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If it weren’t for the seasonal decorations or the display Robin had put together of “the best love stories of ALL TIME!!”, it would have seemed like any other day at Family Video. There was a growing stack of tapes waiting for Steve to rewind and shelve them, Robin was slowly refilling the candy shelf, and Eddie and Vickie were hiding behind the counter where the store manager would not see them if he happened to walk by the storefront on his day off.
This was his third day off in a row, so Steve didn’t understand why he got so uptight about Eddie and Vickie hanging around the store. He wasn’t even there to deal with Eddie’s antics, so why the hell did he care so much?
Steve also didn’t really understand why Eddie wanted to be at the store so badly, surely even being bored at home was better than having to sit on the dirty floor all day. Vickie he could understand; she at least got to spend the day with her girlfriend. Oh well, at least the two of them got along well enough to keep themselves entertained when Steve and Robin got too busy to be gracious hosts.
Normally, Steve was pretty good at that part of the job. Honestly, not knowing much about movies ended up being helpful in this line of work; he could ask genuine questions, and people were always happy to talk about things they liked. A lot of Family Video’s regulars preferred giving Steve recommendations over taking them from other employees.
Today, however…
Today, Steve could barely keep his disgust hidden as yet another happy young couple left the store, having claimed the last copy of Pretty in Pink for their romantic night in.
As soon as the door closed behind them, Steve rolled his eyes so hard that he was surprised he didn’t get a good look at his own brain. “Can you believe those two?”
“Who?” Vickie asked, not looking up from her notebook.
“Those two!” Steve gestured vaguely at the door. He had already forgotten their names. Had he even asked? “Hanging all over each other in public like that. Practically making out on the counter without any shame.”
Vickie finally looked up at him. “Didn’t you make out with Sandy Shaffer in here a few weeks ago?”
Steve felt his ears grow red. “That was different. It was after hours, we weren’t rubbing it in people’s faces. We weren’t being obnoxious.”
Vickie and Eddie exchanged a look that Steve did not appreciate. Maybe those two didn’t need to be friends after all.
“Ignore him,” Robin said, finally making an appearance. With a white and red box of candy in hand, she pulled herself up onto the counter. “He’s just upset because he’s going to be single on Valentine’s Day.”
“That’s not it,” Steve insisted. It was, and he was sure all three of them knew it.
“It is!” Robin insisted. “You’ve been acting like a total sad sack since Sandy told you she made plans with someone else.”
It wasn’t just about Sandy turning him down. Whitney had initially agreed, but called the next day to tell Steve that she was getting back together with her ex from Indianapolis, so she would be spending the holiday with him instead. Josie didn’t feel “that way” about him, but hoped that they could still be friends. Emma was convinced Steve couldn’t be serious about her (she was probably right, but hearing her say it still stung). Mia, Alice, Eve, Kelly K. and Kelly W., Tory… no one wanted to spend Valentine’s Day with him. Even Robin – who had spent the last Valentine’s Day commiserating with Steve about how small town dating was hell – had coupled up.
“Wait,” Eddie looked surprised. Genuinely surprised, not that stupid fake-shocked face he made when he was being obnoxious. “You don’t have a date for Valentine’s Day?”
Somehow, the sincerity just made him feel even worse. “Yeah. I don’t have a date. Haven’t you been listening?”
“You,” he repeated, rising to his feet with a sort of grace Steve didn’t expect. “Steve Harrington, do not have a date tomorrow night? No plans at all?”
“You don’t have to rub it in-”
“No!” Eddie’s ring-covered hand was suddenly on Steve’s chest. There was not enough room behind that counter for three people. “Sorry, dude, that wasn’t what I meant. I just… holy shit, really?”
“How many times are you going to make me say it?”
“Right.”
Eddie started pacing, out from behind the counter and across the store. Straight past the kid’s section and into classics before he turned around and walked back towards them with a new fire in his eyes.
“Let me take you out.”
Steve felt his stomach flip. “What?”
“Let me take you out,” Eddie repeated, with less frenzy and even more earnest than the first time. “Please?”
Steve wasn’t sure if he’d ever heard Eddie say please before. Not with that level of sincerity, anyway. There was so much hope and honesty behind those big brown eyes; it caught Steve off guard, so much so that he didn’t think before replying-
“Okay.”
