Chapter Text
Steve stares down at the flyer that had dragged them all the way to Indy on a Wednesday evening.
Robin had all but begged for Steve to drive her, but insisted he had to wait outside. She also refused to elaborate on what on earth about friendship bracelet making at a cafe had her foaming at the mouth, ignoring all his complaints about gas money and work the next day - she could craft with the kids in Hawkins for free without making a mission out of it.
Eddie smirks over at him from behind the steering wheel. "What's up Harrington? Setting the flyer on fire with your mind?"
Of course, when Robin said she needed him to wait around for several hours, he jumped to call Eddie. Just to get the guy out of the house, he figured. They both could do with someone to talk to, anyway, and it gave Steve a break from the driving.
"I'm just... Confused. Robin tells me everything. I don't know why she won't tell me what's so important about this!"
Eddie leans over, points at the byline. "Always for the dykes, Steve. That means straight men aren't welcome!", his eyes twinkling even as he reproaches Steve.
Something twinges in Steve's stomach, pushed him to defend himself. "I'm not asking to attend! I just meant it's so weird to have secrets. She's supposed to trust me."
His voice comes out whiny, childish, and he ducks his head.
"Whatever, I'm just being needy. She doesn't have to tell me".
Eddie sighs, tapped his fingers on the steering wheel. "Stevie, what if she isn't keeping secrets , what if it's just hard to talk about?"
When Steve squints over at Eddie, he shrugs. "Come on, this is the girl that won't let you say boobies, of course she doesn't like to talk about this stuff".
Steve's frown only deepens, "what the hell do boobies have to do with craft night?"
Eyebrows flying up his forehead, Eddie has the audacity to gawk as though Steve is the one making no sense in this situation. When Steve just stares him down, Eddie takes a deep breath, reassembling his face into a serious expression seemingly from sheer force of will.
"Okay, Stevie. I think we might need to start from the start here. What do you think this flyer is about?"
The flyer in Steve's hands is still the same, and even after another bout of consideration, at it he still comes to the same conclusion. "It's about... Lesbians making bracelets together?"
Eddie smiles, nodding encouragingly. "okay... And what about providing wristbands to identify if you like praise or degradation?"
His face doesn't seem to hold any signs of mocking or condescension, so Steve remjnds himself not to snap. He hates feeling like he missed the point, thought it was something he would leave behind after school, only to find himself surrounded by nerds and geniuses everywhere he went.
"I guess everyone learns differently, like some people learn better from strict teachers?"
Steve can see how it made sense - if you're signing up for classes for fun you don't want your teacher to make you feel stupid, but you don't want to feel babied either.
Eddie nods again. "Okay, getting there Stevie, but that's not really degradation..."
Steve tilts his head, waiting for Eddie to go on.
"Degradation", Eddie grinned, "is about being mean, insulting someone"
"Robin is going to an art class where they're mean to you?" Steve is halfway through reaching to door, ready to rush in and save her before Eddie grabs him, laughing.
"Robin is going to a session where the leaders will tease you, if you like it. If you ask them nicely"
That honestly doesn't seem much different, but Robin saw it in the ad and was cool with it, Eddie is cool with it now, so Steve tries to relax.
There's an unfamiliar glint in Eddie's eye for a second, before he looks back at the paper that's still crushed in Steve's hand.
"Okay, I think we're still lost, aren't we?" Eddie carries on, gentle but firm. Something about his tone stops Steve from cringing or apologizing and he just nods, staring back at Eddie, waiting for answers.
"What about Dommy Mommy?" Eddie prods. "Y'know, the whole theme?"
Steve blinks. "Uh... Isn't it like... Moms go to pride to give out hugs. Like maybe you can't do craft night with family but we'll be your mom for the night".
Eddie's mouth twists to the side, he almost looks like he's going to burst out laughing, but then he shrugs. "You know, I guess you're right in a way. It is for people with mommy issues but, um... What about Dommy?"
Steve's stomach has been sinking, knowing he's missing something over and over, and feeling his body heat up with embarrassment. "I don't know Eddie! How am I supposed to know! Maybe their name is Dominique? You tell me if you know everything!" As he raises his voice in frustration, he flings his hands in the air, the crumpled paper clinging embarrassingly to his clammy palm.
