Work Text:
Max and Lucas were the first ones to get married. Granted, it took a while.
They had finished college the year before. They both had stable, secure jobs, they were renting an apartment together and saving up to buy a house. They played DnD once a month, with whomever was able to join them.
They were still as disgustingly in love as they were at the Snowball dance.
It was a small ceremony, in and out at the Town Hall, then drinks and burgers at the bar. Max looked stunning, with curly hair, a white short dress, red converse and a giant smile on her face. Lucas smiled even wider, in a sharp white suit that got smeared with hot sauce pretty early on.
Everyone was there, the whole extended party, and everyone was happy. Smiling. Laughing. Dancing. Eating, drinking, smiling some more.
Though he tried to hide it, Steve was an emotional mess. On one hand, he still had trouble believing they were alive and well, that they were there, living. On the other hand, his kids were all grown up. They had jobs, they were getting married, and oh lord, yeah, Steve was emotional.
Which is why, at one point, he politely yet boldly stepped between Max and Lucas and asked for a dance.
He rolled her eyes but left, and Max was chuckling as she over exaggeratedly grabbed his hand. Steve took the lead, but it was difficult, because he was just staring at the beautiful woman in front of him.
‘I’m proud of you.’, he said eventually. ‘Happy for you, yeah, but even more proud.’
‘Why?’, she narrowed her eyes. ‘I didn’t really do much.’
‘Remember when you wrote us letters?’, Steve said and the smile instantly fell off Max’s face.
‘I didn’t read it.’, he went on with a little difficulty. ‘All the time you were in Camazotz, I couldn’t even open it. It sat on my dresser, carefully placed under a book I never opened, always knowing it was there, but I couldn't touch it.’
Max didn’t say anything, but she gripped his hand tighter.
‘After everything ended, the first night it was really, truly over, I managed to read it. And I gotta tell you, Max, you’re a shit writer.’
She chuckled. ‘In my defense, there was a lot going on when I was writing that.’
‘One thing stuck with me, though.’, Steve tilted his head. ‘You said that as far as babysitters went-’
‘You were the kindest one’, Max smiled, ‘even if you were an asshole.’
‘Yup. So you better remember that, yeah? When you find yourself in need of a babysitter, you better call.’
She shook her head, rolled her eyes a bit, but her cheeks were flushed and Max smiled, as she let go of his hand in order to wrap her arms around his neck and hug him tightly.
Steve returned the hug immediately, and after a few seconds, he lifted Max’s feet off the ground and even if she cursed at him and, somewhat gently, hit him, he still took her to her husband.
Lucas was quick to grab his wife, and Steve was promptly forgotten. And then Eddie was there, handing him a beer and a wink, teasingly telling him that Jonathan had taken a bunch of pictures of them dancing.
‘I can’t wait to see them, actually.’, Steve smiled and shamelessly wiped his eyes.
Eddie didn’t clock him for it, but returned the kind smile and agreed with him.
☀
The next moment of reality came in the woods. Two years after the kids finished college, Steve got his camper, got Eddie and they picked Dustin up.
He was acting weird, but he promised that he was fine.
So they grilled some hotdogs, made smores, opened some beers and just goofed around the fire, until the sun went down and the stars came up.
Then Dustin told them that he got offered a job in the Government. Entry level, low level engineering, loads of hush-hush and NDAs, based close to Hawkins but far enough that he’d be in a big city. An actual job, and Steve could see the childlike excitement in his eyes.
He and Eddie were quick to congratulate him, Eddie going as far as yelling very loudly and tackling Dustin to the ground.
And then, they spent the rest of the night convincing Dustin that he should take the job. He had a lot of hesitations about it, obviously, but they helped him figure out the pros and cons and, as Eddie kept saying, 'The Upside Down is dead and gone, and you deserve to put that big brain of yours to work’.
Eventually, Dustin agreed. He was going to take the job.
Going to sleep that night, wrapped up in a sleeping bag with Eddie snoring next to him, Steve thought that another one of his kids was all grown up. As he told Max, he felt happy for Dustin, but even more so, he felt proud.
Even if he still saw the goofy kid with the funny teeth and lame trucker hats, Dustin was grown up.
But, as Eddie said at one point, ‘Don’t worry, dude, you’ll still be an annoying little brat to us’.
