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extraclwnporeal · 1 year

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Steve Harrington sucks at keeping secrets.

(That one is long and english is not my mother language).

Steve can remember it — even though he was 7 at the time. Tommy stopped by Harrington's house and rushed to Steve's room. All of sudden there was a young and freckled and smiley Tommy shaking Steve to make him swear to keep it a secret that he kissed Carol for the first time.

The morning after, all of school knew. Steve didn't do it because he was mean, he just couldn't tell that it was something bad or unworthy of being proud upon — his best friend kissed a girl, after all. Carol did kick Tommy's ankles for telling Steve, and Tommy did give Steve a two day long silent treatment for telling the whole school, tho.

He couldn't even keep his own secrets, dear God. Steve's travels and grades and hook ups and hated foods were everybody's business, if it depended on him. Of course, that extended to his personal, personal life.

Steve Harrington always knew he was bi and was cool with it, since, well, everyone just assumed he was straight. There was no risk on it if everybody just assumed otherwise, he figured. The way he eyed guys at trainings and spent too much time alone at Tommy's house and had a soft spot for his swimming team couldn't mean anything, Steve's a ladies man after all, isn't he?

Yeah, he was fine. Until he met Eddie.

The day Steve met the metalhead, the DM, the guy Dustin couldn't shut the fuck up about, he was lost. Eddie was a magnet to Steve's eyes, his voice was melodic and all his manners made Steve smile, how did he do that? Suddenly he understood why his kids kept telling Steve how he and Eddie would get along just right — Steve hoped they would.

Eddie walks by and Steve has this impulse to just follow the guy with his eyes, not really caring who was around — especially if they're alone with the party. Time goes by and it gets worse, because now they know each other. Oh, Eddie was prone to talk to Steve now, to spend time alone and have their own inside jokes. And Steve's infatuation wasn't just glances anymore: he got vocal about it.

He compliments Eddie's curly hair, his handmade or customized clothes, the eyeliner Max bought for him, his painted nails and smiles and the way he light up the mood every time he enters a room. Yeah, Eddie is always willing to listen to any sort of rant Steve might go by and not make him feel dumb about anything he says. Steve feels safe and that's new, that's good. He might feel he's developing a massive crush but, yeah, that should be predictable by now. Predictable and pretty much noticeable.

Robin was a genius, Steve's sure of it. She could tell a musical note by ear, learn a foreign language in the middle of a crisis and is pretty good at acting her way out a situation. It doesn't matter that much, of course, because you don't need to be a genius to notice when Steve have a crush: you just need to be his friend.

Steve would go on full debates about Eddie and she would engage him on it.

“I swear, Robin, his hair is so soft, someday I will touch it if he lets me.”

“Oh, tell me about it, dingus.”

And he does. All day along, if she gives him the freedom. He does it because Robin's a safe person, and it's fun, it's so fucking fun it's unfair — be all giddy and silly and keep talking about a guy with his best friend, God. And she doesn't know he is well aware that it is a crush, just letting him be. Until, of course, she points it out — because it could be dangerous for him to go on and tell everybody about other guy's cologne and shit —, and all he says is a shy “hm, well, I know?”. She looks at him dead in the eye.

“What do you mean by 'I know'?”.

“I'm bi, Robs”.

Her eyes are wide. “Then why the fuck did you get so nervous when I told you I'm a lesbian?!”

“Don't be unfair, I wasn't nervous! I'm just not good at keeping other people's secrets.”

And she couldn't argue with it. He is shitty at hiding that kind of thing even if it is about himself, you know.

Dustin knows — he is the second one to do so. Of fucking course he knows. Because the little prat is always there, gravitating between his two older brothers for enough time to notice that they were always glued together, intertwined in their little world. Enough time to notice how Steve's eyes lit up as soon as Eddie entered the room and headed straight for him. Enough to notice that they were both smiling more, talking more, a little happier. And of fucking course he went straight to make fun of Steve.

When Steve was driving Dustin to a D&D session — what he, suspiciously and enthusiastically, volunteered to do —, they were both in silence. Steve was smiling like a dork and Dustin eyed him curiously. All of sudden, he shouted: “Do you like Eddie?”.

And Steve almost crashed the car.

“Hey, watch out, you dick, I didn't die to interdimensional creatures yet so I refuse to die because of you!”. And Steve doesn't laugh, so Dustin is a little unnerved cause usually he would've. Yeah, he was tense.

“Sorry for being so straightforward, didn't mean to startle you”, Dustin says, softly.

Steve looks at him for the first time, eyes watering just a little bit by noticing the kid's tone was reassuring and sweet. He sighs — that idiot.

“It's okay if you like him”, Dustin assures, not keen on making fun of him anymore, “really”.

And Steve softens. Because why on Earth would he think that Dustin could be anything but supportive? He hugs Dustin. An awkward hug, cause he was on verge of crying and the positions in the car were weird, but a good hug nonetheless. “I do”, Steve says, “liked him for a while now. I like girls and dudes, okay?”.

Dustin smiles widely. “You were always greedy, man. Who knows about it?”

“Only Robin”. And Dustin winces.

“What?”

“I might have discussed it with Lucas too”. Okay, great. First Robin, and then Dustin, and now Lucas, which meant Max also knew. It was getting complicated.

“He's okay with it — I'm sure everybody in our group is —, and he told me that I should say that he's bi too, if it makes you feel better?”.

Steve shout him a look, a really, really confused one. “What?”.

Dustin shrugs. “They come in packs, man”.

And then, finally, there was Nancy. As if he wasn't going to be humiliated enough, his ex would find out how whipped he was for the weirdest guy they know. But, to his surprise, none of it was humiliating, not even awkward.

