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It was Steve’s turn to pick the movie for movie night.
And despite Eddie’s massive crush on him, he could not stand his taste in movies or his insistence on showing Eddie the most basic, mainstream movies like he was letting him in on some kind of indie cinema. Usually the movies were more or less a surprise, not decided on until the end of their shift the day of, but Eddie had made the mistake of admitting that he had never seen Risky Business with Tom Cruise so of course that is what Steve was going to make them watch.
However, the one upside of watching what was sure to be pedestrian drivel, was finding out that Steve had actually dressed up as Mr. Business himself for Halloween a couple years ago; and Eddie, being the little shit he was, decided to do a play on that for movie night. Enlisting Robin’s help, they broke into Steve’s room (since Robin had a key to his house and they always showed up early for movie night to set up if Steve was working) and they started pulling clothes out for a ‘Steve’ costume. It wasn’t too hard; a pair of khakis, long sleeve polo, Robin helped him pin up his hair so it looked more like Steve’s and less like a rock star. At the end they looked at him in the full length mirror and Robin gave it her stamp of approval.
“Very dingus-like.”
Eddie pouted and pulled at his ringless fingers, “I feel naked without my jewelry, how does Steve live like this?”
Robin rolled her eyes and started going through Steve’s drawers again, “Ok I found two things that I think would help us stay in theme, how do you feel about a gold chain?”
Eddie grimaced as she held up a thin yellow gold chain, because of course Steve had a gold chain, it was probably real gold and a gift from an uncle who was a duke somewhere, he shook his head, “What else you got?”
“Hawkins High class ring?” She held it up, it was big, it was gaudy. Eddie had never seen Steve actually wear it but at that moment, yearning for the heavy weight of his own rings back on his hands, it was perfect.
“Gimme,” Eddie snatched it from Robin’s hand and slid it on his ring finger, holding out his hand to admire how well it fit on his finger (and maybe secretly imagining he was the cheerleader who got the class ring from the basketball star to show that they were going steady).
Apparently he got lost in his fantasy because the next thing he knew Robin was smacking him upside the head, “Have you two picked a date yet?”
“Shut up Buckley,” Eddie grumbled and walked past her to get out of the room. Yes she knew about his embarrassingly huge crush on Steve, but queer solidarity ran deep so it was the one and only secret she kept from Steve.
Robin was setting up the blankets in the living room and Eddie was busy in the kitchen prepping the snacks when they heard the door open, “Hey guys I’m home!”
Eddie heard Steve and Robin chatting in the living room already by the time he brought out the snack tray (yes, on a nice tray and everything, if he was going to be Steve Harrington he was going to be Steve Harrington).
“I got the food,” Eddie said as he placed the tray on the coffee table very primly, sticking his ass out like Steve always did.
“Eds? You’re looking very uh, different?” Steve tilted his head while Robin giggled behind her hand.
“Well I just thought I’d wear the appropriate attire for a movie like this, when in Rome and all that.”
“But we aren’t in Rome, we’re at my house.”
“Exactly,” Eddie booped his nose and sat down next to Robin. Steve looked at the two of them until it dawned on him and his (cute) scrunched confused face settled into his usually bitchy look.
“Haha, very funny. You’re me? Lame prank Munson, thought you were better than that.”
“It’s not exactly a prank, more so a jest,” Eddie shrugged as he played with his own hair.
“Hey a king always needs a jester,” Robin chuckled and poked Steve with her foot.
“Ugh, I thought we killed that nickname, you guys know I hate it.” Steve pouted as he laid on top of Robin while she scrambled to try and push him off.
“Aww Stevie, but if I don’t have a king I’ll lose my job, there aren’t many open jester positions these days.”
Steve rolled off of Robin, who took a dramatic inhale now that she was free, and picked at the collar of his polo that Eddie was wearing, “I thought you were an anarchist, but now you’re defending the monarchy?”
“Wait-“ Eddie stumbled over his words, both because of the close proximity and the challenge to his contrarian ideals.
“Those are some big words dingus, don’t break your pretty little head,” Robin poked.
