s like some fundamental but unexplainable law of the universe, like gravity, if you drop something it falls, the earth rotates around the sun, and Robin Buckley loves Steve Harrington. 

Except, if gravity ceased to exist tomorrow and nothing ever fell again and the earth no longer circles the sun, instead drifting deeper and deeper into the Milky Way, Robin would still love Steve. He’s pulled her, along with everyone else, into his orbit, and Robin had no clue you could platonically fall in love with someone, but she’s not sure if she’ll ever love someone as much as she loves Steve. She wishes she could just crawl in through his ear and live in his brain and merge into one person. 

Steve suddenly looks concerned, his big sad eyes staring at her like she’s about to disappear. 

“I…Rob, are you ok? You don’t have to breathe in the soup air if you really don’t want to..”

She loves this idiot.

“You,” Robin declares “Are my best fucking friend, and I love you more than gravity.”

Somehow, this doesn’t clear things up.

“I thought… gravity was your enemy?” Steve gives the pot another stir, and digs out a jar from the drawer. “And that doesn’t exactly explain why you’re crying”

Robin touches her face. Shit, she is all teary and snotty. Snottier than she was before, that is. Is excessive emotion another symptom of appendicitis? She didn’t think so, but….

Steve snorts. Something must of shown on her face, cus he says

“You aren’t dying, Robin. But seriously, why are you crying over gravity? ”

“I’m not crying over gravity, dingus” Robin groans, “I’m crying over how much I love you.” Robin gestures vaguely with her hands. “Which is a whole fucking lot. And sure, gravity may be my nemesis, but gravity is also the reason the earth rotates around the sun, and keeps us all safe on the ground instead of floating, so it’s kinda the reason why we’re even alive and I love you more than that.”

Now Steve’s eye’s are all shiny, and he’s blinking rapidly.

“Shit, I love you too, Robin.” He’s pulling a little box out of the cupboard too, and Robin realizes it’s the tea, and that he probably saw the mug on the counter and figured out what she wanted and knew that she always forgot where the honey was.

 Eddie had better fucking treat him right. 

Steve tugs her over gently and she leans over the pot, taking a deep breath of the steam. A few minutes later, he hands her the mug and she catches his hand before he can pull it back. His eyes are still kinda teary, but he’s not actually crying and now that she’s looking, he seems a little tenser than normal, his shoulders are a bit higher than they are normally, and the hand she’s not holding is gripping a ladle tightly. 

“Steve, are you ok?” 

He sighs, and pulls closer in to her.

“I’m ok, you were just right, is all. About Eddie.”

Robin makes an inquisitive sound. She has a feeling she knows what this is about, but she’d rather give Steve the space to back out just in case he’s not ready yet.

Steve pulls down a few bowls from the cupboard, before turning to look her in the eyes.

“I need to tell Eddie what I am.”

Chapter Text

Steve wipes the counter top, again, and then the area around the sink, before rinsing out the washcloth. He’s about to start scrubbing the inside of the microwave when the front door opens, and he hears a warm voice. 

“Steve? You in?”

It’s a bit after 8:00.

 Eddie’s here. 

Steve wrings out the cloth one last time for good measure, washing his hands before calling out. Eddie appears around the corner and goes to lean against what Steve thinks of as ‘his spot’ on the counter, which is maybe a little pathetic, but Steve’s way happier that there’s multiple different people that have spots in his house to really care about that right now. Although, that’s probably pathetic for a different reason. 

Anyways, Eddie’s here and he’s leaning up against the counter smiling at Steve all fondly and Steve doesn’t know if anyone’s ever looked at him like that in his life, and Shit. He really wants to kiss him about it. But they’re not there yet, so instead he just smiles back, and if he happens to give him a little bit of a hooded, come hither look, that’s neither here nor there.

“You wanna hand with anything?” Eddie comes a little closer as he asks, face slightly red, still got it, and gently pokes Steve in the side.

“Nah, it’s okay” Steve runs his hands through his hair, fluffs it 1, 2, 3 times, “I just needed something to do while I was waiting for you.” Which is mostly true. He’s not cleaning because Eddie was coming over, but he was stressed about the Eddie situation, so. In any case, it’s not important, cus Eddie kinda half-laughs, smiling brightly, and shoves him without really pushing them further apart, and Steve wants to melt. That’s a flirty shove, right there. Steve definitely still knows how to play this game.  

But it’s also not really a game, with Eddie. It’s exciting, sure, but there’s a level of comfort that’s never been there with anyone he’s been or flirted with, not even Nancy. It’s times like these that remind him that Eddie probably won’t hate him for being a seal, or for being in love with him, but somehow Steve still can’t shake his nerves off enough to tell him either of these things.

