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“Come on, Eddie. Please. If you come this one time, I won’t ask anymore. I promise.” Chrissy’s been begging Eddie to go to one of her coed softball games for weeks now. He’s said no every single time.
“Why do you keep asking me to spend my Saturday afternoon in the sun, outside, watching one of your sports ball games? You know I’m allergic to physical activities.” He thumbs through Instagram, keeping his eyes down and away from her sad puppy dog ones.
“I’m not asking you to participate. Just come one time. You could finally meet Steeeeeve.” She’s been going on and on about this guy forever.
Why does his best friend think he’d ever be into a jock? What could they possibly have in common?
“I don’t want to meet this Steve dude. I’m doing fine on the dating front, thank you very much.”
She jumps onto the couch at his side, making the cushion dip slightly and Eddie fumble with his phone. “Oh really? If I recall the last guy you went out with asked you about bitcoins and had never seen a single episode of Drag Race. Oh and don’t forget the guy before that who brought Tupperware to dinner with you. And the guy before that who was wearing slippers? Did I forget anything?”
Ok, so he’s not doing fine on the dating front but he isn’t desperate enough to be set up with some meathead. Even if she describes him as a squishmallow with hair ‘to die for.’
“Ok the last few men have been shitty but it could pick up any minute now. New people sign up on Tinder everyday.” Even he doesn’t believe his own bullshit.
“Just come once. Please please please. Robin is his best friend and you’ll be helping me out.”
“Ah, and the truth comes out.” He sets his phone down and spins to smirk at her. “This has never been about me and my love life. Oh no, miss Cunningham, this whole thing has been about you and,” he sticks is tongue out at her and wiggles it around.
“Ewwww,” she throws her palm on his face and pushes him away.
“Admit it, Chris.” He laughs. “This isn’t about getting into Steve’s pants it’s about getting into Robin’s”
“Shut uuuup, it’s not like that.”
“Sure, uh huh.” He loves antagonizing her.
Chrissy’s been talking about Robin since the start of the season. He feels like if he closed his eyes he could probably see a crystal clear image of the woman even though he’s never met her.
“It’s not. You know I like her. Please, Eddie. I’ll make you one of my famous coffee cake cheesecakes this week if you come.”
“Really?” He loves that cheesecake. “The whole thing will be mine?”
“Yes, you won’t have to share with anyone. Unless you want to give Steve a piece after you meet him.”
“Why the fuck would I give some random guy a piece of my cheesecake?”
“Oh, I don’t know, just a hunch.”
“Fine, I’ll go this one time and I’ll be your wingman. But don’t ask me to ever go again. You’ve used your one make Eddie watch sports card.”
“Ah yay!” She throws her arms around his neck and hugs him tight. “Thank you thank you. I promise you will not regret this.”
“That is…?” Eddie fades off distracted by the view through the fence. “What is he doing?”
“Oh, he’s stretching. That’s a roller. It helps with tight muscles.”
“Holy shit,” Eddie murmurs, he’s never seen anything so breathtaking before.
Through the chain link fence near the dugout is Steve Harrington, lying on the ground rolling his thighs over a foam roller. The man’s shorts are hugging his muscles like they’re molded to his body. Eddie’s really glad they don’t wear traditional baseball uniforms. Why didn’t Chrissy lead with this, when she was trying to convince him to come?
“You still don’t want to meet him?” Chrissy pokes her bony elbow into his side. He’s so distracted he doesn’t even flinch.
“I kinda wanna bite him. God damn look at that ass.”
“Chrissy?”
“Oh, that’s Robin,” Chrissy tugs on Eddie’s arm. He refuses to look away from Steve’s perfect peach. “Come on, I want to introduce you.”
“Do you think he’d let me use it as a pillow?”
“Stop it,” she’s slaps his arm while leading him towards Robin. “Hey, hey Robin. This is Eddie. I finally convinced him to come.”
Eddie’s still staring through the fence when he hears someone clear their throat.
“He probably has a how-to video of him doing that on his Instagram, if you wanted to see it up close and personal.”
“He does?” Eddie spins toward the voice in excitement, and comes to a sudden stop when he realizes he was caught ogling by a stranger. “Oh, sorry. Um, Robin I take it?” He can feel his face is burning red right now.
“Yeah, and I see you’ve met dingus.” She motions over to Steve.
“Who?”
“Steve!” Robin calls to the field. “Come here. Someone you should meet.”
Chrissy slides her arm into Eddie’s and gives him an encouraging smile. Eddie watches Steve’s head pop up and look for the person yelling his name. Robin waves and gets his attention. Eddie’s not even noticing what’s going on around him because the man’s face matches his beautiful ass and he’s now headed their way.
Why didn’t Chrissy just show Eddie a picture of this man? One picture. That’s all it would’ve taken.
