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ofbluesandyellows · 6 months

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Figure You Out - Steddie / Steve Spider-Man AU

Summary: Steve has a big fat crush on Eddie Munson. He would consider telling him about it, Robin being very pushy over this but his life is based on saving the city as the one and only Spider-Man. One thing he didn’t see coming was Eddie Munson catching feelings for him, but not as Steve Harrington but as the friendly neighborhood Spider-Man. Now he has to deal with this while trying to find balance so his poor heart won’t get crushed between the boy he likes and his life as a hero. This is definitely not the best of both worlds.

Word count: 8,592

Warnings: mentions of blood, violence, injuries and pretty much all spider-man related.

a/n: I posted this on ao3 last year i think and forgot to post it here too, so here it is. Hope you like it, based on tweets I saw of Steve being our sweet Spidey. This was supposed to be a one-shot but it ended up being too long so I divided it in two. Anyway, hope you enjoy this as much as I did writing it :) x

Hell’s kitchen was known to be one of the less safer places to walk around during the witch hour.

For Eddie though it was just another Thursday night after band rehearsal.

Corroded Coffin was finally getting recognized, two parties booked within the next couple of weeks, one of them being from one of those stupidly rich white kids from the upper east side. They even got half the money in advance. Thanks to that, the band got a new set of mics, a bunch of guitar picks and drumsticks for Gareth. That boy always found a way to break them-on purpose—or just throw them to the crowd when they played at the local bar on Saturdays. He needed to stop that for the sake of the band’s bank account.

The rolling down of the shed door of the little bodega Jeff’s mom owned made enough noise to at least keep the muggers away, but the sound coming from one of the dumpsters in the alley beside the rehearsal room caught Eddie’s attention, a wave of fear found place in his chest.

“Hello?” he shouted, clearing his throat. The voice came out a bit shaky.

The darkness in the alley was definitely not helping him clock the source of noise, however he could spot a bundle of something moving between the smelly trash containers.

Eddie took a big breath in, this is how he always got in trouble, pushing his luck, trying to do what others wouldn’t just because he knew exactly how being left aside felt like, maybe the bundle was a delinquent but hey what if it was a stray cat? What if it was hurt? He couldn’t let that happen, leaving a poor cat to die alone. So he grasped his guitar case a little harder, the strap coming over his shoulder. Ready to flee if it was necessary.

Eddie stepped forward, one, two steps, his body in alert, the bundle quickly moved and the next thing he knew, his hand was plastered on the concrete wall.

“What in the shit!” Eddie gasped, more amazed than scared for his life.

“Don’t move, or I’ll web your mouth too.” The voice said from a hidden spot in the dark.

“Okay… um I just thought you needed help or something, heard the noises and,” Eddie half shrugged, now more confident knowing exactly who he was talking to. The webs gave him away.

“I’m fine, just a little dizzy.”

“Hey man, just wanted to help, can you un-web me now? I gotta go home.”

The figure got close to Eddie, the full suit now on display under the dim light the lamp post provided. As he expected Spider-Man in his red and blue suit sprayed something over his wrist.

The web fluid dissolved in a matter of seconds, leaving a faint smell of roses in the air, Eddie wondered if that was new, he didn’t remember the webs having a smell.

The superhero wobbled a little in place, a hand came up to grab the wall, but instead it got Eddie’s shoulder.

“Hey, you okay? Listen, if this is some kind of trick to check if I have something on, I can tell you now that I don’t have any grass on me this time spider-boy” Eddie said hands up in the air as if that was enough to declare him innocent.

As a first replay he got a low grunt, “It’s Spider-Man… jeez, how many times do I have to repeat it?” Spider-Man was really not in the mood that night, Eddie noticed.

This wasn’t their first rodeo, Eddie was pretty much his fink, in how the drug dealing world was running under the eyes of the mafia, but that was for another occasion, as for that moment Spider-man was dealing with a concussion and a few broken ribs, he could feel them bothering him from the inside, bad bruising already forming. At least if he rested for the rest of the night he could be good as new for brunch.

The thing was that he couldn’t swing home and there was no way he was going to walk, that would only make him an easy target.

“So, bug boy are you okay? Do you need help?”

Spider-Man did his best to shake his head but the dizziness was taking over his body, if only he had protected his head when he got electrocuted earlier he wouldn’t be in this situation.

“I am… not, but I’ll be okay, just need a second to-“

Eddie grabbed the poor boy as he was falling face first on the ground. Jesus, he had never seen him like that, and he had seen a lot of Spider-man in the past, blood and bad punches landing on the arachnid dude.

“Man, let me just… help you here.” Eddie managed–in a very surprising way–to half-carry Spider-Man to the edge of the street, he lived a couple of blocks down but he was not risking it, if a cop saw him carrying the friendly neighborhood Spidey around he’d get in trouble. And to be fair he liked Spider-Man, he was always nice to him.

So the roll up shed now made a creaky wild sound as it opened, Eddie ran to leave his guitar inside, running once again to get Spider-Man with him. A hand over his shoulder, and low growls coming from the hero by his side.

The only couch they had in the rehearsal room was occupied by the masked human, as Eddie quickly dragged down the shed one more time. Maybe Eddie was too well trained in these things, which worried Spider-Man a lot as he watched the young man move around carrying water, a bottle of whiskey and a roll of paper. The stuff scattered at Eddie's feet, he kneeled down to level up with Spidey, even in these conditions he felt his heart quicken, his senses re-activating and he wanted to convince himself it was just because he was in pain, nothing else.

“Hey man, so what hurts?”

“Everything, but nothing is bleeding. At least not that I’ve noticed, maybe a cut on the jaw but nothing too bad, the thing is the head, I fell from the fourth floor or a building.”

“Well, that was pretty stupid of you bug boy.” Eddie chuckled, it made Spidey scoff.

“Yeah, but I got what I needed anyway.”

Eddie nodded, holding the bottle of water so Spidey could hold it, who instantly shook his hand.

“I just need a second to get my shit together.”

“Okay… you can use the place as you find it more useful.” Eddie nodded, eyes intently watching Spider-Man.

This was so weird to him, the hero and him had a work kind of relationship, nothing too friendly, nothing too formal they got what they needed form the other so that was it. But Eddie had never seen him this up close, the huge eyes, the texture of the suit was freaking cool and the way his web shooters were strategically placed in his wrist.

A crippling feeling of curiosity and morbidity crossed his mind, if he could only see who was under the mask… maybe that would cure his steamy dreams about the arachnid hero. Dammit, Eddie had never thought about that out of his home this was a new unlocked level.

He felt a little bit attracted to Spider-Man which was bad enough as it was, but everyone kind of had a crush on the guy, a hero getting his ass beaten for the sake of the city was hot. Seeing him work was even hotter.

“You okay, Munson?”

And that, the fact that he knew his name always caused him to feel something flutter in his stomach.

Eddie cleared his throat, again, scratching his neck, trying to act cool, “yeah, yeah why?”

“You’re looking at me weird.”

Dammit he had noticed.. wait–had he been watching him too?

“Me? No, no pff…I was just wondering if you were going to die on the couch, what would I do with your body, don’t want the police coming after me just because you were stupid,”

The deep rumble of a laughter Spider-Man let out followed by a whine made Eddie feel proud of the achievement and also concerned for the injuries he couldn’t see.

“You are not getting rid of me that easily, I just got a few broken ribs… not dying tonight.”

“Okay, okay that’s good,”

The silence that fell over the two of them was a bit jarring, almost too heavy to bear, the tension building. Eddie sat with his back resting on the couch, near enough to hear spidey’s breathing but respectful enough to not look at his moving body, he was tempted enough by having him there.

“So you have a band?” Spidey asked.

“Uh, yeah. We recently got the place so you were lucky you found me and not one of the boys.”

“My hero,” and that was probably a little too much for Eddie to bear, he laughed it off, pretending to not feel his cheeks grow hot, lowering his head the curly locks served as hiding from the embarrassment.

“Well, we play at a bar near the theater district on Saturdays and some Sundays too, when the main band cancels at the last minute, the pay is shit but the crowd seems to enjoy it so we keep doing it.”

“Sounds fun,” the voice sounded a bit forced, but his ribs were hurting more and more, meaning it was healing, that was the most exhausting and painful part of it all. “I don’t know, maybe I’ll come by.”

Maybe it was the pain that made Steve talk a little too much, but if his spidey senses weren’t off he was sure that the flirting wasn’t only on his part, he saw Eddie smile and almost heard his heartbeat get a notch or two faster, matching his own.

“That’d be great, let me know so you don’t have to pay cover. Could save you a few bucks.”

“Heaven knows I should be saving some money.”

Eddie laughed, “tell me about it,”

The night went away in little chats until Eddie started to feel the heaviness of sleep. Steve felt his hand twitch, the urge to brush the curls away from Eddie’s face, he wanted to touch Eddie, but he contained himself. How creepy can one be just by staring at someone sleeping? Wearing a spandex suit watching a man sleep by his side, yeah he came to the conclusion of how creepy he was, so he did what Spider-Man was best at.

Escape.

Running away from the scene after the job was done, that, and beating the shit out of the bad guys, Steve loved that. It made him feel useful for once, his parents would shit their pants if they saw him now, but it was good that they stayed far away from him, one less worry in his life.

The swinging wasn’t that bad, maybe because it was past four in the morning, his body had mostly healed thanks to Eddie’s words and soft laughs. Crawling up to the ninth floor of the apartment he shared with Robin, he opened the window and finally let his body plop on the bed, mask out, suit crumpled on the floor. Only boxers and soft bed sheets.

***

Steve felt the now very common flutter in his stomach when Eddie appeared at the doors of the book store Steve and Robin worked at. This being Steve’s second job, the newspaper he worked for paid very little for his Spider-Man pics hence he had to work somewhere else so he could at least be able to pay the damn rent.

“You like The Smiths?” Eddie asked Steve when he pointed to the shirt he was wearing.

“Uh yeah, they’re cool I guess…”

“If you like depressive shit I supposed you’re right” Eddie smirked.

Steve felt his heart summersault, oh why was he there?

“Rude, but good point.”

“Dude did you not sleep or what? You look like shit.”

Steve half smiled, recalling Eddie’s tranquil sleeping self, “college is killing me man, that’s all.”

“See, you should just not do that, school’s only another way to control you Stevie,”

Stevie , ugh could he just say what he wanted and leave? Steve hated and loved when he called him that, but he refused to say a word.

“What are you doing here Eddie, we have work to do.” Robin appeared with a tower of new arrivals that needed to be put in the system. “Steve, you start with these, I'll do the arrangement.” She turned and observed Eddie, expectant.

Steve rolled his eyes, he loathed doing the lists and checking shit in the system, and he had to face the damn screen instead of Eddie, what a nightmare. Eddie’s laugh got cut short, by a sharp look Robin threw him.

“What do you mean what am I doing here ?” He leaned on the counter.

