Dustin huffed as he pushed Robin and Eddie into the living room. He went into the kitchen and dragged Steve out of the room. He pushed Steve down next to Eddie.

"I was making lunch!" Steve exclaimed.

"You were setting a timer! It was in the oven! Besides, this is important," Dustin said. "What do you guys think of me when you look at me?"

"Well, annoying little brother comes to mind," Steve scowled.

"Emphasis on annoying," Robin said.

"No, I mean attraction wise," Dustin said.

"Eww!" The three of them said.

"Like they said, little brother! Plus, waaaayy too young!" Eddie grimaced.

"No! I mean, when you look at me, do you think that I'm straight?" Dustin asked.

"I try not to make assumptions about people's sexualities," Eddie said.

"Really? Because you cried like a baby in my lap when you discovered you were queer and thought that Steve was straight," Robin said.

"I said try, Robin! Judging by my track record in school, I clearly fail a lot," Eddie said. "I'm not perfect."

"You're perfect for me, honey," Steve said.

"Aww, baby," Eddie cooed.

"Okay, guys? Guys?! Stop gazing into each other's eyes for a minute! Okay, yes, you two are adorable! Focus on me! Eyes up here!" Dustin exclaimed, clapping at them. "Jeeze, it's like trying to stop Tews from flirting with that raccoon that eats our trash."

"See! I told you it wasn't just me who thinks Tews is romantically interested in that raccoon!" Eddie exclaimed. "Wait, who's the cat? Me or Steve?"

"Eddie! Do you think I'm straight?" Dustin asked.

"I don't know, are you not straight?" Eddie asked.

"No! And that's the thing! Everyone else is out and about! You guys know this. Will is dating Gareth! El and Max are dating. Lucas apparently thought we all knew he was bisexual. To be fair, Taylor is a pretty gender neutral name. Anyway, that's over now. Mike just came out, and I let that settle before I wanted to start explaining myself to the group, but they didn't really believe me. I think they thought that I was trying not to feel left out. Can you believe that shit?" Dustin snapped. "Apparently, they see me as the only straight guy in the group!"

"What exactly did you tell them?" Robin asked, looking at him in concern.

"That I was attracted more towards people's personality than their gender," Dustin said. "And they also thought I was mocking them, and they kicked me out of Mike's basement."

"That's fucked up of them," Eddie said. "I mean, I can see why they might think that, but they're still assholes for assuming that you, of all people, would do that."

"So, you told them you were pansexual and they kicked you out?" Robin asked.

"There's a word for it?" Dustin asked, his eyes wide and filling up with tears. "There's other people like me?"

"Oh, buddy," Robin said and jumped up to hug him, then glanced at Eddie. "Call Argyle."

Steve hugged Dustin's other side as Eddie went to make a phone call.

"So, you really believe me?" Dustin asked.

"Of course, we do," Steve said and ran his hands through his curls.

"You're our brother," Robin said. "Part of our troop. Part of our pack."

After crying for a while, they managed to get Dustin down to a few sniffles as Robin and Steve squished him in between them on the couch. Eddie leaned against Steve’s side as he pressed a hand on Dustin's head. The timer in the kitchen went off.

"Don't worry, Stevie!" Eddie exclaimed. "Stay there! I'll get the casserole."

Eddie got up and went into the kitchen just as the front door burst open. Argyle skidded into the living.

"Heard the little dude needed me, came right over. Oh, they sent me the wrong size shirt, and I know you like to wear funky shirts too. Here. Yeah, this is definitely going to look good on you," Argyle said.

"Uh, thanks, man," Dustin said as he took the shirt.

Argyle plopped down in front of him on the coffee table.

"So, what's the problem, my curly haired little dude?" Argyle asked.

"Well, we know that you don't have a problem with telling people what you like and that sometimes you forget to tell people. Did you want Dustin to know?" Robin asked.

"Oh, yeah, he's a good egg. I'm pansexual," Argyle said and paused. "Wait, does he know what that means?"

"They just told me because I didn't know that there were other people like me. I didn't even know that there was a word for it," Dustin said.

"Man, all words are made up. There can be a word for anything if you want there to be," Argyle said. "Thank you for telling me."

"Thank you," Dustin said and hugged him tightly. "The others didn't really take it well when I tried to explain it to them."

Argyle pulled back and placed his hands on Dustin's shoulders.

"The great thing about friends is when they realize that they hurt you, they'll sometimes apologize, and apologizing means that they want to be in your life. They want to keep you in theirs, especially if they really are sorry," he said. "Forgiveness means the same thing too."

"Thanks, man," Dustin sniffled and wiped his nose as he set back on the couch.

Robin was handing him tissues as Eddie walked back into the living room. He was still wearing the oven mitts, his hands on his hips.

"So, are we inviting the little shits over to apologize?" Eddie asked.

"Yeah," Dustin said.

"Okay, but if it's not good enough, then no casserole for them," Eddie said. "It needs to be as good as when I apologized to Lucas. Shit, it needs to better."

