Chapter Text
Eddie hates the library.
He hates how he can never find a spot, even if he gets there at the crack of dawn (which he only tried once because wandering around for an hour before completely giving up to back to his dorm was not worth waking up at 5 A.M. for).
He hates the shitty coffee machine and the fact that the vending machine is always out of his favorite study snacks (Cheetos and Sour Patch Kids - horrible together in theory, but it's just the right kick that Eddie’s brain will jumpstart in study mode).
But above all, he hates how quiet it is. Hates the hushed voices and the clicking sounds of laptop keyboards in combination with flipping pages and the screeching sound of highlighters. And he definitely hates Muriel, that hag librarian who always seems to shush him even when he’s being the quietest he can be.
Because everything about Eddie is the opposite of quiet. The way he dresses with obnoxiously out-there band-tees and tons of accessories, his long, frizzy hair that always seems to turn heads, the tattoos and piercings that usually catch people’s attention (usually not in a good way), his music taste that ranges from thundering to straight-up deafening, and the fact that both his brain and his mouth will never shut the hell up… His whole persona is based on loud and that doesn’t usually go over well with librarians like Muriel and his fellow students who scold him for tapping his pencil on the desk or for mumbling along with whatever song is blasting on his headphones. But, he’s studying music for Christ’s sake. How in the hell do they expect them to be quiet in a library anyway?
Still, Eddie finds himself on the library steps at 10 P.M. on a Wednesday because Brett, his douchebag roommate, has once again locked him out to have rowdy sex with his girlfriend. It’s an almost-daily occurrence at this point and Eddie would have been fine roaming around the college campus or hanging out with his bandmates to pass the time, but he has this huge History of Music exam in two days and he really has to study because he’s not gonna fail it again.
He takes one final drag of his cigarette before he puts it out with the heel of his boot and walks inside. The library is crowded as usual and Eddie makes a mental note to raid Brett’s mini-fridge of all of its yoghurt cups because how is he possibly going to find a spot at this hour? He curses under his breath as he wanders along side the floor-to-ceiling bookcases in search of an empty desk, but every time he thinks he has found one, someone has already claimed it.
The first floor is a total bust, so Eddie tries his luck on the second floor. But the only available desk he can find is right next to the bathrooms, and the smell alone is reason enough for Eddie to walk to the third floor. There are hardly any desks on that floor, just rows and rows of books, but he just knows there is this one desk, tucked away in a corner that he had used before. It's the perfect spot, it's close to window but not that close that you're melting when the sunlight shines through, and hidden in a way that you'll miss it if you don't know about it.
“Oh, thank fuck.” Eddie mutters when he finally spots said-desk and notices that no one has claimed it just yet. He quickly walks over and drops his backpack on the table, the various buttons that are scattered across his bag clicking against the wood as Eddie slides into one of the chairs, and uses the other one as a make-shift coatrack.
Now that he finally has a spot to study, Eddie pulls out all the necessary equipment - laptop, textbooks, a collection of pens he borrowed from classmates and never returned to them, a notebook that’s been doodled all over and of course, his trusty pair of headphones. He scrolls through his Spotify playlists until he finally finds the perfect playlist that fits his mood and open his text book.
This exam isn’t going to know what hit ‘em
-xxx-
His study session gets interrupted about thirty minutes in. Which, rude, he was just about to finally memorize the different Baroque composers that are listed in his text book, but the sound of a bag hitting the desk makes Eddie look up from his notes. He sighs and pulls his headphones down to his neck when he sees who’s standing on the other side of the desk, bitchy face and striped polo-shirt included.
“Steve Harrington, as I live and breathe.”
“Munson.”
Eddie gasps and puts a hand on his heart. “Oh wow, I didn’t know King Steve associated with peasants.”
“Oh, get lost.” Steve replies, his face getting bitchier by the second. “This is my spot.”
“Well, I was here first so…” Eddie wiggles his fingers in the direction of the exit. “Move along.”
