(Prefacing this: the compliments are not my brain child, I wondered what would happen if Eddie gave Steve some Leslie Knope-esque endearment!)
"Steve you're a genius! Your brain is almost as perfect as your face!" Eddie exclaims after Steve manages to offer Eddie a perfect ending to his new D&D campaign.
It throws Steve off kilter in a way he's never felt before. He's used to compliments about his appearance; he wasn't Steve-the-hair-Harrington for nothing after all.
Eddie certainly has a way with words, and apparently, the compliments are no exception.
But no one would say he's a genius. It leaves him with a warm feeling in his chest and a small smile whenever Eddie isn't looking.
Steve doesn't want to read too much into it, their friendship is still relatively new and they've grown so close so fast, but Steve can't help but notice that it keeps happening.
While they grab a beer at the Hideaway just the two of them, Steve hustles Eddie at pool, turning the game around with a wink and sinking the rest of the balls in a matter of moments.
"Steve, you cunning, pliable, chestnut haired sunfish!"
Steve is grateful for the low light in the bar and hides his smile in his pint glass.
It happens again when Steve surprises Eddie with two sandwiches and a thermous of soup he packs for their last stargazing trip to the quarry
"Oh Steve, you perfect sunflower!"
This one is his favorite so far. Steve can't help the smile and soft flush that paints his face for the rest of the night after Eddie blurts it out.
After a few weeks of this, Steve can't keep his curiosity at bay any longer.
"Eds?" Steve says one afternoon while it's just the two of them in the store front of Family video. Eddie flips through a magazine at the counter as Steve rolls the return cart back to the front.
Eddie looks up and grins as their eyes meet, "yeah Stevie?"
"Why do you, I mean, not that I don't enjoy it, I mean--"
Eddie snorts as he closes the magazine, "you good sweetheart?"
Steve hazards a quick glance around the empty store once more. Robin still seems to be on break in the back room so they have at least a few more moments without an audience.
"The compliments," he whispers eventually.
Eddie tilts his head to the side with a small grin and nods, waiting for Steve to continue.
"I just...why?"
Eddie falters for just a second before he closes the magazine and walks around the counter.
"Steve," Eddie says softly as he takes the opposite side of the return cart handles.
"Eddie..."
"I think you know exactly what I meant by every single one of those compliments big boy".
"I think I liked Sunflower better," Steve murmurs as Eddie takes a step past the cart, into his space.
He's close enough that Steve can count the light freckles on the bridge of Eddie's nose.
"Me too," Eddie hums he leans in close and Steve feels his eyes flutter shut as Eddie reaches for Steve's hands gripping the cart handle.
"Hey Steve-- OH GOD, GROSS!" Robin screams from the Employee's Only door behind them, "get a room you skeeves!"
Steve flinches as his eyes open, but Eddie looks cool as a cucumber with a sly grin on his face.
"If uh, you're done your break there Buckley," Eddie snickers as Robin covers her face with her hands, peeking through her ringed fingers, "I think Stevie will be going on his, and uh, getting a room".
Steve flushes from his chest to the tips of his ears but he can't help the wide grin the blooms over his face as Eddie winks at him.
Eddie's cheerful laugh and Steve's giggles ring out as they race past her for the backroom, drowning out Robin's groan of disgust as she throws a tape at the pair of them.
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