☀
When Jonathan called and said that a bunch of the party were going to go to Montauk for Christmas, he didn’t hesitate in agreeing. He brought gifts for everyone, reserved a hotel room for him and Eddie close to Joyce and Hop’s house, and got really excited to see everyone.
Will showed up with his boyfriend. It looked like Steve was the only one out of the loop, because he was the only one who stared.
A nudge from Eddie and he recovered, though, shook Andy’s hand and hugged Will.
Still, throughout the three days they spent together, Steve found himself staring.
Andy was a good guy, he thought. He was funny and goofy, he always made Will laugh, he was polite to the girls and cheeky with the boys, he helped Joyce with the cooking and made sure to get to know all of Will’s friends, he talked to every one of them, one on one. He was smart enough to keep a conversation about Dustin’s work, but he was an idiot enough to laugh around with Eddie.
It was beyond evident that he cared about Will a lot. And, even more importantly, he made Will happy.
Joyce caught him staring, at one point, and all but ordered him to the kitchen to help her make coffee. He followed, meekly, expecting a talking to.
She didn’t do that, though. Instead, she smiled at Steve, ruffled his hair, and simply asked what was going on through his head.
It took a few moments, but Steve relaxed and answered.
‘They’re all grown up. Not fully, not all of them, but they’re on their way and I’m…’
Joyce chuckled when he didn't go on. ‘Do you still see the kids they used to be? Cause I do. Will is still excited about a box of 120 crayons, Lucas is still stealing cookies out of the cupboards, Mike is still carrying around his DnD figurines, Dustin is still excited about losing his baby teeth. And you?’
‘Me?’, Steve eyed her wearily.
‘You’re still driving my kids around, chasing monsters’, Joyce chuckled, ‘and you’re still coming into Melvald's with your mom, politely demanding she’d buy you a lollipop.’
Oh, Steve forgot, sometimes, that Joyce knew him since he was a little kid. He felt only a little embarrassed.
‘I’m a teacher.’, he said slowly, incredulously. ‘Jonathan is working on movie sets, hanging out with movie stars all day. Will just brought a boy home. You’re married to Hopper.’
‘It’s insane.’, Joyce laughed. ‘But…’, she took a deep breath. ‘We’ve seen more insane shit.’
‘Yeah.’, Steve breathed out. ‘This insane shit… it’s good.’
‘Very good.’
Joyce smiled at him and then she hugged him tightly, pushing her cheek to his chest.
‘You’re all grown up, but you’re still my kids.’, she said strongly. ‘So don’t be a stranger, yeah?’
‘Yeah.’, he nodded and hugged her back. ‘Yeah, okay.’
There was a slight crashing sound, and Eddie said an embarrassed ‘Sorry, we just wanted to grab another beer.’ Will was with him.
That had both Steve and Joyce laughing. But she detached herself from Steve, went to Eddie’s side and hugged him tightly. Eddie was too surprised to return the hug, his eyes growing wide. Joyce just kept on laughing, as she released him and pushed him gently. Steve caught him, which made Joyce laugh harder as she left the kitchen.
‘What was that?’, Will asked as Eddie righted himself.
‘Momma Joyce.’, Steve shrugged. The other men nodded, not needing further explanation.
‘Let’s get you those beers.’
Eddie shook his head. ‘Neah, I just wanted to check up on you. You were gone awhile.’
He felt only a little embarrassed, but a lot more pleased.
‘Are you okay?’, Will asked kindly, ever the sensitive one.
Steve nodded, and was quick to hug him. It surprised Will, but it didn’t stop him from returning the hug.
‘I like Andy.’, Steve told him. ‘He cares about you, which is a big plus.’ He stopped the hug, but grabbed Will’s shoulders and stared him down.
‘However, do let him know that if he ever hurts you, I still carry the nail bat in my trunk.’
‘He’s kidding’, Eddie snorted. ‘Well, no, he’s not kidding, but he is exaggerating. We would, probably, use our fists.’
‘That won’t be necessary’, Will grinned, ‘but thank you for the offer’.
He was the one to hug them both, at the same time. It was a childish thing, but it felt nice. Eddie cooed out loud, which was even nicer.
☀
A few months later, Steve had another moment.
Robin called him, at work no less, and announced that she was coming home for a long weekend. It was weird, she never really did that, and it was even weirder when she said that she was staying with him, not her parents.
Clearly, something was wrong. Steve didn’t like skipping school, but he arranged for a substitute teacher for the two days.
