mortal projections • steddie

III.

III.

The first week of school flew by for Steve, and he thought it went surprisingly well. He had made a small breakthrough with Henry when he noticed that the kid was actually paying attention to his lessons. And, ever since Tuesday morning, Eddie had brought him a coffee, just the way he liked it.

Every single day. He was making it difficult for Steve not to have a little crush on him.

Some of the students seemed to notice that Eddie had been visiting Steve and bringing him coffee every day that week, and they started talking. A small rumor had spread, but Steve hadn't heard anything about it until the end of the day on Friday.

"Steve!" Dustin came rushing into his classroom as Steve cleaned up for the day.

"Can I help you, Henderson?" Steve raised an eyebrow at the curly haired high schooler, erasing the remnants of a dry erase marker from the whiteboard.

"There's a rumor going around about you and Mr. M," Dustin explained, and Steve's expression changed to confusion.

"Munson? The music teacher? What about him and I?" Steve questioned, sitting down behind his desk.

"Well, I guess it's not a rumor, more like people are 'shipping' you guys together," Dustin took multiple candies from Steve's candy bowl while talking, and Steve rolled his eyes as he did so.

"What is 'shipping'?" Steve removed his glasses from his face and closed his laptop, putting it in his bag.

"Like people think you guys should be together. As a couple," Dustin explained, and Steve's eyes went wide.

"And why do they think that?"

"I mean, we're not stupid. He brings you coffee every day, and he visits your classroom a lot. Word gets around," Dustin shrugged, popping a candy into his mouth.

"Mr. Munson and I are friends, Henderson. That's all. I never ask him to bring me coffee, he just does. Friends can do that," Steve stood from his desk, reaching into his laptop bag for his car keys.

"I'm just saying, if you guys start dating or something, the whole student body saw it coming," Dustin gave Steve a small wave before meeting up with Lucas and Will in the hallway.

Steve rolled his eyes, a small smile on his face. If the students were already pairing them together, Steve felt as if his small crush on Eddie was justified.

Steve turned the lights out and closed the door to his classroom. He was tempted to make his way over to Eddie's classroom, and after a moment of deciding, that's what he ended up doing.

As he walked in the music room, he heard some quiet guitar playing. Eddie was sitting behind his own desk, strumming an acoustic guitar. He spotted Steve walk in and immediately stopped. "Harrington. To what do I owe the pleasure of this visit?"

"I just wanted to stop by. You're always visiting me, so I thought I'd return the favor," Steve shrugged, giving Eddie a smile. "That sounded good, by the way."

"I'd hope so, or my career as a music teacher is over," Eddie teased, setting his guitar on a stand next to his desk.

"Did you hear what everyone's saying about us?" Steve decided to rip off the bandaid, as he was very curious to see what Eddie thought about it.

"Surprisingly, I haven't. I usually hear all of the rumors that go around, but they must've kept this one on lockdown," Eddie shrugged, taking his hair out of the neat bun he had done on the back of his head.

Steve watched as Eddie's hair fell slightly past his shoulders, and lost his train of thought as a result. Eddie noticed and smirked ever so slightly, adjusting the sleeves of his button down shirt. Steve realized he was staring and cleared his throat. "Um, yeah I just heard about it from Henderson just now. Apparently people are pairing us together, as a couple."