It was strange, Eddie thought, this attempt at normalcy, but the beer buzzing through his veins was making things feel a little lighter. He swiped at a loose curl that had escaped his hair tie, and his hand came away damp with the sweat that had collected on the back of his neck. Eddie held the beer can, ice cold and dripping with condensation, to his skin and closed his eyes against the persistent summer sun.
On the lounge chair across from him, Robin’s pasty legs, clad in black swim trunks that matched Eddie’s own exactly, were draped across Steve’s much tanner ones. She nimbly plucked Steve’s sunglasses off his face and placed them over her eyes.
“Hey,” Steve protested, more out of habit than anything else, because he made no move to take them back. His hair was water-dark and slicked off his face from his latest dive in the pool, and the scars around his neck and down his abdomen were sun-faded and nearly white. His swim trunks were yellow and fit closer to his body than Eddie’s, a sartorial choice born of the kind of confidence Eddie had never possessed. Eddie glanced at his matching scars, which were still a livid red against his pale, scrawny self. Wayne had remarked that there hadn't been much of him to begin with and there was even less now, and Eddie felt that sentiment very acutely when next to Steve, who was so solidly built that the scars made him appear, if anything, larger and firmer instead of eaten away—diminished.
Eddie tuned back into the conversation just in time to hear Robin say, “I know it isn’t a big deal, in the grand scheme of things, but it feels like a big deal to me.”
“Nobody cares, Robs,” Steve assured her, his head lolling to face Eddie. “Right, Eddie?”
Whoops. “About what?” Eddie asked, and to his relief Steve didn’t say anything about his lack of attention span.
“Robin’s upset because she’s never been kissed,” Steve said, waving a hand airily.
“You haven’t?” Eddie asked, head cocked to the side.
A hoarse whine was Robin’s only answer, her face, including her sunscreen-covered nose, hidden in her hands.
“I mean,” Eddie went on quickly, “That’s not a big deal. Steve’s right, nobody gives a shit.”
“What if Vickie does?” Robin asked, voice muffled but plaintive. Eddie didn’t know much about the object of Robin’s affection beyond the fact that she had red hair and freckles and they had shared exactly two brief conversations. He didn’t mention that when the name Vickie came up, what Eddie pictured was Raggedy Ann instead of the “extremely cute” redhead, as Robin so often put it.
“She won’t, but if you’re so worried about it, I’ll kiss you,” Steve said lazily, holding a hand over his eyes to look at her without the sun’s interference. “C’mere.”
She shrieked and yanked her legs off him. “No!”
“What the hell!” Steve said, sitting up, sounding truly baffled.
“Don’t come near me, you idiot!” Robin slapped a hand over her mouth like if she didn’t, Steve would suddenly suction to her like a magnet. “It’s not that easy!”
“It kind of is,” Steve said, puzzled. He brightened. “Plus, I’m good at it! I can teach you!”
“Steve!” Robin wailed. “That is so weird!”
“No, it isn’t! Back me up here, Eds.” Steve folded his arms across his broad chest and raised an eyebrow at him.
“Uh,” Eddie said, “Boundaries are already weird with the whole wonder twins thing you two got going, so I don’t really know what to say.”
Steve rolled his eyes. “It’s just kissing, Robs. Doesn’t mean anything. Get the first one over with, and then you’ll relax with Vickie!”
“It doesn’t mean anything to you because you’ve kissed half of Hawkins!” Robin shouted, swatting Steve’s shoulder.
“Oh, please,” Steve huffed.
“Yeah,” Eddie chimed in, placing a hand over his heart like he was offended on Steve’s behalf, “it’s only one-third.”
Steve chucked an empty beer can at him, and Eddie squawked. The can clattered off the white pavement and skittered dangerously close to the bright blue of the Harrington pool.
“What about you, Eds?” Robin asked suddenly.
“Me? You know I don’t want to kiss you,” Eddie admitted, “but if for some reason that’s easier than kissing Steve then, I guess, in the spirit of friendship—“
“Why Eddie over me?” Steve demanded, frowning.
Eddie smirked. “Excuse me, I may not have quite as many references, but I assure you, my reviews are glowing.”
“Shut up!” Robin yelled, face bright red under her sunscreen.
“Sorry,” Steve and Eddie said together, and then they burst into laughter.
“What do you know about kissing girls, anyway, Eddie,” Robin said crossly, staring resolutely towards the far side of the fence.
“My first kiss was with a girl!” Eddie protested. “How do you think I figured out I never wanted to do it again?”
“You’ve only kissed one girl?” Steve asked, eyebrows high.
