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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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