Chapter Text
The sound of laughter rings in Steve’s ears as his ass once again makes contact with the ice floor. “Yeah, yeah, let’s see who is laughing when they lose their ride home!” Steve yells after the kids.
Dustin only starts laughing harder, nearly pulling Suzie down. Max lets go of Lucas’s hand and quickly flips Steve off, El hides her smile behind the hand not holding onto Max’s other hand. Mike uses his free hand to also give Steve the bird, but Will quickly smacks his hand down and shoots Steve an apologetic look.
At least one of the kids has some kind of decency. Steve glances off towards where he last saw Jonathan and Argyle, wondering if he could get backup from them, but they’re ice skating in circles, staring at the ceiling. Steve wonders if they snuck out of the rink at some point to smoke a joint or two or if they just act high out of their minds whenever they’re around each other.
The answer comes when he sees Jonathan quickly nod at something Argyle says and then they’re skating for their life off the rink. Steve watches Argyle dig around in his fanny pack nearly dropping his lighter in his haste.
Maybe Nancy and Robin will help – nope. Steve spots them across the rink, Nancy’s cheeks red as Robin leans in to kiss her on the cheek multiple times, nearly sending them both crashing down. Their giggles are heard across the rink.
Steve sighs and goes through the embarrassing task of trying to stand up. He groans, finding his jeans uncomfortably wet and cold from the number of times he’s fallen over. Who would’ve known that Steve Harrington was the least athletic one in the group when it came to ice skating. He blames the lack of help.
He slips as he stands, right foot immediately shooting forward and launching his body back. He braces for the fall but finds himself cushioned against another body and someone hooking their arms under his. “Careful, big boy, let’s not bruise that ego too badly.”
Steve huffs and turns towards Eddie whose cheeks are tinted the same red shade as his nose. A wide smile graces his face as he dramatically bows and gestures for Steve to skate on. Steve’s mouth sets into a flat line as he tries to move forward and quickly loses his balance yet again.
Eddie swoops forward and catches Steve before he can fall. When Steve regains his balance, Eddie holds out his leather clad arm for Steve to hold onto, and he reluctantly takes it. He hopes the metalhead isn’t in on something with the kids.
Steve realizes he’s already started moving without realizing it, easily gliding alongside Eddie. He sighs, thinking of how maybe this would all be easier if he had someone like everyone else .
“What are you thinking about?” Eddie questions gently, glancing towards Steve with those big brown eyes that shine in the bright lights of the ice-skating rink.
Steve looks away nearly brushing it off, but then he sees Robin fall again, grasping onto Nancy so hard that she takes her down too. The pair laugh loudly again, heads resting against one another. Steve’s heart feels like it’s being tugged at.
“That,” Steve replies and glances towards Eddie who looks towards the couple almost longingly. As if he’s jealous of what they have, too.
“I think I know what you mean,” Eddie says in a defeated tone.
Steve laughs, “Thank god I’m not the only one anxious about spending the holidays alone. I mean, even Suzie is here. I have no idea how Dustin pulled that off but look at him so happy.” Steve hesitates for a moment, feeling almost bad for ranting when Dustin has the biggest smile he’s seen on his face all year. He cringes when the pair pass mumbling out some sort of gross nickname like “Suzie-poo my boo.”
He decides after that assault on his ears, he’s fine to continue his rant. “I mean, I’m happy for them all, but seriously I don’t know if I can handle this Christmas with all of them being all... coupley. It’s as if these holiday traditions are meant to be spent with someone else because when you’re alone you slip and fall on your ass, but with someone else you can either hold them up or laugh on your way down together.” Steve runs his free hand through his hair glaring at Mike and Will who quickly pass by them. He knows he sounds stupid, but maybe Eddie will get it.
“Then don’t,” Eddie says with a shrug.
“I can’t just ditch their holiday plans-”
Eddie comes to a stop in front of Steve, holding onto his arms to stabilize the two of them. “I don’t mean stop hanging out with everyone. I mean don’t spend the holidays alone.”
“What?” Steve asks thoroughly confused. Eddie glances around and guides Steve to the edge of the rink. “I don’t think I can just find some random girl to join.”
Eddie scoffs and mumbles something like, “Yeah, you could.” He clears his throat and says, “Why waste time searching for someone when the perfect option is right in front of you?” Eddie asks with that same dopey smile but this time it slightly doesn’t reach his eyes.
Steve stares at Eddie, trying to comprehend what he means by that. Eddie sighs.