Steve flushed in shame and Eddie could see the tension bunching in his shoulders, “I’m sorry Robin, do you not expect your king to be well spoken? And let me remind you,” Eddie wiggled his finger with Steve’s class ring on it, “he is the only one here who has actually graduated high school.”
“Ok but I’m about to-“ Robin started but was quickly interrupted by Eddie.
“I’m sorry, have you thought? Have you actually graduated? Gotten a diploma? Walked across that stage? No? So on paper, Steve is the smartest one here, show respect to your elders Buckley.”
Steve smiled softly at Eddie and Eddie had to look away before he got too red, only looking back towards him when he felt Steve take his hand, “Is this my class ring?”
“Uh yeah, I felt weird without any rings on and this is the only one you have so, yeah…” Eddie shrugged, trying to stay as still as possible, as if as long as he didn’t move his hand Steve would keep holding it for the rest of the night.
“It looks better on you than it ever did on me,” Steve chuckled, “I just can’t pull off these big rings like you can.”
“Just another incentive to graduate, the jewelry.” Eddie joked and Steve squeezed his hand while he laughed with him.
Eddie had to begrudgingly admit that Risky Business actually was a good movie and Steve teased that he was looking forward to holding that over him for a while. After the movie Robin decided she also wanted to dress up like Steve to celebrate the uncommon occasion that he chose an actually good movie and they all ended up in his room, buried in polo shirts, khaki, and plaid.
Robin decided to sleep over but Eddie had promised Wayne he’d be home that night so he had to pull himself off the floor where they had collapsed.
“Do you want your own clothes back by the way?” Steve popped his head up from the floor.
Oh, Eddie had forgotten he was even wearing Steve’s clothes, it was just so comfortable to be surrounded by Steve he forgot that he wasn’t wearing this when he came in.
Sheepishly, he took his hair down and shook it out to its full length again, “Yeah probably should.”
It was always a little embarrassing to undress in front of Steve, but after all they went through changing each other’s bandages post-Vecna there wasn’t much of each other that the other hadn’t seen.
Regardless, Steve and Robin were fully absorbed in one another so they weren’t paying attention to Eddie undressing in the corner, and so neither saw the reverent look in Eddie’s eyes as he placed Steve’s class ring back onto his dresser, eye lingering on it before he pulled himself away and said his goodbyes for the night.
After that night Robin started to notice Steve wearing his class ring more often, tapping it on the steering wheel while he drove, or fiddling with it when it was slow at Family Video. It seemed so out of character for him to wear his class ring casually like a guy who peaked in highschool (even though he was in fact one of those guys), so one day she just had to ask about it.
“So, since when have you decided that monstrosity is now a staple of your wardrobe?”
Steve shrugged and twisted it around his finger, “I don’t know, Eddie looked good in it, I thought maybe I could start wearing rings like he does.”
“Ok but Eddie doesn’t wear his class ring, he has like… cool ones.”
Steve rolled his eyes before he flicked a stray piece of popcorn at her. They continued to bicker until Eddie sauntered in, sidling up to the counter and looking at the two of them argue over the top of his sunglasses.
“Excuse me, paying customer here to be helped.”
This time it was Robin’s turn to roll her eyes, “Alright dingus, you can deal with your boyfriend, I’m going to reshelve the rom com section and pick out a movie for tonight.”
“Shut up Buckley, you wish you could land me,” Eddie shouted after her to try and hide his flush, “What were you guys even arguing about this time?”
Steve leaned on the counter next to Eddie and splayed his hand between them, “She doesn’t get why I started wearing my class ring more often.”
“I mean, why have you?”
“You looked good wearing it, I thought if you could pull it off why can’t I?” Steve picked at his ring and handed it to Eddie who turned it over in his hand.
“See I think that’s where the disconnect is Stevie, your class ring will never look as good on you as it does on someone else, you just need to find the girl that’s going to give you your six nuggets and I bet it’ll look great on her.”
Steve pinched his face and took the ring back from Eddie, but instead of putting it on himself he took Eddie’s hand and put it on him instead, turning Eddie’s hand over carefully and admiring how his hand looked with Steve’s ring, “I think you’re right, I like the way you look in this ring way better than the way I look in it, maybe you should just keep it.”
