Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

It was Day Fifteen of Family Video averaging all of 6 people coming into the store. Robin and Steve knew it was due to the “earthquake” causing quite the disturbance. People who decided to stay in Hawkins were busy actively rebuilding their homes and lives, and yes, TV sets.

So, they were running low on business, which was a relief for the first few days, but now was simply mind-numbingly boring. Not that they were ungrateful, though. Frankly, they were surprised they still had jobs at all. Keith didn’t want to go through the trouble of hiring new people, so he basically gave them free reign while he took part in his own rebuilding efforts. Though there wasn’t a manager to keep them in line, they couldn’t simply leave, because every few hours they would get one of the four customers that stopped by Every. Damn. Day. Even the apocalypse wasn’t enough to keep Mr. Whitacre from watching Body Heat . Again.  

Another reason they still had jobs was the rapidly declining population in Hawkins. Not the people dying part, though that was a factor too, it was mostly the large migration out of dodge. Steve didn't blame them. At all. With all the bat-shit insanity that had happened in the past few years, the people staying here were off their rocker and the people coming back more so. The Byers had no trouble acquiring another house in Hawkins- they were basically giving them away. Pretty sure the realtor thought Joyce was insane or high on something, but she still let her buy the house, so here they were, all together again.  

It was nearing winter, meaning it had been over 8 months since the event no one seemed to want to talk about, and while the duo were “working,” Robin sat behind the desk with a notepad and pencil, doodling away. Steve was sure she was drawing an outline of a lady with boobies. Sure enough, when he leaned over her shoulder to peek, there were some suspiciously curvy lines on the paper.  

“Whatcha drawing-” Steve spoke suddenly. 

Robin let out a yelp as she jumped and dropped her pen.  

“Watch it, Dingus!” She exclaimed as she bent down to pick it up.  

Steve, however, pursed his lips in mock innocence, though his eyes had a certain sparkle that contradicted him.  

“I was just trying to see if you were drawing some boobies over there.” 

“Shut up!!!” The beta shouted out, a quick flush high on her cheekbones, clearly embarrassed by being caught.  

As if they could sense the young adults were bored, four teens burst through the door; Mike and Lucas in a heated argument about something or other- a D&D thing probably- Dustin was loudly interjecting whenever he sensed someone saying something he didn’t agree with, and Will only jumping in to try to keep the peace with median arguments. 

 “GUYS, neither is inherently better, it depends on what you roll. I don’t get why-” 

And the boys descended into chaos once more as they yelled over each other again.  

Steve immediately pinched the bridge of his nose in irritation. Robin smirked and patted his shoulder, “Your pups are here, Mama.” 

“I can see that. Thanks.” Steve replied dryly. 

Despite the irritation, Steve’s scent changed, as the omega released the comforting scent he reserved mostly for the youngest members of his pack. He stopped correcting or protesting whenever someone (read:Robin) called them his pups, because it was clearly a waste of breath. He fussed over them sometimes, or all the time, but that wasn’t a crime, it was simply making an educated guess that they’d land themselves in trouble, and usually Steve was right.  

The teens slowly became aware of the scent Steve was releasing and calmed down somewhat until Steve was able to speak over them.

“Hey! What’s with the nerd debate squad?”    

The voices clamored over each other, as the boys fought to have their story heard first. “He said that if the-” “Lucas was being a dick just because I-” “They’re being idiots about this whole thing-”  

“AHT.”  

The boys stopped their bickering and looked back at Steve. He continued, “I don’t care what the debate was about. I’m sure you can figure it out somewhere else. I just want to know why it’s taking place in here.”  

“…” There was a suspicious silence as the boys deliberated who would be best suited to the task. Apparently, they had no qualms about throwing the smallest lamb to slaughter as they pushed Will slightly forward. Will stumbled forward a step with wide eyes. It was unclear whether it was from being thrown under the bus or an attempt to further convince Steve, but either way, he had to begrudgingly admit it did soften his demeanor a small bit.  

Will took a breath and spoke carefully with barely contained excitement. “There’s this event on Friday. It’s this release for new book sets for D&D and… it’s in Indy…”  

Steve sighed. “You guys want me to drive you to Indianapolis and back on Friday?”  

An anguished cry came from Dustin, “PLEASE! We can’t miss this. I’ll die!”  

Steve looked at him, unimpressed.  

“Tough crowd. Okay. Maybe I won’t die. I’ll just be extremely sad for the next 2 years,” Dustin amended in a more muted tone. 

“We didn’t think we’d be alive for this, like, 8 months ago!” Mike was going for the ‘we almost died’ route. A bold move, Wheeler , thought Steve.  

“I’m not a heartless monster, okay guys, but even if I wanted to, which is already a big if, I can’t. Robin and I are on the closing shift. It’s an hour and half there and however long this thing is and then the hour and a half back. It’s just- I’m sorry guys.”  

“Oh, come on!”  

“Hey, dingus, adult meeting real quick?” The teens eyed the two curiously as they walked further out of earshot and just enough behind a shelf to hide their faces. They spoke in hushed tones, “You and I both know there’s not gonna be anyone here. I can cover for you if Keith decides to pop in, it’s not a big deal. The brats look real excited. Besides, if you don’t take them someone else will. Do you really want them alone in Indy?” 

That was a low blow, Robin. “Are you trying to manipulate me?” Steve asked with a wary squint. 

“I just happen to know your mother instincts will prevail,” she said with a pleased little smirk. No matter how annoying, she was right about one thing: if he didn't take them, someone else would. The speed with which she gave him the suggestion made him a bit suspicious though. 

“What’s in this for you?” 

“I can’t just want your kids to be happy?” 

Steve levelled her a flat look. Rob was known for many things, but offering her services with no ulterior motives was not one of them. “You just want to watch Desert Hearts, don’t you?”  

“Steve!!” That wasn't a no.   

“I knew it!” He had noticed her looking at the packaging longingly twice in the same week.  

“That doesn’t change anything. Everything I said is still true.” 

As much of a hard time as he was giving Robin, he was already leaning on his answer. “Are you sure you’d be okay by yourself? I don’t love the idea of you being here alone.” 

“It’s fine. I have a walkie and plenty of things I can fashion into weapons if need be. I also have the Byers and Hopper’s number written down if I run into any end of the world crap.” Steve furrowed his eyebrows. “Which won't happen.”  

A few more seconds passed of Steve looking right at Robin’s convincing expression and his resolve crumbled. “… FINE.”  

The kids heard his exclamation and looked at each other with wide eyes. “Fine? Fine??”  

“Yes. Fine,” Steve allowed with a begrudging nod.  

“YESS!!” All four kids cheered and pushed each other around, celebrating so loudly, that if there was anyone in the store, he would've shushed them immediately. The store was totally empty though, so he let them have their moment.  

The kids were thanking him profusely and asking each other about what they would get when Robin suddenly got a Pensive look on her face, “Wait. Why couldn’t Eddie take you?? He’s not really recognizable outside of Hawkins.”  

Steve’s hands got a little clammy at the mention of the alpha, until he thought about what Robin said. He squinted critically at the group, “… you’re right.”  

Through sheer stubbornness, Eddie was somehow alive. Nothing about it was pleasant. Steve remembers the metallic smell that clung to his skin afterwards. The way Eddie’s body had felt, limply hanging in his arms. The guy was heavier than he looked, too. Still, it was worth it lugging him God-knows how far to see the look on Henderson’s face when the doctor told them he would live.  

“No take backs! You already said you’d do it!” 

“Henderson.” 

“Our parents are still weird about him,” he rushed out. 

“Henderson.” 

“We asked! It’s just…” the boy started, hesitantly. “He said he didn’t want to be responsible for the ‘pack of pups’ because ‘If anything happened to any of you, Harrington would string me up by my toes and rip out my throat,’” Dustin quoted in a mocking tone.  

Steve fought a blush once he registered what they’d said. Eddie had called him a good protector, and boy if that didn’t stroke his ego just right. He couldn’t do much at the sweetness coloring his scent at the mention of the Alpha. 

Things were much easier to hide when he wore scent patches 24/7. He could be having the most extreme emotions and thoughts, and no one would be the wiser. He wore them all throughout high school at his parents' insistence, and even a while after out of habit. Once he became the designated babysitter though, he began to take them off for small periods, especially around the kids. After the events of Starcourt, he just stopped wearing them all together, and honestly, it was pretty freeing. Sure, he had trouble controlling his scent sometimes after years of never needing to, and he got the odd look on the street from people that knew him from his King Steve days, but he felt so much more comfortable in his own skin without them, and he liked being able to communicate with his kids without needing to say anything, so no patches it is.  

Thankfully, most of the kids were now whispering to each other about what they would wear, since “everybody” would be in costume, to worry about his inner turmoil, though Will did give him an odd look for a moment before turning back to his friends. Robin, though… no such luck. She looked up at him with a smug look, that read “ you are so not getting away with that .”  This time Steve could feel the heat prickling his neck and ears as he looked desperately anywhere except Robin’s face. He had spoken to Robin only once about his budding feelings, but that was enough to hold over him subtly and mercilessly any time Eddie’s name came up in conversation. 

In her defense, however, the conversation was rather short and eternally embarrassing.  

Eddie was doing some dramatic story telling in front of the kids. He was making exaggerated motions and voices and the kids were eating it up. The real frosting on it was Max, sitting with a hand on El’s arm and giggling at the alpha’s antics. It was the first time Steve had seen her laugh since everything with Vecna.  

Steve smiled widely and let his head fall to the side as he stared fondly at the scene. It was a moment of losing focus, and Robin pounced on it so fast it made him dizzy. Her head whipped to the side immediately as she smelled it. Being a beta, she was less sensitive to scents, so if she was smelling it, dear God, Steve must've been pumping it out like crazy. He sat up quickly and dragged her by the arm out of the room. She started to talk so Steve tugged at her with more insistence until they were outside.  

“Steve! Are you serious?” Robin was bouncing on her heels and palming excitedly at his chest.  

“Am I serious about what, Rob? Nothing happened.”  

“You are not going to ‘these are not the droids’ me. I know I’m not always able to smell you guys but that might as well have been a neon sign on your ass that said “Reserved for someone who’s good with kids.”   

“Rob. Please.”  

“No. I’m not letting you out of this. You like him. You’re interested.”  

Steve fumbled, “I- Maybe.”  

“Oh my god,” she said, sounding like she hadn't expected him to actually admit she was right.  

He tried to sound stern and close the conversation. “Robin.”   

“No. No! You don't get to stomp on my joy like that. You haven't liked someone in forever. Nancy was a weird blip because we were about to die, but no this is different. Stevie’s got a crush. You want Eddie ‘The Freak’ Munson.”  

“Robin!” He exclaimed a bit more alarmed and looked around, hoping no one had overheard.  

“I know I told you to expand your horizons, but wow you sure did expand, I mean... he’s kind of a little bitch, but I'm not judging.”  

“Kinda sounds like you are,” he retorted bitchily.  

“How long have you felt like this?” She spoke softer, now that she had a confirmation, it was starting to sink in that Steve might be having some conflicting feelings over this. He’d dated nothing but girls his whole life. It was sorta what he was known for. And now he was having queer feelings for Eddie Munson, of all people.  

“I don’t even know. It kinda crept up on me.”  

“Is it... are you freaking out that he’s a dude?”  

“Not really. Maybe it hasn’t really sunk in?”  

This was actually the most he’d had to confront his feelings so far and, honestly, it was starting to stress him out a bit. It was one thing to absently note your mind and feelings wandering, but another to actually confront it.  

“I’m here if it ever does.”  

“Thanks. Are you done?”  

“For now,” she finished with a sunny smile.  

And because the gods were cruel, just when Steve felt his blush subside, a bell chime from the door and a smooth confident voice announced,  

“I bet you were talking about me. You know what they say about the Devil.”  

Steve resolutely did not look at Robin. He could practically hear the teasing grin he’d find there.

“Hey, Munson,” the omega called out and turned around to fiddle with some paper on the other side of the counter, hoping to hide and stay out of the conversation. 

“My lord, Harrington. Always a pleasure,” he proclaimed with a flourish and bow while speaking. Eddie had a particular way of infusing a smirk into tone that let Steve know exactly the face he was making while he was pretending to be busy. “And my loveliest of lady birds.”  

“Hey, Eddie.”  

“And how are my devoted cult members?” It took months of rehabilitation for him to be able to walk with his usual swagger, but he was now able to move freely about. He was wearing his usual gear- at least a leather jacket was more appropriate now than in the summer- torn jeans, a Metallica T-shirt, and his assortment of accessories.

The whole Eddie Thing had taken Steve by surprise. His attitude and general nonsense were oddly charismatic once you got to know him and after the upside-down shit that went down, he did get to know him. His flirtatious act, though was just that, an act, so Steve knew better than to put any stock into it. The guy was just really dramatic and liked to create a scene. That much was clear when the omega chose to push it just a touch, only to have Munson back off immediately and get all weird. 

A chorus of “Hi Eddie” came from the group of teens. 

Steve rolled his eyes and looked around to double check there wasn’t anyone there before hissing out, “You shouldn’t say that.”  

“You wound me, sweetheart. I’ll have you know I have been cleared of any and all charges. That includes potential satanic sacrificing. At this point, if people really think I’m their biggest issue, that’s on them. They have plenty of things to worry about besides me, like I don't know, potentially disastrous damage to their home from an evil entity hell-bent on revenge.” 

Steve simply pursed his lips in annoyance. The most irritating part wasn’t the fact that he was kinda right, it was the stupid smile he had. That smile, where his mouth screwed up before breaking out into a full grin that lit up his face and brightened his deep brown eyes. 

It was way more charming than it had any right being. There was no doubt a flush to Steve’s cheeks. 

Eddie gave them both a small salute as a parting gesture and started talking to the kids about their next campaign, emphasizing that everyone needed to check their schedules now because it would be epic. 

Robin took the distraction and whispered to Steve in a breathy mocking tone, “ Sweetheart .” 

“Fuck off,” Steve whispered back at her, ears feeling hot all over again.  

The alpha’s scent was pretty noisy. It wasn’t that trademark obnoxious alpha scent that wanted to choke itself down everyone within a mile radius’ throat, just wholly enveloping. The tobacco-like smokiness combined with an earthy base wrapped itself eagerly around him every time he was close by. Steve would be lying if he said he didn’t like that.   

He was still watching Eddie poke relentless fun at Mike, chuckling at himself when he felt a somber feeling kiss the edge of his vision. Suddenly they were all much older than he remembered them being. The little brats were in high school, much taller than before- especially Wheeler, who seemed to shoot up like a weed every time he blinked- they were losing the roundness of their cheeks, and they looked weighed by everything they’d gone through. They were all still unpresented, though it was starting to become clear where they would end up, and very soon. Still, Steve tried not to be too definitive on that front; here he was after all, nowhere close to where everyone had thought he would be. Maybe they’d surprise him. Except Max. She was an alpha. No two ways about that.  

Steve called out to Mike and beckoned him forward. “Wheeler, where's El?” 

“She stayed back hanging out with Max. I tried to get them both to come. Max probably would’ve been very persuasive. No dice. I’m still hoping they’ll come with us on Friday, but El says Max isn’t that confident in going to unknown locations yet, so I don’t know.” Mike was going for nonchalant but sounded more disappointed than anything. Steve’s heart gave a small squeeze at the thought of Max. 

“She just needs more time. It’s a lot of changes at once. She’s still getting used to things. Doesn’t mean she doesn’t care,” Steve said kindly. 

“I know,” Mike quickly replied, trying to regain that cocky little shit attitude he’d been growing the past couple years. “It’s fine. We’ll be here when she’s ready. The party doesn’t leave anyone behind. Besides it's not like it’s her scene. I wouldn’t blame her.” 

She’d suffered the brunt of the injuries this time. Chronic pain she’ll live with forever, psychological scars, and the one that brought her the most pain: blindness. Her visibility was extremely low, only just able to make out movement. Anyone would have trouble adjusting, never mind Max who had already endured so much, was already struggling with her place in the word and the loss of her brother, shitty as he might have been. They’d all tried reaching out, but she was an independent person and didn’t like admitting she needed help. Some of her frostiness from before had fallen away though, and she spent quite a bit of time with El, trusting her implicitly.  

It was starting to feel like Steve needed to pay the girls another visit. 

The days after the Vecna ordeal were still a giant blur for Eddie. He knew some things that happened. He knew he was carried, half dead to the hospital. He knew that Henderson had barely left his side and by extension Steve. He knew that there were some blood transfusions. But his memories began a few days later with Wayne. That was a fun conversation. Hey Wayne, I pinky promise I didn't kill that girl. Oh, I also kinda almost died in a parallel world from evil bat injuries. Sorry for leaving that corpse in your living room by the way. My bad. There’s no good way to phrase it that doesn’t sound insane. Thankfully his uncle seemed to take it all in stride, glad his nephew was alive and wasn’t a murderer.  

The government was kind enough to pay for his extensive medical bills, which was the least they could do after Eddie nearly died to make sure Vecna didn’t take over their whole dimension. You’re welcome, general population. 

Now months later, Eddie was mostly healed up. His torso was free of bandages, but some of his deeper scars were still pink and achy. Somehow in those weeks after going home, Steve had started to stop by under the excuse of checking in on his progress. That eventually gave way until they were just hanging out together. It was weird. Not necessarily whiplash weird, only in hindsight weird. If you’d told him a few months ago that Steve “The Hair” Harrington would be asking him to come over to his house, he’d have wished you luck on your trip to the loony bin. It was kind of nice though. Entirely frustrating and giving him blue balls, but nice. The scent of Harrington changing from the neutral, beta one he had known in school to a rich omega smell had been jarring. Again, mostly jarring in a giving-him-blue-balls kind of way.

Harrington gestured at him for a side conversation, so he sauntered over to the counter to talk to him. Eddie was not really the conventional alpha, to say the least. Despite the quick wit, he was easy to catch off guard, he didn’t dominate a room, he wasn’t much of a leader outside of Hellfire at least, and- critical point here- he didn’t think he was better than everyone. He was very squarely in the “piece of shit” category and he knew it. So, when Steve, natural leader that he was, stated a demand, there wasn’t much of an argument.  

“Apologies for disturbing your very important work,” Eddie joked, sweeping a hand out to the empty establishment. Steve showed no acknowledgement of the jab and instead stared right at him. 

“You’re coming with us.”  

“Uh. Hey Harrington, I'm doing great,” he answered earnestly, as if Steve had asked him Hey, Munson, how’s it going?   

Steve was not moved by it at all. “Good. You’re coming with us.” 

Eddie caught the word “us” but chose to comment on the “you're coming” part. “Are you talking about the book release?”  

“What else would I be talking about?” He looked kind of irritated, for some reason, that Eddie was still catching up to the conversation he’d just entered. He was a super-super senior, he was a bit slow on the uptake sometimes, okay? 

“You’re actually taking them?” He didn’t mean to sound so incredulous, but this was no small deal. King Steve was taking the brats somewhere nerdy and wanted Eddie to go with him them. 

“Obviously. You weren’t going to. And it's not like they have anyone else to take them.”  

“Aww. You do care! Are you a secret D&D nerd, Harrington?” 

“Shut up. You’re coming with.” 

“That sounds like a win-win to me. I wanted to go anyway.” 

He didn't mention how he was probably going to go with Gareth and Jeff before this. He would have to call them and tell them about the change of plans. They could get their own damn ride. No doubt they’d have some comment about his company. Not that they didn’t like Steve- they respected the hell out of him after the stories he’d told them about how he helped drag his ass out- but they also noted a specific tone he’s used when talking about it. Some deemed it too “dreamy” or detected “longing” in his voice. So, now when he talked about the omega, they ribbed him, hard . 

Oh King Steve, I am your damsel in distress, will you tend to my wounds and apply my poultice?

My Lord, I am your humble servant, tell me what you seek and I will search far and wide.  

