Chapter Text
By the time Steve got home, it was well past midnight. He hoped that Robin had gone to bed, but deep down he knew that hope was probably a waste of time. Looking up at their apartment from the street, he couldn’t see any lights on but Steve knew that didn’t mean anything.
Stepping into the pitch-black apartment and closing the door, Steve sighed heavily and said, “Robs, I know you’re not actually in bed and you’re just trying to startle me, so can we just skip that part?”
The lamp next to their old, frumpy armchair clicked on and Steve squinted at Robin’s stern face, though he could see the smile she was doing her best to smother. Crossing her arms, she asked, “Do you have any idea what time it is, young man? How worried I’ve been?”
“How long have you been sitting there?” he asked flatly, toeing off his shoes carefully. The wetness in Steve’s boxers stopped being sexy about halfway through the drive home and most movements reminded him just how sloppy Steve had left himself.
“Like two minutes. I was in bed and heard your car, hurried out here. Took out my shin on the coffee table ‘cos I didn’t wanna turn the lights on,” Robin admitted instantly, then looked him up and down. “That’s not your shirt.”
Steve looked down at Eddie’s shirt—it was a band t-shirt, he could tell that much, but there was no way he was going to be able to read the mess of lines that were allegedly letters that spelled something—and snorted. “Good observation skills, Robs,” he teased before shuffling awkwardly toward the hall.
“No, no, no, we’re actually talking about this Steve,” Robin hissed, jumping up to hurry after him. He snorted when he heard her hit the coffee table with a shin again. “ Ow , oh my god, shit, shit, ow .”
Steve nearly made it to the bathroom before Robin recovered and managed to cut him off. “Robs—” Steve started, but Robin reached up as if to cover his mouth, which he quickly dodged with a blush.
“Nuh-uh, shush, you are not sneaking out of this conversation, you hear me?” Robin insisted, putting her hands on her hips. “We are talking about this, because best friends don’t let their platonic soulmates fuck rockstars without checking in with them at least.”
Raising an eyebrow at Robin, Steve said, “Fine, we’ll talk about it after I shower. I’m not having this conversation with the situation currently happening in my boxers right now.”
Robin’s eyebrows shot up on her forehead before she wrinkled her nose. “You didn’t even clean up?” she asked in a scandalized whisper.
“It was a heat of the moment thing,” Steve admitted with a hot blush. “It was really hot when I decided to do it.”
“Doesn’t feel too hot now, though,” Robin said with a snort and Steve rolled his eyes.
“No, it doesn’t, Robs. Can I go shower now?” He groaned, and she let him past but then moved as if to follow him into the bathroom.
It wasn’t uncommon for Robin to hang out while he showered, but again, Steve kind of wanted this time to himself. He wasn’t super keen on washing cum out of his pubes and probably even his chest hair while Robin was on the other side of the nearly transparent shower curtain.
“Can I just shower alone? Please?” Steve asked and Robin froze, searching his face for something.
“You okay?” she asked, brow furrowing when she didn’t seem to find what she expected to see.
“I’m fine, great even, I’m just—” Steve started, cutting himself off to scrub at his face briefly. “I would just like to wash up alone .”
Robin held up her hands in surrender, walking backward down the hall. “Alright, Dingus, you can shower alone,” she said magnanimously before detouring into Steve’s bedroom, pointing at him almost accusingly. “I’ll be waiting in here, though!”
“Alright, Robs, I’ll be there in like ten minutes,” Steve laughed and locked himself in the bathroom. Pulling out his phone, he saw he already had a few messages from Eddie and grinned.
Eds [sent at 00:35]: 💕💕💕 lmk when u get home angel 💕💕💕
Eds [sent at 00:58]: u home yet??? 😘 miss u already 😔
Eds [sent at 01:10]: idk how i'm supposed to sleep wo u here 😔💔
Steve’s heart clenched at the last message, feeling breathless and dizzy. Letting out a slow breath, Steve typed out his response.
Steve [sent at 01:17]: home now. about to get grilled by robin. pray for me.
Putting down his phone, Steve stripped and quickly hopped into the shower, scrubbing his whole body down, flinching a bit as he found bruises and hickeys in odd places. There was already an ache settling into Steve’s inner thighs, one that he knew he would be feeling for a couple days.
When Steve got out of the shower, he checked his phone again for messages.
Eds [sent at 01:18]: 🙏🏻💖💖💖💖
Eds [sent at 01:23]: howre u feeling???? 👉🏻👈🏻 like abt tonite? u okay? 🥺
Eds [sent at 01:27]: is it too much to be saying i miss u bc i can dial it back
Steve frowned at the second and third message, bewildered by the turn in Eddie’s affectionate texts.
Steve [sent at 01:37]: i feel great babe, had the best time i promise and i definitely miss u too already. are u okay?
Eds [sent at 01:38]: okay good 😅
Eds [sent at 01:38]: was just overthinking 🤡
Eds [sent at 01:38]: dont worry about it 🤗🥰 cant wait to see u tomorrow im gonna treat u so good rly put my rockstar money to good use 😤
Finally, Eddie’s texts returned to normal and Steve was smiling again.
Steve [sent at 01:39]: can’t wait eds. now i rly gotta go get grilled by robin
Wrapping his towel around his waist and scooping his clothes off the ground, Steve shuffled into his room to find Robin sprawled on his bed and reading one of his magazines.
“Took you long enough,” she complained, looking up when Steve threw his clothes into his hamper and grabbed boxers out of his dresser, putting them on before hanging his towel on a hook on his bedroom door.
“I was like twenty minutes,” Steve said with a roll of his eyes.
“Which is ten more than you said you would be,” Robin said with a sniff, sitting up and crossing her legs. “So. He said the b-word.”
Steve couldn’t believe how hot his face got just at the mention of Eddie calling him his boyfriend, or how quickly it did. Turning to his dresser quickly, Steve busied himself with digging the pajamas he wanted to wear out.
“Yeah,” Steve finally said with a one-shouldered shrug.
“So…?” Robin said, dragging the single syllable out questioningly. “You’re boyfriends?”
Steve put on a soft t-shirt and gray pair of sweatpants and turned around, shrugging again. “I don’t know. We’re going to talk about it tomorrow, on our date, I mean,” he replied, flopping face-first onto his bed next to Robin.
“Steve…” she started, and Steve groaned.
“Please don’t—”
He felt one of her fingers poke his head. “It’s my duty as your best friend to worry about you,” she said firmly. “So, he called you his boyfriend, then you didn’t talk about it, but then you fucked him?”
“Actually, Robin, he fucked me ,” Steve said, propping himself on his elbows to give Robin one of his signature bitchy looks. She did not seem moved.
“Dingus, you know that’s worse for you,” Robin said, and Steve made a face.
“You make me sound like a virgin or something,” Steve complained, and Robin rolled her eyes.
“No, you’re romantic and a sap and have a sappy thing about having your business penetrated—”
“Don’t say that word,” Steve complained, grimacing.
“Don’t deflect!” Robin said, sighing explosively. “I really want this to work out for you, and for what it’s worth I think it will, just I’m also really anxious about it because I know you and I know you won’t take it well if he’s not serious.”
Steve’s expression softened and he reached over to take Robin’s hand gently in his. “I know, Robs, you’re right. I just—I’m pretty sure he’s serious, like, look at these,” Steve said as he sat up, pulling out his phone to show her the texts. Robin’s anxious expression relaxed as she read them and then she turned her annoyed glare on Steve.
“You really hit the guy with three full-stop sentences after he said he missed you, Dingus?” Robin asked flatly. “And you didn’t even react to him saying he missed you? Or that he can’t sleep without you?”
“What? I didn’t—” Steve went to defend himself, but looking at his phone and rereading the messages, he saw exactly what she was saying.
“Miss you already, I don’t know how I’m supposed to sleep without you.” “Home now. About to be grilled by Robin. Pray for me.”
“Oh, fuck, I did, didn’t I?” Steve groaned, covering his face with both hands and leaning his elbows on his knees.
“Somehow you brought it back around, though, so there’s that,” Robin said, the smirk obvious in her voice. Then she raised her eyebrows high, inclining her head toward Steve. “So, how was it ?”
Steve sighed so dreamily that even Robin blushed. “Zero exaggeration, but it was literally the best sex I’ve ever had,” he said, flopping back onto his pillows.
“Mm, doubtful,” Robin said, sucking her teeth. “You’ve had sex with Nancy, and I know for a fact she’s—”
“Fine! Fine, the best sex I’ve had with another guy ever,” Steve conceded, and Robin nodded, pleased.
“So, tell me about everything,” Robin pushed, drumming her hands on Steve’s stomach. “Spare zero details.”
“You sure? I mean some of it involves gagging—” Steve started knowingly, laughing when Robin pulled a face.
“Yuck, okay, spare those details. The rest? Wanna know all of it,” she said.
Steve happily obliged even if Robin was dramatic about a few of the parts— “Your ass , Stephen?” “Hey, don’t knock it ‘til you try it—” “Uh, no thanks, I have a perfectly good pussy—” “So do I?” “That’s why I’m freaking out, what was the point —?” —and by the time he reached the end of his story, it was coming up on four in the morning.
“Okay, time for you to get out. I’m fucking exhausted,” Steve said after a bit and to his surprise, Robin got up practically immediately.
“I’m happy for you, Dingus,” she said, stooping to kiss the top of Steve’s head. “Good night.”
Steve snagged Robin’s wrist before she could stand back up and tugged her close enough for him to kiss her cheek. “Night, Robbie,” he said affectionately, meeting Robin’s eyes and seeing her fond expression.
When she finally left his room, Steve laid down and turned off his lamp, then looked at his phone again. Mulling over his texts with Eddie, thinking about how he wanted to express even a fraction of his feelings for Eddie to make up for his dumb response earlier.
Steve [sent at 03:38]: i miss you so much already, wish we could’ve spent the night together. p sure that would just make it worse, for me at least
Steve [sent at 03:41]: tonight was amazing. literally one of the best nights of my life. can't wait to see you again. want to hold your hand again.
Steve [sent at 03:42]: i'm going to bed now. good night eds
With that, Steve smiled and locked his phone, slipping under his blankets and cuddling up in all of his pillows, pretending he was holding Eddie as he drifted off to sleep.
❖
Steve wakes up to his cell phone vibrating under his arm and he groggily squints at the screen. He couldn’t make the blurry letters come into focus so he just answered.
“Hello…?” Steve said hoarsely, and he winced a bit at the soreness in his throat.
“Hey, sweetie, are we still on for brunch? Just checking because I remember you saying you were going to a concert last night,” came the cheerful voice of Melissa Harrington. With a little chuckle, she asked, “Did I wake you up?”