Robin arrived with tears in her eyes, a fake smile on her face and it only took half a bottle of gin to make her admit that she had broken up with Andrea, her girlfriend for the past two years.
Steve immediately went into big brother mode. He listened to her, let her cry on his shoulder, cooked for her, and let her sleep in his bed that first night.
In the morning, he made waffles for breakfast and kept staring at her.
‘Out with it’, she said at one point, evidently irked. ‘Out with whatever it is you want to say, that you know is going to make me angry.’
‘It’s not gonna make you angry.’, Steve said calmly, ‘But now that you mentioned it…’
She glared at him. ‘I know you never liked her.’
‘Yeah, but it’s not about that. It’s about you. Do you realize’, he smiled gently at her, ‘that this is the first relationship you have put a stop to?’
Robin frowned.
‘The ones before Andrea’, Steve went on slowly, ‘they all broke up with you. This relationship is the first one you ended.’
‘What does that have to do with anything?’
‘I don’t know, I just thought… It’s good, you know?’
‘Good?’
‘Yeah, cause this time, you didn’t let yourself be miserable just for the sake of not being single.’
Whatever Robin wanted to say, that shut her up, so Steve went on.
‘I’m kinda proud of you, Robin, cause this shows me that you figured out just how much you’re worth.’
‘Worth?’
‘Yeah’, Steve grinned at her, just a little teasingly. ‘That you deserve the world and you shouldn’t settle for someone giving you less than that.’
It took a few moments, but Robin understood what he was saying. Her cheeks went red and she averted her eyes.
‘I hate it when you’re right.’
Steve laughed loudly at that, but he also got up and hugged Robin tightly.
That’s when Eddie let himself into the house.
‘Sorry, I forgot to tell him you were over.’, Steve said without letting go of her. ‘We had plans, but I’ll tell him to go home.’
‘No, absolutely not’, Robin said gently, before screaming. ‘Eddie! Your stupid boy plans are cancelled, you’re both going shopping with me, I need new jeans!’
Steve groaned, but Eddie came into the kitchen saying her name in excitement, and he didn’t wait for Steve to let go of Robin before he joined the hug.
☀
The next moment came bright and early on a Saturday morning. Steve got there a few minutes before the bookshop opened, and he was bouncing on the soles of his feet, waiting for them to open the doors.
Mike’s book came out that day. His first novel, the one heavily inspired by their adventures with the Upside Down, but if anyone asked, the one inspired by the fantasy role playing game he had already written.
When the door opened, Steve ran inside the bookstore, fully prepared to search for the book, but he didn’t need to. It was right there, front and centered, an entire display of Stranger Things - A horror tale of another world, written by Mike Wheeler.
He almost cried as he paid for the two copies. Almost. He did speed back home, though, where Eddie was waiting for him.
They spent that weekend on the couch, reading. They ordered food that could be eaten one handed, they drank some beers, sometimes they napped, they drank a lot of coffee, and they kept on reading.
By the end of it, they were both on the floor, leaning against the couch, shoulders pressed together, crying into kitchen towels that Eddie had brought over, at one point.
They finished reading about the same time, and just stared at each other for a while. When Steve felt like he could breathe again, he picked up the phone and called Mike.
He picked up, eventually, voice groggy. It was very late at night when he was.
‘Mike, hi, I- ‘, and he couldn’t go on, he started crying again.
‘Steve? What’s wrong, what happened?’
‘Nothing happened, buddy.’, Eddie said. ‘We just finished reading your book.’
‘Oh. Well, thanks. Uh… did you like it?’
Steve cried harder at that, and so did Eddie.
‘Oh, boy.’, Mike said, before he started laughing.
For a long while. So long, that Eddie started laughing too, and Steve couldn’t help but do the same.
Mike eventually calmed down. ‘I’m sorry, guys. I didn’t mean to make you cry, but… yeah, I’m not surprised that you are. I cried so much writing it.’
‘It’s a good cry, though.’, Eddie said.
‘It was beautiful.’, Steve finally calmed himself down. ‘Really good if you don’t know what really happened, and … really fucking good, Wheeler, because it’s better than what really happened.’
‘Yeah’, Mike breathed out. ‘That’s what stories are supposed to be, they’re supposed to make you feel better at the end.’
They were silent for a while, and then Eddie grabbed Steve’s hand.
