To Heal All Wounds

After Party

Love isn't a pie, he heard Robin in his head. It doesn't have a finite number of pieces. It's a gas, you know? It expands to fill the space it's in.

As Eddie breathed a cloud of smoke gently into Chrissy's lungs, lips close enough to touch, Steve felt that same smoke filling him, warming him from top to bottom. Another sleepy, sweet smile spread across Chrissy's lips as she inhaled, and Steve felt his own face mirror the expression.

And then Eddie's eyes cut to him, alarming and piercing in their clarity. Like he knew what Steve was doing, even if his gaze had been soft and focused on Chrissy while he fed her the high from his own body. He released her chin and she fell gently back against the pool chair, giggling and visibly sated in a way Steve envied. But still, even that envy was softer, less targeted. It sounded less like why not me and more like my turn.

He wanted Eddie's hand on his chin, Eddie's lips on his, and Eddie's air in his lungs. And then he wanted to be released to snuggle in next to the giggling blond girl. Wanted to open his arms to catch an equally sated blond man.

Eddie's smile turned sharp around the joint, returning to his lips with long, slender fingers. Sharp enough for Steve to cut his fingers on if he touched the other man's cheeks. Sharp enough to cut him even from the distance between them now.

Robin made a small, anxious sound next to Steve, startling him from his pseudo-high. She looked much like Steve imagined he did. Eyes wide, lips slack, expression wanting and desperate. Nancy and Jon's joint was still smoldering between her fingers but altogether forgotten. Chrissy heard too, and opened her eyes to blearily focus on Robin. She grinned, the tip of her tongue pinched between her front teeth and Steve watched Robin's own tongue poke out as though to meet it.

"You wanna ride shotgun too, Birdie," she sang, still wiggling as though searching for comfort. Steve looked over to watch Robin shock visibly from her stupor, shaking herself out of it with wild eyes and a blush. He knew the feeling, suddenly struck with the urge to do the same, but Eddie's eyes kept him pinned like a butterfly beneath glass.

"Erm, uh..." She glanced at Steve who was still wrapped in cotton from his dreaming of Eddie, and thereby of little to no use for her. "No... no thanks. No offense, but I'd literally rather die than almost get kissed by Eddie. Sorry, dude."

Eddie finally released Steve from his gaze at the mention of his name, turning his attention to Robin. His gaze softened and he raised his hands to signal no offense was taken, but Chrissy laughed. It wasn't a cruel sound, but Robin still shrunk away from the sound. Steve moved to comfort her, to squeeze onto her chair and tuck her into his side, but Chrissy moved before him.

"No, Birdie, not Eddie," she giggled, the high, musical sound drawing Robin back out from herself. "From me, silly!"

Steve watched Robin visibly shut down and then start back up. He watched, with growing amusement, her brows furrow in the middle of her forehead, drawn in tight between her eyes. And then her mouth hung open as though expecting words to come out but finding none. Her eyes even went unfocused, gazing into the middle distance as she tried to puzzle out what she had just heard.

"From..." Robin's voice was little more than a croak when she spoke. "F-from you?"

Chrissy giggled again, nodded with so much fervor that her curls bounced around her head, and then rolled off the chair. Eddie held out a hand to steady her on her feet, but she playfully slapped him away and crawled over onto Robin's chair. Robin, whose focus was not entirely on the blonde girl who was crowding in next to her, scooched to make room for her, ignoring Steve's indignant sounds as he was pushed off. He only narrowly avoided landing on his ass.