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“Admit it, you like him,” Dustin said to Steve, tone nearly accusing.
He was talking about Eddie because of course he was. Eddie was there at their big ‘We survived The Upside Down for real this time’ party. He had been sitting with Steve and Dustin and some others discussing their plans for the rest of their summers until he got up for a drink.
And that’s when Dustin had to butt in because of course he would.
“What?” Steve asked, tone bitchy to try and disguise the feeling he had of being caught red handed.
“You like him,” Dustin said confidently. “I told you he was cool!”
Steve sputtered nervously. “What? No I don’t. We’re total opposites, he’s just nice.”
“Total opposites can still be friends. I can tell you like him, I can always tell.”
This kid and his ego.
“What do you mean you can always tell? No you can’t!” Steve argued.
“Um, yes I can,” Dustin asserted right back. “I could tell you liked Robin before you even could.”
Steve scoffed but the kid kinda had him there. Did it work out that way? No, but Steve and Robin were both more than happy with how it did work out. Either way though, Dustin had been right for a moment.
Steve shook his head, “That was one time. Lucky guess.”
“I’m just saying,” Dustin said, putting up his hands. “You like nerds more than you thought you would and now you like the king of the nerds.”
“King of the nerds?”
“You’re allowed to admit I’m right, you know? You guys would be good friends.”
Friends. Steve thought as he stared at the man returning to their table, two drinks in hand. ‘Friends’ wasn’t exactly what Steve wanted. He wanted a bit more if he was honest. If he admitted that though he’d be proving Dustin’s point and then some. Not only did he like the guy he like-liked him like some kind of high school kid.
Which, despite only being one year out of high school, felt a bit embarrassing.
“Here you go,” Eddie said, handing Steve the spare drink he had before sitting down. “What are we talking about?”
Before Dustin could blurt out something incriminating Steve spoke. “For me?” He asked, referring to the drink.
“Yeah,” Eddie answered easily. “Whiskey sour, two cherries, right?”
“Yeah…” Steve said slowly, surprised Eddie already knew his drink without having to be reminded. Mostly Steve drank beer but when he was feeling fancy, he liked a whiskey sour. It was easy and he liked it but he didn’t realize Eddie knew that.
“And you didn’t get me a drink?” Dustin asked, interrupting what Steve would almost deign to call A Moment between Eddie and himself.
“I’m not giving you alcohol,” Eddie said, unimpressed.
The two raised disbelieving eyebrows at him.
“Not with adults around at least but yes I have been known,” Eddie moved his hands in the air sarcastically. “To give alcohol to freshmen. But I’m not doing that now,” he finished, pointing at Dustin with a light-hearted stern face.
“A soda would have sufficed too,” Dustin said, sticking his nose in the air.
Both Steve and Eddie rolled their eyes, the latter groaning.
“You see what I’ve been dealing with?” Steve asked Eddie as if Dustin couldn’t hear him.
“I do and I thank you for your service thus far.” The two of them laughed. “He’s a little diva.”
“Right?” Steve exclaimed in agreement. “It’s his tone.”
“It really is.”
“I’m right here,” Dustin responded, hands up, offended.
“We know,” Steve and Eddie answered in unison.
Dustin groaned but had a small smile. “I knew you two would get along but I didn’t realize it’d be like this.”
“Well, too bad squirt! Now you’re stuck with us,” Eddie said, throwing an arm around Steve’s shoulder for emphasis.
Steve hoped neither of them could see the blush in his cheeks.
“Yeah, whatever,” Dustin grumbled. “But you guys have to admit, I was right. You get along well, now we can all be friends.”
Steve tensed, not wanting to be the first to confirm or deny that.
“Yeah, yeah,” Eddie said, waving Dustin off with the hand not wrapped around Steve’s shoulders.
Wow, that’s still there huh?
“You were right, twerp. I’m only saying it the one time.”
Steve brightened, glad to hear that Eddie did actually agree because despite Steve’s earlier denial he agreed too. He would be happy just being the other man’s friend. Would he prefer they also went on dates and kissed and maybe checked out the backseat of Steve’s car? Yes but friends was good too.
“Good enough for me,” Dustin said pleased. “Oh, there’s Lucas,” he said right before darting off to the aforementioned boy.
Steve chuckled, shaking his head before taking a sip of his drink.
“Good?” Eddie asked, pointing to the drink.
“Yeah, it is. Thanks by the way. I didn’t know you knew my drink.”
Eddie shrugged, looking almost shy. “I noticed it once and took a mental note.”
Steve thought to himself, unsure of when Eddie could have noticed that. “Wait, when?”
“Huh?”
“When did you notice that? I don’t drink them often,” Steve said, not recalling a time since the latest Upside Down event when he had one.
“Oh, like…a year-ish ago at that party at Carol’s,” Eddie said, dismissively.
“That party was two years ago,” Steve said. He remembered that mostly because he hadn’t talked to Carol since ‘84. “You remembered a drink I made myself at a party two years ago?”
Eddie sipped his drink, looking anxious.”Is that, like, really weird of me?”
“Probably,” Steve agreed and Eddie deflated a bit. “But I really like it.”
The man perked back up, “Really?”
“Yeah, it’s sweet, I like it…” Steve said, speech feathering out as he decided that he could be honest too. “I like you,” he said, like it was just an addition to the sentence and not a confession. “A lot actually.”
“You do?” Eddie asked, looking hopeful.
“Yeah, I do. You won me over pretty quick.”
“How quick?” Eddie asked, intrigued and raising a teasing eyebrow as he sipped his own drink again.
“Maybe about when you said I was actually a good guy. I think it really kicked in when you called me big boy though,” Steve answered thoughtfully. Robin had actually asked him the same question.
‘When did you realize you could be gay for Eddie Munson?’ Quicker than he would’ve guessed but to be fair he wouldn’t have guessed it would happen at all.
“I’m kind of hearing a pattern there,” Eddie said, smirking. “You just like me ‘cause I’m sweet to you?” he asked, mostly teasing.
“No but it does help, I’ll admit.” They both laughed. “I just like you in general.”
“That’s good to hear,” Eddie said, seeming shy again. “I like you too.”
“I’m glad,” Steve said, ducking his head and taking another sip of his drink. “What are you drinking?” he asked, gesturing at Eddie’s now empty cup.
“Rum and coke,” Eddie answered.
Steve grabbed the cup from the other man’s hands. “Then I will get you another rum and coke and we can talk about our first date.”
Eddie smiled and hid it behind a strand of hair. “Sounds good.”
Steve went to walk away but then stopped and turned back with a smile. “Can Dustin be the last to know?”
Eddie matched his face, “Oh absolutely.”