‘Mike?’, he said. ‘We’re really proud of you.’
‘Yeah.’, Steve agreed. ‘Really proud.’
‘Thanks, guys. You each owe me a drink next time I’m in town.’
They both laughed at that, but were quick to agree.
After they hung up, they hugged and cried for a really, really long time.
☀
Steve was, usually, more tired after a sex-ed class than after his gym classes or practices.
But when there was a knock on the door at the end of his class, he didn’t hesitate to tell whomever it was to come in. He expected to be one of the kids he had just seen, having some more awkward sex questions.
He wasn’t expecting Holly Wheeler.
She was all grown up, a senior in high school, wearing a short skirt, colorful sneakers, and a Hellfire shirt. She was leading the club, now. Steve couldn’t help but smile.
‘What’s up, little Wheeler?’
She glared at him. Very rude thing to do to a teacher, but it was just the two of them, they’ve known each other for enough time to ignore school rules.
Holly walked into the classroom, closed the door, and sat down on the teacher’s desk, close enough that she could look down at Steve.
Clearly, this was something serious, he could see it in her eyes.
So Steve straightened up, and smiled reassuringly at her.
‘What’s up, Holly?’
‘I have… questions. Big, important- actually, just the one huge question about… life, really.’ She took a deep breath. ‘But everyone I’ve asked, they’ve… bullshitted me.’
Steve frowned. ‘Uh…’
‘I need you to not bullshit me!’, she said strongly.
‘Okay.’, he nodded. ‘Okay, no bullshit. What’s the question?’
‘I don’t know if I should leave for college.’, she said quickly, like ripping out a bandaid.
Steve took a moment to gather his thoughts. ‘You got your acceptance letter, right?’
‘Letters’, she nodded.
‘Smart cookie’, Steve nodded. ‘Where?’
‘Hawkins Community College, New York and… Chicago.’
‘Okay. So, you gotta choose between Home, the other side of the country, or… close enough to home to drive on the weekends and the same city your brother is in.’
Holly nodded, looking at him with big eyes.
‘And why do you say people keep bullshitting you?’
‘Mom, Dad and Nancy say I should choose whatever I want. Mike said New York is the best school out of the bunch. So did Dustin and Lucas. Max said New York is the most fun place out of all of them. All my friends said I should go to New York so they could visit me.’
‘Not sure how all that’s bullshit, but…’
‘They were all lying.’, Holly said with anger. ‘I knew they were.’
Steve tilted his head. ‘They probably were lying. But it’s only because they wanted you to make the decision for yourself.’
‘But-’
‘If they would have made the decision for you’, Steve said slowly, ‘you would have resented them, sooner or later.’
It took a few moments, but Holly sighed deeply, and she relaxed her body, looking dejected.
‘Holly? What do you wanna do?’
She looked at him, with a lot of hesitation.
‘I don’t want to go to New York.’
‘Okay, that checks out.’, Steve smiled. ‘You don’t wanna stay here either.’
She shook her head. ‘I’ll come visit often, but I… I think I need to get out of Hawkings, at least for a while.’
‘Yup, I agree. So Chicago it is, but you’re afraid Mike is gonna be an asshole about it.’
‘I don’t think he will.’, Holly said after a moment. ‘He wouldn’t hate me for it, but I think he’ll be… overprotective.’
‘That also checks out, yes.’, Steve couldn’t help but chuckle. ‘But… You could not stay with him. He has his own place, right? So you should stay on campus, get the full college experience. Also… Your brother’s pretty smart, you know? If you talk to him, he’ll understand.’
‘I guess. Maybe.’
‘Neah, for sure he will. You just gotta talk to him.’
‘Okay.’, she took a deep breath. ‘Okay, I will.’
‘Also, it’s good that he’ll be close by, just in case you need help.’
It took a little while, but Holly smiled at him.
‘You’re still a babysitter.’
He huffed, somewhat gently pushing her shoulder. She was right, though, which is why he drove her home that day, with a detour to the diner, where they met Eddie for milkshakes and brownies.
☀
Steve always felt a pang of something on November 6th. A tightness in his chest, a headache, something dark he could just barely see in the corner of his eyes.
He pushed through the day, though, he always did, because the Upside Down and all that came with it was really dead and gone. Still, Eddie knew him well enough to always make sure they hung out on the day.
