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“Dude, I don’t get it! She’s right there! I don’t get why you don’t ask her out!”
He was at the end of his rope. It had been a long day. He’d slept in after a long, sleepless night and was late to work. The customers were extra bitchy. He blew a tire and had to replace it, somehow getting grease on his jeans. And now he made the mistake of letting out a mildly wistful sigh as Head Over Heels by Tears for Fears came on the radio as he drove Dustin to hellfire. Now, the kid would not leave him the fuck alone about this bullshit for the millionth time.
“She’s literally the perfect girl for you!”
The tactic he adopted a couple months or so back of truthfully saying that he liked someone else hadn’t worked. And usually, he’d ignore it. Turn up the radio. Dismiss it. Anything. But this time? This time he exploded with “It’s Eddie, okay?”
That stopped the kid in his tracks, blinking at him. “Oh.” And Steve’s heart clenched. He hadn’t meant to say that. Hadn’t thought it through. Though he was usually impulsive, he hadn’t been with this. Hadn’t even told Robin about it until weeks after he started thinking about it, and Robin usually knows his thoughts before he has the chance to think them. Certainly not planning on coming out to anyone else yet. Eddie himself sure had no clue.
But then his pseudo-sibling grinned, those pearly fake teeth practically sparkling at him. “That’s so cool! Eddie is awesome!”
Steve squints at him. “Wait, you’re cool with it?”
The kid scoffs at him. “Dude I faced interdimensional monsters before I hit puberty and you think you being gay now would weird me out”
Steve gives a slight nod to the side. He had a point. “I like both men and women, actually. It’s called being bisexual.”
“Robin teach you that?” He nods, hesitantly. He hadn’t intended to out her. He was now pretty sure the kid would be cool with it but “She would know that word. She knows, like, every word. I bet she reads dictionaries for fun.”
Crisis averted. “Oh, she does. Kind of. She has a dictionary in her bedside table so she can look up words she doesn’t know. She switches it out with different dictionaries so she can read in French and shit.”
He snorts “Cool.” They pull into the parking lot. “That explains it. Cause otherwise, Robin would be the perfect girl for you. But Eddie’s the coolest. He squints, tilting his head like a cocker spaniel. “Now that I think about it, you and Eddie make a lot of sense together.” It was Steve’s turn to snort. “I’m serious! On a surface level, sure you seem like opposites. But you’ve clearly bonded!” He gasps “I’ve mistaken the spark of romance for the spark of friendship!”
He rolls his eyes. “Thanks for being supportive, bud. But that’s insane. He’s not into me.”
And he knows it. Eddie was a good friend, sure. They hang out quite a bit, even alone sometimes. But it’s not like that. He’d come out to him and Rob last month, but that didn’t mean anything. They were opposites at more than just the surface level. In ways that clearly mattered to Eddie.
His self-deprecating spiral is ended by a knock at the window startling the two. Speak of the devil and all that shit, Eddie is at the window with a catlike grin “What are you waiting for, Henderson? If you’re late you’re doing your first battle roll with disadvantage.”
Dustin shouts far louder than required. “In a minute! We’re having a moment!” Eddie puts his hands up in surrender and walks off, though not going far. The boy turns back to Steve as he undoes his seatbelt. “Get out of the car.”
“What?”
Dustin opens his own door. “Get out! Stand up! Move!"
“Geeze, alright,” Steve grumbles, getting himself up as Dustin comes to his side of the car. “Wh-“
He’s cut off by Dustin wrapping his arms around him. He whispers, a dramatic change from his usual volume. “Thanks for telling me. I’m sorry I kind of made you. Love you, Steve.”
He melts into the hug. The young teen might be shorter than him still, but he has enough of a wingspan to gather up bits of Steve and hold them together. “Nah, you didn’t make me. Thanks, bud.”
He pulls away as Steve says it back, running off to where Eddie is waiting around 10 feet away. He doesn’t have to strain to overhear the kid say “Sorry, Eddie. It was important! I understand if I get disadvantage.”
“Nah,” the older man claps the younger on the shoulder, keeping it there as they start to walk in. “Don’t worry about it. A hug from Harrington has gotta be worth it.” He shoots a grin and a wave back at Steve.