“Hey, meet Eddie.” Robin nods toward Eddie with a mischievous smirk.
Steve takes the last step up to the fence and grabs the chain link with his long fingers. He then raises his eyebrows and gives Robin a quirk of his head in silent question. She responds with her own silent facial expression. Then before Eddie’s prepared Steve’s turning his attention directly onto him and smiling wide.
“H-hi, it’s nice to finally meet you. Um, Chris talks a lot about you.”
“Not to mention the stalking,” Robin says under her breath.
“Shut up,” Steve glares at her.
Eddie is very lost right now. Chrissy snickers at his side.
“What’s going on?” Eddie glances at each of them trying to figure out what he’s missing.
“Nothing, it’s great that you came by. Are you, uh, are you going to come with us to lunch after?” Steve sounds strangely nervous for some reason.
“Um, I don’t know. Am I?” Eddie looks down at Chrissy with a shrug.
“Yeah! He’ll be there.” She nods quickly giving Steve a reassuring smile.
“Great, that’s great. Good. Yeah,” Steve sighs and Eddie watches the man dip his eyes down Eddie’s chest and then take a deep breath. “I gotta get ready, but, yeah it was nice meeting you, Eddie. I’m really glad you could come. Chris,” he makes pointed eye contact. “Thanks for uh telling me we were going to have guests.”
Eddie doesn’t think he means it though. There is something huge he’s missing and it’s getting harder to act like they’re all acting normal.
“Sorry,” she lowers her voice and tilts away from Eddie. “It was last minute.”
“That’s great, um, I’ll see you two on the field and I’ll see you after the game, Eddie.” Steve acts like he’s going to try and push his hand through the fence to shake Eddie’s hand for a second, before he realizes it won’t fit. He then shakes his head muttering to himself and walks away.
Robin snorts and Chrissy bites back a giggle.
“Ok, what the fuck was that?” Eddie has to ask.
Both women burst out laughing while Eddie stands there with his hands up. This is making it worse.
“Nothing, just giving dingus a hard time. I’ve been waiting for this day.” She crosses her arms and looks him over. Not like she’s checking him out but like she can’t believe this is him.
“Chris, you gotta fill me in, I’m so lost.”
“Maybe later, I gotta get warmed up. Go find a seat. Steve’s our pitcher.”
Eddie scrolls through Spotify trying to find a playlist they’ll both enjoy as Chrissy pulls her car out of the parking lot.
“Ok, now spill Cunningham. What was that shit before the game with Steve?”
“Did you have fun?” She purposefully ignores him.
“Yeah, but that’s beside the point. I’d enjoy watching Steve do taxes if he was wearing those shorts. But you didn’t answer my question.”
She sighs, taps her fingers on her steering wheel, and glances at him briefly. “Ok but don’t be weird at lunch.”
“Um,” he snorts. “Ok.”
“He kinda has a crush on you.”
“What? Ho-how? We’ve never met.”
“I apparently talk about you a lot. And months ago I mentioned your band had a show that I was going to that weekend and he was curious. I pulled up your IG and he kinda…he’s been begging to meet you. He started following you and he thinks you’re really cute. You remember that story you put up when we got to play with Jeff’s new puppy?”
“The one where I made a sling out of a sheet and carried it around like a baby?” Eddie remembers it perfectly.
“Yeaaaa, if Steve had ovaries they would’ve imploded. He sent me a voice memo just begging for one chance.”
“What?” This sounds like Eddie’s being fucked with. This has to be a prank. There’s no way that juicy assed man is feet over tits for him. “Why didn’t you-? I don’t understand. Why didn’t you just tell me?”
“Because, dummy, you’re my best friend and I know you better than anyone. If I told you that the nicest, sweetest, most loyal, caring, cheeked up man wanted to go out with you, you would’ve screwed it up. You would’ve purposefully found a way to mess it up because you would not have believed me. You would’ve thought I was fucking with you. Then when you met Steve to perhaps go on a blind date, you would’ve still thought you were being pranked and then been incredibly rude to the man. You would’ve hurt his feelings and been a total jackass. Because for some forsaken reason you don’t think it’s possible for someone to like you. So, I needed you to see first hand that that gorgeous man is into you. Without my hand involved at all.”
He lets her words sink in and feels oddly proud of her. She’s right. Even 30 seconds ago he thought he was being pranked. He would’ve never believed Steve was into him.
“I saved the voice memo if you wanna hear it.”
“Oh my god, yes.” Eddie grabs Chrissy’s purse, tugging it open to reach around for her phone.
“It’s on my iCloud.”
Eddie fumbles to unlock Chrissy’s phone and then navigates through her apps and finds the audio. He doesn’t even hesitate to hit play.
