Archive of Our Own

Robin is seeing Corroded Coffin TONIGHT! 🍦 (@RobsBuck) 

can someone please come help me drag @SHarrington out of his room? the fucker promised to go to the concert with me but now he doesn’t want to get up!!! STEVE GET UP!!! 

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                         Steve 🍦 (@SHarrington)

                         I am /literally/ right next to you. 

Steve really didn’t want to leave his house today. 

He hadn’t wanted to leave the house for a while now, ever since Nancy Wheeler called their relationship bullshit , ever since she left him, walked out of their shared apartment with all of her things, not looking back. Ever since he realized he wasn’t a good person, he didn’t deserve good things. 

And Steve was fine with being home alone forever, really. He was used to the silence and the emptiness of it all, he had been since he was a teen and his parents were never home. 

Robin, on the other hand, was not ok with it, especially with the holidays quickly approaching. Robin and Steve had pretty much been each other’s family ever since they had become friends, fresh out of high school, and Steve knew the end of the year was a rough moment for Robin and that was the only reason he had agreed to go out with her today. 

“You’re whining like a baby.” Robin smacked the back of his head and Steve groaned. 

“I will leave right now if you don’t start being nice to me, Robin.” She laughed at him, knowing damn well his threats were empty. It would also be really annoying getting out of the subway car they were in and going  all the way back home. “I just really didn’t want to leave the house today.”

“I know, Dingus. But we’re going to have some fun together. Do you even remember what fun is like?”

Robin poked at his ribs and Steve rolled his eyes. “I’m still fun.”

He was lying. Ever since the break-up, Steve had folded into himself, talking only when talked to, leaving the house to go to work, and nothing else. But Robin was too good of a friend to make him feel bad about it, so she let his lie slide. 

“Yeah, Mr. Fun. And we’re going to get wasted today. Please?”

Steve sighed. “Yeah, sure.”

Robin had scored them tickets to a festival called the Jingle Ball , it sounded dumb but Robin really wanted to go. One of the bands she’d been following like crazy the past year was going to play there and Steve was just that good of a friend. 

Even if he complained the whole way there. 

They got to Madison Square Garden, grabbed beers, and headed out to see the bands playing. Steve might never admit it out loud but he had a great time that day; he was pleasantly buzzed and the loud music was really helping to drown out most of his intrusive thoughts. So for a couple of hours, Steve forgot all about the past months and how miserable he’d been since Nancy left. 

He even thought that maybe, if the last two bands were good enough, he might be able to forget about her altogether. 

But that was not exactly what happened. 

Robin came back with another round for them and Steve was grateful. He was well on his way to getting really wasted; he felt lighter than he had in months, maybe even years. Things with Nancy weren’t good for a long time, but Steve was too stubborn to see it. He desperately wanted things to work out between them. If he couldn’t get Nancy Wheeler to love him how would anyone else love him? 

He was enthralled by his own thoughts, so much so that he missed when the next band walked onto the stage. He missed the first notes of their song and only came back to himself when Robin screamed next to his ear. He blinked and looked at his best friend, she seemed so happy and he instantly felt good about the decision of coming to this music festival. 

“This is the band I’ve been telling you about!” Robin threw an arm around his shoulders and pointed to the stage. Steve finally focused his attention there. The music was a little louder than his usual taste, but Steve bobbed his head along with the beat anyway. Maybe it was the alcohol, maybe it was Robin’s excitement, but he felt almost giddy. 

The band had four members and, even though Steve didn’t know much about music, they seemed good. He took another sip of his beer. When he lowered the bottle his eyes locked with the guitarist and it was like the ground was swept from under his feet. 

The guy was gorgeous . Steve knew, objectively, that men could be beautiful, but he had never felt quite like this before. The guitarist wore his hair in a messy ponytail, bangs falling in front of his eyes. Eyes that were almost burning through Steve from how intently they were looking at each other. 

He kept on playing steadily and Steve let his eyes dart down, watching his hands dance around the guitar, fingers adorned with big rings. That was enough to send chills down Steve’s spine. When he looked back up, cheeks flushed for no apparent reason, the guitarist wet his lips with his tongue, almost in slow motion, and winked at Steve. He felt like his legs were going to give out on him, grateful that Robin was there to support his weight for a minute, otherwise, he’d be on the floor. 

“They are so good , right?” Robin bumped her hips on Steve’s but he simply couldn’t think of anything else other than the guitarist, who had already moved on from Steve, already focusing on someone else in the crowd even though Steve was pretty much frozen on the spot. 

He nodded, or so he thinks he did, and the show went on as if what had happened wasn’t almost life-changing for Steve. 

They played four or five songs, Steve wasn’t sure. He kept waiting for the guitarist to look his way again, just for a minute, just so he could try to understand what was happening to him, but he never did. And then, they were announcing their second to last song and Steve was sure he had imagined the whole thing. Sure, they might have looked at each other for a second, and yes, the man was objectively very good-looking, but there wasn’t anything else to it. 

“Thank you for a wonderful night, New York!” the singer said into his microphone and the crowd went wild. Steve and Robin were almost all the way up front, the energy of everything bleeding into them. But then, the guitarist walked over and whispered something into his bandmate’s ear. 

They both shared a smile before the singer sent a couple of signals to the other members. Something was happening but no one other than the four of them seemed to know what. 

“It looks like Eddie here thinks you guys were such a delightful crowd that you deserve a real special treat,” his voice was soft as velvet, and Steve couldn’t help but smile at the fact that he at least knew the guitarist’s name now. “And I agree!” There were more screams and Steve felt his body moving with the crowd. 

“How about…” it took Steve a moment to notice that Eddie was the one talking now. His voice was rougher than the singer’s, but it still seeped into him like hot lava. “ You .”

Everything seemed to be in slow motion. Eddie was pointing unmistakably at Steve, Robin was screaming at his side, pushing at his shoulder so Steve would move even though he was not sure where he was supposed to go. 

“Come on, sweetheart. What do you say? Would you like to join us up here for our last song?”

“Stevie! Go on, you have to!” Robin pushed him again and it was like the whole crowd was parting for him to pass. So, he did. 

Steve blinked and he was standing at the edge of the stage as Eddie offered his hand to help him climb up. They locked eyes again right before Steve grabbed his hand and that was the moment he was sure he hadn’t imagined anything before. 

But there wasn’t time to dwell on whatever feelings those were, because Steve was on stage, in front of thousands of people and Eddie’s hand was on his, calloused fingers rough around his own. Steve didn’t want him to let go. 

“What’s your name, sweetheart?”

Eddie was still talking on the microphone, but it honestly felt like he was talking only to Steve. He blinked, trying to remember how to form words. 

“Steve,” Robin supplied from the crowd and Eddie’s eyes flicked to her before going back to him. He could already feel his hands sweating and he didn’t know if it was the bright lights on the stage or the proximity to the guitarist. 

“Well, Steve,” Eddie rolled his name off of his tongue like it was a secret, something to keep just between them. “What would you say if we played our last song for you?”

The crowd went wild with screams and Steve was grateful because he was not sure his voice didn’t shake when he answered a faint yes with a nod. Eddie smiled, all teeth, and let go of his hand to turn back to his bandmates. 

Someone started a count and soon music was filling Steve’s ears again, but he felt glued to the spot, but only until Eddie was back. Steve noticed he wasn’t holding his guitar anymore, just a microphone. Steve prayed Eddie wouldn’t ask him to sing along because it would be very embarrassing to admit he didn’t know the lyrics to the song - or any of their songs. 

But Eddie seemed to have other plans for him. He was singing only backing vocals and slowly walked back into Steve’s personal space, his hand finding his waist, eyes locked on Steve’s once again, pulling him in. Steve didn’t stand a chance. 

The song was a little slower than others they had played today, but the crowd sang along with full energy and maybe Steve was imagining the whole thing. There was no way he was standing on a stage, almost drowning in this man’s presence. 

Eddie let go of his waist and Steve must’ve frowned because he got a smirk in response and felt that hand going to his face, cupping his cheek, bringing them even closer. Steve could feel Eddie’s breath on his skin and it tingled. He didn’t want it to stop. 

The song was growing and soon, Eddie gave up singing. Steve wasn’t sure if it was because everyone else was singing way too loud for his voice to be heard or if it was because he was as caught up in Steve as Steve was in him. 

Steve seemed to recover control over his body, at least a little, and reached out to grab at Eddie’s shirt. He was wearing a black cropped shirt with big holes on the sides and all that skin on display. His fingers brushed Eddie’s side and he heard him taking a sharp breath. 

Steve honestly had no clue what was happening; he was acting on instinct, going for what felt right. And touching Eddie felt so right he could almost forget about the thousands of people watching them. 

Eddie’s thumb drew circles on his cheek before sliding to his lips, pulling at them until Steve parted his mouth, eyes flickering shut. He didn’t know he wanted Eddie to kiss him that bad until the moment Eddie pulled back, separating himself from Steve. 

He stood there, dumbly, cheeks flushed, heart beating like crazy, unsure if his legs would work. The band was getting together in the middle of the stage, bowing and waving at the crowd. Steve should leave . Right now, he should start walking, he should let the band say their goodbyes and he should just leave. But yet again he found himself frozen in place. 

The lights dimmed, making the stage almost all dark and Steve felt Eddie’s hand pressing on his lower back, urging him off of the stage. They were close and Steve got scared he’d forgotten how to move unless Eddie had his hands on him. 

“Hey, Steve, thanks for joining us on stage. Hope it wasn’t that scary,” someone said from behind them and Steve thought it was the lead singer. 

“Look at him, he looks like he’s about to pass out at any moment.” 

“Shut up Gareth,” Eddie came in his defense, arm curling around his waist and pulling him closer. “You guys go on, I’ll be there in a moment.”

Steve heard laughs, but soon enough they were alone in a big corridor. Steve could still hear the crowd, probably waiting for the last band to get up on stage. He thought about Robin, wondered how he would find her, and hoped she wasn’t freaking out too much. 

“Hey, are you good?” Eddie turned Steve so they were facing each other and Steve was impressed yet again at how easily his body responded to him. He wondered how else his body would respond to Eddie’s other touches. 

“Y-yeah. Sorry, I’m ok.”

Eddie placed both his hands on Steve’s waist and locked eyes with him again, “Are you sure? It really seems like you’re going to pass out.”

“Can I kiss you?” Steve blurted out before he could stop himself. He was once again surprised by his wants, only noticing now how much he actually wanted that. His cheeks flushed instantly. 

Eddie simply chuckled, he tightened his grip on Steve’s waist for a moment before letting go of him. Steve felt his body fill up with dread. Eddie was a musician, he was a performer, and Steve had clearly fallen for his act. He had just made a fool of himself. 

“Sorry, I don’t know why I said that.”

“That’s ok, sweetheart,” Eddie flashed him a smile and Steve thought that was it. Maybe he was going to point Steve in the direction of the exit and Steve would never ever see him again, so it would be mostly fine. He would probably just lie awake in bed for hours remembering how much of a fool he’d made of himself tonight. 

But there were worse ways a night could go and at least Steve waited until it was just the two of them, so no one else watched him crash and burn. 

“So… I’m gonna go,” Steve said, already stepping away from Eddie. Maybe if they weren’t so close Steve wouldn’t have said something so dumb. “Thanks for uh… Thanks.”

Steve didn’t wait to hear Eddie’s reply before he turned away and walked out. 

________

Steve groaned, rolling on his bed and covering his ears with a pillow. Someone was pounding hard on his bedroom door like they were trying to take the whole thing down. The yelling of his name was also not helping with his increasing headache. 

“Go away!” he shouted at the door, knowing only one person would be evil enough to be at his door after the night they had. 

“Steve, open up! It’s important!” Robin called from the other side. She stopped knocking, probably already satisfied that Steve was awake. “Please, please, please, ple-“

Steve opened the door before Robin could make him go mad. She lost her balance and stumbled inside his room, not an ounce of regret on her expression. 

“This better be important because I really wanted to sleep. It’s not even ten.”

“Look!” She pushed a newspaper page into his hands. In bright black letters, he could read ‘IHEARTRADIO JINGLE BALL IS A SMASH HIT’ .

“Robin, you did not wake me up to read a newspaper clip of the festival we saw. We were there, we don’t need to read the paper to know how it was.”

“Steve,” she sighed and pushed the paper further into his hands. “Just take a look.”

He rolled his eyes but grabbed it, scanning it quickly. The spread was just a special about the festival; they were on the verge of making it to their 30th edition and seemed to be going stronger than ever, making for an unforgettable night at Madison Square Garden, as usual. And then, right at the bottom, Steve saw a highlight about Corroded Coffin. Eddie’s band. 

Steve turned pages until he got to the one for Corroded Coffin. And there it was, a big picture, taking almost half the page in black and white. It was from last night’s concert and Steve could see the band, but the main focus of the picture was, unmistakably, Eddie and Steve, clutching onto each other as if their lives depended on it. 

“Oh, shit,” Steve whispered and Robin bounced next to him. 

“I know!”

“Oh, shit, Robin,” he said again, for good measure. 

“You have to read it!” she pointed at the text right below the picture. Steve braced himself and read it. 

‘Corroded Coffin definitely earned a high position on the best shows of the night. The newcomers from a small city in Indiana shook the Garden with their energetic songs and natural charisma. But the real winner was this fan, who was brought on stage for their last song and earned himself a serenade if we’ve ever seen one.’

Robin pulled the paper from Steve’s hand and cleared her throat before reading the rest of it out loud. 

“Sources confirm that the fan and the Corroded Coffin’s guitarist, Eddie Munson, were seen being very cozy with each other backstage. Can we hope for a romance to bloom during the Holidays?”

“Oh god,” Steve sat down in his bed, barely believing the words he was hearing.. 

“Steve! You didn’t tell me you were cozy with each other after!”

“Because we weren’t, Robin!” 

That was a lie. They looked pretty cozy in this picture, but Steve knew that backstage things had gotten intense really quickly. He just didn’t want to remember his humiliation. He had thought he would try and forget all about that night and just pretend it never happened. 

“ Please . You looked at him like he was the greatest thing to ever exist.”

