follow back - steddie

2. steve's secret

11:30 PM

steve lays in his dense hotel bed. the darkness of the hotel room being broken by the bright light of his phone shining on his face.

here steve was, in florida, on a family vacation. he didn't necessarily want to be here, he much preferred his home, but he was happy that he was finally able to spend time with his parents.

steve's parents barely knew their way around their own home, they traveled so much. they rarely ever brought steve with but he didn't mind being left by himself at home too much, he was used to it after all.

steve also just liked being alone, after being alone for so long it becomes somewhat comforting. of course, when he was younger he had a nanny to keep him company, but he's 17 now and does fine on his own. he can cook (kinda), clean, and do laundry. he's pretty skilled at the basics.

  as he scrolls through his instagram timeline he sees a familiar name in 'find friends' section. eddie munson.

  steve clicks on the profile and there he is, the school metalhead, eddie munson. his profile picture being a shot of him wearing the denim vest he wears almost everyday. patches of band names covering most of it.

  steve looks down to eddies bio that reads, '17, hawkins high, he/him, metalhead' and a red guitar emoji.

  eddies profile consisted mostly of pictures of concert tickets, new patches he had collected for his vest, mirror selfies, and some videos of him playing various metal songs on his guitar.

  steve stared at eddies profile. steve knew a few things about about eddie: he's openly queer, works at a guitar shop, and is a metalhead. steve didn't mind eddie, in all honesty, he thought eddie was pretty cool. although steve didn't listen to much metal, he could understand the appeal.

  should i follow him? steve thought to himself. he wasn't too worried about what his basketball friends would think, they probably wouldn't even notice anyway. or so steve hoped.

  the real reason steve even thought to follow eddie, though, was that steve secretly thought eddie was pretty cute. from his wavy brown hair, to his band tees, as well as his smile, he was almost irresistible to steve.

 steve had identified to himself as bisexual almost two years ago now. he hasn't told anyone, let alone been with a guy. he figured he could start with his journey once he was out of high school. he could move away, to a less conservative town. maybe even the city. he looked forward to that.

  steve bit his lip as he pressed the follow button, finally, hoping that eddie might follow him back, even though eddie didn't seem to be very active on there. his most recent post being from almost three weeks ago.

  few minutes pass before steve's phone vibrates, showing that eddie has followed him back. this made steve smile, he saw this as a chance to finally speak to eddie, or at least interact. so he took this opportunity, pressing on the message button, and typing out a quick 'Hey' before sending a waving hand emoji. 

  the emoji was mostly an accident but steve thought it was kinda funny, so he left it. he hoped eddie wouldn't think he was too "cringy". 

  steve had an appearance to uphold. that being a "normal", straight, cis-gendered teen boy. most of those boys being, well... 'cringy', to say the least. still, steve tried to act like them as much as possible. studying how they text and type. what they post, and how often. he just wanted to fit in. even if that meant being totally boring and strangely normal.

  steve wished he could be open about who he was, but for his own safety he had to hide. that just made him look forward to graduating even more, though. he thought it was cool how open eddie was, especially living in a town like theirs. how was eddie not afraid? that boy must be fearless, or at least that's what steve thought.

  as the minutes passed, no message from eddie appeared. that made steve sad. did eddie not want to talk to him? did he scare eddie away? steve's heart raced at the thought of that. he didn't want eddie to be afraid of him. he wanted eddie to see steve for who he really was. the part of him that could not be revealed to anyone else. 

  maybe he's just asleep or something, steve thought. he hoped. am i really getting upset just because this boy i barely know isn't answering?  he questioned himself. steve had been feeling very emotional lately, he just wanted to be loved, and accepted. for who he really is. he wondering if eddie would be that one. 

  was eddie that type of person? was he steve's person? 

steve drifted off to sleep as he imagined hanging out with eddie, a slight grin on steve's face still remaining even after he'd fallen into a dream.

A/N: hii, look who finally updated his story!!! i just got a new laptop so updates will be a lot faster now, i promise. sooo, how do we feel about emotional steve? all feedback is appreciated!