A follow-up to my Hanahaki Platonic Stobin drabble
Platonic Stobin, Steddie, past Stancy || rating: T || wc: 2.7k || tags: dialogue heavy, VERY excessive use of italics, fluff and flirting and humor, no beta
~~~
His sides are ripped to shreds, insides only kept inside because of the torn, dirty scrap of sweater Nancy wrapped around him. Steve’s been downplaying it as much as possible, mostly to keep Munson calm, but Robin knows better.
What’s wrong with your back?
Steve sighs, trying to mute his thoughts into a scramble like they’ve practiced so well over the past nine months, but the scorching pain on his shoulder blades, feet, and arms makes it rather difficult.
Don’t you dare ignore me Steve Harrington.
She glares back at him from her spot next to Nancy. They’ve been walking for miles, every rock and crack in the ground digging into his feet with every step. Munson’s next him, going on about something like bats, or metal music. Steve’s not sure, he’s having a hell of a time focusing.
But the guy crowds into Steve’s space, dipping in and out of orbit like he can’t help being as close as possible. Eddie keeps looking at him. Steve’s never been great with eye contact, but can’t help it when Eddie starts saying things like “the kid worships you, dude” and “insists on the matter, in fact.”
Told you the kid loves you even though he has another older adult male friend.
Steve can practically hear her giggling, but she’s just balancing her out-loud conversation with their mind-reading conversation. She’s better at it than he is, talking to two people at once. Hell, sometimes Steve has a hard enough time keeping track of just one conversation.
Their new super powers had been a learning curve, to say the least. It’d taken them months to learn how to tune each other out when needed, which was more often than not. Working Family Video shed a new light on how absolutely down-bad horny Steve was for almost every mildly attractive woman who walked through the front door. Including Joyce Byers, to Robin’s horror.
Steve was cursed with Robin’s almost near-constant thoughts about her newest crush, Vickie. He’s never met her before, doesn’t remember her from school, but could describe what she looks like down to the small, rust colored freckle on the corner of her left eye, just below the lash line.
But even with the extensive learning curve, they discovered some severe consequences of their powers almost immediately.
The first day Robin came over, bloodied and crying, with him no better off, Steve was so shaky he’d dropped a mug, slicing his hand as he scooped up the pieces. She rushed over, said she heard his pain more than felt it, like loud static.
So, no sharing physical sensations, just mind-reading. Which is great for me, considering how slutty you are. She’d laughed when he lightly knocked her on the shoulder, but she’d thought it with such fondness that he couldn’t be mad if he tried.
The worst of their situation came to light when Robin’s parents called her home, said a weekend away after Star Court was more than enough. So she’d left him alone in that big, empty house, suffering from a severe concussion and dizzy spells.
Which only grew worse the longer they were apart.
Steve didn’t have anywhere to go, now jobless with the mall gone, and none of the kids came to visit. So he’d holed himself up in his room. The headaches grew worse, handfuls of pills doing nothing to help.
By the fifth day, he was vomiting again, shaking and crying, head throbbing, nose bleeding into the toilet bowl all over again when there was a knock on the door. The knock might as well have been inside his skull, but he couldn’t move, could barely see past the haze clouding his periphery like it had after his fight with Billy. He cried as the knocking grew louder, more persistent, until it finally stopped.
He slumped forward, pressed his head into the cool porcelain. Lifting his hand to flush, he noticed a small, vibrant white petal floating amidst the red and black water, all of which, presumably, came out of him.
–can’t find it. Must be… rock. The mat?
Robin?
There was a click, then the sound of his front door opening. Slow, heavy footsteps up the stairs.
Dingus where the hell are you? Not in the bedroom… Please, Steve, I need help.
That got his attention, but as he’d gone to move, the bathroom door opened to a bloodstained Robin, eyes rimmed red, hair a mess, pale and gaunt like a ghost. She dropped to the ground next to him, practically draped herself over his back. And just like before, the pain receded so violently he vomited one last time. A full, yet slightly crumpled, flower floated amidst the yuck inside the toilet.