Steve was a touchy person, specially with loved ones. He was willing to hold hands, hug, kiss their cheeks; and Nancy did know it firsthand. And when she saw Steve not-so-subtly going out of his way to put his arms over Eddie's shoulders, to pet his hair — he finally got the pass to do it whenever he wanted, just 'as long as you don't ruin my curls, Harrington' —, or hold his waist from behind, the way he only did to his girlfriends, something clicked. She walked on them during a meeting in the Harrington house. Loud music, some weed, friends kissing: like the old times, minus the underage drinking.

Steve had a smiley Eddie by his side and a hand on his leg, drawing circles on his skin with his fingers while they talked. Then Eddie got up (getting a frown from Steve), to run to the toilet because 'Mother Nature is calling, sweetheart'.

And Nancy waltzed to him, two beers in her hands. Steve smiled brightly at her, saying a really soft and maybe a little drunk “Nance!”.

She handed him a beer. “Having fun? I kinda missed those parties, you know.”

And he looked around, his kids talking loud and laughing and Mike shamelessly eyeing the beers he was not allowed to touch. “I did, too”, he smiled, looking at her again. “What are you so smiley for?”.

“I was just looking at you, all happy talking with Eddie”, she took a sip from her beer can, and Steve blushed.

“I'm glad I got to know him better”. Even if it was in that shitty context, he almost added, but didn't — because why would he? Everything was okay now.

“You two are getting along, aren't you?”, she softly punched his arm. “I'm proud of you, I mean, you found someone that makes you feel all sappy”.

He looked at her deep in the eyes, maybe to find that spot of mockery he expected from everyone. But there was none. It was Nancy. The same Nancy that helped him study to graduate, laughed at his stupid jokes.

“Thank you”. He whispered. “He really does make me happy. The happiest”.

She grinned, like she always does when she makes a correct guess. “You deserve it”. And then she gets back to her old spot, listening to Robin and her rant about some new movie that her menager won't put on the shelves no matter how hard she begs. She smiles even more.

It's not a surprise that Eddie was the last one to know. Because what Steve had in obviousness Eddie had in obliviousness. Sure, Steve's words and acts were a little weird, but not in a bad way. Sure, his tummy was filled with butterflies each time Harrington leaned forward to better listen to him talk about his favorite bands, even though he knows Steve's not understanding shit. Sure, he was dragging Steve along his nerd shit and, sure, Steve was willing to be dragged. But that was because Steve was a gentleman. Felling funny next to him was natural and expected, because he is charming and touchy and really, really good at making Eddie laugh. So, he kind of accepted it. He was liking Steve. In love, if you will. And was pretty mad at himself for it — Steve Harrington, of all people.

So, months go by. And Steve is still in love, and Eddie is still in love, and none of them are actually doing anything about it. Until there's Christmas. And they were stuck together in Eddie's trailer because snow was thick and Eddie didn't want Steve to risk himself driving home.

They were watching The Grinch, cause Eddie said he liked the guy — enough to wear a ugly sweater with Grinch's face in it, telling Santa Claus to fuck off. Steve thought the green grumpy thing looked like Eddie, but didn't say so, because the blonde Who lady might look a little too much like Steve and that may be used against him.

They were cuddling on the couch, and that happened without much thinking. They just sat down and in the next moment they were as glued as it comes. Steve was playing with Eddie's hair, the movie almost on it's end. Eddie was holding on Steve's torso, seeking the warmth the weather wasn't providing that night.

Steve's hands lowered, caressing Eddie's back, and he shuddered.

“What's wrong?”, Steve asked, voice hoarse from being unused.

“Feelin' cold”, Eddie whispered. “Could you lay lower? I wanna hug you”. Steve didn't have to be asked twice. He lowered himself and was facing Eddie now. His nose and mouth red from the cold weather, making him look like a deer — with his pretty doe eyes.

Steve smiled, hugging Eddie and putting his chin on his shoulder. “There you go”. He felt Eddie's smile against his skin. “It's late, wanna sleep?”.

Silence. And then a silky voice ghosting his ear. “Could we stay here a little more?”. Eddie turned his face back at him, finding Steve's lips in a pout, and his eyes closed. Eddie's cologne really felt like heaven that night.

Steve opened his eyes, finding an amused Eddie in front of him. “What?”.

Eddie chuckled. “I'm trying to figure you out”.

Steve smiled. “What did you conclude so far?”.

“That you like to be held, and gets really beautiful when sleepy”. He said shamelessly. It was really late and his mouth had it's own mind now.

Steve blinked. “Do I?”.

Eddie's eyes also had their own mind now, flickering between Harrington's hooded eyes and his mouth. “You do, I swear”.

Steve got to catch Eddie's eyes on his mouth for a little too long. And whispered a low, low 'Eddie'.

Steve was trembling, just a little bit. Eddie was pretty and the night was perfect and all that rightness made him disconcerted, the butterflies in his tummy dancing like crazy.

Unbeknownst by him, Eddie was feeling the same. God, having a former ladies man in his arms on Christmas night was almost killing him, specially if said ladies man was looking so, so beautiful by dawn light.

They kissed, not sure about who started it, but glad enough it happened. They kissed for minutes or hours more, who cares. But they kissed, fucking finally.

And they didn't have the guts to get up and go to bed, so Wayne was the one to find the two of them sleeping on the couch the next morning, with The Grinch tape still on.

Yeah, Robin, Dustin, Lucas, Max, Nancy and Wayne: now them all knew. After all, Steve Harrington sucks at keeping secrets.

(Adapted from my twitter account @/sillycervero).

#anecdote #stranger things #steddie #steve harrington #eddie munson #they love each other dearly and everybody should know that #thats what steve said to eddie when he found out the whole hawkins knew about them #oh god theyre stupid #romantic and silly thats what i am

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