Eddie clicks his tongue at him. "Come on now Stevie, I know you can be patient. I just wanted to make sure we were on the same page before I started explaining, so I didn't confuse you."
His cajoling tone seems to strike an off button somewhere in Steve's mind, and all he can do is look blankly at Eddie, waiting for the explanation he is promising.
"Do you want me to tell you? Once you know you can't go back..."
Steve nods quickly, wanting to finally get some answers and happy to get back to their normal dynamic, Eddie making speeches while Steve simply listens and tries to keep up.
"Firstly, in this case, dommy is for domme.. like, dominant?" Seeing no recognition cross his face, Eddie pauses.
Before Steve can beat himself up more for missing the point, Eddie reaches back out to hold his wrist. "Hey, it's okay. I'm just trying to think of the words. It's like.. sometimes when you're having sex one person always takes the lead right? One person is more likely to initiate, to decide when to take clothes off, to suggest positions..." Eddie is a little red, Steve thinks, but can hardly focus past the warm hand on his forarm and the stream of works.
"Um, it's like being the guy?" He hazards a guess, and Eddie squeezes his arm to soften his chuckle.
"Aw Stevie, you're so vanilla, aren't you. I mean when you're two girls or two guys that doesn't really make sense. But okay... So you're straight, imagine that your girl gets to boss you around. Imagine she's setting the pace, calling the shots. Maybe she gets on top of you, but it's not really about position. It's not about who's inside who. It's about who is the boss."
Steve's head spins with shattered imagines of slim, strong arms tossing him onto a bed, holding him down. A tense body pressing him back into the wall. For a second he sees Eddie, eyes blazing and a hand at his throat, but no, that's just his wires crossed since the other man is the one teaching him. He shouldn't be thinking about his friend in these positions.
He wriggles in his seat a little, ignores his burning cheeks and dares to glance back at Eddie, who is watching him, patient and unjudging.
"Um, okay. I think I get it"
Eddie grins, glows with it, and continues, "Okay, great! So domme is someone who is dominant, someone who runs the show. It's not always about sex, it's the dynamic between people. Sometimes that means playing a persona or a different version of yourself ... Have you ever had girls call you daddy?" He raises an eyebrow salaciously.
"Um.." Steve squeaks. "Someone asked once but i didn't really like it", and he waits for Eddie to mock him, tell him he is just too vanilla, not even worth teaching.
Eddie doesn't do any of those things. He squeezes Steve's arm softly, instead. "That's okay Stevie, some people don't like those sorts of names, or they don't play that persona. It's all about what feels right for you."
A wave of relief washes over him. He doesn't want to disappoint Eddie. He wants to be a good listener, understand what Eddie is sharing with him.
Eddie recaps what Steve has learned so far. "So there is someone in charge, and people can decide how they want to be treated, right? They can say if she can be nice or mean to them."
Eddie must see the plaintive look on Steve's face.
"Why do people want someone to be mean? Is that what you're thinking?Sometimes it's fun, to be teased or embarrassed, when you know it's safe. It can make people feel relaxed and dreamy when someone's mean to you in the right way". Eddie's voice deepens as he explains, an unfamiliar look in his eyes.
"What is the right way?" Steve's voice is barely a whisper, but Eddie still hears him, sits perfectly still for a second. "Steve, are you asking me to talk like that to you? It's important that you agree, and you can ask me to stop anytime. I don't want to upset you by saying the wrong thing."
"Yes, please" Steve whispers, feeling out of body as Eddie smirks, turning predatory, and leans toward him.
"You would want that, wouldn't you Harrington", his voice almost a snarl, low and dangerous. "You don't even know what kink is but you just have to jump in... Anyone can see you're a little brat, but I don't know if you have what it takes to be a good girl".
Steve's eyes fall shut a few words in, letting Eddie's voice wash over him. The words press him into his seat like heavy weights, run through his veins like electricity. Eddie's thumb on his arm twitches back and forth gently and suddenly Steve is biting back a moan, his whole body tingling under the attention.
"Um, so that might be what someone says if they're being a mean dom..." Eddie clears his throat, his voice returning to the previous, gentle tone.
When Steve peeks through his lashes at Eddie, he is staring forward out the windscreen, biting his lip. It strikes Steve as unfair, that Eddies is thinking about something else when he just hypnotized Steve and scrambled his brain all over again, allbeit in a much gentler way than usually seems to happen.