That one was from that time he was late to band rehearsal- only 9 minutes- because he told Steve he’d pick up something from the store for him. 

“You’re also going to help me corral them, so they don’t get themselves into trouble, like they so often do,” Steve continued. 

“Less of a win, but I suppose I am amenable to that.”  

“Good. You’re stuck with me the whole time, big boy,” the omega teased. He was, God, looking at him through his eyelashes. If Eddie didn’t know any better, he’d say Steve was flirting . 

Eddie swallowed. The urge to slam his forehead gently, or forcefully, against the counter was strong. He took a miniscule step back. His face was probably doing something complicated.

“I can do that,” he said evenly. That was pretty smooth, Eddie thought to himself. No notable longing in his tone, he kept it cool, and was able to keep anything incriminating out of his scent. At this point, hanging with Harrington should initiate him into Buddhist monkhood.  

Dear God, Steve smelled so good. His usual warm, scent made his mouth water on a good day, but paired with a teasing line and a smirk, it was almost too much. It was insane . Eddie was a weak, weak alpha. Steve’s scent was practically tailored for him. It was a sandalwood and lavender, with an amber trace that always left Eddie wanting more and it had this specific sweetness to it that was oh so enticing. People often described sandalwood as a seductive or sensual smell and, oh yeah that was right on the money. He somehow managed to suppress the usual urge to shove a nose into Steve’s neck; it was overwhelming sometimes, but Eddie suppressed it successfully day after day. If it was just a scent, it would be one thing, but Steve was a certifiable badass and kind and funny, not to mention gorgeous, so, in short, Eddie was well and truly fucked. Well, not as fucked as he’d like to be. Eddie the Banished? More like Eddie the Permanent Virgin. It was hard to find gay guys in Hawkins, okay? 

Yesterday Steve had leaned over on his elbows and smiled sweetly up at him and the nervous sweat that broke out was honestly embarrassing. It was like Eddie was a freshly presented kid, struggling to keep it in his pants. So, he flirted. It was easier to be dramatic and tease than to openly pant after Harrington. It distracted him from actively getting a boner to make Steve roll his eyes (except that one time it sparked an awkward fantasy that made him take a swift exit). He didn’t take offense to it like many would have and never seemed bothered or embarrassed, so Eddie didn't stop. He did take care to not push it too far in case Harrington ever did get uncomfortable enough to give him a well-placed punch. After seeing him rip a demobat apart with his bare hands... general consensus was staying on his good side was an act of self-preservation. 

“Did you ever imagine when you were hanging out with Tommy H and Carol Perkins that you’d be driving a bunch of nerd kids to a D&D event with The Freak?” 

“I didn’t imagine I’d get drugged and tortured by Russians or kill things from another dimension either. Shit happens,” he said with a certain nonchalance that, considering the content of the sentence, was rather concerning.  

“You’ve really skimmed over that Russian part, you know?” 

Steve shrugged. “You're set Friday, then?” 

“I shall be there with my chariot for the party of poindexters.” 

It was nerd heaven. The kids were on their best behavior, all in costume, and excitedly interacting with people also dressed up. Steve started to keep an ear open when he saw them talking to anyone and Eddie followed his lead. While he loved D&D and the people that played were usually awesome, there were a plenty of creeps and weirdos (derogatory). Thankfully, every interaction he overheard was pretty tame, if not painfully nerdy, so pretty on brand. No one tried to kidnap the party, so that was a win. 

The real icing on the cake was Max and El. Somehow, using his special mom powers, Harrington convinced the girls to tag along and if the boys were excited before, it was nothing compared to Mike’s excited scream when Eddie pulled up in front of Max’s. Eddie secretly held the belief that half of Wheeler’s excitement was just being able to introduce El as his girlfriend in front of everyone- really just to prove that he could have a girlfriend. El tried to stick close to Max as much as possible, but with Wheeler wanting to see stuff and hang out with her, it was a little difficult, so Max would say she wanted to hang around Steve, and Eddie, but mostly Steve.  

He had gotten pretty good at verbal descriptions and was able to tell her about the things he saw, down to the details of Will’s wizard hat. She laughed especially hard when he told her about Lucas’ choice of clothing which featured a brown hooded cape and some weirdly layered belts. Steve asked her questions and she asked things back in her no-bullshit kind of way, which became eternally more endearing when it wasn't directed at Eddie. He also did something that Eddie hadn't noticed at first, but was obvious in hind-sight, he didn’t try to take her arm or hold onto her to help her around. He would hold out his arm if they needed to go somewhere and she would take it if he suggested it, but otherwise they would walk slowly, with descriptors of where they were going and roughly how far. It was probably the sweetest thing Eddie had ever seen and another reason why he was trying so hard not to spook Harrington. 

The two adults were stood for a while, off to the side, watching amusedly when Steve turned his face to Eddie. The alpha decided to wait until he said something to turn his head himself, but after 30 Mississippis, nothing. He wasn’t sure what Harrington’s face looked like, but with how close they were, shoulder to shoulder, Eddie was going to keep his eyes forward and pretend he hadn’t noticed. His stare burned holes into Eddie’s side, though and it was getting harder to pretend he couldn’t see it. 

He hoped his neck wasn’t as pink as it felt. Moments like this validated his decision to grow his hair out.  

“How long are you going to pretend you don’t see me looking?” Eddie heard the omega say amusedly. He sounded like he was trying hard not to laugh.  

Fuck. “How long are you going to keep looking?” he shot back. 

There was a bit of silence where Eddie deliberated whether or not to turn and decided to stubbornly keep his gaze where it was. 

“When are you going to invite me to a game?” 

What? At that, the alpha whipped his head around to look at Steve. “What?”  

“I thought you’d be like Henderson and be asking me all the time to join a campaign, but I haven’t received an invite. Should I be offended?” 

Oh shit. Oh shit. Play it cool. Steve Harrington was asking about D&D. He was asking about joining. Eddie could do this. Don’t be too eager. Don’t scare him off. Be cool and charming and intriguing and don’t sound too much like a dork. That was easy, right? 

“Are you- I mean- I- uh. I didn’t think you’d be interested.”  

There, that was good. Eddie mentally patted himself on the back for that one. Point 1 Munson. It wasn’t like the thought hadn’t occurred to him before, but it didn’t seem like something Steve would be into. Not to mention, Eddie would probably not be able to keep his wits about him if that happened. The thought was enticing, however.  

“I’m not not interested. Just surprised you haven’t said something.” 

“Well, consider this your blanket invitation. Anytime, darling.” 

Steve had a black, long sleeve Henley on with the buttons undone, giving the alpha a view of exactly 4 moles. Not that Eddie was counting or staring or even looking. Nor did he count when the other man tilted his head with flat amusement and revealed an additional two.   

“I’m just saying shit. It looks complicated and I wouldn’t even know where to start.” 

“Making a character?” Eddie offered more sincerely. It wasn’t that complicated a game once you got the hang of it. Harrington obviously tolerated hanging out with the freaks, so it wasn’t like anything that out of the ordinary would happen. Also, he’d had more than his fair share of monster fighting, so it was not that far of a leap to make.  

“No. Henderson tried that once, it took too damn long and didn’t make any sense.”  

“I’m open all hours whenever you’re in town. I’m told I’m a good teacher,” he said smiling cheekily.  

“That- No one has ever said that about you.” 

“Plenty of people have said it!” Eddie argued shrilly.  

“My ass.” 

Eddie raised an eyebrow. 

“Fuck off, Munson.” 

In lieu of an answer, he simply smiled smugly and messed with a piece of his hair, twirling it between two fingers.  

Eddie himself was excited, loving the outcasts and freaks on full display. He got to see the books and was looking forward to the brilliant new ways to torture have fun with the sheep. At one point, he was nearly vibrating wanting to take a closer look at something, but his job was security. He was a sheepherder for the flock of dorks, so he couldn’t. Steve looked at him for a minute and suppressed a smile, before saying, “go.” Eddie had jerked for a second, wanting to make sure he understood, and confirmed it when Steve had nodded towards the gathering. He kneeled quickly with his hands clasped together, praying a quick thank you to His Majesty, and stood again, bounding towards his goal.  

They stayed there for longer than they expected and when Henderson had yawned twice, he knew it was time to head back. Will was lingering amongst some books, undecided on whether or not to buy. Steve asked him to take the rest of the kids to the van stating he would finish up with Will and meet them there. 

He called out to the kids and started to gather them until the only one missing was Will and began to lead them out. He asked them if they had a good time and they all affirmed that, yes, they had an amazing time.  

The group was moving at a slow pace, passing the main doors and seeing into the dark parking lot. Eddie was looking around, trying to remember where he’d parked the van and found it in a spot straight ahead.  

“So, what do we have here?” A voice called out from their left, and when Eddie looked, it was three guys, clad in Hawkins High jackets, sitting around a car, looking like they were waiting for someone. Me , Munson realized. “Thought we’d find you here.” 

“Okay. Look, we’re just trying to have a good evening. Can we do this another time?” He had to project a bit to get his voice across the lot, but being loud was fortunately a gift he possessed. While speaking he tried to keep as much cheek out of his tone as he could, but he did tend to sound like a bit of a sarcastic asshole by nature. It was taking everything in him to remain cordial when his instincts were screaming danger.  

“We just want to know what you did to Jason. Then we can part ways,” Asshole #3 said causally. Fat chance of that. Eddie thought they looked a little familiar, but then again, most of the basket-shooting people looked similar. They were presumably all alphas and pissed if their stiff posture was anything to go on.  

He let out a huff of annoyance, “I didn’t do anything to him.” 

“Bullshit.” Two of them reach into the car and pull out a baseball bat and a hammer. Oh shit. Eddie tensed immediately. Without looking away from the offending group, he fumbled in his pocket to grab his keys and held them out back to the kids.  

“Get in the car.” 

“We are not leaving you,” Henderson said firmly. 

“We don’t leave people in the party behind,” Wheeler piped up. As he said that, the three had closed the door and stood next to their car, waiting to see what he would do. He knew then that he couldn’t let them get close. That only left getting closer to them. 

“That’s awful sweet. Now go.” 

“Eddi-” 

“ Now ,” he bit out. “I’m not letting anything happen to you.” 

El tried to argue, stepping forward, “I can help.” 

“Don’t even try it. Go with them. This isn’t some upside-down monster; it’s three normal douches. They might not even hurt me. I’ll be cool. I’m great at de-escalation, ask anyone.” 

There was an anxious shuffle as the kids exchanged glances and decided amongst each other. They could all smell the panicked scent he was putting off, and Eddie was really hoping it would be enough to get them to scram. Mike took cautious steps and snatched outstretched keys and with that, they all turned around and started to walk back hurriedly towards the car, turning around every few steps. Lucas peeled off and ran in the direction of the door, presumably to go back inside to get Steve and Will. 

Feeling much better now that he had gotten the kids out, he began to take steps toward the douches with his hands up, hoping to pacify them in a “I come in peace” sort of way.  

“Now it’s just us. Let this go. I didn’t have anything to do with Jason, okay?” Eddie’s strides were large, but slow and steady, as he was hoping to not exacerbate the problem further. The three dimwits were starting to get closer to meet him where he was. Closer now, it was easier to see their faces and smell them, confirming that they were newly presented alphas. Great, that’ll be supremely helpful in getting them to stand down.   

“We believe that about as much as you having nothing to do with Chrissy,” said Asshole #1. His face was screwed up in an ugly way that made him look like an unfortunate dog, one of those the dog shows say is a prime specimen, but is really butt ugly. Eddie would say something to him about it, except he did have to defend himself from the accusation that was as insulting as it was stupid, at this point. 

“I didn’t touch Chrissy!” 

During the exchange, as Munson had gotten closer to the three stooges, Asshole #1, the one with the hammer, had begun to adjust the tool in his hand until it looked pretty poised for action. He was about 10 feet away and stopped, trying to keep a bit of distance between them, but the group pressed on, still moving towards him. Asshole #2 began to kick his bat around with his shoe and stare him down. 

“I’m not gonna fight you,” he said, stupidly. Very stupidly. 

“Good. Then you'll make it real easy.” 

Meeting face to face, Eddie was ready to make some snippy comment about how close they were getting, but thought better of it when he remembered, weapons. As much as he didn't want it to, his breathing was getting heavier and heavier. He was pretty sure he could feel his heart pounding in his throat. After nearly dying in the upside down, this was almost comical, except it wasn’t and having a hammer give you internal injuries wasn’t any less painful than demobat bites. 

Asshole #3 stared at him in disgust and started to walk past him looking in the direction of the van.

The kids.

In a moment of sheer panic, Eddie took a hand and grabbed the back of the dude’s jacket, dragging him back and making him fall onto the concrete, hitting his head.  

The guy was stunned and checked the back of his head for blood. “You freak.”  

There was a single moment of silence before a flurry of movement. Eddie knew it was coming and braced for the impact of the hammer against his upper arm. The pain was instant, radiating through his shoulder. He only got the chance to let out a short groan before Asshole #2 took his bat and swung to his stomach. He clutched his stomach in pain and felt another forceful hit to the back of his knee and promptly fell. Asshole #3, not wanting to be left out, kicked him in the jaw.

It seemed the burn was everywhere, the cold dread in his stomach was giving way to the awful ache he felt throughout his body with every ragged breath. It was like they’d coordinated their movements from how quickly it all happened. 

He inhaled shakily and retorted, “That all you got?”  

Three more blows came in quick succession after that. A kick to the face, another to the stomach, and a bat to the side. Eddie, despite himself, screamed out a “Fuck!” The metallic taste was bright in his mouth; when he ran his tongue along his lip, a jagged cut stung, though it was nothing compared to the injuries to his abdomen. The old scars that still pulled when he stretched too far felt on fire again, alight with fresh new pain. 

Though it felt like his ears were underwater, a voice rang clearly. 

“Eddie!” 

Max . Of all the stupid things she could have done, she either came back, fighting all of her friends or... in the movement, El unlooped her arm from Max’s, giving the redhead just enough of a gap to feel for a nearby car and duck behind it. This just went from bad to worse. 

A flash of hot anger and fear ripped through the alpha and he ended up barking harshly at Max.  

“Get out of here, Max! I told you to go.”  

Through a blurry eye on the floor, he could make her out about 5 cars back walking slowly towards the movement, of course with zero sense of self-preservation. And why would she have that? She only, quite literally, died less than a year ago. In a scramble to get her out of there, he pushed onto his forearms, trying to lean onto them and get up. He got up one arm and both knees before a rough kick to the side and throwing him back onto the floor. 

“Oh, one of your little cult members? Maybe she knows something.”  

“Stay away from her, I will kill you.” He tried to growl and get up again, but stopped when a baseball bat came down again. With the pain throughout, he could scarcely tell where he had gotten the hit, only that there was a wet feeling that made his shirt cling to his skin that could only mean he had begun to bleed from somewhere. 

“Did you have something to do with Jason?” Asshole #2 asked Max. 

“No, but I wish I had. He was a piece of shit.” God, Max. Eddie squeezed his eyes painfully tight and cursed the fact that he had no room to scold her for her mouth.  

Chapter Text

The event wasn’t all that exciting, especially when you didn’t know what the hell was going on. Instead, Steve busied himself with watching the elation on everyone’s faces, wondering about how Hawkins was doing, talking to Max, and- this was the real sticky one- standing next to Eddie.  

He stood there, brushing shoulders every now and then, each touch sending tingles down his arm. Eddie's voice was like honey; sweet and flowing. With few interruptions, the two were able to talk freely about anything and everything. Steve promised he would get Eddie to shoot a basket at some point to which Eddie responded that the masses weren’t ready for the rock-solid body he’d have to bring out for that. Eddie ribbed him for the stupid little sailor outfit he’d worn working at Scoops Ahoy. “You had a little hat too?” “It’s not that funny, man.” He couldn't respond between wheezes.   

Those great moments where Munson laughed openly, boisterous and spirited, were like magic. Steve was able to look and observe, noticing his profile, the way his throat curved, the points of his canines, even his jawline as far as he could see past the hair framing his face. 

Once everyone had filed out to go to the van, Steve went to Will. “Hey, made a decision yet?” 
The younger Byers jumped a bit, startled by the sudden presence, but nodded and grabbed the book he wanted. He cradled it in his arms to stare at the cover as they walked to the checkout line.  

On their walk, Steve started in on Will. 

“Did you make any friends?” 

“A couple,” Will said shyly. 

“Got any numbers?” he heckled.  

“I mean, yeah.” 

Steve raised his eyebrows in surprise. “Nice.” 

“Not like that! He was just helping me out. Said he could give me DM tips.” 

As much as the excuse held up, the way Will was fidgeting in place, refusing to look him in the eye was not just someone that wanted to get tips on a game. The realization didn’t take him long and it wasn’t much of a surprise. He’d heard rumors about Byers, heard the whispers about what he was. Something something glass houses now, amirite?  

“How old was he?” Steve asked in a nonchalant manner. 

Byers picked his eyes up off the floor to look at the older man surprised. “Si-Sixteen.” 

“That’s not too bad. Don’t wait too long to call. But don’t call tonight, that’s too soon. Don’t wanna come off as desperate. When he answers, be casual but genuine. Work in a compliment every once in a while, but don’t make it too obvious.” 

“Um... thanks?” 

“No problem.” 

Only two people checked out before the clear voice of Lucas rang throughout the store. 

“Steve! Steve! Will!” 

The panicked tone of voice put Harrington on edge immediately and he found himself looking around frantically to find the teen. Lucas finally ran close enough to them that he could call him over. Steve clutched his arm to keep him steady and asked what was happening. 

“These three guys were there from the team, Andy Morris and- and Chance Russel and someone else, I don’t even know. One had a bat and one had a hammer. They were waiting for Eddie. They knew he’d be there.” 

Steve’s stomach dropped. 

“Will, let’s go.” Will dropped his book on the nearest stand and all three broke into a sprint towards the exit. “Where’s Eddie now?” 

“He’s still there. I don’t know if they hurt him, I didn’t check.” Sinclair sounded regretful, as if it was his fault somehow. 

“You did the right thing,” Steve reassured him. “Where are the rest of the kids?” 

“Eddie gave us the keys, so we could leave. They’re in the van.” 

“Small miracles, I guess. We gotta get to the van.” 

“Why? Shouldn’t we go to Eddie?” Will asked, huffing loudly from the running. 

“Gotta even the odds a bit.” The second the door to the van opened, all the voices started clamoring over each other, trying to tell him what was going on. Steve scanned the kids’ faces and immediately noticed one person missing. “Max. Where is she?” 

All the kids stilled as they looked towards each other and noted her absence. “Shit. She isn’t here.” 

Steve hit the door in frustration. “Damn it! I’ll get her. I think I know where she went. All of you stay here! Yes, that means you too, El.”  

The possibilities of what could have happened to Max and Eddie were racing in his mind, creating vivid images that just spurred him to look faster. He let out a triumphant noise when he found the nail bat he had stuffed in the van “just in case.”  

“I can help,” El said. 

“I know. I don’t want you to.” This was just pesky assholes, and Steve could handle assholes just fine. El had been used for her powers too much. This, at least, was a battle the babysitter could handle alone. Even with her, somewhat limited, powers, the idea of putting her in danger was not gonna fly. Not to mention Hop would carve him up like a ham with all his new Russian torture techniques. 

“They’re on the left side of the parking lot. Go,” Lucas told him quickly.  

“Be ready. We might have to book it outta here.” 

Steve stalked over, ready to threaten some douchebags, but was met with the image of Max on the floor and a lump nearby that it took him a second to realize was Eddie. Harrington shook with rage. 

“What’s going on here,” he called out, stony and rough. 

“Steve.” Max scrambled to get up and tried to follow his voice, but couldn’t find him. Her eyes were tearing up when Steve got to her, grasping her arms. “They were hitting him, I’m sorry, I know I should’ve gone with everyone.” 

His hand was shaking as he cupped her face to get a good look at her busted lip. It was bright red with fresh blood and swollen. 

