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Eddie knows he’s not graduating for the second time when Steve Harrington stands before him after the spring break of ‘85, since there can’t be two miracles in one year.
And yes, Eddie is sure this is a miracle, because Steve isn’t there to make fun of him. Steve hasn’t been making fun of people since November of ‘83 and the whole school has witnessed his slow decent from King Steve with the arrival of Billy.
He looks uncertain when approaching them, lunch tray in hand, and Eddie can’t blame him. He’s been sitting alone ever since Billy beat the shit out of him, having to quit basketball due to the concussion after he already quit swimming in Junior year for no discernible reason .
There is quite little left of King Steve, but he still has a name, thus it is still shocking that he is even approaching them. So all four Hellfire members watch with curious apprehension as he comes closer.
Steve stops near their table, but doesn’t put his tray down. Eddie isn’t sure whether it is because he doesn’t want to be more associated with them as he already is, or if he doesn’t want to just sit down without permission. Common sense would be the former, but something in the way he holds himself makes Eddie think it’s the latter.
For a moment, it’s quiet, then Steve speaks. “Uhm, Hellfire, that’s- that’s DnD, right? That nerd game with the dice?”
And now Eddie knows for sure he’s not graduating, because Steve ‘The Hair’ Harrington is standing at his table asking him about DnD. Vaguely he thought the boy must be coming over to ask about drugs, way more likely and an explanation about the nerves. Steve has never bought from him directly.
“Yeah. Yes, that’s us,” Eddie recovers swiftly from the shock. “How may we humble peasants amuse you with our little game, King Steve?”
At the nickname Steve scrunches his face in displeasure though there is also a bit of resigned acceptance there as well.
However, with the sentence done, the whole table is waiting for Steve to speak, something he realizes as he shuffles in place. He looks a bit shy, not at all cocky or arrogant. Then he takes a deep breath and says: “I was wondering if I can ask you a few questions about it.”
Everyone at the table hesitates, looking at Eddie to make the decision. All have been burned by someone faking interest, only to bully them about it and with Steve that is a valid fear. So, with Eddie as their leader and the one leading the conversation, they leave it up to him.
Eddie leans back in his seat and crosses his arms, trying to look as intimidating as he can as he raises his brow and asks: “And what interest do you have in DnD?”
Steve winces like he knows why he’s being asked, but then surprises the whole table by actually explaining. “I have been babysitting these kids for the past few months. They’re little shits and a bunch of dorks, but they’re good kids, you know. Anyway, they love this game and they always talk about it and they had this huge – I think they called it a campaign – over the break and they tried to explain it to me, but I didn’t get it. And I know that bums them out, but they get too excited about it, so it’s all over the place, full of terms I don’t know, so I hoped you would clear some things up for me, so I can follow them when they talk to me about it.”
He’s rambling.
King Steve is standing at their table rambling about kids he babysits. Kids, who are nerds and talk about DnD. Kids he wants to understand.
Holy shit. Yeah, he took too much drugs yesterday, it’s official. He leans over to Gareth and asks him: “Am I still high or is King Steve really there talking about babysitting.”
“I get it,” Steve sighs, looking annoyed and a bit embarrassed. “If you don’t wanna help that’s fucking fine, alright, I get it. Just tell me and I’ll leave.”
And he looks so genuine about it too. Eddie can barely believe that the same kid, who hung around Tommy Hagen is now assuring them that he’ll leave if they ask him. That he understands if they don’t want him there.
It’s so out of character that Eddie’s interest is immediately piqued and he’s pretty sure his friends know it too, because Chris is already giving him a look, quickly followed by Gareth and Jeff. But he ignores them and grins: “Well then, by all means, sit down. I can’t offer you a throne, so I hope cafeteria stools are good enough for our King.”
He gestures widely and Gareth slides one seat down the table, so Steve can sit next down to Eddie, giving the DM an eyeroll.
“Can you not call me that?” Steve requests, setting down his tray and ignoring how whispers go up all around him.
“What? King Steve?” Eddie asks, just to make sure. He never thought Steve had an issue with the nickname the school had given him. Maybe it’s just because Eddie is using it mockingly, which he will find quite rich coming from Steve.
“Yeah,” Steve says. “King Steve was a fucking asshole and I’ve been trying not to be him, so if you couldn’t that’d be great.”
Now the four at the table give each other big eyes. Eddie hadn’t known this sort of personal growth was possible for the jock population of the school, yet here he is witnessing it.
Still, he can’t help but push a little by slyly grinning: “Would you prefer princess then?” And he knows it’s stupid, because Steve is a bully who has thrown the word queer around before now and with questioning his masculinity like that Eddie is just asking to be punched. Steve is too much of a macho man to let that go.