And Robin was right. Even with the black and white photograph, Steve could see the way his gaze was locked in on Eddie’s. He remembered the sensation of those long fingers on his face, pressing on his lips. 

“I thought maybe no one would notice it.”

“Oh, they noticed alright,” Robin shrugged and Steve groaned. “Hey, don’t worry. This is probably going to blow over in a few days and then no one’s going to remember it.”

“Yeah, you’re probably right.” 

Robin patted his shoulder and picked the newspaper back from his hands. “How about I make a coffee run for us?”

“Pastries too?” Steve asked, his mouth already watering with the thought. 

“Yeah, of course. As a thank you for going out with me yesterday.”

“You’re the best!” 

_________

Steve used the time Robin took to go to their favorite coffee shop to take a shower and try to sober up. His headache subsided a little and Steve was grateful that it wouldn’t turn into a full-on migraine like it usually did when he was hungover. 

The coffee was going to help, too. That’s why when Steve heard the front door he didn’t even stop to think about it. There was nothing to think about, in fact. Robin went to grab coffee and now she was back. 

“Hey, Robs, thank god you’re back,” Steve opened his bedroom door wearing nothing but his boxer briefs. He and Robin had been friends for ages and there weren’t really any boundaries between them. Nothing the other hadn’t already seen in one situation or the other. 

Except. 

Except Robin wasn’t alone in their living room. She froze in place when Steve stepped out of his bedroom, incapable of reacting in any way, with her hands full of Coffee and a brown bag Steve would bet was filled with delicious things. 

“I… Uh,” Robin tried, but clearly, her brain wasn’t working properly any more than Steve’s. 

“Hello again, Steve.”

And there he was. Eddie Munson. He looked a little different from the night before, but Steve couldn’t tell if it was the fact that he wasn’t wearing any makeup now or the fact that there was barely any skin showing, with all the winter clothing Eddie was wearing. 

He still looked beautiful, though. And Steve was half naked, hair dripping wet, and probably still looking a little sleepy. Steve stared at Eddie, unable to look away, and he could’ve sworn Eddie was trying his best to look only at Steve’s face and not anywhere else. Steve greatly appreciated it because how many humiliating situations were too many? 

After a minute of awkward silence, Steve simply retreated back into his room and closed the door, feeling his cheeks growing hot yet again . What the fuck was it about Eddie that kept messing with Steve’s head? 

Maybe it was the fact he looked really good. Or that his hair was shiny and looked so smooth if Steve were to ever touch it. Or how he could rock an eyeliner rockstar look as well as common winter clothes? Or even the fact he had been closer to Steve than anyone else in such a long time and maybe Steve was craving being touched in the way Eddie touched him. Sweetly and kindly, like Steve was just a breakable precious thing. 

He put on the first clothes he found, just some shorts and an old polo, and waltzed back into the living room, hoping that maybe he had imagined Eddie being there. 

“You’re back!” Robin said in that high-pitched tone she used when she was flustered. And Steve appreciated that she, at least, sounded apologetic about that. A text message beforehand would’ve been nice, but then again, Steve had no idea where his phone was, and to be completely honest, it was probably dead. 

“And clothed,” Eddie remarked and Steve could see the grin on his face. The bastard was having way too much fun with that. 

“Sorry about that. Robin only mentioned a coffee run and not an Eddie Munson run.”

Eddie chuckled lightly and just like that the tension evaporated from the room. She finally walked to the counter and dropped the things she got, motioning for Steve to come to get his coffee. Eddie stood there with a foam cup in hand, watching Steve like he was just fascinating. 

“So… Will someone enlighten me about this casual encounter?” Steve took a bite of his croissant and failed to contain a moan of pleasure. He heard Eddie clearing his throat and taking a sip of his coffee. 

“It turns out our favorite coffee shop is also Eddie’s favorite?” Robin offered and Steve looked at her before looking back at Eddie. 

“Yeah, my best friend works there.”

“Right. That makes sense. But how did Robin convince you to come to our place? Did she promise to show you her weird collection of your band’s stuff?”

“Steve!” Robin chastised, but Eddie simply smiled at that. 

“Uh, no. Actually, I asked if I could come and say hi. I wanted to check in on you, make sure you were alright.”

Steve found that weird. Like, sure, he looked scared the night before, but did Eddie worry like that about all of his fans? 

“Why wouldn’t I be?”

“You know… The picture being out there. It can be a little overwhelming if you’re not used to it. I mean, it’s overwhelming even when you are used to it.”

That sounded a little condescending in Steve’s opinion. “It’s fine, it’s just a picture.” 

Eddie smiled again and Steve was getting a little tired of that smile. For some reason, it didn’t seem genuine. It felt different than the Eddie he met the night before, like he had put on a mask to protect himself for some reason. Steve didn’t get it. 

“Right.” Eddie stood there for another moment and then he turned to Robin, “Thanks for inviting me back, but I should get going.”

Robin smiled at him and when Eddie turned she looked pointedly at Steve, like maybe it was his fault things were awkward when Robin was the one that brought a virtual stranger to see Steve in his underwear. 

“I’m sorry about Steve,” Robin finally said and Eddie just shook his head. “He gets grumpy when he’s hungover.”

“Thanks for coming!” Steve almost shouted, offering a tight smile at Robin. If Eddie found their attitude weird, he didn’t mention it. 

“Yeah, sure. I can let myself out. Have a nice day.” And just like that, Eddie was gone. 

_________

Steve ignored Robin for the next hour. Well, he tried to ignore her, but it seemed like she was trying to ignore him as well because neither of them spoke a word since Eddie left. They ate in silence, even though Robin had gotten Steve’s favorite from the shop. He knew he was being a little shitty, but he couldn’t help it. 

Maybe he did get grumpy when he was hungover. 

He retreated back into his room after a while, tired of ignoring his best friend but not ready to let her know it. Maybe he could just sulk for another moment, think of how nice it would’ve been if Eddie had kissed him. Accept that they were probably never going to see each other ever again and move on. 

His phone was forgotten on top of his dresser and he picked it up to plug it in. It was dead, as he suspected it would be, so it took a little more than a minute for it to roar back to life. Usually, the only ones who called Steve were Robin (when she wasn’t with him, which was not that often) and Nancy. Nancy hasn’t called in a long time, though. 

Despite himself, he kept thinking back on their last fight. He didn’t want to hold Nancy back, he knew she was meant for great things, and still, he did it without realizing it. Nancy was right to leave him. She was better off. People usually were. 

When his phone lit up, he barely had time to tap in his password before the thing was going crazy with notifications. He just stared at it as notification after notification flooded his screen, most of them from Twitter, but some of them from Instagram and even a couple from Facebook - which was weird because Steve was sure he had deleted the app from his phone ages ago. 

Five minutes later, there were more notifications than he had ever gotten in his life . What the fuck was going on? 

It seemed like Twitter was the main cause, so he probably was just roped into a spam thread or something. There were some annoying bots going around Twitter these days, all because some billionaire fucker decided to buy it. 

He clicked on the bird app and was brought into his timeline which looked pretty much the same. Some Basketball news from the last NBA game (the Warriors won over the Celtics, yay), Dustin sharing dorky pictures of him and his mom getting the house ready for Christmas (which reminded Steve he needed to tell the kid he wouldn’t be going back for the holidays this year), and Nancy… 

He took a deep breath. He’d been meaning to mute Nancy from all his social media for a while but it seemed like such a dick move. She hadn’t done anything wrong, she even said to Steve they could remain friends and he’d dumbly said yes because the idea of not having Nancy in his life was just… Awful. 

But seeing how she was thriving while he was just stuck in the same loop of self-pity was doing nothing good for him. Maybe the mute button was a reasonable solution for the moment. 

Finally, he clicked on the bell symbol that was saying he had 20+ notifications, which was definitely a first, but it wasn't all spam like he thought it would be. It was, in fact, thousands and thousands of people mentioning him, lots of thread conversations he was tagged in, and scrolling down all the way, Steve found the reason for that. 

He kept staring at it dumbly as if it was the first time he was seeing it. The picture was in full color now and, yep , 4k resolution. It was from a different angle than the one in the newspaper, you could see Steve’s full face, cheeks flushed red, lips parted and eyes shut. 

Eddie’s hand was cupping his face, his thumb pulling at Steve’s lower lip and he shuddered with the memory of the moment. But the worst of it was probably how hard Steve was holding on to Eddie, one of his hands was fisting his shirt but the other was splayed across Eddie’s ribs as if it belonged there. 

“Oh god,” he said under his breath. This was bad, this was really bad. 

He traced the first picture back to Corroded Coffin’s official Twitter account. It was a photo of the entire stage, Eddie and Steve were just at the edge of it. But some media outlet had released a zoomed-in picture of just the two of them which had apparently kickstarted the apocalypse. 

Scrolling through his notifications, Steve could basically piece back together exactly what went down. The picture had hit Twitter the night before, and that had stirred the fans already. So someone decided to release the zoomed-in version and people went nuts . 

Apparently, Eddie had never dated anyone. He was openly gay - which Steve noted and pushed to the back of his mind because it didn’t matter, that didn’t mean Eddie was attracted to him - but had never had any relationship so people were eating this shit up. 

In less than an hour of the zoomed-in picture being out in the world, they had found Steve’s handle and flooded his mentions wanting to know more. How did they know each other? Were they really dating? If they weren’t, was Steve single? 

Steve even found the person responsible for leaking his Twitter handle. 

Jason (@JasonTheMan)

Look, it’s @SHarrington! We went to high school together! Didn’t realize he was playing for the other team. Good for you, brother. 

What a fucking joke. Jason and Steve hated each other in High School. Jason always thought Steve was trying to steal his spotlight and he had celebrated when Steve graduated and Jason could finally shine all by himself on the basketball team. 

But whatever. Steve knew how the internet worked. If Jason hadn’t tagged him, they would probably find him some other way. 

He noticed he had gained a lot of followers too, and some of his weirdest tweets were being liked and RT’d like crazy.

Steve 🍦 (@SHarrington) 

WoUlD yOu LiKe tO sAiL iN tHiS oCeAn of FlAvoUr with ME?

                         |

                         Robin is seeing Corroded Coffin TONIGHT! 🍦 (@RobsBuck) 

                         are you missing scooping ice cream with me for a living?

                                                 |                         

                                                 Steve 🍦 (@SHarrington) 

                                                 Never. That was dumb.

It’s funny how you only realize what kind of dumb shit you post on the internet once the whole world is looking at your dumb shit on the internet. 

Lots of Steve’s selfies were also going around Twitter like crazy. Some pictures of him with Robin, even one where someone was asking if she was single. And all kinds of comments. Some said he was gorgeous, that his hair was so flawless that he must’ve made some kind of pact with the Devil; then some said he was ugly, that Eddie could do much better. 

Well, Steve couldn’t argue with that. 

He was getting tired and overwhelmed by the whole thing, and there wasn’t much he could do so he might as well just turn off his notifications and wait for things to blow over, just like Robin told him to. But then one tweet caught his attention. 

Eddie The Banished 🎸 (@TheRealEddieMunson)

I trust you all can respect my privacy, as you have done for most of my career. My work and fans always were and always will be my #1 priority. 

That was weirdly… Sweet . Not that Eddie hadn’t come across as a sweet person to Steve, but he really seemed like someone who cared deeply about his fans and his career and that softened Steve a little bit. His ego was still maybe a little bruised from his embarrassing question and Eddie turning him down. 

He kept looking at Eddie’s replies, trying to pretend he wasn’t being obsessive about it. Most of them were supportive fans, saying they were happy for Eddie (funny) and that he deserved to have someone good. Some were meaner, saying that if Eddie was dating then obviously his fans weren’t his priority anymore.

And then. 

Carl [Eddie Munson is my KING] (@CarlMunson666) 

No one believes you’re dating this ugly ass guy, Eddie. But it’s good to know you’re open to dating fans 😉

                         |

                         Eddie The Banished 🎸 (@TheRealEddieMunson)

                         funny how you think you can just talk shit about other people’s appearances  and still hope I’d date you

Steve felt his heart tighten in his chest. Eddie’s reply already had thousands of likes and people were retweeting and quoting and saying how Eddie wasn’t going to take shit from anyone where his boyfriend was concerned - which definitely made Steve snort. Still, he didn’t think it was fair to let Eddie take all the heat from it, especially when people were offending him. He just didn’t want to be a burden, something that got between Eddie and his loving fans. 

So he decided to reply. 

Steve 🍦 (@SHarrington) 

You should know I am not a fan. And let’s face it, you probably never stood a chance. 

It was crazy how quickly he was getting likes and replies. People applauded him, saying he was right to defend what was his, and someone even said Steve was feisty, just how Eddie liked. That made him blush. 

A different sound caught his attention, indicating that @TheRealEddieMunson was now following him and had sent him a Direct Message. Steve clicked on it so fast that he should have probably been embarrassed. 

@TheRealEddieMunson: you shouldn’t engage with twitter trolls, you know

@SHarrington: says you

@TheRealEddieMunson: fair

@SHarrington: just didn’t want to seem like you needed to defend me. I can handle it

@TheRealEddieMunson: I know you can, big guy. Just couldn’t stand someone lying about you.

Steve kept staring at the message as though it had burned him. He had felt like Eddie was being condescending this morning and now Eddie was saying he knew Steve could take care of himself and saying he found Steve… Not ugly?

@TheRealEddieMunson: the polite thing to do is follow someone back you know that right

@SHarrington: I’m still deciding if you deserve it though

@TheRealEddieMunson: sweetheart, that breaks my heart. 

Despite himself, Steve hit the follow back button. He could already see the screenshots of his reply to the troll appearing in his mentions, as well as more that showed he and Eddie now followed each other. 

@SHarrington: happy now?

@TheRealEddieMunson: very!

Steve wasn’t sure what to ask next. He wanted to know what Eddie meant when he said he couldn’t handle people lying about Steve. Did he not find him ugly? And if he didn’t, why had he turned him down? 

But that was dumb. Eddie could find Steve pretty and still not want to kiss him or whatever. He could also just be lying so that Steve wouldn’t feel bad about hundreds of people hating on him online. He wanted to keep talking to Eddie, too, but he didn’t want him to think he was creepy or clingy. So he locked his phone and decided it was time to call a truce with Robin so he could fill her in about everything. 

