Operation Parent Trap: By Proxy?
Mike Wheeler doesn’t particularly like Steve Harrington.
He didn’t hate him.
Steve was handy in a scrape.
He’d helped the party through a number of tough situations even when he didn’t need to be there, he was loyal, yada yada yada.
Whatever.
Steve was dumb.
He was a cocky, arrogant jock, too obsessed with his stupid hair and his stupid image.
And he was annoying!
Always asking the stupidest questions and making the stupidest jokes!
He’d dated his sister, he’d somehow wormed his way into the party, becoming a permanent fixture even after the two had broken up, and now he was intruding more and more during Hellfire sessions, eating into his quality time with Eddie.
Now, Mike Wheeler was a pretty well established fan of Eddie Munson.
Eddie was cool.
He was funny, confident, a talented storyteller, an amazing DM, an artist, a songwriter-
He played guitar, for Christssake.
Eddie was cool, and Steve was lame!
Before the events of the Spring Break from hell, Eddie had agreed with him on that.
Every single time Dustin or Lucas mentioned Steve at lunch or during a Hellfire session, Mike and Eddie wore matching looks of disdain.
The other two would try to affirm Steve’s supposed coolness, insisting on it with very carefully edited stories of Upside Down related adventures, and Mike would scoff at them while Eddie said something along the lines of:
“Steve? As in King Steve? The Hair? His illustriousness himself? Yeah, right.”
And Mike liked it that way.
Except…
After Spring Break, after Steve had carried a dying Eddie on his back out of the Upside Down like some sort of action hero, after he’d personally worked with a newly resurrected Hopper and several Government suits to clear Eddie’s name, after he’d spent a solid two months with Eddie staying in his empty guest room, feeding him soup and changing his bandages and caring for him like a goddamn wartime Nurse, well…
Things had changed.
Suddenly the two of them were attached at the hip.
If Mike wanted to hang out with Eddie, Steve was always there.
Hellfire?
Steve was right there on the couch.
The Quarry?
“Oh, I’ll tell Steve to bring some drinks.”
The cinema?
“Let me ask Steve if he’s seen that one yet.”
The arcade?
Steve.
The pool?
Steve.
Eddie’s trailer??
Steve Steve Steve!
If Mike called Eddie, nine times out of ten he’d be met with:
“Munson residence, this is Steve.”
And he knew shit changed when someone saved your life. He knew about trauma bonding. He’d read the packets Robin had given everyone post-Starcourt.
When he really gave it some consideration, he supposed he maybe understood to some extent the appeal of Steve.
Maybe.
He was… good-looking, he guessed.
Handsome, if he was feeling charitable.
He had nice eyes, or whatever.
Hazel with flecks of green and gold like autumn in a sappy romcom.
Deep and meaningful and warm.
Eddie called them ‘puppy dog eyes’, and he figured he could see why.
His hair was also… nice.
He was well known for it, after all. It had to be notable if it had a reputation all its own.
Expertly tousled brown tresses that sat perfectly no matter how much he moved, that smelled like honey and sandalwood, that looked soft to the touch.
He had a nice kind smile, if he really looked at it.
Strong arms…
Nice hands…
Sometimes he was kinda funny, too.
His humor was dry at times, other times a little goofy.
And sometimes when he’d tell a joke he was particularly proud of, he’d grin brightly at the recipient and wait for the inevitable groan and eyeroll with the patience of a saint.
After a while, Mike found himself almost hoping for that smile to be aimed toward him.
He had no fucking clue when that’d happened.
No fucking clue when he’d started seeking Steve out instead of brushing him off.
Now when the others ragged on Steve, Mike and Eddie wore matching looks of admonishment.
Dustin or Max would try and even jokingly insinuate Steve was anything short of a blessing, and both Eddie and Mike would immediately launch into the:
“Hey, lay off Steve, will ya? You don’t need a ride every single day you ungrateful little heathens.”
“Do you even realise how much he does for us? And he never asks for anything in return!”
The other party members were, of course, quick to call him on it.
………
They waited until the next session of Hellfire, sitting back in the Wheeler’s basement and biding their time until Eddie called for a break.