“You move along. This is my spot.” Steve repeats.
Of all the fucking desks in this entire library, Steve Harrington, the campus’ keg king and former president of Sigma Tau, just happens to need this particular desk. Eddie could not believe what he was hearing.
“You know, this is actually a spot reserved for people who need to study.” Eddie drawls, leaning back in his chair and folding his hands behind his head. “And I’m not sure if you’re familiar with that word. Hell, I don’t even know if you’ve ever opened a text book in your life, what with your precious swimming scholarship and all. Or is daddy Harrington besties with the Dean and you can sail through classes without a problem?”
“Fuck you, Munson.” Steve grits out through his teeth.
“You gotta buy me dinner first, Harrington.” Eddie winks and shoots a shit-eating grin his way. “And as you can see, this spot is taken so I suggest you find another place to… I don’t know what you came here to do, fix your hair or something?”
Steve grabs his messenger bag a little tighter, his knuckles almost turning white around the strap, just before he lifts the bag off the table. Eddie is about to call victory, when Steve walks around to the other side of the desk, chucks Eddie’s coat in his face and plops down in the chair.
“Wha- what are you doing?” Eddie tumbles over his words as Steve starts unpacking his bag, pushing Eddie’s stuff aside to make room for his textbooks and laptop. Much to Eddie’s surprised, there are actual written notes sticking from in between the pages and when Steve opens up his laptop, he notices honest-to-God Powerpoint sheets on the screen. He can’t help but stare a little because this is on a whole new level of weird.
“Studying.” Steve says matter-of-factly. He looks up from his notepad and cocks an eyebrow in Eddie’s direction. “What are you gawking at?”
“Nothing.” Eddie sputters. “Surprised you can read, that’s all.”
“Surprised you're still talking considering you probably need this study session more than I do.” Steve shoots back. “Didn’t I hear that you had to re-do your senior year of high school?”
“Twice.” Eddie says, a little too proudly.
“I rest my case.” Steve snorts before he turns his attention back to his laptop.
Well, this is certainly a weird turn of events. Not in a million years would Eddie have thought that he would be studying along side Steve Harrington of all people. But here he was, in the flesh, scribbling along to whatever was on his laptop screen.
Maybe that’s the most surprising thing of all, that Steve is actually studying. Eddie knows that he isn’t one to brag, with his super-senior past and his terrible attendance rate, but still Steve has built up a reputation of sailing through his classes, seemingly without putting in any work, that even Eddie knows about. And yet, it looks like he's actually trying.
Eddie really doesn’t have the time to think about Steve and his study habits, so he puts his headphones on again and changes the music to the classical playlist that one of his professors had made as part of their course. Of course it makes more sense to actually listen to Mozart instead of Metallica while studying about Baroque composers but Eddie has always been particular about his way of studying.
It doesn’t take long until Eddie finds himself tapping his pen along to Eine Kleine Nachtmusik while his other hand waves in the air like he’s the conductor to his only private concert. It’s his usual go-to while studying, to make him feel one with the music and actually concentrate on the words in front of him.
That is, if someone isn’t poking their pen in Eddie’s arm.
“What the fuck is your problem, man?” Eddie groans, removing part of his headphones.
“Stop fidgeting.” Steve says, not even bothering to stop squinting at his laptop to look at Eddie. “It’s distracting.”
“You wouldn’t be distracted if you just picked up your stuff and left.”
“This is my study spot. If anyone has to leave, it’s gotta be you.”
“Oh, I’m sorry.” Eddie scoffs. “I don’t see ‘property of Steve Harrington’ anywhere. Guess it still belongs to the great university gods after all.”
“Actually…” Steve finally tears his eyes away from his laptop screen to scan the table. He pushes some of Eddie stuff aside (“Hey!”) and leans over Eddie’s side of the desk (and wow, does Steve have a part-time job as a space heater?) until he finally taps his finger at the scrawny ‘SH’ written in the corner. “There ya go. Beat it, Munson.”
