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1. Robin
Robin and Steve had been friends for about a year now and she would consider them good friends. Infact she would consider him her closest friend and so when he started acting weird she noticed.
It had started with Steve not joining her for their weekly 'hang out and talk about hot girls' session, which had accidentally become something of a tradition, but then it got worse. He was coming into work covered in nail polish (how anyone was that messy when they painted their nails, Robin would never know), he was borrowing horror movies from the shop (anyone who knew Steve knew he hated horror movies) and most of all he was spending his wages on the weirdest stuff; a black sabbath tee, a wooden hair comb, a denim vest and lots of cigarettes despite the fact he doesn't smoke.
Robin would have thought that Steve had finally found himself a girlfriend, except Steve always tells Robin when he goes on a date so she really doesn't think he is capable of keeping a relationship a secret, especially from her.
Apparently though, he was in the mood to prove her very, very wrong. Robin had gone over to Steve's house because she was freaking out about something that had happened that day with Vickie and she needed to talk to her best friend about it.
But when she got to his house, she saw his car in its usual place and a motorbike that seemed familiar but she wasn't sure why.
Robin contemplated going home but she really needed to see Steve and so she knocked on the door and waited for about 3 minutes. When no one came to answer her knocking she tried the door handle and it opened.
"Steve?" Robin called out.
There was a loud bang and some rummaging around for a few seconds before Steve showed up looking… dishevelled. And he wasn't alone.
Behind Steve was a man, slightly taller than Steve, he had the most amazing mullet and he was wearing a black sabbath tee with a denim vest.
'Well then… that explains that,' Robin thought.
"Robin!! So nice to see you, I didn't know you were coming by. Um… this is Eddie, you may know him, he goes to Hawkins High. Eddie, this is Robin, my best friend and co-worker," Steve explained.
'Ah so that's where I've seen the bike before.'
"What are you doing here Robin? You don't normally show up unannounced?" Steve asked, a look of Concern over his face.
Robin glanced at Eddie before answering, "I needed to talk to you about something," she added a very pointed stare so that Stave would get the memo.
A look of understanding washes over his face.
"Ah okay well you can just go upstairs and i'll be there in a second, I just need to show Eddie out."
And Robin knew it was wrong but she was so curious and so when she got to the top of the stairs she stayed there to eavesdrop on Steve and Eddie's conversation.
"I'm sorry about this, I didn't realise she was going to come over today." That was Steve.
"It's okay sweetheart, go and take care of your friend, we can do something tomorrow, and if you're truly that sorry about it tomorrow I'll think of something that will make it up to me," Eddie replied and Robin thought that you could literally hear the smirk in his voice when he said that last line.
'Wait a second, baby??' Robin was so caught up on that little bit of information she didn't hear the door opening and closing or Steve making his way up the stairs.
She does however hear his sigh when he spots her.
"Well cats out of the bag I guess, I'm a flaming bisexual and currently have been dating a man for about 5 months and I love him," Steve admits and Robin can do nothing but hug him for a few minutes, her problems from earlier today seem unimportant now.
They stay like that for about 12 minutes before pulling away.
"So… tell me about you and Eddie," Robin says, and judging by the smile that is currently plastered on his face, she made the right call asking that question.
2. Nancy
Nancy felt extremely guilty right now. She had been in an amazing relationship with an amazing guy and suddenly out of nowhere her crush on her ex boyfriend (who she knows a relationship won't work out with) comes back, strong. And the worst part is that it isn't even the first time she has done something like this, flitting between Steve and Jonathan.
And so now she is here, newly single and searching for Steve Harrington. She searches for what feels like hours to find him, he had said he'd be at work today but when she went there, Robin said he left a couple of hours earlier. She talked to Dustin, who told her to talk to Lucas, who told her to talk to Max and so now she is standing on the front steps of Max Mayfield's trailer.
Before she gets the chance to knock, something catches her eye. Steve's car is parked outside of the trailer opposite Max's and there is currently very loud music playing through the speakers. Nancy wasn't sure what it was but if she had to guess it was similar to Black Sabbath or AC/DC.
This confused her enough on its own but when she sees Steve leaning forward to kiss the person sitting in the passenger seat she is even more confused. She has to admit though, the girl he is with has great hair.
She must have spaced out because the next second Max is next to her.
