Chapter Text
Eddie puts his guitar in his van and shuts the door with a sigh. He looks around at the idyllic small town that he grew up in – the small storefronts, the homemade Christmas decorations, the abundance of wreaths, the smiling and overly friendly people – and hopes that this is the last time he ever has to be here.
All right, that’s not strictly true. He’ll come back to this little strip of nowhere regularly to check on Uncle Wayne. At least until Eddie can convince his uncle to move to the city with him.
It’s not likely, but Eddie is going to try anyway.
“Eddie!”
Eddie startles and glances around. He’s not exactly the most popular person in town, thanks to his entire aesthetic and also because he liked to put little bats and ghosts and vampire and werewolves in his wreaths. One year, he did an entire Krampus-themed wreath, which got him a very stern talking to from the police chief. Hopper didn’t care himself, but it upset some of the townsfolk, so Eddie had to take the wreath down.
Robin Buckley, of all people, walks up to him, holding hands with her brand-new girlfriend. Eddie hadn’t met the girlfriend yet, because the woman came in from out of town just a few days ago. Apparently, the two of them had a whirlwind romance, and everything was so adorable that no one even cared that the girlfriend had a fiancé back in the city.
On one hand, Eddie is thrilled that there is a lesbian couple so happy and accepted in the tiny town. On the other hand, Eddie is vaguely disturbed by how no one seems to find issue with the very real man who just lost his fiancée to a lesbian whose small town is known for making wreaths for every holiday you can think of.
“Hey, Robin.” Eddie glances at the girlfriend, a petite slip of a woman, who the rumor mill said was some big hotshot journalist from the city. Eddie has no idea why she’s happy in the middle of nowhere, but whatever. Not his life.
“This is my girlfriend, Nancy Wheeler.” Robin gets giggly at the title, and Nancy flushes pink, smiling shyly. They’re so damn cute, but Eddie is still horrified by the very real human being they just unceremoniously abandoned.
“Nice to meet you.” Eddie shoves his hands in his pockets. He wants to be supportive but also he doesn’t want to support such cruelty.
“We heard that you’re going to the city for the holidays,” Robin says, voice lifting at the end to make it a question.
Eddie nods. “If everything goes well, then I’m moving out there. For now, I just have a few Christmas gigs, so I’m staying there until New Year’s.”
Robin hums and glances at Nancy. “Could you do us a favor?”
Nope.
Eddie forces a smile on his face. “Sure.”
Nancy pulls a small box out of her pocket. A ring box.
Oh no.
“Could you get this to my ex?” She asks. “It’s very expensive and I don’t feel comfortable just shipping it.”
Okay, the actual audacity of asking Eddie to deliver an engagement ring to her ex, who she left for a lesbian she met days ago is astounding. Eddie wants nothing to do with that stupid box at all.
Eddie takes the box, despite himself. “Uh… sure?” At the very least, Eddie can check on the guy who just lost his relationship over the phone. Honestly, the whole situation is pretty fucked up and rude.
Both Nancy and Robin light up. “Thank you so much!” Nancy pulls out a sticky note with a name, address, and phone number on it. “His name is Steve Harrington. He’s got a pretty normal schedule, so he’s typically back at his condo by 5:30 or so.”
“So, you want me to just go up to a stranger with an engagement ring and hand it to him?” Eddie can’t keep the incredulity out of his voice.
Nancy chuckles. “I already spoke to him. You don’t need to say anything if you don’t want. Steve understands. Now that you’ve agreed, I’ll let him know to expect you.”
Eddie stands in utter disbelief as Robin and Nancy continue to thank him, going on and on and he just wants to be out of this absolute mindfuck of a situation. The sheer audacity of the request just boggles the mind.
And that’s why, the next day, Eddie stands in front of a building in the city, fidgeting with the ring box nervously. This place is so fancy, it’s not even funny. There’s even a damn doorman. Eddie doesn’t feel comfortable just going up to some stranger’s condo, so he waits in the lobby, pacing and fidgeting.
“Eddie Munson, I presume?”