“I’m spending the winter break with these dweebs, too, and I’m also alone so why don’t we just pair up. Suffer through the couple PDA and drama together?” Eddie clarifies gesturing around towards the couples who are all huddled together with some gross display of public affection. Even Argyle and Jonathan appear back in the rink, holding hands and looking blissfully high and happy.
“My permanent Christmas time date,” Steve says thinking out loud. It... doesn’t sound too unappealing. And Eddie isn’t the worst to hang out with. Plus, it kind of makes sense. Two single people jealous of Christmas romance with the promise of not having to do it alone. Honestly, Eddie would be much better company than any of the girls who come into Family Video – it's difficult explaining why he’s friends with a bunch of teenagers, his ex, someone from band, the Hawkins freak, and two potheads.
The more Steve thinks about it, the better the idea sounds. Something on his face must give it away because Eddie asks, “So, are you in?” with an excited grin.
“If you can keep me from falling for another solid minute, then yes.”
“Wow, Harrington, I didn’t realize I was that irresistible,” Eddie says with an exaggerated wink seeming to take the word “date” a little too seriously. But Eddie has always been flirtatious.
Steve laughs as Eddie slyly grabs his hand and intertwines their fingers. And maybe Steve can see the appeal of this…
Eddie squeezes his hands and says, “I want to try something.” And warning bells ring in Steve’s head right as Eddie starts skating in front of him slightly faster. He slowly turns until he’s fully in front of Steve facing him, other hand latching onto Steve’s.
Steve is bewildered for a moment and questions, “You can skate backwards?”
“Nope,” Eddie says, smile big and eyes wide as his feet slip out from under him, successfully dragging Steve back onto the floor of the rink – or rather right on top of Eddie.
There’s a puff of air against Steve’s lips as he hears and feels Eddie laugh beneath him. His curly hair fans out on the ice, and Steve wants to reach out and tug at one of the coils.
Steve smiles. “Looks like you’re the one falling for me, Munson.”
Eddie’s laughter dies down as he stares up at Steve. His eyes flicker to Steve’s mouth. Steve’s heart flutters as his mind unhelpfully thinks about how far he can take this whole “holiday date” situation. Woah now, maybe it’s a little too soon to spring something like on Eddie. But with the way Eddie is leaning up towards Steve...
“Eddie! Are you okay?” Dustin yells coming to a halt next to the pair. The other couples suddenly appear around the two, and Steve rolls off Eddie, sitting up to stare up at everyone as they worry on about Eddie.
“So when I fall it’s hilarious, but when Eddie falls the world is ending?” Steve comments.
“The last time we saw you two like that…” Robin says trailing off.
Resuscitating Eddie was not a memory Steve thought he would be recalling at the rink. Although it was months ago, it still haunts him. He can’t imagine what the memory is like for Eddie.
He hears Eddie take in a shuddering breath next to him, and Steve decides now is the moment to change the subject drastically. “Eddie is just falling for the ol’ Harrington charm. Swept him right off his feet. Head over heels-”
“Please stop,” Dustin begs. The other kids agree with him and skate away, leaving the two of them alone.
Steve glances down at Eddie who looks a little frozen in place. “You okay?”
Eddie breaks out of his trance and smiles at Steve, “If I’m not will you give me mouth to mouth again?”
Steve groans and shoves Eddie gently. “I’m going to regret this, aren’t I?”
“Let’s hope so,” Eddie says, sitting up then getting back on his feet easily. Steve would be jealous, but he can’t help but feel slightly wooed when Eddie helps him up.
Steve shakes his head. The holiday spirit is really making him mistake anything for romance nowadays. “So that definitely wasn’t a full minute of you keeping me up.”
“But I kept you on your toes, so that counts,” Eddie shoots back, looking a little too proud of himself for the pun.
Steve rolls his eyes but catches El and Lucas skating by while managing to kiss Max on the cheeks at the same time. Steve cringes and looks back at Eddie. “Okay, I agree to suffering together,” Steve says holding out his hand for them to shake on it.
Instead, Eddie intertwines their fingers again and pulls Steve along causing a red flush to spread over his cheeks. Thankfully he can blame that on how cold it is. He glances overs at Eddie who has a similar flush, and Steve can’t help but wonder if that’s from the cold or something else.
Eddie turns to him and locks eyes with him for a moment giving him a small smile. Steve knees definitely don’t buckle, he’s just really bad at ice skating.
But as Eddie easily catches him, Steve can’t help but notice that maybe the others were onto something when they thought ice skating wasn’t horrible.
Get a grip, Harrington.