didntrun | (no subject)

Eddie meets Steve Harrington's confusingly badass girlfriend by complete accident.

He's kicking around the community college campus, definitely not looking at it as a place he might be able to go eventually, but also absolutely looking at it as just that, when she walks by. Long dark hair with pale violet ends, blunt cut bangs, pierced and tatted -- knuckle tattoos, Eddie notes, which is just so fucking cool -- and wearing all black with a big leather jacket. She's totally metal and he's pretty sure if she wasn't Steve's girlfriend and if there wasn't a burgeoning crush he's completely confused about, he'd be drooling on his own shoes over her.

That she's Steve's girlfriend makes it easy to approach her, though. A lot easier than it would be otherwise, because while she's super hot, she also looks a little scary. On purpose, he's willing to bet. Pretty girls put up with the worst shit.

"Hey," he says, hurrying to keep up with her, but also keeping his distance. Her boots look like they would sincerely hurt if one were to connect with his balls. "Hey, hi, I'm a friend of Steve's."

"Good for you," she answers, barely giving him a glance.

Damn, maybe he'll fall in love anyway.

"I'm Eddie," he offers. Maybe Steve has mentioned him.

She stops at that and turns to face him, eyebrow arched. "Yeah," she says. "I know. You're the reason he got himself bitten by a bunch of creepy demon bats, right? My idiot boyfriend gets himself into enough trouble on his own, he doesn't need help, thanks."

"Right," Eddie says, cringing a little. "Okay, fair point, you're completely on the nose there and I apologize. Sincerely. The demon bats were not my idea of a good time, I promise."

Maeve relaxes a little, still staring at him with a cool gaze, and he wonders how many dudes she's caused to slink away with just that look. He's about ready to do it himself.

"I'm Maeve," she says finally.

"I know," he answers, then risks a grin. "Do you go here?"

"No," she says. "But my boyfriend does."

"Right," Eddie says, then laughs. "Meeting him, that makes sense. When he's out of class? We could hang for a bit..."

By the time Steve finds them at the nearest coffee shop, Eddie has lost count of how many times Maeve has rolled her eyes at him, but he's made her laugh, too. And he's absolutely not into Steve's girlfriend, he's definitely into someone else -- which he also realizes he kind of wants to talk to Steve about -- but he thinks he could be. In another world.

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"You brought up the whole thing, dude," Steve says matter-of-factly, quirking his brows at Eddie as he lifts the hand not holding onto Maeve's to gesture with it. "From the peeing to the getting peed on. All you."

He chuckles a little and then ducks his head to hide a smile, looking over at Maeve.

"This is what rural Indiana does to a person's brain," he says somberly, jerking his chin toward Eddie and expertly maintaining a straight face. "Very sad, really."

"Good thing you've been here for such a long time," she answers, just as sincerely. "Seems that yours has healed quite well. You decided to date me, after all."

"Aww," Eddie says, leaning his chin on his hands, his elbows on the table. "You guys are so cute. It makes my little crush on you both that much worse." His eyes bat, long lashes fluttering as if he's a maiden about to swoon.

Maeve snorts and rolls her eyes, but then looks at Steve. "I guess I can't really blame you."

When Eddie starts to coo over them, Steve rolls his eyes and is about to tell him to knock it off, but what he says next kind of stops Steve in his tracks, leaving him to gape over at Eddie in confusion. He's joking, Steve realizes, huffing out an amused breath. Right? He's totally joking.

"You can always date us in your dreams," he volleys back as he recovers, reaching across the table to boop Eddie's nose with the tip of his index finger.

"I'm not generally doing a lot of dating in my dreams, dude," Eddie volleys back, wrinkling his nose when Steve's finger presses against it. "Dating is great and all, but my sleeping brain is definitely more id than ego, if you catch my drift."

"Are you telling us you've had sex dreams about my boyfriend?" Maeve asks, leaning her elbows on the table.

"About Steve?" Eddie asks in return. "Nah. Not yet anyway."

Steve has totally lost track of this conversation, and his face feels hot for some reason. Eddie and Maeve talk about sex dreams about him, leaning in toward one another, and Steve looks back and forth between the two of them and feels-- well, confused, mostly. That isn't all that rare. Steve is often confused, but this feels different. He's Confused, with a capital C.

They both have great hair. Maeve's looks like it might be softer and Steve finds himself wanting to reach out and touch them both to be sure, but he doesn't. He just sits there, pink in the cheeks and Confused.

"Well, I'm offended," he declares, maybe with a bit of bravado to try and hide that he's a little freaked out for reasons he can't seem to specify. "Not one sex dream about me? That's rude of your id. I'm great in bed and even better in dreams, I bet."

"I wouldn't worry that a dream version of you has to prove anything to anyone," Maeve promises, looking amused as she reaches over and pats Steve's thigh.

"Yeah, dude," Eddie adds. "I said not yet. I bet it'll come eventually."

Maeve can't help but grin, looking down at the table as she shakes her head. She honestly doesn't know if Eddie is attracted to Steve or if he's just doing this to give him a hard time. Either option is delightful in its own way.

"There's nothing to worry about," Steve volleys back, grinning as he leans over and drapes his arm across Maeve's shoulders. "I'm perfectly confident in my ability to rock your world."

He laughs softly and squeezes Maeve's shoulder as he winks across the table at Eddie. "And Munson's, if that dream ever rolls around."

It feels a little like he's flirting, but he's not, he thinks. He's joking. Maybe there's a fine line between flirting and kidding and he sort of thought that line was a penis, but maybe now he's not so sure. Wait.

Eddie's eyes widen further than they need to for comic effect and he looks at Maeve, pretending to be scandalized. It's all just fun and messing around, because Eddie's pretty well head over heels for Chrissy, even if she doesn't know it, but it is fun.

And he thinks Steve might be flirting, even if it's just playful.

"I think your boyfriend is hitting on me," he says to Maeve in a stage whisper.

"Don't give me ideas," she whispers back.

"If I was hitting on you, you'd know it," Steve replies with a flirty smirk, letting himself just lean into it because they're all just kidding around, and it doesn't mean anything. He's with Maeve. And he's not into guys. That should probably be the first reason, because he's not.

"What ideas?" He asks Maeve, eyes widening a little as he looks between Eddie and Maeve as they lean in toward each other. Steve feels the wild urge to grab the back of their heads and push their mouths together like dolls, and he blinks a few times to clear it. "What's going on in that beautiful and terrifying mind of yours?"