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Things were finally over. They had won, defeated Vecna with the help of Eleven who had gotten back her powers. She had explained to them how she did, but to be honest, Steve hadn’t really been listening. No, he had been too happy everyone made it out, and the moments between their final combat and being back in his huge and empty house had passed in a blur. He guessed it was why, when he noticed he was still wearing Eddie’s denim vest, he didn’t make a big deal out of it. No, he took it off once in his bedroom, promising to himself he would give it back to him the next time he saw him.
And there was a next time. Multiple next times even. But he never gave it back. He kept telling himself he had just forgotten, and since the other boy hadn’t ask for it yet, it wasn’t important. No, he would give him back next time. Or the one after.
But he never did. Months passed, and he found himself starring at the vest resting on a chair at the entrance of his bedroom every time he entered or exited the room. And he found himself thinking about Eddie a lot too. About his hair, his eyes, his hands, particularly his fingers obviously made to play guitar, with chipped black nail polish decorating them. He found himself lingering into every friendly touch he received from the other boy, and more than once he caught himself just thinking about him instead of doing whatever he was supposed to do. Like working, which annoyed Robin. A lot. He became a constant on his mind, he was present in his thoughts the morning when he woke up, in the evening when he fell asleep. At night in his nightmares or his dreams. One time, after a particularly bad nightmare where he saw him die, like the other victims of Vecna, he walked to the chair in the dark of his room only lightened by a ray of the moon passing through his open curtains, and he hesitated only a few seconds before grabbing the vest and putting it on. He was immediately calmed by the smell of Eddie that had become so familiar. Even after months, it was still smelled like him. It may have been tainted by the rotting smell of the Upside Down, but it was still here. This night he fell asleep the vest on and he didn’t have another nightmare.
After this night, he found himself wearing it more often, at first only in the privacy of his house when the cold made Steve remember his own loneliness in this house that wasn’t a home, and then he started to wear it on the outside. The first time Robin saw him like that, she had laughed at him teasingly, but after she understood he wasn’t planning on giving it back to his rightful owner, they had a talk. Thing were said that made Steve realize things about himself he had no idea were there. (Or to be more exact, he had buried this part of himself deep inside his heart the first time he had seen a guy from his basketball team beat up a boy passing by after one of their entrainments because he judged he was “staring at him to intensely.”) After what he referred now as “The Talk,” he stopped wearing the vest for a time. But he still didn’t return it.
Then, on a day after a particularly bad night filled with more nightmares than sleep, which made him wake up too late, again, he grabbed it without even paying attention. It wasn’t until he was taking it off to put his uniform vest on that he realized he was wearing Eddie’s vest. He dragged his hand down his face with a groan. He guessed he could put it in the back, but there was something about having it here within his visual range that comforted him. He could only hope Eddie wouldn’t choose this day to visit him at work or to rent a movie, even if he knew there was good chances he would. After the events of the Spring break, the guitarist had spent almost all of his free time here, usually just to hang out with Steve and Robin, and sometimes, when the clients were rare, to watch movies with them. Or just with him on the occasions where Robin wasn’t working on the same shift. But even when the girl was here, it would sometimes be only the two of them since she often received visit from Vicky, now that the red-haired girl had made the first move and they were both pining after one another. Robin kept saying she was going to really ask her out, soon. Steve wasn’t too worried for the two of them. So yes, a lot of the time, Steve and Eddie were left alone together at Family Video.
They also hung out a lot outside of his workplace, sometimes all together, even with the kids, sometimes just with Nancy and Robin (Vicky came more often recently), but again, there were times when it was just the two of them. Steve really liked those times, especially when Eddie would play songs for him. He had even tried to teach him guitar (and boy had Steve’s stomach made interesting loops), but it quickly turned out he was unteachable. Or maybe he was just too distracted Eddie’s body pressed against his own, or the way his hands felt against his, how the cold of the metal his skin contrasted with the warmth of his skin. Not that he ever expressed any of these thoughts out loud.
All that to say he really liked Eddie. He could even say at this point he was fairly certain he was in love with him. But of course, he would never dare make the first move, no matter how hard Robin insisted he did, using the words he had used against her when she had still been pining over Vicky without even talking to her. And if Robin were here today, he’s sure she would have made yet another one of her speeches on how he couldn’t have anything if he didn’t do anything, and “Honestly, your pining is becoming ridiculous look! You’re wearing his vest again!” But she wasn’t here no, because this Saturday was her day off and he was left alone to take care of the store. Which meant he had no way to hide should Eddie come visit him. No way to escape the boy. He just had to pray he wouldn’t notice the vest on the seat behind him.
So yes, when Eddie finally arrived at the store, he was even more flustered than usual. But no comments were made at first about the vest, so Steve could only hope he hadn’t seen it, and that it would stay that way.