He does his best to return it before the two disappear into the house. He lets out a breath as his body deflates. Alright. That was…really cool. Both the ‘Dustin continuing to be the most awesome kid he knows’ thing and the ‘Eddie insinuating he wanted physical contact of a sort’ thing. But goddamn. Today has been a year. And he still has to pick Dustin up in three hours.
He managed to catch a nap and have dinner before it was time to pull back in. He was also tasked with driving home Mike and Will. The three spent their entire shared journey regaling the events of the night. The only other thing said was a soft thank you from Will as they both headed into the Wheeler house.
As soon as the two are both gone, Dustin turns to him with a shit-eating grin. He pre-rolls his eyes. “Alright get on with it.”
Dustin grins. “I’m pretty sure Eddie likes you back.”
His eyes are rolled a second time for emphasis. “Sure he does.”
“I’m serious! I think that, like, half the NPCs are based on you. And the more I think about it, he describes them all as being, like, super hot. Even the guys. That’s gotta mean something!”
He clenches his hands on the steering wheel. “I don’t even know what that means, Dustin. NTDs?”
Dustin groans “Npc! It means non-playable characters. For example, we’re literally on a mission to break this curse on a prince. He’s described as having a constellation of moles and a crown of glowing hair.” Steve snorts. “His name is Stephanius. That’s, like, as close as it gets to Steve in this world.” Steve says nothing, though he is starting to feel his cheeks heat. “Steve he wields a mace! That’s the closest you get to a nail bat. And the first time we met him, Eddie literally said his bare chest looked oiled up and glistening. Glistening, Steve!”
“Alright, I get it! It glistened!” He huffs. “It’s…that doesn’t mean he’s interested in me romantically. I’m not a bad-looking dude, Dust. Just because he’s noticed that, doesn’t mean he’s into me in a way he’d want to date me.”
He’s thankful that he pulls up to Dustin’s house. “What? Why wouldn’t he want to date you? Especially if you think you’re hot!”
“Alright!” He doesn’t mean to raise his voice, but he also doesn’t try hard to hold back. “That’s enough. He just isn’t, okay? Conversation done.”
“Oh.” Dustin nods softly. “Okay. I’ll, uh, okay.”
He unbuckles his seatbelt and grabs his half-full backpack. As he opens the door Steve sighs “Wait, bud. I’m sorry.” Dustin turns to him. “ I’ve just had a long day. It’s just more complicated than it seems.”
Dustin nodded. “Yeah. I get it I’m sorry.”
“No, it’s…don’t worry about it. I’m just done talking about it for now. It actually does mean a lot to me that you’re being so supportive about this. I’ve been, you know, nervous to talk about it.”
Dustin smiles softly. “Love you, dude.”
“You too, dude.”
When Steve has him over for a movie a few nights later, the kid asks if anyone else knows yet. He understands when he’s told Robin knew first. He doesn’t clock her at all. Just says “It’s the age-appropriate friend privilege, right? Like how she gets the front seat?” Steve nods. Dustin hums and says “I get it. There’s stuff about me that you’re not ready to know yet, too.” Which leads Steve to chase after him. What the hell does he not know?
Dustin is shocked when later that week, he becomes the fourth person Robin ever comes out to.
The next time the sun sets on a hellfire meeting, Dustin once again turns to him with a shit-eating grin. “Permission to give you more proof that Eddie likes you back?”
Steve groans, but it slides into a grin as he relents. The pattern repeats the next two sessions.
The fourth session, Dustin is quiet as he gets into Steve’s car. It’s only him that needs a ride today. They chat, but even when Steve asks about the campaign all Dustin says is “It was good” as he looks out the window.
This kid thinks out loud, and he projects. It takes a lot to draw him in on himself like this. “You gonna tell me what’s bothering you?” Dustin doesn’t shift his gaze. “Bud?”
“Is it...” Dustin shifts to face the windshield, still not looking at him. “Is it okay to talk to you about someone I think might be gay?”
Steve shifts in his seat. Oh. Right. He’s a gay adult. Sort of. That means that even though he’s only known about it a few months, he’s still gotta be an adult about this stuff. And that means being serious. And careful. “Yea, bud. But don’t tell me their name, okay?”