It was a daisy.
“Daisies are my favorite,” Robin whispered. She held out her hand to him, dirty and covered in the same green stains as the ones on her shirt, and handed him a very small, miniature sunflower. “So I’m guessing–”
My favorite.
Eventually they’d figured out what works and what doesn’t. Talking on the phone everyday never helped, back to throwing up flowers after only a week. He’d started to pull the daisies out to dry, which Robin said was gross. She took them home with her anyways.
But he’d borrowed Robin a sweatshirt that she took home with her, and by the fourth day, she was in better shape than he was, only a slight headache instead of Steve’s encroaching migraine. So they started exchanging clothes and quickly learned it wasn’t necessarily their clothes or possessions, but their scents.
You smell kind of like sunflowers
“Robin, sunflowers don’t have a smell.”
She was face first in his pillow, day seventeen after a two-week family vacation to Key West, returning his comforter, and a myriad of t-shirts. They’d both gotten migraines, but no vomit-soaked flowers or bloody noses. So it was an improvement, overall.
I know they don’t. It’s more like, I don’t know, sunshine. Or fresh grass. A warm rain… like summer.
He’d jumped on her then, smothered her into his mattress until she was tickling him to get off her.
“What do I smell like?” she’d asked, casual but not quite casual enough. He smiled.
Like daisies. An open field full of wildflowers. A new song, or driving with the windows down.
She smiled back at him, wide and genuine, packed full of love. And he knew, in that moment, he was happy to spend the rest of his life with her.
“Harrington,” Eddie cuts through his reminiscing. The guy looks like he’s trying not to be annoyed, which makes sense considering he’s attempting to be nice and Steve’s completely zoned out.
Do you have another concussion? Is it rabies?
He sighs, quiet enough that hopefully Eddie doesn’t assume it’s aimed at him. No, Robs. Just a normal dingus-where-did-you-go zone out. Relax.
She shoots him another glare over her shoulder, but ultimately lets it go.
“Harrington, you still with us?” Eddie laughs it off like a joke, but his eyes are wide, and he’s pressing in close again.
He’s warm, and without thinking, Steve finds himself leaning towards him, too– like magnets.
What magnets?
Never mind, Robs, shut up.
“Yeah Munson, I’m still here.” Steve chuckles, and Eddie relaxes a tad. “Can’t get rid of me that easy. I’ve dealt with worse.”
“Worse than an under-water tentacle monster dragging you through hell on your bare-back and almost choking you to death?”
When Eddie puts it like that, Steve really does have to think about it. “What about throwing fireworks at a giant, mind-controlling flesh monster and getting tortured under Star Court by Russian spies who shot me and Robin up with mystery drugs?”
DINGUS! If we haven’t told the Party about our super powers you can’t tell a goddamn stranger like Munson!
Eddie’s eyes are wide and dark again. He chuckles a little too loud, almost deranged. “Yeah, you know what, Harrington, that might be worse.”
They continue to walk in silence. Well, Steve’s silent. He lets Eddie ramble, talking about Dustin, something called a Munson doctrine. He calls Steve a ‘good dude’ at which Steve hopes the sky is dark enough to hide his embarrassed flush.
Eddie says something about the girls jumping in to save him, but he leans in again when he says it, and all Steve can think about is how close he is, the light brush of Eddie’s knuckles against the back of his hand–
What…?
– and the comfort that settles over Steve when he catches Eddie smiling at him. They stop in unison, Eddie leans in close to whisper like it’s a secret.
“But Wheeler, right there, she didn’t waste a second. Not one second. She just dove right in.”
Eddie’s barely shorter than him, just enough that he looks up at Steve through his dark lashes, big, brown, puppy-dog eyes hooked onto his own. He knows guys can be handsome, but he thinks Eddie might be more pretty than handsome.
I’m sorry? What the fuck is happening back there!
“Now, I don’t know what happened between you two,” Eddie says, low and slow. His voice full of honey that soaks into Steve’s brain, the actual words lost in the overwhelming sweetness of everything that is Eddie. “But if I were you, I would get her back. ‘Cause that was as unambiguous a sign of true love as these cynical eyes have ever seen.”
