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sherifftillman · 2 years

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An Unambiguous Love [1/10]: First Day Out Front

:: 1 :: 2 :: 3 :: 4 :: 5 :: 6 :: 7 :: 8 :: 9 :: 10 ::

alternate AO3 link

Pairing: Steve Harrington x Eddie Munson x f!Reader

Genre: fluff

Summary: Your favourite customers really make it easier returning to the town you never went to school in. If only your friends at work would stop trying to play matchmaker between you.

Chapter 1 word count: 2428

A/N: Ahh, here it is! The thing I keep saying has been kicking my ass lately!! I really hope you all enjoy reading it as much as I've ultimately enjoyed writing it. Also big big love to @denim-mixtapes for beta-ing/de-British-ing the things I write.

“Heads up!” You look up at the source of the command you just heard to witness a paper ball leave your colleague Jesse’s hand, swing through the air as though in slow motion, and collide directly with your forehead. You give him a stern look, and he smirks while shaking with laughter. “I mean, I did warn you.”

You flip him off, “Way to kick off my first day on the shop floor.”

“I am your mentor out here, I need to prepare you for anything. Be grateful it wasn’t a figurine, that would have hurt,” Jesse points out. “Nah, it’s easy enough out here. You’ll even be able to run shifts all by yourself in no time.”

You hold up your index finger this time, “Correction, you could in no time. You know how many dirty looks I get just from saying the word comic in front of most men?”

He pulls a face. “I’m sure most of our customers are just like me, and I’m one of those female-ists! I let you join my D&D campaign, remember? That was great!”

You think back to the group containing mostly your fellow employees, and a couple of other guys around your age from Jesse’s past, who may not have directly said anything against you, but who certainly treated his poorly-written female NPCs far worse than his mediocrely-written male ones, constantly trying to pursue them until Jesse would throw a tantrum and refuse to “flirt'' with his players. Instead of arguing, you simply opt to look down so he doesn’t see the resigned expression that so badly insists on creeping along your face.

As you’re looking down, you notice the crumpled up paper isn’t just plain, it’s a half-written Dungeons and Dragons character sheet. Curious as to why it was abandoned, you unfurl it and read the first box.

Name: Steve Harr Bashemall

You chuckle at a half-orc fighter being essentially called "bash them all". You never really made any lasting friends before you moved out of Hawkins in your elementary years, and you and your family moved back just after you graduated high school, but this town's small enough that you know who Steve Harrington, King of Hawkins High is. He works at the Family Video right opposite your store, with the clumsy girl who you once literally bumped into on one of your trash runs after you had to deal with a delivery of misprints. She had at least helped you run around the blustery parking lot collecting them all back up again, and you'd sworn you could never show your face in front of him again after seeing the silhouette of his broad shoulders and swooping hair in the store window, clearly watching you run around like a headless chicken.

Jesse sees you reading the sheet and chuckles. "Ah, is that Harrington's garbage? Yeah, I was here when he came in with that, uh… Trailer boy. Munson."

"You say that like I'm just supposed to know them," you retort.

Jesse shrugs, "Anyway, Munson got his wires crossed, thought it was last week that we were launching D&D supplies. Brought in his own blank character sheet to, what was it he said? 'Keep Stevie busy', or something." You allow yourself a small laugh at the nickname. "But obviously that was pretty short-lived. He kept trying to name his character real boring names like Brian until -" Jesse makes some kind of unintelligible groan. "Until I said it might suit him to play an unassuming human rogue with a deadly secret, but he called that “pretentious” until he started yelling "Bash 'em! I wanna bash 'em all! That's my character!" so Munson told him to write it down. I don't think they got too much farther with it. I only found it 'cause I realised just now I hadn't thrown it away, it was just trash."

You fold it away and tuck it into a drawer in your desk. There's a very brief character description, if it gets quiet you could always use some extra drawing practice.

The morning goes by pretty smoothly, the register is easy enough to use, the clientele haven't been too harsh. Which means Jesse has “decided” to let you fly solo until someone else takes over. "I can’t stay anyway, I, uh… I’ve told Cam already that I’ve got a migraine coming on.” If he’s telling the truth, he’s weirdly unaffected for someone whose symptoms are so bad he apparently can’t work any longer. “It's not like you're on your own, Tiffany's just dealing with this week's delivery out back, you can call on her if you really need anything!" he calls over his shoulder as the door hits the bell that dangles just above it.

