Work Text:
The phone rang early in the morning and Steve was terrified. He nearly dropped his coffee when the shrill ringing first went off. It made sense that the phone would ring on December 20th. But he somehow still hadn’t been expecting it.
His parents were supposed to at least call on the day. He wasn’t a little kid anymore, but the Harrington’s had to make an effort to pretend that they weren’t estranged and dysfunctional like every other modern family.
Steve hated it, but he understood.
The phone kept ringing.
If he answered and it was his father, the man would get upset at him. Then he’d bring up Steve’s age and maybe get it wrong, but honestly Steve had also forgotten his age a time or two, so that wasn’t so bad. It would be a tense phone call. Steve would feel bad about his life for a little bit and then he’d get over it quick.
But if he answered and it was his mother, Steve would be a goddamned wreck for the rest of the month. She never got loud, but she always picked her words to hurt. Even with all the distance between them, she’d know exactly what to say to hurt him and then it’d be like he was a little kid again with her grip on his shoulders. Whenever he’d been especially disappointing, her grip used to get tight enough to pinch his collarbone and—nope.
Fuck that.
Steve was happy to let the phone ring and ring.
He didn’t want the “happy birthday” call from his parents and as an adult he felt a lot better about simply avoiding it. Everyone he actually loved knew to radio him if it was an emergency and, purposefully, most of them didn’t know it was his birthday. Those that did, just Robin and Nancy, knew he didn’t want attention.
Since he couldn’t unplug the still-ringing phone without revealing to whichever parent it was that he was ignoring them, he went outside and settled down on one of the pool chairs to wait it out.
He was perfectly content to spend the bulk of the day out there and watching the ice on the pool cover melt. (A white Christmas this would definitely not be.) It was probably a little morbid, but watching change happen to and around the pool was somehow therapeutic for him. Bad things happen, but the world keeps spinning. Or maybe it was just morbid and avoidant of his actual problems.
“Stevie!”
Steve jolted in surprise, nearly spilling his coffee all over himself. He was quick to set it down on the ground. It’d long since gone cold, anyway. “I’m in the backyard!”
Eddie Munson limped his way around the side of the house. His cane clacked obnoxiously on the pool deck, but Steve didn’t mind the noise.
“Hey, Eds. What’s up?”
Eddie’s grin was too excited. “It’s your birthday!”
“Ah. Yeah.” Steve barely held back his grimace. He didn’t want to sound ungrateful, but he hadn’t been prepared. “Did Robin tell you?”
“I saw it on your driver’s license a while back and nearly forgot but—”
“When were you looking at my license?”
“I got you a present!”
Steve hadn’t been expecting that. “What? Wait, you didn’t have to.”
Eddie ignored the open pool chair beside Steve and pushed at the birthday boy’s legs until Steve made room for him. He sat facing Steve on the edge and let his cane clatter onto the ground. “You’re twenty! Do you know how many D & D puns I could be making with that?”
“Please don’t.”
“Brat.” Eddie pinched Steve on the hips and laughed when Steve flinched and swatted at his hand. “I’ve been trying to get ahold of you all morning. Thought you were an early riser.”
“Wait,” Steve felt… very stupid asking, but he had to: “Were you the one calling earlier?”
“Yeah. Could you hear it out here?”
Steve gladly lied: “Yep. Sorry. Didn’t want to get up.”
“I get that,” He casually patted Steve’s leg, just below his knee. Then he left his hand there and pressed down as he shifted around to pull something out of his back pocket.
Someone more poetic than Steve could have composed something lovely about the contrast that was when his mother grabbed onto him, he hated it, but when Eddie did it, he loved it. But that acknowledgment was as far as Steve could get on his own. One bad, one good. He’d have to call Robin about it once Eddie sauntered off.
“Here you go!” Eddie dropped a thick piece of red construction paper that had been folded into a thick, pointy flower of sorts.
