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It was always Nancy. Nancy this, Nancy that and Steve was sick of it. He couldn’t go a day without someone insisting they were meant to get back together. No matter how many times he said no they kept at it. Now don’t get him wrong, Steve loved Nancy, but not in the way he felt he once did.
Steve wasn’t even sure if he could start dating her again after saying what they had was bullshit. He knew he should move on but that was the most painful thing he had experienced at that time. Another point everyone seems to be glossing over is she’s with Jonathan. No matter what issues they were having he wasn’t going to be getting between them; Steve wasn’t a homewrecker.
Day in and day out he would continue to deny their comments. The most insistent people in their group had to be Robin and Dustin. It felt like they had devised a plan to attack him from all sides. He had Robin telling him at work or when they hung out and then he had Dustin doing it when they were together, it was driving him crazy. When Dustin would do it, it felt worse. Dustin knew everything and still insisted and when the others were around, except for Mike, they would join in.
Being surrounded by children who didn’t listen to him would be his downfall.
~
Steve was right, the children were about to be his downfall. Somehow they ended up in the wheeler's basement. The group consisted of almost every member of their small army. Only two people were missing, Nancy and Jonathan, they had preferred a night to themselves. It was going as most nights with them do, loud and headache inducing, they decided to rent some movies and have a marathon. No one mentioned Nancy and Jonathan nor did they mention Steve’s ‘involvement’ with them. However, nothing ever goes Steve’s way it seems because at some point Max was stopping their marathon to start speaking.
“Hey Steve, why does Dustin keep talking about you and Nancy all the time? I thought you told us to stop,” She asked, seeming genuinely confused. Steve felt the same way.
“He’s been doing what?” He responded, tone harder than he meant it to be.
“Max shut up!” Dustin shouted towards the girl.
The other boys, and El, agreed with Max. Steve looked towards Robin and Eddie who had been trying to pay attention elsewhere.
“Dustin, what did I say about this topic of conversation?” Steve asked.
“Not to talk about it,” Dustin replied.
“Then why the hell are you still talking about something that doesn’t exist?” He asked, getting upset.
“Because you guys should get back together! You seemed to want to during the whole Vecna thing,” Dustin practically shouted out.
“I don’t want Nancy okay!” Steve shouted back.
The silence that filled the room after was deafening. Steve felt like minutes had passed by before the room was filled with a loud response from the group. He wasn’t sure who was saying what but none of it sounded interesting enough for him to join in. Robin had joined in on the yelling but Eddie was just sitting there, quietly staring at Steve.
“Why don’t you want to get back with her?” Robin asked Steve directly, drawing attention to him once more.
“Does it matter? We broke up and I moved on,” He replied.
“Well now you’re just lying,” Max scoffed, the others seemed to agree.
“Okay, let’s say I do get her back, what about Jonathan,” He asked the group.
That seemed to silence everyone until Will spoke up. “Would you get back together if he wasn’t with her?” He asked.
The amount of eyes on Steve made him feel uncomfortable. He knew his answer would be no but they looked at him like it would be yes. They looked at him like they knew the answer but it was always going to be the complete opposite.
“I don’t want to be with Nancy, let’s just drop it.”
And the shouts were back but Steve didn’t feel like listening to them all over again. He was sick of the topic of his love life. Why couldn’t he just keep it to himself like other people?
Steve felt himself standing it from his chair without a second thought. He looked over to where Eddie was sitting and made eye contact with the other. Eddie just raised a brow. Instantly Steve had a plan. He moved towards Eddie and leaned down just enough for the other to get the message. Eddie shrugged and sat up, kissing him. The kiss was chaste and brief but it worked to shut everyone up.
“Why did you kiss Eddie,” Dustin asked. Everyone was staring at the two and Steve had to stop laughing.
“I told you I didn’t want to be with Nancy,” He responded.
“So you kissed Eddie?” Dustin continued to question.
“I never said I didn’t want to be with someone, ” Steve said plainly.
“Wait so that means you like Eddie?” Robin asked.
“Yup,” Steve responded, popping the p at the end.
“Cool with me man,” Eddie shrugged. Steve did actually laugh out loud this time.
“Can we go back to watching movies now?” El asked, being the last one to speak. Everyone agreed. They settled back in and turned on another movie. Eddie smiled at Steve, giving him a wink that Steve returned.
~
It wasn’t until Steve was dropping off Robin that he would have to talk to Eddie. Robin got out giving Steve a wink and goodbye before the car was filled with silence, the only sound being the radio on low. He looked over towards Eddie who was already staring back at him.
“Not that I minded the kiss, Harrington, what was that about? Did you just want to shut up the kids or do you actually want to be with me? The older man asked
“I didn’t lie when I said I wanted to be with you,” Steve responded instantly.
Steve didn’t want Eddie to doubt him. He was being genuine when he said yes to Robin's question. He wasn’t sure when had started to like Eddie “The Freak” Munson but now he couldn’t stop. Has it been a good way to shut everyone up? Yes but that didn’t mean he cared less for the other.
“I really do like you Eddie,” He said softly with a smile.
“I really like you too Steve, boyfriends?” The other responded back.
“Boyfriends,” Steve agreed breathlessly.