“Well, for starters you’re here in a really good mood and it’s not even twelve in the afternoon so something must have happened, don’t think you’re here to buy books, or are you Eddie?” Robin pointed as a matter of fact.

Eddie scoffed, offended almost. Steve’s ears perked trying to listen to what he was about to say a wry smile on his lips.

“Nothing, I just like hanging out with you guys, or is that wrong mood-police Buckley?”

Robin squinted at him and Eddie felt his faux confidence weaver, “shit, okay I—“ he leaned closer on the counter, checking around to see if no one was hearing him, he whispered “I was with Spider-Man last night, the poor dude was bad injured and I kind of helped, so… yeah happy, Buckley?”

Steve felt it, a pang of panic taking over his body, he swallowed hard but Robin knew better, she had known Steve was Spider-Man for a year now, it was a bit of a mistake, he entered from the balcony and Robin was there watching a Friends marathon, Robin almost knocked him out with her laptop.

“So Spider-Man huh?” Robin kicked Steve under the counter.

He closed his eyes tightly, this was so embarrassing. Robin was a very clever girl. Yes, perhaps Steve had the brains for all the web fluid, electro mechanics and quantum physics but Robin knew how to read people, she was always observing. It took her less time to figure out Steve had a crush on Eddie than for Steve to find out himself he did.

“Yeah, and he was… pretty funny.” Eddie smiled, Robin imitated him, it was so obvious now.

“So you were like hanging out?”

“You could say so, yeah.” The way Eddie was avoiding Robin’s eyes was the confirmation of her theory, his flushed face was also not helping his case.

“Eddie Munson! You have the hots for Spidey?”

Steve froze, his breathing hitched, his hands felt clammy, heart skipped several beats. Senses alert. It was impossible for him not to turn and see Eddie’s reaction, there was a hint of fear but also some enlightenment.

“What?” Eddie gasped, “Having the hots for him? I mean, do you like him, Robin? Don’t we all like him?” he let an airy-shaky laugh out, “He is cool and saves people… I work for the dude so yeah I like him I guess.”

Robin rolled her eyes, yeah Steve and Eddie were made for each other, two idiots.

“I mean it as in ‘you like him’ and you want to kiss him type of way.”

“Robin-“ Steve said, warning her.

Eddie’s eyes went from his ringed fingers to Steve’s face to finally find Robin’s blue eyes, he felt the heat cover his neck and cheeks and damn, he had been caught.

“Hmm, I— I may like him… like that yeah.” His eyebrows furrowed slightly.

And Steve, Steve felt like he could faint there, his heart was beating so fast it may as well just burst and let him die there.

Only problem was that Eddie liked Spider-Man not Steve Harrington, that was something had to keep in mind.

“Knew it!!” Robin shouted, making customers turn. “So, something must have happened for you to be this happy.”

Eddie sighed, palms hitting the surface of the desk, “We were flirty but nothing else, he disappeared when I fell asleep so I don’t know, Buckley. It felt nice but nothing happened, Spider-Man has a million and one things to worry about to be thinking of me or… whatever. I just don’t want to overthink it, okay?”

“Who knows, maybe he likes you back.” Robin half shrugged.

“Please don’t.” Eddie said as a bunch of books fell at Steve’s feet, “Jesus, careful there Harrington.”

“What?” Steve was doing his best to keep it cool, to not run away, to not shoot webs at Robin’s mouth to keep it as closed as possible. He was panicking big time but he couldn’t let it show, jeez why was he reacting like this, this information was a good sign.

“You’re a bit pale man,” Eddie pointed, but Steve just needed to get out, grab some air, disappear, think.

“I–I need to go check something, I’ll be back. Good for you man!”

Steve didn’t let anyone stop him, he almost fell over a client on his way to the back exit.

The cool air from late February hit his face, he forgot to grab his jacket and his backpack. He could always get back later for them, so he walked away from the book place. This was not how he had planned things, this was never part of the plan, any of it, not falling for Eddie, not make him work for Spider-Man, not Eddie developing feels for Spider-Man but dammit, this was all his fault, he had been sloppy and too confident in the suit, letting his feels leak, knowing Eddie wouldn’t recognize him so he let the words escape and now he was going to have to deal with Eddie falling for Spidey and not him.

Fuck my life.

Spidey and him were one and the same but they were completely different too. Steve was nice and kind and a big nerd but he was always overthinking actions and words, pretending to be cool while Spider-Man had to be confident in the decision making, witty, fast thinking, always alert and being smooth. It was obvious Eddie would fall for that version of him instead of his real self.

It sucked but it was also a good sign wasn’t it? He was so confused.

***

Eddie was late for band rehearsal, he was crossing the busy streets with his guitar on the back, to be fair he was always late that’s why his bandmates usually arrived thirty to forty minutes later than what was agreed just to assure Eddie arrived in time. This time it wasn’t Eddie’s fault, well maybe half of it was his fault, the other half was on his curiosity.

His eye caught a glimpse of something blue, it wasn’t the kind of blue from dumpsters or simple trash bags. It was a bright sky blue tone. It was an odd place to find a backpack, one that seemed oddly familiar, but he couldn’t remember where he had seen it before. Still this one had a very distinguishing feature that made it a bit too easy to find the owner of it; the blue backpack was plastered on the wall, webs covering the whole thing in an alley in midtown. It belonged to Spider-Man or that was Eddie’s conclusion, a pretty obvious one if he could say.

Looking on all directions-as if someone even cared what he did- he stepped in the alley, pushing his long locks away he examined the almost artsy piece, he was not going to be able to get it off from its spot, not with all the mush of sticky webs but Eddie’s curiosity was bigger than any obstacle or web in his way. The idea of knowing Spider-Man’s identity had been bouncing in his mind for days now so maybe if he could only get a look of the inside he could at least find out something about the masked hero, it sounded so not right but Eddie was really getting desperate about it.

From the side of the bag he was able to open the zipper only enough for him to grab a notebook. A smug smile spread on his lips as he flipped through the pages, there were drawings, lots of formulas, prototypes of different kinds of webs and web shooters. Eddie could tell that Spidey was not a good artist but he was good enough to make Eddie picture the final product. His eyes landed on a formula about a new web dissolver , an improved version, a biodegradable one with a hint of peppermint smell.

It made Eddie smile. Spider-Man was not only fighting corruption and evil on the streets but he cared for the environment, his stomach fluttered, damn he was falling hard, and he kind of hated it.

Eddie heard noise coming from the opposite side of the alley, hard footsteps and panting. Swallowing, he did what he did most of the times in this kind of situation, run, at least he had that in common with Spider-Boy. Moving fast to the main street, dodging people and mixing with the crowd, until he entered a convenience store, realizing then that he didn’t put the notebook back.

“Oh shit,”

Eddie could be lots of things but not a petty thief, he took a second to relax and act as normal as possible, he knew he could look suspicious not only because he was panting but for the way he looked, the hair, the clothes; it wouldn’t be the first time someone asked him to empty his guitar case.

After buying a packet of gum he went back to the alley to find nothing, the backpack was gone making his stomach drop, how was he supposed to get that back?

Trying to remember what feature form the backpack could be useful to even try and track Spidey was kind of a waste of time, he came to the conclusion that this would be way easier if half the population didn’t wear a damn JanSport backpack for school.

With a sigh and defeat, Eddie decided to walk to rehearsal with a brown notebook in hand, one that he was grasping a little too tightly against his side.

As rehearsal went easy and actually freaking fantastic, Eddie’s mind often drifted to the notebook that got shoved down his guitar case, he didn’t need any of his friends to find out about it.

Eddie practically ran up the stairs to his apartment, almost carelessly tossing his guitar on the couch where he also plopped his body a moment after.

The notebook rested against his knees as he kicked off the boots he was wearing. Eyes landed on a little calendar drawn with pink markers. His eyes widened seeing all the stuff Spidey had to do in the upcoming days.

Work, work, work, class, class, test prototype, work, buy bread, sent email, sleep (if possible)

Eddie scrunched his nose, Spidey worked a bit too much for Eddie’s liking but he guessed maybe being a superhero was a very exhausting and demanding thing. He could never do that, he was too selfish and lazy to swing across the city to rescue cats and punch men in suits.

The tip of his finger traveled across days and small notes Spider-Man left across the improvised calendar, formulas and reminders of things he needed to buy, very average, he huffed not finding anything useful. That until a note stuck out from the bunch of letters, in a very bright green ink, on the 18th; a Saturday night. It read: Corroded Coffin :)

Eddie’s heart somersaulted, it almost made him drop the thing on the floor. So Spider-Man was planning on going to see his band. Hell, Eddie had been in love in the past but somehow his insides have never twisted and jumped that way before. Spider-Man was gonna go see him next Saturday, he had no idea how but he knew he had to tell the bouncer about not charging the hero anything, that was going to be a hard thing to explain.

Christ. Now he was feeling the small but persistent fear erupting in his chest. How was he supposed to spot him, was he even going to see him, was he ready to finally see who was under the iconic Spider-Man suit?

Too many questions yet no answers, just fear and anxiety building. He may as well relax and smoke a joint or just spiral into a very uncomfortable mix of fucked up emotions and chest pains.

***

“What do you mean you lost it? Again, Steve? Seriously?”

Yeah, this was the third time this month, but Steve was sure this time his backpack was secured between a dumpster and the wall, hidden nicely, like who in their right mind would go there to steal a backpack. He even added more than two layers of web, making sure it got very well plastered between that nasty green plastic trash cube.

“Robin, do you think I wanted this? Cut me some slack would you? I don’t know how this keeps happening, I don’t have the money nor the energy to keep buying these things, the man at the store looks at me like I’m stupid or playing joke on him,”

Steve brushed his hair back, clearly frustrated, he had his books and notebooks for college there, good thing that he didn’t left any web cartridges or web shooters there as he used to, not after that one time he forgot it in a place he shouldn’t have and got caught in a fire in Brooklyn. Half a year of advanced tests on electroshock webs gone to waste.

“Well maybe you are kind of stupid, dingus. Like are you kidding me? You have sticky fingers you could put that backpack up on a rooftop or a lamp post, I don’t know but not somewhere where it could get easily stolen,”

Steve grunted, he was not going to admit that Robin had a point and it was a good idea to put it on a high spot. He felt too annoyed so instead, he kept on retouching the photos he had to send to his boss before the day ended.

“At this rate you should really think on carrying your stuff in a paper bag, cheaper and probably then thieves would care two fucks about stealing your shit.”

She closed the door to her room, leaving Steve in the living room, alone.

“I guess I’ll have to ask Henderson to lend me a backpack.” He said out loud to no one.

He texted the boy those exact words, receiving an emoji with the middle finger up and a crying face.

Dustin:

Again Steve? Are you fucking kidding me?

Steve:

Fine, don’t do it… you and Robin are so annoying

I’m not telling you guys anything ever again

Dustin:

Oh yeah? As if that would make you less of an idiot

Steve:

You know what? Fuck you Henderson, have a good day.