Sighing in resignation, you shout out, “Tiff?”

“One second, hun!” The other female player in Jesse’s D&D campaign calls out.

“Oh, it’s all good as long as you can hear me. Just thought I’d tell you Jesse’s gone for the day. Says it’s a migraine.”

You hear the clatter of something being dropped and soon after, Tiffany rushedly appears at the back room door. “What a jerk! You want me to put a word in with the big guy about him?”

You shake your head. “I’ll be fine, I’m sure. Cameron’s in the office today, and I don’t want him to think I need my hand held all the time. Just wanted to check that you were within shouting distance if I needed you for something.”

Tiffany pads over and reaches around behind your back to give you a quick squeeze of encouragement. “I’ll always have your back here! Especially over my lame-ass brother,” she pulls a face and you laugh. Fresh into high school, Tiffany has all the nerdy know-how Jesse does, and thankfully a far more palatable personality. “And don’t be scared of Cameron. He’s cool when he wants to be.”

“Yeah, I know. I just spent… So damn long in that back room. I don’t want to cause trouble on my first day out.” You sigh.

“I’m gonna miss having my behind-the-scenes sister with me!” Tiff pouts.

You grin, “Just makes us the dream team now, right?”

“The face and the brains!” She mirrors your expression, pointing at you and then herself, and runs off before she can see your borderline offended look.

A little while after noon hits, after a dull enough morning that you’ve been spending your time absent-mindely drawing, the doorbell tolls. You look up to see the familiar silhouette of a stocky man with perfect hair, but this time you can see his warm eyes and chiselled jaw. He at first goes straight for the comic section, thumbing through different boxes with his tongue poking his cheek out and looking confused.

“Need some help?” You offer, and he gets snapped out of his trance to look at you for the first time. His expression when he locks eyes with you is so much softer than you were expecting from the charismatic reputation that has preceded him.

“Uh, yeah, actually, sorry. Friend of mine wanted me to pick him up a… number 200 Lantern? Said I should get here nice and early in case it sells out fast. Apparently it’s a big one?” he asks, blowing air through his lips in a rasp and holding his arm out in a half-shrug.

For a moment, you understand the power trip that knowing more than someone else can have, but you’re no Jesse. Instead, you nod understandingly. “Got it, Green Lantern #200. Yeah, it’s literally a big one. Poor Tiff’s been fighting with them all day back there,” you gesture with your head to the back room door. “They came in this morning, but they don’t hit the shelves until tomorrow. Same day the D&D stuff gets out, too. Sorry.”

He groans, “Stupid Dustin, getting the date wrong… Sorry for wasting your time,” he states as he wanders up to your counter. He notices that you’re drawing something and leans over to look. “I’m Steve, by the - oh,” he stops suddenly when he recognises the crumpled up paper you’ve been using for reference. “Is that -”

You don’t usually embarrass easily, but your cheeks do tint pink. “Uh, yeah, one of my colleagues used this sheet as a missile and I figured since I haven’t had much practice drawing orcs - or half-orcs, in this case - I could give it a go.”

“So this is what Bashemall looks like, huh?” he asks, swivelling himself around to angle his point of view to look at it from your perspective. “That’s amazing.”

“Well, ultimately only you know that. I’m just going by what little is written here, and some reference of my own knowledge of orcs’ anatomy. Um, you haven’t really said anything about hair, though, so I’m not sure what would look best on him…” you study your sketchbook page, tilting your head from side to side as you try to imagine different hairstyles on him.

“Well, I mean, I put enough effort into my own hair that I’d like to think it would look good no matter what kind of face I had, so… Maybe he could have hair like mine?”

You look back up at him, eyes narrowing as you study the way his hair looks for a moment. “Sure, I could do that,” you nod. “Mind if I use you as reference, or do you gotta head back?”

“Ah, Robin can cope without me for a few minutes,” he waves off before snorting a quick chuckle out of a half-smile. “She, uh, she’s the one who helped you whip the parking lot back into shape a couple weeks back.”

You raise your eyebrows at him. “Wow, so you are the one who just stood watching in the window! How heroic,” you smile sarcastically and he laughs harder. “Alright, well, I’ve been drawing this guy at a ¾ view so if you could just move your head…” you try and gesture with your hands how you want his head positioned, but he doesn’t seem to be getting it. Instead, you opt for using the end of your pencil to push his jaw up slightly, then across slightly until it’s angled just right.