_________

Steve kept looking for excuses to DM Eddie on Twitter, but they all seemed fake (‘cause they were) and he felt like he had humiliated himself enough for a lifetime. Despite Eddie and Robin’s predictions, things did not die down after a couple of days. 

He was at work three days later when a customer said she recognized him. 

“Aren’t you Eddie’s new boyfriend?”

“I, uh…”

“I knew it! I follow you on Instagram.”

Robin had gracefully taken over the customer for Steve and he went into the back to hide for a little while. His Twitter was already at almost half-million followers while his Instagram had just reached 200k. He hadn’t posted anything ever since his reply to the troll on Saturday, but it didn’t matter, people kept retweeting old tweets and going through his old photos. 

Robin had helped him archive his most personal ones, but the damage had already been done. 

@SHarrington: someone just recognized me at work

@TheRealEddieMunson: I’m sorry about that. 

@TheRealEddieMunson: also, where do you work?

@SHarrington: I’m not telling you. 

@SHarrington: and it’s fine. I just don’t know how you deal with it on a daily basis

@TheRealEddieMunson: you get used to it, I guess. 

@SHarrington: That sucks.

For a couple of minutes, no reply came and Steve was ok with that. Really. 

Ok, so maybe he was a little bit disappointed. But he was done with Eddie if Eddie was done with him. Maybe Eddie was just being polite and he didn’t want Steve to think he was a jackass who would turn his life upside down and then just bolt. 

His phone pinged again and Steve was already used to it enough to know it was the sound of a Twitter DM. He ignored the way his heart sped up. 

@TheRealEddieMunson: is this a bad time for me to tell you we made it to tv news?

Steve clicked on the picture Eddie had attached. It was of a big TV in a living room, there was a guitar hanging from the wall and Steve could almost make out Eddie’s outline reflected on the tv. But he could see two hosts pointing to an enlarged picture of him and Eddie at the show. 

@SHarrington: At least we look good? 

@TheRealEddieMunson: I like how you think. still, I’m sorry this is happening. I should’ve thought better about it

@SHarrington: That’s ok.

He knew what he needed to say next. He’d been thinking about it for the past few days and he knew he just needed to say it, but still, it would shatter a nice illusion he had created. Or rather, other people had created it, but he couldn’t say he minded it too much. 

@SHarrington: Why don’t you just say we’re not dating? It’s not bothering me, I’m sure it will blow over eventually so, you know, it’s not a big deal. But your first tweet was a little dubious so maybe you should just go out and say it. 

The three dots appeared and then disappeared. It happened a couple of times before Eddie’s reply came and Steve thought it might’ve been better if he never replied. 

@TheRealEddieMunson: What time do you get off work? There’s something I wanted to talk to you about. 

_________

The problem with Eddie’s message was that the end of Steve’s shift was still a couple of hours away. So he barely got any work done, stressing about what Eddie wanted to talk to him about. And why the hell couldn’t he just say it on Twitter? 

The other problem with Eddie’s message was the fact that Eddie said he was going to come to meet Steve after his shift, which meant that Steve was going to see Eddie in person again and he didn’t know if he was ready for it. He also looked like shit after his eight-hour shift and Eddie would probably look like a rockstar. 

“You look fine,” Robin said after she caught Steve in the mirror of their tiny employee’s bathroom. 

“Fine is not good enough.”

“Looks like someone has a crush.” Robin singsonged and Steve rolled his eyes at her. 

“Shut up,”

“Listen, it can’t be worse than meeting him in your underwear.”

“Robin, you’re not helping!” Steve groaned and covered his face with his hands. He felt Robin grabbing him by the shoulders and turning him away from the mirror. 

“Stevie, look at me.” Her voice was soft like she always knew when Steve needed a real pep talk. “First of all, you always look good.”

“My hair is flat -“

“Shush, I’m talking now. You look good. I know you’re having trouble with this crush because Eddie is famous-“

“It’s not about that!”

“Yeah, ok, it’s because you asked him if you could kiss him and he said no.” Steve was going to retort but there wasn’t anything he could say because that was the truth. He was struggling to deal with Eddie’s rejection and he didn’t understand why Eddie kept talking to him after almost a week. 

“Yeah, and like, maybe he’s coming here to let me down easy you know? He’s going to tell me he doesn’t see me like that.”

Robin sighed. “Yes, that could be the reason he’s coming over but honestly I don’t see why he wouldn’t say that over twitter.”

“Maybe he doesn’t want me to have proof that he dumped me or whatever it is that you do when people just assumed you were dating.”

“Steve, you’re overthinking it.” 

Steve ran his hand through his hair, frustrated. He knew he was overthinking it and he just wished he didn’t feel like that over a guy he knew for less than a week. But it was hard not to obsess over someone when you opened your twitter and kept being reminded of how they had touched you and looked at you. There’s no way Eddie was faking the way he stared into Steve’s eyes, right? 

“I know I am.”

“Then stop it. Even if Eddie is about to dump you from your fake-dating situation, he at least made you stop obsessing over Nancy.”

That made Steve stop. Robin was right, he hadn’t thought about Nancy ever since he opened his Twitter before it got flooded by all his new notifications. He hadn’t even muted her, but the last time he scrolled past a tweet from her he had been able to smile at it like it wasn’t a big deal. 

“See, it’s not all bad. Also, I have a spare hairspray can in my purse. You know, for emergencies.” Steve’s face lit up as Robin shrugged like her statement wasn’t the greatest love declaration of all time. 

“I love you, Robs.” He kissed her cheek and then he was off, looking for Robin’s purse. 

_________

Steve stepped out of the store at 7:10 pm and was quickly approached by a big guy in a suit. He grabbed Steve’s backpack from him and steered him in the direction of a big, shiny, black car. Only after Steve stepped inside it he remembered to think it was a little bit dangerous to just walk inside a black car out of nowhere. 

“I wonder if I’m important enough to get kidnapped now,” Steve said, without thinking. Eddie’s laugh filled the car and it was a sound Steve wouldn’t mind hearing more often. 

“I would pay your ransom.” He said when he and Steve locked eyes. It felt a lot like he was flirting. 

“Good to know.” 

The car was big and was moving before Steve had even sat properly. He mostly fell on the seat, his knees bumping on Eddie’s as he tried to adjust himself. 

“Sorry. Uh, where are we going?”

“Your place. Unless you want to go somewhere else?” And maybe Steve was imagining things, but that sounded a lot like an invitation. 

“Uhm, no. My place sounds nice. I should just text Robin and let her know she doesn’t have to wait for me.”

“So you live together and also work together?” Eddie raised an eyebrow at him and Steve chuckled. 

“Yeah, we’re co-dependent like that.”

“And she’s not your girlfriend?”

Steve almost choked with that. It had been a while since people had assumed that Steve and Robin were dating each other. 

“No, we’re definitely not dating.”

Eddie hummed, like that was the most interesting piece of information he had ever received. 

“Ok, so, not to sound too eager, but I’ve been curious about what you wanted to talk to me about but couldn’t do it over Twitter?”

“Right,” Eddie cleared his throat and for the first time ever Steve got a glimpse of him being nervous . He snapped his fingers, twitching his hands and not meeting Steve’s eyes. “Sorry about that.”

“That’s ok. I just… Should I be worried?”

“No! Definitely not.” Eddie forced a smile and Steve didn’t like it. It felt a lot like the smiles Eddie offered him when he was at his place and not the ones he shared on the night of the concert. “So, you’re single, right?”

“Uh, yeah. Didn’t you gather that from the fact that I asked if I could kiss you?” Steve had no idea why he was bringing up one of his most embarrassing moments like that. He should just let it go. “Wait. Are you not single?”

Steve could be really dumb sometimes. He had been freaking out over whether Eddie wanted him or not and didn’t stop for a second to think that maybe, despite what everyone thought, Eddie was in a relationship with someone and Steve had just crossed a huge line. 

“I’m single!” Eddie almost shouted like he was afraid his being in a relationship might make Steve jump out of the car. And he wasn’t too far off, to be fair. “That’s… Kind of the problem,”

Steve frowned. “You lost me.”

“Ok, so. Please don’t freak out. And don’t feel pressured to do anything. If you want to say no, I’ll just drop you off at your place and then you can pretend we never met and just go on with your life. Ok?”

“…Ok. But you’re scaring me.”

“Sorry! Sorry. I… Listen, I never did anything like that. But, well, you know how our picture went viral, right?”

Steve snorted. “Yeah, how could I forget? I might reach a million followers on Twitter before the end of the week.”

Eddie didn’t seem to find it that funny. “Right. Sorry about that.”

“You don’t have to-“

“Let me just…” Steve shut his mouth. Eddie looked serious in a way he hadn’t seen him before. “It’s not easy being out in the music industry. Like, I’m probably one of the first gay guys to be proudly out like that. And there’s all this… Pressure around me. My bandmates can date whoever they want, they can get married and get divorced in a week and no one’s going to bat an eyelash at them.”

“Right. That sucks, I’m sorry.”

Eddie grimaced at him and Steve felt it tug at his heart. He didn’t even know Eddie Munson but he already knew he didn’t want to see him sad like that. 

“It’s not your fault. It’s just for context, so you don’t think I’m crazy. And even so, you’re probably going to think I’m crazy and then you’re going to block me and-“

“I’m not going to think you’re crazy, Eddie. Promise.”

Eddie finally stared up at him, his eyes were a little glassy like maybe he was on the edge of tears and Steve wanted to comfort him somehow. Whatever Eddie saw in Steve’s eyes though, was enough to convince him he was telling the truth. 

“So there’s all this pressure. I dated before, of course. But it never felt right. It never felt like I could just come out and say ‘hey, so I’m dating this guy’ because I knew people would talk and judge and I didn’t want to put anyone through it. Like, dating is hard enough without all this added pressure.”

“Yeah, I bet.” Steve thought about his own dating history. He had a couple of casual hook-ups, but his only serious relationship was with Nancy, and he knew damn well how that had turned out. 

“And then… You happened. You’re a good guy. People already went through all of your social media and all they found were a couple of funny old tweets and embarrassing selfies.”

“Hey! My selfies were not that embarrassing,” Steve protested and Eddie smiled fondly at him. Something a little closer to those smiles he liked. 

“You’re right. They were cute.” Eddie shrugged and Steve pretended Eddie didn’t just call him cute. “Still, I feel like this would be a good way to take the pressure off. It feels like you’re already pre-approved by them if that makes sense.”

It weirdly did make sense. “Yeah, sure. But… What are you saying, exactly?”

Eddie cleared his throat and looked away like he was afraid of Steve’s reaction still. “People already think we’re dating so I thought we could… Date. I mean… Pretend to date.”

Oh. That was definitely not what Steve thought Eddie was going to say to him today. He must’ve been so shocked that he didn’t even realize Eddie was still waiting for a response. Any kind. And when Steve didn’t reply he obviously freaked out. 

“You know what, forget I said-“

“Wait. Wait, wait. Gimme a minute.”

Eddie took a sharp breath. He still wasn’t meeting Steve’s eyes, so Steve placed both his hands on Eddie’s knees, he squeezed a little, hoping that would be comforting somehow. 

“You want us to… Fake date? Like one of those cliche romcom movies?”

“I… Guess we’d be more of a Holiday movie, seeing how Christmas is just around the corner.” 

“Well, that is a crazy idea, Eddie.”

Eddie deflated at that. “I know, I shouldn’t have-“

“And it’s just crazy enough that it might just work.” When Eddie’s head snapped up, Steve was smiling at him, pretending his heart wasn’t going crazy. He thought Eddie was going to fake-dump him today, so the fact that he wanted to actually make their fake-dating official felt like a win. 

Eddie blinked at him like he wasn’t sure he heard it right. “Are you sure? I mean, your life is already crazy from just knowing me for less than a week.”

“I’m sure, yeah.”

“I can pay you-“

“No!” Steve said way too fast. He didn’t want to take advantage of Eddie and he already felt like he was doing it, getting into this knowing he was starting to nurture a crush on him. 

Eddie frowned. “Steve, no. You’re doing this for my sake. There’s nothing in it for you, so maybe if I gave you money…”

“No money.” He said firmly. He wouldn’t take Eddie’s money, even though he probably had more than enough to spare. “I… I didn’t want to get into too much detail. But my friends have been on my ass because it’s been hard for me to get over my ex. So maybe if they think we’re dating they’ll give me a break.”

Eddie seemed to consider it. Steve was lying. Like, yeah, maybe it would be good for his image, in general, to be seen dating someone else like Nancy had been doing for the past month with her new boyfriend, but it probably wouldn’t make a difference. 

“Are you sure?” Eddie asked again. He placed his hand on top of Steve’s and the contact felt electric. 

“I’m sure.”

Eddie smiled at him and, to his relief, it was a genuine one. He offered a hand for Steve to shake and just then, Steve realized the car had stopped, which probably meant they were at his place. He shook Eddie’s hand. 

“Congratulations, Steve. You’ve got yourself a fake boyfriend.”

_________

It was almost 9 pm when Steve finally got to his place. To be fair, the car had been parked in front of his condo for the past hour while he and Eddie defined the details of their arrangement. It was probably the least romantic thing Steve had ever done, but it gave him more time with Eddie so he wasn’t complaining. 

When he walked in, Robin was creepily sitting on the couch, watching the door with a wine glass in hand, just waiting for him. He braced himself because he needed to lie to his best friend, knowing damn well Robin would probably see right through his lies. But he needed to try, that was one of the things they had agreed on. No one could know. 

“That was a long ass time for a fake break-up,” Robin said, sipping on her wine and batting her eyelashes at him. Steve smiled. 

“I guess his idea was to break up with me.” Steve shrugged, dropping his backpack on one of their kitchen stools and turning to look at Robin. 

“But he didn’t?” Robin guessed and Steve shrugged. 

He knew he needed to keep details to a minimum if he wanted Robin to believe the story they were creating. And he didn't want to admit to Robin that the only way he could get a boyfriend now was by playing pretend. He wanted Robin to see he could be over Nancy, he could be fun and happy again.

“We just kept talking and talking and talking. He needed to go, but we might be seeing each other again later this week.”