“I can’t, you give it to someone to stake your claim on them, I don’t think you want us connected in that way.” Eddie quickly took off the ring and shoved it back into Steve’s hand before all but running out of Family Video, “I’ll see you for movie night tonight? Great! Tell Birdie bye for me!”
Robin walked up and the two of them watched as Eddie peeled out of the parking lot, before shoving a VHS case against Steve’s fumbling hands, “Hey stop pouting and help me reshelf, it’s not my fault you fell for the only guy even dumber than you.”
Steve made it into a game, sure he had a hard time actually admitting to Eddie how he felt, but maybe if he just snuck his ring onto Eddie’s hand enough times he would get the idea. He did it everywhere, if Eddie’s hand was accessible and he was distracted (which to be honest, was most of the time), Steve would slide the ring off his own finger and onto Eddie’s.
The funniest part is that Eddie would only really notice what was going on about half the time. Half the time Eddie would just start twisting it around his finger like he had been wearing it for years, he had even left Steve’s house with it on more than once, only to bashfully return it the next day.
It was usually only when they were around the whole party that Eddie noticed immediately, he would pull the ring off before Steve could even get it fully on and press it back into Steve’s hand, joking admonishing him about it but there was always a real tinge of something in the back of his throat when he said it.
Robin would make eye contact with Steve over Eddie’s shoulder when it happened and all she could give him was an apologetic, but overall indecipherable, look with a shrug.
Steve stopped playing the ring game after a couple too many public rejections, he still liked Eddie but clearly he was not making any progress with that approach, even though he still did think that Eddie looked just so pretty in his ring.
One day Steve had just had it. Robin was away at a summer language program and so he and Eddie had been spending a lot of time alone together and he couldn’t help himself anymore.
Being summer Steve wore mostly khaki shorts and tshirts, nothing crazy, but for Eddie? Eddie's summer entailed low slung denim cut offs and cut off shirts cropped way too short to be worn in mixed company. And the worst part? He didn’t wear them in mixed company, only when it was the two of them alone, like he knew what he was doing to Steve and just wanted to see him squirm.
The day he snapped was like any other; it was his day off and he had nothing planned so he just drove over to Eddie’s trailer to hang out like he normally did. Apparently he had accidentally woken Eddie up because he came to the door in a pair of boxers, a tank top with the arm holes ripped so big you could see almost his entire chest, and the fluffiest bed head Steve had ever seen. He gawked at him for a beat too long and Eddie poked his chest, “Harrington? You in there?”
“Eddie. I need to do something. And you need to promise me you’ll stop me if you don’t want to.”
Eddie squinted at Steve in the early morning sun, “Steve? What’s going on? Are you ok? Is it something dangerous?”
“I’ll be fine, it’s not dangerous, or I guess maybe it is, but- fuck it.” Steve cupped Eddie’s face in his hands and surged forward to kiss him. They stumbled back into the trailer and Eddie slapped the door shut without ever taking his lips off of Steve. They fell backwards until they landed on the couch, Steve straddling Eddie in his very thin and unforgiving boxers.
“I’m sorry I just had to do that, was it ok?” Steve asked breathlessly.
Eddie buried his hands in Steve’s hair and looked into his eyes like they were filled with stars,, “Steve, the only thing that’s not ok is that you stopped.”
Steve chuckled and they both leaned back in, kissing leisurely like they had all the time in the world, boy were they both surprised when Wayne came home for lunch.
After assurance from Wayne that he was ok with it and assurance from the two boys that they would never have sex on the communal couch, they were released back to Eddie’s bedroom where they continued to make up for all the times they hadn’t been this.
They forgot to have the talk. They were so close before that the intimacy came second nature and neither thought to actually address the shift in their dynamic until more than a month later when Robin came home from her summer program.
“You WHAT? With WHO?”
Robin and Steve were sitting on his pool deck talking about what they’d missed since she’d been gone, they had already talked about the time that Robin had brushed hands with the same girl twice and the eye contact they had made for about an hour when Steve finally dropped the Eddie news.
