Chapter Text
Steve drummed his fingers on the edge of his steering wheel, watching Robin’s front door for any sign of movement. He had been anxiously waiting in the Buckley’s driveway for a solid five minutes waiting for Robin. Ever since their encounter with the Russians, there was no doubt in Steve’s mind that Robin was his best friend in the world but she wasn’t exactly his favorite coworker sometimes. He wondered how long it could possibly take to get ready for a shift at Family Video of all places. It’s not like Robin was getting ready for a date or anything like that, Robin wasn’t exactly the best at flirting or recognizing when other people were flirting with her. Steve had insisted multiple times that Robin let him be her wingman but she refused, saying something about not wanting him to “meddle with her love life.” Steve had even compromised his lengthy skincare routine and hair styling so he could get himself and Robin to work on time and yet here he was in the car by himself about to be late to work.
The front door finally swung open and Robin stumbled out carrying her pin-covered vest. She hurried to the car, nearly tripping on her untied shoelaces and threw open the passenger side door, practically throwing herself into Steve’s car. She rested her foot on her knee to tie her laces and Steve couldn’t help but notice the doodles on her Converse. There were faces, random squiggles, some writing that Steve couldn’t quite make out, and boobs– lots of boobs.
“Jesus Rob, you okay?” Steve pulled out of the driveway and started on his way to work.
“Yes! I’m sorry, I really thought that I gave myself enough time to get ready but then I was like hey why don’t I do my makeup but then I realized that I’m really not the best at makeup except maybe mascara and sometimes I can do eyeliner but it always looks perfect on one eye and all smudgy and weird on the other eye. But anyway– I ended up going too ambitious with the makeup and I had to wash it all off so basically I made us late for nothing and I’m sorry again!” Robin rambled as she finished tying her shoes. Robin folded down the mirror and began messing with her hair.
“Since when do you do your makeup for work? And you really don’t have to apologize man, I get it, gotta look good for the babes,” Steve teased.
“There aren’t any babes I’m trying to impress Steven,” Robin insisted.
“No way there totally is!” Steve and Robin had gotten to the point where they really couldn’t keep any secrets from each other without the other being suspicious. “Who is it? Did Vickie and her boyfriend break up? I still think she totally likes boobies. Or is it that blonde girl that’s rented Heathers a dozen times? You know she is pretty cute so I’d totally get it.”
Robin got a big smudge of mascara on her cheek. “Wrong, wrong, and double wrong. That girl is like the straightest looking woman I’ve ever seen in my whole 18 years of life, she wouldn’t be into me. And stop saying boobies!”
“Okay first of all, you have several drawings of boobs on your shoes so I think it’s only fair if I get to say boobies and two, are you gonna keep dodging the question or do I get to know who this girl is?” Steve wasn’t quite sure why Robin wasn’t telling him; sure she could get a little weird about girls sometimes but this time seemed different.
“Oh look we’re here!” Robin tucked her mascara into her pocket and hopped out of the car, accidentally closing the door onto her vest.
The pair clocked in and although they always appreciated an easy closing shift, this one was downright boring. The first two hours of their shift not a single person came in and Steve was miserable. He and Robin had just finished watching Gremlins and were now searching the store for another movie but neither of them could make up their mind. They ended up with a stack of tapes on the counter and were painstakingly slowly using the process of elimination to pick their favorite. The pair finally settled on E.T. because you can never go wrong with E.T. Steve and the kids had watched it during their last movie night together pre-Vecna and Steve had to beg El to not fly her friends around on their bikes to recreate the scene in the movie. Steve loved “his kids” more than anything but god damn they were difficult when they set their mind on something.
Steve put back the movies that they didn’t end up playing and when he came back to the counter Robin was lying on the floor with her feet up and her nose buried in a magazine. “This is ridiculously boring,” Robin sighed, “I’ve read all of these like a million times.”
“I know, at this point I’d even be happy if those little gremlins came in here to annoy us.” Steve joined Robin on the floor. Steve often had to tolerate the kids coming in to visit which didn’t seem half bad until one of them decided to spend an hour “summarizing” their favorite movie which almost always ended up spoiling the entire plot. “You know, to pass the time, you could tell me about whatever mystery girl you’re crushing on.”
Before Robin could reply Steve heard a familiar bell ring as a customer opened the door. He stood up quickly, banging the top of his head on the edge of the counter in the process. Steve pressed his palm to the top of his head and took only an extra second or so to stand up fully and greet the customer. Steve opened his eyes only to find Eddie Munson already leaning on the counter, right in front of his face. “Jesus Christ!” Steve stumbled back a bit.