Robin shrieked and Steve jumped in surprise. 

“I can’t believe my best friend is going out on a date with one of the members of my favorite band.”

Steve offered her a shrug like it was no big deal but Robin was already throwing her arms around him, hugging him tightly. They talked and Steve filled Robin in on some of the conversations he had with Eddie that day - surprising himself by telling mostly the truth about it, since he and Eddie had, in fact, talked about other things and not just their arrangement - and he excused himself to go to his room, saying he was really tired. 

He pulled up his phone to find two message notifications from Eddie. 

@TheRealEddieMunson: let me know when your next day off is so we can plan our first date

@TheRealEddieMunson: have a goodnight, fake boyfriend ❤️

_________

Their first official date happened on Friday. Steve had the day off and Eddie was kind enough to move his schedule around it so they had the entire day together. Eddie asked Steve to be ready to leave right after lunch, but he failed to mention where they were going, so Steve got into the town car wearing his usual clothes, jeans, and his yellow sweater with thermal clothes underneath. 

“You look nice,” Eddie said when Steve was inside the car, doors closed. “It won’t work for where we’re going, though.”

Steve rolled his eyes. “You could’ve told me where we were going beforehand, you know. That would’ve helped.”

Eddie grinned. “And where’s the fun in that?”

Eddie looked good, as he usually did. He was wearing his signature Doc Martens with black pants and black jacket and black gloves. Steve noticed he was wearing eyeliner this time, which always made his eyes pop a little bit more. It was intoxicating. 

They drove for so long that Steve was getting scared that Eddie was kidnapping him, but Eddie chuckled and said “Don’t be silly”. Steve laughed, but yet again, he wouldn’t complain, that only meant he and Eddie had more time together and just talked and talked and talked the whole way. 

When they finally arrived, Steve took one good look at the place and simply said no. 

“What? Why not? It’s romantic.” Eddie batted his eyelashes at Steve, tugging at his shirt, and Steve swatted his hand away. 

“It’s going to be a shitshow,” he said, already knowing this was a lost battle. 

“Then it’s going to be perfect.”

Against his best judgment, Steve got out of the car and into the cold afternoon with a spare pair of sweatpants from Eddie. Before him, stood one of the biggest Ice Skating rinks Steve had ever seen. The ice was smooth and just perfect and there wasn’t really anyone else around. Steve thought that if they were to go Ice Skating, they could’ve done it in Manhattan, but then he remembered Eddie was famous and he probably just didn’t want anyone else around. 

Steve liked to think of himself as a fairly athletic guy, with him being on the basketball team in high school and all. But if there was something Steve was not familiar with, that was ice skating. He had tried once, a couple of years back, but there was something about the way you needed to move when using skates that just didn’t work for him. 

That was pretty clear after he fell down for the tenth time while Eddie was graciously skating around the rink. 

“C’mon, sweetheart, I’ll help you.” Eddie appeared next to Steve and offered him his hand. He was really good at it. Steve didn’t even think, he just grabbed Eddie’s hand and tried to lift himself off the ground. Apparently, Eddie hadn’t thought it through either because when Steve was almost standing, he ended up losing his balance again and falling back down, taking Eddie with him. 

Eddie fell on top of him, hands splayed on his chest and Steve thought, not for the first time, that this was really coming off as some sort of rom-com. A strand of Eddie’s hair fell out of his ponytail and Steve couldn’t contain the urge to tuck it behind his ear. He locked eyes with Eddie and felt his breath hitching on his chest. He was way too far gone for this man already. 

Then, he heard the click of a camera, and just like that the illusion was broken. This was a set-up and Steve knew. No use in getting all doe-eyed at this point. He held onto the pose for a minute more, until the clicking sound stopped, and then he wiggled himself out from under Eddie’s body, getting up and walking back to the changing room since they already got what they needed.

_________

“Hey,” Eddie knocked on the door. “Are you decent?”

“You already saw me in my underwear, so no surprises there,” Steve said, hoping he didn’t sound as bitter as he felt. 

Eddie chuckled and walked in, closing the door behind him. It was just the two of them now, no photographers or security detail. 

“Wanna fill me in on what’s bothering you?”

Steve thought about lying. Then he chastised himself for that being his first instinct. He’d been lying for most of his life, especially about his own feelings. It was easier than explaining them. Easier than hearing that whatever he was feeling was stupid or simply not valid. 

He decided to go for a half-truth. “It feels weird having someone taking our pictures. Like, that doesn’t strike me as something… Natural? Does that make sense?”

Eddie leaned back in one of the lockers, crossing his arms, eyes focused on Steve like he was the only thing that mattered right now. Steve felt his chest tighten with how much he wanted that to be true. 

“It does make sense, Steve. I’m sorry if this was too much. I just… I don’t date that often. I had no idea what to do, or where to take you.”

“I mean… I don’t date that often either. But you could’ve asked me. Between the two of us, I think we could figure something out.”

“You know what… You’re right. Sorry. I tried to be romantic and I ended up blowing the entire thing up.”

Eddie grimaced at him and Steve didn’t know why but he reached out his hand for Eddie. He didn’t know what he wanted out of it, but Eddie didn’t even blink. He pushed himself off the wall and walked towards Steve, grabbing his hand and simply claiming his place in between Steve’s legs like he was just meant to be there. 

Steve rested his free hand on Eddie’s hip, afraid it was too much, but Eddie didn’t even flinch. 

“So… What did you want from this date?”

“Besides getting to know you? A good picture so we could make it Twitter official.”

Steve thought for a second, then he let go of Eddie’s hand and reached out for his phone. He adjusted his hand on Eddie’s hip and angled his phone so the camera would get exactly what he was seeing. He ended up with a picture of Eddie watching him from above, a little smile blooming on his lips and Steve’s hand curling possessively around Eddie’s hip. 

He turned the phone so Eddie could see it. “What do you think?”

Eddie’s entire face lit up and Steve felt a swell of pride in his chest. “I could kiss you right now! You’re a genius.” 

Steve felt his cheeks getting hot and looked away and it was like Eddie was just expecting this reaction because he used Steve’s phone to snap a picture of his point of view. Steve was about to complain, but he was rendered speechless when Eddie turned the phone to him. 

Steve’s face was cute, gaze averted, flushed enough that it could be just from the cold - despite both of them knowing it wasn’t the cold. You could see how Eddie was, unmistakably, between his legs. It was the perfect complement to the picture Steve took of Eddie. 

“What do you think?” Eddie asked, and Steve couldn’t help but notice how he didn’t step away from their position, even after they got the picture. 

“It’s perfect.” 

Eddie smiled proudly at him and grabbed his own phone so he could open the Twitter app. 

“Should we make it official then, boyfriend?”

And if Steve’s heart jumped at the fact that Eddie didn’t use the word fake? That was just for Steve to know, really. 

Steve 🍦 (@SHarrington)

The view is nice from down here *see attachment*

Eddie The Banished 🎸 (@TheRealEddieMunson)

No place like home *see attachment*

_________

Steve reached his first million followers before Eddie could drop him home that evening. The two photos they posted were already being shared over and over and over again, through all forms of social media. If people were finding it weird how fast things were moving for the two of them, no one commented on it. 

The drive home was quiet but Steve didn’t mind it that much. The silence between them felt comfortable and Steve didn’t feel the usual necessity of filling it with silly conversation. Eddie seemed really tired, so when he propped his head on Steve’s shoulder and fell asleep, Steve also didn’t mind. 

Somehow it felt a big deal that someone like Eddie would feel comfortable enough around Steve to simply fall asleep like that. 

There was this slightly awkward moment when the car stopped at Steve’s place and he had to shake Eddie awake. He blinked heavily and lifted his head from Steve’s shoulder. 

“Sorry I slept,” Eddie groaned, shifting in the seat so he could prop his head on his hand. 

“That’s ok. You should go home and get some rest,”

“Can’t. I have to go to work.”

Steve frowned, despite the fact that Eddie had his eyes closed and couldn’t see his expression. 

“It’s almost eight, Eddie.”

“Yeah. Had to move things around for our date.”

Steve felt a pang in his chest, he wanted to say he was sorry, he wanted to say Eddie didn’t need to do all that for him, but Eddie’s breathing was already slowing down, and just like that he was fast asleep again. Steve sighed. 

“Goodnight, Eddie.”

Steve climbed to his apartment feeling weird about it. It felt a lot like Eddie was making him a priority and that made his heart flutter in a way he didn’t like that much because he knew better. Steve was serving a purpose to Eddie, they were only playing pretend and Eddie needed that to maintain his public image, so of course, he was going to put that in the first place. It didn’t have anything to do with Steve. 

To make matters worse, when Steve opened the door to his place, Robin was sitting in the dark, watching the front door and grinning like a maniac. 

“No place like home ? Really?” 

Steve froze, his hand still on the doorknob. He was grateful for the dark because he was sure his expression was enough to give them away and he couldn’t do that to Eddie. It didn’t matter that Robin was his best friend and the only person in the world Steve would trust with any secrets, he had promised Eddie and he wasn’t going to betray his trust like that. 

“Hello to you too,” he shrugged out of his coat and closed the door behind him, taking a deep breath. 

“Don’t bullshit me, Steve. I need details.” Steve turned the lights on and it was enough to disorient Robin a little. 

“We went ice skating,” Steve said, calmly. He heard Robin snorting a laugh. 

“You’re terrible at that,”

“Yeah, I know.”

“So you’re telling me that you fell in front of Eddie and he fell in love with you?” Robin got up and walked to where Steve was, crowding him, and invading his space. 

“Whoa. Who said anything about love?”

“Please, the way he was looking at you? And him saying you’re his home ? That’s some romantic shit,”

Steve held Robin by the shoulders and looked her in the eyes. He hoped he was being truthful enough, “Robs, I made a fool of myself today and for some reason Eddie still liked me. Still wanted to hang around me. So let’s just… Not use big words like love and see where this goes. Can we do that?”

Steve could see on her face that Robin wanted to fight him over it. That she wanted to press and get all the juicy details; and Steve had no idea how he would transform their silly conversation about making it Twitter official to keep up appearances in something even slightly romantic. 

But finally, she sighed and nodded and Steve felt relief coursing through him. 

“Of course,”

“Thank you. I’m going to bed, good night.” He kissed her cheek and stepped aside, but she called him again before he could get into his room. 

“I’m just… Really happy for you, Steve. I’m happy you’re going out and I’m happy that it is with someone that makes you look like that,”

His throat felt tight and Steve didn’t really have a reply to that. He smiled and nodded and promised to remind himself more often how good of a friend Robin truly was. 

_________

Theo // Eddie Munson owns me 👑 (@eddieismyking)

Does someone have a full HD video of the Jingle Ball? I want to do a fancam for Eddie and Steve

                         |

                         Lia saw CC at the Jingle Ball! (@lialovesgareth)

                         dm me and I’ll send you what I have!! 

Roxie // 📌 check out my fix! (@corroDEAD)

We should have a name for their ship, guys!! Help me choose voting below 

harringson - 15%

steddie - 67% ☑️

eddiven - 18%

                         |

                         Jay this time (@noteddieiam)

                         the first one makes it look like they are father and son 💀💀💀

_________

For their second date, Eddie let Steve choose the setting, clearly trying to learn from his mistakes. Steve appreciated it, of course, but he also almost drowned himself trying to come up with a good enough idea and now he understood Eddie’s first failed attempt much better. 

This shit was hard . Especially if you wanted to impress someone and needed to find the right balance between looking like you made an effort without overdoing it. 

Steve ended up deciding on something simple that never failed: taking Eddie to dinner. He was sure Eddie was used to the best and fanciest places since he was a rockstar and all, so Steve figured he could take him to the greasiest burger place he could find in New York. 

“Are you hungry?” Steve asked, smirking at Eddie. They were walking side by side on the street, Eddie’s bodyguard was a couple of steps away and Steve was trying his best to pretend he wasn’t there. 

He had suggested the idea of him and Eddie going by themselves but everyone reacted so badly to the idea that Steve dropped it without a second thought.

“I’m starving, are you kidding? I’ve been in the studio all day.” 

Steve hummed, their arms brushed as they walked and Eddie just let them press against each other. Steve pretended it was because of the chilly winter wind. 

“What are you working on?” he asked and the way Eddie’s face lit up when he was talking about his music was enough to make Steve want to ask about it all the time.

“Our next studio album. We’re finishing up our tour and then we should be ready to release the album.”

“Sounds fun,” Steve added, finally stopping at their destination and holding the front door open for Eddie to go in. He loved watching all the emotions passing on Eddie’s face, first confusion and then, to his relief, approval. 

“It is. But my favorite part is always the launch parties. It’s when we know the work is done and we can just enjoy ourselves for one night.” Eddie waited for Steve to follow him in, noticing that the place was almost empty since it was a little past 11 pm. 

“Yeah, I bet the parties are wild.”

“You have no idea,” Eddie chuckled as if remembering something from some party. “They usually happen six months after we first start working on the album so, you know, it’s a lot of piled-up energy. Can’t wait to take you there.”

As the words left Eddie’s mouth, Steve just froze. They haven’t discussed how long they would keep the fake dating going, but it probably wasn’t for more than six months, so there was no way Eddie meant that, but Steve’s heart was desperate to think he did. It gave him a weird feeling, a question of how he would go back to a life with no Eddie Munson in it, now that he knew what it was like to have him, even in this fake way. 

Steve really had it bad . 

“So , any suggestions on what I should get?” Eddie asked, blissfully unaware of the way he just fried Steve’s brain. Steve coughed and looked up at the menu. 

“Definitely the baconator, if you’re into that.”

“My fate is in your hands, Steve Harrington. Order away for the both of us.” Eddie smiled at him, making sure to add a dramatic flourish of hands and Steve laughed, feelings his cheeks getting hot. Eddie shouldn’t say things like that to Steve. 

He squeezed Steve’s shoulder and Steve took a step forward to place their order. In less than five minutes they were both sitting on the same side of the booth, shoulders pressing into one another like they actually needed to be like that - even though there wasn’t anyone to see it, other than the workers and Eddie’s bodyguard. 

