hysteria ( eddie munson x steve harrington)

18. shot in the dark

it took steve an hour to get ready for the concert, most of his time being taken up by trying to decided what to wear. robin insisted on taking him to the mall, though he was extremely confused when she told him.

"rob the mall burned down, we were there"

to that robin rolled her eyes and shoved him so he would get off of his bed. "they opened it up again dingus, we drove past them remodeling it almost every day"

he didn't necessarily want to be reminded of what happened at the mall, especially after his slightly traumatic fourth of july. he couldn't begin to tell eddie how much he appreciated him being there for him that night, but now it was just him and robin. he only hoped it wouldn't be nearly as panic inducing as that night had been.

as the two of them walked into the mall all steve felt was slight uneasiness. sure, it was the same building, but they had redone it to the point it didn't give steve the same sickening nostalgia he thought it would. he was actually happy to be there, robin made him buy them smoothies as soon as they found the food court.

"we have to find you an eddie approved outfit"

steve sipped his smoothie with a confused look on his face "what's wrong with what i have?"

she tried not to laugh since steve didn't know just how stupid what he said sounded. he looked like his old preppy self, even if he didn't act like it. robin knew fully that he would look painfully out of place if she didn't help him find the right clothes.

"steve you are literally going to see the prince of darkness in concert, you can't show up like someone's youth pastor" she gestured wildly with her hands at his outfit, nearly knocking her smoothie over in the process.

"i can't argue with you on that one..but i wouldn't even know where to start"

he followed her around the mall as she looked at all the stores, some of them were new and some of them were here the last time. steve sighed as robin dragged him into a spencer's, he swore when they had worked at scoops ahoy that he would never go into that store. he felt uncomfortable and out of place, and he just knew everyone was looking at him weird.

he kept his eyes on the floor as robin ran around the store looking for things to get him, he tried to look at what she had in her hands but she had already walked over to the register.

"rob can i atleast see what you got me? what if it's not the right size"

she rolled her eyes as she paid for the clothes, turning to look at steve with an annoyed look "you really are dumb you know that? mister 'we're so close we even have each other's clothing sizes memorized' or do you not remember yelling dustin that?"

he opened his mouth to speak but nothing came out. he did remember that, so he couldn't even say anything and besides robin had already paid for everything. steve tried to grab the bag from her but she slapped his hand so hard it actually hurt.

"no! no looking, you'll see when we get back to your place"

if there was one thing steve hated, it was making adjustments to his appearance. if this had been for anyone else he would've said hell no and moved on with his life. but this was for eddie, and he must have it really bad for him if he was willing to dress differently.

when they got back to steve's house and robin dumped the contents of the bag onto his bed,steve felt like his stomach was doing backflips. she didn't get him a shirt because he already had the one he was wearing earlier, thank god for that.

but what she had gotten, steve was really in for it now. on the bed there was a pair of leather pants, and a few studded bracelets and a belt similar to eddie's. he shook his head, there was no way he was going to wear this.

"no, no way in hell i'm wearing that, wouldn't be caught dead in it"

and it wasn't that he was judging people who do, he just knew he was going to feel stupid in it. but robin shoved the clothes and accessories towards him, starting to leave the room.

"at least try it on, if you really hate it that much you don't have to wear it"

with that she shut the door, leaving a panicking steve alone in his room. this wasn't like the fear from the other night, this was just pure embarrassment. what if eddie made fun of him and thought he looked stupid? steve sighed as he pulled on the pants that were supposedly in his size but were so tight he struggled to get them on. he had to admit though, that they did look pretty good on him. he put on the belt and all the bracelets, feeling less and less anxious about the situation.

he grabbed the shirt from earlier, groaning when he noticed robin had cut the sleeves off. steve had just bought it and was considering wearing it more often but now that was out of the question. yet he still put it on, admiring himself in the mirror. yeah he looked pretty badass, he just hoped no one outside of the concert saw him like this.

he was about to change and put his other clothes back on, planning on asking eddie what he thought about his outfit before deciding on actually wearing it or not. but before he could do that he saw his door open, and there stood eddie looking at his watch.

"hey stevie we have to go in like an hour the concert starts a- jesus h christ steve"

hearing eddie's voice hitch like that when he looked at steve made him even more nervous than before. when he finally turned to look at his boyfriend he was practically eye fucking steve, and that made him smile a tiny bit.

"nope, not right now, hard enough to get in these pants as is you aren't getting me out of them until later"

"jesus- fuck, you're hot, was this robins idea? i owe her big time"

/if this had been one year later hot topic would be open..but spencer's opened in malls in the 60s so that'll do