“Shit, yeah, but what time is it?” Steve asked, scrubbing his face and sitting up. The entire lower half of his body felt achy and sore, especially in his inner thighs and his crotch. For a brief moment while his brain still came back online, he was confused, but then the memories hit him like a freight train. His neck also hurt, but he was pretty sure that was just from sleeping weird.
“It’s just after ten,” she replied, and Steve jumped out of bed and stripped out of his pajamas. He was so glad he showered the night before.
“I’m so sorry, Mom, yeah we’re still on,” he said quickly, putting his phone on speaker so he could get dressed as quickly as possible.
Melissa huffed out a laugh. “We can reschedule—”
“No, Mom. We’ve had this scheduled, we’re meeting for brunch,” Steve said firmly, hurrying into the bathroom to brush his teeth, ignoring Robin’s indignant squawk from the shower when he turned the sink on.
“What the fuck, Dingus?” she shouted, poking her head around the shower curtain.
“Hi, Robin,” Melissa greeted, the phone still on speaker.
Robin blushed. “Hi, Mrs. Harrington,” she greeted back sheepishly while Steve brushed his teeth and fixed his hair blindly since the mirror was too foggy to see his reflection.
“Call me Melissa, sweetheart, please,” his mom insisted, and Robin cringed.
“Sorry, Mrs. Harrington, but Melissa is what I call my mom,” she retorted, just as she always did.
Richard and Melissa Buckley were interesting people who insisted that they treat their children as equals, so they raised their gaggle of kids to refer to them by their names, not as “mom” or “dad.” It was kind of weird, but it also conjured some funny images of toddlers trying to say Melissa or Richard, which Steve would sometimes do to cheer himself up. Unfortunately, this meant that somehow Robin got it in her head that she couldn’t refer to Steve’s mom by her first name at all .
“I don’t expect you to understand the intricacies of my mind,” Robin had said haughtily when Steve questioned her.
“Good, because I have absolutely stopped trying,” Steve had responded and had a pillow thrown at him for his sass.
“I’ll see you later, Bobbie,” Steve said, purposely waiting for Robin to return to her shower before rinsing his toothbrush, giggling maniacally at her squawk as he fled the bathroom.
“Is she ever going to loosen up around me?” Melissa sighed as Steve took his phone off of speaker.
“She has, Mom. She just calls you Mrs. Harrington,” he reassured her. “Okay, I’m gonna hang up now. I’ll meet you there, okay?”
“I’ll get us a table,” Melissa said pleasantly and hung up before Steve could say goodbye.
The drive to their favourite brunch restaurant was a short distance from his apartment, and normally Steve walked to it when he wasn’t so sore from getting fucked the night before and running late. Today, though, he sent an apology to Mother Nature as he did the five-minute drive and parked down one of the side streets.
Walking to the restaurant was a chore with the ache at the junction of his thighs, but Steve was pretty sure he made his gait look normal enough, especially as he approached the table his mother was sitting at.
Melissa was beautiful, Steve always thought she was. Especially in the last few years as she let herself age rather than hiding the advancing clock under hair dye, layers of make-up, and expensive Botox appointments. She had recently cut her hair short, saying she was just looking for a change after having long hair her whole life, so now the silver shot through it was obviously in the majority.
Steve loved to see her so relaxed, so easygoing and happy, even after they lost his dad.
At the table, she was looking over the menu, even though she ordered the same thing every time they had brunch, her expression amusingly thoughtful.
As Steve slipped into the chair in front of Melissa, she looked up with a smile that crinkled the corners of her eyes. There was a moment where her eyebrows shot up slightly while she looked Steve up and down. “Hi, Steve,” she said, her smile turning into a bit of a smirk as she returned to looking at her menu. “I already ordered yours, by the way. I told her I was still deciding.”
Steve snorted. “What’re you thinking?” he asked, just like he did every time, gesturing at the menu.
“I’m torn between the eggs benny and the turkey club,” Melissa lamented, pursing her lips with a huff. “Maybe I’ll get the turkey club this time.”
Steve knew she wouldn’t, she never actually changed her order, even if she debated for a whole thirty minutes.
Sure enough, when the server returned to take her order, Melissa requested the classic eggs benny and handed the menu back. Once the server walked away, Melissa turned her attention to Steve with a teasing look.
“You have a good night?” she asked, and Steve could feel his ears heat up. He hadn’t mentioned a word about Eddie to her, not wanting her to either discourage him or get too excited about it. Even now, he wanted to keep it close to his chest until he talked to Eddie later.
“Yeah! The concert was great, the crowd was really intense. I went with Will—you know him, the nice kid from front desk?” Steve said, nodding when Melissa smiled with recognition.
“He’s your boss’ son, right?” she asked after a moment, and there was a strange expression on her face, almost like concern.
“Yeah,” Steve confirmed, puzzled by her reaction but laughing through it. “The band that gifted me the tickets is actually one of his favourites, so I couldn’t not bring him with me.”
Melissa’s frown deepened. “Do you think workplace relationships are wise, Steve? Especially with your boss’ son—”
Steve’s jaw dropped and he leaned over the table, shaking his head frantically. “Whoa, Mom , I’m not—I’m not dating Will,” Steve practically hissed, eyes wide as he blushed and Melissa covered her face with both hands, laughing out loud for so long that other patrons were starting to look over.
“Thank God. Okay, I’m sorry, sweetie. I just saw the hickeys and you said you went with Will,” she explained, wiping the tears that had formed at the corner of her eyes carefully, dabbing as if she was wearing makeup like she used to. A thirty-plus year habit. “Your face when you realized what I was saying…”
Melissa was starting to giggle again, but Steve was still reeling over what she had said. “Hickeys?” he asked, baffled.
“Sweetheart,” Melissa said, almost pitying as she tried to contain her laughter. “Half of your neck looks like a toothless vampire tried really hard to get the goods.”
“ Mom ,” Steve gasped, slapping a hand over the sore side of his neck. With a groan, he covered his face with his free hand and propped his elbow on the table. “Oh my god.”
“I’m sorry for laughing, Steve,” Melissa said, trying to sound sincere but he could hear her still trying to contain her laughter. “I would love to hear about… them. Whoever it was.”
Steve sighed and sat up. “Guess the cat’s out of the bag anyway,” he said, resigned and his mom frowned.
“You don’t have to tell me if you don’t want to, Steve,” she reassured him, but there was hurt in her expression that she was doing her best to hide.
“I haven’t been hiding it from you—well, I mean, I have but not because of anything you did, Mom,” Steve quickly reassured her. “It’s just…I didn’t want you to get too excited or discourage me, and we have a proper date tonight. I was going to tell you about him after that, I promise.”
Melissa’s eyebrow had been slowly climbing her forehead as Steve talked until he finished, then she reached across the table to hold his hand. “Sweetheart, if you were clearly excited about this man, I would never discourage you,” she said warmly, looking at him imploringly and Steve knew she meant it.
However, Melissa Harrington, despite how much she had loosened up since Steve graduated high school, was still a pragmatic businesswoman, a “realist” as she called herself. She couldn’t help but do a risk analysis on almost everything anyone did if she was close enough to voice an opinion on it. Steve knew that she liked to present facts for people to consider with any big decisions that had big risks associated, and she genuinely thought she was being helpful.
It always came off as discouraging, though.
The server chose that moment to come back to their table with their food, and they were distracted with making small talk for a couple minutes.
When the server walked away, Steve took a deep breath. “His name is Eddie,” he said, chewing the inside of his cheek as he poured syrup over his French toast. He put the syrup down and looked at Melissa as she nodded encouragingly, lifting her orange juice to her lips to take a sip. With a grin, Steve added, “He’s the frontman of the band I saw last night.”
The noise Melissa made as she choked into her glass had multiple people turning to stare at them again. Steve had to work very hard to not laugh as Melissa put her glass down and mopped up her chin and cheeks, grumbling to herself.
“You did that on purpose,” she accused him lightly, a smile tugging at the corner of her lips as she took a deep breath. “Alright, the frontman of a famous… metal band? Yes?”
“Yeah, Corroded Coffin,” Steve confirmed, and when Melissa pulled out her phone, he panicked for a second. “Don’t google him.”
Melissa raised an eyebrow at Steve. “I will do as I please, Stephen,” she said sternly, and went back to looking at her phone. Steve knew the moment she found the same images he did by the way her eyebrows jumped. After a few moments, Melissa looked up at Steve with just her eyes and said, “He’s certainly handsome.”
“Yeah, he is,” Steve agreed in a dreamy tone.
Putting her phone away again, Melissa returned to eating. “You like him a lot?” she asked.
“Yes,” Steve said instantly, but dread was bubbling up in his gut. She was doing her analysis; he could tell by the way she was keeping her expression carefully neutral.
She hummed. “And he likes you?”
“Yes.” Steve put his fork down and chewed on his lip, refusing to look at Melissa.
“Do you want this to be serious?” she asked, and Steve was nodding as he stared at his French toast.
“Yes,” he answered verbally after a few moments.
“And does he?” Melissa’s tone was different with that question, enough so that Steve finally looked at her again. Her expression was soft, fond in her concern.
Thinking back to Eddie’s texts, Steve smiled at her and nodded. “Yeah, I think so. We’re talking about it tonight,” he replied.
“Okay,” Melissa said with a broad smile. “Tell me about him.”
Steve blinked at her for several moments before he said, “That’s it?”
Melissa frowned. “Yes? Now I want to hear about him,” she replied.
“You—when I started dating Nancy, you literally lectured me—” Steve started, and Melissa held up a hand.
“Whoa, there, Stephen. I did not lecture you, I just presented you with the red flags I saw and I ended up being right,” Melissa said, pointing at Steve, her eyebrows high. “I liked Nancy, I did, she just wasn’t right for you.”
“I was in love with her,” Steve insisted, and Melissa snorted.
“And when you talked about her, you didn’t light up even half as bright as you just did two minutes ago,” she said with a shrug, returning to her meal. Steve just gaped at her, completely at a loss of what to say to that. “Now, you can revisit your grudge against me for not being one hundred percent on board with Nancy Wheeler, or you could tell me about Eddie. Your choice, Steve.”
After a couple moments of digesting her words, Steve grinned and picked up his fork again, digging into his French toast and, quite frankly, talking his mom’s ear off about Eddie Munson.
As Steve’s brunch with his mom was coming to an end, his phone began to ring. It was weird enough to get a phone call out of the blue that Melissa didn’t mind when Steve checked his phone.
“Oh, it’s Eddie,” Steve said with a smile, glancing at his mom a bit nervously.
“Go ahead and answer, sweetie,” she said, taking out her own phone while Steve was busy.
“Hey, Eds,” he said happily as he answered.
“Hey, Stevie,” Eddie replied, but his tone was off, like he was about to deliver bad news and Steve’s stomach dropped.
