Only Fools Fall in Love | Steddie Imagine
Pairing: Steve Harrington & Eddie Munson
Song Inspo: Andrew by Ben Platt
Word Count: 2,574
Summary: Steve Harrington has a crush on Eddie Munson. Eddie Munson has a crush on Steve Harrington. Neither of them want to address it for various reasons. They're just two idiots in love.
Warnings: angst, slowburn
Masterlist: see fandoms (pc-friendly)
After defeating Vecna and barely escaping the upside down, Steve knew his life was never going to be the same again. He no longer had the pleasure of being blissfully unaware of the darkness that surrounded Hawkins. He knew about the creatures that lurked in the shadows. Knew how powerful they were and the amount of damage they had caused to their little town, how many lives were lost in the mix of creatures that were never supposed to exist.
They were supposed to be fiction, stories told to kids to keep them in their homes at certain times, to scare them into staying safe and not wondering into the forest alone at night. Unfortunately, those things were very real, too real for Steve's liking.
Some days he wished to be one of those dense high school kids who only cared about their reputation and didn't know what was happening in the world around them. He wished to be like the old Steve, the one who only cared about hooking up, parties and Nancy Wheeler. He loved her in a way he never thought he could love; she awakened something in him that he didn't know existed. Then she was ripped out of his life without even the slightest warning, she left him, she didn't love him. She said it was all bullshit. They were bullshit.
He knew now that she was right about it all, they were bullshit. Neither of them were ready or mature enough for a relationship, they were too different, too young and too foolish. Nancy was better with Jonathan, they had bonded over their trauma and Steve was jealous at first, but after seeing that massive smile on her face, he knew that she had exactly who she needed. It stung, seeing them together, they were everywhere he went, and he hated it. So, he went to parties and got piss drunk to forget and occasionally he stopped by that disgusting trailer park to buy from Eddie Munson.
Eddie "The Freak" Munson was the best dealer in town, he always had a fixed supply unlike some of the other idiots who couldn't keep up with the demand. Steve didn't necessarily like Eddie that much, he was too loud, too dramatic, too all over the place and too different. He was what Steve never could be, unapologetically different.
He never apologized for being who he was, he never cared what anyone thought or said about him. In fact, he played into it, he wore the term 'Freak' like a badge of honor and used it to scare off any potential threats. It worked most of the time, while people found him annoying, they never did anything to psychically stop him.
That irritated Steve even more. Eddie got away with being himself. Steve wished he could just exist without the fear of getting judged or trampled on. So, he worked his way up the high school ranks and became King Steve, someone everybody wanted to be or be with. None of it was true though, he was never a king. He was never any of the things they made him out to be, well except a douche. He was definitely a douche.
So now, two years after graduating high school, he had finally accepted that life was never going to be easy for him. He would never get to be his true self in front of everyone, he would never get to show the real Steve to all of Hawkins. He'd probably get beaten up or killed for it to be fair.
"Hey dingus" Robin's voice broke through his train of thought, "stop staring into space, we've got customers to attend to."
He shot her a glare before turning to the customer at the register who was returning some of the tapes she rented. His face softened when he saw the girl staring at him nervously.
"Sorry about that," he stated, "will you be renting anything else today, or just returning?"
The girl shrugged, twirling a piece of her blonde hair around her finger, "I haven't decided yet, I still have to have a look. Any suggestions?"
"Uh... Fire With Fire seems to be a hit right now, it's in the romance section"
"Are you into romance?" She asked in what he assumed was supposed to be a flirty voice.
He shrugged, "not really. I just watch whatever, but I've heard it's a good movie." He turned to Robin and smirked, "Rob and I are actually going to watch it together tonight."
A deep red blush covered the girl's cheeks at the thought of flirting with a taken man, "I'm so sorry, I have no idea."
Steve waved her off, "it's okay, happens to the best of us."
Robin scowled at him as the customer scurried away after deciding that she definitely wasn't going to rent Fire With Fire now. She thanked them and nearly ran out of the store.