Eddie smiled. Really smiled. No mischief or malice. “For real?”
“For real?” Robin echoed.
“Yeah,” Steve said, trying to shrug off what he was coming to realize might have been a bigger decision than he realized five seconds ago. “For real. Why the hell not?”
Eddie nodded, and even though he didn’t say anything at first, Steve could tell he was having quite the conversation with himself. “Alright. Pick you up at seven?”
“Seven sounds great,” Steve agreed.
“In that case…” Eddie pulled up his shirt sleeve so he could check a non-existent wristwatch. “I’ve got a lot of ground to cover in the twenty-four hours. Catch you guys later.”
Steve watched as Eddie left Family Video; slow and nonchalant at first, hands in his pockets… and then he took off sprinting, probably when he assumed they could no longer see him.
Shit. What am I getting myself into?
“Well,” Vickie said, looking up at Steve with a big, toothy grin. “You have a date now. Congratulations?”
“Yeah. Thanks. I think.”
* * *
Steve wasn’t sure what he expected Eddie to be wearing when he opened that door, but it wasn’t a button down and tie. Or jeans without any unsightly holes in them. And Steve definitely didn’t expect him to look so good in those clothes.
The new attire didn’t affect his attitude one bit, though. Smirking, he handed Steve a frosted glass vase full of grocery store flowers. “For you, dearest.”
“Uh… thanks.” It wasn’t until Steve had them in his hands that he realized no one had ever bought him flowers before. It was always Steve doing the flower-gifting, because that’s what the man was supposed to do, and he never expected to get any in return.
It was an unspoken rule that he never really thought about much before, but it feels so… silly, the more time Steve spent thinking about it. Why shouldn’t men get flowers?
“Wow, speechless already.”
“Huh?” Steve mumbled, finally looking up from the vase full of carnations. “Uh, sorry, I was- Just. Thanks.”
“You said that once already.”
“Yeah well-” Steve hesitated; getting emotional over such a simple gift felt silly. But he wasn’t sure what else to say, so Steve said exactly what was on his mind. “No one’s ever bought flowers for me before. It’s… nice. Thoughtful.”
Something in Eddie’s smile shifted. He looked more… genuine some how, like this wasn’t just part of another elaborate scene he was acting out. “Oh.”
“Look, let me just- I’ll put these inside and we can head out?”
“Yeah, sure.” Eddie nodded. "Do what you gotta do."
It felt awkward, to leave his date standing in the doorway while he took the vase to the kitchen. Almost as awkward as the bright pink and red flowers looked in the Harrington’s beige and brown kitchen, where everything else was perfectly color-coordinated.
Steve reached out to touch one of the flowers, carefully rubbing a pink petal between the pads of his fingers. Were all flowers so soft? Steve couldn’t remember the last time he actually touched a-
“Hey, sweetheart?” Eddie called from the front porch. “I’m not trying to be impatient, but a big part of tonight’s festivities is… uh, perishable. So if we could hit the road soon, that’d be great.”
“Be right there!” Steve called over his shoulder, glancing back at his flowers one last time before meeting Eddie back at the front door.
Eddie was already outside, plastered in front of his van’s passenger side door, as if to block Steve from entering. “Okay, so. We can do this one of two ways: I can blindfold you, or I can not blindfold you and you have to promise not to look in the backseat.”
Steve frowned. “What-”
“It’ll spoil the surprise!”
“Okay, okay. I’ll keep my eyes on the road. Jesus… ”
Eddie moved aside and Steve climbed into the passenger seat. He barely had time to buckle his seat belt before Eddie was backing out of the driveway, barely glancing over his shoulder to check for oncoming traffic.
“Where are you taking me?”
“Well, believe it or not, in a town with only two dining options that come close to being… festive enough for this occasion, getting a table on St. Valentine’s Day was not fucking happening. So I’m improvising. And I think you’re going to like it.” Eddie winked, reaching towards the play button on the stereo. "Or maybe you'll hate it and I'll never live it down. Who knows?"
Steve braced himself for whatever ungodly-loud metal tape Eddie had selected for their drive… only for every muscle in his body to unclench when a quiet, familiar tune began to pour from the speakers.
The real surprise, however, was when Eddie started to sing along with it.