But it’s okay now; Steve’s officially decided to tell Eddie both of these things– in which order he’s still undecided– and he’s got Robin by his side and time to make a plan, so he can do it. He will do it. Just probably not tonight. Steve looks at Eddie, at his molten chocolate eyes and his little half-smile and the way arms feel when he presses next to Steve and fuuuuck. Definitely not tonight. 

“Wanna beer?” he says instead of please kiss me and he leans slightly into Eddie’s space before going to the fridge, not really waiting for an answer. 

“Thanks Stevie. Ooh! I found this weird old album the other day thrifting, and it’s not really my thing but it’s got some fun stuff in it and I think you’d like it.”  Eddie rushed back to the foyer before emerging with a record, waving it slightly. It’s bright yellow, and it’s called–

“Ram?” Steve raises an eyebrow, bemused, but goes to take a better look anyway. 

“Yeah! It’s a Paul McCartney album from the early 70s, mind if I take over your system?”

Steve grabs the case, mindful of the LP inside, and looks at the tracklist. Some of the songs do have interesting names, but Steve likes the Beatles, and they’ve got plenty of bizarre songs, so it’s not really that weird considering. However, all Steve can think about as he flips it back over is that Eddie listened to it and thought of him, that he knew Steve liked this kind of music. He wonders if that’s the only reason he bought it in the first place, and his chest feels a little tight, like someone’s stolen his lungs, but he finds he doesn’t mind it much at all.

“Sure.” He hands back the record and Eddie bounds off to the living room. Steve goes to follow him before remembering that he needed to put the broom and dustpan back in the shoe-closet.

Just as he’s shutting the closet, he sees it.  His pelt, already back here. He groans softly, thumping his head against the closet door. 

He’d really thought this one would work this time! And yes, he does intend on telling Eddie, but still. It was in someone else’s possession, hidden somewhere and he didn’t know where it was. Really, the only thing that was different in most of the stories was that the ‘lover’ hadn’t been the one to take it.

Wait. 

Maybe that’s the key. 

Maybe Eddie has to take it, or it doesn’t count.

Steve pets his coat gently and grins.

He can work with this. 

Steve heads back to the living room and flops down on the carpet. Eddie puts the needle on and joins him on the floor. 

“It’s this kinda experimental, psychedelic type album, and it doesn’t really commit to a specific genre, which I can respect, you know?” Eddie gestures slightly as he says this, as if he can’t help but talk with his hands, even when he’s lying on the ground. “He’s not conforming to what others expect him to write. It actually didn’t really do well when it first came out.”

“Really?”

“Oh yeah, this dude’s way ahead of his time. The library has old copies of the Stone magazine, so I read up on it a bit. It’s kinda funny that it got such bad reviews, cus it’s got tons of elements that are similar to Beatles songs, you know?” Eddie nudges his shoulder slightly and smiles crookedly. “That's why I thought you’d like it.”

So help Steve he’s gonna marry this man. Eddie tells him a bit more about the album and Steve leans into the comfort that is Eddie’s baritone. And Eddie was right; Steve’s enjoying Ram, with all its experimentalness, or whatever. 

“Anyways, how’s Buckley doing? You mentioned she wasn’t feeling well earlier.”

“She’ll hopefully be well enough to work tomorrow. She’s not very sick, but she always gets stressed out about it which makes it worse. We mostly just lied around and chatted.”

Steve wonders briefly if it’s normal for him to spend so much time lying on the floor. Somehow it feels like there’s less pressure on him when he does it, like he’s not holding anything up, or maybe that he’s dropped everything, but it’s okay, cus he’s already on the ground so nothing broke when it fell. He turns to ask Eddie what he thinks about this when the next song starts, and he stills. 

“Stevie?” Eddie quirks an eyebrow up, a gentle curiosity is his voice.  

“What’s this song called?”

“Hm? Oh, it’s Uncle Albert and Admiral Halsey .” 

 Steve looks into Eddie's eyes. 

“I like it.”

“Oh yeah?” Eddie’s smile grows impossibly softer.

“Yeah.”

“Here. The best part’s about to happen.”

The song changes, and Steve wishes he knew the words to explain how. He’ll have to ask Robin later. It’s a bit faster and it’s fun, and it’s full of jaunty trumpet tunes and nonsense words. It feels like spinning and running and salty water and Steve desperately wants to dance with Eddie, out under the moonlight. The song shifts again, and again, and Steve doesn’t ever want it to stop. 

Chapter Text

“No, no seriously. I’m not joking.” Steve shoves him lightly as if to prove his point, slightly exasperated, all wide eyes and half-laughing despite himself, and it’s the only thing Eddie wants to hear. He wants to record it and keep it forever, he wants to help Steve create his next answering message when he finally moves out of this stupid house and make him laugh part way through recording, so that whenever they end up playing telephone tag, Eddie’ll hear it. 