He sees Dustin’s eyebrow crinkle. He elaborates “I’ve got a feeling I know them, right?” Dustin nods, finally looking at him. “If they were ready to tell me, they would. Obviously, they'd be safe if I knew. But it can be, you know, scary. The idea of people knowing. If the wrong person finds out, bad things could happen. We can talk about them, though. Just...don't name any names."
Dustin nods. “Okay. So this person. My friend.” He looks to Steve for approval on the identifier. Steve nods. He had already figured it was one of the kids. Who else would it have been Murray? “My friend has always been kind of weird about…dating. Looking back, I guess. But recently, I’ve noticed them looking at this other person. I know most gay stereotypes probably aren’t true, but they’ve always been a bit, you know, sensitive. And it’s…it’s how you were looking at Eddie the other day when we were all swimming.”
He’d had the kids over to make some better memories in the pool. Nancy and Jonathan had understandably declined. “When he was talking to Mike. You were looking at him. And you looked…sad.”
Steve takes the red light moment to look at him. “What do you mean, sad?”
“Not depressed sad. Softer than that.” The light changes. He has to look away. “Like, you liked him so much. You wanna be with him, but you can’t. So all you can do is look.”
“Oh. His chest tightened a little. He feels awfully exposed. He hoped no one else was paying such close attention to him. “Yeah, sounds about right.”
“Yeah. That’s how my friend looks at this other person. I think they’ve been looking like that for a long time, and I didn’t notice until now.”
“Okay. That’s, uh, there is some evidence there.” He grips the steering wheel. “So? How are you feeling about it.”
He sighs. “I don’t want them to be sad, Steve. I don’t think this is a situation where I can match make.” Good boundary following, bud. “So if they’re gonna be sad, I don’t want them to feel alone, too. I want them to know it’ll be okay.”
Steve nodded. He could understand it entirely. He figured out he was queer kind of late compared to Robin. But still. He understood entirely. “You’re a good friend, Henderson.” He lifted a soft smile. “Okay. I guess just…speak positively about gay people. Like, if they come up. I know it doesn’t come up often but…” He trails off, squinting. These kids probably aren’t just casually talking about homosexuality. If they did, they probably wouldn’t be in this situation. A half moment later he snaps his fingers. “Your Gnome is a dude, right?
“Nog is a dwarf, but continue.” His gesture echoes the sentiment.
Steve turns to me with what might be the most well-thought-out plan he’s had post-apocalypse. “You should make him flirt with some guy in the game.”
Dustin balks. “What? Why? What’s that supposed to do?”
“Hear me out.” He holds his hand up to him like he’s trying to ease a scared dog. “Whenever it makes sense for the story or strategy or whatever. Doesn’t gotta be true dwarf love or whatever. But your guy is gonna flirt with another guy. And you’ve gotta take it seriously. Even if anyone else laughs or something, you’re gonna take it seriously. Got it?”
Dustin nodded, eyes wide in wonder. It wasn’t a look bestowed upon him often. “Steve that’s smart.”
He gave a jokey half-bow despite the continued restraint of his seatbelt. “Even a broken clock is right twice a day.”
Dustin snorts. “I don’t know, man, you’ve been right twice in this car ride already. And when you picked me up, even though the skies looked all messed up, you said it wasn't gonna rain. You got that right, too. You’re on a roll.”
Steve grins at him. “Alright, I’ll take it.” His face relaxes as he thinks. “You’ve just gotta be a good friend to them, dude. Gay thing aside. You’ve just gotta be there for them. Let them know you care.” He thinks of Eddie. How even though he had trusted them with his life in a supernatural sense, it had still taken him time to trust them with this secret. “That you’re always gonna be there for them.” Dustin nodded, thoughtfully. “And you should probably tell them a secret. Something no one knows. Maybe a little juicy.”
Dustin cackled. “Why would I do that?”
Steve gestures to the obvious. “Unless they’re a secret murderer or something, this is their biggest secret!” Steve ignores the fact that technically, some of them were secret murderers and that should probably be closer held. It didn’t count because the group knew.
