Chapter Text
Eddie was sitting on the tribune and looking at the basketball game. Well, he was actually looking at Steve. His sweaty tank top, messy hair, half parted lips and muscles made Eddie feel so warm inside.
"Eddie!" Dustin shouted. "Where have you gone?! I've been searching for you for half an hour!"
"Oops, sorry, man. I should've at least texted you. Well, I was here, y'know, watching the game," Eddie replied.
Dustin scanned Eddie, who was looking at the guys playing basketball again.
"You, out of all people, were here... watching a game... YOU?!" Dustin asked in disbelief.
"Well, Dusty-boy, sometimes people do unexpected things," Eddie said in a flamboyant way, not looking away from the game.
"Yea, sure. I bet you don't even know the rules, Munson!" Dustin said.
"Duh, there are people who are throwing balls to those nest thingies," Eddie said and pointed at the hoops.
Dustin looked at him in disbelief again.
"You seem to be looking at someone..." Dustin said.
"Aha! Chrissy Cunningham! You're looking at Chrissy Cunningham!" Dustin exclaimed.
"Shut up, man! I'm not! Okay? Now, please, would you be so kind and let me finish watching the game before I get lost?!" Eddie snapped at him, coming out much meaner than he wanted to.
"Geez, man, calm down, I'm just kidding," Dustin said and raised his hands in a protective manner.
"Sorry," Eddie said in remorse.
Dustin didn't reply, but he in a second he seemed like he forgot about what happened and started bombarding Eddie with questions again.
"Have you heard of this year's Snow Ball?"
"Yea," Eddie replied.
"Well, who are you planning to ask out?!" Dustin said in excitement.
"I'm not going," Eddie said calmly.
"What?! What do you mean you're not going?!"
"Ok, man," Eddie started, finally turning to face Dustin. "Listen, first of all, I don't give a fuck about these kind of activities. Second of all, I ain't gonna wear a tux and dance infront of some kids. And finally, do you seriously think there's actually someone who would want to dance with Eddie "The Freak" Munson?" he added and chuckled.
"Really, man, these things aren't for me. I'd much rather stay home and listen to music. My typa' music!" Eddie said and shouted out the last sentence, sticking out his tongue and making the metalhead hand.
"Well, I think the last thing may not be a problem," Dustin said, raised his left eyebrow and pointed to the right, where was Chrissy walking right towards them.
"Uh, Eddie, hello!" she greeted shyly.
"Hello, Chrissy," Eddie greeted her back.
"Surprised to see you here," she said in a flirty tone.
Eddie sighted i just can't finish the game in peace, can I? he thought.
"I wanted to try something new, but honestly, I have no idea what's happening. What's even the point of the game?" he asked, genuinely interested.
"Well, you see those five people in green/white tops? Those are our guys. They're a team. Basically, their goal is to throw the ball into their opponents' hoop. They also can't let their opponents throw the ball into their hoop," Chrissy explained.
"Nice... nice. Still don't get it tho. Does it have a deeper purpose or something?" Eddie asked, confused.
"Not really, this is basically it. Surprised that you don't understand basketball, but keep playing that fantasy game out your, which sounds much more difficult," Chrissy laughed.
"Dungeons and Dragons? Hm, not really. I mean, other than the hundred something page rules and the fact that you take a lot of time writing campaigns and still usually have to improvise, because things take an unexpected turn. But other than that, it's pretty easy," Eddie said.
"You should show me how to play it someday," Chrissy said, sat down next to Eddie and put her hand on his thig.
Eddie uncomfortably moved a few inches away and she understood that he didn't feel comfortable, so she put her hand away.
"So... do you have a date for this year's Snow Ball?" Chrissy asked after a while.
"Not really. I'm not sure I wanna go, honestly," Eddie replied.
"Well, maybe if you had a date..." Chrissy said and looked deep into Eddie's eyes.
"Are you... asking me out?" Eddie asked, clearly confused again.
"Maybe," she said and clicked her tongue.
"Aren't you dating... that guy?" Eddie said, pointing at one of the basketballers.
"Jason? Well, yea... but I'm not sure he wants to go there with me..." she said.
"Damn, girl..." Eddie said and paused. "I mean... if I did go with you, he'd definitely find out and make my life a living hell... he already doesn't like me much..."
"I could find a way to make it work. So, would you go to the Snow Ball with me?" Chrissy said and gave Eddie a smile.
"I'm sorry, girl... I don’t really wanna go to the ball, like, at all. So... I'm gonna have to reject... sorry again. But, hey! You can tell Jason that you wanna go, I'm sure he would totally take you," Eddie said.
