Steve was trying his absolute hardest to muster up the confidence and calm he felt the previous day as he walked into school. He was uncharacteristically early today. It made him feel slightly more in control being able to see everyone arrive.
Don't kid yourself. You just want to see when Eddie arrives.
Steve wanted to see how Eddie would react to him first. He had every intention of following Eddie's lead. Well, to a degree. Eddie was always over the top. So, Steve made sure to remember his jacket and pulled it on as he leaned against a column outside of the schools entrance and pretended to study a textbook. He doubted he was fooling anyone with the frequency he kept looking up from the book, scanning the paths leading up to him as fellow classmates slowly started trickling in. Eventually the buses started pulling in and Eddie's lean figure hopped down onto the sidewalk. He had his walkman in his hand and his headphones over his ears. His lips moved slightly as he mouthed the lyrics to whatever he was listening to and he seemed cheerful. Steve saw him well before Eddie saw Steve and butterflies exploded in Steve's stomach. The way Eddie sauntered around with his head held high despite the wide berth everyone seemed to give him was something Steve would envy forever. Steve was suddenly terribly sad. All he wanted to do was run over to Eddie, scoop him up, and cover him in kisses. Yet he was rooted to the spot. He ran a hand over his face and through his hair, shaking his head aggressively to try and derail the path his thoughts had gone down.
No labels. Just a person you have a massive, huge, scary crush on. That no one can find out about.
Finally, Eddie noticed Steve watching him and beelined over to him. Steve stiffened at Eddie's sudden change in direction and dropped his book. Eddie reached down to grab it for him and grinned.
"You were holding this upside down, you know."
Steve flushed red and snatched the book back.
"Hey, Munson."
"Hi, Steve."
Steve couldn't help a stupid smile creep onto his face. He was so enamored by Eddie's quirks.
"How was the rest of your day yesterday?" Steve asked, relaxing a little bit and leaning back against the column. Eddie opened his mouth to reply but was interrupted.
"The rest of his day? Did you guys hang out yesterday? What the hell?" Dustin appeared out of thin air and had apparently heard their conversation. "Why wasn't I invited? Are you guys friends?"
Steve's heart started racing.
Be cool. Be cool.
"Oh my god, Henderson. Take it down a notch," Eddie laughed carelessly, "turns out your boy Steve here is actually pretty cool."
"I've been trying to tell you that!" Dustin threw his hands up in the air and Steve joined in laughing.
"Is that why we're friends now?" Steve turned to Eddie, bumping his shoulder. "Good ol' Dustin was selling you on me?!"
"I never said that," Eddie pointed at Steve, lightly pressing his finger into Steve's chest. Steve gently pushed Eddie's hand away. He held on to Eddie's hand a beat longer than necessary, giving the tiniest squeeze. Eddie winked at him. Dustin narrowed his eyes.
"I don't like this." He stated, looking between both boys.
"Who knows, maybe Steve will join in our campaign now. Whatcha think, big boy?" Eddie leaned in with a devilish smile and Dustin gasped.
"Really?! Are you thinking about it Steve??"
Eddie looked at Steve expectantly, still smirking. Steve shook his head and rolled his eyes, running a hand through his hair.
"Munson, it's going to take a lot more than that to convince me to join your geeky little club,"
"I'll have to get creative with how I get you on board, then." Eddie's eyes were evil in how they bore into Steve's. For a moment, Steve completely forgot Dustin was still standing next to them.
"Okay, well, this is still weird. I'm not making any decisions on how I feel about it yet." Dustin walked away. Steve turned back to Eddie once he was sure Dustin was well out of earshot.
"You are ridiculous!" Steve put his hands on his hips, totally exasperated.
"Oh please," Eddie waved him off, "I flirt like that with everyone."
"Is that supposed to make me feel better?"
"Are you jealous, Steve?"
Steve dropped his voice to an agitated whisper.
"I mean, I don't love hearing that, babe—"
Eddie blushed and blinked a few times rapidly. Steve stopped and smiled.
"Is that really going to be the one thing that makes you flustered?"
Oh, I can have fun with this.
Steve greatly enjoyed having something on Eddie. Eddie, on the other hand, did not like it. He rolled his eyes and turned on his heel, heading into school without another word. Steve laughed out loud and jogged after him, catching up and walking down the hall next to him. He leaned in and spoke quietly as they made their way through the building.
"You have no idea how badly I want to press you up against these lockers and kiss you, babe." Steve watching the flush spread over Eddie's face despite him refusing to acknowledge Steve's words. Steve couldn't help the huge smile on his face. Eddie stole a quick glance and shook his head.
"You're enjoying this too much."
"I think I'm enjoying it a perfectly appropriate amount."
Eddie was heading to the D&D group and Steve saw Robin a little ways away, so they parted ways after exchanging longing looks with one another.
"You guys are so cute I could throw up all over you," Robin greeted Steve.
"Nice to see you too."
"I'm guessing you guys got to chat this weekend. You seem quite...chummy." Robin was practically buzzing with unspoken questions.
"Chat... yeah. We did." Steve wasn't going to spill the beans that easily.
"Did you just like, talk on the phone or did you hang out or...?"
"Eddie came over—"
Robin gasped and clapped her hands together. "Oh my god! That's so exciting! Tell me everything. Well actually, no not everything please. I don't need to know the gross details. I mean I can connect the dots from what I've seen so far."
"What do you mean? What have you seen?" Steve demanded. Did they do something obvious without realizing it?
"Well Eddie has a hickey to match yours and unless it came from someone else—"
"Of course it didn't," Steve snapped, suddenly feeling territorial.
Robin beamed. "I knew it! So are you guys like, a couple now?"
Steve hadn't thought about that much. He certainly didn't want Eddie hooking up with anyone else. Although the pool was pretty much limited to just Steve at the moment. But he didn't want that to be the reason why they were only with each other. He wanted to be exclusive with Eddie. And more than anything, he wanted Eddie to only want him. He wanted to be Eddie's boyfriend. And vice versa.
Jesus Christ. I want a boyfriend. I want Eddie Munson to be my boyfriend. What the fuck??
"Um, we haven't really talked about that." Steve said, blushing.
"Well do you want to be boyfriends?" Robin probed further.
"...Yeah."
"Are you going to tell Eddie that?"
"I don't know."
Robin gaped at Steve. "You have to!" Steve shrugged, face still red.
"What if it's not mutual?"
"Oh for fucks sake," Robin muttered to herself. "You should have seen the way he was looking at you just now. It's absolutely mutual. And if you don't tell him, I will."
Steve rolled his eyes, ignoring the wave of butterflies that came over him yet again.
"Shut the fuck up, Robin."