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🏹 💘
Eddie didn’t want to go out when it was below zero. The damaged nerves in his hands always screamed at him when the temperature dipped lower than freezing and it had been in the negatives for days. Yet, he found himself bundled up and heading to a bar all because Jeff begged and pleaded with him until he gave in. It had already been a long day and he wasn’t particularly looking forward to being stuck in some loud bar in Boystown, but he figured he could always feign exhaustion and leave early if needed.
As he rounded the corner, Eddie found himself trapped in a line of well-dressed men waiting to get in. His maps app showed that he was at the right spot, but there was no sign of his friends. With the hope that they had already been let in, Eddie continued to wait, figuring he would find them inside.
When he reached the door, a woman asked for his name. She was tall, thin, and overly blonde in an unappealingly perky way, and clutched a clipboard in her perfectly manicured fingers. He wasn’t expecting to be asked for his name to enter a bar, and when his confusion caused him to hesitate, she snapped her fingers before asking again.
“Name?” she prompted, snapping her gum as she spoke.
“Uh, E-Eddie Munson?”
She flipped through a few pages before making a checkmark on the fifth page and telling him to grab his name tag off the table inside. Despite his confusion, Eddie stepped inside, thankful to be out of the cold momentarily. He whipped out his phone and called Jeff, hoping that he could shed some light on the situation.
“Hey, Eds! What’s up?”
“What do you mean ‘what’s up’?” Eddie questioned. “Where are you and why did I just get told to put a name tag on at a bar?”
“Yeah, about that… not a bar.”
“What are you talking about? This is definitely a bar.”
Eddie took a moment to look around. It was fancier than their normal hangouts, but it was a bar of some sort, nonetheless. As his eyes scanned the room, he spotted it. There, in the middle of the room, framed in gold and written in pretty white letters were the worst words Eddie could have imagined.
1st Annual
Boystown Speed Dating
January 6th, 8:00 pm
“Jeff, what did you do?” Eddie asked through gritted teeth. He could feel the blood rising to his face, the blush on his cheeks growing brighter and angrier by the second. He hadn’t dated anyone since David and he didn’t particularly want to. The idea of trusting someone again after having his heart shattered like he did was enough to make his stomach churn. He wanted to run, abandon ship, catch the next train, and never speak to Jeff again.
“It’s been two years. You need to get back out there, Eds.”
He wanted to protest, whine like a petulant child at the idea, and scoff in rejection at Jeff’s truthful observation. Eddie had always been a bit cynical when it came to love. He had been shown from an early age that love was a cruel, fickle thing. He had opened his heart to his ex but got burned and it proved him right — love was an impossible thing, and he was not destined to have it.
Besides, Eddie was just fine on his own. He cooked how he wanted to, danced around his tiny apartment naked, and curled up with his cats to watch movies until dawn if he desired. There was no one telling him how to clean, how to dress, how to sit. He could sing stupid songs at the top of his lungs, make an entire plate of bacon at two in the morning, eat nothing but white chocolate raspberry ice cream for dinner, and no one would tell him to stop. Eddie was good at being alone. He liked being alone. Being alone meant less disappointment, less rejection, and less heartbreak.
“I’ll give you twenty bucks if you make it through the night.”
As much as Eddie hated the idea of sitting for hours being forced to talk to numerous horrible men, getting paid to do so as a ‘fuck you’ to Jeff was worth it.
“Make it a fifty.”
🏹 💘
Eddie donned his name tag before wandering over to the bar for a whiskey. He was told that the drinks were included in the price of the event, and since Jeff and the boys had already forked over the cash, he figured he might as well get the most out of it. He ordered the Tullamore from the top shelf — something he would never do on a regular night out. It was a nice change of pace, richer and smoother than the normal shitty Jack that he drank when he went out with the guys. He nursed it slowly, allowing the amber liquid to coat his throat, reveling in the burn that came with it.