“Are you hurt anywhere else?” She shook her head no. “Do you know which one did that?” 

Max hesitated before whispering “…The one with the bat.” 

He didn’t respond anymore, too busy panting and planning what he was about to do to the group of dicks. He let her go and told her to stay put. 

“You touched my pup,” Steve said at the group with a cold, fake smile. 

“What the hell. Harrington?”  

“You need a bat to hit a blind girl?” He begun to stalk forward with a deathgrip on the handle of the bat.  

“This would be over if she had minded her damn business while we chatted with Munson here.” Andy didn’t sound as sure anymore. Good. 

“I will fucking bury you,” he said with a nod. “I’m going to put you so far into the ground, you’ll be shitting dirt until you’re 80. Do you have anything to say before then?” 

“Hey. Hold on, the kid was an accident. Our problem isn’t with her it’s with the Freak.” 

Steve took two long strides and aimed a good hit at the one with the bat first. He aimed straight for his head and was satisfied when he landed. Not taking any time to enjoy it, he turned immediately and hit the other asshole on the side. For the last one, Steve threw down his bat and punched him straight on the jaw, twice in quick succession. A loud crack announced that something broke, but he couldn't be sure if it was his own fist or the guy’s face. The blood was roaring in his ears so loud, he might have been near a plane taking off, and he wouldn’t have noticed. The way his heart was pounding against his ribs almost hurt, but the awful sting behind his nose was almost nice, grounding. It was filthy and base and about as close to rational thought as it felt he was capable at the moment. 

The three were on the floor at that point, so Steve went back to the one with the bat and stomped on the guy's stomach, then grabbed his arm and pulled. The sick crunch only spurred Harrinton on. He turned to the others who were recovering and grabbed the first one that was stupid enough to still come after him by the face; his fingernails dug into supple skin and scratched. The dude tried to clutch desperately at Steve’s sleeve, but the omega didn’t let him, and punctuated the action with a hard shove to the floor. The last guy grabbed him with a rough hand to his shoulder and Steve, feeling wild, turned his head and bit into the flesh, and pulled . He wasn’t sure how hard, but his mouth registered the metallic taste of blood. Distantly he heard the sound of someone screaming. The last guy fell onto his ass, clutching his hand. 

All three were down at that point and Steve wanted to keep going. He wanted to make sure they never hurt anyone again. They hurt Eddie, they hurt Max. They had no right. No right.  

Through the adrenaline and pounding in his head, he heard Max calling out to him. That got his attention. “-eve. Steve, it's okay. We’re safe. You can stop.” 

It took a moment to register. Why would he stop? Steve whined and swallowed hard, staring at the three, sluggishly moving forms. 

“Steve, please. We have to go. Eddie has to go.” 

The mention of Eddie made him snap his head back to the spot he’d last seen the metalhead.  

“Alpha.” 

“Eddie,” Max corrected.  

He shook his head harshly to help snap him out of the fugue state. “That’s what I said.”  

When Steve didn’t find him there, he scanned the surroundings and found Eddie was now sitting up against a car holding his arm with one hand and licking over a nasty cut on his lip. He rushed over to the other man and knelt down to see him closer. He looked awful. Not, basically dead in the upside down, but real fucking rough. He looked... well, like he got into a fight with three guys and lost bad. From the lack of marks on the guys before Steve got to them, Eddie hadn’t even tried to defend himself. 

“Shit. Eddie, are you okay? Fuck, that’s stupid, you're not okay.” 

“I am, it’s fine. Don’t worry about it. If it helps at all, it's all mine. The blood.” He was rambling and blinking in long intervals. 

“Don’t worry about it?? Man, you're covered in bruises and you have like half an eye total. God, why didn’t you fight? Are you insane? They were gonna kill you! They were actually going to-” 

“Stevie-” 

“No. You were ridiculous, you were stupid, you scared me to death, Eddie.” Steve tried but failed to stop the way his voice cracked by the end of his sentence.  

“I’ve had worse, remember? Besides, you clearly had it all handled,” he slurred.  

“It’s not funny.” 

“No, not funny. It was good. Hot. Like ‘marry me’ hot.” His eyes were slipping closed.  

Steve looked up jerkily. “He’s delirious. We gotta go. I think I can carry him, but it’s gonna hurt like hell. You ready? Hey, no, stay awake. You can’t fall asleep until we know you’re fine.” 

“I’m awake. Always ready for you, Stevie.” 

He worked to get the alpha up despite the loud groaning and shouts of pain. “Fucking, fuck me, fuck, fuck.” 

“Creative, Munson.”’ 

“This isn’t very sexy of you, sweetheart,” he groaned. “Can you go back to calling me Alpha?”  

“Shut up, Munson.” Another tug to get his arm up and over Steve’s shoulder.  

 He screamed again, “Fuck you! Can you hurry up, please?” 

“All done. I’ll try to carry most of your weight, but you gotta help me a little. Max, grab my shirt.” 

They walked as hurriedly as possible with only one out of three people able to navigate, but had to take breaks for Eddie to catch his breath and Steve to rest from the heavy weight bearing down on him. Once they got within earshot, Steve began calling out to the van.  

“Guys, open up!” 

The door slid open and Steve got them as close as he could. “Help me.” They all clamored over each other to help put Eddie on the floor and lead Max to her seat. It took a while to get him settled, but when he felt confident that the injured man was as safe as it got, Steve got into the driver seat and locked all the doors before exhaling loudly.  

All of the kids then yelled over each other. 

Steve could feel himself getting overwhelmed, not having any time to cool off after the nearly feral state he’d been in. He still felt like he needed to fight a threat. The urge to go back and rip them apart was very tempting. He probably couldn’t handle a coherent conversation if he had to, so he wasn’t able to explain to the kids why his shoulders were at his ears or why he had drying blood under his nails and especially not why he couldn’t get a clear sentence out. 

Eddie had become a bit more alert in the nosiness of the kids and seemed to notice Steve’s tension. He raised his voice and tried to keep his words clean, “HEY. Doofuses, let him breathe.” 

Loud protests rang out and voices layered on top of each other to make their own remarks and ask about what happened. As well intentioned as they might have been, it was all too much and the noise and commotion were giving him the headache of the century as well as the embarrassing urge to burst into tears.  

A loud growl filled the car suddenly, cutting through the overlapping voices. It was a dark sound, heavy with a threat. The kids instinctually stopped and Steve didn't blame them, Eddie never growled. He didn’t really believe in using his alpha-ness to intimidate or bully people into submission. But he did deem it acceptable to do it for Steve’s sake. And that shouldn't have been attractive.  

“Sorry, Mama.” 

Control it. Control it. Control it. That wasn’t hot. The growl was a warning. He himself felt his body tense and freeze at the sound. There wasn’t anything hot about it. It was not hot. Steve was not trying to stop a trickle of slick. Nope. 

“Thanks,” Steve said tightly.  

After a few shaky breaths, the omega turned on the car and begun to peel out of the parking lot, paying attention to the direction of the three dicks he’d left on the floor. One of them was still struggling to get up and the others were steadying themselves against their car. He looked in his rear view and peeked at the kids, trying to relieve his leftover aggression by reminding himself that they were fine.  

Truth be told, he did see them as his pups. He took care of them as best he could, scented them when they were in distress, and fussed over them at every opportunity. “No, you’re not too old to wear a jacket. It’s still 40 degrees right now.”  

And now someone hurt one of them. 

He drove for what felt like hours, but it couldn’t have been that long considering Hawkins was only an hour and a half away and they weren’t remotely close. He didn’t even know what to do next. His instinct was carrying him to taking everyone as far away from the threat as possible, but not really thinking in a linear, cause and effect kind of way. That much was clear when he slowly began to notice how far over the speed limit he was going, how deadly silent the car was, how there were smudged traces of blood on his arm where his sleeve was rolled up.  

“Steve…” Dustin was calling out his name cautiously, drawing the word a bit. He might have been too nervous to say anything after Munson’s outburst. 

“What is it, Henderson,” he snapped, maybe a little harsher than he meant it. 

“Um. Are you okay?” 

“Okay?” Wasn’t that the question of the hour? “I’m fine.” 

“I think you’re scaring them, sweetheart,” Eddie mumbled. It was the only sound in the car besides the hum of the engine though, so it was heard loud and clear. 

“What?”  

“You smell on the verge of a breakdown.” 

Oh .  

Now that he remembered everyone could smell his distress, it was all he could think about. He closed his eyes for a brief second. He was absolutely on the verge of a breakdown. He was probably smelling like the bitter adrenaline that he could still feel pumping through him. That still didn’t excuse letting the kids feel it.  

He contemplated for a second before pulling over. He took a deep breath to steady himself and removed his stiff hands from the steering wheel, immediately feeling them shaking and sore. He ran the trembling hands through his hair and pushed the heel of his palm into his eyes. 

“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean- I’ll calm down.” 

“We just want you to be okay,” Max said softly. 

“I know. I’m just- Still wired.” 

“Steve. Thank you. For what you did.” 

The vulnerability in her voice made his shoulders relax instantly. “Hey, of course. I’m always here. Babysitter for life, right? Are the rest of you okay?” 

Everyone in the car said some form of agreement. 

Steve went back into the van and put a hand on Dustin’s neck, scenting him with, hopefully something a bit calming. Once he was satisfied, he moved on to Max, who made a light face at the gesture, but allowed it regardless. El was a little confused but seemed happy to be included. The omega got to all the kids and looked down at Eddie who was breathing a bit funny and clearly in quite a bit of pain, but seemed less agitated, at least. He was looking with a passively affectionate expression that made Steve’s heart beat a little funny. The decision to include him in the scenting was made quickly.  

Eddie’s eyes widened when he realized Steve was moving a hand to him.  

He stuttered, “I’m good. I-” the immediate response was a whiny growl “Or no, yeah. I can do that too.” He took his uninjured hand and moved his hair back behind his shoulder and allowed the omega to do what he wanted. It wasn’t a wildly inappropriate action; it was just an indication of a deep closeness they’d never really acknowledged. Steve had scented Robin before, but they were basically one person at this point. Besides that, Nancy and he had broken up way before he had thought about taking off his scent patches. 

Eddie didn’t seem to get the memo that they had a lot of attention. He stared, hard. That intense eye contact he had sometimes that made everybody squirm after just a few seconds. Steve had to get past a bit of clothing to get to his neck, so he dipped his fingers under a layer of clothing. The pulse under his fingers got faster and he swore Eddie shivered, but that might have just been a wince of pain. The alpha looked straight at Steve with unyielding eyes and brought that same uninjured hand to cover the one on his neck. The action made him smile a bit, quirk his lips. It didn’t last very long, as Steve didn’t want to take advantage, but the warmth of the skin under and over his hand was tempting him to keep it there. 

A little calmer, he was able to think about next moves and explain what happened.  

“The assholes were waiting for Eddie; they got him pretty bad with a bat and hammer. They hit Max with a bat. I took care of them. That’s really all you need to know.”  

He could see that they all had a million questions, but this had taken long enough already, it was time to figure out next moves. Formulating a quick plan, he called out instructions. 

“Okay, first things first, we gotta get to a phone. Mike, I want you at the window, let me know if I miss something.” 

“Got it.” 

“Dustin, man the map. I wanna know where we are at all times. Once we find a payphone, we’ll be able to find a hospital.” 

Eddie interjected immediately. “Whoa, I don’t-” 

“Yes, you do,” Steve cut him off. 

“I think I’ve had enough of hospitals. I’m o-” 

“I swear to god, Munson if you say you're okay one more time I'm ripping off your knot and feeding it to you!” 

Eddie, wisely, chose to stay quiet. 

Steve wasn’t being insensitive to his obvious disdain for hospitals after his long stint in that stuffy Hawkins room, but it wasn’t his fault either that trouble seemed to attach itself to Eddie. The hammer was the most likely culprit of a broken bone or other more serious injury, so hospital it freaking was. 

“Got it, Henderson?” 

“Got it.” 

“Everyone else is on Eddie watch. If he tries to sleep, poke him. If breathes funny, say something. If he stops breathing, say something loudly . First, though, Eddie, I’m assuming you have a first aid kit? Where is it?” 

Still pouty, Munson responded. “I’d be stupid not to, now. That compartment over there.” 

Lucas got up and found it in a cabinet. It was the size of a lunchbox and stuffed full of bandages, rubbing alcohol, gauze, and basically anything they might need to fix someone up. Lucas combed through and took a few cotton balls, hydrogen peroxide, and a Band-Aid. Once he had what he needed, he handed the rest to Will and El. One hand spread open to hold the items, Lucas tended to Max, dabbing her with a cotton ball. She flinched, either from the sting of the fluid or the unexpected touch, it wasn’t clear.  

El and Will took the rest of the supplies and began to check over Eddie, gathering things they might need. 

Back in the driver’s seat, Steve sped off, a little less like a crazy person. The roads were eerily empty, meaning there was little light to show them the payphones, it being so late and all. They’d taken a few detours towards less obvious roads, but Dustin was able to keep track of their whereabouts. A couple miles down, Mike did point out a phone, to which Steve made a harsh stop on the side of the road. A few kids made a noise when the car jolted, but Steve was already taking a few coins from a cupholder and running out to it. 

Looking at the yellow pages, he flipped until finding a map, locating local hospitals, and went to the nearest one. Armed with the information on their next destination, it was time to get word back to Hawkins. Following his usual instinct, he called Robin.  

The phone rang three times before Robin spoke loudly into the phone. “Steve? Is everything okay? I thought you’d be back by now.” 

Steve sighed heavily. “We ran into some trouble.” 

“End of the world trouble?” she asked worriedly. “Because it’s not okay that you were the one worried about me and then you go and get yourself involved in something crazy, I will never forgive you. It’s stupid, honestly, it’s kind of rude-”  

“Robin, it wasn’t end of the world. Just normal douchebag trouble.” 

“Oh. Well, that’s good. I mean, it isn’t good. Normal douchebags are awful, they suck ass, but it is better than the alternative, which is some awful, demonic, thing occurring. And really, if it was some kind of freak upside down, Vecna/Henry/One thing you guys would be kind of lost without me and Nancy, even though you have El, which I guess is kind of all you need, but still. I feel like the plucky lesbian and the smarty pants with the guns are good additions, you know? Am I rambling?” 

“You are.” 

“Right. Is everyone alright?” 

Steve leaned on the side of the booth with one arm and felt his pulse slowing as the familiarity of Robin’s long-winded mini speeches and run-on sentences. 

“Max has a busted lip but she’s mostly okay, thank God. Eddie’s not looking too hot. He’s at least got some sprains and a nice black eye. Maybe something broken, I don’t know. He’s basically a giant bruise.” 

“What happened to the guy?” She was chewing on something that sounded crunchy, maybe chips? The sound was kind of loud into the receiver and made him wince a bit.  

“Three of them. They’re down for the count.” 

“Your doing?” 

“What do you think?” 

“Nice job. I can let Hopper know, he’s probably got some medical stuff. Unless he needs a hospital.” 

“We’re going to the hospital. It’s...” Steve looked down at the location he chose. “Indiana Urgent Care on 31 a few miles south of 465. He needs a couple stitches, I think. Can you let Ms. Byers and Hopper know? Code Yellow. Threat cleared. I don’t know how long it’ll be. They might want to come down and get everyone.” 

“Copy.” 

Hearing the click that indicated the end of the call, it was time to move. 

“Alright. New location set. Here’s where we’re going,” Harrington announced to Dustin as he got into his seat again and drove. 

Eddie got to prepare himself a little more this time for being helped up. Instead of just Steve jostling his whole body, multiple people were supporting his weight. It might not have necessarily hurt less, considering he still made a lot of loud groaning sounds, but it helped stop a lot of the squeezing and pulling.  

The hospital took one look at him and had him inside and ushered to a bed in 5 minutes. Take that, “I’m okay.” They were not all allowed back, so Steve made all of them triple promise they wouldn’t move more than 1 foot in any direction; would not leave, in fact, until they all promised.  

Many drugs, exams, and tests later, Eddie ended up with a dislocated shoulder, two sprains, and a Grade 1 concussion. Oh, and an old scar had been disturbed and reopened. It wasn’t as bad as the original injury- the asshole would've had to have been a feral demobat to have made the same damage- but it was still bleeding moderately and required three stitches.  

It took Joyce and Hopper an hour to get there. They were a bit panicked, but calmed down once they were able to see their kids unharmed. Steve met them in the waiting lobby, mid hug. He felt a bit uncomfortable in the way the parents greeted their kids so excitedly. It was almost foreign. Even that time that he got an ankle sprain at a game, he never got this kind of treatment from his parents. His mom huffed and puffed as she picked him up and listened to the doctor’s instructions. She didn’t help him with the crutches or getting inside the car, despite the fact he dropped them twice, and no “Are you okay?” was extended. His dad did ask when he was going to be able to play again, which he supposed was his detached way of asking when he’d be better. 

Hopper looked him over, eyes stopping on his knuckles, which, now that he thought about it were pretty sore, and walked over. His expression was as it always was, stoic and stiff, as he walked over. Steve steeled himself, ready to accept the rough talking-to he’d get about bringing the kids somewhere so far from Hawkins, letting them be in danger. He would deserve it, and it wouldn’t be the first time he got chewed out bad. He looked forward past Hop and at the wall, hoping it might help soften the scolding if he stood at attention. 

“I heard you didn’t let El help. She was pretty upset.” 

“Sorry, sir. I just-” 

Hopper cut him off, “I know why you didn’t. It was a good call. Thanks. You did good.” 

Steve furrowed his brow. It didn’t make sense. It didn’t feel like he did good. It felt like he got Eddie and Max hurt and then he lost it, nearly killing people. A glance up to meet his eyes only made him snap them back down as he realized the former chief was holding out a hand to him. Harrington stared at it like he’d never seen a hand before.  

“Gonna keep me hanging, Harrington?” 

Steve immediately brought his own hand up to grasp the one outstretched. It was firm, but not painful like his own father’s was. Not a control handshake, only an acknowledgement; the closest they could get to affection without it being weird. Steve found he couldn’t make sense of how that felt to him.  

The kids were all picked up and dropped back at home, giving Steve some time waiting for Eddie to wake up. Dustin made him promise to call him when he’d woken up.

“I swear to God, Steve if you don't call me-”

“I will call you. Go home , Henderson.”

The first hour, Steve looked over him, taking in the injuries that had finally settled. He was black and blue in some spots. Purple and green in the others. Even without the overwhelming blood, it was too similar to his journey out of the upside down and that made him nauseous more than once, each memory turning his stomach all over again. Still, he couldn’t help but find him interesting to observe. Eddie seemed to have either a permanent grin or a severe and intense look; Steve had never seen him look neutral. By hour 2, he decided he didn’t like it. Minutes after that realization, he promptly fell asleep.  

It took a couple more hours, but eventually, Eddie blinked blearily and made a halfhearted attempt to lift his head only to slam his head back down immediately and groan loudly. The sound jolted him awake again, on alert.  

“Oh, that hurts like a bitch.”  

“I imagine it does. Been there,” Steve responded around a yawn. He’d seen his own fair share of fun injuries- “head trauma bonanza” according to Robin. 

“Stevie. How long have I been out?” 

“’Bout four hours.” 

“Shit. I should go.” Go where, Steve had no idea. He was acting like he was late to some appointment. Well, whatever it was could wait until later. 

“Sure. Here’s a deal, if you can go from laying down to standing without cursing or screaming, I’ll sign you out right now.” 

The metalhead pursed his lips exaggeratedly and responded shortly. “Fine. How much longer do I have to stay? It smells so weird and sterile.” 

“Doctor said in the morning. It’s about 3am. Got a bit longer to go.” 

“What are you still doing here?” 

“Well, I wasn’t gonna leave you here without a way home.” He didn’t mention that he very well could have and simply returned later after he’d had a shower and a long nap. Especially after the insistence of the doctor and the nurse. 

“You could’ve called Wayne.” 