“Lying in my bed I hear the clock tick and think of you,” Steve wasn’t sure what was more shocking; that Eddie’s singing voice was actually really nice, or that he knew this song in the first place. “Caught up in circles, confusion is nothing new-”
Steve wasn’t able to hide his amusement. “You listen to Cyndi Lauper?”
“No,” said Eddie. “Well, I didn’t. But she started growing on me while I was making this tape for you.”
“You made a tape for me?”
“Yeah,” Eddie shrugged, as if it wasn’t a big deal. “It’s not perfect, the shithead who does the night show at the fucking Squawk has to talk during every outro, like anything he has to say is more interesting than the music, but… yeah. Yeah, I made this tape for you.”
“Wow, flowers and a mixed tape?” It was an attempt at brevity, but it didn’t do much to make Steve feel any lighter. Asking him out, the clothes, the flowers, the special tape that Eddie must have spent hours working on… The weight of it all was starting to add up. It was starting to feel more and more real. “You really went all out, huh?”
“Yeah, well…” Steve only caught a glimpse of Eddie’s face before he turned away, his mass of hair blocking that blush from view. But it was there, and Steve saw it. “I figured I’m only going to get one shot. Might as well use every trick in the book, right?”
“One shot at…?”
Eddie cleared his throat. “You.”
Steve knew the answer before he asked, but Eddie’s answer still hit him like a truck.
Eddie let the silence linger for an uncharacteristically long time, but by the time Cyndi finished her song and The Cure began theirs, he started up again. “Fuck. Look, I- shit. We can just pretend that was a joke or something. Fucking shit.”
But it wasn’t a joke. Everything had been sincere and real and that heavy feeling in Steve’s chest had nothing to do with disgust and everything to do with anticipation. He didn’t want this to be a joke. He wanted to see what Eddie had planned, what was going to happen next-
“No.”
“No…?” Eddie repeated hesitantly, his eyes darting between Steve and the road as he did his best to give them both his full attention.
Steve recognized an out when he saw one. And that was kind of Eddie, really, to give him one more opportunity to back down. Hell, it didn’t even have to ruin the night. They could go back to his place, drink a few beers, Eddie could go home at the end of the night and they could tell their friends they just had some fun goofing around watching television.
“I don’t want this to be a joke.”
“Oh thank fuck,” Eddie sighed, as if he had been holding his breath the entire time Steve was contemplating. “You were starting to make me think I ironed this stupid shirt for nothing.”
“It looks good,” said Steve. “You almost look like a polite member of society.”
Eddie made an exaggerated gagging sound. “Don’t you ever say that to me again, sunshine.”
* * * *
The rest of the drive was fairly quiet, except for the mixed tape. The heaviness clung to the air, but it didn’t feel oppressive. It was more like being tucked under a heaping pile of blankets in the middle of winter; heavy and difficult to move around, but more comfortable than the alternative.
Steve had to actively remind himself to keep facing forward; something he almost always did while driving anyway, but now suddenly seemed impossible with a big mystery sitting right behind him. The urge only grew as they got further and further outside of town. Paved roads turned into gravel, and Eddie didn’t stop until they reached the top of a hill overlooking the old quarry.
“I know it doesn’t look like much,” said Eddie. “And that’s… because it isn’t yet. But as soon as the sun goes down, this is one of the best views in Hawkins, trust me.”
Eddie was opening the passenger door before Steve could finish untangling himself from his seat belt. It was getting cold already, and Steve was beginning to regret not bringing his coat.
Next, Eddie flung open the van’s sliding door, and Steve suddenly understood why he wasn’t allowed to look back there. Eddie had long since removed the seats so he could use the van to haul equipment for his band’s shows. Today, instead of amps and cords and instruments, he had filled the back of the van with pillows, blankets, what Steve was pretty sure were his couch cushions… Just about anything he had on hand that would make it more comfortable. In the middle of the cozy mess was a pizza-shaped insulated bag emblazoned with the Pizza Hut logo.
“Pizza Hut really gave you one of those things?”
Eddie looked comically deflated. “That’s all you’ve got to say?”
“No, it’s… this is nice, but… Did you steal the pizza warming… thingy?”
“Oh for fucks sake. I borrowed it. Hell, I didn’t even do the borrowing! Jeff did. And we’re totally going to take it back when I’m finished wooing you.”
