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"Why are we watching this one again, Eddie?"
Steve was sitting on the sectional in the basement, kids filing in and out as they got cleaned up after a day spent in the pool. There was something so cathartic about days like today. Getting to watch the younger kids be kids - fighting each other in the pool, yelling at them not to run, getting ganged up on as soon as he dips his big toe in, not worrying about staring, about sideways glances, about the inevitable person who would come up to him to try and proselytize, thinking the scarring around his neck was self-inflicted. With this group, there wasn't a single one of them that didn't have a scar; it ranged from a small one on Erica's knee from when one of the military goons storming the radio station knocked her down, scraping her knee, to Eddie, who had thick patches of scarring across his entire body from the demobats.
Now that the sun had begun to set and the heat had faded, they gradually made their way inside, splitting up to use the various bathrooms to shower and change before finding a spot in the basement. The overstuffed sectional was where the older of the group lounged, while the younger ones had a thick, mattress-like pad they placed in front of the couch and layered with blankets and pillows.
Steve had just taken a seat in the middle of the couch, feet stretched out as they waited for everyone to finish cleaning up. Just as he tipped his head back against the cushion, he was jostled as Eddie collapsed into the corner seat next to him. His cheeks were tinged crimson from the sun; even with them applying regular sunscreen, his pale skin still burned easily. His wet curls were draped over one shoulder, t-shirt damp underneath them, with some pieces sticking to his neck as he grinned at Steve mischievously.
"Oh great," Steve started jokingly, rolling his eyes playfully as he glanced sideways at Eddie, "I've seen that look before. What did you do?"
Eddie placed a hand over his chest in mock surprise, playing up his emotion like he was on stage performing… like, Shakespeare or something? His eyebrows arched high, disappearing into his damp fringe as those big brown eyes seemed to stare into his soul. He tilted his chin down slightly to look up at him through his lashes. This close, Steve could also see the dusting of freckles on his skin, highlighted by the warm pink of his cheeks and nose. He had never noticed the freckles before - or how long his eyelashes were.
"Steven Regina Harrington," Eddie started, smacking Steve's arm with the back of his hand when he mumbled about that not being his middle name, before he continued, "What have I done? What have I done, indeed. I have only procured the finest of entertainment for the evening, good sir."
"Eddie, I rented that to you yesterday," Robin snipped as she dropped down on the other side of Steve, who shifted his arm so she could lay her head on his thigh until everyone was ready for the movie.
"Can it, Buckles." Eddie snipped as he fought back a smile, before turning those chocolatey brown eyes back on Steve, "Seriously, though, I brought a great movie. Toes the line between nerdy and normy, both simple and complex humor, even a historical lesson to be-"
"Eddie, if you're using Monty Python as a history lesson, no wonder it took you three tries to pass senior year," Nancy jested, smiling slyly from her place in one of the oversized side chairs adjacent to the couch.
Eddie's jaw dropped open in surprise as Lucas, Erica, and Max all let out a soft "Ooo" at the shot from Nancy. Eddie's eyes sparkled in amusement before he reacted to the words as if they were a real shot, clutched both hands over his heart, and flung himself backward. Steve nearly took an elbow to the nose as Eddie slid dramatically onto the floor next to Lucas, Max, and El. Lucas had to push Eddie, who played dead with limbs akimbo, taking up as much room as possible, off of him as he laughed with Max at his antics.
"Oh great, free seat!" Dustin noticed as he came down the stairs, speed walking to sit next to Steve.
Eddie scrambled back to his feet and flung himself onto the couch, feet stretched out and toes nearly brushing Jonathan's leg. Eddie shrugged, a soft "no room" directed at Dustin.
"How are we the most mature here?" Dustin complained under his breath before he grabbed a spot on the floor, propping pillows behind him against the couch directly in front of Steve, batting his legs out of the way impatiently. Steve held his legs up for a moment as he shot an incredulous look at Dustin before stretching out and crossing them on Eddie's side of the couch at a slight angle. As Mike, the lone straggler, finally descended the stairs, those on the floor all yelled at him to put the tape in.
"Why do I have to do everything?" Mike whined before sighing sullenly.
