The Technicality of Teeth

Steve Harrington's Perfect Life

Steve was dreaming. He knew he was. Not because anything spectacular or unreasonable was happening, but simply because he knew the sensation. He knew the pleasant fog that covered him, wrapping him in the warm, fuzzy, mildly nonsensical world of his dream. He didn't know exactly what was happening, stimulus filtering into his senses like music from down the hall, but he could tell that his dream was good. How could it not be when he could feel a familiar hand on his ankle? When he could see a familiar dark head leaning back against his knees. When he could smell the familiar scent of rain and jasmine filtering in through the window. A scent that was only for him. One that only he could detect.

Yeah, it was a good dream. It had to be, with the way Eddie was leaning against his legs, pressing his lips to the inside of his knee, and muttering something about something that Steve couldn't make out but that was okay. It was okay because he could hear the way Eddie said that he loved him and the way he called him "Imzadi" or "Impossible Boy." Steve tried to respond the way Eddie had taught him, mirroring the nerdy little names with their appropriate counterparts, but his voice came out garbled. But that was okay too because Eddie rose and kissed the names from Steve's lips, pouring petrichor and flowers into his mouth from the tip of his tongue.

The sound of an alarm jump-started Steve into the waking world, causing him to jerk awake and then curl tighter around the body under him. Maybe if he just ignored it, it'd go away... He could just burrow back down into Eddie's chest, duck his head under the blankets and comforters that surrounded them, and pretend...

"Imzadi," Steve's mate murmured against the crown of his head, his voice rough with sleep in a way that made Steve's stomach swoop. "Alarm..."

Not that Eddie was making a great case for Steve to get out of bed. Not with the way he slid one sleep-warmed hand up under Steve's tee shirt, splaying between his shoulder blades, while the other hooked around the back Steve's knee, dragging the leg further up onto his hips with a delicious stretch to his hip flexors. And while Steve wanted so badly to squeeze his eyes shut and pretend the phone wasn't currently screaming at him to wake up, he also didn't necessarily want Eddie to have to wake up on his day off. He'd been working so hard, trying to meet deadlines in order to push out a new album before the end of the year, Steve couldn't bear the thought of him doing anything but resting while he was home.

And so, it was for that reason and that reason alone that Steve rolled off of his mate's chest and out of his warm embrace to reach blindly for the bedside table, hands searching in the dark for the ringing phone but finding nothing.

"You put it over on the bookshelf," Eddie reminded him, shifting to chase Steve's warmth and press himself back against him, his words once again in direct contrast with his actions.

"Why the fuck did I do that?" The plush, raised walls of the nesting frame were just high enough to cover Steve's face and muffle his words. Behind him, Eddie laughed and pressed his nose into the side of Steve's neck, nuzzling into his sleep-warmed skin, the stubble that darkened Eddie's jaw tickling Steve as he did so.

"Because, my Sun and Stars," Eddie cooed, his voice vibrating pleasantly against the sensitive skin under Steve's ear, eliciting a scent strong enough that even Eddie's Beta senses could detect it. "Past-Steve thought it would keep his future self from hitting snooze too much."

"Past-Steve sucks."

Eddie laughed, the sudden vibration of the sound hitting Steve's glands so harshly that the hinge of his jaw ached and his mouth watered unpleasantly. He didn't mind. A small price to pay for the sound of Eddie's laugh in his ear and the way his rain-and-jasmine scent flowed sweet with amusement.

"Well," Eddie sighed, finally pulling away after pressing one last kiss to the back of Steve's neck, "past-Eddie did try and remind Past-Steve that he's tried this before and hates it every time."