“I did. He’s working, so I told him I’d stay.” 

Munson looked petulant, being seemingly beat at a battle of wits. “What happened?” 

With no distractions, the two were able to debrief about the events of the last 8 hours. Eddie was reassured that the kids were fine and safely at home, including Max. Munson looked down and gestured at his hand, asking if he’d gotten it looked at. The question threw him off. He hadn’t even thought about it in hours. 

“It’s fine. Random nurse helped me bandage it up while I was waiting.” 

She was a cute blonde alpha with a high pony tail and a pink button shirt with a matching calf-length skirt. A year ago, he might’ve asked for her number; hell, a couple days ago, he would’ve considered asking her. Today though, he’d been cataloguing Eddie’s injuries and worrying about whether those guys would call the cops. He ended up at the conclusion that the boys would be too embarrassed by who’d beat them up that they’d keep it to themselves. She offered her number if he had any complications ( with some surface cuts? ) and he’d politely declined.  

“Good. Not broken? I remember hearing a distinct crunch?” 

“Not broken. Couldn’t have been me. Guess the guy’s going home with a fucked-up jaw.”  

The thought seemed to make the alpha smile contently. Steve could relate; it was a bit satisfying in retrospect. It didn’t last long, as only seconds later, Eddie’s face dropped abruptly. He tensed his jaw and avoided Steve’s eyes as he inhaled a big breath. 

“I’m sorry.”  

Steve was confused. “What for?” 

“I let Max get hurt. I’m sorry. I should've tried harder to get up and stop them. I didn’t think they’d hurt her, I swear. I know you didn’t want me to go with them alone and turns out you were right because I couldn’t keep them safe,” Munson said with a bitter chuckle. 

“Eddie,” Harrington cut in. 

He continued as if he hadn’t heard anything. “They could’ve gotten hurt and it would’ve been on me. If I hadn’t been there, they’d have left them alone.” 

“Eddie. Stop.” He was firmer this time; clipped.  

It might have been the tone, but he did stop, turning wide brown eyes towards him. He looked contrite with his head ducked and eyebrows drawn together. It was honestly kind of pitiful and tugged at Steve. It truly wasn’t his fault. The guys chose to do that. Chose to ambush them, chose to beat him up, chose to hit Max, of all people. And while they chose to be jackasses, Eddie decided to put himself in harm’s way for the kids. That was all the proof he needed that the alpha was someone to put faith in. 

“I trust you,” Harrington said.  

“You shouldn’t.” His smile was sad. A resigned thing, that spoke volumes about his own self-worth. That was a whole conversation on its own.  

“I trust you. Of course I do. Why wouldn’t I? I trust you with my life and I trust you with theirs.” 

It was as close to an admission of feelings that a Harrington got. Anyone close to him knew how rarely trust from him was earned, especially when it came to the kids. He wouldn’t say it to just anyone, but- not that Eddie knew it- he wasn’t just anyone. Somewhere along the line, he had become someone important to him, to the pack, and, if nothing else, he would make sure Munson knew it. 

“Really?” 

“After what happened with the upside down shit? You’re someone I know would do whatever it took to make sure they were okay. You made sure they all got out. You were going to let yourself get killed to keep them safe.” 

He didn’t deny it, but was hesitant to accept it. “Max.” 

“Max is a stubborn kid,” Steve sighed. “Brave as hell, but so stubborn, and I’m not surprised she wouldn’t do as she was told or that she got mouthy. I wonder who shows her stuff like that?”  

Eddie laughed lightly, understanding the obvious dig.  

“The rest got out without scratch,” he continued. 

“They didn’t get to see the badassery of their pack mom.”  

Quickly, the alpha was back to his cocksure ways with a teasing grin and easy attitude. It looked a little wonky with the swelling and probably stung, but was nice to see regardless. Whether the message actually stuck, he wasn’t sure, but he wanted out of the topic, so Steve took mercy on the obvious subject change and let him go on a tangent. The direction of the conversation made him sheepish though.  

“Shut up,” was his extremely witty retort. 

“Come on. You know you were awesome back there,” Eddie nudged.  

“Honestly, I don’t remember what I did.” 

He still felt a little embarrassed at the way he went off the deep end. Though he couldn’t remember the specifics, he knew he lost control something awful. They weren’t things from another dimension, they were just some teenage asshole alphas that could have done with a few good punches. 

“You beat the shit out of three guys. Broke a jaw, broke an arm, bit a chunk into a hand. They all would’ve worshipped you after that... I know I was-” Eddie cut himself off, seemingly not knowing how to end his sentence.   

“What? You gonna worship me?” he teased.

It was a joke.  

Eddie didn’t laugh though. His eyes snapped right up and the look he gave made Steve’s heart do something complicated. It was somehow even more intense than usual. He desperately wanted to look anywhere except those deep brown eyes, but couldn’t move his eyes away. Something about the look was dark; sharp and earnest, in a way. That awkwardness that covered their interactions when Steve was overly forward was stripped, replaced by a greedy kind of pull. 

Steve was pinned to the spot, actually tempted for a moment to move forward, but was interrupted by a nurse abruptly entering the room. Both of them jumped, startled by the sudden appearance of someone else. Harrington got up and tried to hide his discomfort at being caught, despite the fact they weren’t doing anything, let alone anything inappropriate.  

The nurse was stiff and kind of reluctant to do any of the examinations on her patient for a few seconds. To avoid the frustrated eyeroll, Steve went to the bathroom to let her do her job without hovering and was met with impressive image in the mirror. A flush down his neck made him groan with a wave of embarrassment.

Great. 

Chapter Text

It was all Eddie could do to not knock his head back and scream when Steve had asked if Eddie would worship him. Yes , was his immediate internal reply. Dear god, please? Eddie couldn’t help but stare at the way Steve’s irises blew, suddenly vividly aware of how close they were. The omega had brought his chair very close to the bed, wood nearly touching the white sheets and leant in even further leaving them with only a few inches of space between them. The temptingly short distance was teasing Eddie, challenging his control and sanity. He’d even been about halfway through imagining a good scenario in which said worshipping would happen when that nurse had shuffled in like she was bracing for something terrible.  

Eddie only got to enjoy the beautiful blush on the omega’s face for a few seconds before he’d all but fled the room. He wanted to beg him to stay and urge the nurse out, but she was just trying to do her job, so Eddie was able to rein it in and slump back into the bed. He grabbed some of his hair and begun to mess with it absently while waiting for the clean-cut young woman to do what she came to do. 

Now Steve-less, Eddie was fighting to not be prickly towards the nurse. He hated being in here. Not that that was her fault necessarily, but nothing was here to distract him from the song and dance he’d memorized at this point. He tried to slowly sit up a bit straighter but was met with the same aggressive pain in his head and abdomen from before. To take his vitals and check on him, the nurse- Emily, her name tag said- sat the bed up so he could sit up easier. She seemed to calm down once Steve had left and asked the alpha the routine questions. She urged him to lean forward, which hurt , and pressed the cold stethoscope on his back asking him to breathe. Eddie jumped a bit at the cold metal on his bare skin but regretted it immediately as it jostled his injuries in a way that made his eyes screw shut and teeth grind. 

Eddie had a few seconds of awkward silence where the sound of her pencil scribbling was the only interesting thing happening. The awkwardness of the stale silence ate away at Eddie as he waited for the nurse to finish her exam and get out already.   

A throat clear in a high-pitched smooth voice came from his side before a tentative question came, “Your mate?” 

Eddie scrunched his face, another ache, in response. Mate? Was she asking if he had one? Or where they were?  

She saw his confusion and clarified. “The guy that just left.”  

The alpha promptly choked on his spit. Three big hacks jostled his abdomen painfully but cleared his mind enough, so he was able to collect himself to answer, albeit a little raspily. 

“What?? No? No. Not- No.” Real eloquent there, Munson, he berated himself . No matter how flattering it was to be considered dear Stevie’s mate, they weren’t. Not even close. Not even in his wildest dreams. Well- his wildest dreams got pretty wild, so maybe there. But here in this mortal plane? No goddamn way. 

“Relax. I don’t care. Just being nosy to avoid crashing on the graveyard shift.”  

The fact that it could have been some sort of trap to get him to admit something hadn’t even occurred to him, but in hindsight probably should have been higher on his priority list. When he peered at her face, she looked focused on her task and not like a hateful shrew, so that was something. Still, while he hated to deprive her of her only possible juicy gossip for the night, there wasn’t anything to share on that front. So, with a tone that he refused to categorize as disappointed, he reiterated the same statement. 

“We’re not. No.” 

The nurse made a face, scrunching her thin eyebrows together. “Courting?” 

“What??? No!” 

She raised a skeptical eyebrow at his exclamation and Eddie tried his best earnest expression to convince her. They were just friends that bonded through the mutual trauma of a secret hell dimension and near-death experience. It wasn’t that hard.  

“Honestly. Just friends.” 

Instead of deflating and leaving it alone or apologizing for her mistake, she smirked . A slight sly grin took over her soft features. Eddie felt almost unnerved by the change in her face- the sudden assuredness threw him. 

“See, that’s where you’re wrong.” 

Munson stared at her for a moment unsure of how to answer. 

“I’m wrong?” Eddie asked slowly. 

“Yup,” she replied brightly. 

“Please enlighten me on how I am wrong on my own non-relationship with someone you don’t know.”  

Not to sound overly rude, but what, exactly could she possibly know about his and Steve’s lack of a relationship? She had known them for all of 15 seconds and had been standing awkwardly near the wall for all 15 of them. It wasn’t like they’d started a chess club together or made friendship bracelets by a toasty campfire where Steve whispered to her his secret feelings.  

“You were too busy being wheeled around, taking a grand tour of the facility- not that you knew it- to know what was going on. He was pacing a hole in the floor waiting for you. He refused to let me bandage his hand the first two times I asked. It was only after you were done and asleep that he finally let me patch it up.” 

“He’s a good friend that was worried about me.” Not that Eddie wasn’t flattered at all the attention, but Steve was just like that: stubborn, caring. Some might say they were his foremost qualities. 

The blonde hummed in way that let Eddie know she a) didn’t believe him and b) was not finished. Her face dropped a little once she got to change the bandages on his torso, probably less because of the recent injury and more from the litany of older scars. He could sympathize with the impulse, it wasn’t pretty, but he had to commend her professionalism as the facial twitch lasted a second at most before going back to her previous expression. 

“You know he refused to leave? We told him over and over to go home, that you wouldn’t wake up for a while. He said no. Almost fought a security guard, actually.” she muttered the last part a little. “We also asked if you had anyone to call. Know what he said?” 

“What?” 

“‘He has me.’”  

At that Eddie paused. The machine he was hooked up to beeped a little faster, but he couldn’t really process it. Couldn’t process anything past the fact that Harrington said that about him. He has me. What the hell?? What did that even mean? Has me like a friend? Has me like a pack mate? Has me like something else? 

“Like it was the most natural thing in the world. He wasn’t next of kin though, so we called your family member. He’s still working, so your friend here stayed. Said, ‘He shouldn’t wake up alone.’” 

The silence of that was suffocating. Eddie didn’t really know what to say to that one. Steve was once again showing Eddie more endearing and endlessly frustrating parts of his personality. Didn’t he know it was hard enough restraining himself without the noble shit? As much as he didn’t want it to, the words were sending a thundering feeling into his chest. It was a feeling too akin to hope, so much so that his injuries might as well have not been there. 

She continued, “Just letting you know, I wouldn’t do all that for just any friend.” 

As much as Eddie wanted to keep feeling that fluttery eagerness, once he heard that comment, the feeling changed to a softer, fonder one. For all that he wished for more from Steve, he knew that wasn’t how it worked. The omega had a heart so big that this didn’t put a dent into his capacity.  

“Steve would. He’d probably do that for his next-door neighbor.” 

The nurse huffed lightly and smiled. 

“I kinda thought so too. Struck me as that sort of guy.” Emily was finishing up with writing down her numbers and didn’t look up before continuing. “That’s why I asked him to call me if he ever needed a follow up.” 

“Oh.” 

Stupid. Of course she wanted a piece of that. Any sane person would. The idea of Harrington giving this girl all that charm that he was so good at, dazzling her with his smile, giving off a sweet scent, leaning into her space, it made Eddie’s blood boil. An irrational jealousy zipped through him instantly. And irrational it was, because he had no right to feel anything. Steve wasn’t his anything, the guy didn’t owe him shit. He was his own person, free to flirt and accept numbers and go on dates all he wanted. And yet, that didn’t stop him from having a surge of resentment. He resisted the urge to look up at her in irritation. Steve didn’t mention the interaction when he asked him about the hand.  

“Yeah... He barely looked at me. Said some bullshit excuse about his doctor being very reliable, ” she recounted amusingly giving Eddie a loaded look. 

Clearly Steve didn’t put on an Oscar worthy performance when trying to politely turn her down and she got the message to not to bark up that tree. That didn’t matter one bit to Eddie, though. He was too busy trying to stop himself from looking entirely too pleased at what he’d just heard. He allowed himself a small smile and no more, but smugness was exuding from his pores.  

“All of that’s without mentioning whatever weird thing I walked into.” 

Eddie prickled. “We were just-”  

The nurse cut him off. “Don’t wanna know. Just so you know, I could smell you from outside. I almost didn’t want to come in, in case I’d have to call security for indecent exposure.” 

“It wasn’t that bad!” Eddie argued hotly, ears getting warmer as he avoided eye contact and attempted to hide behind a wall of hair.  

“It really was. So, if I were you, I’d figure my shit out before someone scoops him up. The Levis with the hair and his scent?” 

Boy, did Eddie know what she was talking about. “I get it.” 

“You better.” 

Okay, this had reached a critical point. It was officially into freakout territory. After the hospital stay, Steve kept a bit of distance. He dropped him off with Wayne, made sure he had everything within reach, bounced in place anxiously for a few still moments, and noticed the look in Eddie’s eyes as he clearly was about to ask something. He promptly left.  

Everything seemed to crash over him at once. A million things he hadn’t dissected; glances, words, feelings all combined to make Steve more than overwhelmed. He wasn’t too proud to admit that he stayed under covers for 12 hours straight talking to himself like a crazy person. If there was one thing he learned from the nerd squad, it was that role playing was beneficial! 

His feelings had been on the back burner for a while, but being confronted by the instinctual needs of their violent encounter, it couldn’t be something he saw but didn’t notice. He had to think it. He had to face it, head on. He had to say it.  

“I have feelings for Eddie.”  

Despite being completely alone in his house, he groaned in embarrassment.  

He was queer for Eddie Munson.   

There was only one thing to do now. 

. 

“Hello?” 

“Are you alone?” Steve whispered into the receiver. 

“Hold on.” There was a sound of shuffling as Robin closed the door of her room and settled down. “Now I am. What’s up, loser?” 

What was up? What was up was that he had noticed Eddie’s teeth while he smiled and the way he tilted his head while smirking and that he wanted to pull back his hair with both hands to see his face with no obstruction. He had remembered through the haze of instinct the way he called Eddie alpha with a whine and scented him. 

“I’m freaking out,” he confessed. 

“Over what?” 

“Eddie.” 

The meaning dropped on Robin very quickly. She lowered her voice. “Oh. Are we talking-” 

“Yes,” Steve blurted, interrupting her. He spoke quickly. “Oh my god. What do I do? This is bad. He doesn’t want- I can’t have- Rob, am I queer now? Have I been faking my interest in girls this whole time? Do I have to say something? Do I have to tell him? Do I have to-”  

“Steve. Stop,” Robin cut in.  

He paused in his word vomit to listen. She seemed calm and collected which was actually helping keep Steve grounded despite the rambling. Thankfully, Robin was well versed in stream of consciousness sentences, so she followed his thinking perfectly well. 

“Is it the fact that he’s a guy or is it that he’s Eddie?” 

He didn’t have to think about it. “Both.” 

His friend took a heaving breath and seemed to think, leaving the phone to crackle for a few agonizingly long seconds.  

“Okay. First, let’s tackle the Eddie part. Nothing has to change.” 

“Really?” Steve asked dubiously. 

“Unless something happened, nothing happened. He’s still him and you’re still you and you understanding what you feel doesn’t change anything.” 

“It doesn’t...” 

“No.” she said kindly. “Unless you want to do something about this, nothing changes.” 

“Nothing changes,” he repeated. 

“As for the guy part, I know it feels huge, but you also haven’t changed. Not really. Unless you’ve grown to despise women and their many pleasant curves, your inclination towards the female persuasion remains intact. I mean come on, I saw you hit up a girl at the gas station last month with zero regard for moi who was in the car.” 

The omega had to give her that point. “But Eddie?” 

“Is one person. You don’t have to question who you are. Just take it as it comes. A label’s worth is equal to its usefulness to you. If it’s more trouble than it’s worth to think about what this makes you, then ignore that bitch.” 

“I can do that?” 

“Who’s going to tell you that you can’t? The queer police or something? ‘Sir, open up! You’ve been operating gay feelings without a license, I’m afraid we’ll have to take you downtown,’” Robin did a knocking sound with her tongue and put on a mocking deep voice to imitate a certain cop they were both familiar with. 

Steve let out a chortle at the mental image of Hopper breaking down his door asking for his gay identification card. And with that, his past 24 hours felt so much easier. Affection for his best friend bloomed in his chest. Even if she weren’t a lesbian, there wasn’t anyone else he would trust to talk about this with. Knowing that no matter what, he could count on Robin to bring him back was a comfort he didn’t know he could have; didn't know he was allowed to have.

“Have I told you recently that you’re awesome?” 

“It’s been over 36 hours. You’re overdue but I’ll forgive it this time because you’re having a crisis,” Buckley said with false seriousness. 

Steve huffed out a laugh in response and thought back suddenly to their conversation.  

“What if I want to do something about it?” he asked hesitantly. 

Robin sighed heavy. “Then we’re going to need food. A lot of food.” 

. 

“If I really think about it, I guess I did like to peek at guys in the locker room. I feel like most guys do that though, don’t they?” Steve was talking while chewing on a pizza slice- no pineapple, thank you very much. They sat down in his living room, on the floor. Pizza box open and a half-eaten burger on a plate, the two friends lazed, leaning against the couch, shoulder to shoulder. 

“Not that I’m an expert on boy's locker rooms, but I’m thinking no.” 

“Really?? Weird.”  

Steve felt like curiosity was natural for young men; wanting to see what others had going on and comparing seemed like something that everyone had to experience. Right? 

“There’s all sorts of things you figure out later that make sense in hindsight,” Robin said offhandedly. Her attention was on the four slices of pizza left, eyeing them like she was deciding if she could fit in one more in addition to the rest of her burger. She took one, folded it and nearly swallowed it in three bites. It would be a little disgusting if it were anyone else, but this honestly didn’t even break into top 10 of grossest things he’d seen her do, and he was still around, so it was fine.  

“Like why the hell I tolerated Tommy H and Carol for so damn long,” Steve remarked thoughtfully. 

“Ohhhh,” she exclaimed with large eyes. “See! Makes so much sense now.”  

.  

“So, can I ask what sparked the sudden clarity?” 

Steve sighed heavily. It wasn’t out of nowhere and it wasn’t like he was completely unaware of his feelings, but when you feel unprepared for something, your brain can do amazing mental backflips to avoid confronting issues. Besides, following the Vecna shit they’d gone through, it felt stupid to focus on his feelings when there were so many more things he could be doing; rebuilding, helping, storing tapes of everyone’s favorite songs, just in case. It all took precedence. 

“Once it was all over, I guess I couldn’t keep pretending it wasn’t there. The fight sorta pushed it all up. Like someone grabbed my face and made me stare at it. I went nuts, Robin, and the only reason I didn’t keep going was because Max reminded me about Eddie all covered in blood and I-” he cut himself off.

“That bad huh?” 

“It wasn’t. For me, I mean, I was all- y’know, insane. That was bad. But as you can see, I got off fine.” 