Steve can’t stop staring at his lips. They’re so pink and fluffy and biteable, so he leans in, like instinct tells him. Eddie looks surprised, but brushes his finger tips against Steve’s own. He whispers, “Steve…?” like it’s more revelation than question. Eddie’s so close that Steve just–
“Are you fucking kidding me, Steven?” Robin shouts, incredulous and much too loud. Eddie flinches away from him, hides behind his hair like a turtle shrinking back into its shell. Steve’s shoulders droop in disappointment.
Disappointment? Wait. Did I almost just kiss–
“Eddie Munson?” Robin finishes his not-out-loud sentence.
“Buckley?” Eddie asks, nervous as the girl marches towards them, her eyes locked on Steve.
“Yes, Dingus!” Robin completely ignores Eddie’s response in favor of barreling up to Steve, finger so close to his face he goes cross-eyed. “Yes, you were, and oh my god I can’t believe you!”
Robs, I’m kind of freaking out right now. Can you please relax?
“You’re freaking out?” she shouts. Nancy shushes her, but it goes unnoticed. “I’m freaking out! After all this time, after Tammy fucking Thompson, this is happening right now? With– with– ” Robin wildly gestures to Munson. “Goddamn, Steve, you reek of sunflowers right now, oh my god! Just like when Joyce came into the store.”
It’s as dark as it always is, but a flash of red lighting illuminates the red painted across Eddie’s cheeks as he bites on his lip, looking nervous yet almost bashful as he pulls another larger strand of hair across his face.
“Sunflowers? What’s happening right now,” he whispers to Nancy, who shrugs. She answers with a casual, “I’m not sure, they do this a lot.”
“That’s not fair!” Steve quietly shouts back at her. “What’s wrong with–” he glances at Eddie, who flushes again. He’s so pale I bet he’s red down to his…
“Shut up, shut up, shut up!” Robin throws her hands over her ears and pinches her eyes closed.
Steve forces a smile to cover his gay panic. Shit, am I gay?
“No!” Robin slaps both her hands on either side of his head, mushing his cheeks together. “You’re not g–” she mushes her mouth shut, catching her slip-up just before it tumbled out of her. “And that’s not what that kind of panic means, so don’t call it that.”
“Panic?” Eddie asks, stepping towards them. His eyes are trained on Steve, flashing down to his lips, then back up to catch his gaze. Steve sees something like hope buried beneath Eddie’s tough guy demeanor. “But I thought–” he glances at Nancy before quickly looking away.
Robin rolls her eyes at him, and Eddie backs off a bit. Except his look doesn’t go unnoticed.
“Me?” Nancy asks. “What about me?”
Robin, don’t–
But it’s too late, because at that question, everyone turns to look at Steve.
Over the past few months, Steve’s started growing out his hair. It’s not really in style, but he’s seen a few guys with long hair, and they looked really good. Right now, he wishes it was long enough so he could hide behind it like Eddie. But, then again, he’d also tried growing a mustache, since Freddy Mercury had amazing style– Steve’s always like Queen.
Except my mustache never looked as good as his, so I bet long hair wouldn’t either. Maybe the short hair helps highlight it, like his cheekbones.
Jesus Christ, you’re so obvious. I can crack Russian spy code phrases enough to break into an underground military base but apparently I can’t spot a bisexual within five feet of me.
Steve sighs, dragging his hands down his face at Robin’s inside-mind rambling. Nancy, however, takes it to mean something much different. “Oh, Steve, no.” Her voice is pitying and too nice and it reminds him painfully of the last few months of their relationship. Like she’s talking to a child. “Steve, I’m so sorry, but– I still love Jonathan.”
“I know, Nance, that’s not–”
“Are you kidding me, Wheeler?” Eddie screeches. Steve really doesn’t understand how they’re so lucky that they haven’t been hunted down and eaten by now.