As part of Jeff’s ruse, Eddie had been told to dress a little nicer than he normally would when they went out, claiming that it was ‘a nicer bar than normal.’ Now, he was glad he did because if he had come in his normal attire, he would have stuck out more than he already did. Eddie never dressed nice — scrubs for work, ratty band shirts, and ripped-up jeans on the weekends. He preferred it that way. He didn’t own anything fancy really; there were no perfectly tailored suits to pull from his closet or well-loved blazers with pretty pocket squares. He did okay in a pinch though — an emerald green button-up, plain black jeans, just a smudge of inky black eyeliner, and his nicer Doc Martens. He still wore his normal plethora of heavy silver rings, and his pick necklace, but he had decided to pull his normally wild curls into a low bun, hoping to keep the wind out of it more than usual.
With a drink now in his hand, Eddie took the time to study the bar a bit more. It was a large room more akin to a hotel bar than the normal dives he preferred but it was nice, warmly lit, with about twenty small tables in two neat little rows. Each table had a vase containing a singular rose on it, perched atop black satin tablecloths that dripped down to the floors. The impressive crystal chandelier was dimmed, adding to the room's warmth.
Milling about the room were a large number of men, each trying to calm their nerves with a glass in their hand. A few had struck up a rather loud conversation that rang out in obnoxious laughter every so often. Eddie knew that kind of laughter — the kind that dripped with insincerity as it tried to one-up the person next to them. None of it was genuine because the stories weren’t funny, the jokes hit wrong, but the laughter was required nonetheless. If this was a sign of the night to come, Jeff owed him more than a crisp fifty.
Eddie was admiring the impressively high ceilings and the way sound bounced off them when suddenly, a gong sounded and a man in a dark plum suit spoke into a microphone from the middle of the room.
“Welcome, gentleman, to the first-ever Boystown Speed Dating Event!” The room broke out into applause, the man smiling as they all clapped for him. He was handsome, in an overly excited sort of way. He seemed to be two seconds away from bouncing up and down with glee.
“My name is Michael, and I will be your host for this evening. Now, take a moment to look at your name tags. If you have a bow and arrow beside your name, you will be our moving group. If you have a heart, you will be our hosting group.”
As Michael droned on about how things worked, Eddie glanced down at his name tag to find a heart next to his name. At least he didn’t have to move as much. He’d sit there, drink his whiskey, and let the guys come to him. He’d let them try to woo him, talk themselves up, none the wiser that they would never get anywhere with him. Eddie was in it for the money he would pry from Jeff’s wallet, and nothing else.
“Each pairing will have five minutes to talk. Spend your time wisely, my dears, because you will be turning in match cards at the end of the evening. These will signify if you would like to get to know a person more, and the results will be sent to the email on file in the coming week. Please, make your last drink orders and find a seat with your symbol on it.”
Eddie ordered two more neat whiskeys, not wanting to run out during the evening, and made his way to one of the tables. All of the hearts were on the inside of the rows, allowing the other group to move about more freely. He chose a seat near the end of a row and sat down. The man to his right looked like a nervous wreck, sweat beading on his brow as he fiddled with his shirt collar. The man on his left was kind-looking, his ginger hair still messy from the wind. They smiled at each other briefly before turning their attention to the men sitting down across from them.
“Remember, you only have five minutes with each partner, so make the most of it!” Michael said, his voice booming over the speaker. “And…. begin!”
Immediately, the room burst into a cacophony — everyone stumbling over their words, trying to be louder than the person next to them. It hurt his ears, the way they all spoke over each other, but he had no choice but to turn back to the person across from him.
“Hi, I’m Josh!” he blurted, far too chipper for Eddie’s liking. He was nothing special — blonde hair, blue eyes, and too-white teeth. He looked like he a walking advertisement for Hollister in the early 2000s, and Eddie could tell he had no more personality than the faceless mannequins that they housed inside.
“Hey, I’m Eddie.” The living embodiment of a cardboard cutout stuck out his hand for Eddie to shake, and when Eddie reciprocated, Josh gripped it tight, turning his hand over so he could get a better look at his rings.
“Cool, man! You, like, a rockstar or something?”
“I’m sorry, what?” Eddie questioned as he yanked his hand back.
“Oh, you’ve got those cool tattoos and the rings so I thought maybe you were in a band!” Everything that came out of his mouth was bursting with excitement, like a golden retriever with a stick in his mouth. It was exhausting and Eddie couldn’t wait for their five minutes to be up.
“No, I just like them.”
“Cool! So, is this your first time at one of these things?” Josh asked with a wide smile, his eyes devoid of any thought.
