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atimeofyourlife · 6 months

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The treat from trick or treat

Written for @steddieholidaydrabbles warm up round: Halloween rated: t | wc: 1000 | cw: none

Halloween had never been Steve's favorite holiday. Well, he had loved the look of Halloween as a kid, the costumes, the decorations. But he'd never been allowed to take part. He was never allowed to dress up or decorate the house. No trick or treating with his friends or attending Halloween parties. Never getting to go to a pumpkin patch or a haunted house or on a haunted hayride, never being allowed to carve a jack-o-lantern. His parents didn't like Halloween, believing it to be celebrating paganism, so Steve never got to experience everything his peers did as a kid.

Then, as he got older and his parents started spending more time away from home, Steve fell into the party scene. A thrown together costume and attending a party just to get drunk alongside Tommy and Carol. His first three years in high school followed the same pattern, and Steve tried to revel in the fact he was finally able to do the same thing as other kids his age for Halloween. But he couldn't help the ache in his chest, wishing for a chance to have had a Halloween when he was a kid.

Halloween 1984 his senior year, was the final nail in the coffin of him not liking Halloween. What had started out as a fairly normal evening had ended with Nancy getting beyond drunk and ripping his heart out and shattering it on Tina's bathroom floor. It destroyed any good association he had started to build with the holiday.

In 1985, he had the excuse not to do anything. There were a few tacky Halloween decorations scattered around the store, but that was done by someone else. The kids all had their own plans, and Robin didn't seem that interested in doing anything either, so he didn't feel like he had to perform.

He tried the same thing for 1986, but it didn't fly. The party had pulled in closer together in the aftermath of Vecna, clinging to each other as much as possible. Which made it incredibly difficult to try to get out of any group events. He tried to make up any number of excuses, but it felt like the others saw straight through him. Like they knew that he was bullshitting his way through.

"Seriously, Steve. What's your deal with Halloween?" Eddie asked, leaning over the counter as Steve processed the returns.

"I don't have a deal about Halloween. I just don't care much for it. Never have." Steve replied, shoving Eddie away slightly.

"You wouldn't be making such an effort to get out of it if there was no deal about it."

"I just don't have great memories with Halloween." Steve tried to get out of the conversation, wanting to avoid how uncomfortable it could get.

"Not even as a little kid? I can see you dressed up as a tiny ghost or vampire, getting the full size candy bars while trick or treating in the rich neighborhoods." Eddie pushed.

"I was never allowed to, okay? The best memories I have of Halloween are the blurry shots from getting blackout drunk at Halloween parties over three years. Then Halloween in senior year, Nance broke my heart. Halloween has never been good for me. So forgive me for not wanting to celebrate it." Steve snapped.

"You were never allowed to trick or treat?"

"I was never allowed to do anything for Halloween. Until freshman year and my parents weren't home, so I could go and get drunk with Tommy and Carol."

"Oh."

"Yeah. I really don't have good memories about Halloween, so I would appreciate it if you could drop it."

Eddie didn't bring it up again, and neither did anyone else, so Steve assumed that he'd dropped it and told the kids to do the same. Allowing him peace about it.

Until Halloween day. He'd been working the day shift with Robin, and was ready to drive her home after her shift.

"Can you drop me off at Nancy's? She was going to help with my makeup for my costume." Robin asked as they got into the car.

"Sure?" Steve replied. They kept a light conversation on the drive.

"Thanks." Robin got out of the car, and almost immediately, Mike, Dustin, and Lucas climbed into the backseat, already in their costumes.

"Can you drive us to Will's?"

Steve rolled his eyes but agreed. When he stopped the car to let them out, El appeared, asking for a ride to Max's. He was happy to, having a soft spot for El. But he became suspicious as he pulled into the trailer park and saw Eddie outside Max's trailer, dressed as a vampire.

"Stevie, I need a ride?" Eddie said, switching places with El.

Steve sighed deeply, "Where to?"

Eddie gave him directions, taking a long route, out of town and seeming to circle around.

"Pull in here."

Steve pulled into a parking lot, that had a number of cars Steve recognized as belonging to all the parents of the kids.

"W-what's going on?" Steve asked, unsure as everyone started to gather around, all the kids, even the ones Steve had dropped off.

"You said you never got to have Halloween as a kid. So I came up with giving you a childhood Halloween." Eddie replied, taking Steve's hand. "Robin's got a costume with her for you to change if you want to. And all the cars are set up so we can go trick or treating. And after that, we've got a table set up so we can do pumpkin carving."

"I. Was everyone in on this?" Steve asked, his voice a little thick with emotion.

"Yeah. They all wanted you to have a good Halloween."

And later, after hours in a cheap, ill-fitting, polyester costume, feeling sick from eating far too much candy, Steve couldn't help smiling at finally having a good Halloween memory.

"Thank you." He murmured, pressing a kiss to Eddie's cheek.

"Anything for you." Eddie replied, returning the kiss.

My planning notes for this consisted only of "make it fluffy". It's not quite as fluffy as I originally was going to make it, but it was a welcome break from writing all my whumptober fics.

#steve harrington #eddie munson #steddie #steve x eddie #steve harrington x eddie munson #steddie fic #steddieholidaydrabbles #atimeofyourwrites

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