“I can’t believe you let me talk about just looking at a girl for an hour while you sat on the fact that you lost your gay virginity before mine!”
Steve rolled his eyes and punched her shoulder, “Hey, you’re making steps, it sounded like very charged eye contact.”
“Yeah and she’s back in Minnesota now, but Eddie is here, and apparently you guys are dating now?”
“No, that’s the worst part! I don’t know if we are!” Steve groaned and rubbed his face with his hands.
“Wait so you’ve had sex but you aren’t dating?”
“Well I mean we hang out like every day and we kiss and stuff, we haven’t really gone on a date but… I mean you know why I can’t take him out like I would a girl.”
“Yeah,” she sighed and leaned her face on her hands, “but still, it sounds like you’re dating, or honestly like you skipped dating altogether and went from friends to boyfriends.”
“I mean I would like him to be my boyfriend but we haven’t talked about it.”
“So do that, dingus.”
“Yeah it’s real easy to say that now huh? And the next time I tell you to just go up and talk to a girl?”
“Ok but those girls are always strangers or straight, I’m telling you to go talk to the boy that you are currently sleeping with!”
Steve groaned and flopped backwards, “but what we have now is so good, what if by addressing it I ruin it?”
“Steve. Steven .”
“Not my name.”
“Steven Gertrude Harrington. Eddie has been gone for you ever since you bit that bat's head off in the Upside Down, if you told him you wanted him to be your boyfriend I would say there is a non-zero chance he would cream his pants then and there.”
“That’s such a weird way to say it.”
“But am I wrong?”
Steve sighed, “Probably not.”
“Because I’m never wrong, and tomorrow you’re going to his house and you’re going to tell him that he is your boyfriend and you’re his.”
“Ugh, yes mother.”
“You wont be taking that tone with me tomorrow when he fucks you into next week.”
“How do you know he fucks me? Maybe I fuck him.”
“Dingus, you would’ve had Nancy fuck you if that was possible, you’re definitely not on top here.”
Steve grumbled but couldn’t exactly deny it so instead he just flicked some pool water at her and they devolved into their usual squabbling for the rest of the night.
The next day Eddie ended up coming over to Steve’s house, he had gotten a new record and wanted to listen to it on Steve’s nice stereo. Steve made an effort to dress a little nicer and spend a little more time on his hair in order to make himself as irresistible as possible for when it came time to ask Eddie to be his boyfriend.
Apparently it worked because as soon as Eddie closed the door behind him he pulled Steve into a deep kiss, still pressing their foreheads together when they parted, “Hey, you look good today.”
Steve smiled and gave him another peck, “Does that mean I look bad usually?”
Eddie started stammering but eventually just shoved Steve’s face away, “Asshole, you just wanted to see me sweat.”
Steve shrugged and couldn’t stop himself from laughing as he pulled Eddie into the den. He watched adoringly as Eddie excitedly set up the record player and bounded back over to sit on the couch with Steve.
The album started and Eddie leaned into his side while Steve wrapped an arm around him. Steve stared at his class ring that he had decided to wear that day, he had a plan, and it involved that god damn ring.
About half way through the album Steve slid the ring off his finger and kept it in his palm. Eventually he worked up the nerve and gently took Eddie’s hand in his and slipped the ring onto his finger. Eddie blinked a couple times and then swatted at Steve’s chest, “Really? This game again?”
“It’s not a game Eddie, never was.” Steve said softly as he interlaced their fingers.
Eddie went suspiciously quiet until he finally whispered, “What do you mean?”
“It means, I agreed with what you said about these rings, you were supposed to give them to someone you wanted to go steady with, and ever since then,” Steve twisted their hands until Eddie’s new ring was front and center, “I’ve been trying to show you what I wanted.”
Eddie gulped and squeezed Steve’s hand, “So what you want is-?”
“I want you to be my boyfriend Eddie, we kind of jumped the gun a little there in the beginning but now Robin is yelling at me for not like talking to you so here I am, talking, bearing my soul super awkwardly and hoping you don’t sprint out the screen door because I was too much.”