“Oh, well, my friends signed me up for this. Didn’t even know this was a thing until I showed up,” Eddie muttered as he brought the whiskey to his lips.
“Awesome! I come to a lot of these types of events. It’s a great way to meet new people! I’ve made lots of friends like this.”
Eddie was sure his eyes went wide at the man across from him. Who in their right mind came to events like this to ‘make friends?’ He didn’t have time to wonder for long because the gong sounded, signaling it was time to switch partners.
The next man who sat down was freckle-faced and nicely dressed, but something about him gave Eddie the creeps. His teeth were too sharp in his mouth and his smile was wicked against his skin. He didn’t stick out his hand or even offer a hello — he simply launched into a monologue about himself.
“Name’s Tommy, I’m an investment broker for the biggest firm here in Chicago. I make more money before nine in the morning than you do all year. The wife doesn’t even care that I’m here. As long as I keep her fed, am I right, buddy?”
Even his laughter was cruel and biting and Eddie wanted no part of it. Tommy filled the entire five minutes with boisterous anecdotes about himself, trying to fluff up his feathers to make up for his lack of height. When the gong sounded, Eddie was sure the man seated across from him hadn’t even known his name, not that he cared. He wouldn’t look twice at someone like Tommy.
The next few men passed without much thought from Eddie. They all seemed nice — at least nicer than Tommy. One worked in retail, another for the Tribune. There was one man, a blonde named Henry, that Eddie was quite sure was a serial killer, but he kept his mouth shut and sipped his whiskey, mentally adding Henry to his watchlist.
The next one seemed mildly attractive at first. He wore his hair longer, curly like Eddie’s, but more of a mullet. Before he sat down, Eddie couldn’t help but notice the curve of his strong legs, the way the tight fabric of his gray slacks gripped at the muscle. But then the man opened his mouth and all hope for him flew out the window.
“So, you’re a bottom, right? You look like you could use someone on top of you.” His lips turned up into a sneer as he winked, and Eddie instantly felt like a piece of meat at a buffet. “You’ve got that long hair that makes such a good handle. Bet you’re a screamer, too. All the pretty boys like you are.”
It reminded him of his ex — always keeping Eddie under his thumb, assuming he was only good for one thing. It made him feel unclean, and he knew it would take at least three showers to get rid of the itching on his skin. His cheeks were burning, his irritation showing in the form of an angry red blush that rose high on his cheeks.
“I’m Billy, by the way,” he said as he stuck out his hand but Eddie refused to take it. Instead, he picked up one of his whiskeys and tossed it in his face. Eddie would rather waste good whiskey than touch a sleazy man like Billy. When Billy stood up, he towered over Eddie and puffed up his chest as if that would scare him. He started to raise his hand but before he could strike, security intervened, toting Billy off — kicking and screaming the entire way out.
After being checked on by Michael, and a fifteen-minute break to splash water on his face, the hellscape that was ‘speed dating’ began again. More cardboard cutouts and douchey finance guys graced his presence and with each one, Eddie’s will to live was dwindling.
In his heart, he knew Jeff was right — he needed to get back out there. It had been two years since David left, and in that time he had worked hard to learn who he was again. He had allowed pieces of himself to be chipped away during their relationship, and gluing them back in place had been laborious, but he felt almost whole now. He had begun missing the companionship that he couldn’t get from his cats but the fear of rejection caused him to keep his heart on permanent lockdown.
The gong rang out again, and Zach or Kyle or whoever it was moved on to the next table. Eddie knew what to expect by now — five minutes of a decently attractive guy trying to impress him with dull stories about working in an office. The next contestant stepped up and Eddie didn’t bother to lift his gaze from the glass in his hand.
“What’re you drinking?” a melodic voice asked, and Eddie looked up only to be met with the most beautiful man he’d ever seen. He was dressed simply in a yellow cashmere sweater and faded jeans, but the way he held himself was anything but simple. This man was exquisite — from his artfully coiffed hair to the moles and freckles that dotted his skin. There was a soft smile playing on his lips as he sat down and Eddie was lost in it.
“S-sorry, what did you say?” Eddie stuttered, the words tumbling out.
“I asked what you were drinking.”