Eddie’s thrown his hands up in the air, all theatrics as he gawks at her. She backs off, surprised, but quickly recovers and squints her eyes at him, crossing her arms as he continues to ramble.
“After everything that’s happened? Steve ripping off his sweater, jumping out of the boat and beating a bat to death, then biting its head off, all while soaking wet. I mean, the way he spit that blood out.” Nancy cringes, and yeah, Steve feels the same way, can still taste the black sludge in his nightmares.
Now that’s gay panic.
I thought that’s not what that means, Rob
Ugh, I regret teaching you things.
Eddie’s still on a roll. “He was so… I mean,” Eddie throws his arms out towards Steve, showing him off like he’s a prized cow, “look at him, Wheeler! And you’re picking Byers?”
To Steve’s surprise, the glowering ferocity in Nancy’s face morphs into a coy smile, eyebrows raised in question to an answer she’s already figured out. Because that’s how Nancy Wheeler, journalist extraordinaire, gets her story. She reads people.
Before Eddie well and truly freaks out at the turn in Nancy’s demeanor, she winks at Steve out of the corner of her eye. “Risky Business?” She giggles and rolls her eyes.
Then, in a mortifying turn of events, Nancy pulls a strand of her curly hair in front of her face, forces her eyes open, doe-eyed and dark brown, looking up at him through her lashes, then darts her gaze to Eddie.
Ha! You have a type! Wait, how did Nancy clock you faster than–
“Okay!” It bursts from Steve’s chest, loud enough it shocks the rest of them. They stand quiet, listening to the mundane noises around them, and breathe a sigh of relief at the resounding silence. “This has been fun, really, but why don’t we all just keep going so we can get the hell out of here and go find my– I mean our– no, the little shits.”
This is why they call you mom.
“I’m not a goddamn mom, Robin, how many damn times do I have to tell you guys that?”
“If you’re mommy, does that mean I’m daddy?” The words slip through Eddie’s mouth and, unfortunately, bury themselves into Steve’s brain. Now Steve’s not sure who’s blush is hotter, his or Eddie’s. He’d guess maybe Eddie’s, judging by the way the man grabs Nancy’s arm and hauls her away at a half sprint.
She laughs at him, lighthearted, and slings her arm through his as they walk side by side. Steve watches as she leans her head towards Eddie’s whispering something into his ear that finally has the man’s shoulder’s relaxing. He bumps his shoulder against hers, and she returns the gesture.
Robin turns to look at Steve, really look, with sad, concerned eyes and a twist to her mouth.
I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have freaked out like that. It just caught me off guard I guess.
Steve places a light kiss on her dirty forehead. She smiles, grabs his hand in hers, and squeezes once.
“I love you too, Rob.”
Adding to this post, imagine them being famous in the future.
Eddie becoming a rising star as soon as he gets out of Hawkins, his band corroded coffin entering the music scene and having massively popular songs. People are getting more intrigue for his past murder charges, but he gets easily defended once he gets a solid fan base (and the fact that he was absolved of those charges).
And Steve entering the acting scene at the same time, him and Robin being just some extras in a movie for the extra cash, but the director falls in love with the sibling-like duo, making them a cameo where Steve acts like a buffer, making the male character jealous so he can make a move.
It was a simple role, just a few minutes of screen with one-liners of dialogue, but to the surprise of everybody—except for Robin—Steve killed the role. Maybe it was his eyes that enamored everyone, his kicked puppy look or his smile, but he became the nation's sweetheart.
After that, he got cast for more minor roles, and little by little established himself as an actor, to the point of being the lead more frequently.
With that, the two of them are well established in their own fields, working hard and being well-known. So it's not rare that at some point they end up in the same event.
It could be anything, a festival, some awards, just a party of famous people—the point is, they are in a public space, surrounded by people that have no idea they know each other, and like an instinct, they act like swore enemies.
Their minds are so used to associate:
"being in public" + "hide true relationship and have fun" = "fake hate each other"
Becuase years of pulling that stunt in their teenagehood that like reflex they spit second-hand insults.