“What’s up?” Steve asked, and out of the corner of his eye he could see his mother put her phone down and start paying attention.
Eddie sighed heavily on the other end. “I want you to know how much I don’t want to cancel, Stevie, like I really, really, really don’t and I’ve been trying to do everything in my power not to cancel—”
“Whoa, Eds, slow down. What’s going on?” Steve asked again, even as his eyes stung at the thought of not getting to see Eddie before he left.
“I overexerted my leg,” Eddie said in a voice that was almost mocking , and Steve leaned back in his chair with a quiet groan. After a bit, Eddie added, “Like, this past week has been the busiest, most demanding week of the tour so far between concerts and filming and shit, so it was bound to happen—”
“Last night didn’t help, though, did it?” Steve said, guilt twisting in his gut.
“Steve, don’t. I chose to do what we did last night just as much as you, so you better not be blaming yourself over there,” Eddie said firmly, and Steve chuckled sadly.
“Okay, fine, I’ll try not to. So, you’re not allowed to go out anymore?” Steve pressed and Eddie heaved a sigh.
“No, it’s not like I’m like… grounded, just…” Eddie trailed off a bit, like he was trying to find the words. “Right now, I’m not like, in pain. Well, not more pain than usual, I guess, but my leg is tired. I’ve had to use my crutches all fucking day, and basically if I want to be able to perform on Monday, I need to rest my stupid leg—”
“Don’t call it stupid,” Steve interrupted, startling a laugh out of Eddie.
“Fine, it’s not stupid, but I still have to rest my leg, and the plans I had for our date are not restful at all,” Eddie said, quickly adding, “That wasn’t an innuendo, by the way, I mean the plans I had involved a lot of walking, though I definitely also meant—”
“Eds,” Steve interjected before Eddie could go on a full ramble. “What if you just come over to my place? We can order in some take-out, watch a movie, keep it simple and quiet.”
There was a long pause. “What?” Eddie asked, as if he hadn’t even considered just hanging out at Steve’s apartment.
“Eds… did you actually think to cancel our date before asking to come over to my place?” Steve asked, and he could only muster a tone of fondness rather than annoyance.
“Well, kinda. I wanted to treat you, and you seemed excited, so I didn’t want to disappoint you, and yeah, I didn’t want to suggest something as lame as Netflix and chill,” Eddie said in a rush, pulling an actual laugh from Steve.
“Eds, I don’t care about the plans, that’s not even close to why I was excited. I just want to see you, that’s it,” Steve said earnestly, and when that statement was met with a long pause, he softly said, “Eds?”
“You’re not just saying that because you feel bad for me, right?” Eddie asked a bit stiffly, and Steve released a sad sigh, hating whoever taught him to assume that possibility before believing that Steve was being genuine.
“I’m saying it because I mean it, Eds. It was never about where you were taking me or what we were doing,” Steve insisted, his shoulders relaxing when Eddie laughed.
“How are you real, Steve?” Eddie murmured into the phone before sighing, happily that time. “What time should I come over, handsome?”
Steve grinned, rubbing his bottom lip as he considered the question. “How about six?”
“Sounds perfect, love,” Eddie hummed, winding Steve with the term of endearment all over again. “See you then,” he added.
“Yeah, see you then, Eds,” Steve agreed, a bit dazed as his mind spiraled around the pet name.
After hanging up, Steve looked back at Melissa to find her smiling at him, the expression almost cautious, but sincere.
“What?” he asked, getting self-conscious the longer she searched his face.
“Nothing, sweetie, just happy for you,” Melissa said, reaching across the table to hold Steve’s hand gently. “Your father would be, too.”
Steve blinked quickly, pulling his hand away to wipe his nose before clearing his throat. “I need to head home and clean up, figure out what I’m making for us to eat,” Steve said quickly, taking a deep breath.
“Thought you were ordering take-out?” Melissa said with a little smirk as she waved the server down for the check.
“Obviously I’m going to show off, Mom,” Steve said with a snort while he texted Eddie his address.
“That’s my boy,” she said proudly. Once their brunch was paid for, Melissa stood up and smiled down at Steve. “Well, let’s go. We’ve got an apartment to tidy and a dinner to plan.”
Steve raised an eyebrow as he stood and followed her out. “We?”
“I’m not busy today, so I’ll help you,” Melissa said, and at Steve’s narrowed eyes she held up her hands. “I’ll leave before he gets there! I promise! I’m not trying to ambush him.”
With a laugh, Steve nodded. “Okay, fine, you can come over and help. I’ll see you in a bit,” he said, grinning as he headed to his car.
❖
There were many things that Eddie generally was not , and one of those things was punctual. Getting him anywhere on time with anything less than an entire team of stage techs plus Chrissy Cunningham and a screaming crowd was nothing short of a miracle. So, when he made plans with Steve for six, he immediately showered and got changed, which left him with nothing to do for two hours.
He couldn’t even pace his hotel room to keep himself distracted, and if he turned on the TV, he would absolutely get too distracted and leave late . Eddie made it about an hour laying on his bed staring at the ceiling before he decided he would just leave early, give himself more than enough time to get there.
Sitting up, Eddie reached for his cane and paused, frowning. He hated using his crutches, but if Chrissy caught him not using them after he almost collapsed earlier when his knee buckled, she would actually ground him.
Grumbling to himself, Eddie picked his crutches up and made his way down to the hotel driveway, fumbling a bit with getting his phone out to call for a car with his crutches.
“Would you like assistance, sir?”
Eddie looked down at the redhead standing at the valet desk. Max, as he had come to learn her name to be. Her question was polite, but her tone was vaguely annoyed. He had seen her talk to other guests, so he knew she had it in her to give him the whole customer service schtick, she just chose not to. Eddie really liked that about her.
“Yeah, can you call me a town car?” he asked, and she sneered.
“I dunno, can I?” Max asked, rolling her eyes slightly as she started shifting through the papers on the desk. “You too good for a taxi or an Uber?”
“Absolutely,” Eddie said, pulling out his pack of cigarettes and lighting up while Max found the sheet she needed and picking up the receiver of the phone on her desk.
“I’m gonna need the address of where you’re going, genius,” Max said flatly, and Eddie laughed.
“Here,” he said, handing her the piece of paper he rewrote Steve’s address on.
Max eyed the paper before turning a very real glare on Eddie. “Why’re you going to Steve’s?” she asked, her tone suspicious.
Unsure of how much Steve would want Eddie divulging about their courtship, he just quirked an eyebrow with a sly smirk. “To play Scrabble, obviously. Why else would a hot-blooded faggot such as myself go to a man’s private residence?” he asked suggestively.
Max’s expression shuttered completely, and she hung up the receiver. “Oops, looks like I don’t have the phone number for the town cars. Tough luck,” Max said with a tight, fake smile.
“ He invited me over,” Eddie said, dumbfounded at her sneer.
“Yeah, and Steve sucks at taking care of himself,” Max said, shrugging, smiling as another guest stepped out of the door and slid into a taxi waiting there.
“He’s a big boy and can make his own choices,” Eddie pushed and while the whole back-and-forth was a bit frustrating, it also brought a smile to his face. Steve thought he didn’t have any friends other than his roommate, yet here Max was, the meanest valet driver in the world, protecting his honour or something.
“Yeah, he is and he can. Doesn’t mean I have to be complicit,” Max replied flatly, crossing her arms and leaning on the desk to narrow her eyes at him. “If he wants your dick so bad, he can come pick you up, yeah?”
Finally, Eddie laughed and shook his head, shuffling closer to the valet desk and leaning over it. “Between you and me, little red, Steve and I have been talking for months. I’m happy you’re looking out for him, though,” he said, and Max’s expression was skeptical.
“You expect me to believe that?” Max asked with a scoff.
“I expect nothing of you, little red. Do you mind if I lean against your desk while I call myself a ride?” Eddie asked before she could come back with another snappy retort.
Gesturing grandly, Max said, “Knock yourself out, Munson.” She eyed him warily while he leaned on the desk to free up his hands, pulling out his phone and dialing for the car service.
When the town car pulled up, Max actually surprised Eddie when she came around the desk and opened the door for him.
“Thanks, little red—” he started, but she put her hand in front of him.
“You better be telling the truth, Munson, and you better be good to him, got it?” Max said, and Eddie actually felt a small thrill of fear go through him. “I will find you and take one of your kidneys if you’re lying.”
With that, Max gestured for Eddie to get into the car and shut the door behind him with a condescending wave.
Grabbing his side nervously, Eddie looked down at his phone and texted Steve.
Eddie [sent at 16:58]: 😨 little red is so fucking scary 😱😱😱😱
💞💓💞 [sent at 16:59]: what she do now?
Eddie [sent at 17:01]: threatened 🔪 my kidney if i hurt u 😨😨😨
💞💓💞 [sent at 17:01]: jesus sorry shes rly intense sometimes i'll talk to her
Eddie [sent at 17:02]: it was cute just rly scary 😨 fr fully believe she will actually take my kidney
Eddie put his phone away and focused on looking out the window, trying not to let his nerves get to him. It was starting to sink in that he was going to be spending the evening with Steve and not doing any of the flashy things he had planned to hopefully keep Steve’s interest in him past the sex. They were going to spend several hours together with nothing to distract Steve, nothing for Eddie to hide behind. He was going to ask Steve to be his boyfriend, and he couldn’t help the wave of anxiety that Steve would say no.
Arriving at Steve’s apartment by fifteen after five was not at all part of Eddie’s plans. This was way too early, but it wasn’t like he could just ask the driver to sit and idle for at least half an hour. Dealing with payment and thanking the driver, Eddie slid out and leaned against the building and lit another cigarette that he had no intention of actually smoking that much of.
Beside him, the door to the building opened and a woman stepped out, speaking on the phone with someone.
“I’ll be home shortly, I was just helping—yes, I know I said I would help with the launch, but I was needed here,” she was saying, and she glanced over at him with a polite smile before taking a couple more steps. Then she glanced at him again, looking a little longer as if recognizing him, and Eddie grimaced.
That was just what he needed, to be recognized by a fan outside the apartment of the guy he was pretty solidly in love with. Eddie was sure that would go over well.
“Reggie, shut up, I have to go,” she said, and with that she hung up the call and dialed another number. Opening the passenger door of a fancy car parked at the curb, she threw her purse onto the seat and said, “Yes, I know I just left— sweetie, shut up. Incoming.”
She rounded the car and met Eddie’s puzzled gaze and winked at him. “He’s here already,” the woman said into the phone, opening the door and getting in. “No, I didn’t say anything to—”
The rest of her sentence was cut off as she shut her door, and inside the car she was laughing as she hung up. Looking back over at Eddie, she waved one last time before pulling away and driving off down the road.
Within seconds, the door of the building opened again, and Steve stumbled out onto the sidewalk, looking over at Eddie with bewildered, wild eyes.
