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#I’m usually confident in my steve but I’m like ehhhh bc ficlet form
dontcallmeeds · 1 year
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Part 2 of Eddie Making Jewelry For Steve; Part 1 here / Part 3 here / Part 4 here
Steve had figured it out after the second little box that was left on the Family Video counter.
He didn’t see Eddie leave it, he was too involved in his conversation with Robin that happened to be about his panic surrounding Eddie.
See the thing is, he knew there were bisexual people and he knew he liked men for years.
But saying it outloud and falling for his best friend? Well, that was a whole other thing.
The way Steve figured it out was the handwriting on the little notes. It felt a little crazy comparing his Family Video card paperwork to the notes, but Robin was the one who suggested it.
Eddie looped his lowercase Es tightly, to the point they almost looked like Cs. And his Is were always lowercase with a circle instead of a dot.
It really just had to be him leaving the beautiful pieces that made Steve’s heart melt and his stomach fall out his ass. Although, he still had his doubts. There was no way his dream guy was just being that fucking perfect, that wasn’t usually how Steve’s life went.
But oh god did he sure have hope.
Steve thought he was being obvious that he knew, wearing the ring that he had fallen in love with in front of Eddie. He even fidgeted with it and caught Eddie staring at it before the other man quickly looked away.
He couldn’t help but tear up in the Beamer after the outing, asking Robin for advice only resulted in drunken living room karaoke, not a plan.
Steve tried to ask where he got his pieces once so maybe him and Robin could run surveillance like old times, but Eddie ended up being vague and elusive.
When Steve brought Nancy into the secret op, she suggested a stake out which felt like stalking. She started a board with dates and drop off locations and roughly estimated it was every 2-4 weeks on dates Steve was usually busy.
It was coming up on almost a month since the last drop and Steve was practically showing off with the last chain, making sure his polo was just open at top enough for Eddie to see.
The flushing across Eddie’s cheeks into his chest was everything, but still his metalhead said nothing.
It was time for Nancy’s plan.
Steve dropped days he’d be busy, watching as Eddie seemingly made a mental note of them. His feigned disappointment was shaky, Steve hoping he’d just blurt it out without confrontation.
But alas, nothing.
Nancy put on her ‘undercover journalism best’ aka a literally just a black sweater and black pants, borrowing her parents car instead of using her own. And I’m that moment Steve felt—
“Am I crazy? Is this whole thing crazy?” Steve paces the Family Video aisles between romance and comedy, which felt pretty fitting considering his love life was a joke.
Robin places a hand on his shoulder and gives him that all encompassing look between the fact that she thinks it’s completely sane, but also really fucking crazy.
“You want to know for sure, right? Not just the handwriting or little weird glances?”
Steve sighs and then nods slowly, he really did want to know for sure. But the problem is what came after.
“Okay then, we’ll just see what Nancy says then hmm? For all we know it could be a boring—“
As if on cue, the walkie they stole from the kids crackles.
“Steve—it’s for sure him, he just—“
“HE JUST WHAT?! WE NEED ANSWERS WHEELER,” Robin shouts into the speaker before Nancy can even finish, Steve grabs the walk-in out of her hand with a scoff.
“Say sorry to your eardrums for her Nance— so wait, what happened?” Steve tries to shove down his nerves, but his fingers on the device tremble.
“He leave something in your mailbox, do you want me to—“
“Steve, GO!”
He really needs to teach her what an inside voice is.
“Are you—“
“I’ll cover you, if Keith comes back I’ll—I’ll make up a dead aunt or say you ripped your pants, I don’t know! I’m not good under pressure, you know how I get Steve. Goddamnit, just go before I start rambling!”
Steve nods and handing her the walkie, running out the door. He knows he breaks the speed limit on the way home, knows if he gets pulled over he can just use the Hopper card. He normally wouldn’t, but extreme times and all that.
Nancy is pulled into the drive when he gets there, popping out when she sees him pull up next to the mailbox.
“Hey I wanted to stay, for you know, support,” she says with a small smile, seeming to enjoy this all way too much.
“Nance, you didn’t have to—“
“Yes I did, Steve. Now fucking open it before me and Robs burst a blood vessel.”
Steve nervously chuckles, his fingers twitching on the mailbox door before pulling it down to a little red box.
‘Stevie, something different,’ is all it reads.
He shares a glance with Nancy, before pulling it out.
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