“A fact I can tell bothers you,” she said, nudging him with her shoulder. 

Steve shrugged off the comment. It did bother him a little. Robin knew that even without his confirmation. When they were down at Starcourt- being Russian punching bags- Steve had been black and blue, beat to hell, but this time, he came out with barely a scratch. It didn’t seem right. Didn’t seem fair.  

“You know, you wouldn’t be the you that I love if you hadn’t done what you did, but as someone that cares about your continued existence, the self-sacrificial shit has got to be one of your more annoying qualities. Be glad you got off with some bruises and not yet another concussion, because if you’d come back with one, I would have felt compelled to give you another one.” 

She did nothing to hide the concern in her tone, and Steve felt an appropriate amount of flattered by the backhanded compliments.  

“Thanks.”  

After discarding their trash and storing some leftovers, the two settled onto Steve’s bed, sprawled out comfortably with Robins head near Steve’s leg. They debriefed on the events of the previous days and Steve indulgently paused for his friend’s exclamations and overdramatic gasps but cut off her attempts to hedge in a teasing comment.  

“I know I didn’t imagine the hospital thing. I don’t know what to call it, but the way he looked at me was...” 

Steve didn’t know quite how to finish the thought in a way that he felt comfortable saying out loud, at least. Eddie had looked hungry, desperate, a look that seemed to push all of Steve’s buttons just right and it was confusing him to think what it could have meant. He couldn’t really ask outright without revealing sensitive information about himself in the process. 

“Ugh. Stop it you’ve got that Eddie smell again,” Robin groaned. She pushed at him with both hands, and leaned to the opposite side, putting as much space between them as possible. 

The omega rolled his eyes. “I do not have an Eddie smell.” 

 “Yeah, you do. It’s all warm and cinnamony.” 

“Whatever. The more important question is if he’s even...” 

“Oh yeah,” Robin said automatically.  

“You seem really sure about that.” 

“Steve. I know you’re new to this, but are you really going to tell me that you see Eddie dating a girl ?”  

He thought about it, trying to picture the metalhead with some pretty and preppy girl and mentally cringed. Even thinking about some nerdy girl didn’t make the idea any more plausible. It still made his stomach turn a bit to think about, though. Irrational jealousy from a girl that doesn’t even exist had to be a new one for Steve. 

“...okay. Fair.” 

“You know, if you’re really that freaked, you could just test the waters. Be kind of subtle. For you, at least. I know that’s not your scene; you always go balls to the wall, but if you’re freaked about the possibility that he’s not into you it might be good, because I’m so sure he’s up for it.” 

“Flirt with him? Seriously? That’s your big advice?”  

“Yes! Lay on a bit of that Harrington charm.” 

“And you think that’ll work?” Steve squinted at her. 

“Oh yeah. He’d fold. Like a pile of laundry.” 

Well, she didn’t impart any supreme wisdom on that front, and the irony and role-reversal of the situation wasn’t lost on him at all, but some gentle encouragement was always appreciated. 

“I totally get the Vicky thing now.” 

“My dear Dingus, you know I’m not the kind of person that says, ‘I told you so.’” 

“Yes, you are.” 

“I know,” Robin smiled.  

Steve had picked Eddie up and kept him hostage in his house, claiming he could keep him company and they could hang out for a while. All of which were true statements! He didn’t include the part where he wanted to keep watch on him and make sure that he was okay. He definitely didn’t mention the part where he was- un-creepily- watching him during his naps. It felt good to have him under his roof where he could fuss and be overly aware of how he was doing. Eddie had agreed with few objections and gathered his items: clothes, guitar, and a bag of music. 

Eddie had laid down on the couch, propping up a leg and was still, despite asking desperately for a beer, fully sober. Steve, in solidarity chose not to drink either. Munson did, however, smoke a few a day, claiming it helped to take the edge off, still giving a wide-eyed meaningful stare, hoping that he could persuade his friend to buy him something. Steve persisted that it was the pain meds he was on that made it a bad idea to drink, but, thankfully, didn’t make him put out his cigarettes.  

It having been a few days after The Fight, the bruises on Eddie’s face were getting less black and blue and more purple and green. He still said they hurt like a bitch. Steve was inclined to believe him considering he winced when he smiled too big. Despite liking his cassettes, Eddie brought some “special” vinyls- God knows what makes them so special, but Steve had agreed to let him play some music.     

Steve was passively listening while looking for a movie he swore he’d left on a table but had seemingly disappeared. Once the singing began, he noticed a familiar-sounding voice and remarked absently while flipping through his stack of movies, 

“Metallica?” 

Eddie, leisurely taking a puff replied, “Yeah.” 

Steve made a happy noise, glad to have made the correct assumption. The memory of setting the movie down on an upstairs table passed through his mind, and he rolled his eyes in annoyance at the almost-ten minutes he’d spent downstairs, stubbornly looking for the stupid tape. 

Three beats passed and Eddie promptly choked on his inhale.  

“Wait!” 

Harrington jumped at the loud exclaim and let out a yelp- that he would deny making- in surprise. 

When he turned to look back at Eddie and demand what the hell he was screaming for, he was met with the sight of the metalhead struggling to sit up from his spot on the couch. He started to step towards him, feeling the need to fuss and hiss at him to lay back down. 

“Hell yes, pretty boy! You noticed! Fade to Black by Metallica.” 

The term “pretty boy” rattled in his brain a bit, making him turn back quickly , determined to not be flustered by the terms of endearment , though his heartrate certainly picked up. The tremble in his hand was from...something else.  

Finding some confidence, he snarked back, still turned “Well, I don’t go deaf when we hang out.” 

“Careful, Harrington, I’m going to start thinking you like me.” 

“Oh, you figured me out. I’ve been studying this music day and night just for a chance to impress you. I was thinking you’d let me join your band,” Steve said mockingly, turning back towards the alpha who had, thankfully laid back down. 

Eddie played along and gasped, “I didn’t know you could play an instrument.”  

“How hard can it be?” he shrugged. 

“Careful there, Stevie.” 

“Come on, I could do it.” 

“I’m afraid this is your punishment for never being a band geek like Buckley,” Eddie said with a wince. 

“So, I’m being rejected,” Steve deadpanned. 

“You could be a roadie.” 

“Pretty sure that’s just a fancy term for muscle.” 

“You’ve got plenty of ‘em. You could handle it,” he remarked quickly with a cursory glance at his arms. 

“Pass. Sounds like a lot of work.”

“Maybe you could be the kept groupie. Town to town, nothing but the open road and endless hotels with our pet to keep us entertained,” Eddie leered. 

It was such a forward comment that Steve could practically feel the way the alpha was about to take it back. Though he didn’t like the idea of being passed around among Eddie’s friends, the thought of entertaining him, keeping him company in some dingy hotel, ring-clad hands gripping his thighs as Steve straddles him, sitting patiently on his knees and listening to him practice a guitar riff had him suppressing a shiver. 

Eager to stop him from back-pedaling, Steve made eye contact with Eddie and articulated clearly. “You wish I were that easy.” 

Eddie swallowed hard and gave a crooked smile. “The streets say ‘tis true.” 

“The streets doth lie. Gentlemen must earn mine favor,” the omega teased.   

The response came in an exaggerated groan and wide cocky grin. “Keep talking dirty to me, baby.” 

“Shut up, Munson.” 

.  

They were about thirty minutes into The Shining. Harrington had found the movie on his bedside stand. Since Eddie was propped on the main sofa, Steve had gotten a cushion and sat down on the floor near the head of the couch. It wasn’t that uncomfortable, and it was better than sitting on the recliner on the other side of the room. It was kind of nice having Eddie just behind him, a warm presence he could feel on his neck and lean against. There was a slight lull in the movement of the movie when the need to say something started to scratch at Steve. 

“You’re not really a traditional alpha, are you?” 

“Nope. Proud of it.” The vibration of Eddie’s speech fluttered against his head pleasantly. There didn’t seem to be a need to turn around and look at each other. Almost as if the soft haze of the moment would be interrupted by eye contact.  

“Thought you might be. I didn’t mean it as an insult. I wish I was able to flip off everybody with an opinion about me. It’s a skill.” 

“I never really got a choice. It was either be myself and learn to be okay with people calling me every name under the sun or be what they want me to be and hate myself. I made my choice, and I stand by it. People don’t like it, that’s not my problem.” 

That was one of the things that made liking Munson so easy. He never hid things about himself. Everything he was, put out on display for everyone to see, without a hint of a hidden agenda or deceit. There was never a need to predict or guess what he might do or say. Sure, he was shocking sometimes, often on purpose, but that was part of his predictability. It was like a challenge, ‘I dare you to say something.’ 

“Put everything out there and no one can blame you if they don’t like what they get,” he said softly. 

Eddie was quiet for a few seconds and Steve worried that he might have offended him, when a whispered voice cut through, 

“...yeah.” 

Steve smiled. “I like that.” 

The alpha cleared his throat roughly a couple of times. “Well, let’s not pretend that you’re what most people think about when they think omega.” 

It was clear that Eddie had become a bit uncomfortable talking about himself, so Steve gave him an out.  

“Well, I’m not a girl, that’s for sure.” 

“Besides that. Captain of the swim team. Basketball champ. Those guys from the team will never admit what happened because they’re too embarrassed that it was you that pummeled them into the ground.”  

“Not this again,” he said, head falling back dramatically. The movement gave him a view of Munson’s upside-down face, smirking at him.  

“You’ve done your fair share of flipping off everyone, is what I’m saying. A town like this. It can be hard.”  

“I didn’t have a choice before. My parents weren’t very cool with... anything, really. I did what I had to. Once I was passing as a beta, I had to act like one. I mean I liked the sports, but I didn’t have a choice.” 

Eddie looked at him questioningly. 

A bit mechanically, Steve told Eddie the context, that it was sort of an unstated rule in the Harrington household after Steve presented, that you do not mention it . Steve had learnt to just avoid any explicit reference to his designation: 

“I need the house next week,” Steve would mention over breakfast.  

“When should we be gone?” His mother asked without looking up from her breakfast.  

“Wednesday.”  

“We’ll be gone Tuesday afternoon,” His father said plainly while reading his paper.   

No fuss, no mentioning the words omega or, god forbid, heat.   

“Can you sign this paper for the doctor?”  

“You can sign it for me, I’m sure you’ve seen my signature.”  

He didn’t even want to know what the paper was referencing. It was a form approving birth control. 

The day his doctor finally approved his suppressants was the first and only exception.  

Steve quietly came into their study. “My doctor approved my suppressants. I can pick them up on Friday.”   

“Oh finally, that’s great dear! Here take this- how much is it?”   

“Fourteen dollars.”   

“Money well spent. Make sure you go straight to the pharmacy after school, so they don’t close on you for the weekend. How much will it suppress your smell? No heats? Will people still be able to smell you as an o- you know?”  

“No heats. With the scent patches, I should smell basically like a beta.”  

“Oh great! Right in time for high school. You can try out for basketball now.”  

Once Steve started taking them, his parents tried their best to act like before. If they couldn’t smell anything, it didn’t exist. The system worked pretty well. He didn’t exactly go advertising his designation, but he wasn’t especially secretive. Nancy discovered it rather quickly, no surprise. 

Then, the whole world went to shit.

After the “earthquake,” the Harringtons simply didn’t return. They had left on a business trip a month prior to some southern state- Mississippi? Kentucky? Steve lost track at that point. A 3- minute phone call a week after the incident told Steve they were leaving him the house, if he wanted it, but suggested he moved out of Hawkins and found somewhere else to live- they didn’t suggest he come to live with them, Steve noted. That was fine. He had family that didn’t include them. Hawkins was his home, as twisted as the town was, because it had his pack. 

“That’s so shitty,” Eddie said harshly after he was done. 

“Well, I got this house so, it’s not all bad.” 

He didn’t really know why he was defending his parents when he’s resented them to some degree since he was a kid, but he didn’t want Munson to think they were total assholes. They did a lot for him, and they were still his parents. Wherever they were. The omega leaned his head back again to peek at the other man and found him already looking, a warm look on his face. 

“And we got you, so I guess we gotta thank your parents a little. Just a bit. Not too much.” 

Steve huffed a laugh. “Naturally.” 

Eddie limped around for a while. For someone so prone to dramaticism, he didn’t milk the crutches for very long. He made some hilarious hot nurse joke to which Steve rolled his eyes hard, complained a couple times, and then just wanted to be done. Thankfully three weeks seemed to do the trick. Good thing too, because he was going stir crazy. 

A lot of it went back to his general twitchiness. Despite all his work on being less jumpy after the upside-down shit, that incident had made old habits resurface. The turning around every few paces, never relaxing. Thankfully, the hospital had given him the good stuff to help with the pain, so sleep was a total breeze. The nightmares still happened, but the heaviness of his body let him sleep anyway.  

His bandages had to be replaced a few times, which meant having to look at his mangled torso. Eddie had to admit though, his scars were pretty badass. An array of puckered skin and marbling that was more reminiscent to a good cut of beef underneath which there used to be a few tattoos that he had been rather fond of. The scars were not always comfortable to look at in their gnarly glory with all their memories and complicated tangles of emotions, but over the past months they had gotten better. Of course, those douches from the other day had fucked up his whole deal again. 

Then there was the Harrington Thing. Something seemed to change after that night in the hospital; shift; break. Every interaction they had was more charged and it was doing serious things for his self-control. One more innuendo might break him, honestly. He might do something stupid like break into song or do a tap dance or admit his mushy feelings. Well, he didn’t know how to tap dance, but he could learn. And what made it worse, was that Eddie wasn’t sure if it was his doing or Steve’s. It might have been just him wanting so hard and finally breaking after the events of the parking lot. Who could tell? 

It didn’t help that every couple days he would remember all the... stuff Steve did, and zone out big time. Like the scenting. It wasn’t anything particularly racy, but Eddie had felt his pulse take off at the brand new intimate action. Fingers so close to his scent glands they could have wrapped around his throat. He didn’t even care that the whole gaggle of kids were watching the entire exchange like it was a movie. Jesus Christ reborn could’ve been there smoking a joint and he wouldn’t have given him a single moment of attention, too busy looking at Steve’s irises still blown from adrenaline and eyelashes unfairly long and pretty. His inner monologue was entirely ‘Think pure thoughts. Think pure thoughts. Clouds. Clean linens. Pine cones. Steve’s fingers on my neck. Fuck-No. Cotton?’

He was trying to take nurse Emily’s advice and figure his shit out, but there was no easy way to just ask whether or not something was actually going on. So, Eddie was struggling. He’d think about Steve constantly. It was torturing him. And the worst part was that Harrington seemed to fucking know it. He would switch like Jekyll and Hyde- a normal casual interaction would shift, and Steve would look at Eddie like a piece of meat, like he was a cat toying with a mouse, enjoying it scurry around before it took a lazy swipe just to see it twitch uncontrollably once more. Then it was gone.  

Eddie was half convinced that he was imagining it sometimes, but the pull it had was so disorienting. He remembered seeing Harrington work his magic in high school and chuckling to himself when girls melted with just a cocky smile and one-liner. He always thought they were silly for falling for an asshole pretty boy. He now understood just how powerful that King Steve charm was and he felt an irrational need to apologize to girls that had no memory of his existence about the rude thoughts he had about them.  

This same thought was why he couldn’t rock the boat too much. Steve had a reputation as a ladies' man. Emphasis on ladies . He could flirt with a cardboard cutout; that didn’t mean he wanted to take it out on a date. So, no matter how many pretty smiles and come-hither eyes Eddie was sure that Steve threw out, he had to take it with a grain of salt. 

That was exactly what Eddie was complaining to Garth about after everyone else had left band practice. He was pacing while his friend was fiddling with his drumsticks, sitting on the ratty couch they’d brought into the garage. 

“I’m going to scream. I might combust actually.” 

“Ew,” Garth responded with an emphatic eyebrow scrunch. 

Dumbass . “I mean I’m gonna blow.” Eddie clarified by making an exploding motion with his hands. 

“Still ew.” His friend was still reading some nonexistent subtext in his words and Eddie had to frustratedly exclaim.  

“Catch on fire!! A fiery hell filled with demonic energy. Then explode into a bunch of tiny little Eddie Munson pieces, chunks on wall.”  

His friend’s expression cleared. “Oh. That’s okay then.”  

Though, now the idea was planted in his head, he couldn’t stop himself from thinking about a certain special scenario he’d been interrupted from before that had some busting. Lost in the thought he answered back to Gareth with a meaningful eyebrow raise. “Although.” 

“Nope. Weird again.” 

Eddie scoffed at his friend’s weak constitution. “I don’t know what to do. He started pulling nat 20s on every charisma check and I am thoroughly unable to resist.” 

“Are you supposed to?” 

“Yes! It’s one thing to be a freak and murder suspect in a tiny town full of assholes you couldn’t give less of a shit about, it’s another entirely to be shunned by people you like. I can deal with everyone calling me a cult leader, but for Steve to look at me like he-” Like he was uncomfortable, disgusted . The image of his friend staring at him like so many others had before, like he was someone different and therefore bad. It would probably kill him.  

“Nope. I can’t risk it.” 

Gareth looked up and shrugged questioningly at him, tilting his head. “Well then, what are you going to do?” 

What could he do? Can’t tell him. Can’t move out of state. Can’t stop looking at him. Only one thing to do.  

“Suffer?” 

The drummer squinted warily and drew out his words. “I guess...” 

“Not even a hint of sympathy??” Eddie threw out, a bit offended by the lack of support. He was struggling here! Instead of offering support and understanding, like “I’m sorry you’re having to deal with unrequited love, I’m here for you,” his little bitch of a friend sassed him. 

In a monotone voice he answered, “Oh no. You’re being slowly seduced. How awful. I would hate to be in your shoes.” 

“Yeah, yeah laugh it up. You’re not the one with permanent blue balls. I almost jacked it in the van the other day.” 

In a put upon voice, Gareth groaned “Man-” 

“FINE! I’m shutting up, since apparently this isn’t a safe place to share my feelings anymore!” 

“'Preciate it, man. Can we go get food now?” 

Eddie rolled his eyes and slumped. “Next time, I’m hitting up Jeff. This is the last time I’m coming to you for this. You’re shit at this.” 

“Again, I appreciate it man. I’m thinking Chinese.” 

Chapter Text

It had become a sort of game. Emboldened by the effects, Steve had switched from a 'one step forward and the same step back' approach to a 'let’s see how far until he breaks' method. It was a far more entertaining mindset. Honestly, it was 60-40 on if it was the right choice, but the odd twitching as if Eddie had touched a live wire was gratifying in a masochistic kind of way, so Steve kept at it. 

It didn’t even take much. When Eddie backed up from him, a simple, “where are you going?”  had the alpha stuttering. The first one rewarded Steve with a blush so pretty that he suddenly felt like an all-powerful being. That stuff about power going to your head was definitely true, because the need for more nearly made him dizzy. Every once in a while, it would worry Steve, that he’d been too forward, that he’d made him uncomfortable or that he’d damaged something in their friendship, but then Eddie kept showing up! He came by their work, he showed up to movie nights, he let Steve drop by DnD nights and brought kids over to be stupid at his house. 

Was he liking it? Was he just a really good friend dedicated to their friendship? Was he just in it for the rest of the pack? The questions swirled in Steve’s head until the next time Eddie showed up.  

Another Tuesday meant Eddie was sitting in Steve’s living room drinking a beer now that he had been, blessedly, cleared to do so. If Harrington had to listen to one more, ‘I beseech thee my lord!’ he was going to throw something at him.  

Steve was about three in, which was by no means enough to get him fully tipsy but was enough to loosen him up and give him that fun buzz under his skin. He was sitting with spread legs on the couch, resting the cold beer on his knee and resting his head on the back of the sofa. The condensation of the glass was leaving a wet ring on his jeans, but the thick material meant he couldn’t feel the water on his skin.  