Desperate for Eddie's eyes on him again, Steve blurts "And what if they were being nice?", too eager to control the raw pleading in his voice.
Eddie's head whips around, staring at Steve for a second like he can't believe his ears, before running his thumb over Steve's arm again and licking his lips.
"Aw Stevie, then they would say, you're being so brave, and listening to me so well. I'm so proud of you for admitting when you don't know things, and being so open minded. I'm so lucky to be the one to teach you these things ... You know, anyone would lucky to have a little princess like you listening to their every word".
If hearing Eddie mock him in that slow smooth voice had turned his life upside down, hearing praise in that same voice, gentle and secret and just for him is like seeing a new colour. Steve's breath starts to quicken, patterns wheeling behind his eyelids which had slipped closed again unthinkingly. If it weren't for Eddie's hand warm and solid against his arm, Steve could swear he would float away.
Steve can't tell if he floats in a dream for a moment or an hour, but when he cracks open his eyes Eddie is smiling almost shyly at him from behind a strand of hair. His voice has lost his strong yet silky tone, but is still so gentle.
"So yeah, that's kinda what it's about. Are you doing okay?"
Steve slowly settles back into his body. It's as his awareness slowly rolls through each limb that he realizes - he's getting hard. He's sitting there in Eddie's van, arm to arm, and getting turned on just from Eddie saying a few gentle words to him.
His stomach twisting, Steve tries to gather his thoughts enough to plan some kind of escape or distraction. With his mind still half dreaming, no ideas are presenting themselves. His alarm and fear must be showing on his face, Eddie calmly reassuring him, "Hey, it's okay. It can be pretty crazy right? And until you get it, you just don't get it."
Steve takes a deep breath, picturing cold showers, flickering lights and endless vines, willing his body to calm down. The last of the tingly, drunk feeling slips out of his grasp alongside his arousal, but it's a loss he has to take to avoid embarrassing himself any further.
"Okay, yeah I get... Why people like that. And I totally see why Robin couldn't tell me herself, she would freak trying to talk about that." Steve ignores the shake in his voice, the soft, high tone he hasn't spoken in since he was a child.
Eddie moves past it too, "I knew you would get it, Stevie. You're a good listener. Shall we go get a milkshake while we wait for our girl to come back?"
---
Sitting across from Eddie, watching his hair and hands fly as he reenacte some giant battle he had devastated the kids with during a recent gaming session, Steve sips his milkshake slowly while trying to turn over the heavy feeling in his stomach.
Eddie had shaken the whole world up for him with a few short sentences. Just to teach him about Robin's craft night and now Steve craves something he didn't even know existed until mere minutes about.
Maybe Robin isn't at a bracelet making orgy, but the way Eddie had explained things... It seems pretty clear that people sometimes brought that role into a relationship or the bedroom. As great as it is to watch Eddie in his element ranting and laughing, it was hard to focus on the story when he was picturing strong arms holding him down, a voice smooth as silk whispering to him gently. Steve can see himself there, helpless and hypnotized, ready to be taken.
Suddenly noticing the silence, he realizes Eddie is peeking at him almost nervously over their drinks.
"Hey, man. Did I go too far earlier? I really didn't want to weird you out."
Warmth rises up Steve's cheeks as he processes Eddie's question. He doesn't think he could be less weirded out by what Eddie had shown him.
While he wouldn't dare admit exactly what he is preoccupied with, Steve rushed to correct the other man.
"No, I'm being weird, aren't I? I'm so sorry! I promise I'm not weirded out or annoyed .. Actually I uh ... Maybe I'm not as vanilla as I thought. I'm processing. I'll be normal about it, I promise."
The reward for his honesty is Eddie melting into an open smile, one gentler than Steve recalls seeing on him before.
"It's okay sweetheart", he murmers, "you won't catch me asking anyone to be normal anyway".
Goosebumps run down Steve's arms at the nickname, and he finds himself unable to look Eddie in the face, ducking his head to inspect his drink.
Steve can almost feel the dark gaze lingering on him, before Eddie gently knocks their glasses together, announces a little louder - "to being weird!"
A giggle bursts out of Steve, and he slaps a hand over his mouth in surprise at the unfamiliar sound.
Eddie twitches an eyebrow, and Steve can't help but drop his hand and laugh with him.
"Okay, yeah. To being weird."