Steve starts driving Eddie places after he gets out of the hospital. It just makes sense. He’s so used to chauffeuring Robin and the kids around, that driving with Eddie is natural. Sure, unlike the others Eddie has a driver’s license, but they both know the road is a hell of a lot safer when Eddie isn’t behind the wheel.
The thing is, Eddie’s always complaining about Steve’s music. Steve’s a simple guy. He turns on the radio and listens to whatever it spoon-feeds him (pop garbage, according to Eddie). Steve likes the music well enough. He’s never really loved music, it’s just background noise. Hell, when pushed Steve couldn’t think of what his Vecna song would be. So to avoid Eddie’s gripes he relents and lets Eddie leave a couple of his cassettes in the BMW.
At first, Steve only plays the tapes when Eddie’s in the car but as time passes something changes. Steve finds himself driving home alone, dreading returning to the cold and quiet halls he knows await him in Loch Nora. The radio isn’t cutting it when it comes to drowning out the background chatter and dread in his head, so he switches over to one of Eddie’s tapes. It makes him feel less alone. He can imagine Eddie’s ringed fingers tapping their way across the passenger door furiously to the beat of the song, and he doesn’t feel so alone.
That’s how some of the tapes manage to migrate from his car to the tape deck in his room. When he plays them, he feels like the house comes alive, that he isn’t alone. He doesn’t tell Eddie, of course. He doesn’t tell anyone. One day he slips up while driving Dustin to Hellfire.
“I didn’t pick you as a metalhead, Steve,” Dustin notes with a shit-eating grin.
He’s confused at first, until he hears the familiar tune of Metallica’s Welcome Home, through the BMW’s speakers and knows he’s messed up. Dustin definitely brings it up as soon as he gets to Hellfire, spouting nonsense about how Eddie’s corrupted Steve with ‘the devil’s music’- seriously, where does the kid even come up with that shit?
The ride back from Hellfire is made all the more painful, with Eddie in the passenger seat and Dustin mouthing off from the backseat. Steve’s being berated from all angles about being a ‘closeted metalhead’. It’s been a long day and Steve is so goddamn tired so he can be forgiven for finally snapping.
“I only listen to that shit because it reminds me of you,” Steve remarked shutting them both up in an instant.
Dustin is the quickest to recover. He leans forward, nudging Steve’s shoulder.
“Careful dude, say stuff like that and Robin’ll get jealous. It sounds like you’re in love with Eddie.”
“Shut the hell up, Henderson,” Steve snaps, too quickly, too defensively.
That’s when Dustin realises he’s screwed up. Royally screwed up, because Steve being gay never entered the ballpark of his imagination and it made sense didn’t it? Kind of. The way Steve kept insisting he and Robin were platonic. He hadn’t gone on many dates since Eddie’s return from hospital.
He tried to dredge up all the things he’d been planning to say when Will inevitably came out because that, Dustin saw coming.
“Actually it’s cool if you are, you know, gay. We wouldn’t think of you any differently if you were. Right, Eddie?” Dustin desperately looks to Eddie, who’s gone full deer-in-the-headlights, wide-eyed.
“I might think of him a little differently,” Eddie breathes, sounding a million miles away. Dustin looks at him like he’s about ready to kill a man and Steve’s gone pale.
The rest of the drive is spent in awkward silence. Steve dreads the moment he arrives at the Henderson household, knowing the second Dustin leaves the car, things are going to get infinitely worse.
“If I’ve screwed things up, just let me know because I don’t know where to go from here,” Steve says once they’re alone. He hears Eddie exhale and braces himself for the worst as he waits for the man to reply.
“How about we start with one of those trademark, pickup lines I’ve heard so much about,” Eddie prompts. Steve is confused. It might be a common occurrence, but that doesn’t make it any better.
“What?” Steve asks, not able to come up with something more articulate.
“Is what Dustin said true?” There was no point in lying, was there?
“Yes. No. Mostly. I’m not gay-,” To Steve’s surprise, he watches Eddie’s shoulders fall. If he didn’t know better he’d think the guy was disappointed.
“But I do like guys. Not all guys. Some guys. Sometimes.” Steve’s rambling and he knows it.
“Then I meant what I said, to Dustin.” And there it is, the thing Steve’s dreading.
“Right. Yeah, okay. So do you still want me to drop you off at your place or should I just pull over now?”
Steve tries to hold back the hurt in his tone because he hasn’t admitted it out loud to anyone yet and it sure as hell smarts to be so blatantly rejected. He might actually have preferred getting punched in the face, at least there was something finite about it.
“Steve,” Eddie breathes and his voice is soft, gentle even. Which makes no damn sense. He sounds like Robin did, on the floor of the cinema bathroom: vulnerable and exasperated, but not mad.
“Pull over.” So Steve does.
Eddie sets a hand on Steve’s shoulder, looks him dead in the eyes and licks his lips.
“Steve, I’m gay and very much in love with you. Up until tonight, I thought you were very straight and totally out of my league, so if you’re telling me I’ve got a shot, that changes shit.” Oh. Steve finally caught up.
Steve turns down the volume of the music, just to make sure he’d heard Eddie right. Then leaned into the man’s space.
“Ahoy there, sailor.”
Much to his dismay, Eddie laughs- scratch that, he snorts, doubling over, trying to muffle the noise with a hand.
“That was the pickup line?” Eddie clarifies.
“I’m rusty and I’ve never used it on a guy,” Steve retorts defensively.
Before he knows it, Eddie’s back in his space, his breath ghosting hot over Steve’s cheek.
“Hey, I didn’t say it didn’t work.”
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