Eddie put his beer down and fiddled with his guitar, practicing some riff Steve only recognized from the fact that he’d been playing it for the past 10 minutes. It wasn’t irritating though, the music was nice, at least now that Steve had closed his eyes so he stopped ogling Eddie’s deft fingers moving quickly and drawn eyebrows in concentration. He hadn’t noticed Harrington doing that, too focused on the task at hand, but that didn’t stop him from being embarrassed at his lack of control. 

Once he’d played it identically five times in a row, Eddie seemed satisfied and put his guitar down and grabbed at his bottle to drain the rest of its contents.  

“Oh!” he exclaimed suddenly. Steve snapped his head up. Munson got up and rooted in his bag for a minute and pulled out a small pouch out. “By the way, I did bring some dice...”  

“Eddie,” Steve groaned, letting his head fall back again. 

“No, no, it's okay. No pressure. It’ll be a super easy intro to DnD.” He rushed out the words an held up his hands in a placating fashion. 

Steve squinted critically at him. “Easy intro, my ass. I’ve seen you with the kids, you are brutal, I can't do that.” 

“They’re experienced DnD players, they can handle it. If I wasn’t harder on them, they wouldn’t want me as their DM. Come on, pretty boy.” Eddie stepped towards him, took a finger under Steve’s chin, and tilted his face up. He smirked a bit out of the side of his mouth took a step towards him. “I’ll take it nice and slow for you.” 

Steve buckled. “Okay.” 

It was embarrassing how quickly he gave in. It was like he was in a trance, caught in the lure of sweet brown eyes and light touch. He agreed suspiciously fast, actually. Jeez. He couldn’t stop himself from melting under the alpha’s hands and spoke too fast and agreed without even thinking. Apparently, all it took to make him cave was being called ‘pretty boy.’ He was pretty sure Eddie was being funny, but Steve wasn't laughing.

Eddie didn’t seem to notice his easy agreeability, though, considering he dropped the hand on his face and punched the air. “Okay?! Yes! You won’t regret it.” He bounced in place excitedly. “Let’s get you nerded up, Harrington!” 

So, the two got some paper and settled on the couch to give Steve a crash course in the game. He had to admit, he was expecting an incredibly boring explanation of rules; a twisting speech about the sanctity of the dice. Instead, Eddie started with a description of stories. 

“Any good book, good movie, play, anything, the devil is in the details. Everything happens in the material of a coat, the intensity of a look, the taste of blood in your mouth, the pain of longing for someone. That’s what role-playing games are about. Well, that and the magic and dragons and shit” 

Harrington smiled at the excitement he was exhibiting, eyes wide, big hand motions and all Steve could think was, ‘God, he looks so pretty.’ It wasn’t the first time he’d thought it, but it was true now just as strongly as ever. It was a pull that Steve was weak to, this passion and transparency.  

“So, it’s all just stories.” He tried to keep some of the fondness out of his tone. 

“Yeah. You get good at describing things- what you see, what you hear, what you feel- so you can share what you see in your mind, and everyone has a common image and goal. A story is as good as you make it.” 

Steve thought about that. He hadn’t been very good at English, not seeing much of a point on Shakespeare or George Orwell. He never joined Drama or anything like that, either. So, the story-telling aspect wouldn’t come that naturally, but he tried to keep an open mind. 

“Do I have to do voices?” Steve asked in a wobbly voice, half-joking. It was a valid concern. Steve sucked majorly at accents. He still couldn’t tell the difference between British and Australian, no matter how many times he watched Roger Moore as Bond. Eddie found that hilarious apparently and cackled at the hesitant question. 

“No,” he laughed. “You can if you want, I like doing them- adds ambiance and it helps them differentiate between all the NPCs- but you don’t. Just talk normally.” 

He agreed quickly and they went back to discussing the game. The two spoke about the classes, Eddie suggesting a fighter, pointing out he kind of already is one in real life. He said to start out, it would be easier to stick with a simpler character, just to understand how it works. That seemed fair to Steve, who was trying to give this a fair shot. So far, so good. Munson mentioned the term DM again offhandedly and Steve had to stop to ask. 

“DM what is that? I’ve heard it before.” 

“Dungeon Master.” 

“Sounds kinky,” Steve with an eyebrow raise. 

Eddie face broke out in a cocky grin. “It’s not not kinky.”  

Steve rolled his eyes but smiled anyway.  

He continued, “Just means I’m in charge of the game. I’m behind the scenes, I make up the general story, the trials the party has to go through, the general plot, and I keep them on track with the rules.” 

“So, you’re the babysitter,” Steve joked. 

The alpha made a face like he was deeply offended by the insinuation. He put his hand on his wounded heart and said emphatically, “Fuck off. More like I’m the story daddy.” 

“Yeah, right.” 

. 

“I can just make up whatever I want?” Steve asked incredulously. 

So, everyone made up their own character, the moves, shit, what did Eddie do again? 

“Yeah. Make up a person. Give ‘em a backstory and motivations and just roll with it.” The metalhead held back smirk with pursed lips at his own terrible joke. 

“Ha. Ha,” Steve deadpanned. 

“I’ll be here all week.” 

. 

In between talking about the different classes again, Eddie excused himself for a moment to grab his bag, digging through it before pulling a hair tie out. The meaning of it stumped Steve for a moment until its purpose became clear and promptly broke Steve’s brain.  

The alpha had taken the elastic and expertly grabbed his head of curly hair and drawn it back into a quick updo, a bun of some kind to keep his hair out of his face. Steve had been too focused on the fingers raking along his scalp, studying the shape of Eddie’s arms as he reached up to move his hair, and Jesus fucking Christ looking at the hollow of his throat unobstructed, to think about what he himself looked like or what he smelled like. It was too easy to see the exact place he could bite to make it stick, the spot he could suckle at to make that smoky scent bloom. It was already so much stronger than normal without a barrier, earthy petrichor and ozone, caught in a thunderstorm. The crackles of lightning were zinging down his arms, like he was made of wood, catching on fire. 

He was still mentally undressing him looking when Eddie lifted his chin and seemed to scent the air and Steve locked up. He shut down every thought and hoped to God that his scent would shift into something neutral quickly. He was probably pumping out what Robin called his 'Eddie scent.' Eager to bring the attention back to the game, Steve racked his brain to think about a question regarding the game. 

“Why-uh why do we... need dice if we’re just making a character?” 

Eddie shook his head a little and huffed a tiny breath, exhaling quickly through his nose and looked back at Steve, walking towards the couch.  

“Well, the dice will leave things up to chance. If everyone could decide whatever they wanted, everyone would be a cool, strong, intelligent halfling with zero flaws. This,” he shook the bag of dice, “makes it so that’s impossible. You will have flaws, my liege.” 

He could still feel the lingering edges of the fire in his gut at the sight of Eddie’s eyes without any hair in front of them, the expanse of pale flesh of his jaw and neck down to the clavicle.  

“Fine,” he pushed out. 

“You know, I could also see you as an elf,” he said while writing something down on the paper. 

“Why an elf?”  

On a blank sheet of paper, he copied the layout of the character sheet in his book, filling in the things they’d spoken about already and leaving ample room for the new information.  

“Elves are known for being graceful and beautiful but still fighters. They’re magic wielders, how awesome is that?” 

“Beautiful huh?” Steve couldn’t help but poke a bit at Eddie.  

He jerked his head up and stumbled over his words. “Yeah- I mean... Yeah,” His hand went up to his face and gestured. “The-the pointy ears.”  

Steve smiled widely and that former heat went from boiling to a simmer, lit now by affection rather than desire. 

“Alright. I’m sold. Elf it is.” 

Steve didn’t really remember what the modifiers were for his elf or, really his name, but the stray curl by Eddie’s temple haunted his dreams the whole night. 

Not a bad DnD intro. 

The following morning, Steve was half contemplating seeing if he could kick a hole in the dry wall and get away with it just for something to do. Nobody had come in for an hour. Not a soul. Not even a stray bird, because the door hadn’t opened in an hour to let in said bird. 

“Okay, Dingus. Spill,” Robin demanded.  

Steve was pretty sure that she was considering kicking a hole in his side as her form of entertainment, which was understandable, honestly. She re-organized the romance section just for something to do. 

“Spill what?” he asked while tossing a paper ball in the air and catching it. 

“Eddie.” 

Steve caught his ball and averted his eyes, not wanting to look at the knowing gaze. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.” 

“Yes, you do! I know I said flirt, but oh my god. Eddie acts like a spooked horse about 50% of the time he’s in here. Gimme.” She made a grabby motion with her hands. 

“Am I making him uncomfortable, do you think?” he asked nervously. 

“You’re making him something,” Buckley said with a side-glance and raised eyebrows. 

The problem was that he couldn’t tell if there was any progress or change. He was no surer about Munson’s feelings for him than before. Robin could say it all she liked, but the usual things he looked for in girls to know his advances were working weren’t there. At this point, could Steve’s intentions really be so unclear? Was he being let down easy by the purposeful tiptoeing?  

Steve had the impulse to pull the plug on this whole thing and just ask out the next girl that walked in and forget all of it. It was too dangerous anyway.  

Worst case scenario: Eddie finally told him to knock it off and Steve would stop. It would be disappointing, but not surprising. 

No, worst case was that Eddie wasn’t interested in men at all and would be put off and never speak to him again.  

Best case: Unsure. The endgame goal was.... in progress.  

“Can I just vent?” 

“That’s what I’m hoping for. Wait, are you gonna be all gross?”  

Steve shrugged. “Yes.” 

Robin groaned in annoyance but agreed. “Spare no details unless it’s...” She stopped to think about where to draw the boundary but had a hard time finding one and gave up. “Just tell me.” 

“He was over last night.” 

“Ooh,” the beta mocked. 

“He put his hair up and I could smell him better and I think I’ve picked the perfect spot on his neck for biting.” Steve was a little out of it while describing, mind replaying the image in too good quality. 

“Ohhh,” she said, making a face as if she wanted very badly to say ‘ew’ but still wanted the gossip. “So, it’s going well?” 

“I don’t know but he called me pretty boy, and I agreed to make a DnD character.” The omega looked at Robin a bit like he didn’t know how that happened. 

His friend proceeded to laugh hysterically. Real ugly snorting and wheezing. Her face started to get red, and Steve was kind of worried he’d have to do some kind of medical intervention. He skipped that day in health where they talked about the Heimlich, so she was shit out of luck in that department.  

“Oh my god,” she wheezed out. “I can’t believe that’s all it takes. If only Dustin knew. King Steve becomes King Nerd Steve when exposed to pet names.” 

“It’s not that funny!” 

That inspired a fresh bout of screaming laughter. 

He wasn’t pouting, but he did cross his arms and show a justifiable amount of petulance considering his best friend was laughing at his problems. 

When her laughs had trickled down, Steve kept going. “It was just the moment. I was caught off guard.” 

“You weren’t caught off guard when Emily invited you over and took off her shirt before you’d closed the door?” 

“That was Beth. And Beth didn’t call me pretty boy, tilt my head up, and say she’d ‘take it nice and slow’ for me.” 

That stomped out Robin’s leftover humor and she conceded with an impressed eyebrow raise and nod. “Damn, he’s good.” 

“I know,” Steve sighed. He was so fucked. 

Robin stayed at Steve’s that night and when it got too late to justify keeping their dry eyes open any longer, they crawled onto Steve’s abnormally large mattress and pulled up the soft blanket up.  

The clock on the bedside table read 3:36am when Robin woke to an insistent sound next to her. She blinked blearily into the darkness of the room, illuminated only by the red numbers on the clock, looking around to find the sound. As much as she wanted to keep the hazy sleepiness, by now, she could go from asleep to alert in seconds, and a sound near her sleeping body made her alert. She sat up and froze to strain her ears for the sound and was rewarded with the sound of Steve muttering what sounded like gibberish. He’d spoken in his sleep before, though it wasn’t ever anything intelligible, only babbling and nonsense words that didn’t make sense strung together in a sentence.  

Satisfied that nothing was amiss, she laid back down and relaxed her shoulders slowly to go back to sleep. Robin let herself listen to the rambling and wondered if maybe she could pick apart something that made sense. She could parse out some words like “house” and “wire” and “no.”  

Steve started to get a little more agitated, speaking a little louder and Robin contemplated waking him up since he was getting upset. His slurred speech started to sound familiar the further he went on. It wasn’t English, but a narrow vowel and harsher consonants that confused her more than clarified anything. She leant over him as he twitched lightly, jerking his neck and hands around. 

“No. No. Я ни на кого не работаю.”  

He was repeating it every few seconds and with enough insistence that it begun to freak her out. His pronunciation was rough, but she could make out the language easy enough. She had to wake him up. 

“Steve. Wake up. Steve!” A hand firmly grasped his shoulder and shook him to break him out of his trance. 

“Мне жаль. Мне жаль.” he said then, still persistently, repeating the phrase, louder now.  

“Steve!” 

The shaking and loud call of his name got Harrington to wake up, panting, sweat on his brow. His eyes were open but unseeing, too jarringly woken to be fully present yet. Robin gave him a second to adjust and then broke the silence. 

“Are you okay?” 

He jerked a bit and rubbed at his eyes. “Yeah. Sorry.” 

“Don’t be sorry.” As always, she didn’t do the tiptoeing around, so she asked immediately. “You were speaking in Russian. What did you say? When did you learn that?” 

He was a little shifty, but didn’t lie. “When do you think? I spent a good while with that dictionary.” 

“The Russian dictionary? I thought you threw that away.” 

“I still have it.” 

That was news to Robin. When he’d asked for it, she was all too happy to let him toss into the garbage and leave all that shit behind them, but she didn’t think he would actually keep it and learn some words and phrases.  

“What were you saying?” 

Steve stayed quiet and sighed. “I’m sorry for waking you up. You can go back to sleep. I’m gonna take a leak and then be back.” 

“Steve-” 

“I just need a minute,” he interrupted. His voice wasn’t harsh, but it was firm. She was still tired and clearly so was he, so she didn’t push it any farther. Sometimes a push too hard made things worse when it came to him. 

“Okay.” 

“Goodnight.” 

He got up, dipping the mattress as he moved and made to walk away. Robin felt wrong letting him go like this, like she was abandoning him despite him being the one to leave the room. She tried to let him know. Tried to say something so that he wouldn’t go wallow alone for hours, sit with this. 

“Remember I’m probably the only person that knows. That gets it. If you need to talk about it... I’m here.” 

“I’m fine.” 

“Okay,” she repeated into the darkness.  

His absence made the room feel somehow a tighter fit, like the walls closed in on her without her friend to help keep them from crushing her. Despite the odd night like this one, sleeping in Steve’s house always felt safe, like she was protected, like someone had her back even in her sleep.  

He returned with soft footfall on the carpeted room and pulled the blanket gingerly to not disturb her. He smelled damp as if he’d patted water all over his face. Robin was laying back, still. She realized too late that he had frozen to listen for her breathing, which she wasn’t doing as she was still feeling weird and thinking- an activity that clearly required a lack of oxygen. She was needing to talk. Steve let out a big sigh as he gave in. She would have smiled in victory if the subject had been less heavy.  

He murmured, as if the stillness of the room would crackle and break like glass with harsh words. ‘“I don’t work for anyone. I’m sorry.’” 

Robin felt her heart drop at the admission. She remembered the way they asked relentlessly who they worked for, determined to peg them as spies. She remembered the way Steve’s eye was swollen shut afterwards when they sat on the floor together in that bathroom. The crushing guilt that night when she looked at her unmarked face. The sick feeling once the drugs started to work through their systems.  

Steve didn’t move on. She couldn't blame him for it. It wasn’t something you forgot. But her dear Dingus had gotten the brunt of the pain, and it stuck with him. So much so that he studied Russian phrases in case they were ever captured again. In case he needed to beg for their lives again. He was ready. 

“Steve...” she croaked. 

“It’s fine.”  

She breathed out and closed her eyes tightly. “Not everything is fine. And that’s okay.” 

He was eerily still after that, and Robin almost thought he had fallen asleep.  

A crackly whisper came through. “I tried.” 

“I know.”  

If there was anyone who knew how hard Steve fought it was Robin. If there was anyone who knew how big his heart was and how far he’d go for people he loves, it was her. 

“I love you, Rob,” he sniffled. Robin stuck a hand out and felt around until she could grab his and squeeze tightly. 

“I know that too.” 

Yet again, most of the pack was congregating at Family Video. There was only one customer checking out with Robin. It was Mrs. MacAllister, an older lady that seemed eager to get out what with all the noise and suspicious characters i.e. Eddie. He was behaving himself though, so Munson wasn’t sure what the big deal was. He didn’t even have any big jewelry on! He looked like a decent member of society. Mostly.  

The brats were leaving soon, they’d promised to go see Max at her house, but Eddie wasn’t ready to leave quite yet. He’d yet to fill his quota of Steve staring and with no DnD session, no band practice, he had all day to linger.  

“Don’t be stupid,” Steve called out as the kids started to file out. 

“Come on, Steve. This is me you’re talking to,” Dustin said with a dismissive hand wave. 

“Yeah, that’s why I said it.” Henderson frowned. “Be careful.”  

Eddie giggled quietly at Dustin’s chewing out. 

He sighed all dramatic. “Yes, Mom.” 

Harrington made a mocking face at him and promptly kicked him out. “Get outta here.” 

Once all the kids had left, there was a much quieter ambiance about the store. Buckley allowed it for all of 30 blissful moments of silence before sighing loudly and exclaiming loudly,  

“Thank God. I thought your pups would never leave.” 

“They’re not that bad,” Steve defended weakly. They were sometimes that bad, but Eddie had to appreciate the effort to stick up for them. They weren’t always aware that they were being that bad, which sometimes made up for it. Today... eh. 

“You have to say that. You’re their mom.”  

“Shut up,” he countered. “Go hang out in the back. No one’s here.” 

“Rude,” Eddie piped up from his spot on the floor three feet away. 

“Like I said. No one.” 

The metalhead made a show of frowning dramatically at being dismissed. I'm not nobody, he grumbled under his breath. 

“Alright. Don’t break anything,” she warned.  

They answered simultaneously. “Will do.” “No promises.”  

She went to the break room, probably to take a nice nap. That sounded really good, actually. Eddie should take a nap later. A nap so good that it made him forget what year it was and left big imprints over his cheeks.  

“Can I ask what persuades a deviant such as yourself to grace our place of work?” Harrington inquired politely. 

“Well, there aren’t that many places that I can go without causing a public disturbance. No one seems to want to make eye-contact with an ex-serial-killer suspect! Weird! When did people get so prudish?” Steve chuckled. “That’s alright though, I can contemplate here.” 

“Contemplate?”  

“Can't a man contemplate in peace?” 

“What the hell could you be contemplating?” he asked incredulously.  

“I’m a man of mystery, my dear Harrington. I could be contemplating many important topics. World hunger. Instability in foreign countries. The state of the healthcare system.” 

Steve stared at him flatly and responded, “You’re planning a campaign to make them cry.” 

He pouted. “... it’s not fair if you guess.” 

Eddie took a paper out of his jacket pocket and stole a pen from the front counter with a smile. He sat behind the counter, filling in for Buckley’s spot since she wasn’t using it, the same one he’d been told not to sit in no less than 3 separate times. Steve huffed a little but didn’t make a big deal out of it, probably since he knew Eddie would do it again regardless and it wasn’t worth the effort. Besides, it wasn’t really hurting anyone. 

It wasn’t hard to recall the events of their previous session, and Eddie scribbled a few ideas he had. He would probably have enough time to prepare before the next session. Once everything was out on paper, he sat back and was bored again.  

A surreptitious look towards Steve nearly gave him a heart attack. The omega was leaning over the counter with his back to Eddie. The view was really- No. Bad. Bad Eddie. He looked away immediately and promised to himself that he wouldn’t look again out of respect for Steve, except he looked over not 5 seconds later and wanted to slam his head against the nearest door. Was that really how weak he was? Pathetic. One peek at Harrington ass in jeans, tight jeans, his mind helpfully supplied, and he was unable to control himself? He was already trying to recover from his close call at Harrington's house the other day. Maybe it was just close proximity but his smell was so strong that Eddie was going a little crazy. The kind of crazy that threatened the self-control he'd perfected. A similar crazy to the one he had right now.

