Domestic Steddie Fluffsmutsandstuff; Polemical

[pinch_hitter]

SOFT!VERSE
Shotgunning Pt1 and Shotgunning Pt2

TFLN & then the the Hideout

Breakdown

Sexting

Shaving Kinks, 1st Times, and Eddie Out the Window

Jumping the Shark and into Differences

So Eddie goes to Nancy and Steve runs into Chrissy

Insomnia and h/c and Admissions, finally

These are the sort of books you read?

Another Friday Night

Bad dreams

Started as sexting ended up planning future families?

Play dress up and meet the parents

Another attempt at sexting

More bad dreams

Hotboxin'

Trading Places

He's not a third wheel

Our apartment

Comments

as long as we abuse it, never gonna lose it

[polemical]

[ In perhaps a misguided attempt to curry favor with Steve's parents, when Eddie found out there was something wrong with their lawn mower and Mr Harrington was about to just replace it, she had scoffed and pulled out Wayne's toolbox so she could fix the damn thing herself. An engine's an engine, after all, and she'd been raised too poor to replace things that just needed a little elbow grease.

She was honestly surprised that Steve's dad hadn't seemed interested in getting it fixed, just replacing it, but she supposes if you're rich enough anything is replaceable.

She'd spent an afternoon sitting in the Harrington's driveway, bent over the engine of their lawnmower, swearing under her breath and sweating through her shirt, her hair piled up high in a scrunchie so it stays out of her face and she can focus on what she's doing. At one point, Steve's mom had brought her a drink, which was so out of the blue that Eddie had almost dropped it all over the fucking lawnmower where it lay in pieces in front of her, but that was the extent of the interaction she had with his parents. She has a feeling Steve's dad is sort of hoping if he ignores her long enough she'll go away, which, hah. As fucking if. Eddie's about ten seconds away from tattooing Steve's name on her neck just to see the way their eyebrows will twitch, the way their mouths will twist, the way their eyes will harden.

And also because she's stupidly in love with him, that bastard, enough so that she'll go to his parents' house when he's not even home to try and fix something he doesn't even care about.

Steve came home from work before she finished and wound up sitting right next to her on the concrete, and Eddie had taken immense pleasure in tilting up her chin to accept the kiss he gave her, hoping that his parents were watching from the kitchen window.

Suck it, assholes. ]

[pinch_hitter]

Maybe you should give up?

[Steve laughs and turns a piece of the lawnmower over in his hands. He's still got his green vest on though he's starting to work a sweat-patch between the shoulder blades that he'll have to wash out before his shift tomorrow. If his parents weren't here he'd get them beers but ever since that company party in Kokomo they've been unusually present in his life in general and in the house specifically. "Work from home" is a phrase that he's never heard his father utter before in all his years under the sun.

He knows that his mother is glancing out the windows at regular intervals. Steve doesn't care. Ever since the conversation he and Eddie had about Indy he seems to care less and less. He hasn't told his parents anything but unlike before, that wad of bills he has in a box in his closet are checked almost daily. Will it be enough? Will his dad stop him from taking the Beamer?

Steve has never been good at 'what ifs' so he just checks the money and tucks it back away. His nightmares are still bigger than if he can afford to make it work in a new city with the girl he loves.

Of course he can. They can. That's the answer.] We could just go for a swim instead.

[polemical]

Absolutely fucking not, I am going to win against this stupid fucking machine if it's the last fucking thing I do.

[ Eddie's always had a bit of a dirty mouth, always swore a little bit more than maybe she should, but she's certainly started doing more of it since the Harringtons have started hanging around.

Most of the time she's torn between the desire to tone herself down to be more palatable for Steve's family and the equally strong desire to amp herself up to eleven so that they can't do anything but take it and learn to deal with the fact that she'll never be the kind of girl they always wanted Steve to marry. She'll never be a commodity, a pretty young thing he can turn into a domestic servant, the kind of woman who trades on her good looks and charm to secure a comfortable life whose security will eventually fade along with her beauty.

Honestly, Eddie's never really considered herself that beautiful to begin with, but she's starting to learn to accept it when Steve tells her she is, has almost started to believe him, too.