Eddie was blown away by just how handsome Steve was all over again, his hair artfully messy, his hazel eyes wide and crinkling at the corners with his crooked smile, the moles that painted a constellation across his skin. Letting his eyes travel down Steve’s neck, Eddie noted each hickey with a growing hunger that he had to shake himself out of.
“What are you doing here already?” Steve asked, and Eddie met his eyes again. Steve grimaced and added, “Sorry, I just—I wasn’t expecting you for like, forty-five more minutes.”
“Yeah, I got antsy sitting around the hotel room, and I guess I left too early. Was gonna just hang here for a while before coming up, but…” Eddie trailed off, gesturing to where the woman’s car had been parked.
“Yeah, sorry, that was my mom. I’m sorry for anything she said to you,” Steve said quickly, rubbing the back of his neck roughly as he laughed nervously.
Eddie grimaced that Steve’s mom’s first impression of him was loitering and smoking. “She didn’t say anything to me, baby,” he reassured Steve, twisting his fingers in the front of Steve’s sweater and pulling him close. With a soft smile, he leaned down and pressed a light kiss to Steve’s lips.
Steve sighed and opened under Eddie’s mouth, wrapping his arms loosely around Eddie’s neck. Just like that, Eddie felt his nerves settle as he groaned and deepened the kiss a bit more.
“Dinner,” Steve suddenly said, pulling back. “I have to put dinner back in the oven. C’mon, let’s go upstairs.”
“Oven? I thought we were ordering in,” Eddie said a bit dazed, snuffing out his cigarette and tossing it in a garbage bin. Rearranging his crutches, he followed Steve to the elevators, smiling fondly at the sheepish expression on Steve’s face.
“Yeah, well, I decided to make us dinner instead,” Steve said, sounding almost shy and Eddie couldn’t help but corner him in the elevator to kiss his blushing cheeks.
When the doors reopened, Eddie moved aside so Steve could lead the way into his place, and immediately the divine smell of tomato sauce, garlic, and onions washed over them when the door opened.
“Holy shit, babe,” Eddie groaned, sitting himself down on the couch so he could take his shoes off. “Smells amazing in here.”
“Thanks,” Steve said with a blush, then hurried into the kitchen. “You can stay there; I’ll be right back.”
Eddie took the few moments alone to look around, smiling at the cozy living room that had knick-knacks and picture frames on almost every shelf. The furniture in the room was all old, well-loved, worn but not worn-out. It reminded him of Uncle Wayne’s trailer, the way it felt like a home .
“I hope you don’t mind lasagna,” Steve said as he returned to the couch, sitting down next to Eddie with a charming smile. “It was the only thing I had all the ingredients for.”
“Lasagna’s perfect, Stevie,” Eddie said with a grin, leaning close to try and kiss Steve, but then he’s pulling away.
“You want something to drink?” Steve asked, and then moved as if to stand up and Eddie twisted a hand in the front of Steve’s sweater.
“How long does the lasagna have?” Eddie asked in a husky whisper.
“About thirty minutes, but—”
Eddie interrupted Steve with a kiss, licking into his sweet mouth and swallowing the soft sound he made. With a low groan, Eddie hauled the man into his lap, smiling against Steve’s lips when he immediately straddled his thighs. In no time at all, Steve’s fingers were in Eddie’s hair, twisting and holding him in place as Steve hungrily devoured his mouth.
It drove Eddie insane, the way Steve would be sweet and soft under his hands, just to turn hungry and pushy, using his teeth and growling softly. It was almost as if the sounds were subconscious, like he didn’t even really mean to be making them at all, and Eddie happily accepted those noises against his tongue.
“No! Nuh-uh!”
The shrieking voice barely registered in Eddie’s hazy mind before a mist of cold water hit him directly on the side of the face.
“Robin! What the fuck?” Steve shouted as he leaped off Eddie’s lap to wrestle a spray bottle out of the hands of a woman Eddie had only really seen in pictures. He immediately recognized her as Steve’s best friend, and he grinned as Steve struggled to get her to give up the spray bottle.
Finally, Steve managed to get the bottle and shot a spray of water directly into her mouth when she opened it to yell at him. Choking a bit, Robin punched Steve in the arm.
When Robin recovered, she pointed at Steve, smacking the spray bottle away when he went to shoot her in the mouth again.
“No sex on the communal furniture, Stephen,” she scolded, then looked at Eddie with fire in her eyes. “I know exactly how you defiled that kitchenette and you’re not doing the same to my late Great Aunt Mildred’s loveseat, you hear me?”
“Yes, ma’am,” Eddie said quickly, eyes wide as Robin narrowed hers at him.
Then she nodded and smiled. “Alright, I’m going to be at Nancy’s and I’m absolutely not returning until tomorrow around dinner time, okay?” Robin said, not even waiting for them to respond before she put her shoes on and left out the front door, shouting a hurried goodbye.
Steve was still standing, breathing heavily from his wrestling match with Robin before laughing breathlessly down at Eddie. “Well, you heard her. Time to behave,” Steve said before walking into the kitchen to grab a couple beers and bring them back to the couch.
The evening went by slowly but comfortably, unhurried and sweet. The lasagna was perfect, and even if it wasn’t Eddie was sure he would still think it was because Steve made it. Eddie couldn’t remember a partner ever making him a meal before, and it took him a few moments to settle the emotions that bubbled up from that.
After they ate, they returned to the living room to watch a movie, some action flick that Eddie barely paid attention to the title of. When Steve reeled Eddie into his side, the chance of Eddie retaining any of the movie flew right out the window, especially when Steve lifted a hand to start scratching Eddie’s scalp lightly, absentmindedly.
Eddie was a weak man, and it wasn’t long before Eddie turned his head and tilted his lips up with a needy sound, coaxing Steve into another kiss. This kiss was kept slow, almost chaste as they felt each other, testing the boundaries of the moment. The moment Eddie tried to deepen the kiss, Steve pulled back with a chuckle.
“Remember our warning, Eds,” Steve teased, kissing Eddie’s lips with a quick peck.
“I’m sure there’s some non-communal furniture somewhere in this apartment we could move to,” Eddie hummed suggestively, and Steve laughed softly.
“I think there’s a conversation we need to have first,” Steve replied, and his voice was a bit shaky. Pulling back, Eddie searched Steve’s face.
“Alright,” Eddie said slowly, leaning away from Steve to give him some space.
Reaching over, Steve tangled their fingers together, stroking his thumb across the back of Eddie’s hand and the tenderness of the motion was nearly overwhelming.
“Last night, you called me your boyfriend,” Steve started, meeting Eddie’s gaze firmly, pinning him there. “Did you mean it?”
“Do you want me to mean it?” Eddie deflected, which made no sense. That is what he wanted, for them to be boyfriends, partners, together . Steve was asking him if he wanted that, and there he was putting it back on him.
“I want to know if you meant it,” Steve pushed earnestly. “How do you feel about me?”
Eddie took a deep breath, eyes flitting around Steve’s face. “I’m afraid to answer that question, Steve,” he confessed quietly, his heart pounding frantically in his chest.
“Why?” Steve asked, his own voice barely above a whisper.
Eddie laughed, almost a bit hysterically. “I’m afraid it’s going to scare you off,” he admitted, breaking their eye-contact to look down at their hands.
“I don’t think it will, Eds,” Steve said, sounding so hopeful and Eddie wished that made him braver, but it just made him more anxious. Like now the possibility of disappointing Steve was real now.
“Steve, I’ve never felt the way I do right now for anyone else,” Eddie said shakily, and it was almost like that was all he needed for the dam to break. “I don’t—I want to call you my boyfriend and mean it, I want to talk about you if interviewers bring you up, I want you to call me your boyfriend. I want to be with you.”
There was a long pause before Steve pressed close for a gentle but deep kiss, a hand sliding into Eddie’s hair to hold him in place.
Pulling away, Steve quietly said, “That’s what I want, too.”
Eddie laughed, incredulous and giddy. “Seriously? Me? Why?” he asked before he could stop himself.
“Because you’re funny, and talented, and you care about your friends so much, and you’re so fucking hot,” Steve rattled off quickly before taking a deep breath and finishing, “and I love you.”
Eddie gaped at Steve, feeling the air whoosh out of his lungs. “You love me?” he asked weakly, a smile tugging at his mouth.
“Yeah, Eds, I think I’ve been in love with you since I binged your YouTube channel,” Steve said, grinning broadly. “So what do you think about that?”
“I love you, too, Stevie. Been in love with you so long, and I think we need to move to non-communal furniture as soon as fucking possible,” Eddie babbled, reeling Steve into a desperate, hungry kiss.
Steve laughed against Eddie’s mouth, and the feel of it on his lips was divine. It wasn’t long before Steve’s hands found their way into Eddie’s hair, tangling the curls around his fingers and tugging, turning his head this way and that, licking his way into Eddie’s mouth. Eddie couldn’t help the way he shook as he let the man have his way with him, whimpering as he pressed their tongues together.
When Steve pulled away, Eddie tried to chase after his lips but was stopped by the fingers in his hair. “Steve,” he whined, pouting as he opened his eyes, and he glared at the soft grin on Steve’s lips.
“We should move this to my room, yeah?” Steve suggested with a raised eyebrow, and Eddie shivered and nodded.
“Y-yeah, definitely, your room,” Eddie gasped, swallowing thickly as he tried to calm down.
“You—do you want to walk there yourself, or I could carry you?” Steve asked, almost shyly. Like he was unsure if what he was asking was polite or not.
Normally, Eddie found it annoying when people asked him questions like that, but there was a part of him that knew that Steve was genuine and didn’t mean anything by it. He wasn’t assuming that Eddie needed help, and a part of Eddie knew he wouldn’t be upset if he turned down any help being offered.
“I’m kinda heavy,” Eddie said with a cheeky smile. “Denser than I look.”
“I can handle it,” Steve challenged, getting off the couch to stand over Eddie with a wicked smirk. It was one of the hottest things Eddie had ever seen, to be completely honest.
“Mm, now I want to see you try, gorgeous,” Eddie teased, lounging back on the couch and spreading his legs around Steve’s knees.
Grinning, Steve bent at the waist and grabbed Eddie’s legs just under his thighs. “Wrap your arms around my neck?” he requested, and Eddie acquiesced immediately, snagging Steve’s smirking lips in another hungry, demanding kiss.
With a low sound, Steve stood up as if Eddie weighed nothing, barely even grunting as his weight shifted forward against his chest. Eddie, however, shuddered as his hardening cock was rocked against Steve’s abdomen, his whole body on fire at the demonstration of strength and he had to pull away from the kiss.
“Oh, holy shit, Steve,” he gasped, burying his face into Steve’s throat to lay several biting kisses on the skin there, giving him all new marks around the ones he was given the night before.