“You need me to make a face for you?” Steve asks, immediately cycling through an array of facial expressions.

You giggle, “Not for the drawing, but for my own entertainment, sure!” He continues pulling faces until you’ve sketched a full head of hair. You hold your sketchbook up and he finally breaks pose to look at it in full.

His face is filled with admiration. “This is so good! Almost makes me want to pick it up. Almost,” he points at you, eyes wide. “But not totally. It’s still very much Munson’s and the kids’ thing,” he shakes his head. “I can’t wrap my head around it all.”

“Well, then, I’m super honoured that you entertained the idea of me drawing a D&D character that’ll never see the light of day,” you smile, before having an idea. Holding a single finger up, you ask, “Please hold just a second,” before slinking back to the back room.

You open the door to find Tiff backing away, far closer than she should have been if she were at her post. “Is that the Steve Harrington out there I hear?!”

“Yeah… Yeah,” you nod, half-distractedly. Despite the fact he’s only a door away, part of you just wants him back in your field of vision as soon as possible. Looking over at the manager’s office’s closed door, trying to stay out of its earshot, you ask in a hushed tone, “Uh, hey, I don’t suppose you could slide me a copy of Green Lantern a day early? I’ll make sure it all gets paid for, I jus-”

“Say no more,” Tiffany singsongs as she presses a copy into your chest. “Just remember to ask me to be your maid of honour.”

You roll your eyes at her as you head back out to the shop floor. You toss the issue onto the counter and gesture to it. “There you go. For being such a good model. Don’t go telling anybody you got it a day early, though.”

Steve gasps deeply, bouncing on the balls of his feet. “Oh, I’m definitely gonna be Henderson’s favourite for this! Thanks, I seriously owe you!”

You narrow your eyes, “I literally just said this makes up for letting me draw your hair! You don’t owe me shit now.”

“Oh no, trust me, you have no idea what this is going to do to my reputation. I still owe you so hard,” Steve picks the issue up and tucks it beneath his jacket.

“Just… Maybe come back every once in a while? It’d be nice to have a friendly face around every now and again to chat to,” you suggest.

Steve salutes, “You got it…” He leans in to read your name badge and calls you by name. Huh, guess you forgot to introduce yourself. Maybe you should be doing that more.

He rushes out of the store, back to his own workplace, and you step back to rap your knuckles against the back room door. “You can come out now, Tiff,” you murmur just loud enough to be heard on the other side.

Sure enough, Tiffany opens the door just enough to poke her head through the gap. “Oh my god, he is so into you.”

You shake your head in disbelief. “Please, he’s just being friendly. There was nothing flirty about anything either of us said.”

“Exactly!” Tiffany hisses. “If I know anything about Steve Harrington, from what I’ve heard, he usually flirts so hard! You clearly make him nervous, he’s obviously intimidated by you. Trust me.”

“You want me to ‘trust’ what you’ve ‘heard’ about someone who graduated last year, before you were even at that school?” you ask in disbelief, shaking your head. “He just seemed like he was being nice. I dunno. It’d be cool to have a friend outside of here, too.”

“Well, I’m still gonna have hope,” Tiffany shrugs as she sneaks back to her work.

When your shift finally ends, as you get to your car you look up at Family Video one last time to see Steve at the window. He lifts his hand to just in front of his chest to give you a small wave goodbye with a soft smile to match. You wave back, feeling a sensation of warmth emanate all through your body.

#steve harrington x eddie munson x reader #steddie x reader #steve harrington x eddie munson x you #steddie x you #steddie imagine #stranger things fanfic #stranger things fic #stranger things imagine #stranger things x reader #fluff #aul #*myfics

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sherifftillman · 2 years

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An Unambiguous Love [9/10]: Trial Runs

1 :: 2 :: 3 :: 4 :: 5 :: 6 :: 7 :: 8 :: 9 :: 10 ::

alternate AO3 link

Pairing: Steve Harrington x Eddie Munson x f!Reader

Genre: fluff

Summary: Your favourite customers really make it easier returning to the town you never went to school in. If only your friends at work would stop trying to play matchmaker between you.

Chapter 9 word count: 3751

A/N: Sorry this is a little later than usual, I got home from work and started watching Spree and got distracted by how I am so sure I could fix Kurt Kunkle, but you're not here to hear about my poor taste in men lol.

