Work Text:
It was a hot day, so of course Eddie was going to put his hair up. It was long, dark, and thick, so anyone in their right mind would tie it in a ponytail, if not a bun.
But Steve's current issue wasn't why Munson had his hair tied in a bun, small strands of curls falling from it and framing his soft eyes and beautiful grin. The problem was the fact that he looked fucking hot.
It was just a bun, Steve had seen people in buns before. He had even seen Nancy, with her strikingly similar hair up; this was normal. He took a deep breath and walked up to Eddie, about to say ‘hi’ before he saw the tattoos on Eddie's neck.
They were usually hidden by his hair, Steve realized.
Then Eddie spotted him, "Steve! Ready to get your deep clean on!?" Eddie called with a grin, waving Steve over.
Steve wanted to die.
"Y-yeah, let’s get this show on the road." He replied before taking a deep breath, giving himself a mini pep talk, and walking into the trailer to join Eddie, who was even more attractive up close.
Steve already had a talk with Robin about this specific issue, namely his crushing... well... crush on Eddie. While he hadn't fully come to terms with what this meant for him, his parents being a particular issue that crossed his mind, he was now readily able to admit the attractiveness of men as well as his willingness to date them. Particularly one of them: Eddie Munson.
So, when Eddie had called to ask for Steve's help cleaning his trailer for the summer, Steve quite literally could not refuse. However, now that he was so close to Eddie with hair tied back revealing surprisingly defined neck muscles, and those damn tattoos Steve couldn’t tear his eyes away from, he deeply regretted agreeing to this.
"So Stevie , how did you find yourself free at twelve on a Tuesday? Don't get me wrong, I am happy that you’ve joined me," At this Eddie gestured to himself with the duster in his hands, "but I would have thought you had work."
Fuck .
The truth was, Steve had bent over backwards in a series of exchanges, that he thought were rather impressive, to be free right now. Currently, Keith was covering his shift and Robin was no doubt planning the best way to make fun of him for his shameless pining.
"Oh... uhhhh... Robin has a date? Yeah, and usually we work shifts together so we both rescheduled ours."
Steve prayed to whatever Gods there might be, that Eddie had no proof against this.
"Hmmm. See, what I think happened, is that you," Eddie moved into Steve’s space, almost smirking, "made sure you were free when I asked because youuu wanted to spend time with little old me."
And now, Steve was positive that there was no God, and they were all alone in the world.
"I'm going to kill Robin." Steve muttered, as his mind provided him with the very unhelpful observation that Eddie's shirt was big enough, and Eddie was close enough, for Steve to be able to see another tattoo across Eddie's collar bone.
"Oh Buckley said nothing." Eddie was even closer now and positively beaming , "I just rented a movie an hour ago and saw her there, we talked about Labyrinth."
"Shit."
"Exactly. So, honey ," Steve thought he could literally hear his heart beating, and Eddie was close enough to reach out and place a hand on Steve's waist. "Why are you here?"
"Would you believe it if I told you I was passionate about trailer hygiene?" Steve said.
And then Eddie kissed him.
If he was honest, Steve had expected to be the one leading this. Yeah, he had thought that Eddie "the freak" Munson wouldn’t get much game, and now he kind of regretted that train of thought. The guy was fucking attractive, and anyone around him for more that two seconds could see the actual person underneath, the one that Steve thought was even more attractive than the already charming, loud, and flamboyant performance on the outside. The Eddie that tried to stay hidden away was soft, he collected teenagers in need of a family and gave them one. He noticed when others needed space, or a hug, or a gentle push in the right direction, giving it readily. And, above all else, he was unabashedly brave, and unashamedly himself.
It was more than assuming Eddie didn't have much practice though. There was still a part of Steve that saw it as mandatory to take charge, that he needed to fill the role a man should. It wasn't exactly something that he wanted to do, but it was something that had been drilled into him by everyone that surrounded him.
He realized now, that it was probably the reason he was so drawn to Nancy. She put him in his place, and didn't allow him to force either of them into, as she put it, toxic roles and harmful stereotypes.
So here he was: craning his neck, being pushed against a wall, and being led into the movements that were so familiar. He was in, what his mind labels as, the girl’s role, and he was reveling in it. More than that though, he finally agreed with Nancy, and he realized that he now found the distinction pointless. He finally let himself relax, let someone else take charge.
All this to say, as far as first kisses went, this had been one of Steve's best.
"Wow."
"Yeah."
"Can you do that again actually?"
Eddie didn’t bother replying, instead he leaned back in with renewed vigor.
The second kiss was better than the first, as both of them became more attuned to the other. There was less teeth, more tongue, and Steve felt himself getting lost in Eddie Munson.
Losing himself as Eddie gripped his waist with warm hands, holding him in place, making Steve shiver with anticipation. Losing himself as Eddie licked into his mouth, bit down on his bottom lip, and gently tugged Steve's hair, making Steve let out a quiet whine.
Well that's new.
Eddie pushed himself impossibly closer, hands traveling up to rest on the base of Steve's neck and then pulled away to whisper, “So you're into hair pulling?"
If Steve could blush more than he already was, he did so, and he let out a sharp "shut up Munson," before Eddie was once again kissing him.