“Shut up.”
“What?”
“I said shut up and stop doubting yourself, you beautiful goofy man.”
“I repeat, what?”
Eddie just rolled his eyes and pinned Steve to the couch, kissing him silly until they were both out of breath, “Of course I want to be your boyfriend Harrington, and you’re asking me by giving me your ring? That you’ve apparently been trying to for a while and I was just being an idiot? I love you Steve Harrington.”
“Wait you lo-“ Steve couldn’t even get out the full question before Eddie covered his mouth.
“I did not just say that way too soon, just forget it, you work at a video store: just rewind our conversation.”
Steve batted his hand away and cupped Eddie’s face, “Hey dumbass, have you ever considered I love you too?”
“Don’t play with me now Harrington, I know you’re not a bully anymore but this would be beyond mean.”
“Nope, not kidding Munson, what do you have to say about that?”
“I love you so fucking much.” Eddie dove in and they lost themselves, not even picking up their heads when the record ended and started to skip.
From then on, Eddie never took off the ring. It became part of his every outfit, he even wore it to sleep most nights, it was his constant reminder that he was Steve’s and Steve was his.
It was a gaudy thing though, big and shiny, a basketball on the side because of course Steve sprung for the sport-specific ring. And people were starting to notice the odd ring out on his hand.
Eddie had joined Steve and Lucas to the park one late summer day, they were practicing together to prepare Lucas for the next school year and Eddie tagged along to sell in the park and ogle his boyfriend. The two of them claimed a half court and Eddie sat on top of the picnic table next to the court to hawk his wares and guard their water bottles.
It was a hot day so it wasn’t long before Steve and Lucas ditched their shirts on the side of the court and kept playing bare chested, Eddie couldn’t tear his eyes away, or at least didn’t want to until someone walked up to him with the cadence one has when trying to buy drugs, “Hey uh, you’re Eddie Munson right?”
Eddie lolled his head back around to the guy who had just walked up, “Maybe I am, maybe I’m not, who’s asking?”
“Heard you have stuff, I’m having a party tonight and I need some supplies.”
“Party supplies? My specialty.”
Eddie started to dig through his metal lunch box and the buyer eyed his hands suspiciously, “Did you play basketball Munson? Don’t think I ever saw you out there.”
Eddie burst out laughing, “Absolutely the fuck not.”
The buyer started to ask something else but was interrupted when Steve Harrington himself walked up to Eddie with a basketball under his arm.
“What’s so funny?” Steve asked as he pulled the bandana out of Eddie’s back pocket to wipe his sweat.
Eddie pouted and tried to grab his bandana back, “Hey that’s not for your sweat Harrington!”
“Oh yeah Munson? What is it for?” Steve teased, the buyer had no idea what the joke was but apparently it was enough to turn Eddie red.
The buyer stood there blankly trying to make any sense of this interaction when it hit him: they were… flirting? Former King of Hawkins High and Hawkins’ resident freak? Was the ring Steve’s? Were they not flirting but actually already dating? And going steady? From the way the two looked at each other it was clear they were already in love, the buyer decided to say nothing, no reason to stir up trouble during a drug deal. He bought his weed and walked away and Eddie returned to not hiding the lust in his eyes while he watched a shirtless, sweaty Steve play a game he thought was deeply stupid.
Corroded Coffin usually took a hiatus over the summers, Jeff and Tony usually went away to camp or to see family and Gareth worked full time at his dad’s garage. Sometimes Eddie and Gareth would get together for a jam session but they were few and far between. But it was finally the end of summer and everyone was back in town and they had their first rehearsal back that day. They started with a short catch up session but quickly got into the music.
They were about two and a half songs in when Jeff started looking oddly at Eddie’s hands.
“What’s the matter dude? Why are you staring at my sweetheart like that?” Eddie asked.
“I’m not staring at your guitar, I’m staring at your hand.”
“Oh shit! What’s on my hand?” Eddie jumped around shaking his hand like there was a bug on it.
“There's nothing on your hand! Just a ring I don’t recognize, am I wrong or is that a Hawkins basketball class ring?”
