Chapter Text
Two weeks had passed. Two agonizing weeks where Steve’s head was swirling with nothing other than Eddie Munson. Even now, when he was on a date to try and forget that night, when he looked at her all he could see was Eddie.
He found himself comparing the two.
Eddie’s hair was longer than hers, his eyes were rounder, and his smile felt more real. Steve wanted so badly to drown in Eddie’s cheap cologne. This girl, she smelled too flowery, too much like memories far too distant to bring anything but pain now.
God, how fucked up was that? Comparing his date to one of his best friends was pathetic.
“I just love coming here,” Janet said as she leaned over to console to put her head on Steve’s shoulder.
He plastered on a smile and wrapped an arm around her, “Yeah.”
They were at the drive-in, but Steve couldn’t keep track of what was happening in the movie at all. It was some cheesy romcom. All he gathered is that some bad boy and goody-two-shoes girl were falling in love.
“Oh!” His date shrieked as it started raining buckets out of nowhere, “Oh no! I didn’t know it was supposed to rain.”
“It wasn’t, but uh, don’t worry,” Steve quickly flicked on the windshield wipers, “I’ve got us covered.”
“Aw, Steve,” Janet giggled and nuzzled into him, “You’re such a gentleman.”
When the movie finally ended, Steve took Janet home with a small, non-committal promise to call her. He pulled off to the side of the road at the first pay phone he saw and jogged through the beating rain to take refuge within the glass booth.
He inserted a quarter and waited for a familiar voice to pick up, “Buckley residence, Robin speaking.”
“Robs,” Steve let out a breath he didn’t realize he was holding, “I need your advice.”
“Steve?” He could hear her adjusting the phone, “Steve, speak up, I can barely hear you.”
“Sorry, it’s pouring out here,” he borderline yelled into the phone, “I need your advice.”
“Are you on a pay phone?”
“Yes, but that’s unrelated,” Steve twirled the phone chord with his finger, “Do you think Eddie’s gay?”
She floundered for a minute, “What?”
“Do! You! Think! Eddie—!”
She cut him off quickly, “I heard you the first time. Why are you asking?”
“Because I might be gay!” Now he was fully yelling, letting the rain drown out his confession.
“Hang on a minute.”
He knew exactly what she was doing, she was going into the hallway closet so her parents couldn’t hear her talking.
“Say that again.”
He really didn’t want to, but it came out so willingly, “I think I’m gay, Robin!”
“Why?” she asked slowly, like it was some kind of prank she was trying to wrap her head around.
“Ever since we went to that drag show I— I haven’t been able to stop thinking about Eddie! I just dropped Janet off and the entire time I was just thinking about the differences between her and Eddie! I—” he rested his head on the glass in defeat, “I don’t know what to do and you know more about this gay stuff than I do.”
“Wow, uh,” Robin was quiet for a moment, “Maybe you’re not gay, maybe you’re just in love with his drag persona.”
“No, no, I thought of that. It’s everything about him. His personality, his looks, his laugh. It's driving me crazy.”
“Maybe you’re bisexual,” she threw out a line.
Steve immediately caught the hook, “Bisexual?”
“Yeah, maybe you like both,” Robin didn’t sound too convinced herself, “Maybe it just took until you saw Eddie in that situation for you to realize it.”
Bisexual.
It sounded a lot less harsh in Steve’s ears than gay. Gay had long left Steve’s vocabulary as a dirty word or a bad thing, but that didn’t change the fact that it just wasn’t a word to describe him.
“Steve?” Robin brought him back to the moment, “Are you there?”
“Do you think he’s gay?”
She sighed, “He’s definitely not straight. Look, if you want to tell him then just tell him. He might just surprise you.”
“Thanks,” he almost hung up in his rush, but he gained some sense, “Thank you, Robin. Bye, love you.”
“Love you too, dummy.”
Steve hung up the phone and stood there in silence for a minute.
“Bisexual,” he repeated to himself, testing the word on his lips, “I’m bisexual. Eddie, I want to talk to you. I’m bisexual. Eddie…”
He sighed, inserted another quarter, and dialed another number.