“We’ll see about that one.”
“Alright.” Steve gave what he hoped was a reassuring smile. “Sound like a plan?”
Dustin nodded. “Yeah. Sounds like a plan.”
He couldn’t forget about it that night. How scared and confused whichever of his kids probably was. How he wished there was anything he could do to make it easier.
And then, horrifyingly, he realized that there was.
Asking Eddie Munson on a date.
And so that’s how he found himself that Friday night in his kitchen. He had the other ‘technically adults but we feel like stupid kids’ adults over for their mandatory monthly movie night. They hung out outside of this of course, but things got in the way and not everyone could be there all the time. Nancy made sure they had movie nights marked in their calendars.
Everyone was in the kitchen with him, gathering the snacks they needed. He shot Robin the signal look, she nodded and rallied Jonathan and Nancy to go set up the TV and make sure they had enough blankets They left just the stupid pretty boy he had a stupid crush on.
For a second, Eddie looked like he was about to follow after the group. Steve held him up with “Hey Eds, can we talk about something real quick?”
For a second, Eddie squinted at him. By now Steve knew he was rotating the rolodex of things he might have done wrong recently. When the squint was done, he knew he’d come off empty. “Yeah, man. What’s up?”
Eddie leaned back against the kitchen counter, a mere four feet away from him. The long-haired man looked at him with his awfully big eyes, a casual smile on his thin lips. Steve felt his heart pick up.
Oh. He’s nervous.
Maybe he shouldn’t be that surprised. The last time he pursued someone and was really serious about it was Robin, but there was still truth serum in his veins so he wasn’t thinking about it. Before that it was Nancy, but when he first asked her out he was still cocky asshole Steve. He hardly had a nervous bone in his body back then.
But this? With Eddie? This matters, and he has nothing to hide behind. And for a second he thinks he’d have an easier time taking on a demodog.
Then he remembers, one of his kids is gay and they need to know it’s fine. That there is a future in which they can be happy and confident. So even if this crashes and burns he can say that he’s tried to be that example.
So he takes a deep breath and looks the other man in the eye. “I was wondering if you’d want to spend some time together next Friday.” He gulps. Be confident. Be direct. “I’d like to take you on a date, Eddie.”
He watches the expression on Eddie’s face change from casual and at ease to a cheeky grin as he points a finger at himself. “Me? You’re asking me on a date, Steve?”
Steve smiles back shyly. “Yeah. I am. I like you. Quite a lot actually.”
Eddie grabs a piece of his hair and twirls it a few times before bringing it towards his mouth, though not chewing on it. “Steve Harrington has a crush?” The man was clearly pleased, unclenching Steve’s gut. “On little old me?”
Steve huffs a laugh and rolls his eyes. “Somehow? Yes, I do. So what do you say about it, Munson?” He says, taking a step forward and leaning against the counter facing Eddie. There wasn’t even two feet between them now.
Eddie drops his hair. With no pretense, “Yeah, I’ll go on a date with you.” Steve grins, Eddie matches. “And by the way.” He leans in further, gap narrowing even more. “I quite like you, too.”
He takes a shuddering breath. “I’d really like to kiss you right now, Eddie.” Reluctantly, he moves away. “But I’ve already been kind of planning this thing. And I wanna do this…” He takes a moment to find a word that fits “Proper, I guess. Not rush it. So if our date goes well, then I’ll be dropping you off with a kiss on the cheek. Alright?”
Eddie initially groans, but it slips into a laugh. “So, I’m getting the full Harrington experience those girls always gushed about.”
He says it as a joke, and Steve knows it. Even finds it amusing. Still, he said softly, “No. Definitely not. I haven’t felt like this about anyone before.”
Eddie bites his lip and rocks back and forth on his feet. “Alright. I believe you. The fully customized Stevie experience.”
From the other room, Nancy can be heard questioning what’s taking them so long. Robin might be a rather experienced improviser, but she is definitely struggling to stall with “Wait, Nance! Do you think we need this blanket? It’s wool so it’s pretty good at temperature regulation. But on the other hand, it’s a little itchy? I need your opinion.”
Steve snorts, appreciating his best friend’s efforts. He tips his head in the direction of their friends. “Wanna sit next to me?”