They’ve migrated from the living room floor to the kitchen floor, sitting next to each other with their backs against the cupboards. 

“It really was that bad, I swear. I cut my tongue on her braces, and like, it bled way more than it had any right to, which,” Steve said gesturing with his beer bottle at Eddie, “is a major mood killer, by the way, in case you were wondering. So then, I’m bleeding, she’s obviously freaking out about it, not to mention we’re both like, dying of embarrassment cus we're inexperienced little 13-year-olds tryin to makeout. ” Steve’s cheeks are flushed and his eyes are all honey and bright, and he’s looking slyly over at Eddie, like he’s telling him a secret, and it’s taking all Eddie’s self-control not to pull him in close and see if Steve can laugh and kiss at the same time.  

“Alright, Casanova, how’d you get out of the situation?” Eddie leans towards Steve without really meaning to, clinking their beer bottles together.

Steve sighs.

“Oh it gets so much worse.” 

He takes a sip before continuing. 

“She tries to move away, cus again, blood, but she was kinda up on tiptoe a little, so she’s moving down and I’m bringing my arm up and her earring somehow gets caught in my sweater and she ends up stuck to my shoulder. And I’ve got a mouthful of blood so I can’t really talk and the earring’s at an awkward angle and just as we’re finally managing to get untangled, her mom walks in, which goes about as well as you’d imagine.” Steve chuckles a little bit, and takes another sip. “And, to top it all off, I ended up speaking with a lisp for a week, and, needless to say, I did not end up going with Sarah J. to the Spring Fling Dance.” 

 Steve sets his bottle down and crosses his arms.

“Anyways, there’s one of my many, many horrible dates.”

“Aw come on, you can’t have that many. I mean, wasn’t that one of the reasons why you were popular?”  It doesn’t really surprise Eddie that Steve has stories about dates gone wrong, especially since he’d dated a lot of people, but he is kinda curious about Steve having so many.

Steve sighs again, this time with less humour, and angles away from Eddie.

“That might have been part of the problem, actually. I got a reputation pretty early on, especially in highschool, and then people kinda had specific expectations for me, you know? Like they knew exactly who I was and what I’d do on a date, and then oftentimes I either wasn’t exactly what they wanted and they got upset, or I was exactly what they wanted, and I felt like shit. So, yeah.”  Steve glances back, tilting his head towards Eddie again, and this time Eddie does pull him in close, tucking Steve’s head against his neck and wrapping his arms around him. 

It’s a little awkward cus they were sitting next to each other and their legs get tangled as Steve shifts to get more comfy.

“Shit, I’m sorry Stevie.” Eddie says, resting his head against Steve’s. “You deserve so much better than that. You know, you breaking my expectations is one of my favourite things about you.” 

Steve draws back a bit to look at Eddie.

“Really?”

“Yes, really. Every time I think I have you figured out, you do something I don’t see coming. You’re funny, and you’re kind and you’re weird, but just the right flavour of it.” Eddie places his hand on Steve’s arm. 

“You’re not at all what I expected, and I love that about you.“ Which, okay, might be showing Eddie’s cards a bit too much, but it’s kinda worth it if it’ll make Steve feel a bit better. 

Steve knocks their shoulders together, and looks directly into Eddie’s eyes. 

“I love that about you too.”  

Their legs are still overlapping, and if Eddie didn’t know better, he’d think that maybe Steve was showing some cards too. Steve glances down at his watch and hums, pleased. 

“Come on,” He says, standing up. “Let's see if the moon’s up yet.”

And Eddie has the feeling he’s about to be surprised again. 

He is. 

Steve put the record back on, volume on high, and pulled Eddie outside to dance.

He’s beautiful.

He’s twirling under the stars, face tilted upwards, and the moon’s basking him in a silvery glow. The light gets caught in his eyes, they seem to reflect infinitely, and it glistens on his cheeks. Eddie can’t believe he’s real.

He’s definitely gonna get caught staring, but Eddie has never seen something so beautiful, and Eddie can’t help but feel like maybe he’s fallen into Middle Earth, and Steve’s an elven being, free and magical and alive. 

Steve looks back at him and moves towards him, all graceful movements and nimble feet, and grabs Eddie by the hand to come join him.

“The full-moon’s better when you share it with someone.” He whispers, secretive and giddy. “Don’t you want to join me?”

And Eddie’s wanted nothing more. 

Wordlessly, he pulls in closer to Steve, spinning around and stepping lightly. They’re not really following a pattern and he doesn’t think that their dance really makes sense and somehow he feels like he’s somewhere else, on a beach maybe, a million years before, like they’re the only two people in the world. 

They dance through the whole album, only stopping to flip it. Eventually, the last song drifts through the door, gentle and wavering.

