Steve: Okay, We Need To Think Straight, Right Now

Steve: Okay, we need to think straight, right now

Robin and Eddie, simultaneously: Well, shit, bye guys

Steve: I swear to god, guys, now is not the time

Eddie: The universe is cold and

unfeeling. The only constant is chaos

Wayne: Was the McDonalds ice cream machine broken again?

i know there's a lot of single parent Eddie with daycare worker steve but--

Single Parent Steve and daycare worker Eddie.

Steve would pick his little girl up from daycare to her raving about dragons, and adventures, about owlbears, and dwarves with her arms covered in 'cool tattoos' of flowers and butterflies that are actually just really good facepaints that Eddie invested in so he could do the kids faces.

he'd be amazing at it.

eddies fuckn catnip for preps he starts a band with chrissy steve and nancy and calls it eddie and the barbies. still a metal band it's just him dressed metal and the rest of them in their own clothes. every time they get interviewed he's like i have no idea how this happened to me. every day i have to hold myself back from calling my own band posers. sometimes he starts concerts with a 'prayer circle' for steve's fashion sense (nancy and chrissy get a pass bc nancy scares him and chrissy's too nice to tease)

Did I do it right?

Eddie likes painting his nails. He paints them any color he can, but usually ends up with black for shows since that’s his whole aesthetic.

Steve wants to try it. He likes the way El and Max and Eddie and Robin take turns picking colors for each other, how much fun they have painting each others’ nails, how relaxed they all seem.

But he knows that’s not what “strong men” do.

A strong man doesn’t walk around with pink nails, even if it does bring out the color of his eyes.

A strong man doesn’t let a teenage girl paint his nails purple because it makes his skin look a little more tanned in the winter.

And he’s let go of a lot of those ridiculous stereotypes his dad shoved through his head from the time he could understand words, but this is one thing he can’t let himself enjoy.

It’s stupid. But he can’t. So he watches from the couch as they gather on the floor once every two weeks to freshen up their colors, doing his best to hide his jealousy and sadness.

But he must fail because Eddie asks him to join them one night after the girls have already gotten their picks in for Eddie’s next color.

“Wanna paint them for me, Stevie?”

Steve searched his brain for any reason not to paint someone else’s and finally settled on allowing himself this one thing. If he couldn’t have pretty nails, he could give them to Eddie.

He nodded and sat cross legged in front of Eddie, waiting for further instruction.

“Doesn’t have to be perfect, okay? You’ll probably get a little on the skin around the nail and that’s okay too, it’ll come off.”

Steve nodded again.

The nerves were catching up to him now that he was holding the brush in between his fingers, leaning over where Eddie had placed his hand on Steve’s lap.

The girls were distracted, but Eddie noticed his pause.

“You don’t have to if you don’t want to. Just looked like you wanted to.”

Eddie’s soft tone made Steve relax. He could do this.

So he started.

It was pretty easy on Eddie’s hand, his nails being big enough that he could mostly avoid getting any on the skin. He knew it’d be harder on the girls with their dainty hands or himself if he dared ever try.

Eddie was humming something while Steve worked diligently.

“This is a nice shade of blue. Did you pick it or did the girls?”

Eddie stopped humming and smiled. “I did. I could do yours next if you want.”

God, did he want.

But he shook his head.

“I can’t. Thanks though.”

Eddie’s eyebrows furrowed.

“What do you mean you can’t? Why can’t you?”

Steve shrugged.

“Well it’s just that like. Men can’t really paint their nails.”

Steve was so focused on finishing up he didn’t notice that Eddie was going through every emotion a person could.

Finally, he looked up with a smile that quickly fell when he saw the angry look on Eddie’s face.

“Am I not a man?”

“What? Of course you are.”

“So you would still be a man with painted nails, then.”

“It’s just different for me.”

“Different how?”

“Like, a real man who wants to be a provider or whatever can’t exactly walk around with his nails painted fun colors, ya know?”

“I guess I don’t know.”

Steve was feeling a bit overwhelmed at trying to explain the words his father had always said to him growing up. How any time Steve seemed too focused on his appearance, he reminded him not to cross the line into “what those queers do” as if maintaining self-image was at all based on a person’s preference in men or women. How when Steve said he liked Madonna, his dad told him she was an artist for girls and women who haven’t found a husband yet and to try listening to some classic rock.

“It’s just that you’re you. You’re confident and you can pull it off. Like it goes with your whole…thing. It doesn’t really work for me. Even if I wanted to.”

“Do you want to?”

Steve could’ve lied. He could’ve just said that he’d only thought about it out of curiosity, not that he actually thought about what color might look best on him or how he could maybe learn how to do designs.

Instead, he checked that the girls were still wrapped up in conversation before turning back to Eddie and responding.

“Yeah, I want to.”

Eddie gave him a smile that could only be described as proud.

“You wanna match?”

Steve felt his hands start shaking. He nodded despite the nerves.

“Alright. Give me your hands, sweetheart.”

Jesus. Eddie gave pet names to everyone, but he’d never called him anything but Stevie. That hit hard.

He placed both his hands on Eddie’s thighs, focused on watching him paint them the same blue as what was on his own hands.

It was over much faster than Steve wanted it to be, his brain finally quiet after months, no, years, of constantly fighting his own thoughts with worse ones.

He didn’t even notice Eddie was picking up his hands to blow cool air on his nails until he felt the breath against his fingers.

He couldn’t hide the shiver that wracked his body.

He looked up at Eddie, who was smiling softly at him between bursts of air.

Finally, he held Steve’s hands up between them.

“This is a good color for you. You like it?”

“Mhm. It’s pretty.” He gulped. “I feel pretty.”

He hadn’t really meant to say it aloud, but now that he had, he felt nothing but relief.

“Yeah, sweetheart. You are pretty.”

The girls chose that moment to crawl over to where they sat, exclaiming about their nails and how cute it was that they matched.

Steve agreed.

And he made sure to match every time Eddie painted his nails just so he could hear him say “You’re so pretty, sweetheart.”