But, because Steve was cursed apparently, of course the other boy ended up noticing the vest. It happened when Eddie slipped behind the counter to sit on a chair next to Steve in the middle of his speech about what they should do later and what movie they should watch and…
“So yeah, we should totally hang out to your place later and have a Star Wars marathon because, let me tell you man, you’re losing big by not having seen it yet, and I’m sorry but I’m drawing the line at being friends with someone who haven’t seen these movies. I’m telling you they’re gold and- Wait a minute. Is that my vest?”
Steve felt his cheeks burn up and he opened his mouth to talk only to let out flustered noises he would be ashamed of later, thinking back on this moment, but right now he was too busy trying not to die of shame.
“I- Yeah sorry! I didn’t notice, I just grabbed it this morning when I was leaving because I was in a hurry since I didn’t hear my alarm ring and I didn’t want to be late, and I know I probably should have given it back to you a long time ago dude, but it totally slipped my mind! But I can give it back to you now! If you want!”
He was rumbling again, and if Robin had been here, she would have slapped her face with the palm of her hand and would have called him “Dingus,”. Maybe she would have drawn another board and checked the “You suck” column, but since she wasn’t here, it left Steve alone to drown in his own embarrassment.
“You know what? Keep it. It suits you.”
He beamed at the thought of being able to keep it, and blushed when Eddie smirked at him knowingly.
“You’re sure?”
“Yeah. Totally. If you agree to the Star Wars marathon.”
He smiled gratefully at Eddie before he agreed.
“Okay yeah. Yes. Sure.”
As relief coursed through him, he repressed himself from saying “I couldn’t say no to you anyway.,” and he just let out a relived sighed.
“I do have one question though.”
Steve felt his shoulders tense in apprehension of the question, and he bit his lower lip in a nervous tic.
“Why did you keep it for so long? And the real reason, not your “I forgot” excuse.”
And Steve didn’t know how to answer to that. He knew he should probably tell him the truth, but it contained so much vulnerability he wasn’t sure he was ready to share. But he knew that with Eddie’s tone, lying wasn’t going to be an option. Because somehow, over the few months they had been friends, Eddie had managed to figure him out and he always seemed to know when he was lying, or not telling the entire truth. And sometimes he would confront him, sometimes he would let it go, but the worst times were the ones when the younger boy would turn away from him and Steve would see the hurt he was trying to hide. Those were the worst times, because each one of them would break Steve’s heart a little more. And he knew that if he had to lie like that to Eddie once more, his heart would shatter in pieces. That’s why he knew he couldn’t lie to him.
“I- It-I have these nightmares you know? And I don’t know I guess it kind of reminded me of you so yeah, I guess I would just like, wear it? To feel less afraid?”
“Because it reminded you of me?”
Steve wince at the surprise in Eddie’s tone.
“Yeah? Is that so bad?” he said as he tried to make himself smaller.
“No! I just- You slept better because you thought about me?” he asked with eyebrows raised and an all too emotional face.
Now Steve understood Eddie’s disbelief. He wasn’t disgusted by what Steve had confessed to him no. He just didn’t seem to believe he could be the reason Steve slept better at night. He didn’t seem to believe he could be… thought of that way. Loved that way Steve wanted to say.
“Yeah. Yeah, I did. And it fucking worked. Because it smelled like you. It made me think of you.”
By now, Steve had gotten up from his seat and inched closer to where Eddie was sitting, almost standing between his open knees, only staying there to leave a chance to the brunet to get away. To move, to make any indications Steve was getting things wrong. But he didn’t. Eddie stayed in his position, hands in his leather jackets’ pockets and his eyes were starring directly into Steve’s.
“It helps me sleep at night because when I think of you, I feel so fucking happy. So fucking right. When Nancy broke up with me, I didn’t think I’d ever feel love again but when I think about you, when I see you, I know that I was wrong. Because what I feel when I see you is at least ten times stronger than what I felt during all the duration of any of my relationship. I feel so much just by looking at you and I haven’t even kissed you yet. So yes, I feel safer just by thinking about you.”
The following seconds were marked by the silence only broken by the sound of their heavy breathing and the buzzing of the computer, and Steve started to think he had made a mistake. He put a foot behind himself with the intention to back away when Eddie finally talked with a breathless voice.
“Holly shit Harrington.”
“Yeah.”
“You really believe that? Everything you said?”
“Every single word.”
Steve contained his breath, waiting for a reaction, and he got it when Eddie got up to his feet and crossed his arms with a smug expression, leaving them standing only a few inches apart, their chests almost touching.
“Then why haven’t you kissed me yet?”
Steve didn’t wait another second and he surged forward to kiss him. Eddie’s lips met his halfway, and he closed his eyes in pleasure. The kiss didn’t last long, they weren’t in private after all, because it was broken by the grin tugging at Steve’s lips. He felt Eddie’s hands settle on his waist, and he opened his eyes to find the boy staring back at him with a smile of his own.
“You keep surprising me Steve.”
If Steve could have smiled more, he would have at the feeling of rightness from hearing his name escape Eddie’s mouth. Instead, he just laughed gently.
“Hopefully, I’m not done yet.”
“No. Hopefully you’re not.”