…We’re just busy hidin’, sitting in the backseat of my car…”  

 Steve puts his arms around Eddie’s neck and Eddie automatically wraps his arms around Steve’s waist. The two of them sway together, back and forth softly, dancing under the moon. 

“See?” Steve whispers, “Isn’t it perfect?”

“You’re right” Eddie whispers back, because fuck it. He’s slow dancing with Steve, under the moonlight, and this might just mean something to Steve too, so Eddie’s gonna be brave. “But maybe it’s just you.” 

Steve ducks his head at the compliment, but not before Eddie can catch a glimpse of colour dusting his cheeks.   

The song fades away, and the needle lifts off the track and for a moment you can hear the record still spinning, somehow audible over the breeze and their steps and the sound of them breathing together, and Eddie knows that the moment is almost over. 

But he’s hoping there’ll be more moments to come. 

Eddie wakes up to a high pitched beeping sound. 

He doesn’t remember falling asleep, but he finds himself entwined with Steve on the couch, and discovers that it’s Steve’s watch making the offensive noise.

Steve, for his part, grumbles, nestling his head deeper in Eddie’s chest before pulling away, staring tiredly down at his wrist. 

“7:45. Ugh. I’ve got a shift at 8:30 and I need to see if Robin’s coming.” He rubs his eyes and stares at Eddie. “Do you want breakfast or something?”

Eddie’s so fond of him. Then he realizes what time it is.

“Shit. I’d love to, but Wayne gets off the night shift in 15 and I promised I’d have breakfast with him.”

Steve smiles. 

“Okay.” 

Eddie collects the bottles from last night quickly while Steve pops into the kitchen. He’s in the middle of searching for his keys when Steve comes back with an armful of stuff. 

“What’s that?”

“Jacket, left pocket”

Eddie checks it automatically, and naturally, his keys are there. He stares at Steve blankly.

“How do you do that? I’m beginning to think you got magic powers, or something.” 

Steve laughs a little awkwardly, like he’d be rubbing the back of his neck if his hands were full. Which, speaking of..

Steve sees where he’s looking, starts walking towards the door, explaining as he goes.

“It’s just a few of your things I didn’t want you to forget. Ooh, and a container of cookies I made.”

Steve passes them off to Eddie at the door, giving him a brief hug and telling him to drive safe. 

Eddie drops the pile on the passenger seat and waves as he’s leaving. He checks the time. 

Drat, Uncle Wayne’s probably almost home by now. He speeds up a bit, and pops in tape. When he gets back he throws the van into park, barely remembering to grab his stuff and the keys before going inside. Sure enough, Wayne’s already at the stove, frying up some eggs.

Wayne smiles and waves him over.

“Whatchu got there, son?”   Eddie starts going through the stuff in his hands. 

“Hmm? Oh, just a few things I didn’t want to leave at Steve’s, you know, my new record, oh, and here. He made us some cookies” He passes the container over before looking at the last item in his hands. “And Steve’s…. Jacket.”

What the fuck. 

How. literally how. 

Did he forget to bring it back? No, he definitely hung it up in the closet. 

Did Steve pass it to him at the door?  He feels like he’d remember that, but he can’t be sure. Maybe Steve left it in his van? Or maybe it’s the same weird teleporty thing it did earlier? 

Wayne clears his throat, and Eddie looks up to see him giving him a strange look. 

“You good, son? 

Eddie stares back at him, shaking the coat in his hands.

“I think I’m going crazy.” He mutters, then turns to put the coat in his room. It can wait until after he’s had breakfast with Uncle Wayne. 

Chapter Text

“I’m sorry, you did what with the coat?” Robin’s waving her arms at him, pacing back and forth the Family Video aisles. “What happened to telling him ?” 

Clearly, she’s feeling better, or maybe Steve’s love life (or whatever the hell you’d call what he’s been doing with Eddie) is messy enough to distract her. 

“I know Rob, okay? I am planning on telling him, just, not yesterday night. You know I need a plan for these kinds of things, and I didn’t have time to come up with one.”

Robin sighs, then giggles. 

Steve scowls. 

“ What?”

Robin flaps her hand at him.

“Oh, I just can’t believe that that worked with the coat, that’s all.” Robin steps closer to him as she says this, and rubs her hands down his arms.  

Steve shrugs. 

“What can I say? I’m just talented like that.” 

Robin snorts and jabs him in the ribs. 

“Yeah right. I’m pretty sure this is more of an ‘Eddie’ issue than anything you’ve been doing, but okay.”

Which, okay, Eddie is pretty tired and forgetful in the morning, which Steve may or may not have been banking on to make this work, but still. Like he’d say so to Robin. Besides, it’s not like Steve isn’t charming enough to pull that off. 