Like– they lock eyes on each other and instantly looked up and down in the bitchiest way possible. Honestly, at this point it has become their own weird way of flirting, the more vicious the comment the more they will drive the other crazy.
Of course, neither of them realize what they were doing until they both were making out in the bathroom, squirreling away from the vent, going to the closest hotel and waking up the next day with friends/acquaintances from their own jobs field asking for the latest gossip of the industry.
The way Robin would laugh her ass off, only to act like a toddler, pointing fingers and giggling at the two dinguses when they realize what they have done.
It was not intentional, and now everyone who was in the event thinks they hate each other's guts like old times.
The public doesn’t know yet, the reporters still not hearing about this until well-respected journalist, Nancy Wheeler (who has already written about each of them, one for Eddie and one for Steve), makes an article about their long complicated story.
(No, she isn't being petty, Mike, she just thinks it’s funny, and it’s not like she is lying, they do have a long and complicated story, it’s just a little to the left, she just isn't saying some things)
The next time someone interviews one of them, they are asking about the other, why they hate each other, if there’s some drama, why they didn't know they knew the other, etc.
Long story short, they pulled the same bit they did in school, but now by accident and to the whole country (and the world when they start getting more international).
They tried to clarify but fell on deaf ears, people thinking is just to safe face or keep appearances, after all the habit doesn’t quite go and they always ended up flirting with insults in every event they are together.
They definitely start to enjoying it and play along after a while.
Not only that, but they enjoyed it even more when years later, in a random day, they posted their X years wedding anniversary photos with their family.
Everyone lost their shit after that.
The third year of platonic Stobin Month starts March 1st!
Platonic Stobin month is an event that runs from March 1st to March 31st centred on the duo of Steve and Robin from Stranger Things.
This blog will serve as the designated blog for the event, so posts will be reblogged to here!
FAQs / AO3 Collection / Past events: 2023 / 2024
Steddie vibes
my steddie pinterest mood board
Wife :(((((((
Gonna post a full sketch when I'm finished on Patreon tonight
name a more fix-it-fic shippable character than steve harrington i’ll wait
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9
-----
The town is a wreck, but there's still space for them at the hospital.
Nancy recognizes a few of the doctors - ones who know about the Upside Down - and they're all whisked away into two private rooms. One for Eddie, and one for Max.
Steve is stuck with Eddie. He hates thinking of it like that, because he wants to be with Eddie, but he wants to be with Max, too. He wants to prowl back and forth between them, like his presence will make any difference.
But Eddie's heart is still in his chest, and while the doctor had praised his quick thinking in helping his friend, it's too risky to have Eddie's heart far away from his body while he's healing.
So Steve's in the chair next to his bed, hooked up to the heart monitor and listening to the faint but steady sound of Eddie's heart as he feels it beat in his own chest.
Dustin and Robin go back and forth, one of them always with him and the other giving updates when they come to switch out.
It's Dustin in the chair next to his now, and he feels the echo of his own heart next to Dustin's, knows the kid must be feeling what he is - and probably a little bit of Eddie's, too.
Three hearts, all entwined. Robin could make something poetic from that, he thinks.
All he can do is let Dustin pillow his head on his shoulder, press his hand to his own chest and think come back to us.
Eddie's hand twitches.
Steve jolts up, reaching for it automatically.
“Steve?” Eddie asks, even though his eyes are closed and his expression hasn't changed. “Dustin?”
Dustin makes some kind of strangled noise, fumbling for Eddie's other hand. “Can he feel us?”
“I've got his heart, and you've got mine, so yeah, he has to, right?” Steve asks, aware he sounds a little desperate and not really caring.
“Come on, Eddie,” Dustin pleads. “You have to wake up, okay?”
Eddie wakes up.
—
“I should have died in there.”
Steve feels his jaw tense. “No, you shouldn't have.”
“No, I meant - doc says I would have died, if you hadn't taken my heart,” Eddie says.
Oh.
“I know,” Steve admits. “That's why I asked for it.”
Eddie exhales, long and slow. “Where'd you learn that?”