Eddie whirls around. And proceeds to forget how to even breathe when he sees the most gorgeous man on the planet walking over to him. He’s tall and muscular and well-dressed. Like, he’s actually wearing slacks and a cardigan over a damn button-up. And he looks so soft and comfortable and utterly, disgustingly adorable. He’s clean-shaven and his hair is brown and fluffy and there’s a feral part of Eddie’s mind that wants to bury his hands in that hair, holding the man still so Eddie can plunder his mouth, see what sounds he can pull from those pretty, plush lips…
Eddie jerks himself out of those thoughts. He’s here to return an engagement ring and check that the man is okay with his life blowing up right before Christmas. That’s all. Besides, he was engaged to Nancy, so he’s straight. Eddie wants to slap himself to make himself focus.
“Steve Harrington?” Eddie asks, clenching the box tightly.
Steve smiles at him, eyes crinkling. “That’s me. Nance said you were bringing the ring by.”
For a guy whose fiancée just left him, he seems remarkably relaxed.
“Uh… no offence, but can you… describe the ring?” Eddie asks. “I don’t want to just hand over something this nice to anybody.”
Steve chuckles. “I get it. It’s a floral halo ring, fourteen karat gold, with diamonds around a central sapphire. Oh, and it’s a size seven.”
Eddie huffs out a sigh of relief and passes the box over. That thing is damn expensive and he felt weird just carrying it around. “There you go.”
“Thanks.” Steve opens the box to glance at the ring before shoving said box into his pocket. “I appreciate you bringing it all the way back here.”
“It wasn't out of my way,” Eddie admits. “I’m staying at a hotel down the street.”
“Really?” Steve focuses on him, still smiling. “In town for the holidays?”
Eddie shrugs. “Not the way you think. My band has some gigs. I live back in Hawkins.”
“I see.” Steve nods.
“What about you? Spending time with your family this Christmas?” Eddie asks. He really doesn’t trust the relaxed manner of this stranger. His fiancée left him for a woman after having been away from him for a handful of days. The holidays are a lonely time.
Steve makes a face. “No. I avoid my family if I can.”
Shit.
“Hey, are you… are you sure you’re okay?” Eddie asks, gently. “This is…”
Steve’s expression is confused for a long moment and then he laughs. “Oh, yeah, I’m fine. Nance and I are… we’ve been friends forever. We dated for a while when she moved here from Hawkins, but we kind of wanted different things.”
Eddie opens his mouth and then shuts it, beyond confused. “But… you were… engaged?”
“Yeah.” Steve pushes his hair off his forehead. “My parents have been harassing me about getting married and having grandbabies for about a decade now. I’ve been putting them off as much as I can. And then Nance’s parents started up with that nonsense, especially when her younger brother turned out gay for his best friend.”
“Did you two have a marriage pact?” Eddie asks, suddenly realizing why everyone involved with this situation has been so calm about everything.
Steve nods. “We both hit thirty-five and decided to just go for it. I am so damn glad that I sent her to stay with Rob.”
Eddie is even more confused. “What?”
“Nancy wanted to go visit her grandmother for Christmas. I couldn’t get off work, her grandmother is in a nursing home, and her parents moved out of Hawkins years back. So, I called up my best friend to see if she’d let Nancy stay with her for the holidays,” Steve explains. “And now, my best friend finally has a girlfriend, and I don’t have to marry Nancy. Wins all around.”
Eddie stares at Steve for several long moments. “Your life is incredibly fucked, you know that?”
Steve bursts out laughing. His eyes crinkle and he looks so damn happy that it makes Eddie’s heart stop in his chest, the sound of his laughter filling Eddie’s gut with butterflies.
“You’re lucky you’re so hot, because that could be offensive, you know,” Steve replies.
Eddie’s brain executes a full and complete stop. This gorgeous man is flirting with him. Him! The man standing in the lobby of his building wearing ripped jeans, a Metallica t-shirt, and a black jean jacket covered in patches that Eddie himself put on. Okay, maybe Steve isn’t straight?
“You need to get your eyes checked,” Eddie replies, “for I am a mere mortal standing in the presence of a god.” He gestures to the ragged clothing he’s wearing and then to the crisp and clean outfit Steve is wearing.
Steve starts laughing harder, the sound making Eddie grin. This gorgeous guy thinks Eddie is funny. It’s the best Christmas present he could ever receive. “It’s not the clothes, it’s the man inside them.”
“The man inside them is basically a hobo,” Eddie says automatically. “I’m like the definition of an indie special snowflake.”
“Well, would the special snowflake accept dinner as thanks?”
Eddie blinks and tries to figure out where this conversation went off the rails.
Steve smiles at him, crossing his arms and looking unfairly cute. “You went out of your way to get this back to me, and I’m really thankful. It feels wrong to just say ‘thanks’ and send you on your way. So, can I buy you dinner?”