Steve just chuckled, groaning softly as he walked down the hallway and into a bedroom. “Told you I could handle you,” Steve hummed before depositing Eddie onto the bed carefully and reaching for the buckle on his belt.
“That you did, Stevie,” Eddie laughed, and he reached down to take over removing his clothes, but Steve slapped his hands away. “Hey!”
“I’ll do it,” Steve said firmly as he began working on the fly, glaring up through his lashes at Eddie. “You just relax.”
Eddie’s brow furrowed at that, and with a grumble he moved to take his shirt off instead. Once again, Steve just smacked his hands away from the hem of his shirt. “Stevie, c’mon,” he complained, shaking as he watched Steve peel his pants off of his legs.
“Eds, we’re doing this my way this time, which means I’m taking my time with you,” Steve practically purred, propping himself on his hands over Eddie and smirking down at him.
There was something overwhelming about looking up at Steve in that moment, the way his hair was lit up by the light above him, like a halo or something cheesy like that, his eyes so soft and fond while his smirk was so pointed. Eddie felt breathless at the sight.
When Eddie didn’t answer immediately, Steve bent his arms and brought his mouth close to Eddies, but not nearly close enough for a kiss. When Eddie strained up for a kiss, Steve backed off. “Can you be a good boy? Be patient for me?”
Eddie shook at the question, and part of him wanted to cry that he couldn’t be patient, he just wasn’t built like that and never had been. But the thought of being a good boy for Steve had him desperately wanting to try . So he nodded frantically, reaching up to hold Steve’s face gently.
“Yes, Stevie, I can be good for you, I can be patient,” he practically whimpered, chewing the inside of his cheek to try and calm down just a little bit. He could make this work, he could do what Steve asked of him and he would do it so well.
“That’s what I thought, baby,” Steve hummed, lowering himself enough to kiss Eddie sweetly, almost chastely. Pulling back, he coaxed Eddie to sit up so he could remove his shirt and toss it somewhere in his room.
Shivering as Steve pulled back to stare at him hungrily, Eddie leaned back on his hands, giving him a pleading look as Steve checked him out.
“You’re so beautiful,” Steve sighed dreamily before pressing his fingertips into the center of Eddie’s chest, urging him to lay back down so he could pull his boxers down his hips.
Eddie was beside himself as he was bared, completely naked under Steve’s heated gaze while Steve was still fully dressed. There was a part of Eddie that wondered if Steve was planning to fuck him like that, wearing his jeans and sweater, and the thought had Eddie’s cock throbbing where it rested against his hip.
“God, this cock is so fucking perfect,” Steve moaned, dropping to his knees at the edge of the bed to lick a hard, demanding stripe up the length of Eddie’s cock and taking the head of it into his mouth.
Eddie jolted at the sudden heat around the head of his cock and his hands were tangled in Steve’s hair before he could stop himself. The moment he pushed , Steve pulled off and began to gently lap at the head. Sobbing, Eddie let go and screwed his eyes shut tightly, willing his body to relax and just take it . Sighing happily, Steve took Eddie back into his mouth, bobbing his head and sucking noisily, pulling all manner of wanton noises from Eddie.
Sprawled as he was across the bed, Eddie fisted his hands in the comforter, trying to refrain from thrusting up into Steve’s mouth just to feel him gag around him. It felt like torture, just lying there waiting for Steve to do something, to give him the okay to grab and pull and bite.
Sliding his mouth off Eddie’s cock with a wet pop of his lips, Steve smiled pleasantly. “How’re you feeling, baby?” he asked knowingly, and Eddie whimpered.
“Want you, want more, don’t wanna take my time,” Eddie complained, his bottom lip wobbling a bit.
“Mm, I’ll take your thoughts into consideration,” Steve hummed with a smirk, and Eddie knew that Steve was unmoved, not even bothered that Eddie was losing his mind already. “Right now, I’m going to suck your perfect, fat cock.”
Eddie nearly cheered when Steve lowered his mouth onto his dick again, but Steve’s attention was gentle, teasing, not even remotely enough to actually get him off. His cock just throbbed and pumped a thick glob of precum onto Steve’s tongue. With a thick groan, Steve took Eddie deep in his mouth and throat, sucking hard on the draw back and pulling what might have been a scream from Eddie’s throat.
With a shudder, Steve pulled all the way off Eddie’s cock and stood up, undoing his fly and pushing his jeans down his hips. When Eddie reached up to try and help him, Steve shook his head.
“Just lay there and relax,” Steve reminded him, and Eddie wanted to scream and cry and pitch a fit, but he wanted to be good like Steve asked. When Eddie forcibly relaxed against the comforter, Steve beamed at him. “Just like that, baby.”
Eddie let out a shaky sigh, stretching under Steve’s gaze, preening under the praise. This was doable, being good and letting Steve take his sweet time. It felt a bit like he was going to die if he wasn’t touched and sucked and fucked right this second, but he could live with that feeling forever if that meant Steve thought he was being good.
Once Steve was standing over him, completely naked and perfect, he got a thoughtful look on his face. “I don’t think I can take your cock again,” he confessed, cringing a bit. “I’m really sore down there today.”
“Fuck me,” Eddie said quickly, practically begged even, blushing darkly at Steve’s raised eyebrow. “Please, baby, I want you to fuck me.”
“Yeah? You want my cock, pretty boy?” Steve hummed, climbing onto the bed and straddling Eddie’s waist. The sensation of Steve’s wet cunt smearing slick across the soft skin of Eddie’s lower abdomen had Eddie shaking with his want.
“Yes,” Eddie sobbed, grabbing Steve’s hips just to ground himself, screwing his eyes shut and taking a deep breath. “Want your cock so bad, Stevie.”
“What’s the best position for you, sweetheart?” Steve asked, lowering a kiss to the tip of Eddie’s nose.
“What d’you mean?” Eddie asked breathlessly.
“I don’t want to hurt your leg,” Steve replied softly, and Eddie wanted to kiss him until he was breathless and shaking.
“Baby, love how thoughtful you are, but my leg hurts pretty much all the time,” Eddie said with a shrug, which was mostly true.
“Then how can I make it easier for you?” Steve pressed, kissing Eddie’s cheek. “How can I make love to you without adding to your pain?”
Eddie flushed. “Don’t get sappy on me,” he tried to tease, but it came out embarrassingly earnest and thick, like he was about to fucking cry .
“Sappy is my first language, my love,” Steve hummed, grinning at Eddie’s deep blush that reached his navel . “So gorgeous when you blush, sweetheart.”
“Shut up,” Eddie whined, covering his face.
“Never, but I’ll give you a bit of a break, I guess,” Steve sighed, kissing the backs of Eddie’s hands, right where Eddie’s lips would be if he wasn’t hiding his face. “You haven’t answered my question, Eds.”
“Just help me, like hold my leg up when I wrap it around your waist,” Eddie managed to murmur shakily.
“I can definitely do that for you, baby,” Steve sighed, sliding off Eddie and manhandling him further onto the bed in a show of strength that had Eddie’s cock throbbing . Seriously, how was he just realizing that Steve was strong like that?
Steve immediately dove in for a searching, hungry kiss. When Steve mouthed his way down Eddie’s chin and throat, pausing to suck a mark on the skin there, Eddie desperately grabbed for Steve. The other man dodged his hands and actually stopped the sinful attention with his lips and teeth, pulling a devastated sob from Eddie’s chest.
“Take what I give you and I keep going, Eds,” Steve hummed sweetly against the patch of skin just below Eddie’s ear before lifting his head to kiss his cheek softly. “Unless that’s too much for you right now. We can always work on your patience another time.”
Again, Eddie was tempted to say he couldn’t do it, that he needed Steve’s hands, and mouth, and cock so badly that making him wait was just fucking cruel. But he couldn’t stop thinking about being good, being Steve’s good boy. Eddie was never the one to be the good boy, even in past relationships where he was almost exclusively the more submissive one. It was something he never even considered wanting to be the good boy, mostly because he’d never had a partner suggest it. Tears stung the corners of his eyes, which he quickly blinked away, refusing to let them fall lest Steve stop everything completely.
“I wanna try,” Eddie said, and he hoped his voice wasn’t watery enough for Steve to get suspicious.
“Sweet boy,” Steve cooed, holding one of Eddie’s hands while he stretched across the bed to dig a bottle of lube out of the bedside table’s drawer.
The tenderness of that, not wanting to let go of Eddie for even the short seconds it would take to grab the lube, nearly broke Eddie’s resolve not to cry like a fucking baby. What the fuck was Steve playing at being like this when he was a horny demon the night before? How was it possible for one man to be so perfect, so sexy, so sweet, and somehow also Eddie’s ?
Steve was situating himself between Eddie’s thighs when he managed to calm himself down, letting go of Eddie’s hand so he could slick his fingers. With a shaky whine, Eddie spread his legs wider for Steve, needy for his touch but trying to rein in his desperation so Steve didn’t slow down even more. Dropping down onto an elbow above Eddie, Steve captured his lips in a deep kiss, licking into his mouth at the same time a finger pushed inside him, the press steady and relentless. Eddie shook , even with the nearly clinical touch, his eyes rolling back as Steve began carefully fucking that digit in and out of him.
The touch stayed like that for what felt like forever while Steve kissed the breath from his lungs, the steady push in, pause, steady drag out, repeat. Eddie was shivering, ready to pull away from the kiss and beg, wanting to rock his hips to try and get that perfect fingertip against his prostate, to get something . But he was showing Steve that he could be good, that he could be patient, that he trusted Steve to give him what he wanted. With a shuddering moan, Eddie willed himself to relax on the bed beneath Steve, sighing as Steve hummed happily.
“Good boy,” Steve hummed and pressed a second finger into Eddie’s body.
Eddie let out a delighted, breathless laugh, reaching up to hold Steve’s face but when those perfect fingers paused before the next push inward, he hesitated. “Just wanna hold you, Stevie, promise,” he whimpered, and Steve shushed him gently.
“Of course, baby, you can hold me,” he said with a soft chuckle, and Eddie didn’t waste time before cupping Steve’s cheeks and tilting his mouth up into a sweet kiss.
“Thank you,” Eddie breathed, relaxing under Steve again. With a pleased groan, Steve rewarded Eddie with a third finger, the stretch testing Eddie’s hole in a way he hadn’t done in a while.
At Eddie’s slight hiss, Steve frowned and withdrew, hushing Eddie’s whining pleas for Steve to not stop, that he could take it, just wasn’t used to it, please. When Steve’s fingers returned, they were wetter, coated with more lube, and he pressed them back inside one at a time in three thrusts. It was much easier to adjust with the additional lube, and Eddie was so grateful to Steve. On one hand, the slight pain would have been very appreciated, but this… It was perfect, even if it too overwhelmed Eddie with something so similar to terror, he briefly considered calling a stop to all of it while he settled himself back the fuck down.