“Eighth grade science,” Steve replies, shooting a little grin at him.
Eddie gives a surprised little laugh. “Seriously?”
“Eh, kind of.” Steve considers for a moment. He's never talked about this with anyone, but - “My parents used to lock their hearts in a safe in my dad's study at night. When I was little, and I got upset at them leaving, they told me they put their hearts in there when they went on trips, too, and I had to stay behind to watch over them.”
Eddie looks at him, soft and tender. Steve'd think it was pity, if it wasn't for Eddie's heart in his chest. It's just sad, and a little angry.
“I told Mr. Clarke about that, and he said it was hogshit.”
Eddie snorts. “Mr. Clarke said hogshit?”
“Who's telling this story?” Steve retorts, then laughs when Eddie mimes zipping his lips closed and throwing away the key.
“It was hogshit,” Steve continues. “But then he told us that people could survive potentially fatal injuries with heart exchanges. Then, after Starcourt…”
He trails off, not sure how to say it.
“Robin told me a little,” Eddie admits. “That it was the Russians and the Upside Down, and you let yourself get caught to cover for Dustin and Erica. That you tried to draw attention away from her.”
Oh.
That makes him sound more heroic than the moment felt, but at least it also makes this easier.
“The Russian spies, they had this thing that could open your chest. They didn't believe I was telling the truth, so they took my heart out.”
Eddie reaches out to take his hand, squeezing it tight. There's a faint trickle of horror and guilt and affection, and he knows that Eddie's put it together with the changes in his heart.
“I healed a lot faster because we were doing heart exchanges,” he finishes. “So I figured it'd keep you safe.”
Eddie's grip on his hand tightens. “I really am sorry,” he mutters. “About last summer. After - after that, you needed a friend, and I just left.”
Steve licks his lips, considering his response for a moment, before he goes with honesty. “I had friends. I had Robin and the kids, and they were enough. I didn't really need anything else. But - I wanted you.”
Eddie looks at him, and Steve can feel - hesitation, uncertainty, does he really want me?
“Eddie,” Steve says, slow and thoughtful. “I don't want you because I'm lonely, or I have no one else. Maybe there was a part of that when it first started, but - I'm okay, I'm happy. I want you because of you, not just because I want anyone.”
Shock filters through Eddie so hard that Steve feels it like an almost physical blow.
His heart aches.
He doesn't have to ask if that's something that Eddie hasn't been told before - he knows it already.
“I'm not letting you go,” Steve tells him, only because Eddie's heart is still beating in his chest and he's confident it will be well received. “Not this time.”
“I can live with that,” Eddie says, only a little shaky.
—
Dustin takes a turn swapping hearts with Eddie, and Steve heads immediately for Max's room.
Lucas is there, sitting by her bed and holding her hand.
“Hey,” Steve says softly, pulling up a chair to sit next to him. “How's she doing?”
“Same,” Lucas says flatly. “But she's in there, I can feel it.”
“You can feel it?” Steve asks.
“We swapped before - before. Just in case. To give her another tether to the real world.”
Shit, that was a great idea. It gives him more hope, and he sags a little in his chair.
“Jesus, you kids are smart,” Steve says, impressed.
Lucas looks at him funny. “We learned that from you, Steve.”
He doesn't really think that's true, considering he learned it from them just as much, but he lets it be, just gripping the back of Lucas's neck and giving him a little squeeze.
Lucas unwinds, just a little bit, and Steve gets a better look at him - notices his swollen eye, his puffy jaw, and feels a cold surge of rage.
He waits for a moment to let the worst of it pass, then asks, “Swap?”
Lucas looks over at him, clearly hesitant.
“The three of us are kind of banged up,” Steve says. “Figure it can't hurt to have more heart power at work here.”
Lucas snorts. “Heart power?”
“Heart power,” Steve confirms, radiating as much confidence as possible.
He's not sure if it works, but Lucas does open his chest up and carefully pull out Max's heart. Steve's extra gentle as he swaps them, tucking her heart into his chest.