"They're such a cute couple right? Like I never would have guessed about Steve but they definitely fit each other," she said.
Nancy glanced up to see… Eddie Munson?? That freak from highschool??
"Okay I have missed several chapters of this story," Nancy scoffed, slightly disgruntled and very jealous.
"Ahhh, so you didn't know? Well maybe ask St-"
Before Max could finish her sentence, Nancy stormed off.
3. Max
"Steve, Steve, Steve, Steve, Steve, Steve, Steve, Steve, Steve, Steve, Steve, Steve, Steve, Steve, Steve, Steve, Steve, Steve, Steve, Steve, Steve, Steve, Steve, Steve"
"WHAT?!" Steve exploded. Several people turned to look at him.
"We've been watching this movie for like an hour and yet all you've been doing is staring over in that corner. What are you looking at?" Dustin asked, quietly of course, they are in a cinema after all.
"Don't worry about it Dustin, watch your silly little movie that I got you guys into, I'll be right back," and just like that Steve was gone.
Now, Max wouldn't consider herself especially nosey but Steve almost never just leaves their group hangouts like that, so with a few seconds of contemplation she follows him silently.
When she walked out of the doors she couldn't see Steve but she could see another guy. He looked kind of intimidating but Max had always found that kind of vibe so cool.
He was crowding someone against the wall and with Steve's inability to keep his mouth shut she felt like she had a good guess as to who this other person was.
Just as she was about to step in she heard a… moan?
No, that couldn't be correct. Steve wasn't gay… right?
But there it was again, a deep moan coming for at least one of the boys.
She clears her throat and the way the guy against the wall jumps and screeches confirms 100% that it is Steve.
"Umm… hi Max, Eddie I've told you about Max. Eddie meet Max, Max meet Eddie my…" Steve trailed off.
"Boyfriend?" She guesses.
"Yeah... You can't tell anyone, literally only Robin knows so far, I haven't even had a chance to tell Dustin yet, well we not I haven't cause you know hellfire club and stuff."
"Steve dude you're rambling, it's okay. She won't tell anyone, right Max?" Eddie said, comfortingly, but staring pointedly at Max.
"Oh of course not I would never Steve. But also dude?? Really Eddie?? No cute nickname??" Max teased, hoping to ease Steve's nerves.
"Well come on now, does he look like a babe to you?" Eddie replied easily, catching onto what she was doing pretty quickly.
So no, Max would never have guessed but looking at the two, she can't help but feel it made total sense.
4. Dustin
Dustin was rearranging his comic book collection so that the party will have enough room to come to his for movie night when Steve shows up at his house.
Dustin at first just assumes he showed up early and thought nothing of it when he went to greet him at the door. But when he got there Steve wasn't alone, Eddie had slowly been joining the party hangouts more and more since Dustin, Mike and Lucas joined Hellfire but Dustin wasn't aware Steve and him knew each other well enough to arrive together.
"Hey guys! You're a bit early for movie night, you can chill on the couch while I finish getting everything set up if you want!" Dustin said with a huge smile on his face. Two of his favourite people getting along, yay!
"Um, actually Dustin, me and Steve had something we wanted to talk to you about. And I'd say it's pretty serious so maybe we can all go sit for a second?" Eddie asks, obviously taking the lead on whatever conversation this is.
"Yeah Sure, if you want. Let me just quickly go and shut my bedroom door to stop the cat from getting in."
Steve and Eddie waited on the couch for about 3 minutes, Steve was nervously fidgeting with his fingers and Eddie eventually got tired of it so he put his hand in Steve's and let his boy play with the rings adorning his hands.
"Okay I'm back! What did you guys want to talk about?" Dustin announces, looking down and giving Steve and Eddie just enough time to go back to sitting normally.
"Well… I don't really know how to say this without just saying this. Okay here goes," Steve takes a deep breath, " me and Eddie are- we're- well- we're dating. And we have been for like 8 months. I'm sorry we didn't tell you beforehand, we just weren't ready and we didn't know how you would react cause I have never discussed things like this with you before."
"Okay Steve you're rambling, again, take some breaths every now and then. Let Dustin process this because we did kind of dump information onto him. When You wanna say something or ask a question we will be here okay Dustin?" Eddie asked, more softly than Dustin would have ever thought possible for the man. The power of love Dustin supposes.