Probably. 

Steve shoves Robin and gives his head a toss, looking away from her pointedly before squinting at her out of the corner of his eye. 

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” He says haughtily.  Robin’s smirking a bit, the way she usually does when he gets all dramatic. “In fact, I think you’re jealous.” 

“What now.” Robin gives him a look like he’s lost the plot but still thinks he’s kinda funny, which means he’s winning.

“Afterall, we can’t all be bewitching enough to pull this sort of thing off.” 

“ Bewitching, Steve?”  She’s trying to keep a straight face, but she’s already starting to giggle again. 

Steve hums affirmatively. “Of course, you know, I’ve just got a certain kind of… charm.” Steve leans against the wall and tilts his head down, blinking rapidly at Robin in his best ‘flirty-Tammy Thompson-like’ way, all fluttery eyelashes and pouty lips.

Robin breaks.

She’s all wheezy laughter and shaky legs and unable-to-put-away-VHSs-arms, almost dropping the stack she’d picked up onto the floor. Steve can’t help joining her, even though he thinks that maybe they’re finding this a little too funny; it was a good bit, but he hadn’t really thought they’d end up on the carpet. 

Steve gives Robin a look as they’re laughing, confused. She snorts, then actually bites down on her bottom lip to stop giggling, grinning madly. 

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I just, I just couldn’t help but think of you actually flirting with Eddie like that, and then I realized that it would probably work on him, even though it’s so freakin cheesy.” She begins chuckling again before she finishes the sentence, messing up the last few words, and Steve loves that she does that. 

Wait a minute. 

Steve looks back at Robin consideringly, even as he’s unable to calm down completely. Robin looks back at him, staring into his eyes, and Steve can see the moment she realizes what he’s thinking, cus she ends up doubled over, clutching at him. 

“Oh please, Steve. Oh please oh please oh please oh pleeease. It’ll be soooo funny when it works.”

STATUS REPORT 

Subject appears to be experiencing stronger symptoms due to prolonged exposure to both the object and to whom it belongs. 

Observations include:

• Increased mood swings, bordering being manic, even
• More nervous energy– subject keeps pacing, spinning and randomly jumping around (more than usual)
• Also more humming, again with different tastes (more than usual)
• Decreased attention span and increased daydreaming (more than usual)

Dustin stops writing and looks at Eddie, who is currently rocking back and forth in place, fidgeting with a cassette while staring off at absolutely nothing.  He looks back down at his list. Maybe the coat brings out someone’s behaviours to the extreme, like an amplifier or something. But then it doesn’t make sense why Eddie would suddenly like different tastes in music. 

“Hey. Eddie.”

No reply. 

“Eddie.” 

Nothing. 

“Eggie. Eggman. Egghead. Egg–”

“What?” Eddie finally looks at him, no longer in dreamland. 

“Welcome back to the real world. With your real friend. Who’s been waiting a real long time for you to listen.”  Dustin taps his pad of paper emphatically. “I’ve got theories.”

Eddie gives him a look but ultimately sighs. 

“I’m sorry man. Go on, tell me your theories.”

“All right, so we’ve established that in all likelihood, Steve is not Mothman, or Bigfoot, and while I still think that it’s a good idea to keep researching DnD possibilities, nothing seems to fit exactly.  For instance, the Sequencer Robe has some similarities, but ultimately I think it’s too different. The Greater Vestment of Power is also a possibility, but so is the Cloak of Delight, maybe. That or he’s a Skinwalker, even though that’s from a pretty different geographic location.”

Eddie squints at Dustin. 

“Why would he be a Skinwalker? Do they need coats? I mean, the point is that they shapeshift, ‘skin’ is right there in the name…” Eddie trails off, taking  a seat across from Dustin and putting the tape in his pocket. “Besides, aren’t they malicious beings?” 

Seriously? Eddie’s squinty look is getting more judgy by the second, like he wasn’t the one to suggest freakin Mothman earlier. Does Dustin really need to do everything around here? Does Eddie not understand the importance of looking at all the possibilities??

“Dude. We need to explore every option. This isn’t a game!” Dustin huffs. “If you’re not going to take this seriously, maybe I should investigate by myself. Can I please bring it home to observe it overnight?”

Eddie stands up, somehow giving Dustin an even greater look of incredulity than before. 

“No. No way. Why do you need to observe it overnight?” Eddie reaches over and pokes Dustin in the chest. “I know you Henderson, I know that you’re gonna wanna run some weird-ass experiments on the coat, which I don’t think we need to resort to just yet.”  The way Eddie stretches his vowels makes it pretty clear that he doesn’t think they should resort to experiments ever. Which isn’t fair, Dustin wouldn’t do anything too weird, alright. He’s a professional, he knows how to test things without leaving evidence. Besides, the coat belongs to Steve, which means he’ll be extra careful, cus Steve’s pretty particular about his things, and has the ability to cut off Dustin’s rides. However, Dustin also knows reminding Eddie of this won’t make it any more likely that he’s gonna let him observe it overnight. 