Soon enough, both of them were dipped in grease and dressing, laughing about some dumb thing Eddie had said, and having the most casual conversation of all time about everything and nothing at the same time. Steve thought it had been a while since he laughed like that. Easily, with his entire body. 

Eddie kept leaning into his space and Steve couldn’t say he minded it that much. He just wished his heart would slow down for a moment or two. 

“Oh, hey, is there something on my face?” Steve looked up from his fries and looked at Eddie’s face, but there was nothing there. Sure, he was definitely a messy eater, but somehow he knew just how to keep himself clean. When he looked back his fries were gone. 

“Sneaky bastard,” Steve grumbled, watching as Eddie picked up one of Steve’s fries and took it to his mouth in slow motion like he knew it was basically pornographic at this point. 

“Think you misplaced your fries, Harrington?” 

Steve pushed his shoulder and Eddie laughed, throwing his head back. The sound was glorious, so much so that Steve didn’t even mind losing his fries if it meant Eddie would laugh like that. 

“Ok, you’ve been a good boy, how about I share my fries with you?’ Eddie said, his lips curling up in a mischievous smile and Steve knew he was fucked, for the way his whole body reacted to Eddie calling him a good boy. They were in public, for god’s sake. 

“My fries, you mean,” Steve replied, trying to get it together, but Eddie just clicked his tongue. “Yeah, ok, sure.”

Steve motioned to get one, but Eddie batted his hand away and picked one fry, bringing it up straight to Steve’s face. Steve frowned before understanding Eddie was going to feed him that fucking fry. Obediently, he opened his mouth and Eddie put it inside. His lips brushed Eddie’s fingers, only slightly, but it was enough to make his cheeks burn. 

He chewed the fry, looking straight at Eddie, who had an almost maniacal glint in his eyes. Like he knew exactly what that would do to Steve and he did it anyway. 

Before Steve could even consider what he should say next, if he should unashamedly flirt with Eddie and see where it went, his bodyguard approached them, super silently. It always gave Steve chills. 

“Mr. Munson,” he said, making Eddie look away from Steve, “I’m afraid there’s a considerably sized group hanging outside. From what I can gather, they are probably waiting for you.”

Steve blinked and frowned. He turned to look at the glass wall at the front of the store and surely enough, there were at least ten people there. Eddie slid his hand to Steve’s tight and squeezed at it like he wanted to comfort him or something. 

“Thanks, Josh. What do you read of the situation?” Eddie kept squeezing Steve’s leg and it was honestly very distracting. His hand was warm, even through the fabric of Steve’s pants. 

“They should have a back entrance here, I’m sure we can go there if you prefer.”

Eddie thought about it, he looked at Steve and offered him a small smile.

“Do you trust me?” 

Steve didn’t understand why Eddie was asking that and he also didn’t understand why he already trusted him that much. He nodded. 

“We’ll leave through the front, Josh. Thank you.”

After that, the bodyguard retreated to his usual safe distance and blended in the background. Eddie and Steve finished up their fries, still talking, but the flirty moment was gone and Steve wished he was brave enough to try and get back to it. 

“Are you ready?” Eddie asked, getting up. 

“Yeah, sure,” Steve looked up at him and took the hand Eddie was offering, interlocking their fingers. 

They both walked outside, and the group of fans perked themselves, eyes glinting while looking at Eddie. 

“Hey guys,” he smiled easily and earnestly at them. There was some giggling and some shy ‘Hi’ back. “How you doing? Thanks for waiting for me.” 

“Can we get some pictures, Eddie?” A blonde girl came up forward, Steve could see she was holding her phone and shaking slightly, but Eddie’s smile only grew bigger. 

“Sure thing, let’s do it!”

Then, Steve watched as Eddie turned on a megawatt smile and let go of his hand, stepping forward with his arm open to welcome the girl. She giggled the whole time, squeezed Eddie’s waist, and posed for a few pictures. She thanked him profusely after and stepped away so the others could have their chance. 

Steve was astonished by it. By how natural it all was to Eddie and how sweet he was to everyone. He took his time with each fan, looked them in the eye, answered all their questions, but also asked them some. Steve’s crush might’ve become even stronger because of it. 

Twenty minutes later, they were down to the last girl, she was a small brunette, looking very starstruck. Eddie hugged her, asked her name and she said it was Haley. They took some photos and talked a little, she said what her favorite Corroded Coffin song was and Eddie smiled, leaning in to tell her a secret Steve couldn’t hear. 

“Thank you for coming!” he said, but she looked down for a moment and then back at him like there was something else. Eddie nodded, waiting. 

“I, um… Could we take one with Steve, too?” 

Steve was completely taken by surprise, he looked at Eddie who was looking directly at him, a serious expression on his face. 

“Only if Stevie feels comfortable with it. If he doesn’t want to, then no,” she nodded and looked at Steve as he tried very hard to not get affected by Eddie calling him Stevie . 

“You want to take a picture with me?”

“Yeah, and Eddie. You’re very cute together,” she said, smiling and there was no way Steve would say no to her. 

“Sure, yeah.” She beamed at him and Steve awkwardly walked to them, putting his arm around her shoulder. Eddie was right there and placed his arm on top of Steve’s, patting him softly. The three of them smiled at the camera and her friend took a bunch of pictures. 

“Thanks! It was very nice meeting you both.”

“You too, Haley,” Eddie replied smoothly, Steve offered his hand back to Eddie, but felt himself being pulled by the waist. “Have a great night.”

Eddie started walking away, pulling Steve along. He snuggled closer to him, sighing happily, and heard Eddie chuckling but tightening the grip on his waist like this was the most normal thing ever. Like they were always holding each other like that. 

_________

Haley met Eddie AND Steve ❤️ (@astralanomalys)

I just met steddie! They were having dinner and Eddie was nice enough to come out and chat with us before he left. He was just the sweetest, called me by my name, and took a bunch of silly pictures. I also asked Steve for a picture, so I got them both!!

                         |

                         Abby // Corroded Coffin #1 fan (@abbylovesyellow)

                         what???? i'm so jealous. tell us more, were they just the cutest together?

                                                  |

                                                 Haley met Eddie AND Steve ❤️ (@astralanomalys)

                                                yeahhh, Eddie actually checked in on Steve to make sure he was comfortable with the picture and then when they left they were just holding each other, it was honestly perfect!!!

                                                                         |

                                                                         Abby // Corroded Coffin #1 fan (@abbylovesyellow)

                                                                         ugh I want what they have (and you’re very lucky congrats!!)

_________

Fake dating Eddie was proving to be better than any real relationships Steve had up until now. Eddie was a very busy person, Steve noted, but he always seemed to have time for Steve, even if it was during weird hours. It was becoming a habit for Steve to wake up to all kinds of messages from Eddie, usually sent in the middle of the night, after Eddie was done working in the studio. 

Sometimes he just told Steve he was dead tired, other times he told him about something funny that happened during work and all his bandmates were characters in his stories. Steve was getting way too used to waking up to new texts from Eddie, but the real problem started the Thursday after their second date. 

@TheRealEddieMunson: I miss you.

@TheRealEddieMunson: Is that weird?

Steve woke up and read the message, then he read it again and again and again, but it didn’t seem like his brain was capable of registering that. The timestamp said Eddie had sent it at around four in the morning, the latest he’d ever sent a message. His studio sessions were seemingly getting more and more intense. 

It was a little after 6 am, Steve was just getting up for work and he decided to reply quickly, before he could overthink it too much. 

@SHarrington: That’s not weird at all. 

@SHarrington: I miss you too, btw

Steve stared at his messages, letting the feeling sink into his chest as he noticed how true that was. He really did miss Eddie, but he hadn’t let himself acknowledge it up until now, just in case Eddie didn’t feel the same. He stared at the screen for a minute more and then sent another message. 

@SHarrington: wanna grab dinner tonight? I get off at 6

He smiled at his phone, heart beating fast as he got up to shower. 

Steve heard his phone ping when he was drying his hair and walked to pick it up, just to get surprised by a message from Eddie, wondering if he had managed to get at least some sleep since it was barely seven in the morning and he had gone to bed after four. 

@TheRealEddieMunson: can’t :( we have a big studio session today. We had some trouble yesterday, need to deal with that. 

@TheRealEddieMunson: But I really want to see you.

@SHarrington: do you have any breaks? I can bring something to eat. 

@SHarrington: you can also tell me to fuck off if I’m crossing a line or whatever. 

Steve sent his messages and then thought it was the dumbest thing he had ever written. Surely Eddie would shut him down, he probably didn’t want him around the studio as they worked on their new album. 

When he and Robin got to work, Steve was basically losing his shit. Robin kept patting his shoulder like she felt sorry for him, and Steve was already thinking about saying Robin sent those messages and that Eddie could just pretend they didn’t happen. 

He was about to start his shift when his phone finally pinged. Steve’s heart was racing as he opened the message from Eddie. 

@TheRealEddieMunson: would it be a baconator? 

@TheRealEddieMunson: sorry it took me a moment to reply, things got intense around here. 

@SHarrington: yeah, I’ll bring baconators at around 7pm then. 

_________

Steve spent his whole shift kind of daydreaming about seeing Eddie later that night. They had seen each other five days ago and it felt like a lifetime ago already. He also felt so much closer to him now that they had been messaging back and forth and especially now that Eddie had said he missed him. It felt like they were walking a thin line on the casual fake dating thing; it scared and excited Steve at the same time. 

Also, the fact that Robin kept smiling at him like she knew he was way in over his head was making him really nervous about the whole thing. 

When Steve finally clocked out, he was buzzing with energy, already wishing he could somehow teleport himself to the burger place just so he could get to Eddie faster. 

It turned out that he really wasn’t able to teleport, but he recognized Eddie’s driver, leaning back into a black town car right in front of Steve’s work, the minute he walked out. 

“Good evening, Mr. Harrington. Are you ready to go?” Steve only hesitated for a minute, before nodding and letting the driver open the door for him. “We’re getting burgers first, then going to the studio. Is that right?”

“Uh, yes,” Steve said, as they drove away from his workplace. 

“Mr. Munson also said that if you wanted to stop at your place before getting there you could.”

“Oh, thanks,” Steve scratched his head, clearly a little unnerved by the whole thing. His parents always had money but they were small-town rich, not New York rich. “That won’t be necessary, though. Thanks.”

Steve got their baconators with large fries and was back in the car in no time, already getting driven to the studio. It was a place right outside of Manhattan and by the time Steve got there, he was honestly anxious as hell to see Eddie. 

“I, uh, thank you for driving me…” Steve said, one leg out of the car. The driver looked at him through the rearview mirror. 

“Mark, Mr. Harrington. And it was my pleasure.”

“Mark, right. Thank you.” Steve got out of the car and stood on the sidewalk for a minute, before popping his head back in. “Is it normal for Eddie to send you to drive his dates everywhere?”

To his merit, Mark tried to hide his amused smile. He turned a little in his seat and looked directly at him. 

“I’m not allowed to disclose that information, Mr. Harrington.”

Steve felt his cheeks burning. “Oh, yeah, of course, sorry. I didn’t mean to get you in trouble,” he shook his head, feeling dumb, but when he was about to get out again, Mark spoke. 

“What I can say is that he talks a lot about you, Mr. Harrington. And he seems really… Happy these days. But you didn’t hear it from me.”

Steve blinked, said thanks, and left the car, trying to process the information Mark had just secretly shared with him. 

The studio was in a very discreet building, in a quiet street that Steve had never been to. He walked in, wondering for the first time how he would get to where he needed, but the redhead in the reception was already on her feet to greet him. 

“Welcome, Mr. Harrington. Please follow me, I’ll take you to the studio.”

Steve was honestly running out of surprised expressions for all the weird shit that kept happening to him. Guess that's what he got from dating a rockstart or whatever.

He followed her anyway, through long corridors and closed doors, until they reached a big door, right in the back of the building. She opened it and motioned for Steve to go in. 

The only thing Steve’s brain completely forgot to consider about going to the studio was the fact that Corroded Coffin and their producers would all be there, it wouldn’t be just Eddie and he felt so silly walking in with two greasy bags in hand and a heart that was threatening to beat right out of his chest. 

One of Eddie’s bandmates was inside the glass room, recording some of the instrumental of a song, while everyone else was on the outside, listening in. Things looked pretty intense and Steve couldn’t help but notice the tension in the air. 

He stood there for a moment until the recording was done and everyone was chatting and then Eddie finally looked up at him, his face lighting up in an instant and making Steve’s insides melt a little. 

“Hey guys, let’s take fifteen,” Eddie asked, clapping his hands and getting up from his seat. He then walked right to where Steve was, leaning in so close that Steve thought he was going to kiss him. Instead, Eddie’s soft lips touched his cheeks in a greeting. “Hi, Stevie.”

“H-hey,” Steve felt self-conscious, sensing that all eyes were on him and Eddie. They hadn’t greeted each other like that before, and Steve wondered if it was just to keep up appearances. Eddie grabbed his hand and pulled him away before he could make up his mind. 

They exited the studio building through a back door that led to a winter garden with some benches. Eddie sat down there, pulling Steve down.

“Thanks for bringing me food,” Eddie said. His voice came out really soft, and Steve watched his face, seeing for the first time how tired he looked. Steve wanted to hug him, but he didn’t want to cross any lines. He felt like he was losing his mind about what was real and what was fake. 

“Sure, yeah. I’m happy that I got to see you.”

Eddie shifted a little and his leg pressed against Steve’s, “Me too. I felt like I was going crazy in there.”

Steve just nodded and after that, they both just ate in silence. Once again, it was a comfortable one and if that was what Eddie needed from him, then Steve was more than happy to provide it. 

The burger was almost cold at this point, the fries all soggy, and still, Eddie ate the entire thing like it was the most delicious meal he had ever had. Steve didn’t know if he was hungry or just tired in general. 

When they were done, Eddie let his head fall on Steve’s shoulder again, sighing loudly. 

“Tired?” Steve asked and Eddie’s answer was just a small nod with a groan. 

“Can you stay, Stevie?” Steve’s chest clenched with how small Eddie’s voice sounded. 

“Yeah, of course I can.”

_________

Gareth (@ThatDrummerGuy) 

The studio is really crowded tonight *see attachment*

“Gareth tweeted about us,” Steve whispered in Eddie’s ear. They had been mixing some of the things that were recorded today and it was a very dull, long process. It was almost midnight now and Steve could see how everyone was very much done with the day. 