You really don’t feel too good over the next few days. You take the Sunday off sick, and the Monday. Tuesday is your day off anyway, and in the late afternoon, your brother shouts to you that you have a visitor, though he doesn’t name them. You think that strange of him, since he’s met all your friends by now, he knows all of them by name. You make your way downstairs and see Tiffany at your door, looking worse for wear than you feel. You recognise the pale green complexion, though, and crane your neck around to see Eddie sitting in his van, reading a book. Tiffany pipes up, “I found him and asked him to bring me here after school. I hope that’s okay.”

“You wanna come and sit down after the drive?” you ask with a smirk, and she nods with wide eyes. With a soft chuckle, you let her in and close the door behind her. You get her some water and guide her to the couch.

"So how are you holding up?" she asks.

You blow out a harsh breath. "I don't know. I hate taking time off work, I'm hoping this all clears up by tonight so I can come in tomor-"

"Don't you dare even, Jesse's already taking over that one for you, too, so you can be back at 100%."

You scoffs, "He barely likes doing his own shifts, let alone covering for me! Why would he do that?"

She shrugs. "Knowing him growing up, the only thing I could say is that he'll want to use it as leverage, maybe he plans to "call sick" himself once you're better? I dunno. So what happened? Steve came in to see you on Sunday and he seemed real concerned about you."

You hold your head in your hands. "Tiff, I really don't need your whole spiel about how Steve and I are star-crossed lovers or whatever, alright? I'm sorry, I'm just really not in the mood to entertain it right now."

She frowns, "I'm being serious, Y/N. He's been in, that Eddie guy's been. Those other freshmen that are always in the store even came and found me in the cafeteria today to ask about you." A warm smile spreads along your face. "So, are you going to tell me what's up?"

"What do you already know?" You ask.

"I know you went out to the movies with those two boys, and then you saw your other friends, and then you've been ill ever since," she explains slowly.

You nod, "Well, the truth is… I got overwhelmed, because I think I was supposed to have been set up on a date." Tiffany chokes on her water. "But I couldn't think of how, or why, or even who it was that wanted it, I mean… Like, yeah, we've all always been close as friends, but if I'd have known that I was accidentally leading one of them on - or both of them - I wouldn't have been that way so much with both of them… But it's so weird, it's not like I do that with all new friends, I've never been compelled to invite Ralph over to cuddle and watch movies with like I have the other two." You hold your head in your hands again. "Now I don't know if they expected more of me, or maybe they thought they had to go along with these things even if they didn't want -"

"Let me stop you there, just… Breathe a second," Tiffany strokes your shoulder. "They certainly care about you. It's obvious even now, when you're not around. I don't think they'd be like that if they felt any ill will towards you." Tiffany herself takes a deep breath in. "In all honesty, I don't think even I could tell you which one is into you, really. Maybe you should just… Ask each one on an actual, real date?"

"I don't want to ruin what we have, if they like it like that, too." You throw yourself back onto the couch, head leaning up to stare at the ceiling. "Oh god, what have I done?!"

"Don't frame it as a date, then. Just… Hang out with them, one-on-one. Invite them somewhere," Tiffany suggests.

You gently put a hand to her face. "How are you wiser than me, when you're years younger?"

She shrugs. "It's a blessing and a curse, honestly." You both laugh and she starts to say her goodbyes.

As she reaches the door, you say, "Hey, uh… Tell Eddie I miss him, will you? And I give you full permission to tell Steve whenever you want to, as well. As long as there's no more matchmaking. I've got to take that on now," you nod, and Tiffany does back, too.

"Of course I will," she agrees with a smile, hugging you in the doorway. You watch her climb back into Eddie's van, and catch his eye briefly. He looks at you with his classic soft smile, but his eyes are sad. It changes his whole face. You smile back and wave at him. He flutters his fingers back at you before reversing out.

You go to your room and open up your journal. You split a double page spread into four: two rows labelled with each boys' name, and two columns labelled "pros" and "cons". The only issue is… There are no cons. There are no downsides to either one of your best friends. That's why you've been able to become so close to them so quickly.

Giving yourself some more time to take care of yourself, the next day you call up Eddie first. It's only fair, he's seen you in person the most recently, he deserves an explanation.

He still sounds so enthusiastic on the phone. "How are you? Are you better now? It's so nice to hear your voice again."