“Alright, fine then. Next question then, how was Steve acting last night?”

Eddie’s head snaps back to Dustin, eyes wide and questioning. 

“What? Why do you need to know that?”

Dustin rolls his eyes. This is why he’s leading the investigation. 

“Be cause, if he’s some sort of magical creature or something and he’s ‘targeting’ you, so to speak, he might be acting weird around you. Now, did he or did he not do anything weird?”

Eddie hesitates. Clearly something odd happened that night. 

“Well, it started off pretty normal, I think. We listened to an album, had a few beers.”

“Uh-huh. Then?”

“Well, it was the full moon last night, and while Steve did not turn into a werewolf, he did pull me outside to, uh, to ‘share the moon’ with him” Eddie says, turning away from Dustin and pulling his hair across his face.  

 Interesting. Very interesting. 

“Okay, what happened then? Did he look different than usual or anything? Or act really oddly?” The moon has connections to all sorts of magical creatures, so while it’s not ideal for narrowing down the specifics, it might make it clear that Steve was magical or something. 

Eddie twists around once before plopping back down into the chair. 

“He, well he looked all, glowy, I guess and a little otherworldly, but that could have just been the moonlight.”

“Okay, and what did you do?” Dustin presses, leaning forward in his seat. This is important, dammit. Eddie, just give up the details already. 

Eddie exhales heavily, dragging his hand down his face. 

“Fine, but this stays between us, hear?” Dustin nods, immediately serious. “He took me outside to dance.” 

Huh. That’s not really what Dustin was expecting, albeit he wasn’t really expecting anything specific in mind, so he guesses this makes about as much sense as any. Actually, dancing probably makes more sense than most things. He’s pretty sure certain types of Fae do that sort of thing, along with other magical beings. This might actually be a lead. 

“Perfect.”

“What?” Eddie blinks at him. “How’s that perfect?”

“Cus that’s like, pretty typical Fae behaviour. And other magical creatures too. Now I have some new stuff to investigate.” Actually, he’ll probably want to head out soon, if he wants to make it to the library before they’re closed. “Anyways, good work, Watson.”

Eddie gives an indignant squawk. “Watson? Watson?” If anyone’s Watson here, it’s you, shrimp.” 

“Uh, no. Which one of us is leading the investigation, may I ask ?” Anyways, I gotta go or else I won’t make it to the library on time. Unless..” Dustin turns towards Eddie hopefully, but to no avail. 

“Nope. You’re on your own, kid.” He gives Dustin a little shooing motion, like that’ll make him go faster.  

Dustin packs up his stuff,  grabs his bag and hops down the steps. Overall, this was a productive session, but it might be a while yet before he gets to the bottom of this. 

Chapter Text

“Alright alright alright, okay, I know. We went over this, I should stick to the plan. First I tell him that I like him, and then I tell him about being a Selkie.” Steve runs his hands through his hair, pacing across his bedroom. “But what if he doesn’t like me back? Then me telling him about the pelt thing will just be stupid.”

Robin sighs. “Not stupid” she says gently, criss-cross on the bed. 

“Fine. Horribly desperate.”  Robin’s gaze turns sour, but Steve barrels on before she can cut in. “I just mean, what if this is all a mistake? I mean, I never should have used my pelt at all. The whole point of it was that it was supposed to be easier .” Steve flops down on the bed and shoves his face into Robin’s side. 

Robin drags her fingers through his hair. “Calm down, okay. He likes you, okay. He does. And even if he didn’t, he’d be cool about it, okay. And being a Selkie.”

Steve gives himself ten more seconds to lean into Robin before hauling himself up. “I know this. You’re right, he’s into me, he won’t care that I’m a Selkie–”

“Well I didn’t say that ” Robin grins at him, pokes the apple of his cheeks. 

He glares back at her. 

“Not. Helpful. He won’t… dislike the fact that I’m a Selkie, better?” Rob waves the ‘go ahead’ so Steve continues. “I have a plan, I’m gonna stick to it, and now all we need to do is pick out an outfit.”

“And call Eddie?” Robin asks.

“And call Eddie.” Steve confirms. “But outfit first.”

“Cus you wanna feel sexy when you ask him?” She’s smirking at him, and though Steve feels a little silly, he doesn’t really feel embarrassed. Robin’s safe like that. 