After the break, Eddie and Steve got back to the studio and were met with knowing smiles, as if they had done anything other than eat greasy food and stare at each other in complete silence. Steve didn’t mind it, though, he liked how intimate that felt. 

Eddie had thrown himself on the same couch he was sitting on when Steve first got there and, once again, Steve just stood there, unsure of where to sit. Sure, Eddie had asked him to stay, and that had made a number on Steve’s heart like somehow Eddie needed Steve there for some reassurance, but Steve still wasn’t sure how he fit there with his bandmates and producers in the room. 

Eddie, however, didn’t seem to worry too much about it, since it took him less than a minute to just reach out and pull Steve towards him, until he was sitting down, basically on his lap. Eddie wrapped an arm around his waist and just went on talking about music like that was the most normal thing on earth. Like Steve was his arm candy or something, and in a way, Steve guessed he really was. 

So for the next few hours, Steve sat there, curled around Eddie, listening to them go back and forth about musical decisions that didn’t really make sense to him. At some point, he shifted his position a little, burying his face in Eddie’s neck and it was the best thing ever. His cologne was faintly there, a sweet little smell that lingered on his warm skin and made Steve want to melt. 

That’s when Gareth snapped the picture. Steve hadn’t even realized a photo had been taken until he was scrolling through his Twitter and saw a bunch of people tagging him. He showed it to Eddie, who smiled and nuzzled his face with his nose in an affectionate way. 

“We look cute, Stevie.”

“We really do,” Steve smiled back at him and felt Eddie squeezing his waist a little and Steve thought, with a heavy heart, that he really could get used to that. 

They left the studio at around 2 am. Steve had already shot Robin a message saying he would be home late, but that he was fine and he was with Eddie and all he got back was a weird amount of emojis.

@RobsBuck: 😉🤪😳😮💨😈🙀👀

Steve had no idea what all that meant, but he just sent a thumbs-up emoji and locked his phone. 

Eddie clung to him during the rest of the night, always making sure he was touching Steve in some way. Steve had definitely noticed Eddie was a very touchy person and he couldn’t say he mind it that much. It always felt nice to have him there, kind of grounding him.. After a few hours, Steve started to lean into the touch and if Eddie noticed any changes, he didn’t mention it. 

They climbed Mark’s car together and Steve was surprised when Gareth walked in right after them. 

“Is Eddie treating you alright, Mark?”

The driver chuckled, “you know he is, Mr. Chambers.”

Gareth sat in front of Steve and Eddie, shaking his head slightly. Eddie had barely sat down and he was already all curled around Steve. 

“Mark used to be Gareth’s driver, Stevie,” Eddie offered, laughing a little. 

“And Eddie stole him from me,” Gareth scoffed, pretending to be offended. 

“Don’t be dramatic!”

“Look who’s talking!”

Steve laughed through their whole interaction. It was nice seeing Eddie a little more relaxed than he had been in the studio and it was nice seeing him so at ease with his friend. Without thinking, Steve reached down and kissed the top of Eddie’s head. 

“Ugh, you’re so gross together,” Gareth added, but he was smiling and Steve relaxed a little. 

Steve’s place was their first stop and had him wondering, for the first time, where Eddie lived. It seemed like Eddie already knew so much about Steve’s life, but Steve was getting only glimpses of his. It made him think how hard it would be to not have Eddie around when the time came, and if maybe Eddie was keeping him at a distance to be safe. 

Despite Gareth’s presence - or maybe it was because of it, Steve wasn’t sure - Eddie pulled Steve into a tight hug, his face hidden in the crook of his neck, where he deposited a soft kiss. It was very chaste, but it warmed up Steve’s entire body. 

“Thanks for coming to me, Stevie.”

“Anytime, Eddie.” 

They smiled at each other and Steve heard Gareth making up gagging noises like a fifth grader. He felt like maybe it was his cue to leave, even though all he wanted was to stay, maybe ask Eddie if he wanted to come up and stay at his place since it was so late. 

“It was nice properly meeting you, Steve,” Gareth waved when Steve was out of the car and Steve nodded.

“You too, Gareth. Bye, Mark, thanks for the ride.”

And just like that, Steve turned around and left, forcing his legs to take him away before his big mouth could say something stupid. 

_________

Fancy (@fancy_chelini) in reply to Gareth (@ThatDrummerGuy) 

They look so cozy in this picture!!! Thanks for sharing it with us, Gareth, hope you boys had a nice studio session ❤️

lily 🦇 🍦 (@steddiehq)

I just know Steve was drowning in Eddie’s smell in that one picture Gareth shared. What do you think he smells like?

                         | 

                         taylor || (she/they) stream corroded coffin’s new album!!! (@ketchupsock)

                         I’m sure he smells like rainbows and cinnamon and dreams 🌈

#0 Eddie stan (@keepswimming)

if you can’t see this picture gareth shared is fake you’re dumb lol #befr #eddiewouldNEVER 

_________

Things changed between Eddie and Steve after that studio session. They texted each other all the time, with the dumbest things possible. Eddie also liked to send pictures of him or of what he was doing and Steve couldn’t help but smile dumbly at his phone every time a picture came. 

There was a specific one that he kept coming back to, Eddie all sleepy, his hair was a big mess, splayed everywhere on his pillow and he wasn’t wearing a shirt. It’s not like Steve could actually see anything, it was just bare shoulders basically, but Steve couldn’t stop his brain from going crazy over it. Eddie had taken a picture for him right after he woke up and Steve felt a tingle in his body, wondering what it would feel like to wake up next to him. 

It turned out, Steve wouldn’t need to wait that long to find out. 

After almost three weeks of fake dating, Steve had shamelessly added Eddie to his favorite contacts, just in case Eddie ever needed him. So when Eddie called at 3 am on a Wednesday, Steve picked up the phone after the third ring, voice rough with sleep. 

“Hey, are you ok?”

“Steve,” was all Eddie said on the other side of the line. His voice was so small.

Steve sat up in an instant, “Eddie, what’s wrong?”

For a long minute, the line was quiet. So quiet that Steve was afraid Eddie might have hung up; then he finally spoke. 

“Need to see you,” he said, voice breaking at the end. “Can I come over? Please?”

“Yes, yes, of course,” Steve said, way too fast. But he wasn’t thinking about how that would sound. He just wanted to fix whatever was wrong with Eddie. 

After that, Steve felt very awake. He needed to wait for Eddie to get there and he really didn’t know what to do with himself. He got up and went to the kitchen to make something to drink. He ended up making some tea, thinking that Eddie would appreciate having something warm if he was as distressed as he had sounded on the phone. 

Thirty minutes later, Mark was pulling up on Steve’s curbside and Steve was there in a minute, anxiety clawing at him until he laid eyes on Eddie. He was sitting down, legs close to his chest as he rest his head on his knees. 

“Hey,” Steve said, unsure. He climbed into the car and looked up at Mark who was watching him with a clearly worried expression. “Did something happen?” Steve asked, but the question was aimed at the driver instead of Eddie. 

“I’m not sure, Mr. Harrington. The session ended a couple of hours ago and he just asked me to drive around for a while. It’s not that unusual. But he really didn’t want to go home, so that’s when he called you and now we’re here.”

“I see, Mark. Thank you for bringing him.” Steve smiled as Mark nodded and then he turned back at Eddie. “Hey, it’s me.” 

Eddie didn’t move, didn’t acknowledge Steve in any way. He reached out his hand and touched his knee very lightly, so as to not startle him. 

“How about we go inside, baby?” Steve wasn’t sure about the pet name, but it felt right, for some reason. He slid his fingers from his knee to one of Eddie’s hands and he finally nodded. “Ok, good. Thank you.”

In very slow movements, Eddie started to unclench from his position. His eyes were puffy and Steve wondered if he was just tired or if he had been crying. He appreciated Mark’s loyalty in not saying anything about it to Steve, even though Eddie clearly trusted Steve in some way. 

“I think I got it from here, Mark. Thank you.”

“Of course, Mr. Harrington. Here, here’s my number if you need anything,” Mark offered him a business card and Steve took it, sliding it in his back pocket. 

“Thank you,” Steve got out of the car and offered his hand to Eddie. He realized now that Eddie wasn’t wearing a proper amount of clothing for the cold weather, but they were close enough to his building entrance so it should be fine. 

Eddie seemed to be in a trance, not really himself at the moment. He grabbed the hand Steve offered and followed him inside like a lost puppy. Steve’s chest was heavy with worry and he wasn’t sure what he could do to help but was somewhat happy that Eddie thought of him in such a vulnerable state. 

“Do you want some tea, or want to go to bed?” Steve asked as he closed the front door. 

“Bed,” Eddie answered, voice barely there. 

Steve led the way, pushed open his bedroom door, and welcomed Eddie in. He was so preoccupied he didn’t even care if his room wasn’t exactly tidied up for visitors. 

He lifted his comforter and motioned for Eddie to get in. Eddie took off his boots and climbed in and, not for the first time that night, Steve wasn’t sure what to do. Eddie said he wanted - no, that he needed - to see him. He didn’t mention anything about them sleeping together and Steve was so scared he was going to cross a line there. 

Instead of asking, he just covered Eddie to his chin and started to back away. He could probably sleep with Robin or maybe try their couch, even though it wasn’t that comfortable. 

“Stevie,” Eddie called and when Steve turned, his brown eyes were set on him. “Where are you going?”

“I um… I was going to let you sleep,”

“Can’t you stay?” Eddie asked and Steve could see he was embarrassed by it. Steve wanted to soothe him, to say that there was no reason for Eddie to feel like that. “Need you.”

Steve’s brain short-circuited. Eddie needed to see him and now he just needed him . No one needed Steve. No one had needed him through the course of his life and he had spent most of his time trying to make sure he was needed in some way or the other, trying to be useful, somehow. 

And Eddie, who knew him for less than a month, was lying in his bed saying he needed Steve. 

Steve knew how this would end. He knew his heart was going to break into a million pieces when Eddie eventually left. And he would leave, everyone always did. Steve could only make himself useful for some time and it never was for very long and Eddie was bound to see that, sooner rather than later. 

Steve knew that if he got into that bed right now, he would be going too far for his own good. Knew he wouldn’t easily recover from that, knew how much it would hurt. Even so, he smiled as he nodded. 

“Yeah, of course, I can stay.”

Eddie shifted on the bed and pulled up the comforter so Steve could join in. Steve usually slept only in his boxers, but he felt it would be a little too much, so he took off his sneakers and his coat and climbed in wearing a white t-shirt and his gray sweatpants. 

Steve felt awkward, he had no idea what to do with his arms. It had been a while since he slept in the same bed as someone that wasn’t Robin, but before he could fret too much about that, Eddie snuggled closer and wrapped his arms around Steve’s torso, hugging him. 

Eddie sighed happily and burrowed his face in Steve’s chest, wrapping his legs around Steve’s, pinning him on the bed. 

Tentatively, Steve settled his hands on Eddie’s back, rubbing soothing circles. He felt Eddie relaxing around him and soon he relaxed too. If Eddie wasn’t weirded out by any of it then there wasn’t any reason for Steve to be. 

After a couple of minutes, Steve thought Eddie was asleep, but then he felt fingers playing with the hem of his shirt. He froze in place, as Eddie’s hands played around until he sneaked them under Steve’s shirt, scratching lightly at his skin, raising goosebumps where he went. 

“Eddie…” Steve whispered, unsure of what he wanted. 

“Is this ok?” Eddie whispered back, and it was like there was a bubble around them, keeping whatever was happening inside, just for them. 

“Y-yeah.” 

Eddie raised his head a little, his lips brushing oh so slightly over Steve’s neck. His heart fluttered under the touch and he was sure Eddie could feel it. 

“Sorry I woke you, Stevie.”

“I’m not,” he said, his grip tightened on Eddie’s waist and Steve wondered, for a minute, if he was still dreaming. He lost count of how many times Eddie had invaded his dreams in the past weeks, and he wished like crazy that this wasn't another dream. That Eddie was really there. 

They stayed like that for a moment, their breathing synced, just holding one another. This was dangerously close to being too real for Steve, but he held on, letting sleep take him under while he was in Eddie’s arms.  

_________

Celebrities Today (@CelebToday) ☑️

Spotted: A couple of days before Christmas, Corroded Coffin’s Eddie Munson is seen leaving his boyfriend’s house in the early hours of the day. *see attachment* 

Kristen loves Eddie (@feralkriss) 

Eddie looks like he was railed all night and I can’t decide if I want to be Eddie or Steve in that scenario.

Kendrew (@steddiebaby)

For all of you calling yourselves Eddie’s fans and sharing that disgusting paparazzi picture of him leaving Steve’s house: That’s not it. 

                         |

                         Raine 🦇 (@batphobic86)

                         istg, people can be so disgusting sometimes. They should be ashamed of themselves. 

_________

Steve was pissed. He had already written at least three tweets and deleted them before posting because he knew he shouldn’t reply, but it was hard ignoring them. 

First of all, he could barely believe there were paparazzi waiting in front of his house this close to Christmas. Then, he was just angry that Eddie had to go through that when he was in such a vulnerable state. 

Sure, he woke up and said he was feeling a lot better than when he first got to Steve’s place.Thanked him profusely for letting him barge in in the middle of the night.

Steve would like to think his being there helped, but his self-esteem wasn’t that good. And then, there were the people commenting online, saying weird things like how Steve and Eddie must’ve been at it all night when in reality they just lay together, finding comfort in each other’s arms. 

He wanted to say something to Eddie about it but wondered if he had seen it in the first place.Honestly, he just didn’t want to be the bearer of bad news. Yeah, it was definitely that, and not the fact that they hadn’t really talked after Eddie had left his place and Steve was thinking that Eddie probably regretted the whole thing. 

He was scrolling through Twitter and when his timeline updated, he saw a tweet from Robin. 

Robin saw Corroded Coffin! 🍦 (@RobsBuck)

Just because someone is famous, doesn’t mean you’re entitled to their private life, you know that right?  

