iris. - steddie

14. shower

wednesday march 23, 1986

steve gently took the bandage off to prevent the wound getting water held against it, tossing it in the trash and stepping into the shower.

he slowly shampooed his hair under the hot water and of course, some of the soap had to accidentally run down into the cut.

'fuck!' steve cursed in pain, hitting the tile wall with the palm of his hand as he quickly rinsed the soap out, which also hurt.

eddie immediately got off of his previous position of being flopped over on steve's bed to see if he was okay.

'harrington? you good?' he said from behind the door, steve screwing his eyes shut wincing as the cut still stung.

'shit, y— yeah, got shampoo in the cut,'

eddie paused, thinking of any way he could help. 'can you put your boxers back on?'

steve froze. '..why?'

'just— do it.'

he shook some of the water out of his hair, reaching over and grabbing the black boxers he was previously wearing, pulling them back on as he stepped out of the water. 'got it,'

eddie walked in, eyes lingering on steve as water ran off his wet hair and onto his chest.

he quickly forced himself to look away, positive he would've been able to see how red his face was if the mirror wasn't fogged up.

eddie walked over, taking steve's hand gently.

'sit,' he nodded his head at the floor, the shorter-haired one still confused but sitting down carefully on the floor of the shower.

eddie grabbed the shampoo and conditioner out of the shower niche, sitting down on the floor with steve fully clothed.

'what're you doing?..' steve looked at him through the steam of the shower, quickly shutting his mouth as eddie put his hand under his chin and tilted his head back under the water flow.

and there they were, eddie sitting beside steve on the floor of a running shower, holding his head back and gently washing his hair so the water wouldn't run into a wound on his stomach.

steve looked over at him, in disbelief that there was anyone as considerate as eddie.

he couldn't believe this was actually happening.

eddie glanced over from steve's hair to see him staring, grinning and flicking shampoo bubbles onto his face.

'that got in my mouth!' steve quickly yelled, sputtering out the soap that'd landed directly on his lips.

the older one laughed at him a little, pushing his head back again. 'shut up, your thick ass hair takes forever to wash.'

steve grunted in annoyance, it hitting him after a second that he was sitting leaned back on the floor of a hot shower just in boxers with eddie.

and the metalhead had his fingers on steve's jaw as he held his head back, palm resting against his throat.

don't think about it, don't think about it, don't think about it, don't think about it— repeated in his head as he closed his eyes tightly, eddie noticing.

'shit, did i get some in your eyes?' he said, immediately pausing.

'no— just.. hurry,'

eddie gave him a confused expression for a second before shaking it off, bringing his hand slowly off steve's neck as he rinsed the last of the conditioner out.

'you're done,' he said, standing up and helping steve up slowly after him. 'i'll step out for a sec so you can dry off, idiot.'

the second eddie left the room with a small grin, steve exhaled heavily and shoved his face into his hands as his face immediately burned red.

'jesus fuckin' christ,' he whispered to himself as he dried off, taking the now soaking boxers off and wrapping a towel around his waist.

steve waited another minute to gather himself together again, shaking his hair as strands fell onto his face.

eddie looked up as he came out of the bathroom, eyebrows raising for a second before he realized he was 100% staring like a deer in headlights.

while steve was in the shower earlier he'd gotten the first aid kit from his van, eddie nodding for him to sit on the bed.

'i would clean it again, but you just got soap in it and i don't really want to, so-'

steve exhaled in relief, getting a small laugh as he stood in front of him and began to gently re-wrap the wound in gauze.

'..thank you.'

eddie paused, steve's eyes on him admirably.

'for what?' he asked, tucking the end of the gauze roll under one of the wraps tightly before standing back up and looking down at him.

'everything. i wouldn't even know where to start.' steve said, his eyes remaining on the others'.

'you're cheesy, y'know that harrington?' eddie smiled brightly, leaning over and pressing a lingering kiss to his lips as his hand moved to rest on his bare shoulder.

steve leaned more into his touch, before they were broken apart suddenly.

'you do not have enough clothes on for me to be kissing you right now, harrington.'

steve laughed, watching as eddie took a pair of boxers and baggy sweatpants from his closet and tossed them at him.

'i'll wait outsi—' he started, steve cutting him off.

'no.'

eddie quickly turned around in shock, watching as he leaned over and turned the bedside lamp off. '..no?'

steve stood up, the outline of his body the only thing gently lit through the very faint glow of the moon outside.

the towel dropped from around his waist as he pulled the clothes on, eddie sure his jaw was touching the floor by now.

sure he didn't see anything, but he was surprised steve was willing to be that vulnerable in front of him already.

'you're insane,' eddie said, a huge smile on his face as steve could hear it in his voice.

the shorter-haired one snorted, hanging the towel up on the back of the bathroom door and getting in his side on the bed. (yes, like a married couple)

steve rolled over so eddie could change out of the shower-soaked clothes, not wanting to make him feel watched unless he was comfortable with it.

he heard eddie change out of the clothes, hanging them up where the towel was as he put on a pair of steve's boxers and pajama pants once again.

eddie crawled into the bed beside steve after finally fixing his alarm, arm snaking around his waist gently.

'hate to admit it, but you are possibly the most amazing person i've ever met, harrington.'

'..who's the cheesy one now?'

.
a/n: i laughed so hard writing this chapter ,, steve getting gay panic-ed over eddie's hand practically around his neck is so funny to me