His stomach turned in knots as the phone rang once.
Twice.
“Munson. Eddie speaking.”
Steve’s back straightened as he heard his voice, “Eddie, hey!”
I want to talk to you. I’m bisexual.
“Hey, Stevie,” he purred, “To what do I owe the pleasure of being your late night call?”
“I’m— I need— I— I mean I want—”
Good god, this wasn’t helping.
Eddie snorted just loud enough for Steve to hear, “I think your phone’s cutting out.”
“Are you busy?”
Eddie hummed, “No, not at all. Why, you—”
He didn’t offer Eddie the same goodbye he gave Robin. He had to go talk to him in person, now.
Steve rushed back to his car and peeled out into the road as quickly as possible. A small drift reminded him that it was still raining bullets and the roads were too slick to go as fast as he wanted to. It forced him to slow down and to think. Every moment he had shared with Eddie flooded his mind. Every drink, every cigarette behind Robin’s back, every joint that they passed. These little memories only fueled the fire in Steve's heart.
Soon enough, Steve found himself standing in front of Eddie's door. The rain had long soaked him to the bone as he mustered up the courage to knock. Just knock. The worst he could say is no, right?
No, the worst he could say was “Get out of my life, Harrington.” or “I'm not a fag.”
Steve swallowed his pride and finally knocked on the door. To hell with whatever Eddie said, it'd kill Steve if he never got it off his chest.
Light from inside the homely little trailer poured outside as Eddie opened the door. God, he was wearing that stupid cropped tank top that showed off all the tattoos on his arms and a hint of his stomach. Seriously, did he have to wear that right now?
“Christ, man, you're gonna get pneumonia.” Eddie ushered Steve inside quickly, “Let me get you a towel.”
“Wait,” Steve grabbed his arm before he could go, “I need to talk to you first. Please just let me talk to you.”
Eddie raised an eyebrow at him, “Alright, go ahead.”
“I think I'm bisexual,” those words felt like sending a gunshot through the air, “and you helped me realize that.”
“I—” Eddie was completely taken aback, so of course he had to make some sort of joke before he fell too behind, “I always took you for a lady's man.”
“When I saw you on that stage—”
“Oh, I get it.” He rolled his eyes and started to turn away, “You like me in drag.”
“No, Eddie, I like you! I would give away everything to be with you!” The confession came out of Steve in waves, just like the downpour outside, “It took me seeing you in drag for me to realize it, but I've been falling in love with you! You’re so funny and patient with me and—”
“Steve—”
“Let me finish!” He ran a hand through his sopping wet hair, “You're so unapologetically yourself in a way I've never been! And—
Steve was cut off by Eddie grabbing his face and pulling him in for a kiss. He stood shocked at first, but once it finally clicked what was happening, Steve wrapped his arms around Eddie and pulled him closer until their bodies were flush against one another.
Eddie pulled his head back enough to say, “You're gonna give me an ego talking like that.”
“You…” Steve’s brain was still playing catch up, “You like me?”
“God, you make it sound like we’re twelve,” Eddie snorted, “Yeah, I like you. I thought I was laying it on there kinda heavy. Buckley’s right, you are oblivious.”
“Wait, what?”
Eddie pressed their foreheads together, making his bangs stick to Steve’s wet skin, “Come on, I’ve been flirting with you for months now. I thought you were never going to get the memo.”
“You were flirting?” Steve’s ears burned as he shuffled back through their previous conversations, “I guess you were, huh? God, I feel like an idiot.”
“I think it’s cute, for the record.” He wrapped his arms around Steve's neck, “You are… much more charming than I ever gave you credit for when we were in high school.”
“And Robin knew?”
“She almost killed me for how much I talked about you.”
A broad smile washed over Steve’s face, “So, you really like me?”
“Yeah, there’s just something about you I can’t get enough of,” Eddie whispered sweetly and drew Steve in for another kiss.
Steve’s heart swelled with joy at the realization that he finally had someone to call his own. Someone he could hold, someone to rely on. For a long time, Steve had felt lonely, but now the future didn’t seem so bleak.