Eddie was waiting for him back home, so Steve drove just a little quicker than usual after he was done with school, for the day.
He wasn’t expecting to see Will on the porch.
For a moment, Steve panicked. But then Will smiled at him, hesitation in his eyes. Steve smiled back, and sat down next to him on the steps.
‘Anything wrong?’
Will was quick to shake his head.
‘Okay, so just the normal amount of bad funk we usually all have today?’
‘You … you do?’
Steve snorted. ‘Every year, man. Irrationally so.’
‘Yeah, irrational.’, Will nodded slowly. ‘I can’t seem to shake it off, though.’
‘What are you doing in Hawkins? I would’ve thought you wanted to stay away from this place today.’
‘No, I… I wanted to make sure it was real.’ His hand went up to the back of his neck, but Steve could tell Will didn’t actually feel anything. Vecna wasn’t close by, hasn’t been for years.
‘And what are you doing here, at House Harrington? I mean, don’t get me wrong’, he smiled, ‘I’m very happy to see you, but…’
‘I don’t know’, Will looked away. ‘I drove, and…’
He didn’t go on, hesitation coming through again. Steve didn’t hesitate, he wrapped an arm around Will’s shoulders and held him tightly. Manly, but tightly.
Will let out a deep, deep breath, and his body relaxed.
‘I’m gonna be honest with you, Byers.’, Steve said. ‘Eddie’s inside, probably right on the other side of the door, listening in.’
Like clockwork, the door opened. Eddie looked innocent and angelic.
‘Sorry’, he said, but he was anything but.
‘The plan is to order pizza’, Steve went on, ‘crack open a couple of beers, maybe partake in some forbidden plants from Eddie’s stash’, Will snorted at that, ‘and just ignore the elephant in the room.’
‘You’re more than welcome to join us.’, Eddie said gently. ‘But if you feel the need to actually talk about… anything. We’re here for that, too.’
‘Okay.’, Will said shakily, a few times, before his voice gained more strength and Steve felt he could let go of him.
‘I got stuff to make pancakes.’, Will grabbed the backpack he came with. ‘And I’m really’, he chuckled, ‘really freaking happy you two stuck together.’
Steve frowned, because he didn’t know where that came from.
‘King Steve and Eddie the Freak’, Eddie said gently, a small smile on his face. ‘Match made in heaven.’
Steve snorted, despite himself, but it lacked strength. Looking at Eddie, the other man was watching him with a lot of … love, in his eyes. It happened at times, and it always made Steve’s knees go weak.
‘Definitely’, Will said around a chuckle. ‘Like pancakes and maple syrup.’
They all laughed at that, and went inside.
The three of them spent most of the day in the kitchen, eating pizza, drinking beers and talking about anything and nothing at all, from Will’s job, to hot gossip Steve had from school, to so many random, unimportant things.
Will called Mike, at one point, and came back with tears in his eyes but a smile on his face. Joyce called too, and Will came back laughing about how much of a goober Hopper was.
Yeah, the kids were all grown up. But what they went through, they’ll never get over it. Not Will, not Steve, not Eddie, neither of them will ever fully get over it.
But they stuck together, through it and, even more importantly, after it.
Eddie grabbed his knee, under the table, as Will was telling a story about an idiot friend from college, and Steve felt something very different from the bad funk he was used to feeling today.
☀
When Steve woke up the next morning, Will was in the kitchen, still in pajamas, drinking coffee from the biggest mug Steve owned.
‘You okay, kid?’
Will smiled. ‘I’m always gonna be a kid to you, aren’t I?’
‘Definitely.’, Steve nodded seriously. ‘You’re all my kids. You might be all grown up, but you’re always gonna be my kids.’
‘Mom says that too. It took me a while, but I get it.’
Steve grabbed some coffee and sat down next to Will. They were silent for a little while, but then Will put his cup down and turned to face him.
‘Can I tell you something?’
‘Yeah, man.’, Steve didn’t hesitate. ‘Always.’
‘The only reason I was able to… to come out to you when I did, it was, it was Robin. It was because of Robin.’
Steve smirked. ‘I kinda figured that out. She never told me, but -’
‘And when she told me that you were the first one she told… I thought it was insane.’
‘Oh yeah’, Steve snorted. ‘Russian truth serum and-’
‘No, I mean, it was insane because it worked!’
That shut Steve up.