It's immediate, what Lucas was talking about. There's only the faintest sense of Max, and an equally faint sense of a fear and guilt and love that he recognizes as Lucas - the residual of what Max is feeling from him, he guesses. Even stranger is an echo he can feel of his own emotions - from him to Lucas to Max and back to him again, apparently.
“Huh,” he says, at the same time Lucas goes, “Woah.”
They sit there, together, and Steve must fall asleep at some point because the next thing he knows, there's the shifting of a chair as Lucas jumps up. Steve startles, only to see El and Will and Mike come flooding in. They sweep Lucas into a hug, and Steve watches them hold on, clinging and desperate.
Eventually, they peel apart, and El goes to Max's side, taking her hand. Her eyes close for a long while, then open again, looking sad.
“I can't reach her,” she whispers. “Not even with my powers back.”
“She's there, though, right? I can still feel her,” Lucas says.
El's brow furrows.
“Max and Lucas swapped before this happened,” Steve explains. “To keep her tethered here, so Vecna couldn't take her.”
Mike frowns. “Vecna?”
“One,” El says, which - okay, yeah, clearly there's a story there, but not the time. She holds her hands out to Lucas. “May I swap?”
Lucas looks over at Steve, and he takes Max's heart out and offers it to her.
“We figured the more helping, the better,” Lucas says.
El exchanges her heart for Max's, looking thoughtful. It's an even bigger rush, with El in the mix, and - even though Max's heart isn't in his chest anymore, he can feel the echo of her even more clearly.
Lucas sucks in a breath. “It's working,” he says. “She's stronger.”
“The more, the better,” El says thoughtfully.
“Eddie woke up from me and him and Dustin sharing,” Steve says, the realization coming over him. “I mean, it wasn't a real circle, but he was just regularly unconscious, not creepy wizard unconscious.”
El looks at Mike, who immediately turns on his heel and leaves. He comes back a few minutes later, with Dustin and Robin and Erica.
“We made Nancy and Jonathan and Argyle stay with Eddie,” Mike announces.
“Uh, yeah, do you want to tell us why?” Dustin asks.
El's eyes flash. “We're going to get Max back.”
Hearts change hands quicker than Steve can keep track of, but in the end, no one has their own heart in their chest. It's an avalanche of emotion that Steve can't make out - so much it’s almost overwhelming - until he feels something like a guiding hand, firm and insistent.
“Max,” El whispers.
Steve turns his thoughts completely on Max, focusing on her - on taking her to the arcade, on the skate park, on her hanging out in his kitchen as they cook dinner. One by one, everyone's emotions start to take focus - on how Max makes them feel, how much they care, how they need her here.
Max's eyes open.
—
They set up another rotation schedule, this time for Max, who looks a little shell shocked and overwhelmed by all the attention.
“Did you think we wouldn't do this for you?” Steve asks quietly when it's his turn, when Lucas and El are sleeping and it's just him and Max awake in her room.
She doesn't answer for a while, but he can feel her conflicted confusion and then unsteady acceptance.
“No,” she says after a while. “I knew you guys would.”
He breathes out, and they sit in silence for a bit.
“Did you read my letter?” she asks, purposefully not looking at him.
“Nah. You said it was just in case, and there wasn't going to be an in case. We weren't going to let Vecna have you.” He manages to keep his voice steady, though he knows she can feel the edge of the fear he'd had for her. “I wanted to hear what was in it from you.”
She makes a face, and he thinks she isn't going to tell him, but then she blurts out, “I said I wished you were my brother, not Billy.”
Oh.
His stomach drops out, and there's a rush of vertigo that leaves him breathless for a moment, but - not in a bad way.
He doesn't know how to respond to that, other than, “I am your brother.”
She scoffs. “It doesn't work like that.”
“Sure it does,” he counters, growing confident. “Billy was your brother just because of a piece of paper your parents signed, right?”
She frowns, finally looking at him again. “Yeah, I guess.”
“So what's stopping us?” He taps his chest, over where her heart beats. “We have each other's hearts. We'll always be family.”