“Oh, it’s nice,” Steve gently stabbed one of the petals into his index finger. The paper felt rough but the sharp edges were interesting. He had no idea how Eddie had managed to fold it into the shape it was in. There was a word for it, but he couldn’t remember it.
“You’re supposed to unfold it!”
Oh. Once again, Steve felt pretty fucking stupid. He flushed, kept his eyes down, and reluctantly turned the flower over to try to figure out how to unravel it. He really wasn’t great with puzzles like this, but he felt a little mollified knowing that he could just ask Eddie to refold it or even fold more for him.
“Here,” Eddie reached over and, instead of plucking the flower out of his grasp, he took Steve’s hands in his and puppeted his fingers towards the right folds to undo.
Steve didn’t take in exactly how to unfold the flower. His attention went to the guitarist’s long, warm fingers and how rough they were, not wholly unlike the construction paper.
Eddie was always very tactile and Steve made sure to never discourage him because… well, it was nice. He liked it. He liked Eddie touching him.
“There we go!” Eddie moved his hands to cradle Steve’s.
The flower had revealed a guitar pick, pierced and threaded through a short, waxed leather cord. It was marbled with red and black, like the guitar everyone had chipped in to replace for Eddie.
On one side of the guitar pick, Eddie had drawn a heart in gold sharpie.
It was an obvious statement—a claim—and it was something Steve hadn’t realized he’d wanted. Maybe he hadn’t wanted it during the mess in March, but certainly after when they’d had time to breathe and Steve was able to process the whole “sexuality crisis” and “compulsory straight-ness” which didn’t really sound like a technical term but Robin was usually right about those things.
“D’you like it?”
Steve startled a little. Eddie had leaned in closer, holding himself up with his right hand resting on the back of the chair by Steve’s head while his left stayed cradling Steve’s hands.
He hadn’t noticed when Eddie had practically boxed him in. Steve had been too distracted—enamored—with the necklace. “I like it.”
“I’m glad.” Eddie’s wide, victorious smile had all of Steve’s focus then. “I had some trouble thinking about what to give you.”
“You… you didn’t have to give me a present.” Talking would have been enough, even if Steve really liked the idea of wearing the necklace and the subtle theatrics with how Eddie had approached this.
“Course I did! I didn’t want you to feel lonely or unappreciated. It’s a big day.”
He pressed his lips together for a beat, hard enough to ground himself over how expressive Eddie’s eyes were. “Kinda sounds like you did talk to Robin.” She knew all about his family/birthday angst.
Eddie snickered, but he didn’t move away. Slowly, his calloused fingers pulled Steve’s right hand away from the necklace so he could intertwine their fingers. “She may have complained a bit. Out of worry.”
Steve stared at their conjoined hand. Then, “You’re… pretty smooth.”
“Caught on, have you?”
“Robin outed you so many times but I—”
“Have surprisingly low self-esteem,” Eddie interrupted. He didn’t sound as teasing as earlier, though. “But we can pretend you were just being cautious on account of, you know, Hawkins.”
Steve huffed. He looked up from their hands and back to Eddie’s intense gaze. He sort of thought, back when he would daydreamed about them getting together, Steve would feel a lot more awkward or unsure of himself. In the actual moment, he just felt impressed with Eddie and… as cliché and way too early as it was to say out loud… loved. “Help me put the necklace on?”
“Happily!” Eddie pulled his hands away to pick up the necklace from Steve’s hand and fiddle with the clasp.
Steve watched as Eddie hunched over and struggled with the necklace as he tried to rush through the process. “Once it’s on, wanna make out?”
One hand slid away from the necklace as the clasp snapped back shut and Eddie looked up from the necklace with bright eyes exclaiming, “Yes!”
Steve grinned and gently took the necklace out of Eddie’s hands, undoing the clasp and quickly secured it around his neck. He’d barely moved his own hands down before Eddie’s had moved forward to pull Steve into a kiss.
Steve still avoided answering the phone for the rest of December, but he spent a lot more time at Eddie’s new trailer anyway.