“Princess, you can buy me anything you want.” The words fall out of Eddie’s mouth automatically and he feels like a complete moron as soon as he says them.
Steve’s smile gains a shy edge and he looks down for a moment, his soft hair falling into his eyes. When he looks back at Eddie, Eddie feels like he’s been punched in the gut. Fucking hell, this guy is too hot to exist.
“All right. Well, have you ever been here before?” Steve asks. “There are a lot of good places around.”
“I have never left Hawkins before,” Eddie admits, “so, lead me to my doom.”
Steve laughs. “It’s dinner, snowflake. Come on, there’s a great little Greek place around the corner.”
Eddie ignores the heat welling up in his gut at the endearment and pretends like he’s a totally normal guy who is not completely in love with a literal stranger. “Don’t you need a coat?”
Steve nods. “Don’t disappear on me. I’ll be right back.”
Eddie waits impatiently in the lobby, wondering why in the hell he’s entertaining this entire nonsense. First, the lesbians have the audacity, and then the guy who is happy his fiancée dumped him right before Christmas, and now Eddie is allowing that guy to buy him dinner out of some weird gratitude or whatever. All because the guy is unfairly gorgeous.
Eddie really has to stop being affected by a pretty face.
Steve comes back down in a couple minutes, wearing a clearly expensive and warm wool coat with a scarf around his neck. “Ready?”
Eddie nods wordlessly and follows Steve out into the cold, winter air. Steve’s pace is brisk, his hands tucked in his pockets and head tilted down to keep out of the wind. City living has made its mark on him, and he barely even glances at the Christmas lights strewn up everywhere. Eddie can barely pay attention to where his feet are going, too distracted by all the noises, all the sounds, all the lights of a big city.
“You don’t have to buy me dinner,” Eddie says, keeping pace with Steve even as he looks around.
“You went out of your way–”
“My hotel is like two blocks from here–”
“—and I don’t want to appear ungrateful.”
Eddie laughs, shaking his head as the cold air bites through his jeans. He really didn’t pack appropriately for winter in the city. “You have thanked me profusely. I don’t think you’re ungrateful.”
Steve stops in front of a door that looks like it leads to a back alley. He puts his hand on the handle and turns to Eddie with a smirk. “Maybe I’m using it as an excuse to keep you around, snowflake.”
Eddie’s brain executes a complete stop. Steve chuckles and tugs open the door, gesturing for Eddie to enter.
Eddie ducks inside the doorway and stops. It looks like the kind of dive-bar that Eddie would frequent, not any place that someone upscale like Steve would go to. There’s a counter, a few rickety tables set up, and a handful of handmade menus tucked against the wall beside the tables. There are a few people inside, those brave enough to walk inside such a hole-in-the-wall or those who already knew of its existence, and when the tiny bell above the door rings, several people look up, immediately sizing Eddie up.
When Steve steps in beside Eddie, their faces break out into brilliant smiles. “Stavros!”
“This might have been a mistake,” Steve mutters under his breath to Eddie.
“Thank god.” A teenage girl all but skips up to them. “Yiayia was about to send out a search party.”
“Life has been hectic,” Steve says apologetically. He leans down towards her, “has she given up on the date thing yet?”
The teenager smirks. “Not even close. You had a bit of a reprieve last week, because my report card came in, but now? When you’ve been gone for a couple weeks? You missed your chance.”
“Stavros!” A woman who looks exactly like how a grandmother should look – plump and matronly with smile lines and a well-worn apron – walks out of the back with a stern glower. “Where have you been?!”
Eddie watches in bemusement as Steve is dragged into multiple hugs, with many people demanding to know where he’s been. The teenager stays at the front with Eddie, snickering as Steve tries desperately to escape. She looks up at Eddie. “You know Steve?”
Eddie shakes his head. “We just met.”
The teenager nods solemnly. “He’s been coming in here for years, as long as I can remember.” She purses her lips, looking Eddie over seriously. “He’s never brought anyone with him before.”
Eddie blinks. “Not even Nancy?”
“Who’s Nancy?”
“His ex-fiancée.”
The teenager makes a face. “That might be why. Yiayia has decided she’s a matchmaker for Steve. If he waits too much longer, I’ll be eighteen and she’ll try to ply his favor with a couple goats or something.”