Ten minutes later Dustin replied with an emoji of a face rolling its eyes:

Dustin:

You are such a kid, this is the last time I lend you something,

pick it up later today.

Steve smiled, he knew Dustin was going to give in eventually, not like his roommate.

Steve:

Thanks man, I appreciate it

Dustin:

I don’t care about appreciation,

just pay me for the last backpack I bought for you

Steve scoffed but agreed to the terms. Dustin Henderson was a good kid and he always did everything to help Steve, a true guy in the chair for Spider-Man’s work.

When his photoshop skills were used and his fingers got tired of fixing light and erasing red eyes he was ready, almost too on the edge to process how he was going to deal with seeing Ed—Corroded Coffin that night. He was there not only for Eddie, he was there to take photos of the band and maybe if his boss let him, to post something about them in the website of the newspaper.

He was being optimistic as he dressed accordingly to the night. Robin helped him pick up his outfit not because she had better style than him, but because Steve was too nervous he didn’t know if a leather jacket was too much or if he could just go wearing a black hoodie.

Yes, he wanted to impress or at least catch Eddie’s attention for once and not when he did clumsy shit or when he was asking questions about his D&D campaigns, this being something he had no clue what was about.

“Robin I look fucking ridiculous, I can’t wear that shirt with this jeans it’s too monochromatic for me.”

“You look nice!”

Steve checked himself again in the mirror, he looked okay but it wasn’t his style, an all black outfit was a little too boring. He took off the jacket and looked around, his only other options were a white simple t-shirt, a yellow button up shirt and some old blue David Bowie shirt he couldn’t remember where or how he got it in the first place.

With a deep sigh he tried the yellow one, Robin nodded as she rested her head on her hand, elbow on the bed, body sprawled over his bed.

“I like it,” she said, giving him a thumb up.

“Are you insane? This yellow is not matching the yellow from the bananas on my socks!”

She slapped her forehead, “you are such a diva Steve,”

He pushed the shirt away, pulling over the white t-shirt instead.

“Is this too basic?” he almost twirled around for Robin to see him.

She was checking her nails, the boredom was palpable on her features, “no if you add the jacket and the scarf.”

“Hmmm…” he tried the black jacket, not convinced yet, he went and put on the scarf Robin had picked earlier for him, “okay, maybe and only maybe I’ll give you credit for this.”

He checked his butt and his profile, he looked good.

“I always have the reason you just hate admitting it.”

Steve smirked, “someone has to humble you once in a while Robin.”

“Whatever, just hurry we’ll be late.”

Robin exited his room and from the other side of the door he heard the tv, that meant she knew Steve was not going to be ready for the next thirty minutes at best.

And she was so right, his hair seemed to be acting up at the worst moment, spry and gel didn’t do much to the cause, and it was stupid to go to a rock concert waring a cap, so he let it be, tired of using a blowdryer he just left it poking out in different directions.

Avoiding all mirrors, he closed his eyes and sprayed lotion on, tied his combat boots ready to fight the night's demons as Steve Harrington.

Robin whistled when the boy came out of his room, looking truly like a new version of himself. Steve spent the ride to the bar almost praying to all the stars in the sky that he could at least get Eddie to look at him different, to compliment his efforts and to get pretty damn good pictures of him, at least it would give Steve some kind of excuse to talk to him or even see him around the store to chat about the photos.

The bouncer asked for their names, letting them in at least Robin had done something good and Eddie put her on the list. The bar wasn’t even that big but they had moved the chairs a little further back so if there were any fans of the band they had enough space to gather around the stage.

“You okay?” Robin asked as they sat down on a table near the stage, two bottles of beer resting on the table’s surface, condensation already showering the bottles.

“I am, why?” Steve felt like his stomach was going to rip open and a million butterflies were going to fly out of his insides but he tried to keep it together, his bouncy knee gave Robin the right answer though.

“Just wanted to check, because here they come.”

Steve almost snapped his neck, his head turned back and there they were, the band propping their instruments. Eddie plugged his mic and his guitar causing white noise to rumble, mixing with the indie music.

The noise, the people talking, the dim lights, the smoke floating around, Steve gulped, it seemed like some kind of movie scene where the protagonist would fall in love at first sight with the lead singer of the band, both following a doomed love but a happy ending would appear right around the corner. Of course Steve thought about himself as the main character.

Steve wanted to have a happy ending, he felt he was in the doomed love part of the movie to be fair, he was always the doomed one.

Eddie turned around, Steve and him connected eyes. It was the wry smile and the pose that made Steve shake in his combat boots, not feeling ready to fight monsters anymore. If only he could channel his Spider-Man side into his Steve self things would be easier.

“Hey Harrington, take a pic of us doing this shit, it could work for promo for instagram.” Eddie shouted to him.

And it was almost pathetic for Steve how fast he got up from his chair, placing the camera in front of his face as he approached the stage. Taking the tap off of the lease, he quickly aimed, fixed exposure, zoomed in and a flash splashed the sparkly cymbals along with Eddie’s pale skin.

Steve lost count of how many photos he took of them doing band stuff but he got a big Eddie smile at the end. Worth it? Totally.

Robin only shook her head as she observed his friend, it was so obvious how much he liked Eddie, only an idiot wouldn’t notice… oh wait.

“Jesus, Steve. That was painful to watch, may as well throw yourself at Eddie, don’t think he would mind, knowing how much he cares for Spider-Man, he’d be over the moon.”

“So easy for you to say, imagine if I tell him that me Steve Harrington am-“ Steve leaned closer to Robin and whispered “the Spider-Man he’s been sighing for for the past few months, he’d be so disappointing that it’s me, he’d probably even stop coming to the store and I just can’t risk it Robin, you know it doesn’t work like that.” he sank deeper in his chair, this was definitely not how he expected things to work with Eddie.

“Yeah, yeah I know you can’t go around saying that but still you and you-know-who are one and the same stop being so pessimistic, just tell him you have a crush on him and get over this, I hate seeing you whine.”

“Oh I don’t think you are the most appropriate person to tell me that when you haven’t asked Nance out in so long, so please leave this for the professionals.”

“Low blow Harrington. You’ll pay for this.” Robin squinted at him.

Steve smiled, “Oh look how I’m shaking, so afraid of you Buckley.”

Mockery and all, they were both in a very doomed situation.

***

The show goes in the blink of an eye, Steve got some of the best photos he had ever taken in his life, he was willing to excel in this for obvious reasons.

Steve and Robin found a spot near the bar, they started talking about how crazy it was to see Corroded Coffin play, they were so loud but Eddie had a pretty strong voice, and he was attractive on stage, dragging much more attention once up there.

Steve noticed how girls and boys equally got closer to the stage to see the band perform, sparkly eyes on them, shouts and whistles filling the room as an expression of euphoria and love for music, love for their music. At least Steve could tell all the members of Corroded Coffin enjoyed playing for a crowd of screaming people. They were meant to be there, that was for sure.

It wasn’t often that Steve took a break from his Spider-Man duties, even Robin got surprised when he told her he was going out with her tonight, he was actually going there to spend time with Eddie, to try his best to exchange a few words other than talking about the weather or what his thoughts were on the new Top Gun movie. But of course he didn’t tell her this.

A tap on the shoulder made him turn, he caught the smirk on Robin’s lips last minute. His eyes went wide as saucers when Eddie appeared there. Steve’s knees barely brushed Eddie’s tights, he felt his breath get stuck in his throat.

Keep it cool dude.

“Hello my people, did you enjoy it?” Eddie asked, a big grin adorning his rosy lips.

“That was… really awesome man.” Steve blurted out, all smiles and a slight blush on his cheeks. “Got all the ladies screaming your name.”

Eddie shook his head, with a low chuckle, clearly embarrassed. His locks moved all over his still sweaty face. Steve noticed the shimmer on his eyelids, he had put silver sparkles all over it. Now they were smeared and scattered on his skin, cheeks, forehead, nose, lips, neck. He looked too nice, almost ethereal. Steve was staring a little too much, Robin nudged him casually on the leg with her own knee. Steve blinked, and looked elsewhere, his shoes seemed very interesting to look at now.

“Thanks Stevie, it really means a lot coming from someone who only listens to Radiohead and Coldplay .” Eddie’s hand sneaked up Steve’s shoulder, resting there unmoving.

“They are good bands, come on! You need to admit it.” Steve pointed, he had seen Eddie’s record collection In Rainbows was there, he was certain.

Eddie scoffed, “anyway, what do you think Buckley?”

Hand still up there, Steve felt the warmth coming through his clothes, it was impossible for him not to notice the slight pressure Eddie was making on the curve of his shoulder.

“Uh, I really liked it, you look like a real rockstar up there Eddie, and those guitar solos, freaking epic. Tell Jeff that I’d be keeping the drumstick on display at ours, right Steve.”

Robin wobbled the drumstick around. Showoff.

Eddie rolled his eyes. “That little shit keeps on throwing those away as if they costed two bucks,”

“You can’t be a low budget band Eddie! That's not very rock n’ roll of you.” Robin said, wry tone didn’t go unnoticed as Eddie with his free hand pushed her off her stool. “Idiot.” she mumbled, still laughing.

“So can I buy my two favorite fans a beer or what?” Eddie patted Steve on the back, he nodded.

“Sure, why not.”

A couple beers later, Eddie and his friends were sitting occupying a table, Robin was giggling at something Kevin had said, and Steve was showing around the photos he had taken.

“Still need to make a few edits with the light and stuff but I think you guys look very decent.”

“Decent?” Eddie put a hand on his heart, “we don’t want decent Stevie, we need grunge and metal looking like photos, I mean these are really fantastic man, but don’t tell me we are decent, we are majestic .”

Of course you are.

Steve laughed, he had a point, they were a pretty great band. Eddie’s eyes were locked on Steve’s for more than two seconds, making his nervous system go into alert, a shiver ran down his arms, fingers twitched, lips parted, maybe and only maybe if he was just as tipsy as Eddie he would be able to say the words he had rehearsal in front of the mirror more times that he liked to admit but he was sober, beers did little to nothing to him, sometimes having enhanced abilities fucked up other things he missed, like getting drunk.

Eddie cleared his throat, eyes lowering, now focusing on the camera’s screen. His fingers pressed buttons passing once again over the photos Steve took, smiling and nodding to what he saw. This made Steve feel proud of his work, but it lasted just a few moments.

The sparkly makeup on Eddie’s eye made his expression look more dramatic, Eddie seemed frozen in place, then he squinted at the image and then his brown eyes found Steve’s again, but this was a shocked expression more than an admiration one.

“You took these?” Eddie asked, passing the camera back to its owner.

“What?” Steve was confused, the small screen showed a photo of Spider-Man swinging through buildings. Dammit, Steve forgot he still had those there, “uh… yeah, I- it’s part of my work.”

