STRANGEST THINGS I HATE ABOUT YOU || steddie

chapter four: the hideout part 1

Throughout the eighteen years that he's been alive, Steve met many people. He made friends, dated a bit, hooked up a lot, but in the end it was all pointless. He realised that he brings people pain, so he isolated himself, but now, he has to go back to that extroverted Steve Harrington and go out with Eddie Munson. He's mostly concerned with the fact that Eddie seems to not buy his bullshit and definitely suspects something.

Steve's thoughts linger on that as he leaves the school building a bit later than others. He couldn't stop thinking about his earlier exchange with Eddie, so much that he lost track of time and didn't realise everyone from his class already left long ago. So now he's alone on the school's parking lot. He stops in his tracks and looks up at the sky, then closes his eyes and takes a deep breath in and out.

'Finally. I thought I'd have to wait here for the rest of the day!' Robin's voice interrupts Steve's thought process and causes him to jump slightly.

'Dammit, you couldn't give me a warning?'

'Isn't me speaking up enough of a warning?' Robin approaches Steve, patting his back. 'So... How did it go?'

'How did what go?' Steve knows what the girl means, but he was confused as to how she knew about his conversation with Eddie.

'Don't play dumb. I pay you to do something for me, so of course I'm going to track your progress.' Robin says, her chin up and an uncomfortable smirk on her face, she's definitely not used to saying something like that.

'We're meeting tonight.' he sighs.

'Tonight? Grea-' she stops, thinking for a second 'Wait. Tonight?!' she exclaims 'But he's meeting Jonathan and Nancy tonight!' At the mention of the latter name, Steve halts and looks slowly at Robin.

'Nancy? With Eddie?' He cannot believe that. He's never even seen the two together, and since the girl broke up with him after the 'incident', he has kept his distance, but he has never stopped caring about her, and liked to check in on her now and then. 'How do you even know that?'

Robin's expression changes completely, her mouth slightly open, eyes wide, but it's temporary and she regains composure. 'I have my ways.'

Steve decides not to question it for now, he's not really in a position to do so, so he changes the topic. 'What am I supposed to do then? Eddie said he'll pick me up at seven, and we're going to a bar.'

'What bar?' Robin immediately jumps in, determination on her face.

'I'm not sure, the name kind of slipped in to the conversation.' he replies, deep in thought. 'Steakout? Hangar-'

'Hideout?' she interjects.

'Yes! That's the one.'

'Hideout is an inclusive bar. It's on the edge of town, kind of in the middle of nowhere.' Robin takes her phone out to check the exact address.

'An inclusive bar?' Steve questions, confused.

'Yeah. A gay bar.' Steve's eyes look like they're going to fall out his sockets. He's never been to a gay bar, maybe because he's not gay. But does this mean that Eddie is? 'Well, technically an LGBTQ bar, but saying gay bar makes it easier for people who are not part of the community to understand.'

Robin types something on her iPhone, scrolls couple times and gives her phone to Steve. 'Here. You need to find out what the guy likes if you want to befriend him.' The way she said 'befriend' stuck to Steve. What exactly does Robin expect him to do?

Steve took the phone and looked at the page opened on the screen. It was Eddie's instagram profile, full of posts. Most of them don't even show Eddie's face, but one; a picture of Eddie, smiling brightly with his arms around a guy who's covered his face and... Nancy. Steve opened the post, the caption saying 'night out w my ppl🤘🏻' . He never thought Nancy would be friends with someone like Eddie, she's always been a preppy girl. While Eddie, he's a punk, he smokes, does drugs, drinks, he's in a band, hangs out with other weirdos from younger years.

Steve's jealousy clouds his judgement. He's seen how close everyone at Eddie's table is in canteen; they laugh, chant and even hug each-other. While his table would chuck things at other people and laugh at someone else's despair. He wants that connection with someone, which is why he fell in love with Nancy. She gave him that feeling. But now she's got that connection with Eddie. A pang of pain hits Steve in the chest. The thought of her and Eddie doing the things they did fills him with annoyance and a bit of anger.

He will befriend Eddie, and whether it's to make a change or be a prick and destroy what he has with Nancy, he'll decide later.

After scrolling the posts on Eddie's profile for the past ten minutes, Steve gathered the basic things that Eddie likes; metal music, his guitar, his band, D&D, his friends and a dog that he apparently has. Most of these things Steve already knew. He gave Robin her phone back, the girl already at the edge of losing her mind from the wait.

'I'll need your help.' Steve says, an idea forming in his head.

'With what?' Robin couldn't be more confused, seeing a little smirk on Steve's face.

'I need to get his attention somehow, and make it believable I wanna be friends, right? Be at mine for six. Bring your makeup, and any punk jewellery you can find.'

With that, Steve leaves Robin on the parking lot, dumbfounded, still not able to comprehend what is happening. Slowly, she smiles to herself, 'Welcome back Harrington.' She mumbles and leaves the place not long after, hand in her pockets and the smile not leaving her face.