Steve smiled. He probably wouldn’t have been that nice, his tweets were very much filled with nasty words and angry rambles, but he appreciated that his best friend had his back. 

Steve liked her tweet and was about to reply when his phone pinged with a new message. 

@TheRealEddieMunson: hey

@SHarrington: Hey

@TheRealEddieMunson: uh, weird question. do you have plans for christmas?   

@TheRealEddieMunson: it’s cool if you do

@SHarrington: Actually, I don’t. What’s up? 

@TheRealEddieMunson: so, my uncle kinda called me and said he was excited to meet my boyfriend and I didn’t have the heart to tell him…

@SHarrington: I get that. Sure, if you want me to come meet him, I totally can. 

@TheRealEddieMunson: also, we always exchange ugly sweaters, so he’s going to buy you one and if you have the time you can buy me one and I’ll gift him, if that’s cool.

@SHarrington: You knew I’d say yes, didn’t you?

@TheRealEddieMunson: 🥸

Steve chuckled, staring at his phone, thinking about how cute Eddie was. He also felt relieved that things weren’t weird after that night, Eddie was probably just busy or something. But he wanted Steve to be there during Christmas and that felt like something… special. 

He hoped Robin was cool with him not making it to her family’s Christmas this year. 

_________

On Christmas Eve, Eddie rang Steve’s doorbell at around 11. He told him that they would need to drive down to where his uncle lived, something about him not wanting to live in a place with too many people around. And honestly, Steve got that. 

To his surprise, Eddie was the one driving. The car was an old one that looked like it belonged in a collection and not on the road. 

“Didn’t know you drove,” Steve commented as they were leaving his house. Eddie smiled and placed his hand on his leg. 

“There’s a lot you don’t know about me, Stevie.”

And wasn’t that the truth? But Steve wanted to know everything he could about Eddie. 

Eddie wasn’t kidding when he said his uncle liked to be far away from people. They drove to a very remote location and Steve was surprised when they entered a trailer park. Steve frowned and it was like Eddie knew exactly what he was thinking. 

“Believe me, I tried everything to try and convince him to not live in a trailer park, but the man is obnoxiously stubborn.”

“Oh, so that’s where you get that from,” Steve replied gleefully and Eddie snorted, pinching his thigh. “Ouch!”

When they were finally parked, they walked to one of the biggest trailers there, and Eddie took Steve’s hand in his, interlocking their fingers, so efforteleslly that you would think they really were dating.

“Are you nervous?”

“Maybe, yes. It’s been a while since I met the family of my, um… A little nervous.”

Eddie stopped just a few feet from the door and cupped Steve’s cheek with his hand. 

“No need to be nervous, baby. He’s going to adore you.”

Baby . Steve was sure his cheeks were burning but he nodded and smiled and pretended that the word didn’t tilt his entire world and felt especially grateful that Eddie didn’t feel the need to comment on Steve’s reaction. 

Uncle Wayne was a very nice-looking old man that looked a lot like Eddie in weird ways. Steve watched as they hugged, and Wayne whispered something in Eddie’s ear that made him push him away, all flushed and red. Steve wondered if it had something to do with him. 

“And you must be the young man that has been putting up with my nephew,” Wayne turned to him and Steve offered his hand, but Wayne wouldn’t have any of that, pulling him into a hug instead. Steve guessed Eddie got that habit from his uncle. 

“Yeah, I’m Steve Harrington, sir. Nice to meet you,” Eddie actually snickered at Steve, the bastard. Wayne patted his back. 

“There’s no need for all that, young man. You can call me Wayne.”

Steve nodded and the three of them walked in. The trailer was bigger than any trailers Steve had ever seen, and he noticed Wayne had set up the table for three people. 

Any anxiety he was feeling before getting there slowly evaporated as the day went on, as Steve felt more and more at ease in Wayne’s house. Eddie kept touching him, it was a little more subtle than when they were with his bandmates, but it was still there. And Steve soon understood that nothing went past Wayne’s attentive gaze. 

They talked and drank wine and Steve listened as Wayne told embarrassing stories from when Eddie was a kid. It felt so domestic and Steve’s chest ached with how much he wanted this thing to not be a stupid fake relationship. He wanted to be in Eddie’s life in a real way, he wanted to take care of him and spend time with him and he desperately wanted to kiss him until his lips were numb. 

Exactly at midnight, the three of them gathered on the couch for the gift exchange. Steve usually got something for Robin and some chocolates for her parents and that was it. He felt strange in a good way, he liked that he was invited to such a sweet Christmas tradition. 

“My ugly sweater this year goes to the man that raised me like I was his own. That believed in my dreams even when I didn’t believe in them myself. I love you, old man. Thanks for being exactly who you are.” Eddie offered his gift bag to Wayne and Steve felt the urge to look away from such an intimate moment. He could swear Eddie had tears in his eyes. 

Wayne hugged him again, and opened his gift right away, laughing at the sweater. It had green sleeves and a big Christmas tree up front, with a 3D star on top. 

“So, it’s my turn,” Wayne smiled softly at Eddie and then turned his attention to Steve. “I know it was all very last minute, but I really appreciate you coming up here to spend Christmas with us.”

Steve smiled and nodded, thinking Wayne was done, but he really wasn’t. 

“Eddie is a very special person. One that I love with all my heart, one that I would do anything to protect if something were to ever happen to him, or someone were to ever break his heart.”

Steve’s eyes widened at that. Wayne chuckled, but Steve knew he was being very serious. 

“Wayne, c’mon,” Eddie complained next to him and his uncle shushed him. 

“With that said, I’ve never seen Eddie so happy. I see the way you look at him, like he hung the moon in the sky, and honestly, that’s everything a parent can want for their kid. So thank you, Steve. And welcome to our family.” 

Steve forced himself to get up and hug Wayne as he accepted his gift, but all he wanted was to bolt out of the room. Things had become too real too fast and Steve wasn’t even that worried about Eddie’s heart right now, he started to think about how Wayne would feel when he learned it was all fake. 

He opened his gift and found a cute sweater, filled with Christmas symbols, like trees and even mistletoe. It was very soft and Steve felt his chest tight with emotion. Sure, he was worried that Wayne would hate him when he realized this was all pretend, but he wasn’t ready to give it all up. He didn’t want it to end. 

Steve cleared his throat and grabbed his gift bag. It had been a bitch to go shopping two days before Christmas, but in the end, Steve had found the perfect ugly sweater for Eddie. 

“So, my gift is for Eddie, obviously. I don’t think I would ever be able to do him justice. He is larger than life, he’s more than I could’ve ever dreamed of, and for some reason, he chose to be in my life and I don’t know how I’ll ever go back to a life without him.”

Steve offered his bag to Eddie, but Eddie pulled him in and hugged him, holding him close for just a minute too long. Steve felt his throat tighten and he tried to swallow his tears before he could make a fool of himself. 

“Thank you, baby,” Eddie said, simply, and Steve had the impression he wanted to say more, but maybe not in front of Wayne. 

The sweater had a big red guitar on the front, adorned with Christmas decorations and Steve heard Eddie taking in a breath as he looked at it. 

“This is beautiful, Steve! Thank you.”

Steve nodded and watched as Eddie got rid of his current sweater, his shirt riding up his torso a little and making Steve avert his gaze. When he looked back, Eddie was smiling brightly, happy like a little kid on Christmas morning. Steve wanted, more than anything, to keep this moment frozen in time, forever. 

_________

Jasper || steddie owns my heart and soul (@steddieonnow)

I know for a fact that Eddie invited Steve to Christmas with Wayne. I’m dying to see their sweaters, I hope they give us a picture. 

Maria // Eddie is absolutely babygirl 🦇 🍦 (@babygirleddie69)

Wake up bitch, it’s christmas! Share below your favorite pictures of our babygirl *see attachment*

_________

“Did you know people call you babygirl, online?” 

Steve was drunk. Wayne had gone to bed a little while back and Eddie and Steve stayed up drinking wine and chatting. Steve knew their relationship - their fake relationship - couldn’t go on as it was, but he wasn’t ready to give this up just yet. So he promised himself he would enjoy this last night with Eddie, and then he would walk away. 

Things would be hard enough already, there was no reason to extend his suffering more than was necessary. 

Steve was sitting on the couch, his glass of wine was empty in his hands and his head was buzzing. He was really drunk. 

“Actually, yeah I did.” 

Eddie had been pacing in front of him, too filled with energy to stay still, but now that Steve said that, Eddie approached him slowly, watching him with a glint in his eyes. 

“Why? Are you jealous?” Eddie teased and Steve felt his face burning up a little. Steve shook his head as if Eddie wasn’t able to see right past his lie. “You can call me babygirl too if you want.”

Steve swallowed dry, he reached his hand and brushed it on the side of Eddie’s leg. Eddie must’ve read that as an invite and he leaned down, straddling Steve on the couch. Steve couldn’t think, not with Eddie this close. Not with him looking down at Steve with those eyes. 

“You’re so beautiful, baby.” The words sent shocks through Steve’s body, Eddie tucked a loose strand of his hair behind his ear. They were so close and Eddie was so warm. 

“Eddie,” Steve said, his fingers traveling up Eddie’s side, over his waist, until they were at the hem of his ugly sweater. 

“It’s hard to control myself around you, Stevie. Especially when you look at me like that.”

Steve’s breath hitched, “Control yourself from doing what?”

Eddie smiled. He didn’t answer Steve, instead, he just leaned down and pressed their lips together. 

Steve was floating. He didn’t expect Eddie to do that and it took him so long to react that Eddie started to pull back, probably scared he’d read the situation all wrong. But he hadn’t, so Steve held him, didn’t let him pull back. He dipped his hand under Eddie’s sweater, finally touching that warm skin. And then he kissed Eddie back like he’d wanted to ever since that first moment they were looking at each other on the Jingle Ball. 

To his relief, Eddie kissed him back. Licked up at his mouth until Steve opened it, and then, they were really kissing, holding on to each other like their lives depended on it. 

It was everything Steve ever dreamed of and even more. Eddie kissed like Steve really was the most precious thing on earth, like he couldn’t believe Steve was in his arms. And then, he grinded his hips down a little and Steve couldn’t help the moan that escaped his lips. 

He was mortified, but Eddie didn’t seem to mind that. He kissed him more feverishly than before, and Steve couldn’t help but find his nipple and pinch at it, feeling it getting hard under his touch. Eddie pulled back, his eyes were hungry and dark. 

“Fuck, baby,” he panted and then dipped back down to nip at Steve’s earlobe. It was Steve’s turn to roll his hips up, both their erections already getting completely hard. “You feel so good under me, you have no idea,”

“Tell me,” Steve asked and felt Eddie kissing down his throat, to his pulse point. 

“You have no idea for how long I wanted to do that,” Eddie kissed his throat through every word, and Steve squirmed under him. He knew he probably shouldn’t, but he realized how much he wanted that. 

Eddie’s hand palmed him through his jeans and it felt so good that Steve almost came on the spot. He wanted to give as good as he was getting and if this was his last chance to have Eddie, Steve wanted to make the most of it. 

“Wanna suck you, Eds,” Steve said, pulling him by the hair. 

Eddie’s pupils were completely blown out. “Yes, yeah, fuck, yes, baby, please.”

They switched positions and Eddie was on the couch, Steve already pulling his pants down. They probably should be quieter, Wayne could hear them, could come out of his room at any time, but Steve didn’t find it in him to care. 

Eddie was already hard, dripping pre-cum, waiting for Steve. Steve usually liked to take his time, but he was so desperate for Eddie that he sank down almost immediately. He felt Eddie’s hands on his hair and hummed approvingly, bobbing up and down, tasting him and reveling in it. 

He tapped Eddie’s hips so he would motion it forward, fucking into Steve’s mouth and almost hitting the back of his throat each time. He was so hungry for Eddie, he wanted all of him. He pulled back, licked at the tip, teased at his balls with his hands and loved the small noises Eddie made in the back of his throat. 

“You good, baby?”

“Yeah, I am,” Steve nodded, wetting his lips. “Want you to fuck my face and cum in my mouth. Is that ok?”

Eddie’s response was to tighten the grip he had on Steve’s hair. Steve groaned, took a deep breath and swallowed him completely, until his nose was pressing on Eddie’s pubes. Steve relaxed his mouth and his tongue and he gripped at Eddie.

Then Eddie started to fuck his mouth relentlessly, his grip almost vicious on Steve’s hair, trying not to be too loud when he hit the back of his throat. 

“You take me so well, baby. Fuck.”

Steve was a mess, but he didn’t want Eddie to stop. He wished he could suck Eddie like that forever. He wished this wasn’t the first and the last time. He tightened his grip on Eddie’s thigh; Eddie’s pace got faster and sloppier and Steve knew he was close. 

Eddie thrust two more times before he was cumming down Steve’s throat, and Steve swallowed everything, happily. Fuck, he would miss that. 

When he was done, Eddie pulled Steve back, on top of him, and tried to palm at him again, but the stain on Steve’s jeans gave him away. Eddie chuckled, kissed his lips, and tasted himself on Steve’s tongue before pulling away. 

“You’re perfect, Stevie.”

_________

Jasper || steddie owns my heart and soul (@steddieonnow)

I know for a fact that Eddie invited Steve to Christmas with Wayne. I’m dying to see their sweaters, I hope they give us a picture. 

                         |

                         Eddie The Banished 🎸 (@TheRealEddieMunson)

                         Merry Christmas *see attachment*

keys/ghost ❄️🎄 (@ghast1yghosts)

DID YOU SEE THE PICTURE EDDIE CASUALLY SHARED AT 3AM LIKE WE WOULDNT SEE? 

                         | 

                         ilo 🎸 👑 (@babewithabat)

                         I’M GOING FERAL OVER IT! THEY ARE CUDDLING! ON! THE! COUCH! HELP!!!

✨ leticia ✨ (@plzandspanku)

I WANNA LICK BOTH OF THEM!!!! PLEASE AND THANK YOU!!!!

Leo // smartest in the room (@betterthanu)

how can’t you see Steve is with Eddie for his money? plz, this “relationship” is pathetic. #isaidwhatisaid

_________

The drive back home was a nice and quiet one. The roads were mostly free since it was still Christmas, and Eddie clung to Steve like he was air and he needed him to breathe properly. Steve didn’t mind. 