Eddie blinked, as if this was the biggest news he had ever heard, “so you know him? You know Spider-Man?”

“Well, yeah… kind of. I take his photos and sell them to the newspaper I work for… you didn’t know?”

This was a genuine question, for some reason he assumed Eddie knew he worked for the Daily Bugle, but yeah he assumed a lot of things, he wasn’t as special as he thought.

“No, no, of course I knew you worked for the bugle, I just had no clue you knew Spider-Man.”

Eddie furrowed his eyebrow, making Steve feel uneasy, he didn’t know what was going through Eddie’s mind but it mustn’t be good if it was making him feel this distressed.

“You okay?”

“Yeah just one second,” Eddie got up, he disappeared where the little green room was supposed to be, only coming back a few minutes later. “Here.”

Something made a thud on the table, the conversations around them kept on going as if nothing had happened, however Steve felt a wave of fear bubble up his chest, his notebook rested on the dirty table, a very serious Eddie sat by his side.

Playing it dumb seemed his best choice, “um, am I supposed to know what is that?”

“Yeah, well no… but I kind of hoped you’d help me give it back.”

Eddie dragged the notebook closer to them, his body also got closer to Steve's, subsequently making him feel the warmth exuding from it.

Jesus.

“This, Harrington, this is Spider-Man’s notebook, and I know I sound quite kooky when I say this but it really is, like come on man check this shit.” The pages flipped and Steve knew every single detail drawn there.

This was supposed to be lost or sold in the black market, who the fuck knew where could that have ended up, instead he found it in Eddie’s hands, what kind of serendipity was that? That notebook had a little too much information about how his suit worked, it was a relief for Steve to see that at least it was in safe hands, he still needed to buy new books for college, though.

“Where did you get it?”

Eddie threw him a quick glance, “found it in an alley,”

“hmm, and you want me to… what?”

Eddie shuffled in his seat, looking like someone who was overthinking stuff, “would you give it to him?” his brown eyes had that pleading kind of look, soft and innocent. Steve wasn’t a fan.

“I suppose I can do that-“

“Great, so you know him… personally?”

With that his whole body awoke.

Steve felt bad for lying but it was the best for now.

“I’ve talked to him, but not much, he is cool though so I don’t think there would be a problem giving it to him… You could give it to him yourself,”

“Nah man, he is busy and you are seeing him sooner than me so yeah you give it to him.”

The notebook remained there until the night ended, Eddie’s ringed fingers playing with the bent corners of it.

Why Steve couldn’t find his voice and just tell him, he seemed to be unable to put anyone at risk now, Eddie was already pretty vulnerable being Spidey’s fink so he couldn’t put him in double risk just because he had a crush on him.

***

The splash was heard almost in the whole building, Dustin came running immediately, making a ballerina split as he slid across the floor. The smell of peppermint was so strong it made everyone’s eyes go watery.

“Holy shit, Steve!” Dustin shouted, looking all around the room, smoke was coming from a corner while Steve sprayed the last bits of CO2 gas, a white layer covered the floor, and webs came from every spot and crevice.

Steve held a hand up to stop Dustin from shit talking to him, “Please shut up, Henderson. I will clean this up and I’ll fix the shooters, just shut up for a second.”

“Can’t believe I let you use this spare room for your idiotic experiments, you should be thankful my mom is out working.”

Dustin turned heel and walked out of line of vision, Steve could still hear the swears from across the hall.

The prototype had gone wrong, again . It’s been the fourth try and still something was off. The shooters were the exact same he used on a daily basis, but maybe the dissolver needed to be adjusted; too watery could make his shooters go into an electric shock, but if it was too dense it could clog them and make them explode, the latter was the cause of the recent web explosion, just like little domino effect on the other cartridges.

He needed to work on the consistency of the dissolver that was for sure.

***

Robin’s smirk made Steve roll his eyes.

“Come on, say it Robin,” he already knew she was going to make fun of him.

“New cologne?” She chuckled.

“Very funny, it’s the damn dissolver, that shit I swear-to whatever higher force there is-it’s going to end with my sanity.”

“I told you, you need glycerin, and stop adding so much peppermint oil, honestly you smell like a walking tea bag. It’s a lot.”

Robin fanned her face with the poetry book she was reading.

“I know that, still something is not right with the formula. I left Dustin to give it a second check before I have the chance to blow his apartment off again.”

Robin shook her head.

The bookstore was practically dead, so they decided to watch Blade Runner and Blade Runner 2043 on Robin’s iPad, both agreeing that the last one had a pretty epic soundtrack. The sudden phone call of Dustin made Steve sigh, tired. Apparently the formula was not right again.

Without his notebook Steve had to re-do the whole thing, trying to remember the equations, everything on a random piece of paper he found in Robin’s bag. Robin almost saw smoke coming out of his ears.

Doorbell rang, Robin turned around to see Eddie walk in the store, she was surprised to not see Steve react.

Eddie approached the main desk, sniffing hard, he scrunched his nose. “Nice… smell, do you guys have like a new air freshener for the store or…”

“Yeah, we were testing it out, but I think it’s a bit strong.” Robin said, holding in a chuckle.

“I see,” Eddie’s brown eyes went from Robin to Steve, who was still doodling over a napkin.

“Do you need anything?” Robin noticed how Eddie was checking Steve, she was definitely telling him about it later.

“Nope, just wanted to check on Stevie here,” Steve’s head snapped up, finally. “Did you give it to him?”

For a second Steve got confused, but Eddie made the Spidey sign with his hand “oh, yeah yeah I did, he was very thankful.”

For once Steve was more concentrated in his own thing than in Eddie, which made the latter feel slightly bothered, it was weird that Steve acted this way with him. He let it slide, clasped his hands together, rings clinking, leaning on the counter he spoke.

“Well, thanks for the photos, the boys are really happy with the editing,”

“Sure, no problem.” Steve said, nonchalantly.

Eddie furrowed his eyebrows, something in his stomach twisted, “Er, I guess I can go now… see you around my people. Thanks for that favor Harrington.”

Robin saw the exchange equally as confused as Eddie. Steve just gave him a thumbs up and off he went, not even giving Eddie one last look. She squinted, but said nothing.

***

Steve felt bad for ignoring Eddie earlier, after his shift, right when his Spider-Man duties seemed to start he swung around New York, until he finally spotted that unmistakable mop of hair walking down midtown, smoke in hand. To be fair Spider-Man knew Eddie’s usual spots by heart, however he considered this a sign for him to approach the boy that made his heartbeat go unsteady.

Shooting webs across buildings, until he reached him in a nearly empty street. Spider-Man crashed against a wall, catching Eddie’s attention.

“Hey! Careful there” Eddie’s voice had a wry tone, he wasn’t even startled by the sound or the masked hero.

“Yeah sorry, sometimes the wind makes the momentum stronger” Steve as per usual felt way more confident in the suit. Leaning on the wall like he was casually there. “So um… Steve gave me the notebook, just wanted to thank you for that, got pretty important stuff there”

“I noticed” smoke came out of his lips Spidey gulped, the suit covering it nicely “I'm glad he gave it to you”

“Yeah, right… I also saw you with your band the other night and you were… great! very metal I’d say, I mean it’s cool!”

Eddie smirked, enjoying the awkwardness of the beloved hero, “but it’s not your style eh bug boy?”

Maybe it was a good thing that Eddie wasn’t able to see Steve beam and blush, it was embarrassing enough as it was.

“No it isn’t, you’re right but it was nice for a change”

“Sure”

Silence lingered there for a second right before a bunch of sirens started to go off in the periphery. Spider-Man’s weight shifted from one foot to the other.

Eddie cleared his throat, scratching his cheek “I think that’s your cue.”

“What?“ the sirens grew louder “oh yeah that’s me… well Munson, I leave you. Thanks for checking on me the other night too… was very kind. Anyway… I’ll see you when I see you, I guess,”

Spider-Man saluted him and with the flick of the wrist Spidey shot his body up to the skies, passing Eddie for one side.

The very faintest smell of peppermint in the air… his mind went back to Steve… for a moment things kind of clicked but it couldn’t be… Eddie laughed it out.

Nah there is no way.

Part 2

#fanfic #steve harrington spider man #eddie munson #steve harrington #protective steve harrington #robin buckley #dustin henderson #steve spiderman #romance #idiots in love #steddie #steve x eddie #au steve spiderman #stranger things au #steddie fic #i dont know #idk what else to tag

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ofbluesandyellows · 6 months

Text

Figure You Out (Part 2) - Steddie / Steve Spider-Man AU

Word count: 9,559

Warning: blood, violence, injuries.

a/n: hope you enjoy it, and thanks for reading :)

Part 1

“Are you sure about this?” Steve asked, he couldn’t believe that after all these months of investigation they had finally got to the nest of drug dealing. The Nefaria Family was not going to be very happy about it but that was the price for working for the bad guys.

“I’m telling you Steve, the trackers are blinking. There, and there,” Dustin pointed to a map of New York, shining red dots on his laptop screen.

“Little Italy and Hudson Square? I checked that multiple times and nothing came up.” Steve’s hands went to his hips as he nibbled into his lower lip, already chipped.

“I know I know, but there must be something big this time because the trackers you put on these trucks are moving.” Dustin turned on his rolling chair, headset in place. “You got this Steve, probably the last mission to get this operation down once and for all.”

Steve sighed, nodding, the kid was right he had no time to contemplate if this was a trap or not he needed to act. “Have the coms?”

“Yep, let me get them. I’ll tell Robin so she can be in reach if needed.”

“Thanks man.”

“No problem, just be safe okay?”

“Always.”

Steve put his com in. Clothes fell in a pile, mask slid smoothly over his head, he could feel his senses awaking, shooters charged and a couple other cartridges secured in his secret pockets.

“Hey, don’t forget this.” Dustin threw a tiny cartridge with a green tape on it “just if the police tell you to clean your mess.”

“Ugh, right. Wouldn’t be the first time.” Steve rolled his eyes but shoved the new web dissolver into one of the pockets. “Let me know if anything changes, Henderson.”

“I’m your guy Steve, swing smoothly.”

Steve felt incredibly at ease that night, probably it was that he was so close to end with this mission that he was feeling specially optimistic about dismantling the Nefaria family operations—or at least one of many—it’s been a lot of work from Dustin, the police and even Eddie had put into it.

It was always when Spider-Man felt confident on a job when these became the trickiest ones. There, on the entrance of the building—Dustin had been guiding him—was Eddie Munson on the flesh.

“You gotta be shitting me.” Steve grunted, squaring on the roof of a storage building across the road from them.

“What is it?” Dustin asked through the coms.

“Fucking Munson is here.”

“Oh shit.”

“Yeah, shit… Gonna have to take him out of there before this gets dicey.”

The scene was innocent at first sight. People chatting, hands being shaken, little laughs here and there but what others couldn’t catch was the money exchange on the low, the bags of white powder and who knows what else passing from hand to hand.