“Oh my god, Chris.” Steve’s voice plays from the speaker solidifying Chrissy’s story. “He’s so fucking cute. That goddamn puppy. I want him so bad. Please Chrissy, please just one date. Just one. I swear I would treat him so good. I would be the best boyfriend. I would make him lunch while he played one those games that last all day. What’s it called? Dragons or something. I would massage his fingers after his shows if he wanted me to. Please Chrissy. I don’t even care that he drinks his coffee with a disgusting amount of sugar. Just one chance. Fuck, I’m so pathetic.”
And that’s where the audio ends. Eddie stares at Chrissy’s phone in disbelief. No one’s ever talked about Eddie like that before. No one’s ever made him snacks let alone lunch for his D&D campaigns. No one’s even noticed how he likes his coffee. How can this man that he’s barely met already be so much better than any person he’s ever dated? Including his ex girlfriend Paige, who he dated for three years.
“Eddie?” Chrissy asks nervously.
Eddie turns his head to gawk at her. He’s in utter disbelief right now. He can’t think of the right thing to say.
“Are you ok? Was that too much?”
“No, I’m-I’m ok. I’m just processing I think.”
“Ok,” she squeezes the steering wheel anxiously. “Do you wanna go home? We don’t have to go to lunch. I’ll text Robin and tell her something came up.”
“No, no I wanna go. I do. I’m just trying to figure out how I can have feelings for someone I don’t even know.”
“Oh,” she squeaks. “Ok, that’s good. So not a bad thing? Steve’s ok?”
“Steve’s great. Yeah, Steve’s good. Steve’s probably going to end up being my husband. Later, not like this afternoon but yeah. Steve’s ok.”
“Really? Oh my god. Actually he’d probably be really happy about that. Oh, Eddie. I thought that might’ve freaked you out.” She reaches across the console and grabs his hand, giving him a squeeze.
“No, it kinda makes me want to kiss the shit out of him.”
“Oh, I’m so happy. Eddie you’re gonna love him. He really is the sweetest person ever.”
“And he has a great ass.”
“And he has a great ass.”
Chrissy walks into the restaurant first, sees their group and waves over to them. Eddie follows close behind. When he sees Steve sitting at the table he’s surprised that his stomach swoops at the sight. Steve glances over to see who’s coming towards the table, when their eyes meet and his mouth drops open in surprise. Then Eddie watches as the man clearly nervous, takes a deep breath and smiles shyly.
There’s an empty seat purposefully next to Steve, Robin on his other side. Chrissy gives Eddie’s hand a squeeze before darting to the seat beside Robin.
“Can I sit here?” Eddie places his hand on the back of the empty seat by Steve.
“Y-yeah, sure.”
Eddie wants to squeeze this man’s cheeks he’s painfully adorable. As he sits down he hears Steve murmur to himself, “be normal.”
“Thanks for letting me tag along to lunch.”
“Oh, don’t mention it. Anytime. You can come anytime.” Steve bites on his bottom lip before glancing down at his menu.
Eddie can tell he’s nervous. He wishes he wasn’t. He doesn’t need to be.
“Good game, today. I know jack shit about softball but it looked like you did all the right things.” He chuckles hoping to alleviate some pressure and then starts looking over the menu.
“Thanks, I think.” Eddie sees Steve smile out of the corner of his eye.
“Didn’t hurt that you looked good out there, too. Those shorts are sinful, Stevie.” Eddie’s hoping he’s playing it cool because his insides are churning like crazy.
Steve stutters, his mouth opening and closing, nothing but tiny surprise sounds coming out.
“What are you thinking about ordering?” Eddie shifts in his seat, spreading his knees a little wider trying to get his foot closer to Steve’s.
“Um, I don’t know.” Steve adjusts in his seat too, warmth spreads through Eddie when he feels the man’s foot press against his own. “What looks good to you?” Steve turns his head and drops his eyes to Eddie’s mouth.
Eddie can’t help himself and glides his tongue across his lips. When he catches Steve watching him, he leans in closer and whispers under his breath. “You do.”
Steve makes a soft whimper while Eddie leans back in his seat. Robin must say something to Steve because he turns to her making a questioning sound.
“Leave me alone,” he murmurs and elbows her gently.
Eddie hears soft laughter coming from that side of the table. Then Steve’s clearing his throat and turning back to his menu.
“You ok?” Eddie’s worried he’s coming on too strong.
“Huh? Yeah, I’m good.” He doesn’t look it.
“Hey,” Eddie says softly, trying to get Steve’s attention.
“Hmm?”
“Breathe.” Then he takes his left hand and places it gently onto Steve’s wrist. “You wanna get a drink with me later?”
“Y-yeah?”
Eddie’s mindlessly rubbing circles on the inside of Steve’s wrist. “Yeah.”
“Ok, I’d like that. Um, I feel like I should come clean about something though. This is really embarrassing.”