“Maria, you are far too smart for me,” Steve says, escaping the clutches of the older woman with his hair ruffled and a brilliant smile on his face. He tugs on her braid, making her squawk in affront.
“Go sit down!” She snaps, laughing. “I’ll bring out your usual.” She hesitates and looks up at Eddie. “Uhm… do you know what you’d like?”
Eddie hasn’t had a chance to even think about food, let alone what he wants to eat. He glances at Steve. “Uh, just whatever Steve normally gets.”
Maria nods and hurries off to the back.
Steve leads Eddie to one of the tiny tables over by the wall, as far from the kitchen and counter as he can get. He strips his coat off and lounges in one of the chairs. “Sorry. I forgot it’s been a bit since I’ve been here. Yiayia thinks I’m too skinny and that I am lonely and need to find a good Greek girl to have many babies with.”
Eddie grins and leans on the table. “Sounds like you’ve been adopted.”
Steve chuckles. “I may have worked a shift for them here or there,” he allows. “But Yiayia is persistent.”
“Is that why you never brought Nancy here?” Eddie asks, curiously. “Maria said you’ve never brought anyone here.”
Steve flushes, a dark red that looks so damn cute that Eddie wonders what he said so he can get that blush out of the man over and over and over again. “I have kept this place to myself. Selfish, I guess. But that’s also why Yiayia thinks I’m lonely and single.”
Maria bounces over with a basket of dolmades and a cup of tzatziki. “Yiayia wants to know if he’s your boyfriend.”
Steve groans and drops his face into his hands. “No.”
Eddie grins. “Awww… don’t be embarrassed by me, princess.”
Steve points at Eddie with a glare. “Yiayia will start planning a wedding, and then you’ll be stuck with me for life.”
Eddie blows Steve a kiss. “Promises, promises…”
Steve looks up at Maria. “No. Eddie and I just met. Like fifteen minutes ago.”
Maria bursts out laughing. “No, Yiayia!” She yells over her shoulder. “They’re just friends!”
The grandmother behind the counter starts muttering in Greek.
Maria grins. “If you don’t want her to start finding nice Greek boys to add to the list, don’t bring him back,” she warns Steve before bouncing off again.
“God, you’re impossible,” Steve runs his hands over his face.
“You started it!” Eddie argues.
“How did I start it?!”
“Ay! Enough of the flirting!” The burly man behind the counter complains loudly, making Steve turn red again.
Eddie obligingly takes a dolmade and eats it, allowing the conversation to drop. Steve also grabs one to snack on. They sit in silence for several minutes, the lack of conversation somehow comfortable and relaxed rather than tense or awkward. Something in Eddie feels like he’s known Steve forever, rather than half an hour.
“So, how long are you in town for?” Steve asks, once all eyes are no longer on them.
“A week or so,” Eddie replies. “Just after New Year’s.”
“You said you had some gigs? What’s your band? I’d love to see you perform.”
Eddie feels his face heat up and looks down at his napkin, tearing tiny bits off with nervous fingers. “We’re… probably not your cup of tea. Heavy metal is pretty… divisive.”
“Heavy metal? And you have Christmas gigs?” Steve sounds both amused and intrigued. “Color me interested.”
Eddie spends the next half-hour explaining about Corroded Coffin and the gigs they have and also all the down time that he has for doing… he’s not even sure what.
“Wait, you’re in the city for Christmas and New Year’s and you don’t have a plan to do anything?” Steve shakes his head. “You should at least see the lights in the park. Maybe do some ice skating, or listen to the carolers on Main. There’s bound to be a few hundred Christmas parties you should be able to just walk into.” Steve shakes his head. “I know you come from the wreath capital of the world, but we do Christmas pretty well here in the city. You should check it out.”
Eddie is about to respond when Maria pops up with their food. Eddie barely has a chance to glance down when his phone rings. He excuses himself and walks outside to answer the phone. The air is frigid and he shivers, listening to the calm and patient voice speak to him. He blinks and asks the woman on the line to repeat herself. His hotel is overbooked and he no longer has a place to stay in the city.
Well. Shit.
Eddie could drive outside the city limits and look for a motel. That’s probably the best solution, unless he wants to sleep in his van. He could spread out pretty well, but it’s fucking cold. Eddie starts searching for motels on his phone as he goes back inside the restaurant.
“Everything okay?” Steve asks, tilting his head.