Spidey was begging that this wasn’t one of Eddie’s side jobs because if it was… well, this could send him to jail. Nor Spider-Man nor Steve could save his ass this time.

Counting an approximate of eleven people coming in and out of the building, Spider-Man came up with a plan. Eddie and him have done this a couple of times in the past so it was safe to proceed.

“Hey Dustin, call Eddie from the disposable phone and add him to the coms, you keep your mouth shut, okay?”

“Noted.”

His hands felt clammy and his knee hadn’t stopped moving. The dialing tones went on a few times until he saw Eddie grab his phone, no reaction from his part, he made a gesture and answered.

“Hello, my boy. I’m doing your business, yeah you know only the good stuff for you.”

Fucking Eddie Munson.

“Dude… what the fuck are you doing there, I’m taking over the operation now, you need to get the hell away now .” This was more Steve talking than Spider-Man, a pang of fear ran down his spine.

“What? You want me to send it to you right now?” all eyes were on Eddie, Spider-Man was one swing from kicking ass. “Just meet me at the deli as always, in twenty-two minutes. I want pickles on my sandwich this time!”

The line died.

“Fuck me!” Steve wanted to punch a wall or Eddie’s precious face for a change.

“He is crazy. What the hell is he even doing?” Dustin asked.

“He is getting more information. He said there are twenty-two people doing the cargo shit and they have weapons.”

Dustin scoffed, “How do you know that?”

“The code, twenty-two minutes? Pickles on the sandwich? Please Henderson, keep up.”

“So… what now?”

“So I’m coming in.”

Silently swinging and landing in the perimeter was easy, spotting the trucks ready to leave was no trouble, climbing the walls was a piece of cake. Trying to spot Eddie inside the building, that was tricky. But for Eddie was just another work day, being inside the mess he tried to gather as much information as he could while he waited for his own package.

Spider-Man finally found Eddie, through a window he saw him there all tough with his leather jacket, idiot , a pretty idiot though. He knocked lightly on the glass, catching the boy’s attention. His eyes widened when he saw the big white Spidey eyes on him but he made no other sign.

From the periphery of his sight, Spider-Man caught movement on the outside of the building, men finally came out, that gave him a bit of a breach, less people in the building gave him more chance to go inside unnoticed. One of the trucks started moving, they were being careful, taking one truck at a time, a gap of five minutes for each to leave the base.

“Let me know where those trucks arrive.” Steve said to Dustin.

“Lucky you, there's something happening in Lafayette Street, it’s gonna slow down the deliveries.” Dustin said.

“Cool, keep me informed.”

Trying to contain as much information as he could, Spidey saw the faces of the men walking in the room Eddie was in, carrying big bags and sketchy boxes around. It was probably stupid for Eddie to do the next move but he felt like the pressure was building up, he had no idea if they knew Spider-Man was watching them from the window or if it was just his mind playing tricks but he preferred to be prepared, so when he saw the opportunity he took it.

Eddie had been in that building once before, he’d seen where the guns were kept so he—as discreet as possible–moved near one of the expensive mahogany desks, hand grasping the handle of a gun hidden right under the surface of the shiny desk. His pulse was so accelerated he felt it buzzing in his ears. Dammit, he was hoping this wouldn’t end with him at the hospital. Shakily he went to place the weapon in the back of his jeans, right between his belt, the handle touched the bare skin of his lower back, a shaky sigh escaped him but everyone was so in their tasks that no one noticed him.

Spider-Man though, that was another story. He wanted to crash his face on the window, what the fuck did Eddie think he was doing!?

Things were not going as planned. This was supposed to be a fast, easy mission, but Eddie had to be there to make everything harder. So with fast thinking and wishing on his lucky stars, webs splashed on opposite sides of the building and as a pendulum, Spider-Man balanced himself until he crashed in through the window, landing with a very heroic pose, everyone remained still for a brief second admiring the entrance.

After a blink, people started to shout, guns got grabbed, and punches started to fly.

Eddie felt something wet land on his chest, next thing he knew he was being dragged by web fluid near the door. Spider-Man kicking ass by his side.

“Holy shit, holy shit!” Eddie was having a panic attack but who wouldn't? This was like a scene from a freaking John Wick movie.

“Get out of here!” punch , someone's jaw cracking, “don’t come back!” Spidey received a right hook to the ribs, Eddie hissed. “GO!”

And he did, running so fast he forgot he had a gun hidden, so he came to a halt, now he could help… but was he even able to hold a gun?

Hell no.

So he kept on running, looking back only occasionally to see if Spider-Man followed him. He didn’t. Something blew up near him as he went down the stairs. Feeling something hot like a blaze rising from the first floor, someone had put lots of documents in a trash can and was burning them. He gulped, this was not the scene he expected to find himself in.

Feet felt like they were made of rubber he was tripping with every little thing on the floor. Chill the F out man or you’ll get yourself killed . He tried to keep himself sane but this was a difficult situation. A man threw himself at him, ready to slash his face with a knife.

Eddie felt his body react, his knee went up, connecting with the man’s groin, then his knuckles landed on his nose, where he felt it crack. A shiver rand own his spine this was awful, and it hurt like a mother fucker.

“Christ!” He held his hand to his chest, wincing. But he had no time to react, another man was coming for him, so he did what he’d seen Spider-Man do. His hand tried to stop a punch that only made his hand turn in an odd angle, he got kicked on the side but quickly recovered. With already hurt knuckles he threw a hit to the stomach, the man fell to the floor. Eddie kicked him on the face and ran. Of course he was not going to wait for them to get up and get their revenge.

The moment he reached for the door everything happened fast, he crossed the street hearing the commotion from inside only growing louder. His biggest fear came true as he hid on a dark corner, gun shot shooting across the night skies, screams and grunts only made him want to curl into a ball on the cold floor. This was too much for him and his stupid drug dealing. Wasn’t weed legal anyway?

Eddie kept an eye on the door or the windows anywhere to see Spidey finally leave the building alive or to decide if he had to venture inside again and risk his life one more time, he hoped with all his might that Spidey would come out any second, he noticed then how hard he was gripping the ends of his shit, his jaw set, probably ready to snap any second. Eddie’s back rested on the brick wall, closed his eyes and took a few breaths in, he was alive, nothing hurt and Spidey was going to come out of there alive and healthy. He was the city’s hero, he got this.

The only figure that came out was a man carrying a bag, blood dripping down one side of his face. Eddie gulped, feeling the panic rising fast, finding place in his chest.

Please bug boy.

His eyes, glossy from fear and panic and adrenaline, danced on the windows, the door, the roof, until he saw Spider-Man shooting a web from a window, the same one he had come in only minutes ago, but he was not as skilled and smooth as he was before. Eddie gasped when the hero fell only meters away from the building now in flames.

“Shit!” Eddie mumbled, not thinking twice to run to Spider-man’s rescue, wouldn’t be the first time either.

His heavy boots made Spider-Man go into alert mode, ready to give a few more kicks and punches if necessary, but he saw that crazy mop of curly hair and visibly relaxed, he fell to his knees again, holding one side of his body.

Eddie kneeled beside him, his hand felt wet and warm, a feeling he didn’t like, crimson liquid made him want to scream, Spider-Man was bleeding. Oh no.

“Call Robin,”

“What?” Eddie asked.

“Not you, I’m talking with someone on my intercom. Henderson?! Call Robin!”

“Henderson? Robin?” Eddie blinked, he was in utter shock, blood was staining the now darker red suit of Spider-Man at his feet, the hero was panting and grabbing his side, what was he supposed to do, and why had he said the names of people he knew as well and…

Eddie’s phone started ringing, Robin’s phone number appeared on the screen, he gave Spider-Man a quick glance before answering.

“Bring him here! Now, we have no time to lose.”

Eddie felt like they were making fun of him, “Wait, what?”

“Ugh! You heard me Eddie!”

The line died and Eddie was left with a bleeding Spider-Man, too many questions floating in his mind and… yeah he needed to move.

Spider-Man’s hand slowly went up his head, gripping the fabric he let it slide. This was probably the lesser cooler way Steve had ever imagined to let Eddie know his identity but oh well he was most likely going to die that night so who gave a fuck.

“Steve?!” Eddie squealed, agape, Steve almost laughed. “What the fuck! You—What the fuck dude!”

Steve moved a hand as if to make him understand that it wasn’t important now, his other hand took one of the coms off his ear.

“Dustin is on, he’d tell us the best way to get to the apartment.”

“Henderson!?” Eddie squealed, putting the piece on.

“Uh, hi Eddie, surprise!” Dustin spoke.

“You little shits need to explain a lot,”

“Yeah, later, first we need to save Steve’s life.”

Eddie mumbled a million swears as he lifted Steve from his spot on the now bloodied ground. He dragged him again to his van, this was getting a little too frequent for him.

“You seriously brought your damn van here?” Steve mumbled, he was feeling dizzy.

“Shut up, at least it’s gonna save your ass.”

Steve scoffed, regretting it the instant he felt the sharp pains going from the side of his body ”you are my fucking hero Eddie.”

Eddie was under so much adrenaline to act but his insides still churned.

“I hear you Henderson,” Eddie commented, as he closed the door of the driver, Steve was lying on his back on the back of the van.

Dustin gave Eddie the instructions to drive and he did it the fastest he could, Steve’s grunts and coughs were both a good sign and a worrying one.

Robin was already at the door when Eddie arrived, parking right in front of the building, he helped put Steve out and up the elevator, he wondered how there was no one on the street or the building to see them carry the body of Spider-Man. He was thankful though, it would look bad.

Steve was feeling awful, the bullet was on his side, encrusted somewhere, the pain was so intense he didn’t know exactly what was hurting anymore, head throbbing, sight blurry. He had no idea how he managed to lay on the table of his apartment.

Robin worked fast, Dustin on speaker the whole time, ready to call 911 if necessary. It was when Robin tried to take the bullet out that made Eddie wince, his eyes watered, his mind still unable to catch up with all that has happened the last couple of hours.

Steve was Spider-Man, Spider-Man was Steve… that meant that whatever feels he had for the hero… he also had for—

His scream made Eddie’s skin crawl and that’s when it hit him, if something happened to Steve, he couldn’t… he couldn’t imagine what his life would be like. His first instinct was to get close to Robin, she was doing all she could, gloves and gauze and antiseptic. Eddie just did what he felt could help.

His hand found Steve’s cold one, Steve’s fingers made pressure on Eddie’s hand, hazel eyes found Eddie’s chocolate ones. Eddie’s vision got watery but he nodded, giving Steve a little force, reassurance, whatever he needed Eddie wanted to provide.

The moment the bullet fell on the china plate Robin held, Steve’s body fell limb on the table, Eddie went into alert mode.

“Hey! Steve, hey… you okay? Stevieeee.” voice shaky. heart hammering in his ribcage.

