I Can't, Eddie... (Steddie)

25

Dustin joined their party with little resistance, but when they pulled up to Robin's house, she had a thousand questions too many, and since her parents were gone until the next day, they decided to stay there. They had all crowded into her small living room and were sharing a particularly awkward silence until Steve absolutely couldn't take it anymore. He was sitting on the small couch next to Dustin, and Eddie was propped against his knees on the floor in front of him.

"So," Steve finally said, drawing everyone's eyes to him, "Um—Eddie called this meeting so... Eds?"

Robin and Dustin exchanged a disgusted look at the pet name. Eddie started and turned around to look at Steve. Steve smiled at Eddie's accusatory expression.

"What?!" Eddie said.

Steve shrugged, "you literally said 'we should have a meeting of the circle of trust'."

Eddie wrinkled his nose and turned back around.

"Fine. This is everyone who knows about Steve and I. Like, as boyfriends. So, like, talk amongst yourselves about it whenever you want, I guess." Eddie waved a hand in dismissal.

"Wait," Dustin shoved Steve on the shoulder. "Boyfriend?! When did that happen?? And why didn't you tell me?"

Steve started to answer but Eddie beat him to the punch.

"Well, all it took was Stevie realizing I have a bigger—"

"Oh my GOD, Munson!" Steve yelped, blushing furiously and reaching forward to clamp a hand over Eddie's mouth. He turned to Dustin, still holding Eddie's mouth. "I asked him last week but then obviously this week happened so I wasn't about to go announcing it around with him giving me the silent treatment— Eddie Munson are you licking my hand?!" Steve snapped his hand back, examining the saliva that now covered his palm. Eddie doubled over laughing, immediately joined by Max, who offered him a high five. Dustin and Robin couldn't help but start giggling too, leaving Steve with his head in his dry hand.

I'm surrounded by children.

"Can we, like, not talk about our dick sizes with our young child friends?" Steve asked the ceiling. Immediately Dustin and Max started yelling about his choice of words.

"Young?!"

"Oh, please, a child?!"

"I literally have had boyfriends! Wait—" Max said, suddenly serious, "speaking of boyfriends. You said we're the only ones who know. So like, Lucas and Mike don't know?"

Steve pointed at Max, "No. And none of you were really supposed to know. So let's try to keep it that way, yeah?"

"Rude," Dustin muttered.

"I absolutely would have figured it out in any scenario possible." Robin said.

"She's right," Eddie added, winking at Robin.

"Regardless, can we all agree?" Steve reiterated. Everyone nodded. "Cool. Thanks, guys. We really appreciate it. Like all jokes aside, thank you." Steve looked around at everyone individually. "It means more than you'll ever know." Eddie nodded in agreement and reached back a hand to intertwine with Steve's.

"What Harrington said," Eddie added, smiling at everyone and then lastly at Steve, the love in his eyes evident to everyone.

"Is it embarrassing that I find them so adorable?" Max stage whispered to Dustin.

"Nah. I'm with you. It's cute as shit." Dustin replied.

"Wow. This is now gross across the board. Are we done?" Robin said, ending the unexpectedly tender moment.

"Actually," Eddie said, looking back at the group, "since we now have this weird little bond, I wanted to formally invite you all to my band's next show on Friday. It's all ages." He added, nodding to the younger kids. "You can drive everyone, Stevie!"

Steve stared at Eddie. "You can't just keep wielding that name like a weapon, you know."

"I like to push my luck."

"Mhm." Steve grunted.

"Sooo will you drive them?" Eddie asked, opening his doe eyes extra wide and looking up at Steve through his lashes.

He is truly too cute. Like, how is this allowed?

"Yeah, whatever." Steve did a pretty good job pretending to be nonchalant about this, but everyone could see his eyes brighten in excitement. He had never seen Eddie play music, and the idea of seeing him perform on a stage was something Steve already knew he would be a big fan of. Not only to see his musical talent, but Eddie was literally a rockstar. Steve already knew he would look hot as fuck riffing on his guitar for a crowd.

The rest of the day passed uneventfully. They had a fairly normal afternoon hanging out with friends. The only difference was that they could be completely and utterly open about their relationship in a semi-public setting. It wasn't something they had ever really anticipated being able to experience, and it was pure bliss. The group watched a horror movie in Robin's living room, and Steve and Eddie snuggled under a blanket like a totally normal couple. Steve was able to bury his face in Eddie's chest during the jump scares, and although everyone made fun of him mercilessly, Steve didn't care because through all the teasing, Eddie's hand was wrapped around his, rubbing little circles with his thumb. Steve didn't know if he had ever felt so at peace. It gave him hope for the future. Hope that although the world wouldn't accept them now, maybe someday Steve would surround himself with enough supportive people that he could live a life just like this, proud to have Eddie Munson openly (and let's be honest, loudly) by his side, every single day.