Steve looked over at Nancy at this, who was already looking back, as they both rolled their eyes at his dramatics, Jonathan laughing as the younger party members bickered. Unsurprisingly, the argument against Mike was led by Max, who was still her fiery self even as she continued to heal, her legs draped over Lucas's lap, where he ran thumbs down the length of her muscles to help alleviate any soreness or knots from the day's activities. The argument ended pretty quickly when Mike got frustrated, snapping at Max to put the tape in herself. She quickly brought in the I was Vecna-ed and am therefore exempt for life rebuttal. Mike snapped his mouth shut before he turned to put the tape in silently. El offered Max a high five, which she returned gleefully.
Eddie sat up quickly when the movie started, his arm folded over the back of the couch, fingertips just grazing Steve's shoulder, knees folded up to lean against Steve's thigh.
"Okay, so you remember that Megadeth song you liked the other day?" Eddie started, hands already moving to emphasize his words as Mike groaned loudly because the tape wasn't rewound, grumbling at Eddie, who yelled back, "Shut it, Wheels, or you're rolling with disadvantage next game."
"If the tape wasn't rewound, I blame dingus," Robin accused from her spot next to Steve.
Steve shot a glare Robin's way before shifting closer to Eddie, her head thumping down on the couch, where she made an incredulous noise at him before moving to lean against the arm of the couch, pouting at Steve with her arms crossed. Steve stuck his tongue out at her, receiving a middle finger and a grin back. He smiled back before turning to Eddie.
"I liked your music?" Steve teased, a lopsided smile on his face as he looked at Eddie.
"You wound me, Stevie," Eddie said softly, tilting his head down slightly, hand in the middle of his chest, "You remember, the -"
"The one about the wizard?" Steve followed up, arching an eyebrow as he cast a sidelong glance at Eddie.
"Well, enchanter, but-," Eddie started, holding up a finger to Steve's face when he opened his mouth, "There are differences, don't you start. It's a nuanced thing, not enough time to explain now."
Steve chuckled at Eddie's anticipation of what he would say and the subsequent frustration, which he was right about. He raised his eyebrows at Eddie to have him continue, a soft smile on his face as he sat there and waited.
"Oh, right. So, enchanter. This is the movie that inspired it!" Eddie explained excitedly, "And yeah, it's a weird one, but it's like… British humor weird, not fantasy and demons and stuff weird."
As the movie finally finished rewinding, Mike hit play and flipped the lights off, casting the room in darkness, the blue glow from the oversized, flickering television the only light in the space.
Steve stared in confusion at a title screen when "Dentist on the Job" showed, then turned to Eddie. Eddie just smiled at him goofily, not saying a word. He chuckled when the movie faked its intro before dramatic music began, which seemed to fit the theme better. What he didn't understand were the subtitles, which were in a foreign language and were moving quickly.
"Eddie, what the hell are these subtitles?" Steve questioned, only used to subtitles in English to translate other languages. Eddie had said it was British humor, but they colonized a lot of places, right? Maybe it was one of those.
Steve felt the huff of air from Eddie's laugh in his ear, not realizing how close Eddie had moved.
"Just wait, it gets ridiculous. It's their whole schtick," Eddie said quietly, voice tight as he tried to keep his laughter in.
Steve felt like he missed things as the rest of them laughed at the subtitles flying by. Steve could barely see the letters from where he sat, never mind being able to read them that fast. It was embarrassing, not being able to read like everyone else. Nancy had said that she thought it was something called dystexia… dyspepsia… dys something or other. Something where the letters moved around - which, for Steve, they did. That didn't mean he wasn't self-conscious about it, feeling like he was the odd man out on some big inside joke. His hand tightened into a fist around the hem of his shorts, jaw flexing as he clenched his teeth, his cheeks flushed in embarrassment.
"So the subtitles are this whole extended joke," Eddie started softly in his ear, explaining what was happening that Steve couldn't read, "Starts out about Sweden, then takes a turn to talk about a moose, and how it bit the subtitler's sister. They basically try to fit Moose into every line until the movie directors fire him. Then he sneaks back, keeps going on and on about this moose before they fire whoever was in charge of firing the subtitler initially."
Steve's chest swelled with warmth. He's never had anyone do this for him, never had anyone notice. That's why he normally sat in the back corner; no one saw him when he struggled to read subtitles or the text on the screen, or when he didn't get a reference or joke that everyone else laughed at. Sometimes it was even hard to see the screen, so he just let it be blurry instead of getting his glasses. He hated his glasses, made them feel like he was broken, more so than he already was with his difficulty reading and shitty hearing, piling on everything else like straw that broke the horse's back or whatever.