A warm hand grasped his arm, startling him “he is fine, just exhausted, give him a few minutes,”

Eddie furrowed his eyebrows, “minutes? He could die!”

“He heals faster than you could ever imagine Eddie. Come, let’s see what you have over there.” Robin pointed to his knuckles.

He shrugged, “it’s nothing… but how… when? Shit, how long have you known?”

Robin forced him to sit down as she cleaned the cuts from his hands. She tied to explain that she had discovered by mere accident and also because Steve was so dumb to cover it up for so long. Since she found out she’s been there patching up and picking him from the most random and seedy spots he could picture. Dustin also added he had been the one discovering Steve first, the guy in the chair was his charge and he was very happy and efficient doing so.

“You’re all good now.”

“Hmm, thank you Buckley.”

Robin half shrugged, “no problem, want something to drink?”

“I- yeah I guess… sure,”

Eddie’s eyes never left Steve’s body, now his head rested on a pillow Robin brought from his room. Eddie couldn’t wrap his head around the fact that they were the same people, Spider-Man was always witty and out there and Steve was… a bit less witty and also very out there he was almost awkward.

His hands brushed his face, this was batshit crazy. If he thought about Steve he could see all the Spider-Man shit he liked in him. The stances, hands on hips, the movements of the head, the smell… he was not crazy after all.

The tea Robin gave him was bitter and he knew it was one of those teas people gave to the ones who were on the verge of a nervous breakdown or whatever. It smelled like herbs and medicine. However he drank it, waiting for the boy on the table to wake up. Noticing muscles flexing occasionally, the profile and the sharpness of his jaw . Hell, was Steve always this damn pretty? Taking into consideration that he was covered in bruises and blood all over the face and chest.

Eddie gulped.

Steve started to turn on the table, minutes later. In an instant Robin was by his side, water in hand and a towel.

“You okay? From one to ten how dizzy do you feel and don’t fucking lie to me Steve.” She put an accusatory finger up.

Steve barely had time to blink, “um body aches, nothing out of the usual, and I’d say a three or four.” He jumped off the table and wobbled, “okay maybe a seven.”

Robin handed him the water and the towel. Steve turned around and found Eddie sitting on the kitchen stool, looking at him unblinking. Steve choked on his water making his wound throb.

“Jesus!” Steve said coughing, Robin patting him on the back lightly, “how…?” his eyes dancing between Robin and Eddie.

“He brought you here, you don’t remember?”

Well, not much, he remembered bits and pieces, “so… you know now.”

“Yup,” Eddie scratched his neck, eyes glanced Steve up and down and then went to the floor, hair covering his rosy cheeks.

That’s when Steve noticed how he looked, chest out on display, his legs covered with the Spider-Man suit. Embarrassing .

Robin had him covered as always, a hoodie landed on his head. He quickly put it on.

“Well… now that the secret is out I just want to let you know that it wasn’t personal, I was trying to keep you safe just as I did with Robin and Dustin.”

Eddie nodded, he understood that part, he had read comics, he knew how that worked but still… It was hard to believe.

Nobody said anything for a brief period of time. Eddie remained silent looking at his wounded hands. Steve would let him process it however he needed to but he had business to attend to.

“Henderson!” Steve shouted.

“Here!”

“What do you have for me?'' Dustin came up with all the information; a warehouse near Hudson Square. They were storing merchandise. If he wasn’t quick they would move the stuff elsewhere and he knew he wouldn’t be able to find it this easy again.

“Fuck!” Steve hit the table with both of his palms.

“What are you planning to do? Please don’t be irrational, Steve.” Robin intervened.

Steve sighed, he was the city’s hero for a reason, “you know I need to do this,”

Eddie watched the scene from his spot. Saw how Robin rolled her eyes, then looked at her friend pleading, with care, “you can’t swing like that.”

“I can take a cab, whatever. I need to stop this before it’s too late.”

After that there was a silent conversation where both Steve and Robin traded glances, intense and sad ones.

“Ugh fine! But let me patch you up better than that.”

Steve smirked, “Heard that Dustin, we're going killer mode.”

“Noted, I’m sending the drone with all the supplies, and a special delivery!”

The giggle he let out was not a good signal, Eddie knew that much.

“Wait, time out,” Eddie got up so suddenly, a T forming with his hands, as he approached the two apartment owners, “you are going out there again? After you got shot?”

“Uh.. yeah.” This was a new side of Steve Eddie had never seen.

Scoffing, Eddie shut his eyes real hard, “you are insane man, come on you just can’t!”

“I can, just watch me!”

“Then I’ll go with you.”

Steve tossed the hoodie to the floor, clearly exasperated, this was none of Eddie’s businesses. Robin remained silent, doing her thing; cleaning again the bullet wound.

“Eddie you don’t have to, it’s fine. I’m just gonna blow out a warehouse and that’s it.” Steve said, grunting when Robin wrapped his torso tightly with bandages.

“But you are hurt and I can be really helpful, you know? with my… skills.”

Now Steve chuckled, “what skills?”

“Just—I don’t know, okay but I am going with you and you won’t stop me.”

For fucks sake, Steve shook his head and disappeared in his room. He could hear Robin and Eddie exchange words in hushed but angry tones. He had no time to argue, if Eddie wanted to risk his ass then good.

His suit was ripped in a few places but it was fine overall. So he suited up again, mask crumpled in his fist as he walked out the room, ready to go out into the night again. He wasn’t feeling his best at the moment, he definitely lost too much blood, but he couldn’t give up now.

The rumbling from the drone, took everyone's attention out of their tired bodies. Robin let the drone in through the balcony, it let a bag plop on the couch and there it went out again. The black plastic bag had lots of cartridges marked with blue tape; normal web. There were four with an orange tape that made only Steve smile. And the little boxes with a red X marked on. This was going to be a fun night.

Steve could feel Eddie’s eyes over him the whole ride to Hudson Square. The music was filling in the awkward silences thank goodness, because this shouldn’t be as stressful as it was. On the coms Steve had Dustin always one step ahead.

Eddie cleared his throat to make Steve look at him, “you sure you feel alright?”

Steve blinked, he was used to the pain and the constant spikes of adrenaline, “yeah, I’ve done this a million times now.”

“Oh right,” Eddie gave him a lipped smile, embarrassed. He forgot Steve was Spider-Man like in the real Spider-Man . Still not used to thinking of them as the same person.

“Are you sure you want to come with me? I mean I can do it on my own, it would take me ten minutes tops.”

“No, no, I am sure. I just… It’s been one heck of a night,” he chuckled, “I’m just checking on you.”

“Yeah, I know, thanks...” Steve felt heat cover his face, he shook his head, this was not the moment to go all gooey with one another.

The warehouse was easy to spot, white trucks badly parked around and pricey security cameras on the surroundings. This was going to be harder than they anticipated, there was not much space for hiding.

Eddie parked half a block down, Steve put his mask on, quickly coming out of the van, shooting webs, he landed on the nearest building.

“Dustin, what am I looking for?”

“It looks like they are inside putting cargo in containers, the infrared from my drone sees movement inside, and if they lock those containers I think we’re done here Steve so.. I think there’s not much time.”

“Ok, how many men are we talking about?”

“Uh, it’s hard to tell, more than ten for sure.”

“Shit, okay, okay we got this.” Steve felt like he was not getting this.

Hands felt shaky, not for him but for Eddie. He threw him a look, finding him hiding on the side of the van, squatting down. Steve shook his head, why did he like stubborn boys?

“Hey Munson!” Spider-Man spoke through the com.

Eddie yelped, almost falling on his butt, “Shit! I forgot about these.”

He had no connection to Dustin apparently.

“You got that gun right? The one you stole?”

“Yeah, why?” Eddie checked if he actually had it, he sighed when he felt the hard item still on his back.

“Hope you know how to use it because it's about to get ugly.”

Steve had a plan, stupid but it was a plan, Eddie had to be the scapegoat act of the night, just to distract the men so he could plant the special deliveries on the containers and the warehouse itself. It was all good until he had to tell Eddie he had to do his part.

“That’s fucking suicidal, what the fuck!” Eddie grabbed the sides of his head, hyperventilating.

“Hey, hey!” Steve now by his side, grabbed him by the shoulders, dark eyes on his spidey ones. “You can still go, Eddie. You really don’t need to be here.”

“But… but I can’t… I’ll be a shitty—person if I leave you here.”

Spider-Man felt that pang of emotivity leaking through him seeing how much Eddie cared for him it was endearing really.

“It’ll be fine,”

Eddie’s eyes sparkled, looking at him intently, “Nah, okay yeah I’m doing it! I just have to make noise and that’s it right? Woo okay yeah I can do this.”

“Sure?” his hands gave Eddie’s shoulders a light squeeze even when he wanted to do more than that. “Remember to get the hell away from here yeah? For real this time! Meet you at the gas station we saw on the curb.”

“Yeah,” before the webs could be shot, Eddie grabbed the wrist that belonged not only to Spider-Man but to Steve, “Steve, be careful okay… promise me.”

Eddie was oblivious about the way Steve’s heart was pounding against his chest down to his core, dammit he could kiss Eddie right there. But instead he gulped, nodding.

“Told you this is what I do, Eddie. You be safe out there, okay?”

He couldn’t stand being there one more second, so he shot webs and up he went. Spider-Man back into action.

***

Eddie scratched his eyebrow, feeling pearls of sweat covering his back and forehead. He needed to calm down, but how could he when this was the most idiotic thing he’s ever done. But hey he couldn’t let Stev-Spider-Man have all the fun.

The plan was simple for him: shoot a few bullets in the air, make noise and drive away. Easy right?

“You better invite me to a nice date to pay for all the stress you are causing me Stevie.” Eddie mumbled as he prepared himself.

If his math didn’t fail him Spider-Man should be in position now, so he did it. The reverberation of the gun was something Eddie never wanted to experience again. One, two bullets out. He went on to hit the metallic rolling gate with a rock he found and when the steps and the mad grumbles of men reached his ears he knew it was time to do it, he was good at that he recalled, so he ran and ran until the van came into view. Getting in just in time for bullets to hit the door and the window, he screamed, feeling like he was about to pee his pants any moment.

“Fuck fuck fuck,” sweaty hands and adrenaline up the rafters he managed to start the van.

Guns and bad words followed him. He was ducking down, not able to see where he was going until something hit the van, or rather the van clashed into one of those white trucks. His head hurt from the hit he received with the steering wheel. But so far nothing else was feeling off.

He got off the van stumbling, the smoke was helping him hide if any of the men were trying to locate him. He was so fucked.

Eddie was not going to wait and see if he was being chased down, his feet were running on the asphalt. Brain wasn’t making the right choices. He knew this was a mistake yet he kept getting inside, the warehouse was even bigger than he expected. His eyes found movement ahead, it was easy to see where Spider-Man was; the figure moved so fast and effortlessly in the air. If he wasn’t in a life or death situation he would’ve stayed there to admire the magic of the moment.