“How’re you doing, pretty boy?” Steve cooed, as if reading Eddie’s thoughts, and Eddie felt his heart rate settle just a bit.
Taking a deep breath, Eddie gradually relaxed into the bed and wrapped his arms loosely around Steve’s neck. “I’m good, I’m so good, Stevie,” he replied shakily, tipping his head back. “Just a lot.”
“Too much?” Steve followed up, not quite pausing his movements but they still changed just enough that Eddie knew he was ready to.
“No, perfect,” Eddie confessed in a whisper, smiling up at Steve when he pulled back to meet his eyes.
Smiling crookedly in a way that had Eddie’s breath hitching in his chest, Steve stooped to plant a kiss on the tip of his nose. “Let me know if that changes, okay, baby?” he said and Eddie nodded, humming as Steve’s fingers began moving more determinedly.
There was something more deliberate to Steve’s movements, his fingers curling on every pull. Eddie realized what was happening exactly one second before Steve found his prostate, knocking a raspy, shattered sound from Eddie’s lips as he arched off the bed.
“Jesus, you’re fucking gorgeous, Eds,” Steve groaned, his voice rumbling in his chest and Eddie sobbed, eyelids fluttering as those perfect fingers focused on Eddie’s prostate.
Eddie writhed, trying to keep from thrusting down onto Steve’s fingers, not wanting him to pull away, but he was too caught up in the pleasure. His nerve-endings were on fire, eyes rolling back as he shuddered, and he couldn’t hold back the scream when Steve pressed his thumb against the piercings on his taint, squeezing his prostate from two sides. There was a moment that Eddie was certain that he would either come, black-out, or die if Steve kept up what he was doing, his breaths coming out in wet whimpers.
Just when he thought he was about to fly apart at the seams, Steve relented, and Eddie shook with the force of his sob that was equal parts relieved and devastated.
Steve shifted so he was up on his hand instead of his elbow, his dark eyes roving over Eddie’s body hungrily. Pausing as his gaze caught on Eddie’s cock, Steve groaned. “Look at how wet you are for me, babe,” he cooed, and Eddie looked down at himself as he panted with little sobs.
There was an absolute puddle of precum on his lower abdomen, connected to the tip of his cock by a chain that still oozed from the tip.
“Should clean this up,” Steve murmured thoughtfully, and Eddie’s eyes widened as he shook his head frantically. At Steve’s concerned expression, Eddie shook his head again, trying to get his words to work so he didn’t stop .
“Gonna come if you get that mouth anywhere fucking near my dick,” Eddie managed to gasp, and Steve raised an eyebrow.
“And if I want you to come now?” Steve asked, crooking his fingers in a way that threatened to touch his prostate, but didn’t quite do it.
Eddie frantically shook his head again. “Only wanna come with your cock inside me, please. You can try and make me come as many times as you want on your cock, but don’t wanna come like this,” Eddie babbled, screwing his eyes shut. “Please, wanna be good, but don’t wanna come like this.”
“You’re being perfect for me, baby,” Steve sighed happily, and his voice was closer which was Eddie’s only warning before Steve’s lips were against his cheek. “Telling me what you want so pretty and sweet is perfect .”
“Stevie, please, can you fuck me now?” Eddie whimpered, forcing his eyes open to meet Steve’s.
“Not going to fuck you, Eds,” Steve said cheekily as he spread his fingers a bit.
Eddie wanted to scream and cry, so ready to crawl off the bed and jerk off in the bathroom if he had to. “Steve, please ,” Eddie begged instead, shuddering hard when Steve brushed past his sweet spot.
“I told you already, Eds, I’m making love to you tonight,” Steve hummed, and Eddie felt his entire face and chest heat up with his blush.
“Shut up,” Eddie said before he could stop himself and Steve chuckled.
“I’m not gonna get my cock until you ask for it properly, baby,” Steve pushed, and Eddie rolled his eyes, staring up at the ceiling.
“That’s not even a thing,” he grumbled, and Steve just laughed.
“Just humour me then,” Steve replied, collapsing onto his elbow again to mouth at Eddie’s throat. “Should be easy to say for me if it’s not a thing, yeah?”
Eddie bit his lips as the fingers inside him began moving again, slow and clinical, deliberately avoiding Eddie’s prostate. “Stevie,” Eddie whimpered, gasping when Steve’s fingers crooked into his prostate for a brief second.
“Yeah, Eds?” Steve prompted and Eddie whimpered again.
“Make love to me,” Eddie finally whispered, his face, ears, and neck hot as he waited for Steve to do something at his quiet request, as if he expected Steve to laugh at him or something mean.
But Steve just groaned and kissed the breath from Eddie’s lungs before he pulled away. “Stay put, just have to get the harness on,” Steve reassured Eddie as he slid off the bed and went to his dresser.
Eddie was grateful for the short break, tipping his head back against the bed and covering his eyes while he took a few deep breaths.
The bed rocked as Steve returned, and Eddie shivered as the man trailed his fingertips up his leg, starting at his ankle.
“Doing okay, Eds?” Steve asked softly, genuine in his concern and Eddie nodded, not yet ready to lower his hands and look at Steve. He was still preparing himself for Steve wearing a leather harness.
“I’m fine, perfect even, just trying not to go insane when I look at you in a minute,” Eddie breathed, grinning at Steve’s laugh.
“It’s not that hot,” Steve grumbled, and Eddie shook his head.
“I’ll be the judge of that when I’m brave enough to fuckin’ look,” he said, his cheeks hurting with his grin when he felt Steve lower himself to his elbows over him, their chests pressed flush together. When Steve began mouthing at his jaw and throat, Eddie groaned thickly and tipped his head back to allow him more room to work.
Immediately, Steve accepted the invitation, humming softly as he licked and nipped at the sensitive skin, working what would probably be half a dozen hickeys by the end of the night. Chrissy was going to have a fit when it was time to go on some press thing, or to film the stupid documentary thing. Eddie didn’t really care though, he wanted to be claimed, wanted to feel owned by Steve.
With a quiet whine, Eddie lowered his hands to just cradle Steve’s head, one hand in his hair while the other cupped the back of his neck. He was just holding Steve, not pushing or pulling him, not demanding anything, just grounding himself in that moment. It was driving him mad, the way Steve wasn’t doing anything really, just kissing and marking him up, not even touching his cock.
Then he felt the thick, slicked arch of a strap-on slide down the side of his sac, and he let out an embarrassingly loud whimper.
“Please, Stevie, please ,” Eddie practically sobbed at the ceiling and when Steve pulled away to sit back up on his knees, Eddie made the mistake of looking at him.
Just as he had expected, Steve was practically some sort of God with his perfect, sun-kissed skin, spattering of moles and freckles across every inch of him, perfectly straight nose, and spectacular head of hair. Even after Eddie’s hands had been in it and sweat began dripping from the hairline, it looked fucking amazing, and Eddie was a bit jealous. He knew his own had to be frizzy by now with how hot and humid it was starting to feel in Steve’s bedroom.
Eddie’s eyes trailed down Steve’s body, taking the time he was finally given to actually look at him, to take in the whole sight of him. The thin, but visible scars on his chest that Eddie wanted to lick and kiss and bite, the hair that covered his chest and stomach, the soft pouch of his lower abdomen. And right at the crux of Steve’s thighs was a thick , long cock held on by a substantial leather harness.
Eddie was right to fear for his sanity because he felt as though he was going to either cry or fucking die if that cock didn’t split him in half in the next five minutes.
Steve was laughing again, a soft blush dusting his cheeks and Eddie realized he said all of that out loud.
“You’re being ridiculous, it isn’t even as thick as yours ,” he grumbled, and as if to compare and prove his point, he slotted his cock next to Eddie’s. Steve added a little swivel of his hips at the last moment, which had Eddie arching off the bed and panting.
Looking down at their cocks pressed so close, Eddie wasn’t seeing as much of a difference as Steve apparently did, but he had to admit that Steve was apparently correct.
“So, what? Is this revenge or something for fucking your cunt so good that you can still feel me the next day? Gonna make me walk funny for different reasons?” Eddie asked as he tried to rein in his arousal, waggling his eyebrows at Steve’s deadpan glare.
Steve raised an eyebrow at him after a moment. “I can get a smaller one if you—”
“No! No, this is perfect, please, I want it,” Eddie said quickly, hooking his better leg around Steve’s waist even though he didn’t actually make a move to get off the bed.
At that, Steve just smiled, and it almost looked mean, but his eyes were too soft to sell it. “That’s what I thought,” he hummed as he grabbed the lube and reapplied another layer of slick to the length.
Eddie watched Steve closely, watched the way his hand worked the length of the dildo, the way he bit his lip as if he could feel it himself, as if it actually gave him pleasure. Maybe it did on some level, and maybe Eddie would be brave enough someday to ask Steve something so personal.
When Steve’s hazel eyes met his again, Eddie was about to beg him to just hurry up and fuck him, and he smirked knowingly, as if he could hear his thoughts. Or maybe Eddie was talking out loud again? He didn’t know or really care, because that was when Steve hooked an elbow under the knee of Eddie’s bad leg and leaned close.
Back bowing and ass lifting off the bed, Eddie let out a whimper as Steve scooted forward so his knees supported his lower back, the head of his cock nudging at the underside of Eddie’s sac. With a soft, desperate sound Eddie wrapped his other leg more firmly around Steve’s waist.
“I got you, baby,” Steve cooed sweetly, shifting his arm under Eddie’s leg so he could angle his cock down enough to push at the loose ring of Eddie’s hole.
The slight pressure, the way the tip was already spreading his hole even if Steve wasn’t yet pushing , had Eddie keening. He hadn’t been fucked in a while, a long while truly. He’d stopped fooling around with people after he realized how serious his feelings were becoming for Steve, but those few recent-ish times he had been the top.
But Steve, of course, was gentle as he slid inside, keeping the motion slow yet relentless. Eddie’s eyes rolled back as Steve finally bottomed out inside him, the thick weight of his cock settling in his core and lighting him on fire.
“You’re so fucking pretty, Eds,” Steve sighed, and Eddie felt his blush flare all over.
Forcing his eyes open, Eddie shook his head as he met Steve’ gaze. “Got me confused with you, sweetheart,” he managed to gasp out, his voice too shaky to sell the flirtation, but it got the bashful grin he was hoping for, nonetheless.
“This isn’t about me, right now,” Steve said, and then he pulled out a bit, just enough to pull a gasp from Eddie, and then pushed back in, just as gentle as the first thrust. It was amazing, setting off fireworks behind Eddie’s eyes and making him arch off the bed. But as the next handful of thrusts followed the same slow rhythm, it was quickly becoming not enough .