She looks up at him over her shoulder, puffing out a harsh breath to try and shift a stubborn piece of hair that's glued to her face, and shakes her head. ] I don't have a swimsuit with me. And I doubt your mom will let me borrow one of hers, even if I asked really nicely.

[pinch_hitter]

[He reaches out to help with the hair, sliding fingertips under the damp, dark curl and pushing it back behind her ear. Seeing Eddie with her hair up is still infrequent enough that it does something for him that he can't deny, twists his gut up in a way that dries his mouth out and makes his words a little sticky with want.] Right but what if we skinny-dipped?

[It's a joke; he lets the grin slide onto his face to show it. Steve is still on a weird fence when it comes to his parents, can't get comfortable enough with them around to give them the finger where they can see it but that small revolution named real life sits at the back of his mind and tongue and heart at all times now, begging action.

Yeah, Eddie's goddamned beautiful. Lookit her, with the grease of his dad's stupid lawnmower that he hires someone to use smearing her fingers and forearms and one little line on her forehead. Steve's desperate for it. For her.

So he leans in closer, to hell with it, and kisses her again. Slower. Not dirty, not like he wants to, but he lingers just enough. If his mom is watching surely she's ringing her hands and going through her mental rolodex for eligible young ladies who like to stay clean.]

[polemical]

[ Eddie doesn't like to stay clean. She loves to get dirty, loves to get absolutely filthy, especially if it's with Steve.

She groans into his kiss, her lips curling in acknowledgement of the joke, and when he starts to pull away she leans in to follow him like she just can't help herself. ] If we skinny-dipped I'd blow you right there in the pool, [ she threatens, her eyes gleaming as she finally settles back and lets him put distance between them again.

Is she joking? Maybe. Maybe not. She can't swim, after all, so she'd need to cling to him to keep from drowning. And they have a well-documented history of what happens when she clings to him for too long. ]

[pinch_hitter]

[This is very true, it is well-documented.

Steve's ears get a little red at Eddie's words and there are certain parts of his body that like the idea quite a bit but he knows that it can't happen, obviously. So he rolls his eyes at her and hands her the engine piece he's holding.] Maybe we start with fixing the lawn mower and see what happens. You fix it and... I'll take you to the Quarry and you can blow me there.

[He winks and leans back, resting on palms and locked elbows.]

[polemical]

[ Eddie laughs, low and a little throaty, and rolls her eyes dramatically at him right back. ] Dangle a carrot in front of me, why don't you.

[ She slips him a little wink before taking the part he handed her and fitting it carefully back where it belongs, the tip of her tongue pressing into her lip as she concentrates, an unconscious mimic of Steve's stupid tic that drives her absolutely bonkers.

The problem with lawnmower engines is that they're so much smaller than car engines and while she's got smaller hands than a lot of mechanics, they're still not that small, and she always winds up pinching her fingers painfully one way or another no matter what she does. Cursing, she twists a bolt carefully as tight as she can with just her fingertips. ] I can't believe how much rust is in this thing, doesn't your dad do any maintenance on it?

[pinch_hitter]

If you think my dad touches anything in the garage then you're as crazy as everyone says you are. [It's light, and Steve bops his knee against Eddie's.] I, uh. [He laughs.]

He bought this small aceltyne torch for... hell, I don't even know what he thought he'd weld. Years ago. And then after-- I mean, after everything that's happened in the last few years I brought it upstairs and keep it in my closet. Handy fire. I've had it there since '84 and he's never questioned that it's gone.

[Steve shrugs, as well as he can with his weight on his arms.] So, no. He doesn't do any maintenance on the lawn mower.

[polemical]

It's just basic tool ownership, [ she grumbles, well aware that Mr Harrington wouldn't dare stoop so low as to dirty his own hands with this sort of thing. It never made sense to her, that rich people who like to have fancy toys don't learn how said toys work. Steve drives a BMW that was handed to him by his parents and she's pretty sure neither of them knows how to even check the engine oil let alone repair anything substantial.

At least Steve knows better. She's made sure of it.

She glances up at him, her eyebrows rising. ] Stop it. You trying to make my boner for you visible from outer space or something? Don't tell me you go running around with a portable blowtorch in hand. The nail bat is bad enough.