Steve felt his face grow red. Wooing, huh...
“And before you get the wrong idea,” Eddie said, offering his hand to help Steve into the back of the van. “I am not serving you Pizza Hut on a first date. Nothing against the Hut, but I thought you deserved something a little more… special. I just needed something to keep it warm while we drove all the way out here.”
Steve settled in, a sofa cushion behind him and a pillow with a faded gingham cover under his thighs. Eddie followed suit, sitting next to him – a little too close, but Steve was pretty sure that had nothing to do with this being a date and everything to do with Eddie’s lack of attention to personal space – opening the pizza warming bag and handing Steve a red rubber container.
“Then what are you serving me?” Steve asked.
“Enzo’s famous manicotti,” Eddie said, his smile threatening to burst open even wider with pride as he popped open the container in his hands. “Er, as prepared by Edward Munson, anyway. I’m sure they use they use fancy imported ingredients or some shit.”
Steve opened his own and eyed the manicotti. It looked amazing, smelled amazing, but... “If you made it, what makes it Enzo’s manicotti?”
“The recipe,” said Eddie. “My old man stole all of them when he worked there as a dish washer back in the day.”
Steve had several questions, but the first one out of his mouth? “Why?”
“Because,” Eddie said, in that voice that indicated he was about to tell quite the story. “Pops was a romantic, deep down. I guess. I never really… Well anyway, he knew Mom thought an evening at Enzo’s was the pinnacle of romance, but he couldn’t afford it. Which is kind of fucked up, when it think about it; he was working there and didn’t make enough to pay his bills and buy his girlfriend dinner at the place he was busting his ass six fucking days a week. I guess he thought so too, because one night my old man swiped the original recipe book from the kitchen, took it home and copied everything down, and put it back the next time he had a shift. Enzo was none the wiser, and Mom got her manicotti whenever she wanted.”
It was quite the story, but it did bring up another question. One Steve had been wondering about for most of his life. “Is there actually an Enzo?”
“No idea, but his recipes are-“ Eddie paused for a chef’s kiss, “Eccellente!”
Steve nodded, finally taking his first bite. The store bought pasta had an obviously different texture compared to made from scratch noodles, but otherwise… “Wow, that’s-“
Eddie grinned. “Pretty fucking close, right?”
“Yeah,” Steve took another bite. “Pretty fucking close.”
* * * *
Eddie hadn’t been kidding about the view.
Steve had never really thought about stars before. They came out at night, they were pretty, but that was about it.
Seeing them from Eddie’s spot, however…
There were so many of them. Steve vaguely remembered learning in a science class that city lights made them harder to see, but he never would have guessed they would look like this, just twenty or so minutes outside of Hawkins.
He… he was learning a lot that night, apparently.
“Alright, level with me,” Eddie said, turning so he was facing Steve head-on. “How am I doing? Are you swooning yet?”
“I… don’t know,” Steve sighed. He was having a good time, by all accounts this was a great date, but… “I don’t think I’ve ever swooned before. How do you know if you’re swooning?”
“You just… y’know…” Eddie trailed off, clearly not having the answer to that question. “Wait, I’ve got an idea. One that’s going to make you swoon for sure. You’ll swoon so fucking hard your ancestors are going to feel it.”
“Oh yeah? What is it-”
Eddie kissed him. Clumsy at first, Eddie’s lips landing at the corner of Steve’s mouth. When Steve didn’t immediately pull away, Eddie shifted, connecting their mouths completely, and…
And it… really wasn’t all that different from any other kiss, in a lot of ways. Two sets of lips gliding together, a warm body pressed up against his, that little jump his heart always did when he was kissing someone new.
But it also couldn’t have been more different. Eddie kiss was both eager and demanding; Steve hardly had a chance to get his bearings before Eddie was sliding his tongue into Steve’s mouth. One of Eddie’s hands cradled the back of his head, holding Steve in place while his blunt fingers gently scratched against his scalp.
Steve let out a long, needy whine that he might have been embarrassed about, if he had time to think about anything other than how good it felt to be kissed with so much enthusiasm. To be wanted in a way he hadn’t been in years.
Eddie pulled away, just enough that he could speak, his lips still moving against Steve’s as he asked, “You okay?”
“Mhm.”
“Do you want me to stop?”