“You caught me.” He shrugs, smiling at her. “Now, you gonna give me a hand? Or…”

“Yes!” She catapults herself off the bed, tripping on her own feet in her haste, and crashes into Steve. They end up in a pile on the floor, but Steve doesn’t mind this either. Besides, he knows Robin’s right. Eddie won’t hate him for any of this. And Eddie is into him, maybe even as much as Steve’s into Eddie. 

Side A                                                                    Side B

Play The Game                                                     Uncle Albert/Admiral Halsey

Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic                      Take My Breath Away

Heartbeat                                                            Tears

Don’t Go Breaking My Heart                                  Head Over Heels

Two Of Us                                                           Heroes

More Than A Feeling                                            Silver Springs

Under Pressure                                                   Teo Torriatte

You’re The Inspiration                                         The Back Seat Of My Car

Eddie circles the living room furniture, relistening to the mixtape he made. The flow is good, the song selection is as close to perfect as it possibly could be, and Eddie quite possibly might die. 

Steve called earlier, and asked him if he wanted to meet up again tonight. It sounded casual enough, but something about Steve’s voice made Eddie wonder. Which could be stupid, cus he’s always wondering about Steve’s voice, (it’s beautiful, and alluring and of course he can sing too) but for some reason, Eddie’s actually letting himself get his hopes up for tonight, and he decided that even if Steve doesn’t do anything, Eddie’s gonna give him the mixtape, at least. 

Eddie stops pacing to check the time. 7:30. He’s got about 15 minutes before he’s gotta leave. He pops into the bathroom, checks what he’s wearing one last time, spots his toothbrush. 

Huh. 

It wouldn’t hurt to brush his teeth. Just in case. 

He’s trying not to let himself think about what ‘just in case’ could entail, but he’s never had very good self control. He spits and rinses. He paces back to the kitchen and checks the time. 7:33.

The mixtape finishes side B. He puts it in his front jacket pocket. Which, about coats, where did he put Steve’s? Eddie enters his room. The coat is folded over the chair by his desk, looking an awful lot like it belongs there. Eddie reaches out to grab it, but hesitates. Maybe it’d be okay if it stayed here for another day. It’s spent a fair amount of time here, and it hasn’t gotten ruined, and somehow, even though it’s not at all Eddie’s style, it looks at home here, like it’s meant to be. And fundamentally, Eddie is a weak, weak man. He’s done his best to return it as soon as he notices, but what’s one extra night? 

Eddie turns on his heel before he can change his mind, dashing back out to the kitchen to check the time. 7:40. Good enough. If he looks desperate, he looks desperate. 

Eddie does end up being early enough to maybe be suspicious, but Steve opens the door for him, like he’d been waiting, so Eddie figures it probably evens out. 

They end up in the living room again, one of Steve’s records on this time. It’s full of soft, dulcet voices and crooning melodies, all piano and trumpet and sweetness, and Eddie wonders why he’s never heard it before. Steve clearly knows the album well, and Eddie’s over here often enough that he thought he knew all Steve’s records. 

“Who’s this?” Eddie half gestures towards the player with his beer.

Steve shrugs bashfully, leaning back against the couch. 

“I know it’s not exactly your cup of tea, but I thought it might be nice tonight. ”

“Wait wait wait. I never said that. Come on, who is it?” Eddie pulls in a little closer to Steve, looking directly into his eyes to make sure Steve knows he’s serious.

Steve smiles, tilting his chin down slightly and looking back at Eddie.

“It’s Chet Baker. He’s a jazz player from the 50s or so, Robin likes him cus he plays the trumpet, and I like him cus he’s got a really nice voice.” Steve knocks his knee against Eddie’s. “It doesn’t hurt he’s got a fair amount of sad love songs. But some happy ones too.”

“And I bet you could dance to this. You know, next time there’s a full moon maybe.”

Steve leans in towards Eddie, grabbing Eddie’s hands and covering them with his own.

“Really?” Steve whispers, eyes enchanting and beautiful and so, so fond.

“Course.” Eddie whispers back, squeezing Steve’s hand lightly. “I loved dancing with you. And, actually, I kinda made you something for the next time you wanna dance. Although, I didn’t put any Chet Baker on it, cus I didn’t know you liked him.” As Eddie’s fumbling his way through this conversation, he pulls out the mixtape from his pocket. “Anyways, this is for you” He hands the tape to Steve, who stares at it for a long moment before abruptly looking back at Eddie.

“Is this– did you make me a mixtape?” His voice is still low, eyes still fond but now a bit shiny, and he’s looking at Eddie like he’s giving him the moon, not just a mixtape. 

“I, yeah. I made you a mixtape.” Eddie confirms gently. 

Steve flips it over to look at the tracklist, eyes flickering up every other moment to glance back at Eddie. 

“Wow.”

“Do you want to give it a listen, Sweetheart?”

“Yeah.”