“Oh! It’s whiskey… went for the top shelf so I’m trying to…” Eddie trailed off, forgetting how to speak properly as he locked eyes with the man across from him.
“Never have been a whiskey drinker, I prefer sweeter drinks, hence the amaretto sour,” the man said with a chuckle. It was a beautiful sound that rattled around in his brain, coating him in a soft golden sheen. “I’m Steve, by the way.”
Steve stuck his hand out and Eddie willingly took it because, for the first time all night, he felt a slight sense of hope. Maybe this one wouldn’t suck so much.
“Eddie.”
“It’s nice to meet you,” Steve replied with a cheeky grin. “So, what do you do, Eddie?”
Being asked about himself caught him off guard since no one else had bothered to ask him any questions all night.
“I’m a legal drug dealer,” he joked, only to be met with confusion. He didn’t want to be cruel, so he instantly cleared it up. “I’m a pharmacy technician. I work for Mount Sinai.”
“Wow, that’s impressive!” The look on Steve’s face proved that he wasn’t being sarcastic. For once, someone was actually impressed with him. “I teach preschool at that private school in West Loop — Hawkins Prep?”
“Oh, and I’m the impressive one, huh?” Eddie teased, earning a belly laugh from Steve.
The pair spoke quickly, asking about all the mundane details that make a person who they are. Steve asked about pets, allowing Eddie to talk about Osborne and Carpet.
“Carpet?”
“I found her inside a dumpster filled with old carpet! It seemed fitting!”
Eddie asked about siblings, only to learn that Steve’s kind heart earned him an adoptive brother named Dustin. They asked about which neighborhoods they lived in, and their usual Chinese takeout orders. They talked about what they wanted to be when they grew up — Eddie wanted to be a rockstar when he was little, but Steve wanted to be Steve Irwin.
“I had a little khaki outfit and everything. I used to make my grandmother take me ‘crocodile hunting’ late at night. I was deadly serious!”
Steve grew up in the suburbs of Chicago but moved into the city when he was in college, whereas Eddie moved from his small hometown in Indiana after graduating college. They talked about which kind of grape was better, and no matter how hot and charming Steve was, Eddie would not be moved from his argument that green grapes taste like sour grass.
“Where do you see yourself in ten years?” Eddie asked, figuring he might as well swing for a heavy question. If he wanted to see this man again, he needed to not fear the important questions. Especially because Eddie had already begun picturing the next ten years of his life in the last few minutes.
“Well, I think I’d like to still be in Chicago. I like it here, for the most part.” Steve swallowed down a bit more of his drink before continuing.”I do hope it's with someone though. Someone kind, and funny, and knows that life isn’t always rose-tinted. Someone who doesn’t mind that I listen to music too loud, or that I sometimes go eat cheese out of the fridge at three in the morning. I want someone there to hold me through the rough stuff and the good stuff because that’s what life is. I just want someone who will love all of me — even the not-so-perfect parts.”
It was all Eddie wanted too — the loud music, the three in the morning cheese. He wanted to curl up with the beautiful man across from him and watch shitty television while the cats lay across their laps. Eddie wanted stupid fights, lazy showers, and messy sex. He wanted it all.
“What about you?” Steve asked. Eddie went to answer, but the gong rang, signaling that five minutes had passed. Neither of them wanted the five minutes to end, and Steve hesitated to get up, but he was forced to by the next gentleman.
Eddie tried to stay focused on the man in front of him, the conversation he was trying to lead, but he kept looking over to the next table where Steve was. He watched as Steve smiled politely, forced a laugh here and there, and sipped his drink. They kept looking at each other, still stuck on the last five minutes. When the gong rang again, and the group shifted, Eddie tried to shake it away once again. No one else felt right, however.
By the time he had gone through the rest of the men at the event, Eddie was exhausted. He sat and filled out his card, only writing down one name — Steve. He turned it in at the table where Michael stood and got bundled back up. Eddie figured that was the end of it. Jeff would get an email in a few days saying no one wanted him, and Eddie could prove that once and for all that dating was pointless. He could picture a life with Steve, but at the end of the day, no one would ask for him. It was a harsh reality, one that Eddie had learned to accept.
