Chapter Text
"Fix your tie," Mrs Harrington spat, her obvious frustration as they approached the church parking lot. She was always tense when they came here, like it wasn't a day of worship, and to build a good repertoire with God so he didn't spite down on us. Clearly, it wasn't going well for Mrs Harrington, as her son saw his father in the parking lot of the local mall last week, kissing another woman. But that didn't matter right now. What mattered was the reputation they had built in the Harrington name, the ever-growing legacy they had made out to be perfect. The perfect marriage, the perfect house, the perfect careers, and unfortunately for Steve, the perfect son.
"There's nothing wrong with my tie," Steve grumbled, taking the slim piece of fabric between his fingers and tugging on it. "Why are we here so early, anyway? It doesn't even start until 11."
"We promised the Wheeler's we would help put out the Hors d'Oeurves." Mrs Harrington spoke, a pathetically bad French accent rolling off her tongue at the use of the words. "Nancy will be there." She added an almost teasing tone of voices, her eyes appearing in the rear view mirror, and her paper thin eyebrows raising upwards.
"Nancy's always there... She's been there every day since we were kids." He replied, a frown forming between his eyebrows now as he grew frustrated.
"Don't talk to your mother with that attitude, Steven." Mr Harrington finally chimed in, his only interest in the conversation when he could find a way to belittle his son. Like he had a radar that went off for him to actually listen, but only when given the chance to scold Steve. He got out of the car immediately after, not giving his son the chance to defend himself or for his mother to reply. He watched from the window as they began to walk inside. Their hands intertwined a split second before they entered the door. As if they held hands longer than they had to, the world would combust.
Steve stepped out of the car and slammed the door shut. His eyes closed as he took a deep breath. As he opened them again, they met with another. Just across the street, there was a diner, a dark-haired man leaning beside one of the trash cans. His curly hair was tied up into a bun at the top of his head, a few pieces falling to frame his face. He pulled a lighter from the pocket of the white apron wrapped around his waist, flush to his body, bringing the flame up to the cigarette that hung loosely from his lips. The man had finally caught onto Steve's gaze, his dark eyes sharp as they watched him curiously, observing as he looked down his body at a painfully slow pace.
"Steve!" He heard a familiar voice call from behind him, immediately turning his head to see Nancy standing by the doors. A smile wiped across Steve's face then as he began to walk towards the church, Nancy's arm immediately linking with his own. Steve glanced back towards the diner, before walking through the doors, the dark-haired man raising his hand and giving Steve a finger wagging wave. But before Steve could wave back, Nancy had pulled him inside to begin setting up for the service.
"So, have you been on any more dates since I last saw you?" Nancy asked as she placed the neatly cut sandwiches down onto the platters. Her eyebrows furrow as she tried to line them up perfectly.
"One. My mom set me up with Lucy Wright." Steve sighed, a laugh almost instantly leaving Nancy's lips. "What?"
"Nothing... Just- She really knows how to pick 'em." She shrugged, glancing up at Steve with a smirk tugging at the corner of her mouth.
"It wasn't that bad. She did try and kiss me at the end of the night, though. And I pretended to sneeze so I didn't have to kiss her." He explained, his shoulders tensing from embarrassment as he relived the story in his head, watching Nancy's lips press together in a straight line to hold in her laughter. "It's not funny, Nancy. I mean, if I have to go on one more date."
"You could just tell your parents you're not interested in dating anyone right now," Nancy shrugged, glancing up at Steve, who was staring at her in distaste. "Okay, yeah... I realised when I said it that would be a stupid idea."
"I'll make you a deal, when you tell your parents you're not interested in dating anyone, then so will I." He challenged, holding out his hand for Nancy to shake.
"You've got yourself a deal, Harrington." She said, firmly taking his hand and giving it one strong shake, before wandering off with an empty tray resting against her hip.
The service felt so much longer today, like because Steve wanted to get out of there, God himself was making sure everyone spoke just that little bit slower. He looked to his right to see Nancy sitting there, her eyes glossed over, and he knew her brain had wandered elsewhere, somewhere around 5 minutes into Pastor Knowles talk, his wrinkled fingers trembling against the leather-bound book in his hands as he discussed the bake sale being held for the church next week.