[pinch_hitter]

[Steve has to laugh at that, shaking his head and tilting his head up to the sun, closing his eyes.] Course I don't. It's just.

Just to feel safe, I guess. But now I know your weakness. [He cracks an eye open to look at Eddie.] Just gotta figure out how to weld something, huh?

[polemical]

Well you should.

[ She chuckles along with him, allowing herself a moment of inaction to admire the sight he presents while he's not paying attention, sat on the concrete beside her with his head back and his neck bared and a little smile curling his lips. Sometimes it hits her in the chest like Steve's nail bat, how beautiful he is. How lucky she is, to be allowed to be close to him like this. She wants to kiss him again, wants to press her tongue to his pulse, wants to taste the salt of his skin.

She grins at him when he looks at her, bops her knee back against his. ] You pick up welding and I really will turn into a good little housewife for you, ready and waiting whenever you want.

[pinch_hitter]

[The laugh for that is honest.] Yeah right. I'm not sure the definition of 'good little housewife' is actually just like, being super horny all the time? And anyway you kinda already have that covered.

[He loves it. He loves her. It's almost funny from this point of view, sitting with Eddie and a half-assembled lawnmower, the bright sun making her eyes look like melted chocolate, holes in her tshirt, his parents inside where he'd always wanted them but not for the right reasons-- it's funny that he ever thought he'd loved Nancy as much as he was possible of loving someone. She had been a starting point. An opening page compared to this.]

[polemical]

[ She wrinkles her nose at him, delighting in the bark of his laughter. She likes making him laugh like that almost as much as she likes making him moan for her. ] Then what the hell else is she supposed to do?

[ She's just being stupid on purpose. She knows that a housewife is supposed to keep the home running with like chores and cooking and all that stuff. She also, however, likes her dirty stories where a housewife is just a bored, repressed woman waiting around for a virile stud of a man to come and rock her world. Which is obviously where Steve comes in. ]

[pinch_hitter]

Obviously like, cook. And wear skirts. Probably not put everything in their lives on the floor of their room. [He cocks his head to the side, clearly not serious but seriously happy to keep up the banter.] Oh, right, I mean, babies. Like. At least a dozen. With coordinating outfits and stuff. Are you good at ironing underwear?

[polemical]

You don't have to wear skirts to be a housewife! Mrs Wheeler doesn't wear skirts. [ Mrs Wheeler is like Chrissy Cunningham to Eddie: the epitome of Perfect Womanhood. Or Girlhood, in Chrissy's case. Trying to imagine Mrs Wheeler being a dirty housewife for Mr Wheeler is awful, though. She shakes her head to clear the cobwebs and tries to refocus. ] I'd iron your junk before I iron your tighty-whities, baby, I'm sorry to tell you. And I think we both know coordinating outfits is more your arena than mine.

[pinch_hitter]

Mrs Wheeler definitely wears skirts, Eeds. [He saw her enough for a few months of his life, after all.] Just not like all the time.

Anyway my junk is a little adverse to burning. And yeah I definitely have the fashion sense between us so... wait.

[Steve raises an eyebrow.] Are you saying that I'm the housewife? Because I am offended. And a terrible cook. We both know I'm just a very trendy hunter-warrior type.

[polemical]

[ Her eyes gleam like she's a the hunter having spotted its prey; forget talking about Mrs Wheeler, Eddie puts down the parts of the lawnmower she's messing with so she can twist a little more and plant her hand down on the harsh concrete of the Harrington's driveway, leaning into Steve's space and grinning at him. ] Tch. You saying you don't wanna be my little housewife, Stevie? [ she drawls, her voice low and syrupy, her eyes pointedly flicking down to look at Steve's lips before they drag back up to meet his. ] Keep our place clean and tidy for me, make our bed every morning so I can come home and wreck you on it every night?

[pinch_hitter]

No. [Steve clears his throat.] N-no, I didn't-- I mean, I am. Saying what? [There was a double negative in there maybe and all his blood has suddenly rerouted south, far, far away from his brain.] Look we can wreck each other in a very equal relationship.

[Steve's tongue darts to the corner of his mouth.

Our bed.]

Besides I'd look terrible in a skirt.