"Really Steve. Using me as your repellant. Usually, you manage to get rid of the girls just be being yourself." she teased before going to the back and adding another strike under the 'You Suck' column.
Steve sat on the counter and watched her return from the break room, he wanted to tell her the truth, but he has been struggling to get the words out for the last year. It was scary being open like this, having someone know everything about you was terrifying and he didn't want it to change anything between them. She was his best friend and he loved her. He didn't want this stupid shit to come between them, he didn't want to lose the one person who understood him the best.
Losing Nancy was hard but losing Robin would probably kill him, she was his biggest support and he truly appreciated and cherished their friendship. What started out as a stupid crush on his coworker quickly turned into the most meaningful friendship he has ever had. The possibility of losing that scared him more than the monsters they faced over the last three years.
"Steve. Seriously what's up?" Robin spoke up again, a concerned look on her face, "you've been spacing out all day and you keep getting this look on your face that looks like you want to do something stupid and it's freaking me out. Are you okay? Is it Vecna? Is he still alive? Is it me? Oh god. Did I do something to make you hate me and now you want to quit your job and move away and never see me again. You've probably already packed to leave and now you're trying to think of a way to break it to m–"
"Robin, breathe. God. I'm not going anywhere" he cut her off, "I've just got a lot on my mind, and it doesn't have anything to do with Vecna or the upside down or any of that crazy shit. I'm just trying to figure out a few things."
She nodded "sorry. I got a little carried away."
They shared a laugh before going silent again, a comfortable air settling between them as they got back to work. It was a relatively quiet day in Family Video, so they didn't really do much and soon their shift came to an end and Steve got ready to lock up while Robin waited in his car.
"Hey Harrington, fancy seeing you here" he heard a familiar voice pipe up behind him.
"I work here Eddie" he said flatly.
Eddie tsked, "I'm well aware of that Stevie, I was just being courteous."
"Stevie?" He questioned.
He and Munson became kind of friends after the whole Upside Down incident. Watching Eddie nearly bleed to death made him realize that he came to like Eddie in the short time they spent together. He learnt a lot about the guy while running away from Vecna and the enraged townspeople who believed that Eddie was a satanic murderer.
The stakes were high but somehow Eddie always managed to inject humor into every situation to make it feel a lot less intense. He had a way of making people comfortable around him, of making them feel at ease. It was surprising yet welcomed at the time and watching him so close to death made the entire gang realize how much Eddie Munson truly meant to them.
He was one of them now, a part of the club, a trusted member. So, it wasn't weird for him to be here, speaking to Steve.
"Well Stevie, I figured since we escaped death together and kicked Vecna's tentacle ass we're basically friends now. There's nothing wrong with giving your friend a nickname now is there, Steve? "
Eddie had that wide eyed look on his face, the one that made Steve squirm in place, his stare was always intense. Steve felt as if he was staring into his soul, trying to unravel every dark secret locked up inside of him. Yet the casual smile on his face said the opposite, it contradicted his beady eyes in the best way possible. The perfect balance of intense and soft, which was exactly how Steve would describe Eddie.
He cleared his throat, trying his best to ignore the slight warmth in his cheeks, "uh. Sure. Yeah. Stevie... I like it"
Eddie chuckled at his flustered state, "I actually came by to invite you and Robin to a movie night at my place. Tomorrow at 7, don't be late Harrington."
Steve watched him walk off without waiting for a response, and while he tried to mill over everything Eddie said, he only managed to get stuck on the fact that Eddie referred to him as 'Harrington' again. He wasn't sure why it upset him that much, it was his surname after all, but after being called Stevie, hearing his last name out of Eddie's lips no longer sounded right.
He wanted to be called Stevie. He wanted Eddie to call him Stevie every day, because the way he said it made his stomach do the slightest flip. The way he drawled it out in that raspy voice of his, made it sound so much better than it would sound if anyone else said it. He wanted to be Eddie's Stevie.