“Yeah.” Eddie shakes his head. “No. My hotel just cancelled my reservation. They overbooked and since I’m not a VIP or member or whatever, I got bumped.”
“That’s bullshit.” Steve frowns. “What hotel is this?”
Eddie stops his searching to look at Steve. The man looks legitimately offended, his own phone already out. Eddie is under the distinct impression that Steve is about to go to war with a hotel. For him.
“It doesn’t matter anymore.” Eddie fights back his smile, pretending like warmth isn’t bubbling up in his gut. “I don’t have a place to stay, and that won’t change even if I call and yell at them.”
Steve frowns and puts his phone down. “Well, you can’t just sleep in your car, it’s too fucking cold out. You can stay with me.”
Eddie chokes and meets Steve’s solemn expression. “You don’t know me. I could be a serial killer super-thief.”
Steve’s serious look shifts to amusement in a split second. “You brought me an engagement ring when you didn’t even know me. Super thief, I sincerely doubt.”
“I could be a serial killer.”
“Then why would you warn me?”
Eddie opens his mouth, realizes he has no good answer and then shuts it again. He looks down at his napkin, which his fingers have torn mostly to bits at this point. “I appreciate it, but why would you want to help me?”
“Why did you agree to bring me the engagement ring?”
“Back to this again…” Eddie sighs and rolls his eyes. “I brought you the ring because Robin and Nancy asked me to.”
Steve tilts his head. “And?”
Eddie blinks at him. “...and?”
“That’s not it. At least not all of it.” Steve shakes his head.
“Honestly?” Eddie sighs and tries to come up with the best way to explain himself. “I thought it was fucking weird that Nancy came back at all, what with how much she seemed to love the city and her job as a journalist. And then in a couple of days ends up dating our resident lesbian and absolutely in love with wreath-making? And nobody has a problem with it at all. I thought it was pretty rude and disrespectful, especially because she had a fiancé, and just dumped him without hesitation.” Eddie shrugs. “I agreed to bring you the ring because I was worried. What if you and Nancy had actually been in love or something?”
Steve nods slowly. “You know, it does sound pretty absurd when you put it that way.”
Eddie pokes at his food. “So I’ve got a soft heart. Sue me.”
“Well, so do I.” Steve looks down at his food for a few moments. “It just seems… wrong to let someone stay on the streets at Christmastime. You know?”
Eddie can’t exactly argue, because he would probably do the same damn thing. “Okay, fair enough.”
“You can stay as long as you need. I’ve already started packing Nance’s things, so there are boxes in her bedroom, but it’s clean and she’s obviously not going to be back for a while.” Steve shrugs.
“Well, I really appreciate it, Steve,” Eddie murmurs.
“Why are you not eating?!” Yiayia yells across the restaurant. “Too skinny! Both of you!”
Steve snorts into his food and takes an obliging bite. Eddie does the same.
By the time they finish dinner, Eddie is completely in love with Steve and this restaurant and is willing to marry Yiayia if he gets to keep eating her food and getting her homemade baklava for the rest of his life. When he announces this, an older man emerges from the kitchen, asking if he needs to fight for his woman’s honor. Eddie mock-challenges the man to a fight, making Yiayia laugh, and then she all but shoves Steve and Eddie out of the door, a little box of baklava tucked into Eddie’s hands.
“She likes you,” Steve tells Eddie confidentially, leading them back to his building. “She doesn’t sneak desserts to just anyone, you know.”
“I will one day be her favorite,” Eddie declares.
“I have years up on you,” Steve replies. “Good luck, snowflake.”
“Don’t worry your pretty princess head about it…” Eddie trails off as Steve slows down. “What’s up?”
“Huh?” Steve blinks and jerks his head around. “Nothing.”
Eddie glances at where Steve was looking, spotting a small store with gifts set up in the front window. He wanders over, hearing Steve swear under his breath. Steve joins him in front of the glass, hands shoved in his pockets. Eddie looks at the gifts, trying to figure out which one had Steve’s attention. It’s a photography store, with all sorts of cameras and lenses and whatever else is needed for taking pictures.
“Didn’t know you were a photographer, princess,” Eddie says, lightly.
“I’m not.” The way Steve shuts down that topic makes Eddie think there’s a story there.
Eddie says nothing, choosing to let his silence speak for itself.
Steve sighs heavily and gestures at the polaroid camera, a small black thing that is far more discreet than the massive digital camera directly above it. “It’s dumb, but I’ve never had one. I wasn’t allowed to as a kid.”