Again Steve surprises him by blushing a bit, before laughing and saying: “If that makes you happy, sure. Better than that stupid nickname.”
Eddie can’t believe he just heard that and it takes him a moment to wipe the gobsmacked expression off his face. Once he has gathered himself, he asks: “So, what do you already know, princess? I’m sure you must know something if they talk so much about it.”
Steve explains how he knows it’s a fantasy game where you play with dice to fight monsters and everyone is their own character. “That’s pretty hard to miss after the fourth explanation,” he says. “But then they go on with classes and they use names like bard and paladin and sorcerer, but then never really explain what those mean. Not to mention stats. I don’t know what a stat is! And they just go on about it and I can never follow it.”
He sounds a bit like a haggard parent trying to figure out their child’s interest so they know what to buy them for Christmas. It’s both hilarious and adorable. This is actually pretty bad for Eddie’s heart.
Yeah, you got him, he has a crush on Steve. What are you gonna do? Sue him? Everyone in the school who’s into dudes has a crush on Steve. He’s a pretty boy and Eddie has hormones and eyes, alright.
Eddie never allowed himself to indulge too much, because Steve was a dick, but now he’s here listening to Eddie ramble about DnD. The man is even taking notes in for God’s sake, like literally actively taking notes on Eddie’s rambles about DnD, because he wants to be a good babysitter for a bunch of kids, like the fuck.
“Following me for far, princess?” Eddie asks.
“I think so,” Steve smiles. And that’s the other thing. Steve letting Eddie call him princess like that’s okay in the world of jock. Like that won’t usually get Eddie punched. But no, Steve here isn’t even batting his eyes, only smiling. And blushing, if Eddie wants to fool himself.
He’s aware of the others staring at Steve like he’s an alien. Both curious at what they’re seeing and wanting to study it, and a bit afraid of it. Eddie can’t blame them. He himself keeps wanting to pinch himself.
When the bell rings to signal lunch is over, Eddie wants to fight the school, because he could have been there for hours, explaining stats and classes to Steve Harrington.
Steve startles a bit at the sound, almost if he had forgotten where he was. He smiles sheepishly and gathers his stuff, before saying: “Thanks so much, sorry for hogging you lunch hour.”
“Hey, no worries, princess,” Eddie smiles at him. “You can come back with more questions anytime.”
“Thank you,” Steve thanks him again. “You have no idea how happy Dustin will be when I understand what he’s telling me.”
Then he disappears into the crowd, leaving Eddie to watch his back. He wants to run up, wants to stretch out the moment, live in it for a little bit. It almost feels like he has fallen into an alternate dimension.
“Come on, man,” Gareth tells him and Jeff nods, slinging an arm around his shoulder and dragging him to their next class.
Throughout the final few months of the year, Steve sometimes comes up to Eddie in the halls asking about a term or clarification about something. However, he never sits at lunch with them again and he never approaches Eddie outside those moments.
At the end of the year, Eddie doesn’t graduate as expected. Steve walks the stage while he is off getting high somewhere else and he thinks he’ll never see him again. It makes him a bit sad, he wants to know a bit more about this new Steve, of whom he has only seen glimpses.
Alas that isn’t in the cards for him.
However, the universe grants him a kindness. Because third time will be the charm and when he sits in the cafeteria after the summer, he hears a Freshman voice call out: “Come on, Dustin. Shut up for a second and just sit down.”
He watches three boys and a girl with red hair sit down at a table. One has a Weird Al shirt and by the looks of it, they’re all nerds. Eddie will approach them because of all of that anyway, but the name Dustin is familiar. Steve used that name.
So, he approaches them and sure enough they mention Steve as a babysitter, rambling about how cool he is.
It’s clear the others want to mention Steve asking them about DnD, especially when all of them complain that Steve never wants to play with them and calls it a stupid nerd game. But Eddie stops them before they can.
In passing Steve once groaned: “God, if those kids knew I was asking you, I’d never hear the end of it,” only to realize how rude that could sound. “Sorry, not that I don’t appreciate it. I don’t know, it’s so stupid, but I want them to think I’m cool, that they can come to me. It’s honestly embarrassing how much I want them to like me.”
“Don’t worry, I’ll keep your secrets, princess,” he told Steve and damn if Eddie doesn’t keep his promises.
So, he shuts it down and makes them all pretend it never happened, while getting more and more curious about the Steve he had only seen in passing. But he knows the world would probably have to end for them to speak again.
He has no clue how true that is yet…