And, Eddie didn’t let his newfound knowledge go to waste. He pulled Steve's hair again, this time harder and with a purpose. Steve let out another moan and let his head be pulled back to bare his neck. Eddie kept one hand in Steve's hair, holding his head in place and Steve felt light headed. He had a brief thought that this was the best he'd felt during anything intimate in a long time, before all coherent sentences were knocked out by the feeling of Eddie's teeth against his skin.
He felt his legs go weak as Eddie slowly made his way down Steve's neck: biting, licking, and leaving proof of his presence. He pulled at the neck of Steve's shirt to reveal collar bones, and Steve didn’t have enough self control left to stop himself from pulling Eddie's hips forward, craving friction between them.
"Woah there, big boy. I didn't think you'd be ready for that." Eddie said it as a joke, but Steve could see the genuine question behind the remark when he continued, "are you sure?"
It made Steve pause.
"It's. I mean I want it... it’s... yeah, it's fine." Steve wanted it to be fine, he could feel the tightness in his pants, knew his body agreed with him, but being asked wasn't something Steve was used to. He wanted to do this with Eddie, God he wanted to, but his brain had also never listened to his wants, and the dichotomy of actually being asked had shocked him back into lucid thought. Like usual, his brain ran wild and supplied him with degrading words, disappointed glances, and disapproving parents.
He wanted this with Eddie, but now he realized that he might not be ready.
Steve felt like he could cry from relief when Eddie saw through him. "Stevie,” he said, voice impossibly soft, “I'm really not feeling confident about the amount of pauses in that sentence. And, the frankly, unnn enthusiastic 'it’s fine'." When Eddie said this, he brought his hands away from Steve to make air quotes.
He only mourned the loss for a second before Eddie’s hands were back to holding Steve's waist, and it made him feel safe, enough so to actually tell the truth this time. "I mean I want this," Steve gestured between them, "I really do," now he glanced down at the obvious tent in his pants and they both chuckle, "like, it probably would have been fine if you hadn't stopped to actually ask, but I don't know... my brain likes to run a little wild and I kind of started to panic."
Steve had been looking down at Eddie's hands while admitting this, his thumbs rubbing circles into Steve's hips. When they stopped, Steve's head whipped back up to look at Eddie's face, and based on the way that it had fallen, that was the wrong thing to say.
Eddie's voice was quiet and gentle, but distinctly marked by a tone of seriousness and almost chill when he asked, "Steve. Have you never been asked if you’re okay with what's happening."
"No." He didn’t have to think to answer this. Not even Nancy, in all her wonderfulness and beauty, had asked before calling his name and pulling off her top that one fateful night. It had been okay then because Steve had also wanted it, but now that it'd been pointed out, Steve could think of a few times it probably wasn't. Certain times where he laid in bed afterwards, mind running one thousand miles a minute, not knowing why he felt so weird .
Eddie looked horrified.
"Steve—”
"No. I mean… I always asked. I have always double and triple checked," Steve let out a broken chuckle against his will, "even to the point where they're annoyed sometimes."
"That’s." Eddie stepped back from Steve and rubbed his hands over his face, "That's not the point. You. That's not okay."
Steve felt his stomach drop. "Oh."
"Can I. Fuck. Can I like, hug you? Or something, man?"
"Yes please." he replied in a quiet voice he barely recognized as his own.
Eddie's embrace was warm and soft and safe and Steve never wanted him to let go.
"It's not like I was ever not okay with something happening," he mumbled into Eddie's shoulder. "But now that I'm thinking about it, maybe there were times where I wasn't specifically ready to go... all the way."
Eddie tightened his hold around Steve and he could feel the shaky breath that he let out, "Shit dude."
"This is the second time you've called me dude after you literally left hickeys all over my neck."
Eddie let out an airy laugh, that Steve would tell him sounded like music if he could. And then he realized he could.
"Your laugh is really pretty."
"Shit sweetheart, you're gonna drive me crazy."
"I am known as a ladies man after all."
At this, Eddie pulled back and cupped Steve's face, gently this time, like Steve was precious, and whispered with wonder in his big brown eyes, "You're beautiful Steve Harrington, and you deserve to be asked how you feel about things."
"Now you're the one who's gonna drive me crazy." Steve mumbled as he felt an uncontrollable grin spread across his face.
"I hope so. And... I want to keep being able to do so. I want to show you how you deserve to be treated, I want to take you out to cute coffee shops and dumb movies, and I sure as hell want to do what we just did again. When you want to."
"Eddie?" Steve could feel his face almost ache with the size of his smile. "Are you asking me out?"
" Obviously . I can't miss the chance to bag the king of Hawkins High." He gently rubbed his thumb back and forth across Steve's cheeks now, and Steve felt like he was melting.
"That has got to be the most poetic and long winded way for anyone to have ever asked someone out."
Eddie grinned and bowed dramatically before returning his hands back to Steve. "I am a DM after all. 'Tis in my nature."
This time Steve was the one to lean in, and the kiss was soft, and slow, and perfect.
"So... that's a yes?"
Steve laughed and ran his hands through Eddie's hair. "Of course it is, idiot."
Eddie tilted his head and grinned and he said, "But now I’m youuuur idiot."
Steve kissed him again, short this time, and whispered, "Yeah, you are."