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1. "Baby", "Sweetheart" and Other Dangerous Habits by notsogolden

   Fandoms: Stranger Things (TV 2016)  

   • Mature
   • Major Character Death
   • M/M
   • Work in Progress

   20 Jun 2026

   Tags

   • Major Character Death
   • Steve Harrington/Eddie Munson
   • Maxine "Max" Mayfield/Lucas Sinclair
   • Jonathan Byers/Nancy Wheeler
   • Robin Buckley & Steve Harrington
   • Robin Buckley & Steve Harrington & Eddie Munson
   • Dustin Henderson & Eddie Munson
   • Steve Harrington & Dustin Henderson
   • Steve Harrington
   • Eddie Munson
   • Max Mayfield (background)
   • Lucas Sinclair (background)
   • Nancy Wheeler (background)
   • Jonathan Byers (background)
   • Dustin Henderson
   • Fake/Pretend Relationship
   • Idiots in Love
   • Mutual Pining
   • Slow Burn
   • Friends to Lovers
   • Oblivious Steve Harrington
   • Oblivious Eddie Munson
   • Emotional Hurt/Comfort
   • Romantic Angst
   • Emotional Repression
   • We're just gonna pretend the 80's weren't homophobic
   • Denial of Feelings
   • First Kiss
   • Late Night Conversations
   • Touch-Starved Eddie Munson
   • Touch-Starved Steve Harrington
   • Flirting
   • Teasing
   • Pet Names
   • “Sweetheart” as a Weapon
   • “Baby” as a Weapon
   • accidental intimacy
   • Pretending to Date and Catching Feelings About It
   • Robin Buckley Knows Exactly What’s Happening
   • Emotional Constipation
   • they both have issues
   • “It’s Fake” Repeated Like a Prayer
   • Disaster Bisexual Steve Harrington
   • Eddie Munson Lives for the Drama
   • No Beta We Die Like Eddie Munson
   • This Will End Badly
   • canon compliant ending
   • Canon-Typical Danger (eventually)
   • temporary happiness
   • Emotional Damage/Sad Ending
   • Angst with a Happy Ending Vibes Until It Isn’t
   • Tragic Romance
   • too late love confessions
   • Major character death - Freeform
   • Grief/Mourning
   • Eddie Munson Deserved Better
   • Steve Harrington Deserved Better Too Honestly
   • We All Deserved Better TBH

   Summary

   Dustin Henderson is convinced Steve Harrington and Robin Buckley are secretly dating.

   Steve, desperate to shut him up, panics and blurts out the first thing that comes to mind:

   “I’m dating Eddie.”

   Which would maybe be less of a problem if Eddie Munson didn’t immediately agree to it.

   Now there are rules.
   Public only.
   No real feelings.
   No questions.

   It should be easy enough to fake a relationship for a couple of weeks.

   Except Eddie keeps calling him sweetheart like it means something.
   Except Steve keeps answering late-night phone calls he should probably stop waiting for.
   Except somewhere between lingering touches, stupid inside jokes, and one very convincing kiss, the line between pretending and real starts disappearing entirely.

   And by the time Steve realises he’s in love with Eddie Munson—

   It’s already too late.

   Language:

   English

   Words:

   32,658

   Chapters:

   9/?

   Comments:

   15

   Kudos:

   65

   Bookmarks:

   12

   Hits:

   1,270