Eddie nods solemnly. “I wasn’t allowed to have one either,” he admits, trying to make Steve feel less weird about this. “But that was because we couldn’t really afford the film and also Uncle Wayne didn’t want to find little polaroids all over the place, and he knows how disorganized I can be.”
That works, and the tight expression on Steve’s face fades as he laughs. “Come on, snowflake. Let’s get you out of this cold before you shiver to death.”
Eddie grins and follows Steve down the sidewalk.
Steve lets them into the building and introduces Eddie to the doorman, letting the big man know that Eddie is a guest, and then takes Eddie up to his condo. The space is, and Eddie is not exaggerating, fucking nice. Steve has a spacious condo with an open floor plan that makes the kitchen and living room basically one space. There’s a small breakfast table sitting beside a door out to a small balcony. Past the kitchen is a hallway that obviously leads to the bedrooms. The furniture is not the upscale, stylish furnishings that Eddie would have expected, but instead warm and comfortable furniture. It all matches, but not in the sterile way of a showroom, rather in the way of someone who has a particular style does.
Honestly, it tells Eddie way more about Steve than he was expecting. The guy looks all button-up and rich on the outside, but he’s a marshmallow on the inside.
A marshmallow who apparently doesn’t do any decorating for Christmas.
“You know, for all that ‘you have to do the Christmas touristy things’ stuff you said at dinner, you sure seem pretty Grinch-y, princess.” Eddie says, looking around at the blatant lack of holiday cheer throughout the condo.
Steve makes a face and grunts. “I… was busy. And Nancy wasn’t super into it either. So, we just… didn’t this year.”
Eddie tries to reconcile the Nancy who “isn’t into Christmas decorations” with the woman who was all but lit up with holiday joy back in Hawkins. It doesn’t work, so he gives up. “It’s fine. Just funny. And I’ve just come from Wreath-town. Everyone decorates. If you don’t, people assume either you died, or you’re seriously depressed. Even I decorated, and I’m basically the town pariah.”
Steve titles his head in confusion. “What? How?”
Eddie shrugs, not really wanting to talk about how few friends he has in his hometown. “You make one Christmas wreath with ghosts all over it and suddenly you’re ‘anti-Christmas’. Shows how well-read Hawkins is.”
Steve starts snickering. “You made a ‘Christmas Story’ wreath and nobody got it?”
Eddie jumps in surprise. “Thank you!” He raises his hands in the air. “Ghosts are Christmas-y!”
Steve bursts out laughing. “Come on, snowflake. I’ll show you around.”
It takes only a few minutes to get through the whole condo, and Eddie sees the way Nancy had decorated the room as hers, as well as the pile of boxes in the corner as Steve has already started clearing out her belongings. There’s a quick discussion about parking, because Steve has a second spot in the parking garage for the building and then Eddie goes to move his van so he doesn’t get a ticket. By the time he’s done that and gotten back up to Steve’s condo, Steve has clearly settled in for the night, wearing flannel pajamas and curled up on his couch.
Eddie considers dropping his bag on the floor and just curling up in that spot directly beside Steve, which appears to be the most comfortable spot in the whole damn condo, but quickly talks himself out of it. He’s a guest in Steve’s home, and it would be pretty fucking presumptuous to just start flirting wholeheartedly with the guy. No matter what Eddie wants to be doing.
Eddie takes his bag into the room he’ll be using and changes into his own pajamas, which are threadbare compared to Steve’s. He really should get a better coat or something if he’s going to stay in the city. Eddie goes back into the living room and settles on one of the chairs, putting the whole living room between him and Steve. Mostly, because he doesn't trust in his own self-control.
“Thank you again for letting me stay with you,” Eddie murmurs.
Steve smiles at him, eyes twinkling with mischief. “Anything for my precious snowflake.”
Eddie bats his eyelashes at Steve, making the man laugh. “Gonna spoil me at this rate, princess.”
Steve laughs and shakes his head. “So, do you have any plans tomorrow?”
“I’ve got a gig tomorrow night,” Eddie explains, “but nothing before then. Why? Do you have more touristy things for me to do?”
Steve shrugs. “I’m off work until after Christmas, so I can be your guide. Make you feel less ‘tourist’.”
Eddie is not going to argue, nor is he going to try to talk the man out of it. If he had his way, he’d find an excuse to be near Steve constantly. The man is everything – attractive and funny and kind and genuine – and Eddie is already fucking obsessed.