Eddie almost giggles. “Sure. You gonna hold my hand in the popcorn bucket?”
Steve teases back. “If you’re lucky, I might fake a yawn and put my arm around you.”
Eddie jokingly fans himself. “At this rate, Harrington, I don’t know how I’m gonna wait a full week.”
After the next dnd session, Dustin is very ready to talk about why Eddie was in such a good, giggly mood. He is right to suggest that Steve made a move, but Steve pleads the fifth. He does let him know that he executed the gnome love plot by flirting with a guard. He rolled a 17 on charisma which he assured was high and that it strategically worked, and he says he stayed totally serious about it even when others laughed.
Their first date is dinner. They’ve shared meals before, but even though they can’t be publicly out this still feels different. Steve had specifically selected a booth near the back so people wouldn’t notice their feet tangled together. Steve does drop him off at the Munson steps with a kiss on the cheek.
The second date is a picnic. Steve made them sandwiches and cookies. Eddie brought a bottle of cheap wine. The evening was soft, sweet, and felt so terribly intimate. It mirrored the brief kiss they share at the end of the night.
The third date is planned by Eddie. He picks Steve up in his van and brings a small bouquet of wildflowers he picked himself and then brings them to a town over for a drive-in showing of Temple of Doom. He even brings a pack of Steve’s favourite candies. They do end up making out in the back of the van and jacking each other off sloppily. The night ended an hour and a half later in Steve’s bed, satiated from their second orgasms. Steve feels like he's the only person in the world as Eddie’s careful fingers trace over the moles on his back.
It doesn’t take long for them to decide that yes, this is definitely something they both want to pursue long-term. It is then that they sit Dustin down to tell them they are dating. The kid starts with his ‘I knew it’ spiel which develops into ‘I’m really happy for you guys. This is awesome.’ which transitioned to ‘Here is all the evidence I had that you two were meant to be together.’ All in all, a perfect Dustin reaction. It had Eddie and him rolling their eyes in sync.
By then, he’d already told Eddie about the conversation he shared with Dustin that made him work out the courage to ask him out. His now boyfriend was fully on board. They discussed how they’d go about doing it off and on again for weeks until they decided they were ready. So, there Steve was. Walking into DnD with Dustin. Not to play, of course. He was bringing in a plate of brownies he had made that morning as his excuse for why he had to come in.
Everyone is already there by now, the players gathered around the table. Even Max and El were in a corner on a couch, a small stack of comics beside them. He took a breath and steeled himself as he walked through the door. It was fine. It’s literally just a room full of kids. Kids who he knows to have their hearts in the right place. It’s fine.
So he walks in, greeted with enthusiasm but also questions. He insists he’s there just to bring the treats and that’s it. So by the time the plate is on the table and everyone has a piece, he wonders if they’ll be too distracted to notice as Steve responds to Eddie’s “Thanks, babe!” by leaning down to press a quick kiss to the man’s lips.
But the room goes quiet. All eyes are on them. Everyone but Dustin looks shocked, Dustin just looks pleased. Steve looks back and says just “What?”
Mike is the first to speak with an almost harsh-sounding “Did you just kiss our dungeon master?”
Eddie smirks. “Yeah, he did.” His eyes narrow. “What’s it to you?”
Mike shrinks. “Nothing! That’s, uh, cool.”
Everyone gives a resounding nod and echoes the sentiment. That’s cool. That they’re happy for them. That they’ll keep the information secret. Lucas does get up to go hand Max two crinkled bills, but he’ll ask about that later. Dustin gets to brag that he’s known they were together for a full three weeks and managed to keep it hush-hush.
For the first time, Steve does stay to watch a Dnd session. He joins Max and El on the couch. It’s a bit squished, but none of them seem to mind. As they play, Steve watches their face and contemplates. Which of them is it?
It’s not until their first break is about to end, when once again Steve bends down to give a quick kiss to his new boyfriend, that he gets a clue.
He looks again at each of them, all watching. And he finds it. The look of wonder. Of hope. Of need. The issue is that he expected to find it in one of them, but instead, it’s two. Mike and Will. Huh. That could potentially explain some things.