That thought stumped him, because he had never thought of another guy like that. He never felt that happy to hear a guy give him a nickname. But to be fair, Eddie Munson wasn't just another guy. He was different. Special.
Tuesday came rolling around and Steve was on edge the entire day, he had hung out with Eddie before, but this somehow felt different. So much so that he was nervous and jittery the entire day and Robin teased him about it at every chance she got.
"It's just a movie, Steve, why are you freaking out?" She questioned, "We hung out with Eddie before, and you always enjoyed it. You know better than anyone else, that he's not what the town makes him out to be."
"I know that, Rob. That's not the issue, it's just different this time and I don't know how to explain it. Like it's been a year since all that crazy shit happened and I'm still adjusting to having Eddie around more."
"Do you not want to hang out with him anymore?" she moved around the store sorting tapes while they spoke.
"No!" he said louder than he meant to. "No... I like hanging out with Eddie, he's fun. It just feels different. I don't know how to explain it."
"Well, you have all the time in the world to figure it out. Now that the world isn't ending anymore you can think about whatever it is you're feeling and deal with it when you're ready."
He nodded; she was right. There was no rush to figure his stupid thoughts out, all he had to do was get through tonight. He was nervous for some reason and kept wondering who would be there, would Eddie have invited Nancy and Jonathan as well?
He didn't know if he wanted an answer to that question right now. Being unaware was a blessing in certain situations.
Steve stepped into Eddie's new trailer and settled down beside Robin, a smile plastered on his face as he turned to Nancy and Jonathan who were squeezed together on a love seat. The government helped clear Eddie's name and gave him and his uncle a brand-new trailer in a more reserved side of town. It was bigger and it was fully furnished so it quickly became their hang out when they wanted to escape reality for a bit.
Steve raised a brow at Robin when Vickie made her way into the trailer after them.
"Did you know she was coming?"
Robin leaned closer and whispered her response, "yeah. I invited her. Hope you don't mind?"
Steve shrugged, "of course I don't mind. I'm glad you finally upped your game, Rob." He teased.
"Shut up. You can't even get a date." She bit back, motioning for him to scoot over so Vickie could squeeze in the seat beside her.
Eddie came back into the room with beers for everyone and a few rolled up joints, he passed the beers around and sat next to Steve.
"Hope you don't mind our medicinal addition, it helps mellow us out a bit" he said to Vickie, a charming smile on his face.
Steve felt a tinge of jealousy shoot up within him when Vickie giggled and told him she didn't mind at all. It was stupid of him to get jealous over something that simple, but he managed to convince himself that he was only pissed because Eddie shouldn't be putting moves on Robin's date.
Eddie noticed the look on Steve's face, his brows all scrunched and the slightest pout to his lips. He looked adorable, like an angry kitten, Eddie wanted to kiss that stupid little pout away.
He always had a slight crush on Steve "The Hair" Harrington. Who didn't? Steve was hot, with his perfect hair, those big brown eyes, that amazingly toned body and that gorgeous smile that he flashed Eddie with whenever Eddie teased him too much. Steve was perfect and Eddie struggled daily to keep his feelings in check. He didn't want their blossoming friendship to fall apart simply because he couldn't keep it in his pants. Plus falling for straight men was a big no in the Munson doctrine so he had to stick to his rules and keep whatever playful banter they had going on extremely platonic.
Although a little teasing never hurt and seeing Steve blush was always worth it, so he leaned forward and whispered, "Is that jealousy I'm detecting? Wipe that pout off your face. Vickie's got nothing on you, big boy."
Steve felt his face heat up and bit back the smile that threatened to pull at his lips. His stomach did an entire back flip at the tone of Eddie's voice. The hairs on his neck stood up as his breath hit his skin. His entire body went rigid as the words big boy slipped out of Eddie's mouth again. This was the first time Eddie had said it since the upside down and somehow it felt more intense now, it felt different.
Eddie Munson would be the death of him and based off the smug smirk on his face, he definitely knew what he was doing.
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