All the other boys whipped around to look at Eddie’s hand, “Oh my God that is a basketball ring, how did I never realize?” Gareth said as Tony leaned in to get a closer look.
“Where did you get it?”
“Someone gave it to me thank you very much, now can we please get back to rehearsal? Our first show back is in two weeks!”
“No, I think I’m going to be useless until we know the full story,” Gareth shrugged, “so if you want to practice then you should tell us.”
Eddie sighed and started wracking his brain for how to explain it, “Well I mean-“
But at that moment Steve’s car pulled into the driveway and he waved at Eddie as he pulled up, “Hey! I knew you had your first practice back today so I wanted to be helpful, bring supplies.”
Eddie was speechless as Steve put a grocery store bag on the shitty table in the garage and started unloading Eddie’s favorite snacks and a 6 pack of beer, watching with perhaps too much adoration in his eyes because then Gareth gasped, “Oh my God I know what’s going on.”
“How?” “What?” Jeff and Tony demanded in unison, Gareth pulled them to the side and started whispering his theories while Eddie leaned against the table next to Steve.
“I wasn’t expecting you Stevie.” Eddie smiled.
“Oh I’m sorry, yeah I wasn’t sure if I was allowed to stop by but I can go right now! I just wanted to hear you guys play a little, I’ve of course heard you play but never the whole band so-“
Eddie slid his hand across the table to squeeze Steve’s, “Ok calm down princess, it’s a good surprise, I’m always happy to see you.”
“Good, because I would’ve taken all this stuff with me if you kicked me out.”
Eddie laughed, “Well I’m glad you didn’t, you brought two of my favorite things.”
“Cheesepuffs and beer?”
“You.”
“And beer?”
“And beer. But I love you more.”
Steve laughed and smiled at him and Eddie almost forgot there were three other people in the room.
“Hey Stevie, you know it’s funny you got here when you did because the boys were just asking about where I got my ring.”
“Which one?”
“You know which one.”
“Aha, so what did you tell them?”
“Well nothing yet, you walked in before I had the chance, what do you think I should say?”
“I think you should tell them to thank your boyfriend for the snacks.”
“Have I told you I love you recently?”
“Yes actually, like 30 seconds ago.”
“Well let me say it again, I love you Steve Harrington.” Eddie leaned forward to wrap his arms around Steve’s neck and kissed him deeply.
“Holy shit I can’t believe you were right,” Steve and Eddie finally separated when they heard Jeff say that.
Eddie and Gareth just traded smirks while the rest of the band tried to make sense of this crazy occurrence.
“So everyone, please thank my boyfriend for bringing us beer.”
“And snacks,” Steve added.
“And snacks,” Eddie nodded with his arm around Steve’s waist.
“Uh thanks I guess,” Jeff shrugged and the rest of them added their half hearted thanks as well.
“Also Stevie here was hoping to sit in on rehearsals, is that ok with everyone?”
“Come on, he’s never seen you play? I find that hard to believe.” Tony scoffed.
“Oh he’s heard me play, in bed, naked,” Eddie grinned and held up his hand for a high five.
Steve rolled his eyes and crossed his arms but Eddie just wiggled his hand, “Come on Stevie don’t leave me hanging, you knew what you signed up for when you asked me to be your boyfriend.”
Steve sighed and reluctantly high fived him, but Eddie caught his hand and spun him into an embrace, “Wow you love me so much that looked so hard for you.”
Steve’s bitchy pout melted into a soft smile and he leaned against Eddie’s chest, “You’re lucky you’re cute I swear to God.”
“I feel like we’re in some weird alternate universe,” Jeff whispered to Tony.
“I think we are…”
Gareth rolled his eyes, “Alright lovebirds break it up, if Steve wants to hear us play then you’ll have to let go of him to pick up your guitar.”
“Let go of my sweetheart to pick up my sweetheart?” Eddie squeezed him tighter.
Steve pushed his face away and squirmed out of his grip, “You’re so weird,” he complained with a smile on his face.
“Come on,” Gareth kicked at Eddie’s shins.