Steve thought back to the man standing outside the diner, his arms covered in a litter of tattoos, and his clothes ragged and dark. He looked different than many people Steve knew, especially in a town like this where everyone looked the same. Picture perfect families, driving nearly the same cars and wearing the same clothes, like they'd just copied and pasted the models from a catalogue. There were a few oddballs in high school, some people that didn't quite fit the standards of others that thought so highly of themselves. But this guy was different, he was new, he was interesting. Steve finally felt like he had found something exciting in this dried up old town.
"You ever visited that diner across the street?" Steve whispered to Nancy, leaning down towards her ear so she could hear him better. She simply shook her head, looking up at him with a curious expression. "You wanna go after this?"
"Are the room temperature devilled eggs not good enough for you?" Nancy questioned in a whisper.
"Seems a bit counter-productive to have food with the world devil in it, inside of a church." He smirked, causing Nancy to laugh, turning the heads of both of their parents and a few in the surrounding area. She cleared her throat, trying to play it off and quietly apologising, before nudging Steve in the side with her elbow, causing him to wince.
"Me and the other mothers spent hours making all of this food, and you want to leave?" Mrs Harrington whined, her voice high and irritated, making Steve's skin crawl.
"Me and Nancy just wanted to grab some food, just us. We haven't really seen each other much this week." Steve began to say, being interrupted by the sound of his mother's voice again.
"You're going out with Nancy?" She almost sang, her annoyance dwindling as her hopes of their non-existent budding relationship could potentially blossom.
"Yeah, is that okay Mrs Harrington?" Nancy asked, her voice all sweet and sickly, like she was pouring honey directly down his mother's throat and it was working. No one ever said no to Nancy.
"Of course, sweetheart." Mrs Harrington replied, a smile appearing across her face. "You guys go have fun. Don't be too late, Steven, you have work early tomorrow." She added, her tone dropping as she spoke to her son, speaking as if he still lived under her roof.
"Bye, Mrs Harrington." Nancy smiled widely, it almost instantly falling from her face as she turned around to Steve and pulled him in the direction of the door. "That woman is a piece of work."
"Really? Hadn't noticed." Steve smirked, Nancy's arms linking around his own once more as they walked across the street to the diner. As they walked in, it was pretty quiet, an old couple in the corner and a few other obvious long haul drivers who had dropped in for a break. They took a seat in one of the booths and began browsing the menu. Steve was not able to help but glance around the place, only seeing a brown-haired girl behind the counter who seemed to be fighting with the cash register.
"Robin, what the hell are you doing?" A voice echoed from the back, the familiar face Steve saw earlier appearing beside the girl, who seemed to be doing an incredibly bad job at robbing the place. "I told you, you can't-" He paused, as he locked eyes with the other man, his lips parting as if he was going to say something. But Steve quickly looked back at his menu to avoid any further embarrassment he was feeling.
"You think the grilled cheese is good?" Nancy questioned, a soft hum leaving her mouth as she directed her eyes to the milkshakes on the menu.
"What can I get started for you guys?" The curly-haired man asked as he approached the table, a notepad resting on the palm of one of his hands as he pulled a pen that was neatly tucked behind his ear. Steve looked up, locking eyes with him as Nancy gave her order, before they wandered down to the name badge attached to his apron. Eddie . "Anything for you?" He asked Steve, snapping him out of the trance he was in.
"I uh- What do you think?" Steve asked, the tone coming out entirely wrong, an unintentional annoyance to it, which caused Eddie's eyes to furrow into a frown. "No- I mean uh- What's good?"
"Oh... Um, the grilled cheese is pretty good. But honestly, I wouldn't get anything that isn't a sandwich, or anything with meat, actually." Eddie spoke quietly, so the other customers didn't overhear. "It was definitely made in a lab or something."