He kept thinking back to the photo Eddie had shared of them on Twitter. It wasn’t part of their act, exactly. Eddie hadn’t asked Steve to do a couple’s pose or anything, it was starting to happen naturally, like they really were a couple. 

Wayne had taken the picture right after they were done with the gifts exchanging and both Steve and Eddie were wearing their ugly sweaters. Steve had sat down on the couch and Eddie had thrown himself basically on top of him, smiling happily. 

That’s what hurt Steve the most about the picture. How happy they looked, wrapped in each other’s arms. How could he mess with that? 

But then again, Steve had fucked up. He had given Eddie a blowjob, he had let things go too far. He needed to stop the whole thing now before someone was truly hurt. He wouldn’t be able to forgive himself if he made Eddie spiral like he did that time he needed to see Steve.

So they rode together, and Eddie dropped Steve off at his place, promising to call. He walked Steve to the front door and kissed him goodbye and Steve let him. His lips were soft and warm against Steve’s and he hoped the feeling would sear itself into his brain. He hoped that he never forgot what Eddie felt like wrapped around him. 

_________

Guy // waiting for CC new album [he/him] (@imthatguy)

Trouble in paradise? Steve unfollowed Eddie on twitter. 

zo • 🦇 🍦 (@tinkerbclla)

why steddie was just a publicity stunt: a 🧵

                         |

                         steve fundamentalist (@nicobloodlust)

                         you’re so right for that, babe. didn’t buy that bullshit for one second

Carl [Eddie Munson is my KING] (@CarlMunson666) 

What did I tell you? Eddie would never stoop so low. Be gone, St*ve. You will not be missed. 

_________

By Wednesday, Steve realized he had fucked up. Not only had he been dodging Eddie’s calls for three days in a row, calls which only now he seemed to be stopping, probably as Eddie gave up on him. But he had also unfollowed Eddie on Twitter, just because he didn’t want to see him and be sad. He had forgotten to take into account that everyone else would know . 

And now, everyone knew. 

They were saying a lot of nasty stuff about Steve online, but he probably deserved it. He had broken Eddie’s heart, even though he did it because he was trying not to break his heart in the first place. 

Earlier that day, Eddie had tweeted something about Steve and even though Steve didn’t follow him anymore, he kept going back to Eddie’s profile, just to torture himself. 

Eddie The Banished 🎸 (@TheRealEddieMunson)

I’m taking a break from twitter. I’m sure you all have your theories, but I promise it’s not even close to the truth. See you when our next album launches. 

                         |

                         gina (@eddieunbanished) 

                         hope you and Steve can figure things out, Eddie. 

Kai 🦇 (@WbxWynot)

I love Eddie as much as anyone else, but I have a feeling he was the one to break Steve’s heart. 

                         |

                         annie (@icouldloveher)

                         I just hope they are both ok :( 

                                                 |

                                                 Foxie (@spacefoxie)

                                                 Steve made all his socials private, so idk guys. I’m worried. 

Everything was a mess, and it was all Steve’s fault. He could’ve talked to Eddie. They could’ve handled it together. Steve felt bad that he had basically ruined Eddie’s plan. Eddie wanted people to believe he had a boyfriend so he could actually get a boyfriend in the future without being too scrutinized by the fans and the press. And now, Steve’s attitude was making Eddie the bad guy. 

To make matters worse, Steve was realizing he was already too far gone for it to be ok. He was mourning his fake relationship with Eddie and it hurt even more than his and Nancy’s breakup. 

He was so dumb. 

“Ok Dingus,” Robin stormed into his room, an expression Steve knew all too well on her face. “It’s time you tell me what the hell is going on because I’ve been reading those fucking conspiracy theories on Twitter and I don’t like any of that.”

 Steve groaned and buried his face in the pillow, wishing he could just disappear from the face of the earth. He knew that this moment was inevitable and yet, he wished he could pretend it wasn’t happening. He wished he could close his eyes and go back to before he agreed to fake date Eddie. He wished his heart didn’t hurt that much. 

“I fucked up, Robin,” he said, finally, and her expression softened. 

“I’m sure it’s not that bad, Steve.”

He sighed loudly. It was that bad and he knew there wasn’t much he could do, so he took the pillow from his face and patted the side of his bed so Robin would join him. And then, he told her everything. 

_________

Steve 🍦 (@SHarrington)

The most real relationship I’ve ever had *see attachment*

                         | 

                         hey *mega rizz* (@r0ttencandles)

                         u guys were so cute, steve.

silly lil weeb (@transbotsTM)

Do you guys ever mourn a celebrity relationship as if it was someone you personally knew? Those pics Steve shared ripped my heart to pieces. 

uh ur mom (@sordidgain)

I’d let Eddie Munson end me @TheRealEddieMunson

_________

“I don’t wanna go out, Robin,” Steve whined, already dressed for the New Year’s Party Robin had made him promise to go. She wasn’t backing out from it, but Steve would try anything he could because he really didn’t want to go. 

“I don’t care, you promised you would.”

“Robin, please. I’m not even going to know anyone at the party.”

“You’re going to know me and that’s enough.”

Robin offered her hand and Steve accepted it, knowing from all the years he and Robin had been friends that it was a lost battle. 

They both walked down from their place and Steve felt dread feeling him up when he saw Mark’s car pulling up in front of them. 

“Robin… What the fuck did you do?” 

“Just trust me, Dingus.”

He climbed into the car, but it was empty, only Mark in the driver’s seat, looking at him. 

“Long time no see, Mr. Harrington.”

“Yeah, Mark. Robin, aren’t you coming?”

Robin smirked at him as she closed the door and Steve wanted to scream. Sure, he missed Eddie. He had posted their pictures one night when he couldn’t sleep and just kept staring at some photos he had taken of him. He had one of Eddie in the studio, working on a song. One of Eddie on their burger date, smiling shyly at him. And his favorite one, where Eddie was cuddled up on him, eyes closed and expression soft. He was happy and Steve broke that. 

“Where are we going?”

“I’m afraid I can’t tell you that, Mr. Harrington. But Ms. Buckley said you would like it.”

Steve wasn’t that sure, but it’s not like he had any other options right now. 

After forty minutes, they arrived at a place Steve only could describe as a mansion. It was right outside of Manhattan, in a street with the biggest houses Steve had ever seen. He had no doubt that it was Eddie’s place and he didn’t know if he wanted to go in or not. 

Mark must’ve picked up on his indecision because he turned a little and looked Steve right in the eye. 

“If you want to leave, Mr. Harrington, I’ll take you. We can drive around for a bit, maybe get some burgers.”

Steve appreciated that. He had no idea what Eddie wanted with him. He had no idea what Robin had planned behind his back. Maybe Eddie would just ask him to come forward to say it was not Eddie’s fault, just so Eddie wouldn’t be the bad guy. 

He knew he needed to do that, he needed to face Eddie. Even if it was going to wreck him completely. So Steve got out of the car and walked to the big double doors of the house. Before he could even decide on ringing the bell, the door opened, and Eddie was there, looking at him. 

“Hey,” he said, Eddie’s voice was small and Steve knew he was the one to blame for that. 

“Hey, sorry. I… Guess you wanted me here. If you want to scream at me, you can. And then I’ll be out of your hair.”

“I don’t want to scream at you, Steve. I just… I want to talk.”

Talk. That sounded worse than if Eddie shouted at him. But Steve guessed he deserved that, too, so he nodded and stepped in when Eddie gave him enough space. 

Eddie’s house was bigger than what Steve had imagined and still, it wasn’t anything like he thought it would be. Steve grew up in a house that didn’t have an ounce of personality and personality was all that Eddie’s house had. Eddie was everywhere that Steve looked and Steve wanted to analyze every part of it, he wanted to know it as much as he wanted to know Eddie, but he knew he didn’t deserve it. 

Eddie led them to a side room with two couches. Eddie sat down in one of them, motioning for Steve to take the other. He did, feeling completely out of his element, wanting the floor to open and swallow him whole. 

They sat in silence for a minute and Steve had a lot of things to say but he had no idea where to start. Was ‘I’m sorry’ enough for what he had done? 

“Steve,” Eddie said and Steve looked up at him, just for a moment. He looked more beautiful than Steve remembered and Steve also didn’t feel he deserved that. He looked away. “Why’d you leave?”

He didn’t have any good excuses for that. He felt overwhelmed. 

“No, wait, a better question, why’d you leave and then post those pictures? And then say those things about it being your most real relationship? I don’t get it.”

Steve sighed. He didn’t get it either. Maybe he was just a mess. 

“I’m sorry Eddie,” he said and he could see Eddie was doing his best not to scoff at him, “I just… Things were too much. I wanted them to be real and I knew they wouldn’t be. I know I shouldn’t have left like that, I shouldn’t have unfollowed you or whatever. I’m sorry about that, really.”

“I don’t care about that, Steve.”

“I don’t know what to say, Eddie. I’m really sorry. I just… I realized I wanted this to be real and it wasn’t. It was never going to be, so… I couldn’t handle it.”

Eddie looked at him, his brown eyes were puffy. “Why not? Why couldn’t it be real?”

And that made Steve stop. “I don’t know, Eds. It just… We said it would be a fake relationship.”

The crazy thing was that Eddie smiled at him. There was nothing Steve said that should get that kind of reaction and still, Eddie was smiling. 

“I know we did,” Eddie finally said. “But did any part of it feel fake to you?”

Eddie leaned back and crossed his arms in front of his body. Steve wasn’t sure where they stood right now, but Eddie was right. From the start, it didn’t really feel fake. Steve knew that at least for him, it never was fake. 

“No. Not really,” he answered, scrunching his hands together, nervous. Was Eddie going to bust him for it? Did he know all along Steve had a crush on him and he was just testing to see how far would he go? Steve thought Eddie wouldn’t be that cruel, they had sex, after all. 

Eddie’s pose fell a little, the smile toppling over from his face. 

“I’m sorry, Steve,” he said, at last, and Steve frowned. 

“I’m not sure why you’re apologizing, Eddie. I… Don’t know, maybe things just got out of our control.”

Eddie worried at his bottom lip for a moment, and then he got up and walked to where Steve was sitting, crouching down in front of him and touching his knee. 

“I haven’t been completely honest with you, Steve. And that’s why I’m sorry.”

Steve felt a pang in his chest. He was getting more and more the impression that Eddie was just trying to be a nice person. He was nice, Steve knew that, and he probably didn’t want Steve to come out of this fake relationship thinking he wasn’t. He probably didn’t want Steve to go on a twitter rant about him or something like that. 

“That’s ok, Eddie. You didn’t need to-”

“Will you let me talk?”

Steve’s eyes widened and he nodded. 

“I wasn’t honest with you about the reason why I said we should fake date. Yeah, sure, I could use a boyfriend, but I knew from the moment I locked eyes with you on our show that I wanted to get to know you.”

Eddie reached out and held Steve’s hand on his, never looking away from him. Steve’s heart was beating fast in his throat. 

“And the more I knew you, the more you let me in your life, I realized that not only I wanted to know you… I could easily fall in love with you. And that scared the shit out of me, Stevie,” Eddie’s smile was a sad one now and Steve wanted to comfort him, but he also wanted him to keep going until something started to make sense. 

“Why?”

“Because… You saw why, Stevie. I’m a mess. I work too much, I fuck things up without ever meaning to, I’m needy and I’m too much.”

“You’re not -”

“I am. If not only for me, but you saw the twitter trolls, you saw the paparazzi, the internet owns my life. I can’t possibly ask someone to be part of that. I couldn’t make myself ask you that, as much as I wanted to. That thing you said on Christmas… I didn’t deserve those nice words, but I could hear it in your voice… The goodbye. I felt it too, when we kissed. And it was so unfair of me, to want something from you when you clearly were trying to pull away. And I’m sorry for that, too.”

Steve closed his eyes, and let the words sink in. He had gotten it all wrong. And Eddie, apparently, had gotten it all wrong, too. They really were a mess, but somehow, Steve felt his mess would go nicely with Eddie’s mess. 

He felt Eddie trying to unclasp their hands, but Steve held on. 

“Are you done?” Steve asked, opening his eyes. 

“I… What?”

“Are you done talking? Can I talk now?”

“Um… Sure.”

Steve spread his legs a little, so Eddie could fit there if he wanted to. 

“You’re not too much. Not to me, at least. We’re the perfect match, Eddie, and I’m sorry it took me so long to see that. I don’t care about Twitter trolls, I don’t care about you being messy and needing me in the middle of the night. In fact, that’s what I like about you… How real you are. And you’re real because you’re here, with me. You see me. No has one ever seen me the way that you do, Eds.”

“Stevie…”

“I’m serious. I was saying goodbye on Christmas, but just because I was too far gone. I was too in love with you, Eddie, and I couldn’t handle it that you weren’t, that you were just pretending. It felt too real.”

“I wasn’t pretending, baby. Not even for a moment,” Eddie kneeled in front of Steve, his legs bracketing him, as they always did. He cupped Steve’s face in his hands. 

“I wasn’t pretending either, babe. I’ve been slowly falling in love with you this whole time. And I meant what I said on Christmas, I can’t imagine my life without you. I’m sorry I walked away, that was so shitty of me.”

“I don’t think it was slow for me, at all. The moment you fell on your face on the ice on our first date…”

“Shut up and kiss me, dumbass.”

Steve wasn’t even sure who leaned in first, but he just cared that finally, finally , he and Eddie were kissing again. And it didn’t taste like goodbye at all. It tasted like hello, it tasted like all the time they still had in front of them, to fall in love with each other even more, to laugh and eat greasy burgers and be sad and have silly dates and cuddle each other. 

Steve couldn’t wait to have all that with Eddie.

_________

Steve 🍦🎸 (@SHarrington)

My first kiss of the New Year *see attachment*

            |

            Eddie The Banished 🎸 🍦 (@TheRealEddieMunson)

            and of the next one and the next one and the next one. You’re stuck with me, Harrington. 

                       |

                       Steve 🍦🎸 (@SHarrington)

                       You’re so romantic, geez

                                  |

                                  Eddie The Banished 🎸 🍦 (@TheRealEddieMunson)

                                   I love you <3