Does This Count As Domestic Steddie? - Tumblr Posts

this was supposed to be a super short draft but i got carried away and now it’s 2k words and cross posted on ao3

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au where vecna didn’t happen and steve and eddie became buddies purely through association with dustin

eventually steve has enough of the kids™️ always talking about dnd without knowing what’s going on, so he joins them just to watch. eddie doesn’t like gawkers at his dnd sessions so he invites steve to hang after the session to come up with a character so he can join the next session and steve happily(?) obliges

he feels weird about steve the hair harrington being in his trailer at night but hey if dustin likes this guy then he must be at least a little bit cool

one night they get together to work on steve’s character and decide to have a few beers. those turn into a lot of beers and before he knows it, steve is passed out on the couch in the trailer, spilling the rest of his beer over his shirt in the process. eddie is asleep right next to him, their legs tangled together

they wake up the next morning to eddie’s alarms, he actually makes an effort to get to school on time now. this is his year after all! both boys jump at the sound of the alarm clock and steve scrambles to grab his stuff, noticing how sticky and gross his shirt is from the beer he spilled

eddie offers him one of his shirts, goes to look for a clean one (he hasn’t done laundry in a while, don’t tell his uncle) and the only clean shirt he finds is one of his 3 hellfire club shirts. because of course he has 3 of those. he throws steve the shirt and picks a semi-clean one off the floor for himself.

steve pulls off his sticky shirt and goes to put on the hellfire club shirt “thanks…does that mean i’m officially in the club?”

eddie’s breath hitches in his throat, as THE steve Harrington is shirtless in his trailer. he’s seen him shirtless before (steve used to love pulling off his shirts after winning games) but never this close up, and he doesn’t know why his stomach feels like that right now. all crazy and excited. oh no, he can’t even reply to steve’s dumb question so he just shrugs and turns away, before changing his own shirt

they take steve’s car to school, eddie doesn’t know how he’s gonna get back home later but that’s not a problem for right now. people very obviously stare at him when he gets out of steve’s car. Harrington and then freak hung out? no one wants to believe it. and then steve steps out of the car. the flannel he’s wearing unbuttoned. showing off the hellfire club shirt that’s obviously not his size. it’s just a little too small for him

people start whispering right away, coming up with all sorts of wild theories because no one wants to believe those two could be friends

they part ways to get to their respective classes, but when steve sits down at the hellfire table at lunch, the whole cafeteria goes silent. no one dares to say anything, not even eddie who usually can’t shut up. steve doesn’t seem to notice though, he sat right next to eddie and after eating a few bites, turns to him and starts talking about his dnd character creation again

this continues for a few weeks. they hang out after school to teach steve dnd, get drinks together sometimes, steve actually starts coming to hellfire weekly and joins the campaign, although not without protest from mike, which is promptly shut down by eddie and will

Eddie’s hellfire club shirt is still sitting in steve’s closet. he wore it a few more times since he got it from eddie. doesn’t mind that it doesn’t really fit him. slowly he notices how nervous he gets around eddie, when he tells robin she slaps the back of his head and calls him an idiot, she was probably the first one to notice the massive crushes the two guys have on each other. but steve refuses to admit it. he can’t.

once wayne comes back from his business trip, they start hanging out at steve’s house instead. they sit in steve’s room just chatting. about movies, dnd, school.. anything really. they both enjoy how comfortable they are in each other’s presence, but neither of them has the balls to admit it. one thing leads to another and eddie decides to sleep over at steve’s house. steve tells him to grab anything from his closet as pajamas if he wants to.

he doesn’t know what he expected to find in steve’s closet, but it sure wasn’t a bunch of shirts just shoved in there and then… the hellfire club shirt, folded carefully and placed on the top shelf. his hellfire club shirt. he should probably take that back and get steve his own shirt that actually fits. but he can’t bring himself to take it. he’s seen steve’s face when he wears it to school. so he just picks a random shirt from the messy pile on the middle shelf

the shirt is too big on him when he puts it on. not awkwardly big, just a little oversized. he doesn’t mind. he also doesn’t mind the way the heat creeps up his neck when he notices steve’s scent on the shirt. at this point he’s admitted his crush on steve to wayne , who encouraged him to go for it. wayne has seen the way the two boys look at each other when the other isn’t looking. he’s not stupid. but eddie is afraid, doesn’t know how to even start a conversation like that or if steve will hate him and kick him out and never speak to him again. he doesn’t want to ruin the friendship they have formed

steve’s bed is huge, his couch isn’t. so they decide to just share the bed. eddie gets his own blanket and pillow and they build a small wall of pillows between them, neither of them know why they did that but they just did. as they both lay there, staring at the ceiling, unable to fall asleep, eddie says something. so quietly that steve can hardly make it out.

