Robin and Vickie stared at Steve as he laid like a starfish on the floor. He had just explained to them how Eddie made him feel, and he clearly wasn't handling it very well when he realised that those feelings were a different type of...interest.
"Look Steve, I haven't known you very long but you're handling this a lot better than I did" Vickie tried saying
"Oh thank fuck! You finally realized" Robin tilted her head back, "how long have I been telling you that you like men?"
"A long time."
"Yes! A very long time!"
"Why does this feel scary Robin?"
Vickie was staring at Robin disappointed, "chill out please, he's only just coming to terms with it"
"Sorry" Robin crossed her arms and looked at Steve, "you're doing great for someone who just came out of the closest"
"I didn't realize I was in a closet in the first place!"
Robin and Vickie tried to hold back their laughs, Steve was smiling though. He rolled over so he was looking at them.
"So what does this mean?"
"What do you mean?"
"Like. Is it different to liking women? Am I supposed to say something?"
"In my experience, in a town like ours anyway, it's better to not make it super public" Vickie frowned, "because as much as I would love to go out with Robin like a guy and a girl would, people aren't exactly fond of that"
Robin smiled at Vickie then gave pitiful eyes to Steve, "I mean you've seen the way people have treated me for the way I dress, let alone who I want to be with"
Steve flopped on the ground, "this is going to end terribly, I can't even tell him that I'm confused about... myself because he'll think it's weird! We've known each other for like three days and I'm suddenly telling him about my- what's it called?"
"Sexuality."
"Sexuality! Like woah slow down a sec Stevie we just met" Steve pretended to talk in Eddie's voice.
"Steve you'll be fine, Robin and I are at school with you so we'll be around if you start having a crisis" Vickie started patting Steve's hair.
Steve closed his eyes, "ok I have school tomorrow, I'm just going to focus on that and clear my head."
Robin and Vickie shook their heads but changed the subject so Steve could think about something else.
"Wow your hair is really soft" Vickie mumbled,
"Thank you, I have a routine" Steve kept his eyes closed but smiled.
~
A couple of weeks had gone by and Steve saw Eddie on their normal occasions, there had been no more slumber parties but Steve had stayed for a couple of their DnD games.
Eddie and Steve found themselves staring at each other in the hall but as soon as they made eye contact they'd look away and start talking to someone else, the Freak and the King couldn't be seen socializing.
One day Steve was sitting out the front of the gym when Dustin came up to him looking upset, or more disappointed.
"Hey Henderson, what's wrong?"
"Do you know what tomorrow is?"
"Please don't tell me it's your birthday because I swear that's months away!"
"No. It's parent-teacher conference night"
Steve had completely forgotten about that, each year he just went by himself, the teachers knew his parents were out of town often so they just wrote reports for him.
