#if there‘s any inaccuracies pls lmk

[beep-beep-robin]

steve gets jumpier after vecna because he’s finding it harder and harder to hear people when they approach him. no one really seems to notice because most of the time they approach him normally and from the front, and if they do, they chalk it up to steve being on edge after everything that had happened - just as they all were.

but eddie clocks it when one of his usual greetings for steve almost turns into the latter punching him in the face on reflex. there were a few different variations of eddie‘s more… flirty greetings. one of them involved approaching the other person from behind and leaning over their shoulder, basically whispering a "hey harrington", into his ear.

steve nearly doesn’t react (unbeknownst to eddie, he had chosen the ear that was almost completely deaf by now), but when eddies hair suddenly touches his cheek, he flings himself around, eyes wide, arms ready to fight whoever (or whatever, with his track record) had snuck up behind him. when he sees who it is, he lets out an exasperated sigh followed by, "holy shit, eddie! what the fuck dude!".

sure, eddie could‘ve chalked that up to steve being jumpy in general. but this wasn‘t the first time he‘d noticed something being off about him. it‘s just the final straw, it confirms his suspicions. not that he had intentionally wanted to scare steve, he‘d just pushed his worries aside before and didn‘t really believe what his own observations had already shown him. he thought steve would at least tell robin if anything was going on. but now it’s clear to him that something is up. something that he hadn‘t mentioned to anyone.

of course, steve plays it off right away. says that he was just so focused on the task at hand that he didn‘t hear eddie come up behind him. "bullshit, harrington. you know, i‘ve been keeping an eye on you for a while now," eddie confesses, "you‘ve been especially jumpy lately. what‘s going on? i know it‘s not because of vecna."

another thing eddie had taken note of previously was that steve kept looking at eddies lips when he spoke. at first he had taken it as a sign that his wishes had been granted and that steve might not be as straight as people thought, but then he noticed that he was also doing the same thing with other people as well. like he was reading their lips. that was what steve seemed to be doing right now, too.

he glances back and forth between eddie and the door, as if he‘s scared someone’s going to randomly walk in. eddie can tell that steve‘s glad someone was finally asking about it, almost as if he hadn‘t wanted to bring it up himself. he had noticed that steve rarely ever talked about his own problems, always helping the others with theirs. so eddie’s fucking glad to be the one to offer steve a space where he could finally talk about his own shit.

"it‘s my ears.", meant to be a whisper, but eddie catches it. steves face is turned away from him, his expression bordering on embarrassment. "they‘ve been shitty for a while, since the upside down shit started basically. but they‘ve been getting worse."

steve risks a glance at eddie. even though he‘d had time to think about it, eddie‘s at a loss for words. his heart hurts for steve, the fact that he‘d waited so long to tell anyone made him want to give the other boy a hug. he doesn’t though.

he touches steves shoulder, giving it a squeeze, "well, shit dude. i‘m glad you told me? um… did you like, get it checked out by a doctor?" that makes steve huff out a laugh. "sure. didn‘t help me much though."

they spend quite a while talking about steves hearing. eddie feels like he can see a bit of relief in steve‘s expression, hopes he can give steve a bit of what steve continuously gives their whole group. support, understanding and maybe, if he‘d let him, some love on top of that. eddie’s ready for it to be platonic love, too. whatever steve needed the most right now.

overshadowing the relief though, is guilt. completely unjustified, that much is clear to eddie. he‘s sure steve had convinced himself by now that his struggles didn‘t matter, that he had to just swallow his problems down. maybe someone else had instilled that belief in him, in earlier years. eddie’s determined to convince him otherwise.

"so stevie, tell me: is that why you keep staring at my lips so much?", eddie dares to ask after their conversation takes a lighter turn again. maybe he imagines it, but steves cheeks turn a bit red after processing eddies words. he raises his eyebrows at eddie, "sure munson. what other reason would there be?"

and when eddie notices steve staring at his lips even while steve is talking during the rest of their conversation, he definitely isn‘t getting his hopes up again. definitely not.

#this is so long i apologize #if there‘s any inaccuracies pls lmk #i‘m not hoh myself so!! i apologize if i explained anything wrong #i just needed someone to listen to steve okaaaay #also i hope this makes sense like in general?? i‘m very tired and i just wrote this instead of sleeping lol #steddie #eddie munson #steve harrington #stranger things #steve x eddie #eddie x steve #steveddie #headcanon #steddie fic #ficlet #hoh steve harrington #original post #vanessas writing #vanessas headcanons