I Can't, Eddie... (Steddie)

12

Steve was really really dragging his feet. He so did not want to participate in the nerdy shenanigans of Eddie and the kids. It was absolutely certain that the kids would freak out when he showed up and make a huge deal. Steve was already embarrassed as is. He didn't see how it wouldn't be blatantly obvious that he was doing this for Eddie as more than just a friend. Steve Harrington was a lot of things, but he wasn't a geek. At the very least Dustin would have to suspect.

Honestly, it's getting to the point where I would be offended if he didn't figure it out.

Dustin was one of his closest friends, after all. He literally taught Dustin all of his tips and tricks for picking up girls. And boys, apparently. Steve sighed, turning another corner toward the classroom where they played. Ahead of him a few feet, the boys bathroom door swung open and Paul sauntered out. He saw Steve and nodded in greeting. Steve's blood boiled.

"Hey, Paul," Steve jogged up to him playing it cool. His hands were in tight fists at his sides.

"Hey, Harrington. How's it going?" Paul said, falling into step with Steve.

"Good, good. So, what was it you said to Eddie Munson this morning?"

Paul laughed, "Oh, the usual. Y'know, he's a total f—"

Steve swung around and slammed Paul against the row of lockers behind him with a loud crack.

"What the fuck?! Steve! What are you doi— wait. Wait a fucking second. What are you, Munson's fucking boyfriend?"

Steve lifted Paul off the ground by his shirt collar and slammed him back again, pressing into his windpipe so he couldn't speak.

"What I am is none of your goddamn business," Steve growled, pressing harder. Paul's face started turning red and fear creeped into his eyes.

"You will never—" Steve pressed even harder. "I mean, never," Paul turned a shade of purple. "Speak to Munson again. Not a fucking word. Do you fucking understand me?" Steve spat out every word an inch away from Paul's terrified expression.

"I said do you fucking understand me?" Steve repeated. Paul nodded his head rapidly. Steve let him go and he fell in a heap on the floor. He scrambled to his feet and stared at Steve as if he were a complete madman.

"What the fuck is wrong with you, man?" Paul muttered under his breath. His mistake was still being within arms reach of Steve, who reacted entirely fueled by instinct and immediately snaked his fist out, connecting with Paul's face to make a clean break of his nose. Blood spurted out and he fell back to the floor again, clutching his face.

"Not a word, asshole." Steve said, and turned on his heel to walk away. His heart was beating a thousand miles an hour as he rushed to the club. He anxiously examined his knuckles which were already forming bruises and ran his hand through his hair several times, both in an attempt to calm down and to fix his disheveled appearance.

Fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck. FUCK.

Steve's mind was all over the place. Did Paul actually suspect him? He seemed to be very certain in his moment of clarity and it worried Steve. Then again, Steve also felt confident that he had instilled the fear of god in Paul, and that might be enough for him to keep his mouth shut.

So what if he knows? You're not supposed to care, remember?

Steve wasn't ashamed of Eddie by any means. He wanted anything to be able to openly love on him for the world to see. It was just hard to adjust to feeling totally carefree with his feelings when up until a few days ago he was completely certain that boys liking boys would never be a concern in his life in any capacity.

That's not true and you know it.

Steve thought back to the last few months. Eddie annoying him more and more as time went by. Was Eddie getting on his nerves, or was Eddie slowly working his way into Steve's heart? Now Steve wasn't so sure. The feelings he had confronted and accepted in the last week couldn't have come from nowhere. He felt pretty certain of that. He was just scared. He had a perfect picture of what his life would look like, and now that picture was fundamentally altered into a big unknown. A scary unknown.

Steve took several deep breaths standing outside of the classroom door. He slowly pushed it open and Eddie looked up from his notes, sitting at the far end of a long table. He smiled wide when he saw Steve. The dimple making Steve's heart swell as usual.

"Hi," Eddie said. Steve walked a bit closer and Eddie's expression flipped to concern. "What's wrong, Steve? Did something happen?" Eddie jumped up and met Steve halfway, resting his hands on Steve's shoulders. "Talk to me."

"I—uh," Steve cleared his throat and met Eddie's eyes briefly before looking back down and muttering, "I saw Paul in the hallway,"

Eddie sighed and put a hand on Steve's cheek. "What did you do?" He asked softly, without judgement.

Steve put his hand over Eddie's and Eddie saw the bruises blooming along his knuckles. Eddie snatched Steve's hand and examined it closely, brows knitted together. He gently rubbed along each bruise with his thumb. The boys were huddled close to one another and Steve leaned in to rest his head on Eddie's shoulder. Eddie turned his head and pressed his lips into Steve's hair, still lightly massaging Steve's hand. Steve's eyes fluttered closed for a few moments. It was an incredibly intimate moment and something seemed to shift in both of them. There was a closeness they felt that had nothing to do with how physically near each other they were. They trusted one another implicitly. They drew comfort from one another. They were falling in love.

The timing for this revelation, however, could not have been worse. Because it was at this moment, with Eddie still kissing Steve's head and holding his hand, that Dustin burst through the door and stopped dead in his tracks, eyes so wide they looked as though they might pop out of his head.