iris. - steddie

13. worth the wait

wednesday march 23, 1986

steve obviously didn't feel like working today, so he pulled up to the family video and robin went inside to attempt to convince keith to let them take off their shift today.

she walked back out of the store with a fist pump, nodding at steve as she hopped in the car again.

'we get today off but you owe him cheese puffs,' she laughed a little, looking over at steve as he held his hand over the gauze and peeled out with his other hand on the wheel.

'are you sure you're okay?'

'i'm fine robin, it just stings a litt—'

'no,' she said, shaking her head. 'jason's an asshole, i know he definitely said shit to you before he did that.'

'yeah,' steve blinked, biting his tongue a little.

'you're just figuring things out, steve. you shouldn't have to listen to anyone saying stuff like that to you.' robin said, knowing there was no way he wasn't affected by what happened.

'i just—' steve cut himself off, inhaling heavily. 'i don't really want to talk about it, okay?'

she nodded. 'yeah, okay.'

'i'm sorry,' he said, looking over at her as he slowly pulled into the driveway of robin's house.

'only thing you have to be sorry for is not picking me up on time again.' she said with a grin, grabbing her bag and getting out of the car.

'sorry!' steve yelled as she got out with a little laugh, leaving once he saw her get inside.

it was around 7 when hellfire stopped their d&d game campaign, though they would've finished it in 1 night if the school allowed them to stay on campus that late.

but they agreed to finish it next week, scheduling it for wednesday again.

they all headed out together, the kids getting on their bikes as eddie went to his van.

'hey, byers?' eddie turned around, waiting for everyone else to walk off before starting.

'i, uh.. how'd you know?' he said, fidgeting with his rings as he referenced how the day before will had seen right through him with what happened with steve.

'experience,' will said, scratching the back of his neck as he looked towards his friends walking away, focus slightly on mike.

eddie almost felt comforted will felt safe enough around him to say that.

'which one?' he said, the smaller one looking back over at him as he chewed on his bottom lip.

'mike.'

'the kid with freckles who's trying to steal my hairdo?' eddie said, jaw dropping in a joking way.

'hey! i'm not judging you for steve—'

'what's wrong with steve??' he cut him off, eyebrows raised.

'..ugh, nothing.' will grumbled, picking up his bike with a small eyeroll and a smile.

'hey, i'll give you a ride back.'

'really? why?' he looked confused.

'because you're cooler than them, byers! c'mon,' eddie patted him on the back, grabbing his bike and carrying it to the van, putting it in the trunk.

will got in the passenger seat, their conversation back to the byers' house fully consisting of eddie giving him advice on his situation with mike.

eddie got his bike from the back, about to leave when the front door to the byers' opened and a middle-aged brunette woman stepped out.

she gave him a wave, the metalhead confused as to why any adult was being nice to him. he was known by every parent in hawkins as 'the freak' also.

eddie walked over, immediately apologizing to her. 'sorry ms. byers, i just wanted to drive will home because h-'

'joyce! please,' she gave him a friendly smile, taking his hand. 'no need to apologize, thank you for driving him back.'

'really?' he smiled back at her, surprised.

'of course! you seem nice and don't tell him i said it, but i think will really looks up to you.' she said in a little whisper, smiling still.

joyce's immediate motherly love towards him warmed his heart in seconds.

'thanks. i really appreciate it,'

she nodded, patting his hand as she let go of it. 'you're welcome here anytime, eddie.'

his smile got bigger, nodding back at her before heading back to his car as she closed the door.

eddie then finally made his way back to steve's house, about to knock when he realized steve'd already left the door unlocked for him.

he walked in, closing the front door behind him.

'harrington?' eddie shouted, steve's voice coming from upstairs.

'up here!'

he walked up, going into steve's room and seeing him standing in his bathroom looking at the bandage in the mirror.

small specks of blood had seeped through it during the day, the white gauze tinted red where the cut was.

'does it feel any better?' eddie said, pressing his fingers gently onto the wrapped portion of his stomach.

'yeah, a little. it freaked robin out though.' steve leaned his head back against the wall, looking over at him. 'why does it have to be so difficult?'

'difficult to do what?' the older one said, looking up from the bandage.

'for us to be.. us.'

eddie felt his heart wrench a little. 'couldn't tell you that, harrington.'

he moved his hand up to steve's face, thumb running gently over his cheek. 'it'll be okay.'

steve nodded softly, his presence alone soothing whatever worries he had.

he leaned in and kissed eddie, hands moving slowly to his hips.

the longer-haired one smiled, pressing little kisses down his jawline to his neck.

steve's head tilted back a bit, still leaned against the wall of the bathroom. his thumbs slid under eddie's tshirt, fingers running over his skin softly.

'..eddie,' he said, laughing a little. 'i need to shower,'

eddie whined in disagreement, pressing one more kiss to his face before pulling away.

'i'll rewrap the bandage when you get out, hm?' he said, steve giving him a little nod as eddie left the room for him to shower.

to be fair, eddie didn't really want to leave the room. but, he knew there was no way steve'd be ready for anything more than what they already had for a while.

and he was worth the wait.