Eddie pouted but let go of Steve and they set up to play one of the songs they’ve been working on for their next show, it was incredible, they hadn’t lost their cohesion as a band even after a whole summer apart.
Steve was on the edge of his seat, Eddie had played him some metal during the summer from records and cassettes but it was nothing compared to live, even the practice was more exhilarating than any other live music he had ever seen. The energy they had, Steve knew they were going to make it.
5 years later . . .
Corroded Coffin was one of the biggest names in metal, and Eddie as the front man was the prince of it all, interviews and magazine covers were being asked for everyday. Eddie, while he still had a loud and flashy personality, was surprisingly tight lipped about his private life, he hadn’t dated in the public eye, he was very rarely caught at bars or clubs and when he was it was only ever with the other members of his band and old friends from his tiny hometown.
Interviewers always tried to pry, they wanted to know more, what did he do when he was home: “write music”, dating anyone?: “why? Are you asking me out?”, Any crazy stories from the road?: “I got so annoyed with how much Gareth snored that I sampled it and added it to a song.”
For how wild and crazy he seemed on stage, for all the ripped clothes, chains, and sex appeal he oozed, he seemed like a surprisingly level headed guy, and the rags couldn’t stand it. Everyone was always trying to catch him in something, at Max’s college graduation he was photographed giving her flowers and the tabloids ran with it, calling her the “Metal Prince’s Princess,” but it was quickly debunked because she was so obviously wearing a cap and gown and more pictures came out of him putting her in a headlock moments after the first photo was taken.
Eddie rarely agreed to do a full cover story, they always ended up being more about him than the band as a whole, but when Rolling Stone came knocking it was hard to turn down. He did convince them to let him bring the whole band for a couple of the photos but they just wanted Eddie for the interview. Much to Eddie’s relief they didn’t ask much about his private life, they talked through how Corroded Coffin came up from small town indiana to international acclaim, the music and themes Eddie used while writing music, and where he thought or wanted Corroded Coffin to go from there. It was Eddie’s favorite kind of interview, one where they actually talk about the band, so when they got to the fluffy question at the end he was a little more forgiving.
“So now that we’ve gone through all the big stuff, can we talk about some smaller stuff?”
Eddie shrugged, “Shoot.”
“So you have a very distinctive style, and you are very well known for always being draped in chains and jewelry, can you talk us through some of the pieces you’re wearing right now?”
Eddie started telling stories about where he got all of his chains, stage mishaps that occur when things get caught on your neck, the series of unfortunate events that occurred when he pierced his ear, and then eventually he got to his rings.
“So all of these look very cool, except you have one odd ring out that no one can figure out, can you tell me more about what appears to be a class ring?”
“Yeah, it’s a Hawkins class of ‘85 Basketball Team ring, my hometown highschool.”
“So wait, you played basketball in highschool? Wow, that’s something I can’t imagine.”
“Oh no, I didn’t playing fucking basketball, I didn’t even graduate highschool, I repeated senior year twice and then I got caught in an earthquake in ‘86 and was laid up in a hospital for like 2 months, didn’t try to go back after that.”
“Is it just hometown pride then? Is that why you wear that ring?”
“Fuck no, I love the family I found in Hawkins but the town hated me, literally once formed a mob to try and kill me, everyone I love has moved out too, so fuck Hawkins.”
“So wait I’m confused, then why wear the ring? I don’t even think there’s a picture of you without it?”
Eddie shrugged, “Someone really important gave it to me.”
“Who?”
“Oh no, that’s our time for today, sorry buddy, gotta run, hectic life of a rockstar right?” Eddie grinned and hopped out of the chair, leaving before the reporter could even get out a word of protest.
Next month when Eddie’s cover issue hit the racks, Steve bought approximately 100 copies and brought them back to the house he had been sharing with Eddie for the last 3 years.
Steve read the article out loud as he climbed back into bed with Eddie for a lazy morning:
“ And with a bizarre ending to an otherwise very informative interview, Munson cryptically hints at an important basketball player in his life and literally runs out of the room. I look forward to Corroded Coffin’s next album and maybe in the next interview I’ll get to find out the real story behind why the notorious high school dropout wears a class ring.”