As he nestled down into the collar of his coat and stepped into the cold, he heard a voice from behind him. It sounded sort of like his name, but he chose to ignore it, figuring he was just hearing things. It wasn’t until a hand gripped his shoulder that he realized that it was Steve calling after him. He had bolted out the door without a coat on, and in the few moments that he was outside, he was already shaking.
“What are you doing? You’re going to freeze!” Eddie scolded, instantly rubbing at Steve’s arms in an attempt to warm him.
“I’ll be fine! Just — here.” Steve pulled a cocktail napkin from his pocket with his name and phone number scrawled on it and Eddie looked at him in awe. “I didn’t want to wait for them to send out matches or anything like that. You’re the only one I put down.”
“You’re the only one I put down,” Eddie responded, the sheer joy of it all sinking into his bones. “Steve, you need to get inside, you’re seriously going to freeze.” “Yeah, you’re right. Will you let me know when you make it home?”
Eddie could feel a smile creep up on his face. This beautiful boy with a giant heart cared so deeply that it was palpable. They had just met and had only spoken for five minutes, but Eddie wanted to wrap him up and make him hot tea and wrap him in fluffy blankets out of the dryer to warm his bones.
“I will let you know when I get home… if you get back inside.”
Steve jokingly saluted him before jogging back into the bar, and Eddie turned on his heels before pulling out his phone. He snapped a picture of the napkin and blurred out Steve’s number before sending it over to Jeff.
Keep your $50.
🏹 💘
When he met Steve at that stupid speed dating thing, Eddie figured it would go the same way as every chance meeting did. They would talk for a few days, exchange a few raunchy texts, and then they would stop speaking, leaving him to go on his cynical way. But somehow, the gods that Eddie did not believe in handed him perfection in the form of Steve Harrington.
Those five minutes from the event hadn’t been a ruse. Steve hadn’t pretended to be nicer than he was — he was really that nice. He sent a good morning text to Eddie every day with some new nickname, each one more adorable than the last. If Eddie had a long shift, Steve would have tea or coffee delivered to help him muddle through. Each night, they talked for hours, often while Steve crafted some new project for his kids or Eddie planned out a new Dungeons and Dragons campaign.
Steve told Eddie about escaping from his parent’s expectations and learning how to make himself happy. He had met his best friend, Robin, in college and she showed him how to shake away the assumptions they had imposed upon him, and opened her home to him when he stood up to them. He rattled on about how Dustin came into his life, and how he had carved out his own idea of what success meant. Eddie found it fascinating, the way he broke free and became his own person. It only made Eddie admire him more, his heart thawing with every word that Steve spoke.
Eddie told him about David, about the silent way he had torn him to bits and left him to rot. Steve held space for him, offered to come over and hold him, tried to make it right from across the city. It was nice — having someone who cared about him like this. Of course, Eddie had people who held him together when David left. Jeff hadn’t let him out of his sight for a solid week, and the girls at work took turns feeding him casseroles and various pasta dishes. It felt different when it was someone like Steve — someone who stayed without the obligation.
Often, they would talk until Steve fell asleep and Eddie would linger on the phone. Listening to Steve’s soft, even breaths was like a balm on his soul, calming his jittery mind so that he could sleep as well. One night, he forgot to hang up the phone and was awoken by Steve’s screams. It was early in the morning, barely past two, and once Steve was pulled from his nightmare, Eddie made him turn on his video to help talk him through it face-to-face. When Steve was able to breathe again, he got up and walked to his kitchen.
“What are you doing?” Eddie questioned.
“I told you when we met, Eds,” Steve whispered as he opened his fridge. There was a rustling off-camera and suddenly, Steve thrusted a handful of shredded cheese into his mouth like a barbarian. “Three in the morning cheese.”
They laughed until Eddie was sure that Steve would choke, and it was the most incredible wake-up call he could have asked for. When the clock struck five, and Steve’s alarm went off, they realized they hadn’t slept hardly at all. Eddie knew he would be tired but he didn’t mind the dark circles and extra caffeine if Steve was the reason.
This carried on for weeks, well into February. The snow was still thick on the ground, and the air still bit at his nose, but Eddie felt warm inside. Eddie fell for him in a way he didn’t think was still possible. He figured that when David left, he was done with love, his heart unable to take the heartbreak of another loss, but Steve knit him back together with each message, each cup of tea, each phone call.