“Please don’t.”
“Don’t stop?”
He was being his usual, cocky self, but Steve couldn’t bring himself to care about that too much. Maybe, just maybe… That was kind of charming.
“Don’t stop.”
Eddie connected their lips again, and it was so, so easy to get lost in kissing. While it was happening it didn’t really matter that Eddie was a dude and that somehow that fact didn’t do anything to temper how much Steve was enjoying this. It was easy to focus on the way he could feel the rings on Eddie’s fingers against the back of his neck, and the way he was a messy, passionate kisser, and the way they both kind of tasted like garlic bread but neither of them really cared-
It was hard not to be disappointed when Eddie pulled away, but that faded quickly as Eddie maneuvered Steve into his lap. The position was a bit awkward at first, with Eddie sitting cross-legged and Steve facing sideways, but it was nice to be able to rest his head on Eddie’s shoulder while Eddie played with his hair.
“Holy shit,” he whispered, so quietly that Steve wasn’t sure if he was supposed to hear it.
Steve closed his eyes, tucking his smile away against Eddie’s neck. “I think I’m swooning now.”
Eddie laughed, and squeezed him so tight that it was tough to breathe for a second. “You and me both, Stevie. You and me both.”
Stevie… He could get used to that.
“Look, I don’t want to put a bunch of pressure on you or anything, but I think this might be the best night of my life.” Eddie paused. “Shit, pretend that sounded romantic, and not pathetic as all hell.”
“I don’t think it was that pathetic,” said Steve. “This is definitely one of the best dates I’ve been on since…” Since Nancy, he wanted to say, but when he thought about it…
Steve had loved Nancy. He really did. But the dates themselves involved a lot of sneaking around and trying not to get caught and going to stupid house parties and having dinner with Barb’s parents. Which Steve was more than happy to do – hell, he’d do it again if they invited him – but that wasn’t romantic. Not in the same way flowers and stars and homemade manicotti were romantic.
“Actually, this might be the best date I’ve ever had.”
“Dude, I about lost my fucking mind when you told me no one’s ever given you flowers before.” With Steve still sitting on his lap, Eddie couldn’t get up and pace around as he rambled, but Steve could tell that he wanted to. He had that wild look in his eyes that he always got when he just couldn’t sit still. “I mean, Jesus Christ, I’m over here thinking my heartfelt romantic gestures are cheap and pathetic compared to what you’ve had. But apparently what you’ve had is fucking nothing-”
“Hey, I wouldn’t say nothing-”
Eddie continued on despite the protest. “No way is Steve Harrington going to be impressed by my bullshit, I thought. Surely he’s been spoiled to hell and back. A tragedy, that’s what this is Steve. A fucking tragedy that the Greeks would be jealous of. Thank God and Jesus that I’m here to right the greatest wrong in the universe.”
Steve let Eddie’s words sink in, like rain soaking the dry summer ground. His eyes flickered back towards the starry sky, and Eddie took to gently scratching the back of his neck.
“You know,” he said, “I feel like I should be freaking out more.”
“Why?”
Steve rolled his eyes. “We’re both dudes."
"Ah."
"Which, I mean, I’m not stupid, I know that’s… a thing. For some people. And it never really crossed my mind that it could be a thing for me until… I donno a few hours ago? Maybe yesterday?”
Eddie hummed, and Steve found feel him burying his nose in his hair. “I guess I can understand that. When I realized I was hot for you, pretty boy jock Steve Harrington, I had quite the crisis.”
“That was what the crisis was about?” Steve asked, not sure if he really believed that. “Not the fact that you were into a guy?”
“No,” Eddie snorted. “No, I had that figured out well before the Harrington Heartache got to me. Not my first rodeo.”
That… that explained a lot, actually. Steve couldn’t remember Eddie ever dating anyone. Sure, he had always been a black sheep, but Hawkins had plenty of weird girls who were probably into that sort of thing. He never talked about women, at least not the way Steve used to talk about women with Tommy.
Once, Eddie had called Steve only to immediately pass the phone to Dustin who, in Eddie’s words, “really needed some help with his long distance Mormon squeeze”. Always so eager to guide his little lost sheep, but for some reason girlfriend trouble was a designated Steve issue. On another occasion, Robin had tried to set Eddie up with one of her band friends, and he refused so adamantly that looking back, Steve probably should have caught on.