"O-oh... okay, well, thanks for your time," she said, a bit disappointed and walked away.
"Duuuddeeee!!! What the heeelll???!!!" Dustin shouted and widened his eyes, looking at Eddie.
"You rejected Chrissy Cunningham?! One of the hottest girls in Hawkins?! Just like... that?! Duuddee, are you out of your mind?!" Dustin said in shock.
"It's not that big of a deal, man. I told you, I don't wanna go to the ball," Eddie replied.
"Jesus! Man!" Dustin said, still in shock.
"Hey, we'll talk after the game, I have a feeling, that it's ending soon."
"Okay..." Dustin said, his eyes still wide.
And Eddie finally got to stare at Steve again. Wait, was he... lying on the ground?
~
"Harrington! Didn't see ya there!" Billy Hardgrove said, before placing a foot infront of Steve, making him trip over.
"Ouch!" Steve said as the ground met his face.
Billy quickly took the ball Steve dropped while falling and tossed it into the hoop.
"What the fuck, man?! We're on the same team!" Steve shouted after him.
"Sorry, man, don't take it personally. I'm just better than you," Billy shrugged.
"Pfew!" Steve spat out and jumped back on his feet, wiping the bits of blood from his split lip. "Asshole," he whispered.
After the game ended, all the players went to their dressing room. Steve took off his sweaty clothes, except for his pants, put them into his locker and locked it. His body was dripping from sweat, so he went to take a shower.
"Harrington! Look who's here, guys! The floor kisser!" Billy shouted. The rest of Steve's teammates laughed.
"Very funny, Hardgrove. Just don't cream your pants," Steve snapped at him.
"You better don't cream yours, Harrington," Billy said and splashed some water on Steve.
Steve decided to ignore it. Billy finished showering 1st. Steve took a few minutes more, because he had to take good care of his pretty hair. After all, he didn't get called Steve "The Hair" Harrington for nothing.
When he was finished with the shower, he walked back to his locker and unlocked it only to find it empty. All his clothes were gone.
"FUCKING HARDGROVE!" he yelled.
A laugh could be heard from the bathroom. It sounded a lot like Billy's laugh.
"That's it. THAT'S FUCKING IT!" Steve yelled and speed-walked into the bathroom.
He found Billy there, holding his clothes.
"Searching for these, Harrington?" he asked, before holding the clothes over the toilet.
"Yes. Now, let's do it nicely. Give me back my clothes and I won't kick your ass," Steve said angrily.
"Hmmm... nope!" Billy said and dropped one of Steve's socks into the toilet. Steve's eyes widened.
"You shouldn't have done that, Hardgrove..." Steve said and jumped at Billy.
For a while, punches were just flying through the air. Steve managed to land a punch at Billy's face. It was a mistake. The punch angered Billy even more and he punched Steve into the stomach really strongly. It made Steve fall to the ground and catch for breath.
"Don't" [punch] "ever" [punch] "pretend" [punch] "that" [punch] "you" [punch] "are" [punch] "better" [punch] "than" [punch] "me!" Billy said and punched Steve again.
"Understood?!" he shouted and spat on Steve's face.
Steve just nodded.
"Good," Billy said, before turning to walk out.
"Never... again!" He shouted one last time before kicking Steve for the last time.
For many long minutes, Steve laid on the ground. He was done. He had a big black eye, another split lip, a bleeding nose and knuckles from that one successful punch he landed on Billy's face.
"Fuck... fuck," he whispered before passing out.
~
"This ain't fair, y'know?" Dustin said. "You get a hot girl asking you out and you don't even accept her! Meanwhile, look at me! I'm so excited about going, but noone!" he complained.
"Damn... can't believe I'm doing this..." Eddie mumbled before speaking up:
"Okay... you know that I'm definitely not a dating advice pro, but maybe I can help."
"Really?" Dustin asked, his eyes sparkling.
"Yea, I mean, if someone like Chrissy is interested in someone like me... anything is possible, man. Ok, look around," Eddie said, placed his hands on Dustin's shoulders and slowly moved him in a circle.
"Fancy anyone, Henderson?" Eddie asked.
"I'm not sure... I... woah! Dark long straight-ish hair and glasses on 12th hour!" Dustin said in excitement and pointed at the girl.
She looked nice. She was wearing a blue dress and a blue matching bow in her hair.
"Well, go! Talk to her!" Eddie said and lightly pushed Dustin towards the stairs.
"Now?!" Dustin asked, kinda scared.
"Sure thing, dude! Go! What could possibly go wrong?" Eddie said. Dustin gulped, and slowly walked towards the girl.