“You mean I get my own personal tour guide?” Eddie waggles his eyebrows at Steve.
Steve grins. “I would be a pretty bad host if I let you get lost.”
“Yes, let’s not have me get lost when I have actual places to be.”
Steve’s phone rings before Eddie can find an excuse to flirt. Steve glances at the screen and makes a face.
“One second,” he says to Eddie, “I have to take this.”
Steve stands up, answering before he’s upright. “Hey, Mom.”
Eddie can’t hear the other side of the conversation, but Steve sounds far more reserved already. With Eddie, he’s open and genuine, but with his mother he sounds… polite and uptight.
“I told you: I’ve been busy,” Steve says, wandering down the hallway. He paces the condo as he talks, obviously a familiar route for having conversations on the phone. “No, that’s not what I…” Steve huffs out a soft breath. “I thought you were going to the Aspens for Christmas.”
Jesus Christ. Steve’s family is rich rich. Fucking hell. Eddie does not belong anywhere near here.
“Yes, I saw the invitation, but…” Steve obviously keeps getting interrupted by his mother. Steve leans on the back of the couch and rolls his eyes for Eddie’s benefit. “Yes, mom, I know it’s Christmas.” Steve sighs and drags a hand over his face. “I told you: she broke up with me.”
Oh. Talking about Nancy. Based on their earlier conversation, Eddie doesn’t think Steve’s parents have a clue that Steve is not heartbroken by the abrupt turn of events.
“She’s not a lesbian, she’s bisexual,” Steve corrects, rolling his eyes again. “Yes, there is a difference.”
Eddie props his chin on his hands, trying not to laugh at the sheer exasperation in Steve’s voice.
“It’s just a party, do I really have to be there?” Steve complains, sounding much more like a teenager than the thirty-something he is. “I won’t even know anyone there.”
Eddie snickers at the way Steve flops on the back of the couch, mock-dying for Eddie’s entertainment. Steve abruptly sits upright. “Nobody! It’s nobody!”
Oops. Eddie apparently wasn’t quiet enough.
Steve flushes and sighs. “Just a friend, mom. No, I don’t think…” Steve claps his hands over his eyes with a groan. “Fine. We’ll come to the party. Just please stop crying.”
Eddie grins as Steve finally manages to get off the phone with his mother. Steve does not look his way. “So…” Eddie fights back his giggles. “We have a Christmas party to go to?”
Steve swears and collapses on the couch in a heap. “She thinks you’re a woman who I am rebounding with because Nancy ‘broke my heart’.”
Eddie cups his jaw in his palms and bats his eyelashes at Steve. “Am I not pretty enough to be your rebound, princess?”
Steve laughs. “You’re not pretty. You’re fucking hot. And I’m pretty sure my mother would have an aneurysm if she thought we were together. She’s already confused about Nancy. Finding out her son isn’t perfectly straight might break her.”
“Okay, so now we have to do it,” Eddie declares.
Steve leans up on his elbow, looking across the coffee table at Eddie. “You don’t have to come with me. My parents throw this stuffy Christmas party for all of Dad’s coworkers every year before heading off for a week in the Aspens. I try to get out of the stupid thing every year. Last year, Nancy and I used her family as an excuse. This year was supposed to be my parents’ turn to host us. But, with Nancy out of town, I was hoping to get out of it anyway. Now that she broke up with me, Mom thinks I’m depressed or something.”
“And?” Eddie asks.
“It’s going to be boring and uptight and everyone there will be judging us at all times. I’m used to it. I wouldn’t willingly put anyone else through the torture. I found an excuse for Nancy to not be there literally every year.”
Eddie pretends to think, though there isn’t much that he would find more entertaining than scandalizing a whole group of rich assholes. “So, do I have to wear a dress? If so, I need to go shopping.”
Steve starts giggling and flops back on the couch. “If you’re determined to go, then I have clothes. We’re pretty close to the same size.”
“Wouldn’t that scandalize your mother more?” Eddie asks, genuinely curious. “Seeing a guy who looks like me wearing her son’s clothes?”
Steve swears under his breath. “You’re right.” He turns a smirk Eddie’s way. “Now we have to do it.”
Eddie fights back the urge to lunge across the table and kiss that stupid smirk off Steve’s face. Never has he been faced with such temptation before, and it’s driving him insane.