"You made your casserole?" Argyle asked Steve. "I love your casserole!"

"Well, there's plenty if you want to stay," Steve said.

"Thanks, my dude!"

They were all eating around the island in the kitchen when Mike, Lucas, Will, El, and Max all came stumbling in.

"What's he doing here?" Mike asked, scowling at Dustin.

"Waiting for your apology," Robin said.

"He was making fun of us!" Mike exclaimed.

"I thought you knew him well enough that you would know that Dustin Henderson would never do that," Steve said. "You misunderstood what he was trying to tell you because you weren't really listening."

"What was he trying to tell us?" Max asked, her arms crossed.

"I'm pansexual. I'm attracted to people regardless of their gender," Dustin said. "I wasn't trying to make fun of you, I was trying to open up to you as well."

"Shit," Max said, looking guilty. "You're serious."

"Yeah, I'm pansexual, too, man," Argyle said, his mouth full of food.

"We were total assholes to you! We're sorry," Will said.

"We were mouthbreathers?" El asked.

"Yeah, man, but sometimes everyone can be a little bit of a mouthbreather," Argyle said.

"Even you?" El asked.

"Even me, supergirl," Argyle said.

"We are sorry, Dustin," El said and hugged him.

"Yeah, we're sorry," Max said and hugged him. "We love you."

"Did Max Mayfield just tell me she loves me?" Dustin asked.

"We. WE love you, and I'm taking it back," Max said, punching him in the shoulder.

"We're really sorry, man," Lucas said and hugged him tightly.

"No one's perfect, man," Dustin said. "And I get why you might have thought thought that. You guys really want my pansexual ass a part of your lives, huh?"

"YES!" they exclaimed.

They pulled Dustin into their arms, hugging him tightly.

"Not a straight person in this house. Although, if there were, I'd be okay with that. Love is love, man," Argyle said.

Dustin pulled back, wiping happy tears from his eyes.

"So, do they deserve casserole?" Steve asked him.

"Yeah."

Pretty soon, the island was crowded with everyone joining in. It was pretty quiet for a while until Dustin dropped his fork on his plate.

"You know, I'm just realizing this now, but like when I was starting to get to know you guys when I first moved here, I think I developed a crush on Lucas. Then on Will when I started to get to know him," Dustin said thoughtfully. "They're gone now."

"Did you have a crush on me?" Mike asked Dustin, and he stared at him thoughtfully.

"No!" Dustin exclaimed, snapping his fingers at Mike. "But I did have a crush on Nancy!"

"Seriously?!" Mike asked, rolling his eyes.

"You had a crush on Nancy?" Steve asked.

"I thought it would be weird to tell you, considering that she's your ex-girlfriend, and you and Eddie have that deal with her when she comes down from Emerson," Dustin said. "Just out of curiosity, how does that work?"

"What deal?" Mike asked.

"How do you know about that?" Steve asked.

"Oh, I overheard you talking about it with Robin, though I didn't realize that it was supposed to be a secret," Dustin said.

"What deal?" Mike asked.

"Never you mind, Mike. Lucas, do you want to help me clean up?" Dustin asked.

"Sure," he grinned as he helped him clean up. "So, you had a crush on me?"

"It was a long time ago," Dustin said as he started washing the dishes, and Lucas grabbed a towel to dry.

"You know, I had a crush on you back then too," Lucas said.

"What?" Dustin asked.

"Totally. It was just something about you and those curls, man," Lucas said, tucking a curl behind his ear. "You know, you and I are both single. . . "

"Are you asking me out while we're doing the dishes, Lucas?" Dustin asked.

"I don't know, depends on if you want me to ask you out," Lucas said.

"Maybe, if you help me finish cleaning up," Dustin said, flicking water at him.

Lucas laughed and hip checked him. Robin let out a screech.

"Steeeeve, our babies! I can't believe Vickie isn't here to witness this! Instead, she's at some dumb family reunion," Robin said.

"God, I can't believe we ever thought you were straight," Max said.

"They are cute," El said.

"Them fighting over me when I first got here suddenly makes a lot of sense," Max said.

Suddenly the phone rang and Steve went to answer it. Steve laughed when he did.

"Hey, Argy, did you drop everything to get here?" Steve asked.

"Yeah, the little dude needed me," Argyle said. "Why?"

"You were in the middle of a lunch date with Jonathan," Steve replied.

"Oh shit! How mad is he, man?" Argyle asked.

"Not at all. He's laughing his ass off," Steve replied as he hung up the phone and leaned forward on the counter.

"Gotta go, my dudes!" Argyle said. "Gotta face the music."

"Thanks again, Argyle!" Dustin exclaimed.

"Call me if you ever want to talk, little dude!" Argyle waved at Dustin before leaving.

"Love that guy," Eddie said as he draped himself over Steve’s back. "I'm glad he could help our kid."

"You all helped me," Dustin said.

"I guess I'm just never going to learn about the deal you guys have with my sister," Mike muttered.

"It's better that you don't," Eddie patted his back.