“i’m gay”

steve thinks he must be imagining it, his half asleep brain conjuring up wild dreams of his crush also being into men, “cool. me too”

Eddie freezes. did steve just say he’s gay too? his heart is racing in his chest and he doesn’t dare to move a muscle, scared that he’s asleep and if he moves he’ll wake up. but both boys are awake and just admitted their biggest secrets to each other. steve slowly turns to eddie, they didn’t put a pillow up between their heads, and looks at him. “did you just say something or did i dream that?”

eddie still doesn’t dare to move, he breathes out a quiet “yeah” and closes his eyes tightly, scared steve will kick him out now. but steve turns back, looks up at the ceiling again “cool cool…”

neither of them speak about this conversation after that moment. eddie stops asking steve to hang out after school, says something about having to help wayne with some work.

the next hellfire meeting is weirdly awkward. everyone in the room can tell but no one knows why.

eddie doesn’t even know why he’s avoiding steve. maybe because he doesn’t want the chance of rejection by his crush feel real. maybe he’s avoiding confronting his feelings about steve.

after their dnd session steve drives the kids home, he offers to take eddie back home too and the other boy shyly accepts. steve drops the kids off first. the trailer park is closer to his house so this makes the most sense. when it’s just the two of them in the car, an awkward silence settles in. neither of them dare to speak, until steve parks infront of eddie’s trailer. they can see the lights on inside, wayne is home. but eddie doesn’t leave the car. he sits in silence and stares out the window.

“i’m gay” he says, playing with his rings, “i just..: want you to know in case you wanna like… stop being friends”

steve nods, “i know… i heard you when you slept over. and it’d be kinda weird for me to be homophobic, considering i’m like.. super gay too. i didn’t really know until recently though. robin helped me figure that out, i guess that’s why i never really dated a girl for more than a week. well except nancy. but now nancy is like family so maybe that’s weird too” he keeps rambling on, until he hears eddie chuckle. he hasn’t heard that sound in too long, and only now realizes how much he missed it. eddie invites him into the trailer, they watch a shitty movie together and have a beer. at the end of the night steve goes home.

they go kind of back to normal after that. except for one thing. there’s so much tension between them. they still hang out and drink, just like before. but now they both know. the chance of something happening between them isn’t zero. even robin notices when eddie comes to pick up steve from family video one night.

it takes them a few more weeks to address the tension. they’re sat on eddie’s couch, closer than they used to sit, their legs barely touching, each with a beer in their hands, when steve turns to eddie. he didn’t expect the following words to come out his mouth but they do, with no warning and no filter.

“i like you. kiss me”

and eddie stares at him, jaw almost hitting the floor. he slowly puts his beer down on the coffee table, steve copies him. both still staring at each other. “what are you saying harrington?” eddie leans in close. very close. steve can smell the beer on his breath but he doesn’t back off. he leans in closer, looking eddie in the eyes.

“i like you. kiss me” he repeats, still staring.

and so eddie does. he gently places his hand on steve’s cheek, pulling him closer before connecting their lips. steve kisses back with no hesitation, his arms finding their way around eddies neck to pull him closer, if they could they would fuse together into one being, that’s how close they are now.

eddie uses his free hand to hold steve’s hip, gently pulling him onto his lap, where steve’s legs instinctively wraps around eddie.

they don’t take it any further. they just sit like this and kiss for a good 20 minutes, only pulling away a few seconds at a time to catch their breaths, before diving right back. Once eddie finally pulls away and looks at steve, he sees how red the other’s lips are, his face is flushed, hair messy and he’s staring right back at him. they sit like this and just stare at each other for another 5 minutes before eddie speaks up.

“so this is how king steve kisses? i get all those girls now” steve chuckles and lighty hits his shoulder, before burying his face in the crook of eddie’s neck. eventually they fall asleep like this, without speaking another word.

eddie wakes up first the next morning, he carefully lifts steve off himself and gets up, trying to throw together something that resembles breakfast with the limited supplies the tiny kitchen has. he finally find some probably stale cereal and prepares 2 bowls for them, turning around to the couch, where he sees steve. He’s now awake and carefully watching eddie, biting his lips and fiddling with his hands.

“Mornin’ Big boy” eddie smirks and hands steve the bowl, sitting back down next to him.

they sit and eat in silence for a while, spoons clinking against the bowls. eventually steve looks at eddie, the same adoring look in his eyes as he had the night before. and then steve takes all the courage he has and kisses eddie again and within moments they’re entangled, the same was as the first time they kissed.

they spend the rest of the day together. between kissing and whispering sweet nonsense to each other, they figure out that they’ve been crushing on each other for months now. since before steve came to watch hellfire. steve has been crushing on eddie since the day he snuck into a bar and happened to catch a corroded coffin set. eddie has been crushing on steve since steve nonchalantly picked up a pen for him in the hallway 2 years ago.

it still takes them a few days to officially start dating but when they do, they don’t hide it. they don’t openly tell anyone, except their friends and uncle wayne. but they also don’t shy away from hanging out in the school courtyard, at family video every day and wherever else they manage to find time together