"I'm… Fine, Eds, thank you. Just a quick one, I know you've got Hellfi-"

"If you need to, I can postpone -"

"No, that's very sweet of you, but this'll only take a second. Would you like to get dinner tomorrow? I'm only working early, and there's that Italian place downtown that I swear does pizza that's actually made to taste like how I thought that takeaway one was, but I can't get a whole one for myself, and… It'd be nice to catch up, just us two. What do you say?"

"Ooh, dinner at a fancy restaurant? Sounds like a date," he teases.

"Call it what you want, Munson, are you in?"

You can hear the grin on his face. "Hell yeah. Call me when you're home from work and we'll go from there, okay?"

The whole morning of the next day, you'd been trying desperately to plan this all out perfectly. You're only working the opening shift, so you can go home, get ready, and meet Eddie at your favourite proper restaurant, for a proper dinner. You'd had everything down to the letter.

And then Jesse just had to call off his closing shift. And you took that as a sign that this was how you're supposed to "repay" his kindness. You'd really rather not, but between Jesse and Eddie, you decide Eddie would be far more accommodating to the idea of rescheduling. You phone him up, having his and Steve's numbers memorised by now, and explain your situation. He understands, naturally, though the disappointment is clear in his tone. He tells you he'll figure something out, and to enjoy the rest of your shift.

Later on, disgruntled by the fact you're still working, though glad it's almost over, you're so busy with your usual closing routine that the doorbell ringing throws you off. You manage to get out a, "Sorry, we're closed!" but not before letting out a small squeal of surprise.

"Well, that sound was mighty delicious," you don't even have to turn around to know from the tone of his drawl that Eddie has the widest smirk on his face. Sure enough, his head is cocked as though he's admiring you, sucking his half-smiling bottom lip in and out between his teeth. If you give yourself more than a split second to admire it, you'd be lost for words.

"Point still stands, Munson. Can't serve you. Sorry," you shrug, mirroring his head tilt.

"Really? You won't do me one solid as compensation for standing me up?" he asks, raising his eyebrows.

"I did not!" You throw your cleaning rag at him, which he manages to dodge with a cackle. "Blame Jesse the jerk for calling off at the last minute."

Eddie pulls a face. "Ugh. Yeah. Don't love that guy. Buuuut I am feeling a little buffered now, getting all excited for a dinner that never happened. Especially since I got all dolled up," you hadn't even realised, since its all sleek black, but he's ditched the denim, kept the leather jacket, and is wearing a button-down shirt that is far too flattering to look at without gawping, especially when the top few buttons are undone just enough for his tattoos to peek through. When you manage to catch his eye, he smirks, "You got anything to help with that?" Eddie-the-date seems to be emulating Steve's usual cockiness when he's around other girls, but you try and put that thought out of your head. No thinking about Steve. This is Just Eddie.

You quirk an eyebrow to try and match his energy. "Got anything in mind?"

Eddie's cocky half-smile breaks out into a full beam. "Yeah, I got somethin'. How's about an apology kiss?"

Your brain freezes for a moment. You, Eddie and Steve all have your flirtatious banter, sure, and what happens at parties, well, it's always stayed at parties. And here Eddie is offering it up as if it's normal for all of you.

Trying to remain cool and collected, your eyes scan your surroundings until you see the jars of assorted dice, sorted by shape, that sit on this particular counter. You grab a d20, press it into Eddie's hand, hold his fingers to wrap around it and grin back, "Roll for persuasion." You have no idea how you've managed to make that so smooth, but you've done it. Though only for a split second, you have successfully rendered Edward Munson speechless.

"Alright, alright, what's the difficulty?" he eventually asks, shaking it around in his fist.

You suck in a breath through your teeth. You don't want to look desperate here, just in case. You eventually settle for, "20. Flat roll."

Eddie kisses his teeth. "Alright, fair enough, let's go." He flicks it onto the table, and…

"Ah, 16. Too bad," you scrunch your face up jokingly and lean back to start heading over to pick up your cleaning rag, but Eddie gently places a finger underneath your chin.

"You're forgetting something, sweetheart," his voice is lower, softer, yet more gruff. You narrow your eyes in questioning and he starts to pull you over the counter, closer to him. "That's just on the die," he tiptoes to lean right over to close the gap between you two, whispering so close to your mouth that his warm breath tickles your lips, "I got a plus 5 proficiency." Eddie kisses you in a way that is both brand new and yet every way he kisses into one. The tenderness of his usual, affectionately-high kisses, mixed with the fervorous intent of his passionately-drunk kisses. It's soft in nature, yet strong in practice. It lasts for one long peck, followed immediately by a short one, then a shared look of genuine elation between you. "Did that hit, by chance?"