Distraction needed. Clearly, he couldn’t be trusted to not look so long as the curve of Steve’s ass was out like that, in incredibly close proximity, so he’d need to get him to move.  

“Hey, can I ask you something?” 

Success. Harrington turned and leaned the other way on the counter, leaning elbows on the granite. He looked suspicious but intrigued for a second until his curiosity won out.  

“I guess.” 

Awesome, now Eddie had to think of a question.  

That moment when someone asks you your favorite book or song and you forget everything you’ve seen or heard, yeah that was happening to him. It didn’t help that when Steve looked at him all bossy, the only questions he could think of were not allowed to leave his brain. ‘Can I kiss you?’ ‘Would you turn around again?’ ‘If I were to stare at you long enough to memorize the exact distance of every mole, freckle, and mark on your face, would you be creeped out or deeply flattered? Be honest.’  

“The mom stuff. It doesn’t bother you, does it?” Ended up being the question he came up with after a few panicked seconds of thinking. This was one of those rare moments where his too-fast brain was going to pay off. About time it got him out of trouble instead of into it.  

Steve was a bit caught off guard. “It-” he cut himself off with a sigh. 

That was not the direction Eddie thought this was going to go. He thought it would be a funny thing, but this wasn’t an amused reaction. Everyone was so casual with it, it hadn’t really occurred to him that it might be causing the omega discomfort. 

“We can stop. I can stop,” he promised. 

Harrington smiled. “No, it’s okay. It’s not a big deal. I know you don’t mean it like that.” 

“What do you mean?"

“I know you guys are messing with me because I can be a lot. I’m overbearing. It’s fine, I can take it. Not a big deal.” Steve’s face was casual but there was something guarded about his expression. Forced casual. 

“Wait. You think we’re making fun of you? 

“Aren’t you?”

He didn’t look overly bothered. He was okay with thinking that everyone was playing some big joke at his expense, laughing at him to his face. It had to sting a bit, but he was okay with being the running gag, for some reason, and that didn’t sit right. 

“No.” Eddie shook his head. “I mean we poke fun at you sometimes because you tell them they need a jacket, but it’s true. And I don’t mean that as a bad thing. You look after them. You hold the pack together. You protect them because you, better than most, know that there is real danger out there for them. That’s not being a lot, that’s not overbearing, that’s real. The things they’ve seen, experienced, and you’ve been with them through it. They trust you. We all do.” 

Steve looked like he didn’t quite believe it. Like he was worried this was a trick. Eddie’s chest hurt a little at the fact that Steve didn’t believe he was as important as he was to the pack. Everyone trusted him, leaned on him for support, and that wasn’t nothing, especially with kids like Max, to whom trust did not come easily and help was vehemently rejected as a sign of weakness

He bit his lips and gave a wry smile. “I thought protecting was supposed to be the alpha’s job.” 

Munson scoffed. “I’m an alpha. So were the three douchebags that you pummeled into the ground for touching our pup. And all I did was lay on the ground bleeding. Mayhaps not my finest moment.” 

He’d had more heroic moments. Well, really just the one, but it was a pretty big one that nearly killed him, so it sort of counted for two normal ones. Three tiny ones at a stretch. Looking back at Steve, he was met with an odd expression. Twinkly intense eyes, scrutinizing. Suddenly, Munson felt a little on display, like he was being analyzed for something or being graded for something with no rubric. 

“Our,” Harrington said woodenly; stiff and hollow, like he was somewhere else. 

“Huh?” 

“You said ‘our’. ‘Our pups.’” 

Oh. That... would explain the piercing stare. Quite the Freudian slip. It was a tempting mental idea. One that took him down the avenue of being a bonded pair, having kids of their own. Detour. Detour. Steve was still staring like he was trying to piece together some complex puzzle and none of the pieces looked like the picture and adding that on to his wandering thoughts, Jesus, it shouldn’t be doing it for Eddie. It wasn’t a hot and sexy stare, but somehow it was? A naughty teacher kind of thing maybe. Not that any of his teachers had ever been anywhere in the realm of hot, and certainly not Steve Harrington giving him a once-over hot. 

Coughing, ears feeling warm, he stammered, “W-Well I mean I guess I have to take some credit for being their Yoda in matters of the nerd.” 

The omega’s stare didn’t change much as he simply hummed in response. That really shouldn’t be doing it for Eddie. 

“So, it doesn’t bother you?” he clarified, still feeling a little flustered. 

“It’s fine.” After that, Steve broke his stare, smiling a bit, a quiet, private thing. Not for public consumption. 

That was a relief. Obstacle: dodged. There was that improvisational skillset at work. Who said that DnD wasn’t good for anything? 

“Well, you know what this means,” Eddie asked with a coquettish voice. 

The omega squinted suspiciously.  

“...what.” 

He leaned in and whispered. “You’re a MILF....” 

“Oh my god! Asshole!”

Steve shoved him in the shoulder until his balance was threatened. Luckily, Steve knew his injuries had more or less healed over, so he had no qualms about being rough with him. Eddie just chuckled as he stumbled to the side but caught himself before falling.  

Chapter Text

Mayfield was a blunt person. She had a take no shit attitude that rubbed people the wrong way, an earnest form of cutting through the bullshit to expose the soft underbelly of things. It was something Eddie could relate to in a way. The way they weren’t necessarily trying to annoy people, but they also weren’t avoiding it. That method she had of dressing someone down was extremely entertaining when it was directed at someone deserving. 

Eddie liked to think he wasn’t very deserving of it on most days. Certainly not this one. 

And yet. 

“So, when are we going to address the fact that you called Steve ‘marry me hot?’” 

Steve nearly spit out the bit of water he’d been sipping on. Eddie froze. 

A heavy pause fell on them. The others were busy chatting away at something else, but these three had gone silent. It was 1pm, a few hours left of Harrington and Buckley’s shift, and they had a few kids plus Eddie hanging around. Eddie looked at a very cool spot on the counter. It had a funny lighter shade in a crescent shape. Perhaps a drink someone left that created a condensation ring of damage. How irresponsible of someone.  

“Hm?” Max prompted after a while of no response. 

“I don’t know- I don’t. What,” Steve stuttered.  

He was giving the impression that he didn’t recall that happening, which under other circumstances would have been a relief, but if Max remembered, then it happened. It was news to Eddie, who up until now was blissfully unaware of the potential blackmail material the kid had been sitting on.  

He was still avoiding looking at anyone. Maybe if he didn’t move and stayed quiet, they’d forget he was there. Like object permanence. Oh, like bears! Like a black bear. You play dead and they leave you alone. Or was it brown bears? Either way, a bunch of animals did that. Opossums, hognose snakes, lemon sharks. Solid defense strategy. If it worked for wild animals, it could work for Eddie. 

“I thought I said that in my head,” Eddie whispered to himself as he ran back the events of that night. He thought it might have been like most things he thought about at the time, a stream of random incoherent thoughts with sprinkles of exclamations of pain. He also thought about how strong Harrington’s teeth were and how strong his arms were and how fluidly he moved. He didn’t say any of those out loud. He thinks. 

“When are we gonna cut the song and dance?” The redhead sighed. 

“I have no clue what you are talking about, Max.” The omega was staring at the ceiling as if it held the answers to ending this very uncomfortable conversation. It didn’t help the situation when the person talking extra couldn't receive any visual cues and pleas to stop. Munson couldn’t give her a cut it out motion or mouth a, ‘stop it .’ 

“Eddie,” she said. 

“Max,” he responded flatly. 

“Steve.”  

“Mayfield,” Steve said sternly. 

She winced a bit at the tone and stopped for a minute. Eddie wasn’t stupid enough to think that she was done or had given up. Her goal was to embarrass them, it seemed like, or at least to make Steve deeply uncomfortable. Eddie had learned to grow out of most shame, at least, but this was betrayal!  

Her voice softened when she spoke to Steve and Munson had to stop himself from glaring at her in response. Weaponizing your remaining cuteness wasn’t fair.  

“We want you to be happy. And we want Eddie to be happy.  Don’t you want Eddie to be happy?” 

“I mean- yeah the guy should be happy,” he said confusedly. 

“And Eddie you want Steve to be happy?” she hinted, voice leading. A bit patronizing, to be honest, but fine.  

“Of course, I do,” Munson responded quickly. 

He sighed deeply. Twist the sword, why don’t you, you manipulative child. Anyone with eyes knew he did, but that was completely inconsequential to the conversation.  

“Then why don’t you admit that you’re hot for him and we can be done with the longing stares and obvious smells.” 

That was. That. Beyond the point. Like, so far beyond the point. Not only to out his very discreet, longing stares- which he liked to describe as yearning, thank you- but saying that his smells were obvious wasn’t cool. He had control over himself and his scents. He was pretty good at it. How would she know, anyway, her nose was still young, and she hadn’t even presented, so she didn’t know anything. He was thinking about a decent response to the accusation, when he remembered a very crucial piece of info that he’d glossed over. 

“You can’t even see any stares!” he exclaimed.  

She shrugged. “Don’t have to. They have an aura about them.” 

Okay, now he had some powerful aura-exuding staring? That was... a cool idea for a character, actually. Damn it.  

He didn’t have a whole lot to argue. She hadn’t technically said anything untrue, as much as he was loathe to admit it. The issue lied in the fact that Steve was here, looking at him, eyes brimming with questions. He didn’t even have to look to the side to know. He’d been avoiding the piercing gaze since this conversation started. Sure enough, when he looked up Steve was peering at him, probing. 

“Eddie?” 

Eddie was out for repairs. Eddie was having trouble focusing on how to get himself out of this mess because Eddie had let himself get trapped by Max and seduced by Harrington. And now there was only one way out of this mess.  

“I- I have to run.” 

“You-” Steve stopped mid sentence when he realized that Eddie had really meant run. He was out the door in the blink of an eye and Steve was left to think about how he might’ve done much better in Gym if he’d run the mile like that. 

“Bye. I guess,” Harrington intoned. He turned to Max. “What the hell was that?”  

“I swear you two are being annoying on purpose. I’m gonna complain to Dustin. You can stay here if you’re cool with never knowing how he feels. Have fun with that.”  

Steve thought about it and realized quickly that she was right. The slow approach was shit. It was grueling. Why did anyone do this? If there was a chance that Eddie felt the same, he had to find out. He didn’t have to do this tiptoe, he would confront Eddie and know once and for all if there was any point in putting stock into his words, or if they were simply empty flirting.

Slow and steady was never his game. He was kind of shit at it, apparently, considering Eddie had run out of the door instead of confronting this. Maybe Eddie would hate his bluntness, maybe he’d be super uncomfortable, but biting the bullet would be infinitely better than ruminating and wondering and feeling faintly sick every time they got close to anything only to have it stop. 

The uncertainty churned his stomach, but if he was going to do something, it had to be now.  

“No. You’re right. This stops now.” 

Steve took off his vest and yelled out to Robin. “I’ll be back.”  

He sprinted down the road. He could see the alpha slow down to a jog and hurried his pace until he caught him within earshot.  

“Eddie!” 

“Stevie. Fancy meeting you here!”  

Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. It wasn’t enough that he was going to be humiliated in the store, Steve came back for seconds! Great! 

Eddie was heaving big breaths from running down the street. It was an embarrassingly short distance, but he was dedicated to pretending it wasn’t burning his lungs as he spoke to Steve. He was unfairly composed and not at all winded from sprinting to catch up. If there was some formal complaint office to submit this to, Eddie would have done so. For now, he would settle for putting his hands on his sides to help with the burning sensation every time he wheezed. Maybe he had asthma. Or maybe he just hadn’t run anything close to a mile in so long, his lungs decided to move out of state. 

“I can’t do this anymore. You’re going to talk to me,” Steve demanded.  

“About what?” he asked as calmly as he could while bending at the waist with palms on his knees. He was hoping a totally chill, oblivious answer would pacify him. Possibly? God, when was the last time he ran, this was really embarrassing. 

“You- I can’t figure you out! One minute you’re flirting with me and the next you’re running like I’ve got the plague.”  

Like always, Munson’s mouth went off before his brain could proofread. “Did you know that we,” he breathed raggedly, “we didn’t completely eradicate the bubonic plague? There’s these underground societies that think-” 

“I don’t care about the societies, man,” Steve interrupted exasperatedly. 

“You’re making a mistake not taking the necessary precautions-” 

“Eddie,” he interrupted again. When he spoke again, he did it quietly “Be honest, should I take you seriously?” 

And still feeling the adrenaline, not taking a second to weigh his response, he answered quick as a flash. “Never.” 

He knew that was the wrong response, when Harrington’s face did a complicated series of expressions, none of which were relief or understanding. He looked upset, pissed, actually. His jaw clenched for a second, he raised his eyebrows and scrunched them, he ran his tongue across his bottom lip, and then finally dropped his face into a blank mask. Eddie internally winced. 

“Fine.” Harrington answered coldly.  

That wasn’t fair on anyone. It was unfair on Eddie to ask him to spill his guts, out himself as even more of a freak, and it was unfair on Steve for him to lie when he was asking for honesty. He didn’t ask it like some asshole waiting to get confirmation in order to justify cruelty. He was asking expecting an answer. Usually, people didn't ask a question they didn’t want the answer to. And they certainly didn’t chase someone down the street to do it. The other man started to nod and made to turn, and Eddie panicked. He didn’t him to leave like this. He wasn’t sure what the outcome would be from telling him, maybe a weird period of silence or slow distance over time, but he knew the outcome from leaving things like this was and he didn’t want that. 

“But I-” he stopped, squeezing his eyes to avoid chickening out, “I am into you.” 

When the alpha opened his eyes again, Steve looked shocked, as if he hadn’t expected the response. 

“Come on, Stevie. I’m not blind and I’m not stupid. I’d have to be an idiot not to notice you. I’d have to be blind, deaf, and whatever the word is for when you can’t smell.” 

“What?” Steve repeated himself and Eddie was a little confused too now.  

Harrington looked kind of lost. He even quirked his head to the side, looking like a cute puppy on a calendar. Some goldendoodle, with a pretty groomed coat that got its teeth brushed every night. He looked a little too confused, as if the whole idea of Eddie being queer as a three-dollar bill were some foreign concept. 

“Why are you acting so surprised? You have to have known this whole time. Or at least suspected. My clothes, hobbies, and general attitude aren’t the only reason I get called a freak. You know that, you’ve heard stuff. I get that you’re not into dudes though. And if you were, you wouldn’t be into me. Not like that. It’s fine. I wasn’t gonna say anything.” 

Steve stalled for a second and made a guilty face. “Well...” he said awkwardly before looking away and scratching his neck. 

Well. What the hell did ‘Well’ mean? 

“‘Well,’ what?” 

“I-” Steve started to say something but seemed to be at a loss for words as his jaw moved around inaudible syllables.  

His eyes flicked up and stared directly into Eddie’s then, and it took no time at all to recognize the look. It was the same look he knew he had when he was 15 and spoke to his uncle Wayne at 2 am, while they sat on his ugly green blanket that hadn’t been washed, about the thoughts he’d been having, bad and unwanted thoughts; the same one Will had about a month ago when he’d let something slip. It was scared. It was a wild animal willing to chew it’s leg off to get out of the bear trap. It was a desperate urge to run and not look back in fear of what would happen. 

“You-”

“We’re not talking about me! We’re talking about you.” Steve had found his voice again, though a bit croaky, and wanted to breeze right past the shocked accusation in Eddie’s stare. His brain was fizzling like he’d poured water over an outlet. Steve was... 

“But you’re-” 

“No, you said you- hold on.”  

He stepped forward to grab the metalhead’s arm and pull him back towards an alley until they were unlikely to be seen by people walking on the sidewalk. He peered over and seemed satisfied that they wouldn’t be seen or overheard from behind some closed store. It was a good call. Much more prudent than Eddie was capable of. He was still a bit stuck on ‘Well.’ 

“You said you were into me and that I shouldn’t be shocked. How the hell was I supposed to know? You didn’t say anything!” 

Blinking with some bewilderment, he spoke more softly than he intended, considering the hefty accusation being hurled at him. “You couldn’t tell?” 

That seemed to just agitate Steve. “Why should I have to notice anything?? You’re as subtle as an anvil. Your verbal filter is nonexistent. Why would this be any different?” 

“I couldn’t take that chance.” Munson started to gain some momentum and gestured with his hands. “What if you weren’t- or I offended you or something? Besides it’s not like everything else, you’re different.”  

“What is that supposed to mean!” 

Oh my god. Steve was just being stubborn at this point, stubborn and purposefully clueless. Didn’t he know that unlike every other random Joe, Eddie couldn’t stand to chase him away? That he’d rather sit with the urge to touch him and kiss him than speak without thinking and ruin everything? He lacked serious control over his mouth and provoked everything that moved basically on autopilot but that said it all, didn’t it? He was fighting every possible instinct just to stay close to Steve in any way he could. Even if it meant not having him the way he wanted.  

Eddie ran a hand over his face and brought it back up to pull and tug at his hair in agitation.  

“Look. Aren’t you the town bicycle?”

“Excuse me? The town bicycle?” He remarked incredulously. His shoulders bunched up like a cat hissing in agitation. “What does that make you?? The town penny-farthing?” 

“First of all, you can’t just say penny-farthing to me, you know the nerd shit turns me on. How do you even know what that is?!” he asked a bit hysterically.  

“So not the point right now.”  

“Right! The point is, I assumed you’d be able to tell when someone was interested in you. And if you liked me back, you’d do something about it. Not like you’re shy!” Eddie gestured emphatically at Steve. He was raising his voice now.

Steve Harrington was many things, but shy was not breaking the top 40 and to pretend the onus was completely on Munson of all people was not fair. If there was one person on the planet that he would trust to come on strong when he wanted someone it was Steve motherfucking Harrington.  

“I’ve been with girls. Just girls. How was I supposed to know when a guy was interested? All the signs would be different. At least, I think. I’ve never had a guy be interested in me!”  

Okay that was just stupid. “If you think no guy has ever been interested in you, you are the prettiest rock I’ve ever seen.” 

Even if he didn’t realize Eddie liked him, he had to know queer dudes existed. He had to assume that at least once, some guy saw him running around without a shirt in gym class and went home to crank his shit. He wasn’t naïve. 

Steve scrunched up his face and looked away for a moment, processing this idea that queer guys were out here in Hawkins thinking about him. 

He finally spoke again with a face too innocently perplexed to be fake, “...you think I’m pretty?” 

Eddie Munson scrubbed his face roughly, looked to the sky, and took a grounding breath. Exasperated was the only word for it. He felt like falling to his knees and praying or cursing to whoever was up there. Dear God, help me.  

He yelled at the clouds, “What did I do? Do I really deserve this? I know I sell drugs, and I provoke people, and I dress like the poster boy for the church of Satan, but I don’t think any of those are crimes that should condemn me to this. It’s not fair. I thought the deal was apples!” 

“Eddie!” Steve called out to him, like he’d been trying to get his attention already. He was absolutely baffled by his tirade but gestured at him, trying to get him to explain further. Okay, no way around it anymore. Coming clean time. 

Eddie looked down at the omega again and spoke evenly, “I’ve wanted to jump your bones for months.” 

“Oh,” Steve squeaked.  

“Not only that, but I have also wanted to say something for months. It is killing me. I can’t be sane around you. You smell like a dream. I want to stick my face directly onto your neck and Velcro it there. I am sure my will is titanium at this point and the fact my eyes stayed in their sockets when you were beating up those asshats was a small miracle.” 

Steve stared at him like he was insane. “You are being ridiculous.”  
"No, you are ridiculous!” he shot back and crossed his arms defensively. “Walking around like an All-American boy when you’re actually a badass monster hunter and douchebag eliminator. That should be illegal!” 