Eddie observed them both from the tribune. He didn't hear what were they saying, but he could see, that the girl seemed to like Dustin. Soon enough, they were both giggling.
After another while, Dustin looked at Eddie, who was still sitting at the tribune and showed his a big thumb up. Eddie cheered and returned the thumb up.
Then, he saw Dustin and the girl walk out of the gym hand in hand.
"Ah, what an easy life for a straight guy," Eddie quietly sighted.
"Hey Eds!" Robin greeted him from the above.
"Jesus christ!" Eddie shouted and jumped up, luckily not hitting Robin's chin with his own head.
"Oops, sorry, Munson," she apologised.
"It's ok, you just scared me," Eddie said.
"Well, how are you doing?" she asked.
"Good, thanks! You?"
"Pretty great actually! Oh! I saw you talking to Chrissy Cunningham! Good catch, man!" Robin said in excitement.
"Eh, wouldn't call it a catch, we were just talking, y'know," Eddie said calmly.
"You're fucking kidding me... Chrissy... a literal goddess approaches you and you don't ask her out? You men are so fucking ungrateful!"
"Is your gaydar... broken?" Eddie asked and chuckled.
"Excuse me?" Robin asked in confusion.
"If... if your gaydar is broken."
"What... wh- ohh! HOLY SHIT!" Robin exclaimed.
"Yep!" Eddie said and did the gay hand weakly, so only she could see it.
"Holy shit! How is it that I didn't realise?!" Robin said and hugged Eddie.
"Welcome to the club, man!" Robin exclaimed in excitement.
"Shh! It's still kinda new to me. I mean, I've always known that I liked men, but, I only realised I'm like... homo recently," Eddie whispered.
"Understood! Still, I'm so proud of you!" she said and tightened the hug.
"You're- choking me!" Eddie squeaked.
"Sorry!" Robin said and chuckled. "So that's why you're at a basketball game! Sweaty men!" she added.
"Yep, sweaty men! In tank tops! Running around!" Eddie said in maybe too much excitement.
"That's good, man. Gotta feed your gayness. So, which one do you fancy?" Robin asked.
"Well... all of them, in a way. Billy's hot as fuck, he's kinda an ass, yea, but we're talking about looks. Tommy is cute, Steve is..." he said before pausing. Shit! I totally forgot that Steve is her best friend!
"Steve, huh?" Robin smirked.
"Shush! He's hot, okay? I mean, I know you're gay in the other direction, but you have to admit that!"
"Yea, you're right, I guess. I mean, according to girls, he's a total sex bomb," Robin shrugged. "I'm just into girls way too much, so I can't appreciate Steve 'Hairy bare chest' Harrington."
"Noticed. Are you taking Vickie to the Snow Ball?" Eddie asked.
"I'm not sure, do you think they won't hate us for being two girls?"
"It's 2022, I'm sure they won't. Besides, the whole school knows you're gay as fuck, Buckley. You're not really hiding it, y'know? Perhaps that big Lesbian pride flag you wore as a cape on 1st of June last year."
"Yeah, you're right, I should ask her to come with me," Robin said. "Are you planning to ask anyone? You know, what's a better coming out than literally dancing with a guy at a ball," she added.
"Hm.. maybe... but, even if I wanted to, I have as much dating experience as Dustin. Wait, no, he has more. And, believe me, romantically, I'm as exciting as a pile of wet leaves," Eddie said.
"Oh shush! Don't be so hard on yourself! You should totally ask someone to go with you!"
"Okay, okay. Let's say I have dating experience and I am romantically exciting. Still, how do I know I've found a gay or bi or pan or something guy who won't just bully me if I asked him out?" Eddie asked.
"Well... I can't help you with that, really. You know how long it took me to gather my confidence and make a step with Vickie. Maybe you can browse the net or something," Robin offered.
"Yea... I can try that, but I could use some dating advice first," Eddie said.
"Well, I happen to have a friend... a best friend actually. And, well, let's say he's dated more girls than you've ever talked to. Hm? What do you think?"
"You're talking about Harrington, right?"
"Yep!"
"I'm not sure, Rob... I mean... he has dated girls, y'know? I'm planning to ask out a guy, I'm pretty sure it works differently..." Eddie said.
"Maybe not! It's still better to ask for some advice, believe me!" Robin said.
"Talking about Steve... I was supposed to meet him here-" Robin said and looked at her watch. "-20 minutes ago! Something, or someone has definitely happened, because he is never late! C'mon! We gotta look for him!" Robin squeaked, pulled Eddie up and ran towards the dressing room while holding Eddie's hand.