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tboygareth · 11 months

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18. “I shouldn’t be in love with you.” 💕💕

hhhh i love this prompt thank you so much <33 prompts from this post.

Y'know that thing people always say? About how absence makes the heart grow fonder? Yeah. Eddie gets it now.

It's been five months since Robin whisked Steve away to Chicago so she'd have someone close while she's in college, and if Eddie thought he had it bad for Steve while he was right there at his side all summer long, it's got nothin' on how bad he's got it now. Steve calls him every other Saturday, and Eddie watches the phone all fuckin' day waiting for the damn thing to ring.

It's not like they don't see each other. Steve came home with Robin over Christmas, and he spent most of his time here at the trailer with Eddie. They're not a thing, not really. They're touchy and affectionate with each other, but they always have been. That's no different than it was the summer they spent in each other's orbit, never too far out of arm's reach from one another.

But they're not a thing, because Eddie's too much of a coward to risk their friendship by confessing his feelings when there's a very real chance he's being fucking delusional.

The thing is, though, Steve doesn't call anyone else on the kind of schedule that he calls Eddie. And when he calls, they stay on the phone for hours. There shouldn't even be that much to catch up on, but Eddie finds himself making note of every little thing that happens in Hawkins that he wishes Steve could be there for.

On Eddie's birthday at the end of January, decidedly not one of their designated call days, Steve calls him. It's two minutes after midnight and Eddie's got his guitar in his lap and a pencil wedged behind his ear, and the phone rings.

"Happy birthday," Steve says quietly when Eddie picks up the phone.

Eddie twists the phone cord around his fingers. "Thanks, Stevie."

"Was I first?"

Eddie huffs out a laugh. "Yeah. Didn't even give anybody else a chance. It's barely midnight. Shouldn't you be in bed? You have work tomorrow, don't you?"

"Mmm," Steve says, a little sound of confirmation. "Wanted to call anyway. So what do you want for your birthday this year?"

You.

Eddie's overcome with that feeling again, the tingle all the way down to his toes when he thinks about how gone he is on Steve, when he imagines his smile and his laugh and the warmth of him at his side. Eddie misses him a little more every single day.

"I mean... I dunno if you could deliver, Stevie."

"Try me."

Eddie aches. It's like Steve is begging him to say it. He wants to say it. So badly.

"I shouldn't."

"You shouldn't what?"

"I shouldn't be in love with you," Eddie whispers, and then he holds his breath.

It's quiet. Steve is too quiet for too long and oh, god, he's done it now. Stupid. That was so stupid. Such an idiotic thing to say, fuck.

"I'm coming home this weekend," Steve says at last. "I'm coming home to see you and take you out."

"Because...?" Eddie's voice shakes with hope.

"Because I... I haven't felt this way about anyone in a real long time. You really couldn't tell? We almost kissed on New Years, Eds."

"Well, y'know..." Eddie stammers. "Thought I imagined that."

He remembers how close they'd been that night, how Steve's breath had smelled of beer, how Steve looked at Eddie's mouth before Eddie'd turned away from him. Here he'd been thinking he'd stopped himself from making a stupid, terrible mistake.

"I can't play it cool anymore. Being away from you has been..."

"Hard," Eddie finishes for him.

"Yeah. I wanna try this with you. I wanna try... us. That okay?"

"Seems too good to be true."

"Maybe it is. We'll never know unless we try, right?"

Eddie twists the phone cord around his fingers again and tries to hide his smile behind the receiver, even though Steve's not here to see how stupid and love drunk he looks right now.

"Sooo... I did manage to charm you with my irresistible good looks and excellent taste in music?"

"Something like that," Steve says, and there's a smile in his voice. "I'll see you this weekend."

"Can't wait."

"Happy birthday, Eds. I... I'm sorry it took me so long."

"Better late than never, big boy."

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#bee's inbox #bee's blurbs #steddie #starryeyedjanai #im such a sucker for long distance hhhhhhh #ask me about my aquarius eddie agenda #this ended up being waaaaay longer than it has any right to be whoops

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