His own movements were not as fast so he tried to hide between containers and other objects he was sure were plastic boxes filled with weapons. And there, he felt it before he heard it, a bullet brushed his shoulder, it was hot pain shooting through his arm. Eddie did his best to run faster to ignore the feeling, but it was getting stronger and stronger with the rumble, his bones feeling every step he took.

Lungs started to burn, he wished he had stopped smoking years ago, but oh well it was too late now. He kneeled down somewhere, he had no idea where he was now, too deep into the mess. Giving up, he touched his shoulder, a splash or red smeared on his palm, this was a pathetic death, he thought. Not as heroic as he thought he’d go.

His back hit the cool ground. Panting and aching he waited, just not for too long, next thing he saw was spider-Man looking down at him.

“Need a hand?”

“Christ!” he let Spidey pull him up from his good arm. He saw everyone around him on the floor or wrapped in white webs hanging from the ceiling. A few men were now running to try and get them.

“Hold this, please?” Spider-man handed him one of the orange marked cartridges, then took it back. “Just a quick heads up this could either go really well or really bad, these are new so let’s hope for the best.”

Eddie’s eyebrow cocked, “is it going to work?” The men were closer now and had weapons ready.

Spidey shrugged, “let’s find out.” Quickly the cartridge got placed in his web shooter.

Spider-Man turned heel as he tried to cover Eddie with his body. The web got quickly splashed on the two men, and soon a yellow fizz covered the white threads. Shocking them.

“Holy fucking shit!” Eddie mumbled laughing.

“Feeling better?” Steve asked, plastering red marked cartridges around them. “Thought you could do it.” Eddie noticed that wry tone Steve used; sarcasm.

“It’s harder than it looks, they had guns!”

Steve chuckled but handed him a tiny metallic square, “don’t push it until I tell you so.”

Spider-Man ran away to the main containers, swinging and balancing from spot to spot placing stuff and webbing things. Until he landed back at Eddie’s side.

“Ready to go?”

“Uh, my van is not available at the moment so… yeah if you wanna walk.”

“Walk? Nah man, we are swinging away from here.”

Eddie laughed, pain coming back to life, “ouch, but that’s a great joke, no, we- I’ve never done that but it looks very… unstable for both people to do it.”

“Ow come on!” Eddie saw Steve fully in Spider-Man now he felt so stupid for not noticing before, “I’ve carried Dustin to school before, it’s fun! Listen, let us at least get away from here before these things explode, then if you want we can walk.”

Spider-Man had his arms open as if showing there was no other option for Eddie, and considering he said something about an explosion, he had to accept the offer.

“Shit, fine.”

“Arm over my shoulders, I’m going to grab you by the waist and you may feel weird at first, especially when we free fall because I’m only using one hand but I’m a master at it, ready?”

Eddie was feeling all kinds of nervous, Steve too close, he wasn’t sure about the whole mechanics of the web slinging.

“Say okay Mr. Spider-Man… come on Munson.”

“You are so damn annoying, I sweat to-“

He got cut off when their bodies left the ground, his stomach dropped the moment Spider-Man changed webs. Eddie screamed full of terror while Steve was wooing and shouting happily.

The truth was that it ended faster than Eddie thought. Both were standing on a building maybe two blocks away from the warehouse. Eddie’s knees buckled as he almost kissed the rooftop they were on.

“I’m gonna kick your ass Harrington,”

“It wasn’t that bad, come here!” Steve peeled his mask off, his face and Eddie’s met mere inches away once Eddie was on his feet again.

Damn, Steve was a very attractive boy, bruises and all… he was hot.

“Press the square.” Steve said, more like a whisper.

It took Eddie a second to understand, he took out the little metallic square he hid in his jean pocket.

His chocolate eyes examined the square then they met Steve’s hazel irises.

“Do it, you’ll like it.”

The suggestive tone was doing things for Eddie.

Shaking his head, he pressed it, it made a low click and seconds later he saw it. Web bundles glowing yellow, again then bam! Explosion after explosion, like the domino effect. The whole cargo was on fire. Trucks, and the warehouse were burning bright orange. From that spot Eddie and Steve could feel the warmth coming from the improvised bonfire.

“Cool right?”

“Totally… you made it?” Eddie was in awe examining the square.

“Dustin and I, that kid’s a little genius.”

“With electroshock webs I suppose,” Eddie recalled what he saw on that notebook.

Steve smiled, looking at him, his insides ignited, “exactly that.”

“Smart.”

“Thanks.”

Soon after that the police and the firemen arrived. Steve persuaded Eddie to swing back to the apartment, because it was easier, and it was way faster. It cost Eddie all his will not to start crying when Steve made a joke to not have more webs while they fell from a 32 story building.

Steve was having the time of his life, this was the most fun he had in months.

Robin patched Eddie, the cut he had on his shoulder was the size of a small grape which was a bit embarrassing but the blazing pain was no joke.

Steve continued doing work in his room right after Robin checked his old and new wounds. The police called him as it was obvious he had done the trick, they tried to ask him for more information, he eventually had to go back to the scene to explain and clean his webs away.

Eddie was left a bit confused and with a weird mix of emotions inside. From fear to elation and adrenaline still running up his veins feeling like he could conquer the world if he wanted to. He also felt extremely attracted to Steve seeing him fight and just move like that has done stuff to his body he was not able to process yet, but his body also ached, he was so tired that a nap of two weeks sounded just about right.

***

The days have been elongating, Eddie had unanswered questions and a tickling feeling in his stomach that prevented him from eating, from sleeping, from paying attention. He was not even playing his guitar. Jeff threw him an empty can of coke to the head and Eddie barely reacted. That was definitely new and not good.

“Dude, whatever shit is bothering you, solve it before this weekend’s show, we are not ruining this party just because you are sulking.” Gareth said.

Eddie scoffed but he was right, the party they got paid for was a huge thing, he knew what he needed to do.

After taking the subway Eddie ran, not because he was being chased or he was in any kind of danger, he was anxious to get there fast. The sign of the book store showed up in neon lights after he ran around a corner, almost clashing with a mom and their two little kids who laughed at him. He apologized, not minding a reply. Panting and blood rushing from his fingertips to the top of his head, he entered the store a bit too harshly making customers look at him weirdly.

He leaned on the counter, where he saw Robin putting books inside a paper bag. She threw him a sharp look, he didn’t care he wasn’t there for her, he needed Steve.

“Where is Steve?”

“He has classes.”

“But it’s late,”

“He has stuff to do, what do you need?” Robin was not having it.

“Is he even coming back here?” Eddie wasn’t having it either.

Robin rested her head on her hand, “what’s your deal with him?”

“I want to talk to him,” he smiled, “I need to tell him,”

Robin perked up, a smirk playing on her lips “tell him what?”

Now his rings seemed way more important than Robin’s face, “just… things, come on Buckley help a bro out.” He gave her his best smile.

“Jesus Eddie… ok listen, before you tell him how you feel, just know that he felt his way for you way before you did for him, so don’t hurt him or you’ll pay for it.”

His heart skipped a beat, so it was true, Steve had feelings for him too.

“I promise I won’t… so.. where can I find him?”

Robin sighed, “I’ll promise you this… he’ll come and find you.”

“What? No, I want to talk to him now.”

“Eddie!” She said as a warning, “he will find you when he is ready.”

His shoulders slumped, closing his eyes, his palms brushed his face, defeated, “fine, just… tell him I came looking for him? Please?”

Robin’s whole face softened, she nodded offering him a kind smile, “sure.”

“Thanks.”

With that Eddie left, now looking up at the skies, hoping to see a speck of red and blue cross the now orange painted skies.

***

It was fair to say that Steve was scared, therefore he’s been hiding in his favorite spot in the whole city; the Chrysler building.

He could see the whole city without the constant paranoia of being looked at or expected to do something for someone. Still his mind didn’t stop going on and on about Eddie. Eddie knew him as Spider-Man so he couldn’t just go check on him when he missed him like he used to. There was no more mask that could hide how he felt or how he acted, no more excuses. Hance he had been avoiding him.

Robin was upset that she had to take extra shifts for him while he stayed up there, doing homework and fixing his new improved web shooters. But at least she was making more money.

Headphones on and an old notebook open he forced himself to work and not to think too much, he was failing obviously. Stupid heart with its stupid feelings for this stupid boy.

He had to man up… eventually. That eventually dragged and elongated into what turned into two weeks and three days. Robin told him about Eddie going to the store not once but almost daily, he hid in the storage room for an hour to not be seen by Eddie the past Wednesday.

Steve had to go out from his window this one time Eddie came by their apartment to look for him, he swung away to Queens just to not be near Eddie. Why? Because he was damn stupid and scared of what Munson could tell him. Steve was just putting a pause on what he thought would end in heartache because, hell, he knew Eddie Munson, leader of Corroded Coffin, would never feel the same for him. For Spider-Man it was fine but for average Steve Harrington it was rather obvious he would reject any kind of attraction towards him.

And Steve felt every piece of his heart, mind and body race when it came to Eddie, to his smile to the way he played with his rings when he was thinking or trying not to. When Eddie played guitar and sang and Steve’s world blurred and Eddie was the center of it. It was crazy how his Spidey senses went off when he heard his voice or his laugh, his skin would crawl, his lungs would fill with oxygen and his stomach would summersault and shrink all together.

But no matter how much he tried, Steve woke up one night, it was past three in the morning, with the longing of Eddie. Spider-Man suit on, he moved through the veins of the city night silently, with low sounds of web splashes and grunts from his still healing wounds, at least crime never gave him a break.

Steve had come by Eddie’s apartment more times that he cared to admit, it was a bit creepy to be honest. He’d been outside that window watching the messy room and the guitar with so much attention he had memorized how the room looked under morning, sunrise and twilight. This time Eddie was there, awake. Steve shook his head, knowing how fucked up his sleeping schedule was. Just like his own.

Knocking on the glass window, made Eddie jump on his spot on the bed. His accelerated heart only went crazier when he saw Steve there, well not Steve but Spider-Man. His guitar rested on the side of the bed as his feet touched the cold floor.

He tried to push clothes under the bed and it was a futile try to make the place look tidy. But Steve didn’t care. He just wanted to talk and end with things once and for all.

“Welcome to the chateau.” Eddie smiled when he let Steve in through the window.

“Thanks, it looks… great.”

“Yeah, don’t lie, I know it’s shit.” Steve chuckled, Eddie felt the butterflies wake up from their slumber. “I’ve been trying to contact you bug boy .”

Eddie leaned his back on the wall, hands on his tailbone, watching Steve intently. The latter moved slow and confident, he always moved like that when he was in hero mode.

“I know, I was just… busy, you know how things are.” Eyes never on Eddie always somewhere else.

This caused Eddie to feel irritated, furrowing his brows.

“Too busy to talk to a friend, I see how things are now.”

Steve half shrugged, “I’m here now.”