“Well hello to you too Harrington,” Eddie grinned.
“Sorry, you scared the shit outta me man.” Steve had been a lot more jumpy than usual since the battle with Vecna. Anytime shit went down in Hawkins, Steve always had this remaining tension afterwards, as if his fight or flight response was ready to go at all times.
“Hey, it’s okay Harrington, I get it. Most of the town is scared of Munson the murderer so I’m used to it,” Eddie stood up straight, stuffing his hands into his pockets.
Before Steve could respond, Robin popped up from behind the counter much more gracefully than Steve, “Hi Eddie!”
“Hey! Nice to see you’re not scared of me too Buckley. So-” Eddie hopped up onto the counter, swinging his legs back and forth, “How’s your shift been so far?”
“Soooo boring, oh my god,” Robin groaned, leaning back onto the counter next to where Eddie was sitting. “It’s been completely dead the entire time we’ve been here so I am glad to see you. How have you been lately? I feel like I haven’t seen you that much since the whole Vecna thing.”
“I’m alright, I think I just needed a break from everything for a little while. I’ve kinda just been chilling and listening to music and lots of sleep. My Uncle Wayne has been very insistent that I get plenty of rest so I can heal up as quickly as possible.” Eddie lifted up the side of his shirt just enough to reveal still bandaged wounds from the demobats. “I know it’s because he cares but he’s basically been keeping me hostage in the trailer because he’s scared something’s gonna happen to me.” Eddie hopped off of the counter and headed for the horror movie section.
“That’s how the kids' parents have been too, it took a while before any of them even went back to school. I actually have to pick up a few of the little monsters later, it’ll be the first t” Steve explained, earning an elbow to the side from Robin. “Jesus Rob, fresh wounds man, fresh wounds!”
“Sorry,” She hushed, “You should invite Eddie to movie night tonight! He’s a part of the group too. You can’t just tell him about plans and not invite him.”
“I don’t know Robs, I barely know the guy.” Steve had a strange relationship with Eddie. They had fought a deadly monster together so clearly they weren’t strangers but they also knew next to nothing about each other. Plus, Steve always felt kind of– off, around Eddie. He couldn’t quite place what the feeling was but something felt strange.
“You guys literally went to hell and back together, you’re bonded for life now whether you like it or not. I mean you bridal-carried him out of the upside down, I’d say you know him pretty well.”
“Okay okay, maybe you have a point.”
“What are we whispering about?” Eddie appeared behind Steve and Robin, making Steve’s heart jump again.
“We were wondering if maybe you’d want to come watch a movie tonight?” Steve turned to face Eddie who was leaning on the counter. “If you think you can tolerate those goblins for a night,” Steve added.
“Sure man! Just gimme your address and I’ll be there.” Eddie put the VHS he had chosen back on the shelf and walked back to the counter where Steve was scrawling his address onto a scrap of paper.
Steve hoped his chicken scratch handwriting was legible as he handed the paper to Eddie. “See you later man,” He offered a small smile as Eddie tucked the paper into his jacket pocket.
* * *
Steve heard a soft knock at his front door and opened it, revealing Joyce, Will, and El. The kids both said a brief hello before rushing past Steve to join their friends inside.
“Hi sweetheart,” Joyce pulled Steve into a hug, “How have you been?” Joyce had essentially taken on the role as Steve’s mother since his real parents were rarely around and when they were they weren’t exactly the most nurturing parents.
Joyce and Steve chatted about the kids and Hopper for a bit. Steve was still completely blown away that Hopper was even alive after everything he had been through. He went to the funeral and everything, he had even driven the kids to visit his headstone a few times. Even just talking to Joyce for a few minutes he could tell how much happier she was. After Joyce left Steve returned to the living room where all of the kids were already in their swimsuits. Lucas and Dustin each grabbed one of Steve’s arms and practically dragged him outside. Steve opted to wait to get in the pool until Max and Eddie showed up but the kids immediately started leaping into the pool, sending splashes of freezing cold water onto Steve.
“Get in the pool dingus!” Robin called to Steve, followed by a chorus of the kids begging Steve to join them.