Eddie hops up and takes the needle off the record, and switches the sound system. He’s finding his way back next to Steve as the first song starts. Upon reaching the couch he’s immediately hauled into a hug, Steve pulling him close and shoving his face into the crook of Eddie’s neck. When they finally part, Steve’s gazing downwards shyly.

“You know, no one’s ever actually made me a mixtape before.” Steve admits. “Thank you.” 

Eddie’s heartstrings are tugged on painfully. How is it that no one ever made Steve a mixtape?

“You’re welcome.” he says as sincerely as he can, and draws Steve’s hands close to him again. Steve’s looking at him all hopeful, and Eddie knows he’s not imagining things. This is it. This is the moment.

“You know, I’ve never fallen in love with anyone before?” Eddie strokes his thumbs over the top of Steve’s hands. “So, thank you.” He pulls Steve’s hands to his lips and presses a kiss on to each of them, one after the other.

Steve gasps, flushing slightly, then grinning wildly. 

“I love you too, Eddie.” Steve leans in gently, slowly capturing Eddie’s mouth with his own. It’s soft and sweet and so fucking perfect. Steve pulls away, giving one last kiss to the corner of Eddie’s mouth, and fuck if that doesn’t destroy him completely. That’s it, he’s ruined for anyone else. 

Eddie must still be staring dopily at him because Steve breathes out a laugh, ducking his head slightly before looking up at him beneath his eyelashes and fuck. He’s doing that on purpose, isn’t he. How long…? Eddie shakes his head slightly; that doesn’t matter right now.  Steve’s laughing at him a bit harder now, and Eddie reels him in to get a taste of it. Steve melts against him, still sort of laughing, little breathless chuckles between kisses. Steve pulls back again slightly, all pink cheeks and bitten lips, and Eddie can’t believe he’s the one who gets to make Steve look like that. Steve rests his hands on Eddie’s shoulders, fingers warm through the fabric of Eddie’s shirt. 

“There’s still something I need to tell you about, okay? And it’s a little weird, but bear with me? Please?” Steve looks nervously at him. Eddie’s hands run down Steve’s waist, hopefully soothingly.  

“Of course, Sweetheart. I’m all ears.” 

“Alright, great. Cus I’m, well. Okay, I did sorta have a plan for this, and it has since been abandoned, so uh. I might need a minute, actually.” Steve leans back against the couch. Eddie waits patiently, still tracing little circles above Steve’s hips. 

“Well, you know how you keep returning that one coat of mine?” Eddie shoots up suddenly, almost sprawling off the couch. Steve startles slightly, before continuing. “I’ll take that as a yes. Anyways, I kinda gave it to you so you could take care of it for me, maybe?” His voice pitches a little into a question at the end, like he’s not entirely sure of this statement. Eddie doesn’t really get it yet either, but he’s waiting for Steve to explain further, granted, a bit less patiently than before.

“I’m part Selkie, and the coat’s my pelt.” He blinks at Eddie uncertainly. “It basically means that I can shift into a seal, sometimes. If I wear it.”

Holy Fucking Shit. Steve is magical. 

Except– 

Wait a minute.

“Why on Earth are you giving it to me then? Doesn’t that make it a little difficult to turn into a seal?”

“I trust you, Eddie. I want you to take care of it for me.” Suddenly, Steve scrunches his nose up. “Wait, you accepted that awfully easily.”

Eddie laughs a little, feeling a bit caught out.

“I mighta sorta could have been already thinking that you were magical and was researching the coat? Which, I have so many questions by the way, on how you did all that. However,” Eddie remarks, grinning. “If you want to show me a demonstration, I won’t protest.”

Steve chuckles, rolling his eyes at him. 

“Okay, give me my pelt.” 

Eddie stops short, realizing. 

“Actually, I also may have left it at my house?”

Steve squints at him. 

“Really? Any reason why now?”

“Well, this is a little embarrassing, but it kinda felt like it belonged there? And also, I never really want to bring it back, which, is there something up that, cus I’m not joking. I was about a step away from hoarding it, at all times.”

Steve bounces in place, cheering.

“Ha! I knew it! I knew it! Robin didn’t believe me when I said that’s what was supposed to happen.” He folds his arms across his chest. “I am going to be able to gloat so much later.”

Eddie can’t help smiling, even though he feels more out of the loop than before.

“Okay, but Stevie? You still haven’t really answered my question.”

Steve sighs.

“There’s like, this whole thing about Selkie-human relationships, and historically a lot of them have been kinda, not great, but usually the human’s take the Selkie’s pelt to, keep them? I guess? And, would it be weird to say I kinda wanted to be kept?” 

Steve’s definitely gonna have to give Eddie more information at some point, but for now, this is good enough.

“Maybe a little,” Eddie replies, smiling. “But as it so happens, I’d like to keep you.”