Max looks away again, then, very quietly, says, “Okay.”
—
“Heard you call Max your sister when you were talking to the doctor earlier,” Eddie says.
Steve feels a little smile tug at his lips as he takes Eddie's hand. It grows when Eddie laces their fingers together.
“You know Dustin's going to throw a fit when he hears it, and insist that you were his brother first, right?” Eddie teases.
“Of course he is.” Steve rolls his eyes. “Welcome to my family. You sure you still want to stick around?”
He's joking, but Eddie's expression goes soft and contemplative.
“Welcome to your family, huh? You planning a proposal soon, big boy?” Eddie asks softly.
Steve's mouth goes dry. He thinks he should say something - anything - but nothing comes out.
“Swap?” Eddie asks, after a few minutes.
Steve's not sure if someone told him or if he figured it out himself, and part of him wants to ask Eddie if he's sure, but he decides to take Eddie at his word. He opens his chest up, holding out his heart.
Eddie copies him, and - it's his first real look at Eddie's heart. There's silver lines all over it, delicate scars mottling its surface, but it's almost as deep red as Steve's still is.
“Oh,” Steve breathes once Eddie's heart is safely tucked inside his chest again.
There's a love there so strong he almost doesn't know what to do with it - isn't sure if it's Eddie's or his for a moment before he realizes it's both of them feeding off each other.
“Yeah,” Eddie says quietly.
Steve lifts Eddie's hand up, presses a kiss to his knuckles. “I know what I want my future to look like,” Steve admits. “And I want you in it.”
Eddie swallows, and Steve can feel an edge of trepidation before it solidifies into something sharp and determined. “Okay.”
“Okay?” Steve asks.
“I'm sticking around, this time,” Eddie confirms. “For good.”
“Okay,” Steve agrees.
He knows it's a risk, but - right now, they're alone, and so he leans in to seal the promise their hearts are making with a kiss.
-----
And that's the final part for now! I do have a sequel planned down the road for what happens after they get out of the hospital, folding Eddie into the heart sharing and settling Eddie and Steve and Robin into a trio - I plan on using the tag "hearts out steddie" if anyone would like to follow it for when it comes out!
Thank you so much to everyone who commented, reblogged, liked, or otherwise interacted with this! Everyone's reactions were so amazing, and I really love reading your thoughts!!
Final taglist: @fairytalesreality @lostonceandneverfound @wheneverfeasible @awkwardgravity1 @theintrovertedintrovert @thewickedkat @ravenfrog @scarlet-malfoy @missmagillicuddy @xxfiction-is-my-realityxx @ollyxar @cringe-culture-is-dead-99 @thedragonsaunt @makewavesandwar @cryptid-system @ajeff855 @mae-liz @the-fantastical-asexual @jettestar @warlordess @persnicketysquares @samsoble @my-love-of-books @mydysfunctionallife @dreamercec @holyangelstudentuniverse @breealtair @shunna @xtraordinarally @thatdamnfan @justalittledrainbamage @strangerfolks @disrespectedgoatman @amber-ambience @anxietyfulloption @thepossummoldypasta @irregular-child @th30ra3k3n @powdeeee @theohohmoment @5ammi90 @ominous-pool-light @beeeeeeeeeeeeeeens @rebellatlas @blackpanzy
Why do i have this in my drafts??? Is this for a fanfic? A prompt?? Did i make a copy-paste or..? Just what is this???
I'm not even into writing about Nancy, don't get me wrong, i like Nancy, but my brain cannot work into something that isn't somehow related to Steve, the "Eddie Munson and Sandwiches" post that i made was a miracle. Honest.
So i know that it was something Steve-related but i don't remember how...
Anyways.
Steve Harrington: Sexiest Man Alive People Magazine, 1998
wanted to finally draw them! luv these kids
"excuse me? she asked for no pickles. 🤨"
she:
He/She Steve Harrington my beloved ♡ ✧◝(⁰▿⁰)◜✧ [ENG/ESP] Personal blog: imgoingtobed | Artblog(?: whatami-chopliver
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