“You’re one to talk,” Steve shot back. “I have never stuttered or tripped up or gotten nervous around a girl. I always know what to say and do, and then here you are with your stupid lines and dork shit and I-”  

“You what?” Eddie cut him off curiously.  

“I’ve never thought about a guy like this. I didn’t know I could. I don’t know what that means or what it makes me. I just know that I like you. A lot. The way you are with the kids, the fact that you’re willing to take a bullet for us, your scent when you’re excited about a campaign and rambling about nerd stuff that I don’t understand at all. I am so into you. I don’t know how to act or hide or what to say anymore. I feel like I’m constantly fumbling, and the worst part is I don’t even think you know what you’re doing to me.”  

Eddie could only blink quickly. He stood in silence for a long while, unsure what to say to that. His hands felt really sweaty along with his neck. It felt like summer despite it being a crisp 45 degrees. He wiped his hands on his jeans. Steve was a bit flustered, ears red and hands going between cupping his face and grabbing his beltloops.

“So, you-”

“Yeah,” Steve interrupted. 

“Cool. Cool. Cool.” he said quickly, nodding and processing the information that, somehow, Harrington, as in Steve comma The, had gay little feelings for him.

“Say again?” 

He pursed his lips then quirked his lips a bit. “I have feelings for you, Eddie.” 

“I see. I see,” he repeated. “Are you sure?” 

“Mhm.” he hummed, blinking lazily and nodding.  

Yeah, it really wasn’t sticking. The information was like water droplets slipping right off a plastic tarp. Nothing absorbing, just a clean swipe away; beading up and repelling immediately. Suddenly, Eddie felt like he’d run a mile again as he heaved breaths and felt the need to ask disbelievingly yet again.  

“Really?” 

“Eddie.” Steve was now smiling a big grin, giggling lightly at his hesitance. It was a sight so beautiful that even inhaling with all his strength, he felt like his lungs were empty. He looked gorgeous, radiant and pink-cheeked.  

Here they were. Both of them confirming that they had felt the same way about each other for quite a while apparently. The only question was,  

“Well, now what?” 

Steve made a show of thinking very hard before throwing out a casual, “You could come a little closer.” 

There went the palm sweat again. This was entirely uncharted territory and Eddie had no map, no compass, not even a fucking doodle on a piece of paper. He wasn’t very experienced in this area. Penny-farthing had been right on the money; nobody was lining up around the block to ride him. The most he’d gotten were a couple of mediocre kisses from some girls before he realized they weren’t his speed. 

“Are you sure?” Eddie asked.  

“Yeah, man. I’m pretty sure.”  

“I’ve never really...” he trailed off, letting Steve fill in the gaps of all the shit he hadn’t done. It was pretty much everything, so it didn’t require a lot of imagination. He hadn’t ever been around someone he enjoyed being with so much. Someone that tugged at his core and made him feel a deranged kind of pitiful.

Steve smiled coyly. “You’re in good hands. I don’t bite... unless you ask nicely.” 

Eddie scratched at his neck and dipped his head nervously. His thoughts of how Steve’s teeth might feel, biting him all over, making him squirm and ask nicely- beg- made him panic. Thankfully the omega couldn’t read minds, because this shit was not kosher.  

He took some tentative steps forward, more of a shuffle, giving Harrington time to change his mind or call it a prank or... something!  

“Can I...” Once he was close enough, he took a deep breath and enjoyed the smell that made him nearly dizzy, much closer than usual. “Holy shit.” 

It was disorienting how strong the smell was. The sandalwood was muted, taken over by something warm and cozy that he’d never smelled so strongly on him before. It was joy and relief. He made no move to dampen his smell and thank God for that, because Eddie didn’t want him to. Ever. 

Steve smirked then, a twisted pleasure at knowing he was free to tease and tilted his head sideways to allow for more scent, a silent invitation for Eddie to get a closer smell. It was brazen, a clear declaration of intent, much clearer than anything he could ever hope to articulate, and a satisfaction settled in his chest when the alpha’s eyes dilated at the motion. He tracked every twitch like the omega was some sort of prey animal and it made Steve nearly groan. 

“Come on, big boy. You know you want to.” He almost didn’t recognize his voice in its gravel and beckoning lilt. 

Eddie whimpered pathetically at the demand and Steve shivered at the sound. 

Slowly he brought his face forward until it was buried in his neck. The omega shivered again as the feeling of bare skin along his sensitive neck felt too good. A soft and tender drag of his nose along the curve of his neck, the tickle of hair falling on him, a hint of what he knew were lips touching a tendon. 

His eyes started to roll, and his body was becoming more pliant with every second that passed of Eddie obsessively burying his whole face into his skin. He pressed more and more forcefully as time went on, as if he could imprint Steve’s smell into his nose forever and the phrase ‘velcro it there,’ suddenly made sense.

One second, he’d been sniffing deeply, the next, the smelling became a soft kiss that had Steve gasping. He threaded his fingers into the long hair he could feel, but not see, given his eyes had slipped closed ages ago. Taking that as a good sign, Eddie gave another longer kiss, parting his lips a hair. The kisses came faster then, open mouthed, pressing, dragging, pulling, until a chunk of Steve's neck was living inside Eddie’s mouth.  

The first track of tongue made Steve’s legs go weak. He gasped brokenly and pulled the hair in his hands with some force and two hands gripped his waist a little harder. There was a desperate sound that he was equally sure was his versus Eddie’s. At that point, Steve was sure there was a big bruise forming from the light suckling had been achieving. They had managed to create a desperate bubble of warm contentment, a feedback loop of pleasure and scandalous, fuzzy touch. Soft stifled pet names were falling out of Munson’s mouth in between movements. The next long lick pulled a shocked moan and made Steve’s eyes fly open in surprise. Steve squeezed Eddie’s upper arm to get his attention.  

“Eddie.” 

“Hm,” was his answer as he continued on his journey to devour Steve’s neck and abuse his scent glands. He was tempted to let him keep going, but there was a mounting urgency. The omega impatiently tapped on his upper arm until Munson pulled back to look at him with half-lidded eyes, practically black. 

“Can you- I want. Kiss me. Please.” 

Without waiting a second longer, Eddie dove in, clearly still feeling the haze of concentrated scent, and oh dear god.   

It was desperate and needy. Open mouthed, messy, and so good. It was lacking finesse, technique, but when the tongue first swiped his bottom lip, Steve was sure it was the best first kiss he'd ever had. The alpha had backwards walked them so he could push Steve against the red brick. He'd taken a hand and covered the back of his head before shoving him back, protecting his head from the impact. The movement was forceful, but the act so gentle and caring that Steve was melting again, making a wounded noise and kissing back harder.  

Was it a little backward to have his scent gland bruised before getting to kiss Eddie? Perhaps. But if he had to do it again, he wouldn't have changed a thing for the simple fact that the nipping of his lips combined with the hand snaking up his arm to his nape was so fucking perfect.  

Eddie did a minuscule rocking of his hips and Steve was keening directly into his mouth. “Fuck, yes,” he bit out.  

The alpha seemed to appreciate the sound because he pulled his lips back into a snarl and went back to his neck to wrap his lips around his scent gland. The suckling sensation was obscene; it pulled even more breathy sounds out of him and urged him to cant his hips again to lean into the delicious feeling of Eddie bucking into him again. 

Steve panted hotly, aching, desperate for more, one hand on the brick and one on Munson’s neck. He raked blunt nails onto his skin, surely leaving pink welts, but the alpha showed zero signs of being in pain or discomfort. On the contrary, he looked pleased as punch to be dragging his nose to smell him and leave a long lick, jaw to clavicle. He was past words, long since abandoning the soft murmured ‘sweetheart’ and ‘so good.’ 

The concept of time was lost on Steve as he couldn’t bring himself to protest, only let the other man do as he pleased. It was then that Eddie brought a knee between his legs and Steve gave an involuntary movement, grinding hips, and oh , that was so much better. He moved Eddie’s jaw back to him and kissed him, all teeth and tongue, uncaring about how much of a mess he made all the while making tiny movements against the leg. Just a little bit of friction. Not enough. Not yet.  

For a moment, Steve pulled back and broke the frenzy long enough to come back to himself and gain some faculties. He took it in quick, his shirt catching on the tiny grooves of the brick, Munson’s ring-clad fingers wrapped around his waist with an iron-grip, and most importantly, the fact that they were still behind a fucking building. 

“Fuck, Eddie we have to stop. We can’t do this here,” he gasped out.  

“Mhm.” Eddie growled softly and sucked again on his neck, cutting off protests. Oh, that was a nice spot he’d found, just on the edge of his scent gland. Teasing enough to be enticing, close enough to be filthy. 

“Alpha? Will you look at me?” he called out with a sweet breathy sound. 

Big gorgeous warm eyes met his, wide and eager, syrupy and so obedient. Steve brought a hand to cup his face and rub a thumb on his cheek. The switch from wild and out of control to desperately earnest was dizzying and there went that power trip again. No one but Steve got to see him like this, compliant and docile. No one was able to stop his constant stream of consciousness, reduce him to an inarticulate whining mess. I’ll give you something better to do with that mouth.  

“We’re going to have to stop.” He was trying to be sweet but firm.  

The alpha was lost in his head, he made a face of confusion, observing Steve’s eyes as if he couldn’t understand why they’d need to stop. He then rocked his knee harshly and Steve’s brain was leaking out of his ears. Steve was pulled taut, wound tight, close to snapping. His hand on Eddie’s neck closed, squeezing in response. This was base instinct, dirty, irresistible. He could not have stopped the trickle of slick if he wanted to. The same wide eyes were staring at him, burning into him, ready to please. The only movement was his nostrils flaring, smelling his arousal.  

As good as it felt, this hot pleasure, he couldn’t clench his eyes closed and stop looking at the sliver of brown in his alpha’s eyes. Keeping eye contact, Steve’s hips fully rolled once, slowly, testing the waters. There was that traction he was looking for, that kind of indulgence that sent sparks up his body and added to the aching strain against his zipper. 

Against every rational part of his brain knowing they were in public, the only thing the omega could say was,  

“Again.” 

That command Eddie could follow. He dutifully rocked his knee with more force and Steve let out a stuttered moan that fully crossed the border into lewd. His whole body felt on fire, scorching under the careful watching of Eddie. He was aware that he had been too loud, at least, and brought a hand up to muffle his crying out, only to have it snatched away and placed against the stone behind them. The meaning was crystal clear: I want to hear . Steve did his best to bite his lips and stop some of the sound while he rolled his hips again. 

A hand wandered down from his waist to his ass and while Steve was waiting for his treacherous body to stop it's involuntary movements, the hand used its leverage to push the omega's hips further into him. It left barely any space to move, but every twitch and jerk gave them both flares of heat. Every hushed moan added to the frantic pace and frenzied touch. Steve rested his head against Eddie's and forced his body to still.

When the heat of the movement started to die down, Harrington swallowed and took the opportunity of clarity to try again.  

“Fuck, no we can’t do this here.” 

Eddie was still confused, so Steve gave him a harsher look and grabbed his face with his unbound hand, fingers denting his skin and articulated carefully. 

“Focus. Look at where we are.” 

That seemed to break him out of his focus. Munson blinked a lot and looked around then back at Steve. 

“Shit,” he said.  

“Yeah.” 

Eddie groaned loudly and stepped back with some difficulty, sadly removing the weight of his body from where it had been, pressed very tightly, trapping him between the wall and warm flesh.  

Steve tipped his head back to the brick and breathed deeply to regain some sense then heard another frantic whine and felt lips against his neck again. 

He moaned outright at the unexpected warm sensation. Munson had quickly learned the spots that made him make the most noise and zeroed in on them. A tongue flattened against his pulse, a bite on his tendon, a harsh suction under his jaw, and an obsessive attention to his gland.  

“Fuck. That was your fault,” Eddie panted out between kisses.  

“What- fuck - what did I do?” 

“You just showed me your neck like that. What did you think I’d do?”  

“Can’t control yourself?” he mocked, though it was brittle in tone, airy and weak. 

“Around you? No.” 

Steve laughed smugly until Eddie bit, hard, dangerously close to the spot he shouldn’t, and the teasing sound turned into another low moan. He was still able to slap an insistent hand against the alpha's shoulder.

“Shit. No. No. We can’t keep doing this. Someone is gonna see.” 

Eddie made a frustrated sound against his skin. “Yes. Yes. Okay.”  

They both stepped back from each other, one, two, three steps each. With a further view, Steve was struck with a very pretty picture. Eddie was flushed everywhere, lips shiny and swollen, irises blown as wide as possible, hair disheveled, and a very noticeable strain in his already-tight jeans. He looked sinful. Vulgar.  

It was like they were being pushed together or pulled, a thin thread, woven from metal: strong, invisible, inevitable. They didn’t need to say anything, only look and move. Before they knew it, Steve had taken his turn kissing Eddie’s neck. And if Eddie had been pleased taking in Steve, he was destroyed with this touch.  

“Jesus,” Eddie hissed.  

“Just Steve is alright.”  

He whimpered loudly and took in stuttered breaths. It was almost like he was crying. He was coming undone and Steve wanted more. More of that stormy scent. More of the salty taste of his skin. More skin. Taken over by an urge, he grabbed a fistful of hair, scooping up as much as he could and pulling it back to reveal even more of the pale expanse of flesh. Eddie might have made a broken sound, but he bared as much of his neck as he could, let himself be led. 

“There you go.  You’re being so good for me, alpha,” he mumbled against Munson’s pale skin that was slowly gaining more color. He placed his lips on his pulse point and let them linger to feel the thrumming of a quickening tempo.

True to his word, Steve let his teeth graze his neck and whispered, “Can I?” 

Eddie let his head fall backwards onto the brick and put one arm over his eyes, as if the sight of him would be too much.  

“Yes, yes, please,” he slurred out quickly. 

Steve bit down, all teeth, with a moderate amount of force, enough to bruise but not pierce skin. He then placed his lips down and licked indulgently. For his part, he was enjoying this, leaning into him until they were touching at every possible point. One body, writhing. A lazy rocking of hips every so often kept the alpha on his toes, twitching and shaking, pathetically giving small snapping hip movements.  

The omega’s hands fell from his hair to wander around anywhere they felt like. Nape, neck, chest. He couldn’t stop himself from pulling his hand inside the alpha’s shirt and feeling the warm skin with his fingers, tracing lightly, then dipping his fingers just under his waistband. Eddie jolted and hit his head back again with some choked off noise. Always so eager.  

He rewarded him with another kiss, a soothing gesture with softer pull. Away from the frenzy, Eddie hummed and let Steve take charge of the velvet-smooth motion.

There was a teetering here; a rocking between allowing himself to fall further into the pull of heat, and a snap into focus. Every time he was close to becoming aware enough, a bite, brush of tongue, minuscule grind, and there he went again, eager and desperate once again. 

Steve heard a car horn distantly and it was enough to break him out of the haze. 

“Oh my god! No! No more. No... No more,” he swallowed. 

Steve pulled back, took at least 5 big strides backwards, and kept his distance, committing to not letting himself get pulled in again. He was breathing heavily, but put up a halting hand, as if it would keep the alpha away.  

Eddie’s chest was heaving big breaths, but his movements were slow, lazy. Hot .  

“You’re not letting me come closer, princess?” he said, voice like gravel, eyes clearly undressing him. 

Harrington stood his ground, hand not moving, feet planted.  

Eddie cocked his head and took a step forward. Steve took a panicked step backwards, pushing his hand out again for emphasis. 

“No!” Steve said shrilly. “Stop. Anyone could see. We can’t keep doing… that. Here.” 

Eddie studied him for a minute, looked him up and down, seemed to weigh his desire to kiss Steve again versus them getting caught. His calculations seemed to go against his wishes because he made a displeased face and nodded. Couldn’t blame him, this was good. Really good. If there was no danger in discovery, they would have gone further. Steve could discover what kind of noises Eddie made when his hands wandered further down his waistband. Pity.  

The omega allowed himself to put the halting hand down and simply focused on breathing through his mouth. Thinking less arousing thoughts. Hopper in a bikini? Eww. Too far. Gross. 

“Anosmia,” Steve remembered.

Munson cocked his head in confusion. “What?” 

“That’s what it’s called when you can’t smell. Anosmia.” 

The alpha nodded reluctantly in understanding. His confusion combined with obvious arousal was more than a little funny to Steve and he started laughing. Eddie joined him quickly and they stood there, behind a random building downtown, in the middle of the day, giggling hysterically. There was a happy disbelief with their laughter. Shock at getting here despite their, frankly idiotic, actions.
Once their chuckles died down, Steve spoke again, with less of the simmering in his gut. 

“I can’t go into work like this. I gotta talk to Robin. Do you think we can make it down the street without you doing anything to me?” 

“Honestly, I don’t know.” He looked contrite, like he was actually sorry about not being able to hold himself together.  

He didn’t want to smile, but it was flattering to be so desired. He bit his lips to stop a satisfied grin, but it wasn’t very successful.  

“I’ll go first, talk to Rob and then we go to mine. Okay?”

Eddie swallowed and nodded eagerly. 

“You’re not gonna maul me again, are you?” he teased. 

“No, it’s fine. Look; don’t touch. I can do that.” Munson shook his head and looked away, pink cheeked now. The adrenaline was starting to wear off and it seemed like he was getting embarrassed. At his previous behavior or the implied promise of more, it wasn’t clear. He grabbed a piece of his hair and fiddled with it and avoided eye contact. 

“It's okay. I won’t stop you later.” 

He hummed in agreement, going for a nonchalant vibe that failed miserably. Steve could see how badly that idea affected him. The alpha looked back at him and made a face.  

“You uh, look a bit.” He cleared his throat. “Y’know. Indecent.” 

Steve smirked immediately. “Fucked out, you mean?”  

Eddie let out a strangled sound and blushed bright red. His hands squeezed into fists as he wrestled with something and ended up shoving his hands in his pockets. Harrington let him stew in that feeling for a bit before responding. 

“Give me a minute then.” He wiped his lips and neck to remove any left-over saliva and ran his hands through his hair to put stray pieces back. It probably did nothing to help, but it couldn’t hurt. 

“Your neck is… colorful,” Eddie said carefully. “Sorry.” 

“Don’t be,” he said simply. 

Maybe he was a bit shameless, but he would feel very little embarrassment walking around with any evidence of this. He was still too elated at the events to even think about being embarrassed and Eddie shouldn’t be either. They’d both be much worse later. 

The alpha shyly asked, “Can I- One kiss?” 

Steve looked skeptically at him. “You say one kiss...” 

“Just one.” 

“And you won’t try anything?” he challenged with an eyebrow raise. 

“Scouts honor,” Eddie vowed. He raised his right hand as if swearing in court, which wasn’t how that worked at all. 

“You’re not a boy scout!” 

He didn’t deny the claim, which was telling enough, without adding the fact that Steve knew that Eddie wouldn’t last a week as a boy scout. 

He nodded and got close enough to count the alpha’s eyelashes. They leaned in together. The soft press of lips was sweet and tender with a thumb caressing Steve’s cheek. It was shy and careful as if Eddie had just now thought about what they were doing and worried if it was okay. The kiss was a contrast to the frantic pace they’d been at earlier and it had its disarming qualities to it. Even without the fevered, heady feeling, kissing Eddie was a uniquely enjoyable experience, something that couldn't be said about everyone he had been with. It was syrupy, making his chest swell. It didn’t last long enough for Steve to enjoy it as thoroughly as he would’ve liked.

“See. One kiss.” Eddie said with an easy smile, something charming and gentle. “I’ll see you.”  

Steve’s prissy attitude was melted.

“Yeah.”

His pace was unhurried. He probably had a little extra bounce in his step. He definitely had a stupid cheesy grin on his face, but it didn’t matter at all. He felt good. Like that post-massage floppy feeling.

Maybe the slow approach wasn't that bad.