But Eddie was right there with him, explaining things without asking, wanting to include Steve in this weird-ass movie he brought over because it was one of his favorites, because Steve said he liked a song that was inspired by it. And despite failing senior year twice, Eddie was no idiot. In fact, he was probably the smartest person he knew - other than Nancy and Robin, of course, but they were competing for the spot of head brain, so they were excluded from the competition.
Eddie could talk for hours about what he was passionate about, citing ten different books that inspired his newest campaign, pulling quotes from them as if they were sitting open in front of him. He drew on historical ideas for his campaigns as well, but it certainly wasn't the history Mrs. Click taught them. Eddie somehow had bottomless knowledge of medieval architecture, especially castles. The couple of times Steve had hosted the Hellfire guys at his place, he heard Eddie going on and on about carnations and corvettes and port trellis, whatever the hell those were. [1]
"This is my favorite part of the credits," Eddie chuckled when the music became slower, yet still grand, "They sneak really dumb moose-related credits in, like moose choreography and antler care."
Steve winces slightly when the credits switch to bright flashing, closing his eyes and turning his head into Eddie's shoulder to block the bright flashing lights so he doesn't get a headache. He hears Eddie hiss an apology, mumbling to himself that he should have given a warning. When it finally transitions to the movie, Eddie gently taps his shoulder. And it doesn't stop with that tap.
It drives Steve a little crazy how tactile Eddie is with them. He's always been that way, it seems, remembering how he would sling arms around Dustin and Mike as they traipsed out of the school as he waited to pick them up. But after the bats came the hospital stay for both of them - Steve fighting a nasty infection from his own poorly dressed bat bites. They had shared a room once Eddie was cleared as a suspect, the pair of them having friends help scoot them close enough to reach out to each other. Since Eddie couldn't get out of bed and Steve was being bullied into staying, being able to reach out and grab a hand when the nightmares left them confused about what was real and what was a dream helped them get through those initial nights post-Vecna.
Once they both got out of the hospital, the touch remained. Helping pull Eddie up off the couch when his mobility was still limited, lending an arm when he needed the extra support but was being stubborn about using his cane, squeezing a shoulder as a greeting, as a grounding motion passing by, to remind himself that he was still there with them. It wasn't just to Steve, either; the entire party had a shoulder squeezed or a head ruffled at some point today, not to mention being wrestled by Dustin, Lucas, and Mike in the pool, or the game of chicken he played against Steve and Robin, in which he somehow roped Nancy into playing, fighting Robin off from her place on Eddie's shoulders.
As they watched the movie, though, he felt Eddie leaning more and more into his space. Eddie had started encroaching on Steve's space as soon as the movie started, with his knees tipped over, just brushing Steve's leg. Occasionally, Eddie would tap a hand on his shoulder to emphasize a point or to bring up some factoid about the movie. At one point, Steve reached up to pinch the bridge of his nose, fighting off the beginnings of a headache likely brought on by all the time spent in the sun. Noticing his motion, Eddie reached over and squeezed Steve's neck on either side with his first two fingers and thumb in a one-handed massage to help release some of the tension. Steve melted into the couch, sighing deeply as Eddie continued his ministrations, then shifted to scratch lightly through Steve's air-dried waves.
"Oh, this is it, Stevie!" Eddie excitedly whispered in his ear after a few moments, rousing Steve from his hazy comfort as the hand that had been scratching his scalp lifted away. Eddie had his upper arm draped along the back of the couch, while his forearm reached down to tap Steve on the shoulder. Instead of pulling away, his hand settled more on his left pec than on his shoulder. Eddie had his arm hooked around him; if Steve shifted up just slightly, he would feel it pressing along his shoulders. For now, Steve just felt Eddie's warm palm brushing his collarbone, his breath tickling his ear as he spoke excitedly about Tom the Enchanter or whatever his name was. Steve honestly wasn't doing much thinking besides EddieEddieEddie on repeat in his brain, panicking slightly as he realized that he definitely is feeling more than the warmth of friendship with the way Eddie is lavishing him with soft touches.
Fuck, Steve thought, feeling his face flush crimson, I think I have a crush on Eddie Munson.
Steve heard the group laugh at something on screen - some kind of white killer bunny covered in blood - Eddie still whispering bits about the song in his ear when Steve turned his head. His nose brushed Eddie's, who jolted slightly at the touch. Steve watched as Eddie's face flushed an even deeper red from their close proximity, dark eyes wide with surprise. Steve shifted his gaze to meet Eddie's, his eyes half-lidded as they shifted across Eddie's face before darting down to quickly glance at his lips. He felt Eddie's breath shudder as Eddie's tongue darted out quickly to moisten his soft, plush lips.