The Thursday before Valentine’s Day, Eddie went to work earlier than normal. One of the girls had called out and he was the only one who could make it in on such short notice. Luckily Steve was already awake and at the school so he could work on his room before the day began. By seven-thirty, Steve was done and had sent him a few pictures of his classroom all decked out in red and pink, with little hearts everywhere, and cupids hanging from the ceiling. There were little handmade boxes on each child’s desk in preparation for cards to be received. He’d decorated the door, as well — perfect pink paper with bubble letters, little hearts with the kids’ names on them claiming ‘THIS CLASS IS FULL OF SWEET HEARTS.’ It was undeniably cheesy, full of the commercialization of a holiday that Eddie cared very little about. Yet, he found himself loving every bit of it because it showed how much Steve cared.
Steve: FINALLY able to be festive in here!
Eddie: Looks great, Stevie.
Steve: Come on, Eds!!!!
Steve: It’s LOVE day!!
Steve: You HAVE to be a LITTLE more enthusiastic than that!
Eddie: Sorry, big boy
Eddie: Never had a Valentine before
Read at 7:45 am
Eddie could see that Steve had read the message, time stamp and all, but Steve never responded. He hoped he had just gotten busy but something told him that, once again, Eddie ‘Loveless’ Munson had ruined it all.
It was a fairly busy day for a Thursday, and Eddie was able to forget about messing everything up. He put on his headphones and tuned out the world, filling orders and organizing the shipment of new medications they got. He checked his phone every so often, hoping to see a message from Steve, but he never got one.
By lunch, everything Eddie could do to distract himself was complete, and no messages had been received. He ate in the back, hurriedly slurping down a cup of ramen from his locker before going back to work. He didn’t want to be this bothered by a man but he couldn’t help it. Eddie had opened his heart again and had proven himself right — love was not meant for him.
Around two, Eddie was paged to the administration office — something that had never happened to him and typically was not a sign of anything good. He walked quickly down to where the office was and was greeted by the secretary, who pointed to a pretty red vase containing a bouquet of red roses. They were beautiful, not a space in between them. Eddie figured he had been called down to make the delivery to one of his coworkers. Plenty of pretty girls were in the pharmacy, all with doting boyfriends and husbands, so it wasn’t uncommon for him to carry them back.
“Looks like you finally have a Valentine this year, Eddie. Good for you!” the woman said with a smile. Eddie’s confusion must have been obvious because she pointed to the card that poked out from between the stems. Against all odds, it was addressed to him. The card contained no note — blank except for the sender.
From, S
xoxo
Eddie quickly gathered the flowers up, hiding the ever-growing blush on his cheeks, before heading back to the pharmacy. He sat them down on the counter in the back before snapping a quick picture and sending it off to Steve.
Eddie: Did you do this?
Eddie: Because I love them.
Read at 2:37 pm
Once again, his messages were read but not responded to, which only furthered Eddie’s confusion. All he could do was put it out of his mind, so he went about his day again, filling orders and stocking medications.
An hour later, he was once again called down to the administrative office. This time, perched beside the secretary was a giant box of chocolates wrapped in red cellophane from L.A. Burdick, the fancy chocolatier on State Street. Eddie had only been there once. He had looked at the fancy truffles in their cases, each handmade, decorated perfectly, and designed to make his mouth water. Upon seeing the hefty price tag attached to each, he turned around and walked out empty-handed. He could only imagine the cost of such a box, and he couldn’t imagine that Steve would send him something like this. Yet, once again, there hung a mostly blank card with the same note as the flowers.
From, S
xoxo
After returning to the pharmacy, Eddie tried to call Steve, only to be met with a voicemail greeting telling him to leave a message at the tone.
“Hey, Steve, it’s Eddie. Um, don’t know if you are aware but I’ve been getting gifts all afternoon. Really, really fancy and expensive gifts. Can you please call me back?”
He put his phone back in his pocket and offered his coworkers fancy truffles and chocolate penguins so he didn’t feel as bad about receiving such an extravagant gift. Eddie figured that this surely was the last gift and that Steve would explain what was going on soon, so he might as well share.