Eddie has a feeling he knows where this is headed. In an attempt to reassure the man, he slides his hand up, tugging Steve to release the menu and free up his hand. Then he smoothly laces their fingers together. Steve stares at their fingers briefly before giving Eddie a questioning look.
“I’m not scared off easily. Go ahead.”
“Um, I uh.” Steve ducks his head down. “I kinda follow you on Instagram.”
Steve tries to pull his hand away but Eddie only tightens his grip. “I know.” He shrugs.
“What? You do?”
“Chris told me, on the drive over. I was thinking I should go visit Jeff’s puppy again. What do you think?”
“Ohh that little-,” Steve smiles and shakes his head slowly. “Only if you take me with you.”
“That’s what I’m talking about.” Eddie raises their hands to his mouth and presses his lips against the back of Steve’s hand.
Steve sighs. “How are you so sexy?”
Eddie chuckles a little. “Your guess is as good as mine.”
“Have fun you two,” Chrissy wiggles her fingers at Eddie and Steve as they head in the opposite direction of their friends. “Call me if you need anything.”
“I’ll see you at home. Don’t wait up.” Eddie grins and wraps his arms playfully around Steve’s waist, pulling him away from Chrissy and Robin.
“Hey!” Steve laughs and slaps his hand on Eddie’s arms.
“Use protection, boys.” Robin yells over her shoulder while following Chrissy to the parking lot.
“There’s a thought.” Eddie mumbles against the back of Steve’s neck.
“Eddie,” Steve whines but rolls his neck, offering more surface for Eddie’s lips.
“Hmm?” Eddie could spend days kissing Steve’s skin, finding every single mole and beauty mark across the man’s body.
He can’t get enough of this man. They spent lunch getting to know each other. Once Steve relaxed he turned on the charm and it was a bullseye to Eddie’s heart. Steve’s a much bigger dork than Eddie would’ve thought. He’s silly, a little naive, but completely adorable.
Eddie wants to devour him.
“You wanna go back to my place?” Eddie can feel Steve’s question vibrate through his throat and against his lips.
Eddie squeezes Steve closer to his body. “Ooohhh, most definitely.”
“Alright, come on. Lucky for us, I also have protection.” Steve pulls out of Eddie’s arms but keeps their hands entwined to pull him down the sidewalk.
“Fuck, I should’ve come to that first game weeks ago.” Eddie whines and stumbles easily with Steve’s encouraging pull. “How are you so perfect?”
“What made you finally come this time?”
“Cheesecake.” He hopes it’s waiting for him when he gets home.
“Cheesecake? Is that code for something?”
“Nope, actual cheesecake. She promised to make me her famous coffee cake cheesecake. I can be bribed with food, Steve. Take note.”
Eddie swings their hands by their sides. He feels like a kid with a childhood crush. He’s giddy with anticipation and excitement. He wants to pepper Steve’s face with kisses, listen to his life story, find out every weird quirk and nuance of the man. He’s never felt like this about a potential partner before. He’s never experienced this cosmic pull or whatever but he’s grateful for it.
“Will you share with me?” Steve smiles at him shyly and it’s so fucking cute.
“I’ll feed it to you. With my bare fingers if you want.”
“Fork is fine.”
God, Eddie wants to eat this man.
“Hold up.” Eddie puts his hands on Steve’s chest, stopping him in the middle of the sidewalk. “There’s something I need to do.”
Steve furrows his brow as Eddie takes a cautious step toward him. He then places his palms on Steve’s chest, the fabric of his shirt is softer than he expected, and he slides his hands up the man’s neck, enjoying the feel of his stubble as he crosses over his jawline. When his hands reach Steve’s cheeks, cupping him gently, he steps closer and leans forward. Steve widens his eyes like he knows what’s going to happen next and leans closer, meeting Eddie in the middle and crashing their lips together.
Steve makes a high-pitched noise of excitement and Eddie realizes he’s probably been wanting to do this for ages. Steve’s hands jump into Eddie’s hair and he’s pulling him in closer. Eddie can feel Steve’s heartbeat through their pressed chests and he can’t wait to feel it against his skin.
Steve tastes like maple syrup and bacon but he feels like home.
Eddie pulls his lips back slowly but keeps his body pressed against Steve’s. He doesn’t want to go far but he has to remind himself they are standing in public.
“I’ve been wanting to do that all day.” Eddie’s cheeks are going to hurt.
“And I’ve been wanting to do that for months.” Steve sighs happily. “Let’s go, before I get us arrested for indecent exposure. These shorts are not made for the size of my dick when I’m hard.”
Eddie’s mouth drops at the vivid thought of that. “Ohhhkay, ok, yes. Let’s get you and your apparently massive dick out of here.”
Steve gives Eddie’s ass a playful smack before continuing to pull him down the sidewalk.