Get it together, Steve, he thought, swallowing nervously as he looked once more to Eddie's eyes, if you kiss him during his nerd movie, you will never hear the end of it from just about everyone in this room.
Steve reluctantly pulled back, noticing Eddie's eyes tighten with disappointment. Steve smiled softly before he nodded his head toward the rest of the room, eyes looking about the space before shifting back to meet Eddie's. Steve raised his eyebrows, hopefully nonverbally communicating that a room full of people wasn't the place. Eddie didn't seem to get what he was trying to say, brow furrowed in confusion with a lopsided frown on his face. Steve leaned into his side as he shifted to bring his mouth close to Eddie's ear.
"Not here. Later."
He leaned back with a soft smile, Eddie's mouth slightly open in surprise at Steve's words, before breaking into a wide, dimpled smile, eyes crinkled with happiness. Steve turned his head, shuffling down on the couch slightly and leaning into Eddie's side and back into his arm. Steve tried to turn his attention back to the movie, but he couldn't focus with Eddie running fingers in little circular patterns over his skin near his collarbone, Steve's loose tank giving him plenty of space to do so. Steve tilted his head slightly to rest his cheek on Eddie's shoulder, feeling Eddie tip toward Steve to rest his own cheek on the top of Steve's head.
As Steve turned back to the movie once more, he felt his eyes start to get heavy. He blinked slowly, but the TV remained blurry - well, blurrier than his normal vision at least. With Eddie's arm draped around him and tucked into his side, Steve was pleasantly warm, the slight chill of the basement chased away by touch. The sounds around Steve turned into a muffled hum, recognizable as speech but impossible to make out. Not long after tucking himself into Eddie, he lost the fight to keep his eyes open.
Steve woke to gentle shakes, a big, warm hand gripping his upper arm before it let go. A small, cold hand replaced it, jolting him awake. He nearly smashed the side of his head against Robin's nose, who jumped back with a squawk and nearly knocked into Eddie.
"Movie's over, dingus," Robin teased, smirking at the sleepy look on his face as he tried to shake him awake, "Nancy was able to get a good amount of the twerps home, but she couldn't fit Max or Dustin."
"Shit, yeah," Steve groaned, rubbing the heels of his hands into his eyes to try and wake himself up, "Gimme a minute and I can take 'em."
"Don't worry about it, Stevie," Eddie said, pulling his keys out of his jeans pocket and shaking them, "I can get them where they need to go."
"You sure?" Steve questioned, running a hand through messy hair, "I can still take them ho-"
"Steve, I've got 'em," Eddie says firmly, reaching out and gripping his shoulder, thumb brushing comfortingly before Eddie bent forward to look in Steve's eyes, "I'm awake, and Max was coming with me anyway, 'cause neighbors, remember? And Dust-bin isn't too far out of the way."
Steve chuckled at the nickname as an annoyed voice floated down the stairs, Dustin informing them all that he heard that, asshole. Steve brushed a forearm across his eyes before nodding, "Yeah, if you're sure."
Eddie gave him a lopsided smile, dimple appearing on one side as his eyes sparkled with mischief, before he put on one of his NGB… MPT… his little character voices and gave a dramatic bow.
"My liege, it would be my highest honor to escort the Lord Henderson and Lady Mayfield to their estates safely this eve."
Steve laughed as annoyed voices from both Max and Dustin drifted down the stairwell at him. Eddie smiled at Steve as his eyes crinkled with happiness. Eddie held out a hand to help Steve up before they all started moving to the stairwell. Robin clambered up first, leaving the two of them briefly in the room alone.
Steve felt their eyes lock, and the wide smile on Eddie's face grew softer as he reached out to grip Steve's fingers softly, thumb rubbing over his knuckles.
"I'll see you later, Stevie," Eddie said softly, cheeks flushing red before he quickly leaned forward and placed a soft kiss on the corner of Steve's mouth, meeting his eyes with a smile when he pulled back before walking backward a couple of steps to keep eye contact before turning and heading up the stairs.
Steve was sure grateful that Robin was staying tonight, because he was in desperate need of a bathroom chat. Because what he felt for Eddie was definitely more than a simple crush.