‘It worked, and you two worked, and you stuck together, through it all and after it, and -’
Will was getting worked up, so Steve grabbed his knee and leveled him with a look.
‘You don’t need to tell me that, I know how special it is to have Robin as a friend.’
‘That’s not it.’, Will smiled. ‘I mean, yeah, but that’s not what I meant.’
Steve frowned.
‘It worked, and… I think it’ll go both ways.’
There was a crash from upstairs, and Eddie cursed very loudly. That was usually what happened when he woke up.
‘You should tell somebody. It’ll be easier, after the first one.’, Will said gently. ‘It doesn’t have to be Robin, but I think she’ll help you, like you helped her. She’ll knock some sense into you, and you’ll finally do something about Eddie.’
‘What about Eddie?’
Will threw him a look. ‘Steve…’, he said in a whisper.
‘Oh.’, he breathed out, understanding what Will meant. ‘Oh.’
He didn’t get to say anything else, because Eddie came down the stairs, pajama askew, hair a mess, looking as beautiful as he always did.
‘What’s happening?’, he asked groggily.
‘Nothing.’, Will grinned at him. ‘We were just discussing Steve’s inexistant love life.’
‘Inexistent?’, Eddie frowned. ‘Oh. Yeah, you’re right, he hasn’t been on a date in a while.’
‘Why do you think that is?’, Will asked teasingly. ‘Do you think maybe he has a crush on someone?’
Eddie kept on frowning, looking between the two of them. ‘I haven’t woken up enough for this.’
‘And I was promised pancakes.’, Steve managed to come back to life. ‘So come on, Byers. Forget about my love life and get started on breakfast.’
Will, the little shithead, winked at him before making his way to the fridge. Eddie threw Steve a look, but he just shrugged, intent on not thinking about it.
At least for the moment.
☀
It wasn’t like Steve didn’t know.
He was fully aware of just how hard he was crushing on Eddie, kept on crushing on him since about the time the kids graduated and the rest of their life started.
When he invited Eddie to move in with him a few months ago, he argued about it logically, because it wasn’t like he was spending a lot of time at his place, he was over at Steve’s most nights.
But he also knew it was more than that.
No matter what everyone said, Steve wasn’t an idiot. He knew he had to do something about Eddie, he was just… hesitant. That was the stupid part, because he knew, well he thought pretty strongly, that Eddie wouldn't refuse him.
‘Shit.’, Steve thought. ‘I’m in deep shit.’
☀
In the end, he didn’t tell Robin.
In the end, Steve continued to be an idiot, full on, until it crashed and burned.
One day, Eddie lied to him that he was going to visit some friends in Indianapolis. See, Steve knew he was lying, because he had heard about all the friends Eddie had outside of their party.
It raised an alarm in Steve’s head, and it hurt him, but he let Eddie be.
The man returned very, very late that night, and he was beyond excited. He screamed Steve’s name before he even got out of the car and when he made it in and saw that Steve was waiting for him in the living room, Eddie screamed and hugged him tightly.
‘I got them!’, he kept saying, and it was annoying because Steve didn't understand.
He pointed that out. Loudly.
Eventually, Eddie let go of him and pulled something out of his back pocket, handing it to Steve.
It took him a moment to realize he was holding four concert tickets.
It took him half a minute to read that he was holding tickets to a music festival.
Indianapolis. Lollapalooza. July 2nd, 1996.
Steve frowned at him.
‘Metallica.’, Eddie breathed out slowly. ‘Soundgarden, Ramones, Rage Against the Machine. Metallica. Steve, Metallica!’
Steve… had heard about them all, from Eddie and Dustin. Since Eddie had moved in, he had even listened to them.
Did he love Metallica? No. Did he really want to see Eddie at a Metallica concert? Yes.
Did he love Eddie enough to go with him to a damn Metallica concert?
Hell yes.
‘We could make a weekend out of it.’, Eddie said with a little less excitement than before. ‘And I was thinking we could bring Dustin and Robin. If they can, I mean. And-’
In the end, Steve continued to be an idiot, full on, until he crashed and burned right against Eddie’s lips.
He kissed the other man, he kissed Eddie hard. It shut him up, it made him freeze, but only for a moment. Eddie kissed him back quickly, grabbing the back of Steve’s shirt in a mildly violent manner, but gingerly taking the tickets from Steve’s hand.
If the kids were all grown up… Steve thought it was about time they’d grow up too.