"I guess I'll get the grilled cheese then and a... strawberry milkshake." He smiled, the relief of it being returned settling nicely in the pit of his stomach, until a loud crashing noise came from the other side of the diner.
"Robin, come on!" Eddie exclaimed in defeat as he rushed over, seeing the girl begin to scramble the dishes she had dropped from the ground. "If I have to take any more damage costs from your paycheck, you're going to be working here for free!"
"I know- fuck- I'm sorry, I was mopping the floors earlier." The girl called Robin began to say, before something else caught her attention. The palm of her hand was covered in blood, her eyes growing wide and her skin stripped of all its colour.
"Shit, Robs." Eddie breathed out, an obvious panic overwhelming him as he ran over to the counter to grab a clean rag.
Steve wasn't sure what possessed him to get up from his seat and walk over to help, while the other customers chose to ignore the scene in front of them. He stepped quickly over to the pair and crouched down beside Robin, taking the rag that Eddie was loosely pressing down against her wound and applying pressure.
"You got a first aid kit?" Steve asked Eddie, his eyes wide as he parted his lips to respond, but he just got up from where he was kneeling and rushed into the back of the diner. He looked back at Robin, whose arms were shaking and her eyes were focused on the blood soaked rag against her hand. "It's Robin, right?" He questioned, watching her eyes shift to look at Steve's face.
"Yeah, I-I'm Robin." She replied, almost immediately attaching her eyes back towards where the blood was forming until Steve began speaking again.
"I'm Steve... Steve Harrington." He spoke with a warm smile, her head nodding slightly so he knew she was listening. Eddie soon returned with a first aid kit, placing it down beside Steve as he continued to hold onto Robin's hand. "Once when I was 11, I was riding my bike and went over the handlebars when I was trying to go super fast down the hill on Wallace. When I went over them I was so scared and it honestly felt like I was flying to my death, it was nuts." He laughed, using his free hand to rummage around the first aid kit to retrieve some sterile wipes. He grabbed Eddie's hand and made it hold Robin's free one, as he knew this was going to hurt her, and figured she would need the comfort of a friend. The touch of the other man startled Eddie as he watched him closely, eyes blinking wide. "I had to have like 3 stitches in my head, and my hands got all fucked up from the fall... Look." He paused, turning his hand over to show Robin the scars that adorned the palms of his hand.
"What makes it even more embarrassing is that he was trying to impress some girl he had a crush on." Nancy added as she took a seat beside Steve, helping him rip open one of the sterile wipes. "He had this god awful bald patch on the side of his head for months." She said with a laugh.
"Well, I thought it looked pretty badass." Steve chimed as he took the wipe from Nancy, gently wiping around Robin's wound and checking to make sure there were no pieces of glass left in there. She winced loudly and screwed her eyes shut, tears forming in the corner of them as she squeezed onto Eddie's hand tightly. "Okay, the worst parts over. Just gonna wrap your hand up, okay Robin?" He spoke softly, receiving a nod in response as he began to press a gauze onto the wound and wrapped her hand tightly with the bandage.
"I got blood all over your shirt." Robin whispered, her voice calm now as she rested her now bandaged hand against her leg and freed Eddie from the grip of her other. "Sorry."
"It's just a shirt, it's fine." He smiled warmly, standing up from where he was kneeling, and helping Eddie clear up anything soaked in blood to get out of Robin's sight. "You okay?"
"Yeah, I'm okay." She nodded, as Eddie helped her stand up from where she was on the floor. "Feel a bit woozy." She groaned, her face still looking pale.
"Go sit down, I'll clean up, Robs." Eddie insisted, leading her to one of the booths to sit down.
"I'll sit with her." Nancy offered with a friendly smile, quickly rushing over to take a seat across from Robin, not giving her a chance for any objection.
"I think we have some clean shirts in the back, so you're not scaring the town into thinking there's an axe murderer on the loose." Eddie joked, gesturing with his head for Steve to follow him into the back of the diner. Steve followed without hesitation, observing the way Eddie walked and how the strands of hair poking out of the bun at the top of his head swayed as he took each step. He came to a pause when he reached a storage cupboard at the back of the diner, going inside and rummaging around for a moment before returning with a plain white t-shirt. "That should fit you."