Obviously, Eddie can’t stand for this, so he fishes a Sharpie out of his backpack and scribbles his initials right next to Steve’s. In a slightly bigger font, because he’s petty like that.
“Now it’s my desk too.” Eddie grins.
“Jesus Christ.” Steve huffs in frustration, casting his eyes to the ceiling.
“Nah, it’s pronounced Eddie, actually.”
-xxx-
After that impromptu study session with Steve Harrington, Eddie vowed never to step foot inside of the library ever again. It’s not like he didn’t get any studying done - in fact, he aced his exam - and Steve had stopped complaining about Eddie’s hands flailing around after an hour or so, but still. Eddie is not about to become Harrington’s study buddy.
Obviously, the universe, or rather his roommate’s thriving sex life, has other plans, and Eddie once again finds himself wandering in between the rows and rows of books in search of a place to study. He really wants to give up and find a study spot outside (even though it’s freakishly cold for October and he’ll probably end up freezing his balls off) when both every desk on the first and second floor are already claimed. Of course, he could always go to the third floor but he isn’t going to risk running into Harrington again.
But it is a Tuesday afternoon (Brett’s thirst for his girlfriend truly has no bounds when they’re doing it in broad daylight) so there might be a chance that Harrington is still in class and Eddie could write his paper in silence after all. He likes those odds, so Eddie sprints up the stairs and hurries to that desk tucked in away in the corner, only to be greeted by the image of Steve, hunched over a bunch of text books in complete silence.
“You’ve got to be fucking kidding me.” Eddie says, a little louder than he anticipated because another student immediately shushes him and Steve immediately looks up. His big, brown eyes blink at Eddie for just a second, before that famous Harrington smirk appears on his face
“Too late, Munson.” Steve says smugly. “I got here first.”
“That logic didn’t bother you last time either.” Eddie hisses back as he drops his bag on to the table. “Remember, this table belongs to me just as much as it belongs to you. So scoot over, Harrington. I have a paper to write.”
Steve sighs in frustration, but pushes his study materials aside anyway to make room for Eddie’s stuff. He technically doesn’t need that much room as last time, just enough for his laptop and one of his textbooks. But he still empties his entire bag and spreads his stuff around, making sure that some things are just over the non-existent line that divides the desk in his and Steve’s side, just because he feels like being a little shit today.
He puts his headphones on again and wonders how the hell Steve can study in complete silence. Everything is so noticeable when it’s quiet, it’s like Eddie’s brain supersizes every little sound or movements and it’s highly distracting. Which is why he usually blasts some kind of trash metal to drown out any distractions so he can focus on his work.
That usually works, but today is not that day because he finds him staring at a blank page for at least forty minutes now. Well, the page not completely blank, he has written down the date, his name and the words ‘INTRODUCTION GOES HERE’ - it’s not much, but it’s a start. Bored out of his mind and down on inspiration, Eddie screws around with different fonts and colors for his title page, even though he knows damn well the university wants him to hand in a blank page with just the title and necessary information. God, he misses the time where he would spend hours figuring out the perfect Word-art for his biology project on wolves in middle school.
But even that gets boring after a while, so Eddie leans back in his chair and looks around the room. There are few students browsing the nineteenth century literature section, as well as a tired-looking librarian restocking one of the book cases.
And to his right, Steve is still scribbling away in his notepad. Eddie’s eyes fall on one of Steve’s textbooks, The Wiley-Blackwell Handbook of Childhood Social Development. Huh, strange choice for someone who’s probably lusting after a career on Wall Street. But then Eddie notices that all of Steve’s books are either about education or developmental psychology and his curiosity quickly gets the best of him.
“What are you doing with all those books on education?” He blurts out.
Steve looks up from his notepad, his eyebrows furrowed in confusion. “I need them? For class?”
“Since when do business majors give a shit about children’s education?” Eddie scoffs. “Or is this some kind of twisted mind-game where you plan on brainwashing kids to become part of capitalist society?”