They waited until Eddie and Steve were distracted with their own little conversation, Steve mocking Eddie’s silly DM voices and Eddie giggling uncontrollably and swatting at his shoulder, before they pounced.
“Ok, Mike. Spill,” Max insisted, light eyes wide and challenging as she stood before him with her arms knitted tightly across her chest.
“Spill what?” Mike couldn’t help but scoff as he set aside his pencil, closing the binder with his messily scrawled notes from the session.
“Your weird thing with Steve!” Lucas continued, throwing a hand back toward the aforementioned jock turned babysitter.
Mike’s gaze travelled up just in time to see Steve with his head thrown back in a bright laugh, hand resting on Eddie’s shoulder as the DM spoke animatedly with wildly gesturing hands.
Mike refocused on the conversation at hand at a scoff from Dustin, returning the sound with a wrinkle of his nose and a deflecting little shrug.
“Wha- What weird thing with Steve? What are you talking about?” he shot back a bit defensively, crossing his arms to mirror Max’s position.
To return the challenge.
“What weird thing, he says,” Dustin sighed, gesturing to him with one hand as if the words he’d spoken were the most ridiculous he’d ever heard in all his 15 years of living.
“The weird thing where you’re suddenly his number one fan, dude! That weird thing!”
Mikes mouth dropped open, ready to fire back a quick retort, though his brain didn’t seem to receive the message to conjure one up.
“I’m-What? I’m not his… if-if anyone were- dude, shut up!” he stammered out as both Lucas and Max smothered their mocking laughter behind their fists.
Even Will seemed to be fighting off giggles, though that telltale smile was there for all to see.
And that just wouldn’t do.
“I’m sorry, Dustin! Is the position of borderline obsessive Steve groupie exclusively yours?”
Mike smiled in satisfaction as Dustin’s smirk disappeared at his words.
“Hey! It’s different for us! We have shared trauma the likes of which you people-“ he took a moment and pointed around at the other snickering party members.
“-will never understand! You, however!”
Dustin threw the attention right back toward Mike with a hard poke to the center of his chest.
“You’ve never liked Steve!”
“Don’t say it like I hated him, dude!” Mike tried to interject before he was immediately cut off once again.
“You used to complain about him constantly!” Lucas stressed.
“But now all of a sudden you’re laughing at his jokes, even the really dumb ones!”
“And you’re smiling at him when he talks like a lovesick little schoolgirl!” Dustin piled on.
“I’m half expecting to find a shrine dedicated to him in your bedroom closet!” Max finished, setting off the others with even more giggles.
Even El and Will!
Traitors.
“Hey! If anyone could be called his number one fan, it would be Eddie!” Mike argued, jerking a thumb back over toward the other side of the room where the two were now huddled close together, whispering conspiratorially.
“He’s literally always with him! I can’t even think about hanging out with him without Steve somehow materializing from thin air. So what if I finally found a few agreeable traits to appreciate about Steve after forced prolonged exposure? It’s impossible not to kinda like the guy after all the times Eddie’s talked my ear off about him!”
It was almost comical, the way every single pair of eyes staring at Mike post-outburst seemed to blink in perfect synchronicity as each party member carefully took in his words.
“So…” El started, her brow wrinkled in thought as she slowly turned back toward Steve and Eddie.
“Did everyone else just figure it out, too?”
The others followed her gaze with wide eyes as they took in the sight of their DM, grinning at their babysitter with the sweetest saddest moon-eyes as Steve chattered on totally obliviously.
He looked absolutely gone.
Dustin let out a little ‘hmm’ of confirmation, steepling his hands in front of his chin as he spoke:
“Is ‘it’ that Mike, in his quest to literally become Eddie, developed a crush-by-proxy on Steve because Eddie has a crush on Steve? Is that what we all just figured out?”
The rest of the party, including Mike, nodded in tandem, letting the thoughtful silence stretch on around them until a loud clap sounded, drawing all eyes back over to a significantly less moon-eyed Eddie, the soft glow of affection that’s previously taken up residence on his face evicted by the familiar sadistic glee as he called them back over to the table to continue their one-shot.
Further talks on their discovery would have to wait ‘til after the humble village of Za’hara was saved from the brutal reign of the Minotaur.
But further talks would be had.
There was no way they could let this little piece of information go.
………