It didn't take them long to get there, seeing as Nancy still lived in the same neighborhood Steve did. But he hadn't been over to their house in so long, that he almost forgot about the short distance. He should have made an effort to befriend her more, after the rejection...The two of them knocked on the door at once, Mrs. Wheeler answered.
"Oh hello you two, come right in. I don't remember hearing about you coming over today."
"We just have something to ask Nancy, that's it, Mrs. Wheeler. Is she here?"
"Upstairs in her room, go ahead and find your way." She went back to sipping her half full glass of wine and walked to the living room.
"Thank you!" Robin ended the conversation before grabbing Steve's hand and pulling themselves upstairs. Steve knew how to get to Nancy's room, it isn't like he hadn't been in there before.
"Hey Nance?" Steve knocked a few times on her cracked open door before pushing it open.
"Steve?...Robin? What are you two doing here? Has something happened?" She had been reading on her bed before, stomach down and book propped up on a pillow. Now closed though, she sat up, alert and seemingly ready to fight.
"No nothing is wrong Nancy, the kids are fine, everything is fine. The only thing is, well, Steve has had an epiphany of sorts. He needs to talk to you and since I was the one who made him realize...something? I'm here too." Robin gave the cheesiest toothy grin to sell their story, even though there was no need to. Since she was just telling the truth.
"Alright? Um, the boys are playing some D&D in the basement, Robin. If you wanna join them while Steve and I talk?" Nancy returned the grin Robin had given her earlier, it was smaller and intimidated but still there. Robin gave two thumbs up to Steve before closing the door behind her.
"So, Steve, what's up?"
"When you said that I should find someone who doesn't make sense for me, who did you mean Nance?" He spoke slowly and looked down at the book cover on her bed as he walked closer. He talked with his hands, moving around to visually explain what he was saying. Her eyes widened a little, only a little, before she looked down at the book she had been reading. It was 'The Color Purple', one of her favorites, Steve knew that much. "I know you Nancy, you wouldn't have said that for nothing."
"...Do you know the way you used to look at me Steve? Not the way you look at the kids, or Joyce and Hopper, how you looked at me when we were together." Steve didn't know, and he had a feeling he couldn't exactly look back at the way Nancy looked at him for guidance.
"How did I look at you?" Steve finally sat down to listen closer.
"Like how Lucas looks at Max. Or how Will looks at Mike when he thinks no one can see him." That made his eyebrows raise, he wasn't sure if he had been looking too much into it, but Steve noticed that look Will had before they ever left for California. "Your face was always filled with this admiration, Steve."
"Nance, who were you talking about?" The way he looked at Nancy told her enough, she could see that there was someone specific he was searching to hear the name of. She knew that much, whether they were thinking of the same person, that was a little less clear. But still, she had a gut feeling they were on the same page.
"I think you know who I'm going to say, Steve...I want you to know too, that it's okay, for it to be him." That gave Steve enough context, the fact that she said 'him' said everything.
"Was it that obvious?" Steve kept his eyes on Nancy, fully engrossed in what she was about to say. Nancy held his hands sandwiched between her own.
"I've known you liked guys for a little while, maybe even before you did. Because, well, you kinda stare when you focus on things." Steve kinda started to notice that too, only more recently than Nancy made it sound like she was talking about.
"You started looking at him like you looked at me, only a little at first. Like you were this curious kid trying to figure it out, then when he got hurt after the fight, it was more frequent. Plus after he got out of the hospital, you and Robin started properly hanging out with him. We kind of all did, but you became better friends, only 'just friends' don't tend to talk to each other the way you two do. At least from the little interactions I have seen between the two of you, that's what I've gotten from it." Steve didn't know how to respond, he just kept looking at her. He knew she was a journalist, being very analytical was in her nature, but still. She figured all of that out before he did, hardly seemed fair to him.
"You know, you could have told all of this to me earlier."
"I don't know if you would have believed me. Because we were together and all. Plus I wasn't wanting to be presumptuous with your glares towards Eddie. It wasn't my place, I knew you would figure it out eventually. Or that maybe Robin would ask you." She finally said it, his name. They really were on the same page, and he was talking to his ex-girlfriend about his new attraction to a guy. It was all very weird. It wasn't normal.
"Yeah I guess so." A brief silence took the air between them. "So, you noticed Will too, huh?"
"Yeah, did you?"
"For a while now. You know, I didn't know if you were good at sensing that type of thing. Because for a bit there, I thought you were convinced Robin and I were keeping some secret relationship from the group or something."