“If you must know, I’m not a business major.”
Eddie frowns. This is completely new information to him because he knows that Steve is a business major, he has ‘future finance guy’ written all over him. Eddie has heard the stories of Steve following in his hot-shot father’s footsteps and he always noticed Steve hanging around campus with those dickheads in sleeveless fleece vests who seem to know everything about the stock market because they saw Wolf of Wall Street one time. Not that Eddie was actively looking for Steve, he’s just a hard guy to overlook with that hair and those ridiculous polo-shirts and all.
“You’re not?”
“I mean I was. But my heart wasn’t really in it, so I switched majors at the beginning of the semester.” Steve says. “I’m majoring in education now.”
No one can blame him for the ridiculously loud half-laugh half-snort that escapes Eddie’s lips after that revelation. “You, Steve Harrington, are going to be a teacher?”
“Guidance counselor, actually.” Steve huffs. “But you don’t have to be a dick about it.”
“That would be highly hypocritical of me since I’m planning on becoming a music teacher myself.” Eddie grins. “Just hadn’t really pegged you as the type.”
“Yeah, well, there’s a lot you don’t know about me.”
“Apparently so.”
-xxx-
Just when Eddie thinks he’s safe from impromptu run-ins with Steve Harrington, he spots that mop of hair right outside the lecture hall a couple of days later.
They hadn’t seen each other since that last study session, mostly because Eddie avoided the library like the plague again and actually managed to lock Brett out for once, so he just studied in his dorm room like the old days. And again, Eddie hadn’t exactly minded studying alongside Steve, he did eventually managed to write an outline to his paper and read up on the chapters for his Music Theory class. Plus, Steve hadn’t complained about Eddie’s improvised air-guitar concert when he put one of his playlists on shuffle and Eruption came on.
But there’s just something about that guy that Eddie can’t quite put his finger on. Maybe it’s the fact that Steve’s not what he thought he’d be. Sure he’s still a douchebag, but at least he didn’t call him names or threaten to beat his face in, like his former frat bros had done. And he’s an education major now? That particular decision still makes no sense to Eddie, but Steve seems to take it very seriously, so maybe he's not so bad after all.
“What, are you stalking me now or something, Harrington?” Eddie sighs.
“Pff. In your dreams, Munson.” Steve huffs, frantically typing away on his phone.
“Then why are you tarnishing the hallow halls of the music department with your presence?”
The answer to that question comes in the form of none other than Robin Buckley, who takes a sprint down the hallway, running directly towards Steve, only for him to catch her and spin her with ease.
Robin’s also majoring in music and Eddie finds himself sitting next to her in plenty of their shared classes, mostly to talk shit about their professors or compare notes (which always ends up in disaster because even Eddie can barely read his own handwriting and Robin usually zones out and starts doodling halfway through the class. It’s a miracle both of them aren’t failing any classes yet). He had listened to her talking about her best friend before, but never in a million years had he expected that she was best friends with Steve Harrington.
“This is the person you’ve chosen to associate yourself with, Buckley?” Eddie groans. “Damn, and here I was thinking you had standards.”
“Hey, I’m a fucking delight.” Steve counters as he puts Robin back on her feet. They don’t let go of each other though, with Steve slinging an arm around her waist and Robin resting her head on his shoulder.
“Play nice you two.” Robin says, nudging Steve’s side with her elbow.
“I’m plenty nice!” Steve protests. “I didn’t say anything when Munson here was acting like the library was his own personal concert hall.”
That somehow seems to piques Robin’s interest because her eyes sparkle mischievously as she glances between the two of them. “Oooh, so Steve here is your library douchebag?”
“Oh my God, shut up, Robin.” Eddie hisses between his teeth, now desperately wishing he had never told Robin a thing about the guy who always bothered him at the library.
“Wait, why am I the douchebag when you’re the one who claimed my spot in the first place?” Steve asked, bitchy as usual.