Dustin sat for a few minutes, not because he had anything against it (how would he have ever become friends with Will if he did), but to collect his thoughts and holy shit.
"Does this mean you've been dating for longer than I've known Eddie? And 8 months is a long time to go without telling anyone? Does anyone else know?" Dustin asked.
"Yes Dustin, we've been dating since before you joined Eddie's weird nerd cult, yes 8 months is a long time without telling anyone, yes it was hard to not tell everyone that my boyfriend is cool as fuck. Robin and Max both know but both found out accidentally so you are technically the first person we are telling," Steve said, in one breath, clearly not taking his boyfriends advice from just moments ago.
"Okay then, I'm happy for you guys, as long as you two are happy," Dustin said, and guessing by the smile on their faces and the way they look at eachother, they are very happy. Dustin grins widely at they while they are none the wiser, staring at each other.
'Well that is not what I expected today. Whatever, I still have my room to sort out,' Dustin thought, leaving the living room with a massive grin on his face for the couple.
5. Lucas
Lucas and Max had decided to try the whole dating thing again, they decided not to tell any of their friends just in case it didn't work out, and they set a date for the following Friday.
For some reason Lucas was much more nervous than usual, even compared to his other dates with Max. Maybe it's because this feels like a final attempt, like if this doesn't work out its over for good?
Either way Lucas did everything he could to distract himself from his nerves and so he blocked the date from his mind. Which wouldn't have been an issue… except it was now the day of the date and Lucas had nothing to wear. He could ask one.of his basketball friends but they are all a bit taller than him, Mike was skinnier that him, Dustin was too short and Will didn't have even slightly the same style.
His last resort was Steve, his big brother figure, and the only person he knew with good style, besides Eddie but he wasn't really his style.
"Steve! I need your help!" Lucas called out, walking into Steve's house without knocking.
"Okay just a minute! I'll be there in a second! Just a minute!" Steve called back.
"Yeah you already said that bit," Lucas said under his breath.
A couple of minutes later Steve wandered out of his bedroom.
"What's up man? You said you needed help?" Steve asked, trying to sound casual.
"I need an outfit like right now, like in the next few minutes," Lucas replied rushed.
"Well I can go and get you a shirt and jeans if you want? But I don't really know what you're gonna like and what you won't. Okay ill bring like three of everything and you can choose okay? Just stay here," Steve said walking back into his bedroom.
"No, that's gonna take too long. Let me in and I'll just choose the outfit myself," Lucas countered.
"I can't do that."
"Why not?"
"Because I can't."
"But why?"
"Because i can't, I just said that."
"Oh Jesus Christ Steve, just tell him," a new voice joined the conversation and a few seconds later Eddie showed up before him, covered in hickeys.
Oh.
"Okay, well then… I can see you're busy I will just go to one of the other boys houses and ask them," Lucas finally said and left before the two boys could stop him.
When he arrived at his date with a slightly too short shirt on and told Max the story she just laughed in his face, bragging about how she had already known.
+1. Everyone
Steve and Eddie had been dating for about 1 ½ years when they sort of decided to stop hiding so much. They never explicitly came out unless directly asked but as Time went on it became increasingly obvious that the two were something more than friends.
It was in the way that they looked at eachother and cared for each other, the way Eddie would just casually sling his arm around Steve's shoulder and Steve would in return be found leaning his head against the taller's shoulder.
The rest of the party caught on quite quickly, and Nancy eventually came around to the idea. Infact her, Robin and Vickie are now in a situationship (not dating but not just hooking up), Jonathan and Argyle quite often join Steve and Eddie's date night (which much to Robin's disappointment has replaced her and Steve's old hang out sessions).
After the remaining party it was the parents that found out next, Dustin's mum was overly accepting, as were Joyce and Hopper, surprisingly Mrs Wheeler was the most supportive but Ted was quite unhappy that his son was hanging out with "that sort" and so that lead to some conflicts with Mike for a short period of time.
After that, it felt like a free-for-all to the boys. Whoever found out, found out and those who couldn't figure it out after enough light suggestions were obviously not the brightest. Infact, the boys started to create somewhat of a game of it, because to them and most around them.it was obvious but there were still enough people who didn't even believe it was a possibility.