"Thanks." Steve smiled warmly, beginning to pull his tie loose and unbutton his shirt. Eddie's eyes focused on the way Steve's hands moved, unsure how hands so large could be so delicate. He cleared his throat as Steve's chest hair began to expose itself through his shirt, averting his eyes away and wetting his lips with the flick of his tongue. "How long you lived around here?"
"Few months... My Uncle bought the place in August last year." Eddie replied, crossing his arms over his chest as he looked down at his boots that suddenly felt incredibly heavy against his feet.
"I haven't seen you around," Steve paused, sliding his blood soaked shirt off alongside his tie and letting it fall to the floor, right beside Eddie's feet. "Where do you hang out?"
"I definitely don't think the guy that goes to church every Sunday and arrives in a BMW hangs out in the same places that I do." Eddie chuckled softly, looking back up at Steve as he slid the clean white shirt over his head, the muscles in his shoulders and chest tensing, his gaze following up his torso before he met his eyes again.
"Yeah, maybe you're right." Steve sighed, bending down to pick his shirt and tie from the floor, before smiling at Eddie. "Thanks for the shirt."
"Least I could do considering you stopped Robin from having a total freak out. For someone who is in a constant state of falling over or breaking something, she really hates blood." Eddie explained with a smile, an obvious gratefulness in his tone for helping his friend.
"Not a fan of it either. But you should probably get her some food, or something. She still looked pretty queasy." Steve paused, a realisation washing over him as he looked Eddie in the eyes. "How did you know I go to church every Sunday?"
"Seen you around." Eddie shrugged with a smirk, before heading back out to find Robin at the main part of the diner. Steve slowly followed, his face almost aching from the smile plastered across his cheeks. He took a seat next to Nancy at the table, glancing at Eddie as he put an order through to the kitchen and began cleaning up the mess on the floor.
"So, what do you do Steve?" Robin asked, already picking at the bandage around her hand and causing the corners to fray.
"I uh- I work with my father at the family business." Steve explained, Robin and Eddie exchanging knowing looks. "He owns a chain of stores."
"You're rich?" She questioned, as though she was almost mocking Steve now.
"No... My parents are, I guess, pretty successful, or my dad is, anyways." He shrugged, playing with his hands nervously, before reaching one up to rub the back of his neck. "I manage a few stores."
"What about you Nancy? You work?" Eddie asked as he swiped up the remainder of the shattered glass from the floor, pouring it into the nearby trash can he had dragged over.
"I'm in college, actually... I write, mostly. Trying to score a job at a decent newspaper, but it's proving pretty difficult." Nancy explained, Robin's eyes widened.
"You write?" Robin asked excitedly, her expression softening once more as she smiled at the other woman.
Steve must have zoned out of the conversation as Nancy began to explain her love of writing, her genuine interest in something she loved doing, and something much more interesting than managing grocery stores. Steve wasn't allowed to have that, expected to take over the family business in the next few years, regardless of what a disappointment his father thought he would be. Nancy had aspirations, one day she was going to leave this town and go onto something bigger, something that regardless of her parents stature, they wanted for her. He could tell by Eddie's expression he was disappointed with the type of person Steve was, just like everyone who wasn't raised being fed off a silver spoon. He felt he was different to those he was raised around, desperately trying to be the type of person that didn't let the effects of his wealth change him for the worst.
"Steve, what do you think?" Nancy asked, snapping him out of his daze when he felt her hand against his. Steve looked at her with a lost expression, raising his eyebrows in hopes she would repeat whatever he had just missed. "Robin just invited us to the bar she works at tonight?"
"Oh, I don't know- I have work in the morning and-" Steve began to say, being interrupted by Eddie letting out a soft laugh.
"Just come and have a few beers, and we'll have you back in your pumpkin carriage by midnight, alright pretty boy?" Eddie teased, an immediate blush spreading across Steve's cheeks at the use of the nickname. "See you tonight."