“Great, this argument again.” Eddie rolls his eyes and folds his arms across his chest. “Listen man, I followed your little rule and claimed that desk as my own, so it’s our desk now. You just gotta deal with it.”
‘Yeah, dingus, why are you complaining?” Robin says. “Didn’t you say that you actually got some work done with someone studying next to you?”
Eddie immediately felt his annoyance melt away because this is some very interesting information indeed, especially since Steve’s cheeks turned a faint shade of pink at Robin’s revelation.
“I didn’t say that!”
“Oh, you definitely did.” Robin nods frantically. “Something about performing better when someone’s watching you, which by the way, gross. Keep your kinks to yourself, you perv.”
Steve’s cheeks now turn a deep red and Eddie hides behind his hair to stop himself from cackling like a maniac, exactly like Robin is doing right now. Maybe running into Steve after class wasn’t so bad after all.
“No, no! I did not say that.” Steve sputters. He instantly removes his arm from where it was pressed against Robin’s back as some sign of betrayal and puts his hands on his hips when he glares at her, which only seems to make Robin laugh even louder. “I hate you so much right now.”
“You looove me.” Robin teases.
“No worries, Harrington. A little voyeurism never hurt anybody.” Eddie winks.
“Oh shit, I totally forgot to ask professor Hall about those notes from last week.” Robin says. “I’m gonna be right back.”
She hurries back into the classroom and with her gone and Steve still cursing under his breath, Eddie is right back where he started: awkwardly standing in an almost empty hallway with Steve Harrington. But he can totally turn this thing around now that he has some very valuable information in his possession.
“Sooo…” He drawls, twirling a loose curl around his finger as he grins up at Steve. “You need me to study.”
“Why is everybody twisting my words today?” Steve huffs in exasperation. “I never said I need you to study. It’s just- I don’t know, it helped or something.”
“So all that time you spent urging me to find another study spot was actually you begging me to stay? Seems a little counterproductive, Harrington.”
“Yeah, yeah, well…” Steve trails off, the gears clearly turning in his head as he runs his hand through his perfectly coiffed hair. The gears seem to click when Steve looks him in the eye again. “Look man, this might sound stupid but maybe we can make this a weekly thing? It really did help me to study alongside someone and I'd like to pass finals week without any hiccups.”
Eddie has to admit, it’s an interesting proposition and something he’ll definitely needs to take advantage of, since Steve’s eyes have gone full puppy-dog, which betrays his desperation for this to work out. It only takes him a couple seconds to figure out
“Okay. But I’m not gonna do this for free.” He states.
“You want me to pay you to study with me?”
“Not like that.” Eddie rolls his eyes. “Just buy me some coffee every time we meet up and you got yourself a deal. And it has to be decent coffee, not that crap from the machine at the library.”
Steve ponders Eddie’s counterproposal for a moment and Eddie know that he’s desperate when his reply is “Deal.”
“Pleasure doing business with you, King Steve.” Eddie nods. He extends his hand for Steve to shake on their deal, which Steve does and his hand is surprisingly warm for this time of year.
“Don’t call me that.” Steve wrinkles his nose at him and pulls his hand back. Eddie almost misses his warmth.
“Alright, alright.” Eddie says, bumping their shoulders together. “Hey, you wanna know something?” He drops his voice to a stage-whisper as he leans in closer. “You somehow helped me study too.”
“What?!” Steve exclaims, his eyes the size of saucers. “Then why did you give me shit if you need me just as much?”
“Aha!” Eddie says triumphantly. “So you do need me.”
“I’m starting to think this is a mistake.”
“Oh cheer up, Harrington. I’m the best mistake you’ll ever make.” Eddie grins. “And for your information, I take my coffee with cream and three sugars.”
“Got the notes!” Robin calls from down the hall, waving a stack of paper in the air as she jogs towards them. “What did I miss?”
Eddie can’t help himself as he slings an arm around Steve’s shoulder and beams at Robin.
“Me and Harrington are going to be study buddies.”