An hour later, the phone rang again to tell Eddie he had a delivery in the administrative office. He ran down to the office to find a giant teddy bear holding a bunch of red and pink heart-shaped balloons. The secretary looked at him with slight annoyance but he knew she wasn’t seriously upset with him. He bolted back to the pharmacy, giant bear in hand, balloons rustling behind him. He didn’t try to contact Steve this time and went back to work.
Like clockwork, an hour later, Eddie was called down to the office once more for a delivery. As he walked the halls, he tried to imagine what else there was to send. Flowers, chocolates, giant teddy bears with heart-shaped balloons — all of the cheesy Valentine’s Day gifts had been given to him in the course of a few hours. All that was left was a fancy dinner and a handsome man in a tuxedo to give him a heart-shaped locket.
Eddie yanked the door open to find Steve, standing in the middle of the administrative office dressed in a suit. He wasn’t carrying a jewelry box, only a poster with big, blocky letters.
BE MY VALENTINE?
The white spaces on the poster were covered in childlike scribbles and drawings in various shades of pink and red.
Eddie had never had someone go to the trouble of giving him gifts for Valentine’s Day, not even when he had been in relationships. He’d never liked the idea of pulling out all the stops to prove your love to someone one day a year. He wanted a love that showed itself in the everyday.
At that moment, Eddie realized he already had that. Steve showed his love in cups of tea and late-night phone calls. It showed in ‘good morning’ text messages and silly nicknames.
“I know you’re not a huge fan of fancy gifts,” Steve stuttered. “But when you said you hadn’t had a Valentine before, I wanted to give you the real experience.”
Steve shifted on his feet like a nervous schoolboy, only adding to his charm. He looked nervous as if saying the wrong thing would cause Eddie to laugh at him.
“I know this isn’t the fanciest card, but those kids mean a lot to me, and I couldn’t imagine not having them help me with this.”
“And ‘this’ is?” Eddie knew what he wanted Steve to say. He wanted to have every piece of Steve he could. He wanted Steve to want him. He wanted to be his — totally and completely.
“Ever since that night — the night we met — I’ve wanted to make you mine. I want to play our music too loud and scare the cats with how we dance. I want to bring you bacon at two in the morning in bed and buy you expensive fucking grapes so you don’t know what sour tastes like. You are the most incredible person I’ve ever met. You make me smile, like, all the time. I have laughed more since I met you than I have probably ever. You’re wickedly talented, and smarter than me by a long shot, and you’re so beautiful, and you make me feel seen. You don’t see me as a stepping stone. Eddie Munson, you make me feel like something special. And I want to prove to you how wonderful you are if you’ll let me.”
He wasn’t sure when the secretary left, or when he had started crying, but neither was important. Everything except the two of them had faded into oblivion when Steve spoke. Eddie hadn’t ever had someone tell him that he was beautiful. No one had ever told him he was smart or talented. He’d always been overlooked, hidden in the shadows — even when he was in with someone. He had always been okay with being the background character, but suddenly, there was Steve Harrington, this impossible man, pulling him into the spotlight.
“Did I do too much?” Steve asked quietly. He ran his fingers through his hair, a nervous tick that Eddie found to be quite his favorite. “Robin said I was doing too much, I’m sorry. I should have done something more subtle —”
Eddie walked over and cut Steve’s rambling off with a soft kiss, barely more than a peck. It wasn’t a kiss of heat or lust — it was a grounding moment, designed to pull Steve back out of his rambling mind. When Eddie pulled back, he noticed the softness in Steve’s eyes, the tears that were threatening to spill. There was a crooked smile on his lips, and when he pulled Eddie back in to kiss him once more, they both released a breath that they didn’t know they were holding.
Their second kiss was deeper, more passionate. Eddie had never been kissed the way Steve kissed. There was a heat behind each move of his lips, a sweetness in each brush of their tongues. Kissing Steve Harrington was like coming up for air.
“So is that a yes?” Steve asked as he pulled back. His lips were a deep red, a sign of their kiss, and Eddie wanted to bottle it, paint his whole life in the color of Steve. In an instant, the redness of Steve’s kiss-bitten lips was the color of love — a color Eddie didn’t know he had been without. For Eddie, there was only one answer to Steve’s question, one that he had been hoping for since the moment they met.
“I thought you’d never ask.”