“Mm how does it feel to be the answer to the music industry’s biggest mystery?” Eddie hummed as he pulled Steve against him again, burying his face in his hair.
“It’s like I’m like a secret agent,” Steve chuckled.
“My very own 007,” Eddie kissed the nape of his neck.
Another 2 years later and Corroded Coffin is still on top, every album they release is a hit and they play almost only sold out shows, but they’re tired, constant music production and touring has worn them down and they decided to take a brief hiatus, go home, and just relax for the first time since they first started recording their first demo.
Eddie, becoming the rich man he had always hated, did the thing that rich men did and bought a vacation home, a lake house even. He justified it to himself by giving a key to everyone he was close to and calling it the party home base. But for two weeks that summer he told everyone to fuck off, he and Steve were going to have some alone time, they were going to walk around naked and fuck outdoors and not care who was around.
They were about a week into their fuck fest on one of their slower days, laying on the dock in the late morning sun, one foot dipping into the water, fingers loosely linked while music played softly from a boom box that Eddie had brought out.
“Hey Eds?”
“Mm?” Eddie kept his eyes closed as he basked in the sun.
“I’ve been thinking about it and I think I want you to stop wearing my class ring.”
Eddie bolted up and smacked Steve’s chest, “Steve Harrington you absolute asshole I don’t know why you even would but if this is how you’re breaking up with me here and now? I will literally kill you.”
“No no no, nothing like that babe, just you’ve been wearing it for a long time you know?”
“Yeah I wear it because I love you dumbass, why would I stop?”
“Well I mean traditionally the class ring is replaced pretty quickly.”
“Replaced? By what?”
Steve took a small velvet box out of his pocket, “An engagement ring usually.”
“Steve…”
“So what do you say Eddie? Ready for the upgrade?” Steve opened the box for him to reveal an overly flashy silver ring with a large turquoise stone, the current date engraved on one side of the stone and a blank space for the wedding date on the other.
“Oh God it’s so ugly,” Eddie smiled through happy tears.
“Yeah didn’t want to disrupt the status quo with anything too tasteful,” Steve chuckled, taking Eddie’s hand and replacing his old class ring with the new one, “So what do you think? Ok with the switch?”
Eddie, who got fully choked up as soon as Steve had taken his hand, just nodded profusely and wrapped his arms around Steve’s neck, squeezing him tight and kissing all over his face.
Steve laughed and wrapped his arms around Eddie’s middle and rolled them around on the dock. They ended up laying on top of each other, Eddie looking up at Steve with the sun behind him creating a golden halo, “I love you so much Steve Harrington.”
Steve leaned down and kissed him softly, “Steve Munson.”
The wedding was a surprisingly small affair, everyone expected Eddie to have a true blowout rockstar wedding but no one even knew it happened until afterwards. Truly people should have expected that, for all the flash on stage he had always been a very private person. And no one, not even their family, had even known they were thinking about kids until they threw a homecoming party for their giggly 5 year old daughter to introduce her to the rest of the family.
She may not have been related to either of the boys by blood but everyone joked she must’ve been some long lost Munson relative because of how much she reminded everyone of Eddie. A social butterfly, she introduced herself to the party’s other kids and they were running around in no time.
Steve and Eddie had made sure she felt welcome to every part of her own home and seeing her dive into Eddie’s closet to play dress up was worth having to hide all the sex toys on the high shelf in the garage. All the kids came out in varying degrees of rock and roll swagger; sequins, mesh, and leather on top of the bright colors and pastels of the department store children’s clothes that they wore underneath.
Eddie picked her up and swung her around, “Look at you cutie! You’re ready to join me on my next tour, if I’m not careful they boys might even replace me with you, you wear it better.”
She giggled and covered her face with her hands and that’s when he saw it, Steve’s class ring that he had kept in his jewelry box all these years, hanging loosely on her index finger, connecting her to them just like it connected them to each other. Eddie looked over to Steve and he was clearly making the same connection, they made eye contact and the warmth welled up in Steve’s eyes so much he just crashed into the two of them and wrapped them both up in his arms.