Well, if he was being honest and not dramatic , it was absolutely enough. More than enough because the angle Steve was thrusting in on was nudging his cock just perfectly past his prostate. But Eddie wanted it harder, faster, with more sweat and teeth and nails being dragged across skin. Something he was more accustomed to, a little better equipped to take.
Grunting, Eddie rocked his hips against Steve, hoping the man was done trying to make him take it slow.
With a soft tsk , Steve bottomed out roughly, his hips slapping against Eddie in a way that was so close to what he was trying to get that he couldn’t help the strangled cry that burst from his throat. But then Steve didn’t move, and his free hand wrapped around his hip to hold him still.
“Eds,” Steve scolded softly, sweetly even and Eddie wanted to throw a fit.
“Steve, I just want it harder, wanna feel you for days, make me feel it, please,” Eddie begged, shaking as his ass clenched around the cock buried deep inside him.
“I’m going to take care of you,” Steve promised softly, stroking the skin of Eddie’s hip with his thumb gently. “Do you trust me to take care of you?”
Eddie was nodding before he consciously registered the question in his mind.
“Will you be good and let me take care of you?” Steve asked in a low voice, his gaze intense when Eddie managed to meet it.
With another sob, Eddie nodded frantically, and Steve began to move again, a little bit faster and harder, but not the brutal, punishing pace Eddie was aiming for. Eddie fisted his hands into the comforter at his sides, just holding on as Steve fucked him, trying to be good for Steve and take what he was given.
Sucking his teeth, Steve readjusted his hold on Eddie’s bad leg, his hand now wrapped around and under the outside of his thigh. Then, his other hand pulled Eddie’s away from the comforter, laced their fingers together, then pressed Eddie’s hand into the mattress next to his head.
Eddie gasped at the gesture, turning his head to stare at their hands with wide eyes, and he barely noticed when Steve dropped onto his elbow above him. Then Steve craned his neck to coax Eddie into a kiss, his tongue greedy as it licked into Eddie’s mouth and for a moment Eddie’s mind went completely blank, nothing but bliss hovering over his mind. Especially since Steve was starting to fuck him harder.
Then Steve’s thumb stroked the side of Eddie’s hand at the same time he sighed a shaky “I love you” against Eddie’s tongue.
“Oh, fuck ,” Eddie sobbed as tears sprung to his eyes and immediately began to fall, his words muffled around Steve’s tongue.
It was so much, being treated so gently, so sweetly, so lovingly . It was something Eddie had never experienced, even with partners he thought might have been The One in the past. Not a single person ever treated him like he was fragile, precious, loved , especially when it came to sex and now that he was getting just that, he could barely cope with the swell of emotions.
Steve pulled back to smile at him, but his expression dropped immediately at his tears, his hips stuttering to a stop. “Oh, shit, Eds—”
“Good tears!” Eddie gasped out, lifting his hand to wipe the tears off his cheeks, shaking his head when they were immediately replaced. “They’re good, very good, please don’t stop. I promise they’re good.”
“Eds—”
“Steve! I’m okay, I’m perfect, I promise. I wouldn’t lie about this, okay?” Eddie insisted desperately, tightening his leg around Steve’s waist. “Sometimes when I’m feeling a lot, I cry, and I’m only feeling good things.”
Steve smiled so gently down at Eddie at that, pressing a soft kiss to his lips. “And what are you feeling, baby?” he asked, his hips starting to move again.
Eddie let out a weak little sob, lips trembling against Steve’s. “Like I love you so much I’m scared of it,” he whispered, tipping his head back with a wet whine as Steve sped up.
“Go on, baby,” Steve groaned, pressing his lips to Eddie’s throat. “Tell me how you feel.”
“Like I’m precious,” Eddie continued, shaking as Steve’s cock just barely missed his prostate on each thrust. “Like I’m loved .”
Steve groaned thickly. “You are, Eds, you’re so precious and loved,” he murmured, speeding up. “Gonna make love to you until you actually believe it.”
Eddie sobbed , shuddering as the coil in his gut pulled taut, only Steve’s cock and the gentle rub of his stomach against his cock about to get him off. Of course, Steve heard the unspoken part of how he felt, that in spite of everything, Eddie didn’t think he deserved this, or that Eddie fully believed that Steve felt this way.
He was about to come while crying, because Steve was fucking him so gently while whispering about how precious and loved he is.
“Steve—” Eddie started to warn, his voice thick with his tears, but Steve interrupted him with a rough kiss.
Breaking away, Steve murmured, “I know, baby, come for me. You’re so perfect.” Then he changed the angle of his thrusts just so and Eddie was spilling between them with a shattered cry, sobbing breathlessly with each pulse of his cock.
When Eddie came back to himself, Steve was gently pulling out, and Eddie desperately had to touch him. He wanted to get him off and kiss him, to give him back even a fraction of the feeling Eddie was drowning in.
Eddie didn’t wait, just bucked his hips, and rolled Steve onto his side, reaching under the strap-on to tug on Steve’s dick. It was hurried, the angle was less than ideal, and Eddie was still shaking like a leaf and crying , but Steve moaned loudly all the same, whispered a soft “close, baby” against Eddie’s forehead. Then he tensed, letting out a guttural sound that Eddie felt more than he heard, and he slid a finger back into Steve’s cunt just to feel it pulse around it with his release.
As they caught their breath, Steve gave Eddie little kisses on his tear-streaked face, murmuring soft declarations and pushing him deeper into that happy, weeping state. Then Steve finally backed off a bit, just to get up and get a washcloth to clean their stomachs off and wipe the lube from between Eddie’s cheeks carefully.
Once they were a bit cleaned up, Steve flopped back onto the bed next to Eddie with a small smile.
Eddie yawned and said, “We’ve gotta stop having the best sex ever every time we fuck, Steve.”
Barking out a laugh, Steve shook his head. “That’s just quitter’s talk,” he teased, winking at Eddie. Then he turned a bit pensive before asking, “Spend the night?”
“I think that’s all I have in me tonight, Steve,” Eddie teased tiredly, and Steve shook his head.
“I just mean to sleep, Eds,” he said, rolling to wrap an arm around Eddie’s waist. “Spend your last night in Chicago in my bed? Please?”
Eddie shook as more tears sprung to his eyes, but he screwed them shut and nodded frantically, pressing close for a kiss. “Yeah, Stevie, I’ll stay,” Eddie hummed against Steve’s lips, wishing he could stay forever.
❖
When Steve woke up with a jolt, he was half-buried under the octopus sprawl of Eddie’s limbs with a mouthful of long, curly hair. It was sweaty and a bit uncomfortable, but Steve just smiled and reeled Eddie in tighter. Brushing that wild mane of hair back, Steve watched Eddie’s sleeping face closely, amazed he got to have this. A lazy Sunday morning with the love of his life sleeping soundly in his arms, in his bed.
With a happy sigh, Steve lowered his lips to Eddie’s forehead, adjusting them so Eddie was laying more on top of him so he could easily grab two handfuls of Eddie’s ass cheeks. He grinned at the happy little murmur against his collarbone and the way Eddie snuggled in tighter. Reaching over to grab his phone off the bedside table, Steve checked the time. They had a few hours before Eddie was due back at the hotel, so he wasn’t in a huge rush to get Eddie up.
Well, at least not up out of bed, Steve thought as he felt the shift of Eddie’s cock against his stomach, half-hard in his sleep. Just as he was about to wake Eddie up, he heard the tell-tale sound of a phone vibrating somewhere in his room. It was probably Eddie’s, still in the back pocket of his jeans that Steve left on the floor. Realizing that was likely the reason he woke up so suddenly, Steve sighed and waited for the phone to stop ringing. It did for a few seconds before starting up again, and a small jolt of dread shot through Steve.
Was their time together getting cut short? Did something come up? When he ignored it again, Steve sighed when Eddie’s phone stayed silent. Then Steve’s phone began vibrating on the table.
Sighing sadly, Steve picked up his phone again and eyed the unfamiliar number before answering.
“Hello, this is Steve?” he said, voice still rough with sleep before he cleared his throat.
“Jesus, finally, I’ve been trying to get hold of Eddie for like an hour,” Gareth’s voice came through the line, and Steve tensed.
“Is something wrong?” Steve asked, not sure he wanted the answer to that. On top of him, Eddie was stirring, his head lifting from Steve’s chest to frown at him. “And how do you have my number?”
“I have your number because Eddie gave it to me, in case I needed to get hold of him and something happened to his phone. And I don’t know if something’s wrong yet, that’s why I need to talk to Eddie,” Gareth replied vaguely.
“Wha’s goin’on?” Eddie mumbled, lifting a hand to rub the crusties from the corners of his eyes while Steve held out his phone.
“It’s Gareth,” Steve explained, and Eddie’s sleepy expression became a bit more alert as he accepted the phone.
“Hey, Garebear— what ?” Eddie was awake now, eyes wide as he rolled off Steve and sat up. “What do you mean—all over where ? I can’t—we said no pictures—what do you mean they were taken before the VIP thing?”
Steve watched Eddie as he tried to piece together what was going on. When the man glanced at Steve with a grimace and a blush, he felt his stomach drop a bit. It had to do with him somehow, and it had something to do with pictures.
“Okay, listen Gareth, I’m just—I’m gonna put you on speaker, okay?” Eddie said, pulling Steve’s phone away from his ear to switch the call. “Repeat what you just said, Garebear.”
“Steve, you’ve gone kinda viral in the online communities for our fans,” Gareth said slowly, sighing heavily. “Like, with your face attached to it and everything. Fans took pictures of you and are posting about it and it’s actually trending in North America on Twitter…”
“What?” Steve asked shakily, his heart pounding quickly.
“Yeah, it’s—you guys should see it for yourself. Just wanted to give you both a head’s up,” Gareth said, his voice a bit tight. Then he added teasingly, “Since the cat’s out of the bag now, do I still need to conceal your identity in the Tour Diary video I’m editing?”
“Gareth, seriously?” Eddie asked flatly, and Gareth scoffed.
“What? I can’t ask ?”
“Maybe not right now ?” Eddie responded huffily and Steve shook his head.
“Gareth, we’ll call you back,” Steve said before immediately hanging up and going to Twitter.
Just as Gareth had said, there were three trending topics about him and Eddie; Eddie and Steve, #SteveMunson, and Steddie. From what Steve could tell, it had started with fans from the Chicago concert gushing about being the best show of the tour. Then about twenty hours ago, someone posted about wanting to be a fly on the wall of the “steddie fuckfest that had to be happening as they tweeted” and how they wished they knew what Steve looked like so they could draw it.
Someone had replied to the tweet saying they had been next to someone at the barrier that they were sure was Steve and had pictures. There was some back-and-forth until several pictures and a video were added to the thread and… yup, that was definitely Steve staring up at the stage, completely starstruck.