[polemical]

I'd love to make you my kept man, sweetheart. [ She's all but prowling over him now, up on her knees, not even caring about the loose bits of gravel embedding themselves into her skin because it's so fucking hot she wound up wearing shorts even though for most of the year she suffers in jeans. Any scrapes or gashes she sustains in the course of making Steve's eyes go big like that, making him gulp a swallow like that, it's all fucking worth it. ]

You'd look amazing and we both know it. Your legs, baby, any time I see your thighs I just wanna bite 'em. [ She grins at him, sways a little closer so she can nudge the tip of her nose against his. ] Think of how much easier it'd be for me to blow you if you weren't wearing jeans all the goddamn time.

[pinch_hitter]

Jesus Christ.

[But Steve's eyes flicker toward the house and even as he gives into a kiss he's already sitting up out of his easily-compromised position and into something more proper, with more leverage to push Eddie away. He laughs, short, tight.] You're not going to finish the lawnmower today if you keep this up.

[Because he's going to force her into the car and drive them somewhere he can make her eat her words.]

[polemical]

[ She whines as Steve shifts out of her range, petulant and needy and a little bit amused, huffing at him when he sits back and she's left with just the taste of his lips on hers, a conspicuous amount of space between them.

Stupid Steve's nosy parents. ]

Ugh. Fine. But only because I want to prove your dad wrong. [ She narrows her eyes at him, levels an accusatory finger in his direction. ] But we're picking this back up again when I'm finished. I'm not nearly done with you yet, Stevie-boy.

[pinch_hitter]

[Which undoubtedly means that someway, somehow, Eddie is going to turn him on in some weird way that he doesn't fully understand but makes him partially blind with want anyway.] You're a menace. [Steve mutters it, soft and laughing, as he draws his knees up just a little bit until he can loop his arms around them.

Eddie doesn't wear skirts! There's no way that Steve's putting one on, even as a joke.]

Hey... [Hazel eyes flick toward the house again and Steve's voice drops as he shakes his head.] He's gonna think whatever he wants to think. The lawnmower doesn't matter. [He doesn't want her to want his parents' approval because-- because he knows, brutally, where that gets someone.] So just fuck it. Let's go somewhere.

[polemical]

You love it, [ she retorts smugly as she settles back down on her ass and returns to what she's doing with the stupid fucking lawnmower.

She thinks maybe she's got it figured out. It's taken her hours, she probably has a sunburn on the back of her neck and the bridge of her nose, but things are starting to fit into place in her head and she's reassembling things, so she'll know one way or the other pretty soon if she's got a bright future of appliance repair ahead of her or not.

Steve floats the incredibly tempting offer to just fuck off and leave the lawnmower in parts, but she shakes her head. ] I'm almost done. Just a few more minutes.

[pinch_hitter]

[He knew that she was too stubborn to leave it, regardless. More about her than his dad but the words had to be said anyway. Nowadays it feels... necessary, to say the things about his parents that he would have otherwise excused or defended. At least to Eddie, to Robin. It feels like purging some poison, painful but right.

Steve brushes his jeans for no reason at all and stands, grabbing Eddie's empty water glass. It feels strange seeing the nice crystal sitting out on the concrete of the driveway-- not that the driveway itself isn't as nice as the rest of the house but a beer can feels more appropriate to the situation. He wants to think that his mother gave Eddie the glance as a reflexive, honest choice but he doesn't know anymore. He hates have to overthink things; he's bad at it.]

Gonna go say hi and change. I smell like the carpet of Family Video.

[polemical]

[ It's good Steve knows that once Eddie's got a bee in her bonnet about something she's almost impossible to dissuade. She might like to win a little more of Steve's parents' approval, but the real reason she's going to force the issue is because she wants to prove something to herself.

And, maybe, she wants to impress Steve too. Just a little.

She smiles up at him when he stands, squinting a little into the sun filtering through the trees, and nods. ]'Kay. Can you bring me, like, a dog towel or something? I'm a fucking mess. [ She's sweaty and greasy from the gears, and while she doesn't mind getting her towels dirty, she's got a feeling Mrs Harrington might disagree. Steve doesn't have a dog, but surely they have some less than pristine towels she can sully. Right? ]