Steve shifted, moving his arm so it was wrapped around Eddie’s waist instead of pinned between them. “Who was your… uh, first rodeo, then?”
“Aren’t you just full of questions tonight…” Eddie trailed off, and suddenly Steve realized why he talked so much; silence could be so incredibly uncomfortable.
But Steve didn’t say anything, he just let Eddie take his time. After a few agonizing moments, he spoke again. “Do you remember Jacob Longmeier? He was a senior when I was a freshman – blonde, string bean-looking guy? Got carted off to prison a few years back for selling crystal behind the hardware store?”
“Sure,” said Steve. “Vaguely.”
“Well, before he graduated, he and I… uh, hooked up. A couple of times. Mostly in that big supply room in the gym at the high school. Not exactly romantic, I mean I wasn’t even into him, but he offered and I didn’t exactly have a lot of prospects and… anyway, that happened. So I wouldn’t call myself a Casanova or anything, but I picked up a trick or two.”
Steve sighed into Eddie’s chest, letting that story sink in. It wasn’t that he thought Eddie was chaste, it was just… well, he hadn’t really thought about Eddie having sex (or not having sex, for that matter) at all.
But now he was. Steve was thinking about Eddie having sex, in that dusty room where they stored the volleyball nets and the basket balls and who even cares what else. He thought about Eddie having sex with someone he didn’t sound particularly interested in.
Did he enjoy it? What sort of tricks was he referring to? Was fooling around with a guy really so different from fooling around with a girl?
Eddie kept on going; apparently one uncomfortable silence per evening was enough for him. “Whatever, fuck him, he doesn’t matter. The point is, between my limited-but-relevant experience, and your wealth of knowledge, I think we’ve got this. Right? If you want. Again, no pressure-”
“Yes.”
“Yes…?” Eddie repeated carefully, as if Steve’s whispered affirmation was precious and fragile. “Yes you want to…?”
“We’ve got this,” Steve echoed, feeling more sure of himself saying it for the second time.
* * * *
Steve heard Eddie rev the van’s engine before he backed out of the driveway, and it was all too easy for Steve to imagine him punching the air before cranking up the volume of that worn out Metallica tape to congratulate himself on his well-won victory.
Steve smiled. He wasn’t sure when, but somewhere along the line Eddie’s goofy antics had become endearing. So endearing that Steve was still smiling when he made his way into the kitchen, finding his mother alone with a glass of wine and a magazine.
“You’re home early,” she said, with a hint of worry. “Is everything alright?”
Steve couldn’t help laughing. “You know, a few years ago you would have jumped for joy if I got home from a date before sunrise.”
“Is it Robin?” she asked, with that familiar glimmer of hope. At first, she hadn’t seemed to like Robin very much at all. That dislike had quickly shifted to indifference, then to questioning her son about a possible romantic connection at least once a week.
If she didn’t have his best interests at heart, it would have been incredibly annoying.
Steve shook his head. “No, it’s not Robin.”
“Well, that’s too bad,” she sighed, topping off her still half-full glass. “Am I allowed to know who it is?”
“No,” Steve said quickly. Too quickly. Shit. “Uh, I mean… not yet. I, uh… I don’t wanna jinx it by talking about it too soon, y’know? The whole situation is kind of… new.”
“Sure, sweetie,” she said, though her tone said that she would have killed to know who her only son had spent his evening with. “You can talk to me when you’re ready. You can talk to me about anything, you know that right?”
“Yeah.” Steve knew that if his mother knew about even half of the things he didn’t talk to her about, it would break her heart. Maybe someday he would. But he wasn’t about to start breaking down that dam with I kissed another man and I really liked it, and now I’m sort of panicking but I’m also kind of excited to see where this goes? Oh, also it’s accused murderer Eddie Munson. Are you still thinking a spring wedding would be good? “Yeah, of course.”
“Oh, before I forget...”
“Hmm?”
“Thank you for the flowers,” she said, nodding towards the vase of Steve’s carnations. “That was very thoughtful.”
Steve felt his stomach drop. Fuck, why didn’t he take those up to his room before he left? “Yeah, uh. Happy Valentine’s Day, Mom.”
“Happy Valentine’s Day, Steven.”