“Max and Eddie are gonna be here any minute! I’ll get in once everyone’s–” Steve felt a pair of hands press against his back and he went toppling into the pool. Steve surfaced from the water, throwing his head back to get his hair out of his face. “I’m gonna kill you Wheeler!” Mike leapt into the pool sending a splash of water onto everyone else. Steve heard a faint knocking and groaned as he climbed out of the pool. Steve peeled off his soaked t-shirt and draped it over the back of a lounge chair. He pointed at the kids, giving Mike specifically a death stare, “You’re all dead when I get back.”
Steve rushed to the front door after quickly drying off and swung open the door to reveal Max and Eddie who had just dumped their bikes into his yard. “Hey,” Steve said, catching his breath.
Max eyed Steve up and down before she scoffed, “Ew.” She pushed past him and went straight outside to meet the others.
“Do you always answer the door shirtless Harrington?” Eddie asked, stepping inside.
“Wheeler pushed me in the pool, that little shit,” Steve explained, earning a laugh from Eddie as the pair walked to the pool.
As soon as Eddie walked through the back door there was a chorus of greetings for him, Dustin’s voice cutting above the rest. “Eddie! Get in here man!”
Eddie draped his worn leather jacket and Hellfire Club t-shirt over one of the chairs and took off every one of his chunky silver rings, stuffing them into his jacket pocket. Eddie stretched his arms above his head and threw his hair up into a messy bun with a few individual curls falling out. Steve felt oddly mesmerized as he took note of all of Eddie’s tattoos that he had never seen before. “Take a picture, Harrington, it’ll last longer!” A lopsided grin stretched across Eddie’s face before he launched himself into the pool, cheering and sending a massive splash onto everyone else.
Steve and Max followed suit and leapt into the cool water. As soon as Steve resurfaced Dustin shoved him back under the water which started a full on war. As soon as Steve came back up he went straight for revenge on Dustin and then picked up Mike, who practically weighed nothing, that kid was scrawny, and threw him back into the water. Steve turned around only to be met by a wave of water sent his way by Max, Robin, and Eddie who had joined forces against him. Max climbed onto Lucas’ shoulders, Steve hoisted Dustin onto his shoulders, and the group started a ruthless chicken fight.
“Come on Henderson! Get her!” Steve shouted up to Dustin.
“I’m trying!” Dustin yelled back, “She’s freakishly strong!”
“She’s tiny! Just push her over!” Eddie shouted.
“I– can’t,” Dustin struggled to get the words out as Max finally overpowered him and he went toppling off of Steve’s shoulders into the water.
Max threw her hands in the air and she and Lucas cheered, celebrating their victory. Max’s cheering quickly turned into a scream as Lucas flopped backwards, sending them both under the water. Steve resurfaced right next to Eddie and watched as Eddie’s eyes went wide.
“Jesus Christ!” Eddie grabbed onto Steve’s forearm.
Steve turned around and saw Mike hovering a few feet above the water. He shifted his gaze from Mike to El who had her arm outstretched towards him. “Hey, hey, hey! Put him down!” El released Mike and he fell into the water flat on his back, emanating a loud slap that made Steve wince thinking about that pain. Steve turned to Eddie who was still digging his nails into Steve’s arm. “It’s okay man, it’s just El messing around,” He explained and Eddie released his arm.
“Shit, sorry. She uh– had me freaked out for a second there,” Eddie mumbled.
“Alright, out of the pool, movie time!” Steve called out to the group to break the tension.
Everyone filed out of the pool, wrapped themselves in a towel, and headed inside to change. A few of the kids borrowed t-shirts from Steve to sleep in and Steve knew that he wouldn’t be getting most of them back no matter how many times he asked. Steve popped a VHS in and everyone else situated themselves in the living room. Dustin immediately claimed the recliner as his own and ignored his friends protesting, claiming that he always got the recliner. Everyone else piled onto the couch with their snack of choice and Steve shot a stern look at Max and Lucas, silently telling them to behave. They had a little bit of a personal space problem when they were together. Steve took a seat at the very end of the couch in between Eddie and Robin. Eddie was resting his arm on the back of the couch and Steve felt a little awkward sitting like that but he wasn’t about to admit it to anyone. He didn’t even know why he felt weird so might as well just ignore it.
“This kid is pretty cool when she’s not scaring the shit outta me,” Eddie remarked. He was watching in amazement as El used her powers to float pieces of popcorn into her friends mouths.
“That’s nothing,” Steve replied.
“Yeah, this one time she flipped this huge van right over our heads! It was insane,” Mike interrupted.
“Damn, that’s pretty metal, kid.” Eddie replied.
“Bitchin.” El replied simply, with a small smile.
This earned a goofy smile from Eddie who turned to Steve, “This kid is awesome! I gotta get her to join Hellfire.”
