It's Called Hopeless, Sweetheart (Steddie) ❗️slow updates ❗️

7. I just guessed those were tears

(TW: brief mentions of death)

'Welcome to the Munson household!' Eddie said proudly. To Steve's surprise, the trailer was actually pretty large. It wasn't all that messy either.

'I'm gonna go wipe this blood off my face, feel free to explore.' Eddie called out as he walked into what Steve assumed was the bathroom and locked the door behind him.

Wandering down the hallway, he smelt the pungent reminiscence of weed coming from a room at the end of the corridor.

When he walked in, he slumped down on Eddie's bed, only just realising how exhausted he actually was. Eddie's floor was piled up with clothes and other various items. Steve gazed around at the walls, which were plastered in posters and photos. One in particular caught his eye, and he walked over to inspect it closer.

It depicted a slightly younger looking Eddie, his arm around a fair, ginger girl, who was dressed in a green Hawkins High cheerleading outfit. Eddie looked happy. Happier than Steve had ever seen him.

He heard footsteps behind him, and Eddie popped up next to the taller boy.
'Well Harrington, I see you've made yourself at home! Whatcha looking at?' He inquired.
'Who's this?' Steve pointed at the girl in the photograph. Eddie face fell.
'Oh. That's, my um... she is... she was... my sister. Her name was Chrissy.'

Steve knew he had fucked up. As soon as he set foot in Eddie's home, he mentioned his dead sister? He felt like a fucking idiot.
'Hey man, I'm um, really sorry.'
'It's, fine.' Eddie said, turning around, and wiping what Steve assumed to be tears from his eyes.

"Shit" Steve cursed to himself silently.
'Um... Eddie? Can I... hug you?'

Steve wasn't a hug kinda person, but he didn't want to fuck up his newfound friendship this quickly. Eddie seemed taken aback.
'I... sure.' He responded sheepishly.

Steve awkwardly took the smaller in his arms, tightly embracing him. It felt weird. But good. Eddie nestled his head very slightly into Steve's shoulder. Steve guessed that he was crying.

Eddie's POV

None of this felt fair to Eddie. Steve would never know how deeply he cared about him. It was stupid really. Eddie had only properly interacted with Steve this morning. It all felt to quick to him. Like a stupid high school crush.

Eddie wiggled himself out of Steve's tight grip, quickly wiped his eyes, and looked around for something to quickly change the topic with.
'Ah, look! What we came here for! Music!' He held a cassette tape up triumphantly, and hurriedly shoved it into his record player. The song Master Of Puppets began to play loudly, and Eddie immediately began to dance chaotically.

'Now this!' Eddie shouted over the loud metal, 'Is music!' Steve burst out laughing. Eddie knew full well that this was anything but Steve's preferred type of music, but it was funny to the see the younger try and react to the deafening drums. He just sort of stood there awkwardly.

It was fucking hilarious.

Eddie reached out for the volume dial and turned it down until it was just faintly playing in the background.

Steve's POV

Eddie looked up at Steve, a wide grin on his face. He looked so sweet.
'Why didn't you dance?' Eddie chuckled.
'I- don't know how.' Eddie's grinning face suddenly turned to a shocked one.
'Like, you don't know how to dance, at all?'
'Nope. I've never really danced properly before. Although, I've always wanted to learn how to ballroom dance, but I just never got round to it.'

At this, Eddie's eyes lit up,
'Well then today's your lucky day, Harrington!'
'You know how to ballroom dance?' Steve said curiously.
'Yep.' The curly haired boy replied proudly.' I'm simply full of surprises.' Eddie paused, then continued more nervously,
'My sister learnt from their girlfriend, and then she ended up teaching me.' Steve smiled.
'Your sister sounds fucking awesome.' A wistful smile spread over Eddie's face.
'They were.' He paused before saying more cheerfully,
'So? Do want me to teach you or not?'
Steve stopped for a moment to think, then nodded confidently.
'Yeah, why not.'
'Sweet!' Eddie grinned, removed the current cassette, and replaced it with another.

The song Take My Breath Away started to play.
'So,' Eddie began, 'give me your hand.' Steve was taken aback for a second, before interlocking his fingers with Eddie's.
'Ok, since you're taller, you put your hand just here,' he gestured to his waist, blushing slightly. Steve looked at Eddie to double check that he was ok with it, and Eddie nodded gently. So, Steve wrapped his hand around the upper half of his waist.
'And then I put my hand on your shoulder.' He reached up tentatively, giving Steve time to refuse, but he didn't, so he placed his small hand onto Steve's right shoulder.
'And now, we waltz,' He said with a small chuckle. 'So just... follow my foot pattern, and you'll get it.'

Their feet moved together very well, considering that Steve had always been a fairly clumsy person.

The song played softly in the background as they danced, and Steve smiled to himself. He felt... happy. Properly, truly, happy, for the first time in god knows how long. And it just had to be the time where he was fucking waltzing with Eddie Munson. He gazed down into Eddie's eyes once more. They really were... stunning. Eddie was just generally beautiful, he thought to himself. That wasn't a weird thing to think, was it?

Eddie's POV

And there he was, dancing with Steve Harrington, of all people. And the odd thing was, he hadn't felt this happy since Chrissy had died. Perhaps that was a bad thing, but Eddie didn't think of it as such. And he didn't think that Chrissy would have either. Chrissy would be happy for him.

Steve's POV

The song abruptly stopped, and the two simply stood there for a second. Steve could feel Eddie's cool rings pressing into his hand, but he didn't particularly care. Neither boy was sure where to go from here.

Eventually, Steve unclasped his hand from Eddie's, and at this cue, Eddie removed his hand from Steve's shoulder.

Eddie's POV

Steve's hand lingered on Eddie's waist for a second or two before he pulled it away. Eddie couldn't figure out whether he had done it on purpose or not.

Steve's POV

'So,' Steve piped up awkwardly. 'I should probably be heading home then.' Eddie checked his watch, then frowned.
'It's 1am, Steve, I'm not sure you should be driving home at this time.' While Steve agreed, he dreaded the awkward morning talk. Maybe he could just drive off later without Eddie noticing.
'If you, erm, wanted to stay, you of course could, I just... don't want to feel like I'm pressuring you.' Eddie said nervously.
'I mean, if it's ok... I don't really want to get jumped while I'm leaving.' Steve chuckled.
'Yeah of course man. The couch is just down the hall to the left.' Eddie smiled, and pointed to the living room. Steve left, shutting the door behind him gently.

Eddie sat down on his bed and exhaled deeply. He wasn't sure what to think about what had happened tonight.

One thing was for sure though.

His plan to not fall for Steve Harrington was not going fucking well.