The video was the most telling, because it caught the moment he covered his mouth as the arena wailed his name, Will standing next to him with that fond, yet envious expression. Further down the thread, there was a video focused on his face as Eddie dedicated Dark Altar to him, and Steve was almost embarrassed at how blatantly hungry he looked.
There was arguing in the thread after that, someone freaking out about the person taking pictures of a stranger and posting them, but mostly it was people arguing over if that was enough proof.
Then the pictures of Steve sitting under Eddie’s arm during the VIP meet-and-greet appeared in the thread.
“I started snapping pics as soon as I came in bc I knew that had to be steve,” one of the posters said. They posted another picture, zoomed in and cropped to only include his face as he grinned with so much love in his eyes, and said, “this was right after eddie called him his bf!!!!!”
There was a lot more bickering and flailing, then someone added pictures of Jeff sitting in his lap while Steve held him, and the thread went crazy about it.
“Love to see steve knows whats up and cuddles jeff too!!!!” One of the posts said, then that thread devolved into appreciation for Jeff.
Then the fanart began showing up, which started tame enough with Eddie and Steve just holding hands, or hugging, or maybe giving each other a kiss. Then it got explicit, and Steve snorted.
“Kinda presumptuous of them,” Steve said, angling his phone without looking away to show Eddie a particularly detailed piece of art of himself with a huge cock while Eddie fucked him. At least, Steve assumed it was Eddie fucking him since all that was visible of the man behind him in the art were the hands holding his biceps in a bruising grip and a cock in his hole. It was definitely a position Steve would be happy to recreate with Eddie for real.
After that, there was nothing but pornographic art, and part of Steve felt kinda… pleased that they all assumed he was cis. But also a little annoyed because he wasn’t and a petty part of him wanted to say something about it. Stopping himself before he did something stupid, Steve finally closed the app and looked at Eddie.
Except Eddie wasn’t looking at him, he was sitting with his head tipped back and blinking rapidly up at the ceiling.
“Whoa, babe, what’s wrong?” Steve asked, dropping his phone and shifting so he was straddling Eddie’s lap, cupping his face in his hands and brushing tears away as Eddie blinked them loose.
“It’s—I just got you,” Eddie said thickly, shrugging. “Doesn’t seem fair.”
“Eds, I’m not going anywhere?” Steve said, absolutely bewildered at how the moment changed. Eddie finally met his eyes, his expression cautiously hopeful.
“You’re not?” he asked.
“Why would I?” Steve asked, frowning darkly. “You thought I would dump you over this? Has someone actually done that?”
“Kinda,” Eddie replied, taking a deep breath in and holding it. “You just said you weren’t ready for strangers to have pictures of you at the meet-and-greet and now here thousands of people are tweeting about you— ”
“Eds, yes, I’ll admit I thought I’d get to be your anonymous boyfriend for a bit longer, but I’m—this doesn’t change how I feel about you ,” Steve said earnestly, stroking his thumbs soothingly over Eddie’s cheekbones. “I love you. I couldn’t care less what they’re doing online.”
“Fuck, I love you, too,” Eddie sighed wrapping his arms around Steve and straining up into a slow, languid kiss the quickly turned heated.
Groaning, Steve shifted his hips closer to Eddie’s cock. “Kinda wanna recreate a few of those positions they drew me in,” he confessed, smirking at Eddie’s gasp before licking into his mouth hungrily.
A short while later, they laid next to each other, still catching their breath with their legs tangled together.
“What about Gareth’s question about hiding your identity in our videos?” Eddie asked after a minute, rolling onto his side and propping his head on his hand. Steve looked at him questioningly, thinking back and humming.
“I mean, like he said, the cat’s kinda out of the bag,” Steve said, shrugging before Eddie’s eyes widened and he snapped his fingers.
“I have an idea! We record a video to add to the Tour Diary thing!” he suggested excitedly, and Steve raised an eyebrow.
“I don’t think we’re allowed to post that kind of video on YouTube, Eds,” Steve deadpanned, and Eddie rolled his eyes.
“Not a video like that, you horny asshole, like a normal video. Maybe like, the interview bit we do?” Eddie suggested, and Steve grinned.
“That sounds perfect ,” Steve hummed, and Eddie quickly crawled to the end of the bed to grab his phone off the floor.
❖
The next Tour Diary opened with the band goofing off on the bus and getting a shot of the Chicago skyline. There were little scenes interspersed of them filming the documentary, but mostly it was just them being best friends.
There were surprisingly few Cringefail Eddie videos, but the Steeeeve Spotting montage started with a video from the concert, with the whole arena wailing Steve’s name. Then it cut to the VIP meet-and-greet, with Steve and Eddie sitting on the couch together. Steve’s face was obscured by some kind of filter.
“So before anyone asks, I spent a whole hour yassifying Steve to hide his identity before I found out he’d already gone fucking viral on Twitter and TikTok, but then I apparently overwrote the original video file, so he’s staying yassified,” Gareth explained tiredly in a voice over.
The video goes through several other moments, including Grant and Chrissy each struggling to knit what looked like scarves, Gareth climbing the side of a building while Chrissy yelled at him, and Jeff raiding the candy in the lounge at Steve’s hotel.
Near the end, the video cut to a super close-up view of a deep blue comforter before the camera shifted away to focus on Steve.
He was lying in the bed, obviously at the very least shirtless, the comforter covering him from the waist down. Steve’s hair was wild and a touch damp with sweat, and hickeys littered the skin of his throat and chest. One of his fingers idly rubbed one of the long scars under his pecs, as if absently pointing at them (the motion had been deliberate and bitchy, and Eddie couldn’t help but kiss him about it after).
“Okay, first question, the masses are dying to know,” Eddie started, and Steve rolled his eyes playfully. “In a zombie apocalypse, what would be your weapon of choice?”
Steve frowned, laughing softly. “I dunno, a baseball bat?” he replied, and Eddie groaned.
“That’s so boring, Stevie, c’mon,” he pushed, and Steve rolled his eyes.
“Okay, fine, a baseball bat with nails in it,” he amended, and Eddie groaned in a completely different tone.
“Now, that’s way hotter. Excellent answer. Next question,” Eddie said, humming thoughtfully while Steve grinned at him beyond the camera. “Would you rather… fight one moose-sized raccoon, or a hundred raccoon-sized moose? Mooses? Meese?”
“Babe, I think you’re underestimating how big moose are—”
“I’m pretty sure the plural is meese, Steve.”
“It’s really not—”
“Answer the question, Steve!” Eddie interrupted and Steve laughed out loud.
“Fine… moose-sized raccoon?” he answered, trying to suppress his grin a bit.
Eddie hummed thoughtfully. “Inch-resting, okay, next question…” Eddie trailed off. “Okay, if I somehow switched bodies with your best friend, and the only way to get us switched back was to fuck one of us, who would you choose?”
“Babe, what the hell kind of question—I have to text Robbie and ask if that’s an okay question to answer first,” Steve said with a snort, and in the video, he picked up his phone and started texting someone.
The camera turned to face Eddie at an uncomfortably close and unflattering angle as he said, “Gareth, edit this out if she says no.”
When the camera turned back to Steve, he motioned for Eddie to continue. “Ask more questions while we wait for her to answer,” he insisted, and Eddie laughed.
“Okay… would you still love me if I was a worm?” he asked, and Steve’s expression turned so fond and adoring, if a bit baffled.
“Of course. I would give you your own personal compost bucket with all the best food waste,” Steve promised so sincerely, Eddie let out a bark of startled laughter.
“You’re ridiculous,” Eddie grumbled, and the camera got pressed into the comforter as he obviously bent over to kiss Steve noisily.
“Next question, would you rather pee a little every time you sneeze, or get a light nosebleed every time you flip a light switch?” Eddie asked as he straightened up and Steve groaned.
“What are these questions, Eds—?”
“This is literally the bit. This is literally what this bit is , Steve.”
“I’ve watched the bit! I know you know how to ask normal questions—”
“Answer the question, Steve!”
“Fine, I’d rather pee a little every time I sneeze!”
There’s a long bout of silence where Steve stared at Eddie behind the camera, his mouth fighting to smile as he tried to keep a severe frown, until they both burst into laughter. When they settled back down after a few seconds, Steve’s phone vibrated, and he glanced at it.
“Got the okay to answer that question; I’d fuck you,” Steve answered easily, and Eddie snorted.
“Wait, me as in my body, or me as in me in your best friend’s body?” Eddie asked, and Steve smirked.
“Next question,” Steve said, gesturing for Eddie when he didn’t right away.
“Fine… would you rather accidentally eat a worm or a toenail clipping?” Eddie asked, the pout obvious in his voice.
“Jesus, Eds, uhm… a worm,” Steve replied, and Eddie gasped dramatically.
“I thought you loved me! Even as a worm!” he cried dramatically, and Steve rolled his eyes.
“Yeah, ‘course I do, Eds. I already wanna eat you right up, so…” Steve trailed off, somehow both sincere and suggestive, and Eddie let out a weird sort of choking sound.
“Babe, you can’t just admit to being into vore on the—”
“God, shut up, Eds,” Steve moaned, covering his eyes as he laughed.
“Three more questions,” Eddie declared, and Steve took a deep breath and lowered his hands.
“What was your favourite part of the last three days?” Eddie asked, and Steve’s expression turned soft.
“I think it’s a tie between you saying you loved me and falling asleep with you in my arms,” Steve admitted, and Eddie let out a soft, surprised sound.
“Oh my god, okay, uhm,” Eddie stumbled, and Steve’s soft grin widened. “Okay, do you prefer cuddling or kissing?”
Steve frowned. “Can I say both?”
“Nope! Gotta choose one!” Eddie said cheerfully and Steve sighed.
“Cuddling,” he answered after a bit, and the camera jostled a lot before it was set up so that it was propped up on something and facing them as they snuggled in close to each other.
The camera didn’t stay facing them for long as it slid slowly until it was staring up at the ceiling.
“Last question,” Eddie said in a low voice that was immediately followed by a small gasp from Steve. “What is one of your biggest wishes?”
There was a long pause before Steve asked, “Real answer or funny answer?”
“Real,” Eddie insisted quickly, and Steve chuckled quietly.
“For you to move to Chicago after your tour,” Steve said softly, just barely loud enough for the mic to catch. There was a noticeable cut in the video, because when it came back, still staring at the ceiling, the natural lighting in the room had changed a lot.
“Okay, give me the funny answer now, loverboy,” Eddie said, sounding a bit breathless.
Steve could be heard laughing loudly, but it was muffled, as if his face was pressed into a pillow or something. “I just got that wish, too,” Steve said, and the video ended as he laughed under an onslaught of noisy, wet, smacking kisses.