The chatter from the group died down as the movie drew everyone's attention. Nightmare on Elm Street was one of the few movies that the entire group liked and Steve was not in the mood to hear the kids complain about whatever movie he brought from work. The group was relatively quiet throughout the movie and Steve was relieved to not have to nag Lucas and Max about their personal space problem. At least there was only one teenage couple left for Steve to deal with; Mike and El had split up pretty soon after the whole Vecna ordeal but they quickly became friends again and were just as close as ever.
Towards the end of the movie Steve felt Eddie’s head fall onto his shoulder and his body froze. Steve’s eyes darted over to Robin only to see that she was asleep too, her mouth was hanging open and she was mid-drool. Robin was just as elegant in her sleep as she was when she was awake. Steve knew that Robin would tell him to relax and just let Eddie sleep so he did just that. After all, there really was no reason for him to feel tense at all, his friend was just resting on his shoulder, no big deal. Steve relaxed his shoulders a bit and finished up the movie with Dustin and Max, who were the only ones left awake. By the time the credits were rolling Robin had shifted to Steve’s other shoulder leaving him completely trapped.
“Henderson,” Steve spoke just loud enough for Dustin to hear him, “Help me out here man.”
Dustin helped Steve slowly move Robin and Eddie without waking them so Robin was resting on Will’s shoulder and Eddie was leaning against the arm of the couch. The pair went upstairs to gather blankets for the rest of the group. Dustin climbed back into the recliner with his own blanket while Steve draped blankets over the others, moving as quietly as possible. Robin was now sleeping on Eddie’s shoulder and his head was resting on top of hers. Eddie’s eyebrows were furrowed and Steve wondered for a brief moment if he should wake him but decided against it. He gently draped a blanket over the pair and Eddie seemed to relax a bit.
“Wake me up if you need anything Hend–” Steve turned towards the recliner only to find that Dustin had already passed out.
* * *
“Wakey wakey Steve,” a soft, raspy voice spoke. Steve wasn’t quite awake enough to recognize who it belonged to but he was also too tired to care so he rolled over in an attempt to go back to sleep.
“Steve,” another voice said a bit louder, shaking Steve’s shoulder. “We’re gonna raid your kitchen again if you don’t feed us.”
Steve bolted upright, “I’m up! I’m up!” The kids had absolutely destroyed his kitchen the last time they were over and he was not about to let that happen again. Steve shuddered at the memory of pancake batter all over his kitchen. “And don’t threaten me Henderson! If you gremlins ruin my kitchen again, I’m making you clean it with your toothbrushes!”
Steve, Robin, and Dustin headed downstairs to join the others and much to Steve’s horror Mike was just about to take an egg from the carton. “Nope!” Steve snatched the egg carton from Mike and put it back in the fridge. “None of you are allowed to cook here without adult supervision!”
“We have Eddie!” Mike retorted, gesturing towards Eddie.
“He doesn’t count!” Steve shouted back, popping a couple Eggos into the toaster. Steve wasn’t exactly prepared to actually cook breakfast for so many people so it was gonna be Eggos or nothing for the group this morning.
Eddie leaned on the counter across from Steve. “You know I’ve gotta say, Harrington, that is some fantastic bed head.”
“It looks like the nest of a little racoon family,” Robin added, earning a laugh from Eddie and the kids.
“Make fun of my hair again and I’ll poison your breakfast.” Steve gestured to the party with a butter knife, causing Eddie and Robin to raise their hands in surrender.
Steve gave a plate of Eggos to everyone but himself and El was the only one to thank him. “Hear that you guys? El spent most of her life in a damn lab and still has better manners than the rest of you.” The kids mumbled a thank you, a couple of them rolling their eyes.
“You’re such a mom, Steve,” Robin said as she completely drenched her Eggos in syrup.
“I am not a mom,” Steve replied, triggering a chorus of the kids calling Steve “mom” and a “babysitter,” nothing he hadn’t heard already.
“Steve, you’re more of a mom than my actual mom,” Max added.
“You know– yeah you got me there Max,” Steve accepted his defeat.
El finished her Eggos before anyone else as she always did. Steve noticed Eddie discreetly swapping his untouched plate with El’s empty one so she could have his share. Steve was always surprised when Eddie did things like that, he still had this preconceived idea of who Eddie was but that was quickly fading as Eddie proved him wrong time and time again. He never would’ve guessed that Eddie “the freak” Munson was such a sweet guy.