Feeling the rush, you ask, "Wanna try your luck again?"

Eddie cocks his head in that way that makes you Feel Things again. "What do I get out of a natural 20?" He asks as he blindly feels for and picks up the die again.

Trying to test entirely what the vibe may be including a certain other someone, you tell him, "For that, let's throw in Harrington, too."

"Hot damn!" Eddie sings as he fully slings the die across the counter.

You tut and shake your head. "Your plus five doesn't help you on a ten, does it?

Eddie taps his chin in thought, closing one eye as he focuses. "Trying to think of what spells and abilities get me back up there again…"

You giggle, "If you can think of any that get you back to 20 off the top of your head, I'll get Steve myself."

Eddie's teeth practically go through his lip as he bites it in contemplation. Finally too weak to combat your urges, you let your mind wander. To you biting his lip for him. Just taking it between your own teeth and pulling it right out until it slips back out again. The sounds he'd make from that, the desperation to get back to it. Daydream!Eddie just can't get enough, going back to kiss you and gently nibble on your lip so you take the hint about what he wants from you. Daydream!Eddie's hands are on your ass cheeks, gripping and releasing with every bite.

But it's not just you two in this scenario. Daydream!Steve is stood directly behind you, head bent to kiss and bite your neck. His hands squeeze your hips as they pull you back flush against his chest before sliding up to possessively grab at your breasts. Both pretend boys are absolutely all over you, and within that universe, you are entirely content.

Real Life Eddie takes you out of that by drumming on the counter as he continues to think, getting himself more and more frustrated before growling. "Why is my mind so blank now?!" He doesn't seem to have noticed your transfixed-on-nothing eyes, or burning hot cheeks.

Wishing you had the same issue, you try to hide your blushing face by keeping your head down and looking for your rag once again. "Sorry, Munson. Rules is rules."

He tuts and gently punches the counter. "Rules is rules, and that's final. Yeah. Can't argue with that."

"Do you at least feel somewhat… Compensated for missing out on dinner?"

Eddie smiles softly. "It's not a transaction really, but let's say sure. You gonna be okay getting home tonight?" He starts fidgeting with his shirt in a somewhat awkward manner.

You chuckle and nod. "I'll be fine, you go put some Eddie clothes back on. Sorry again -"

Eddie cuts you off, but not before a brief moment to check you out as you bend over, completely unnoticed by you. "No apology necessary. Maybe we'll just reschedule. Or maybe that'll just jinx us again?"

Once stood back up, you shrug, "Who knows. Night, Munson." You decide to give him a goodbye kiss on the cheek, and he turns on his heel before you can notice it turning just as red as yours.

"Goodnight. Get home safe," he waves over his shoulder before heading back out.

Once everything is done but the locking of the door, all the evening's events hit you at once, so hard that you end up just sitting on the floor between the comic aisles. You and Eddie kissed. Sober. You didn't expect to be doing that with these dates. Is he going to expect more, now? What about Steve? Should he know? Would he have any opinion of it? Everything between the three of you has been mutual and friendly, would it be better if he got to kiss you, too? But it wouldn't be fair if one was more natural and the other one "only" happened to balance things out. But what if Steve doesn't want to kiss you while he's sober?

You hold your head in your hands and try to clear your thoughts. You're able to eventually come to the conclusion that you're simply overthinking everything. You decide to just put all those thoughts away, dump them into your journal later, then slam that thing shut and instead focus on how you’re going to ask Steve out now.

You can’t really go on a real date with Steve, since you didn’t technically go on one with Eddie. But, the next day, knowing you’re both closing, you decide to end things a little early and surprise Steve with a visit. As soon as he sees you, he rushes over and pulls you in for a tight, lingering hug. Much like how Eddie had been acting like Steve the day before, this certainly feels like more of an Eddie reaction to you. You squeeze him back, hoping to squeeze out any other comparison to Eddie when tonight is about Steve. “How are you, now?” Steve asks.

“Better,” you nod with a weak smile. “Uh, hey, I know it’s late and all, but did you wanna just… I dunno, drive around? Go hang out some place? Just us two?”