“Almost a month late.”

He laughed, it was not the happy kind, it sounded bitter, tired. “What? Was I supposed to come running to your arms after I got shot?” Steve was upset.

Eddie scoffed, pushing himself from the wall. “I—of course not, but I tried to give you space and time and I don’t know Steve, I wanted to talk, to clear a few things that have been… taking form in my brain, like puzzle pieces I had no idea I needed to put together.”

His hands went to his head, he was trying his best to not just blurt out all he was feeling, like word vomit.

Steve kept pacing, causing Eddie to grip the hem of his shirt with too much force, shouldn’t this be easy?

“That’s why I came, Eddie, to talk but you just attacked me. You have no idea how vulnerable I’m being just by coming here.”

Eddie shook his head, now that was a great joke, “Well you are the one wearing a mask, with a full suit. I’m just in my underwear and an old shirt, so don’t tell me how vulnerable you feel because it doesn’t suit you right now man.”

In a swift move, Steve threw the mask on the floor, hands up in the air, “there, now let’s talk! Didn’t come here to fight.”

The tension was so heavy you could cut it with a knife. Eddie and Steve stood on opposite sides of the room, both blinking, eyes locked on one another, now it seemed like the words weren’t able to come out of any of them.

Steve could feel his heartbeat fastening, his skin forming goosebumps just like when he felt the Spidey senses going off. Swallowing hard he opened his mouth, he looked like a fish out of water, although he felt the knot on the pits of his stomach he grabbed onto that and let the words flow, if he was getting his heartbroken tonight at least he had to say how he felt, the rest would heal with time.

“I like you,” more like mumbles, he inhaled, “not like friends Eddie, I’ve— I’m in love with you , and it’s eating me alive, and it’s unfair to you that I was being flirty as spider-Man. I know I used you for the whole drug dealing operation we took down and… shit, this– I’ve never felt anything like it before, it’s scary but I know it’s something I want to experience with you .”

Steve’s eyes were glossy, lips parted, he felt he was gonna have a panic attack any second, while Eddie remained there, heavy breathing.

“Eddie… I am terrified because we are friends and I don’t want to ruin our friendship, if you don’t feel the same it’s fine, I just don’t want to live with the ghosts of ‘what ifs’ , you don’t owe me anything! If you think that for being Spider-Man you are in debt, you aren’t, okay? You can continue with your life and it’ll be fine, I’ll be fine. But—can you say something, please.”

“Jesus!”

Steve’s shoulders slumped, “that’s not what I wanted to hear but I guess that’s better than nothing,”

“Steve… shit man!” Eddie closed his eyes so tightly he started to see figures behind his eyelids. How could he reply to that without sounding like a complete clown.

“I guess I better go, it’s fine.”

“What?” Eddie moved closer to Steve, he kicked the mask away, “no, don’t go, you can’t go without letting me talk. What the hell, Steve? Where are your manners?”

Steve huffed, arms crossed over his chest, muscles popping off, the suit made him look like a sculpture, Eddie sighed shakily.

“It’s—wow, okay, um” his hand went to play with one of his neck chains, “I am a bit surprised because, I didn’t feel these butterflies so alive since I was in high school, and being completely honest with you Stevie, I was oblivious about them for the majority of our friendship, this is a recent discovery for me.”

Eddie smiled, he was so nervous but continued “yes it started with Spider-Man, like you heard me talking to Robin about you. I felt stuff for you, as this, as the bug boy the hero thing is pretty hot. But the moment I suspected you were up until the moment I knew you were the same person it all downed on me like a bucket of cold water.”

“That bad?”

“It wasn’t bad, it was… shocking and weird to finally unveil that I had feelings for you too.”

“You do?” Steve said, low, incredulous, a smile tugging at the corner of his lips.

Eddie sat on his unmade bed, he let out a soft chuckle, “of course I do Stevie, don’t you see? My legs feel like they’re made of fucking jelly, and that suit is not helping your case.”

Steve felt his cheeks go extremely hot “you only like Spider-Man.”

“Pff okay, no. I do like Steve Harrington more than I like Spider-Man. Don’t get me wrong you look spectacular in spandex but Steve I like you, a lot, in ways I can’t explain because it’d be gross and not appropriate for the moment.”

Hearts were speeding inside their rib cages. Breath hitching and racing as well.

Steve got closer to Eddie, unconsciously Eddie’s bare legs opened, giving Steve enough space to stand right between them, in front of Eddie.

Feeling his hands twitch, Eddie grasped the bed sheets, gulping.

“I don’t mind hearing what you think… but I need to be sure of something.” Steve almost grumbled.

“What?” voice came out like a whisper, submissive almost, Eddie wanted to slap himself for the display of vulnerability.

“That you want to give this a go.”

“I do Steve, wasn’t that obvious?”

Steve grinned. Hands feeling pins and needles, as he caressed the base of Eddie’s neck, he hated having his suit on, he wanted to touch Eddie fully, skin to skin.

The hint got caught fast, Eddie was not the kind of guy to wait, he was impatient and impulsive. His hands grabbed Steve by his cheeks. Lips collided a bit too harshly.

The type of kiss where teeth collide and oxygen becomes the last recourse, when your head is spinning and you want to keep going. Steve’s hands got tangled in Eddie’s long curls, his nose caught a faint smell of smoke and coconut, it was Eddie’s hair products… somehow he knew that.

Eddie was over the moon, not minding Steve’s chapped lips or how weird the Spidey suit felt on his skin when Steve pushed him to lay on the bed. This was what he wanted, he needed this so much, dammit he didn’t want it to end.

Steve broke the kiss, looking at Eddie with hungry eyes.

“Eddie…” he mumbled breathless, feverish almost.

Eddie just grunted, giving Steve a peck on the corner of his lips, Steve felt like melting.

“This won’t be easy,” Steve sat on Eddie’s lap, the latter almost gasping, that had been an intended move. “My priority is the city, I can’t quit my powers or my responsibility as Spider-Man. So I want to be clear on that.”

Leaning on his elbows, Eddie observed Steve, with the hair all messy, the outside light hit the side of his face, he was sure what he wanted, he was even more sure of his heart's desires now than he was an hour ago.

His hands went up, to brush his fingers through Steve’s hair, something he had always been curious about, it felt soft and tangled. A lipped smile displayed on his swollen lips.

“I know, and I like that about you. I’m all in Stevie. I want to be there for you when you need it as Spider-Man too but mostly as Steve.”

Like a big relief Steve let out a sigh, this was his biggest fear, that Eddie only wanted one side of him.

“Are you sure?” Please say yes.

“Six hundred percent, you need more than bug powers to push me away Steve.”

“I’m glad to hear that.”

Steve was the one to kiss Eddie this time. Tongues got in the way, and unfortunately the suit was in the way of Eddie’s plans as well.

“Wish I could stay longer but I have work to do.” Steve cleared his throat, as he reluctantly got up for this spot on Eddie’s lap. Sirens giving him his cue.

Now he wished crime would give him a break.

Eddie all flustered nodded, hair all over the place, it made Steve smile, that was quite the sight.

“Spidey duties, of course.” his long fingers scratched his cheeks.

“Uh huh, but I’ll be seeing you tomorrow, right?”

Steve shot a web to grab his mask from across the room. Eddie got up from the bed.

“Yeah, I’ll go by the bookstore after rehearsal.”

“Alright.” Steve said, looking Eddie in the eye.

“Just be careful, yeah?”

Steve’s gloved hands put a strand of Eddie’s hair behind his ear, in a smooth move, one that Eddie had to get used to—Steve kissed Eddie on the lips, then backed away, putting his mask on.

“I am Spider-Man babe, of course I’m careful.”

“You’re so full of shit, Steve.”

“That’s part of the charm.”

Eddie couldn’t see but he could almost see Steve’s cheeky smile from under the mask.

“Fuck off.”

Steve chuckled, webs crossed the air, and he disappeared, leaving Eddie with too much fire to handle.

***

Robin was tired of the PDA’s. It’s been like that for weeks now, she now had to not only cover for Steve when it came to his hero duties but also cover for him when he disappeared between the knitting and crafts hall with Eddie.

This Sunday evening was no different. She almost gagged when she found the two shoving each other's bodies against the Sci-Fi thriller section.

“Aw guys, that's gross… Please never do that again.” She whined, pushing Eddie as she tried to put a bunch of books back where they belonged.

Steve rolled his eyes while Eddie smiled quite pleased with himself.

“Fine, we are out of here. You close Robin.” Steve intertwined his fingers with Eddie’s ringed ones.

“As always. Steve, please don't tell me how to do my job.”

“Fine, I won’t.”

“This is the last time I do it! You will be closing next week. I have my week booked for Nance.”

“Oh you finally asked her out, good for you Robin!” Steve smiled. He was truly very happy for his best friend.

“Yeah thanks, so now are we on the same page? You. Close. Next. Week.”

Steve sighed, grabbing his backpack from behind the counter, “sure”

“See you later Robin, say hi to Nancy for me.” Eddie waved at her.

She gave them the middle finger as Steve started to peel off the clothes to reveal his Spidey suit.

Eddie felt a rush in his insides, “have I told you you look incredibly hot in the suit?”

Steve let out a laugh, “yeah a couple of times, thank you. I may not take the suit off ever again.”

Eddie smirked, “I’m not complaining.”

“Shut up.”

Both chuckled, Eddie put down the mask over Steve’s face, leaving his lips on display, he kissed him. It was funny how Eddie was taller than Steve but still Steve felt so much bigger and intimidating when he was all into Spidey mode.

“Ready?” Steve asked, Eddie gave him one last peak as he put the mask fully down.

“You know I am not, but go ahead I guess.”

“I won’t drop you Eds,”

“That’s not what worries me, it’s the fucking swinging, it makes me want to throw up.”

Steve slipped his hand over Eddie’s waist.

“I’ll be more careful,”

“Don’t let us free fall again Steve or I sweat I’ll beat your ass.”

Steve half shrugged, flicking his wrist making web come out of it.

“You can try.”

“Fuck off.”

“You love me,”

Both got sent up in the air, Eddie held for dear life onto Steve’s side, his face hidden in his neck, “no, not right now.”

Eddie felt Steve’s laugh rumble against his chest, hell, he loved Steve but the whole swing-commute-shit was his least favorite thing.

“I do love you all the fucking time Eds, even when you flirt with all those girls when you put on the rockstar façade”

“You love my rockstar personality,”

“Yeah, I won’t deny it.”

“Then stop complaining-“

With that Steve let them both fall from a twenty story building, leaving Eddie screaming his lungs out, arm punching Steve on the back. Steve would never get over that, after all he really had the best of both worlds.

#fanfic #eddie munson fluff #eddie munson #steve harrington #protective steve harrington #steddie #steve harrington spider man #robin buckley #dustin henderson #au steve spiderman #idiots in love #mutual pining #steve x eddie #idk what else to tag

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