"Oh I did, only for a little while though, you guy's did keep telling me the whole 'platonic with a capital P' thing anyways. I took your words for it, eventually. Plus, she kind of did tell me she was head over heels for Vickie after I was on a volunteering shift with her and she kept zoning out while staring at her. You two are pretty similar in that regard actually." Steve just lightly elbowed her while he turned to fully lay on his back, legs dangling off the mattress.
"I don't know what to do Nance." She joined him, matching his position only a few inches away.
"You could always just talk to him, tell him."
"Absolutely not." She turned her head towards Steve with a questioning look.
"But that's what you would do with the girls you asked out. What's so different with Eddie?"
"It's Eddie, that's what's different. He isn't just another girl Nance, just like how you weren't just another girl when I was with you. It's not like I just want sex, or arm candy, or some other shitty thing like that. Not to mention the fact that he is a he. How the fuck do you maneuver around that?"
"I don't know. But what I do know is that you two have this dynamic, that has only built onto itself more since you became friends. So just think about it, let it culminate, I guess."
"This is insane."
"We've seen and lived through crazier things Steve. Maybe this is just what you needed, some adult romance for once."
"Shut up." There was no malice in Steve's tone, but he just couldn't talk anymore. He needed to think, which might have ended with blowing up his brain, but he needed to. This was new to him, he wasn't even sure what he wanted to define his attraction towards Eddie as yet. Since the realization hit him like a bus only a little over half an hour ago.
"Was that all you needed to talk about Steve?" He had one question on his mind, but in the questionable mental state he was already in, he didn't want to ask it.
"Yeah, yeah that's it. I should probably go find Rob. Rescue her from the children..." Steve slowly sat himself up, running both hands through his hair before fully standing. Shaking himself off as he headed for the door. "And, uh, thanks Nance. For staying friends with me, after everything, I guess."
"Yeah, of course Steve, we've been through so much shit that I don't know how we couldn't be friends after all of it. You know where the basement is, go find her. I'll still see you this weekend, right?" Steve almost forgot that he offered up his house for a pool hangout when Dustin wouldn't stop terrorizing him until he said yes. Apparently a private pool was way better than a public one, even if it hadn't been properly cleaned in weeks. Which reminded him to drag Robin over to help him do that.
"Uh, yeah it's still on. I'll see you then." He left the door the way they had found it in the first place, cracked an inch, before making it downstairs. Still in a small haze while running through the events that lead him there, thinking out loud while mumbling under his breath, he didn't catch the fact there were more sounds than just the t.v. coming from the first level of the house. His body ran into something, something that kept him from falling with surprisingly strong arms he swore he had felt around him before.
"Jesus Chri— Munson." Steve went wide eyed as his mouth closed after he said his name. He didn't know he was there, no one told him that he was there. Why didn't Nance mention it, he would have climbed out of her window to leave instead. Which made him think that's why she didn't mention it, actually.
"You alright Harrington? Robin said you were talking to Nancy. Did you two wanna join the group downstairs? We are in the middle of a campaign but we have food and shit, if you want to watch." Eddie straightened his body back to its previously vertical state before finally letting go of him, though not completely, he left a hand holding onto his shoulder. He didn't know what to do, he just looked at Eddie's face, one of his dimples was showing. He was staring, Nancy was right, and he wasn't staring into his eyes or his tattoo peeking out from the collar of his shirt, he was staring at his mouth. His lips; Steve didn't think it through but he couldn't stop staring.
"Actually Eddie, we have some errands to run today and chores to do, you know, to start getting ready for the pool day. So maybe next time." Robin came to his rescue which finally took his eyes from Eddie's stupidly captivating smile. He doesn't see her thinking of excuses so quickly that often, but he thanked every higher power that she was quick on her feet today.
Robin took Steve's hand and gave Eddie the same toothy smile she had shown to Nancy earlier. This time it was much more needed, she understood the social cue better than before. Again he thanked every god that she had gotten better with her words, but this time to her face when they got into the comfort of his car.
"You fucking froze up Dingus! Steve Harrington doesn't get all star struck when he talks to literally anybody." Robin turned to him, sitting crisscrossed in the shotgun car seat. Steve's dropped head raised to look at her.
"Believe me Rob, I'm not sure what the hell just happened to me."
"Just drive, we'll unpack all of that later. For now, how about we blast some music through that amazing sound system you have while we clean up your house. The weekend's coming fast Steve." He followed instructions, starting his car and pulling out of his spot to drive the few minutes to his house.
"I'm not sure if I want it to come at all anymore."
"Well, it's gonna. You haven't died yet on me, and you sure as hell aren't starting now. So let's go."