“Yeah, sure! You want me to drive? I can take you to my favourite spot,” he suggests, and you nod.

He spends most of the drive catching you up on all the things the kids have been up to and talking about while you’ve been away from it all. Apparently, you’ve really got Jane into the world of comics, which Mike wants to someday thank you for in person.

You vaguely recognise the area around the lake he’s driving towards. You’ve seen the lake on your map. The one shaped like a heart. If you think about its name too long, you’ll start getting nervous about Steve’s intentions and panic. But, isn’t this whole evening all about finding out Steve’s intentions? Maybe he’s picked Lovers’ Lake on purpose.

He leads you to where some large rocks converge onto a soft patch of grass, but instead of sitting at either of those spaces, like you do as you perch on a rock, he instead starts patrolling the area while staring at the ground. “You good?” you ask with a laugh.

“Who, me? Just swell. Hey, uh, you ever skimmed stones before? It’s like, my favourite thing to do here. But I think I’ve used up all the good ones,” he pulls a face.

Rolling your eyes, you hop off the rock you’d just sat on. “No way you’ve used up every good one. Maybe you’re just looking for the easy ones.”

Steve gasps dramatically, “Are you questioning how good I am?!”

“As someone who’s never done it before, absolutely,” you giggle, finally finding one that looks like it’s got a relatively smooth surface.

“Alright then, let’s see what you’ve got,” Steve’s stance is cocky, his head tipped to one side as he looks you up and down with a smirk. It flusters you for a second before you regain your composure. You flick your wrist as you throw the stone, and it bounces once off of the surface of the water before ultimately sinking beneath it. You raise your arms in celebration and cheer, and Steve chuckles at you. "Wow, never before have I seen such excitement over such a feeble attempt."

You cross your arms, "Like you could do any better!"

"Watch and learn, babe," he smirks, picking another one up and throwing it out at the water. It bounces twice, awkwardly, before tumbling into the water.

You raise your eyebrows, “And that was supposed to be better than my attempt?”

“Sorry, isn’t - isn’t two more than one?” Steve presses a finger to his lip and looks up, laughing as you shove him away.

“Yeah, but at least mine was all smooth! Yours was, like…” You wave your hands up and down alternately. He mimics you mockingly, so you exaggerate your movements further still until you both start hitting each others’ hands, eventually collapsing into each other with laughter.

“Look, why don’t I show you how it’s done?” Steve picks out another stone and presses it into your hand. He moves behind you, gently kicking at your feet to guide them before cradling his body around yours, one hand on your hip and the other wrapped around the hand holding the stone. “Now,” his voice is low and soft in your ear, “a lot of people say it’s all in the wrist, but you’ve gotta angle yourself right, too, right?” You nod, swallowing hard. “So just get a feel for things, like this.” Using your hip and your hand as leverage, Steve starts guiding you to swivel at the hips, from side to side. His hand squeezes your hip just a little, and your breath hitches as you take a deep breath in. You feel Steve breathe out against your neck, his breath hitching, too.

He wriggles the fingers of the hand holding yours until he’s gotten you to drop the stone entirely, before guiding you round to face him. He slips his hands into yours and leans down to kiss you sweetly. Soft, lingering pecks, one after another after another. Usually, Steve smiles into his kisses, and you can feel it, but this time it feels more… Intense.

Your mind wanders again, to Steve kissing down to your neck, his hand reaching up into your hair as he backs you against the larger rock you’d been perched on earlier. Eddie’s here now, too, kissing your mouth with open lips and hands that inch further and further down your body. Daydream!Steve pulls you back to kiss you fully, as daydream!Eddie seems to sink lower and lowe-

You pull yourself out of the very real kiss still happening between you and Steve with a sharp intake of breath. He shuffles his weight between his feet and drops your hands. "We, uh, should get you back to your car again soon, right? Is everyone home tonight or is it just you and… Marvin?"

"Look at you, on first name terms!" You playfully bat his arm as you both start walking back to his car.

"Shut up," he laughs bashfully.

The ride back is quieter than the one there, but it's not awkward. Not until you've given Steve a goodbye kiss on the cheek just like you did with Eddie, and then you've gotten into your car and made it safely out of the lot. Only once you're alone with your thoughts do you realise how screwed you really are.

Both "dates" were equally amazing, in their own rights. But your wandering thoughts ultimately kept bringing you back to the same wish: you couldn't help but want the other person there, too.

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