little things; stranger things littlespace oneshots

♡ 9 - time out ♡

cg!eddie
little!steve (4)

a request from 19eking 😄
thank you for the request! i had fun writing this ;-)

Steve sat at the back of the car as he huffed and stomped his foot.
"What's your problem?" Eddie asked him from behind the wheel. But truthfully, they both knew what the problem was.

Steve had been fussing all morning. Eddie was trying to get Steve to go grocery shopping. It took Eddie ten minutes to get him into the car, because every time he told Steve to get in he'd yell,
"No! No! I don' wanna!"
Eventually, Eddie had to resort to dragging him into the car. Seeing as Steve was rather strong, it took a lot of effort, and he pouted the entire way.

In the store, Steve was still little, so he kept pretty silent, except for when he'd ask Eddie to buy him candy every time he saw it.
"Stevie, cut it out. You can have something at home, but I'm not buying anything from here." Eddie scolded him.
Steve huffed at that, but quieted down. For a whole three minutes, that is. After that, every time he asked for sweets, Eddie would respond with a simple "No."
Eddie's flat responses made him even more upset.

When they had checked out and gotten back into the car, Stevie began his habitual sulking, foot-stomping and arm crossing.
"What's your problem?" Eddie asked.
"Candy." Steve frowned, looking to the window.
"I know you want some, bub, but I already got some for you yesterday! And we have treats at home, why can't we have those?" Eddie asked, artificially cheerful.
"prolly cause you'we dumb." Steve muttered, under his breath.

"What?" Eddie asked in surprise, jerking the car a little.
"You'we a dummy!" Steve shot, louder this time.
"Stevie. It's not okay to say these things like that."
Steve only sat in silence.
"I know, we don't all get our way sometimes, but we can at least be nice about it. And that was hurtful. Will you please apologize?" Eddie continued. Steve thought for a moment. He knew it was wrong, but he wanted to stand his ground.

"No." Steve argued.
Frankly, Eddie was a little upset by this. He truly wanted what was best for Steve; to make him happy. Steve's insult disheartened him a little bit, and he was beginning to regret not giving him what he wanted. But at the same time, he would by-no-means teach Steve to be entitled, so he knew what he had to do.
"Steve, I'm not messing around. Please just say sorry for being mean."
"No!" Steve refused.
"This is your last chance. You can apologize now or we can go home where you can face a punishment  and then apologize later."

Steve began to wonder if he should risk it or not. Eddie hardly ever gave him punishments. It wasn't a big deal, why was he so mad anyways?
So, Steve chose to keep silent.
"Alright," Eddie said, parking the car, "You've made your choice."
Eddie unbuckled Steve and helped him out of the car. When they got inside, Steve flopped onto the couch.
"No, mister. You have to go to your room for misbehaving and saying mean things." Eddie told him. Steve instantly sat up at this.
"What! But that's no fair!" He whined.
"It most certainly is fair." Eddie retorted. And both of them knew that. "Now go."
Steve finally complied and shuffled off to his room, closing the door.

Around ten minutes later, Steve was still sitting on his bed. He had his dog plushie in one arm while he absentmindedly traced patterns into his blanket while he thought.
He felt guilty for fussing so much. He didn't know why he does it, he just did sometimes. The way Eddie had kept his patience and treated Steve with kindness the entire time, despite Steve's brattiness and rude words, made him regretful. He was so grateful to have Eddie, and he didn't deserve that. Soft tears began to well up and spill from his eyes.

Eddie walked up to Steve's room and heard soft sniffles coming from the inside. He knocked on the door.
"Stevie, I'm coming in."
Eddie entered and sat next to Steve, wrapping his arm around him.
"I'm sorry we had to do that, bud. Do you know why?" Eddie asked.
Steve nodded.
"Was bad." he sniffled. "Was bad to you all morning and called you mean words. You're not a dummy, you're the bestest, and m' really sorry, I, I-" Steve choked out, struggling to find the words.

"It's okay. I'm not mad, I know you didn't mean it. What matters is that you understand that it's wrong and it won't happen again." Eddie soothed him.
"Not mad?" Steve asked hopefully.
"No bud, I'm not mad." Eddie chuckled.
Steve launched himself into a sideways-hug with Eddie, who laughed.

He gently held Steve's arm that was wrapped around him, and they stayed like that for awhile.

- 814 words
peep the fantastic photo at the top
i might throw an IT story in here cus why not😧
ALSO, 1,000+ reads!! thank you all so much for the requests and support!! <33