“Obviously not,” Eddie said, and it was his turn to roll his eyes. “The closet is a dark and twisty place, Stevie.”
Satisfied, Steve nodded. “See, Robs, you can kiss one guy! It won’t mean anything!”
“You keep saying that,” Robin snapped. “I only get one first kiss, Dingus.”
“Who was yours?” Eddie asked, suddenly interested to know who gave Steve Harrington his start.
Steve seemed to consider the question, and Eddie barely contained a joke about loose lips and sinking ships. Finally, Steve said, “Well, I guess it was Carol Perkins.”
“You guess?” Robin asked, incredulous. “You aren’t sure?”
“It was either her or Tommy,” Steve said, shrugging, “but I don’t think he counts.”
The silence that fell in the wake of that declaration was extremely loud. There was a ringing in Eddie’s ears, and he could tell that Robin was just as shellshocked.
“Tommy Hagan?” Robin repeated, “Ex-best friend and—“
“And renowned capital S straight guy?” Eddie asked, voice squeakier than he remembered it being a second ago.
At this, Steve chuckled. “Tommy is straight. He was just fooling around, that’s why it doesn’t count.”
Eddie nearly fell off his chair. Robin, thankfully, still had her wits. “When was this, Steve?”
Not picking up on the forced normalcy, Steve thought about it. “Eighth grade, I think? I was at his house on his swings, and he just sort of kissed me. Then he said it didn’t count, cause we were friends. I kissed Carol the next week, on a dare.” Here, Steve laughed. “Tommy hit me over that, but I didn’t know he liked her.”
“I don’t think it was her he liked,” Eddie muttered. So much was making sense. Tommy’s penchant for publicly making out with Carol. His obsession with Steve and subsequent torment of Nancy.
“Steve,” Robin said, clearly trying so hard to remain calm that it was painful, “Did Tommy ever, uh, do it again?”
Steve laughed. “What? No! Why would he do that?”
Robin let all her air out through her teeth and then Steve averted his eyes. “Well.”
Robin flung an arm out and gripped Steve’s wrist. “Well?”
It was then that Eddie noticed he’d been leaning in subconsciously and forced himself to sit up. Steve wasn’t some sideshow attraction.
Steve bit his lip. “Once, he was drunk and he sort of…tried to, I guess. But I, you know, turned my head and told him I’d go find Carol for him. We laughed about it!”
There was a note of uncertainty in Steve’s voice now. He looked at them both, clearly fighting to regain the former playful atmosphere. “Next thing you’ll be telling me Dean Warren was into me, too.”
Eddie jolted in his chair. He cleared his throat. “Why do you say that, Stevie?”
“'Cause of the note” Steve said, shaking his head like they wouldn’t believe what he was about to say. “It was for Stacy Newton. Her locker was right next to mine—easy to mix up, and he wanted to meet her under the bleachers at lunch. So, I told her and she was like, shocked but not in a bad way, and I felt pretty good about it, right, cause she went! And they went to prom together! But Dean asked me not to tell anyone afterwards. Never made sense to me. Everyone fooled around under the bleachers, but I guess he’s a private guy.”
Eddie’s mind was spinning. He whistled under his breath and said, “Bring the tally of people who came out to you in very creative ways up to four, big boy.”
Robin began to laugh in earnest. Steve was so confused that Eddie could almost see the question mark above his head, so Eddie put him out of his misery. “Dean Warren was the first guy I ever kissed,” Eddie heard himself saying, and even with the knowledge that Steve and Robin were safe, it still felt like exposing a nerve.
Steve’s mouth fell slowly open. “But—“
“What do you think would’ve happened if you’d showed up under the bleachers?” Robin asked, still giggling.
“Little Dean probably would’ve keeled over,” Eddie crowed, “King Steve himself. Where did he get the balls?”
“He’s lucky,” Robin said ruefully, “You were a jerk in high school Steve, but you were never an asshole.”
“I don’t get it,” Steve mumbled, rubbing his temples. “Why did he—why didn’t either of them just tell me?”
“Why?” Eddie asked, voice low and suddenly sober. “You could’ve beat the shit out of them, and the town would’ve thanked you. That’s what they wanted to do to me and nobody even had confirmation I was queer.” That last part came out bitter and gnarled, and Steve’s hand jerked like he wanted to touch Eddie’s knee.
“But I’m not—“ Steve tried and then swallowed hard.
“We know,” Robin said softly, sliding a lanky arm around his shoulders. For some reason, Eddie had the wildest desire to ask Steve what he’d been about to say. He wasn’t what? An asshole? Queer?
“Do you still want to kiss me?” Robin asked quickly, face scrunched up like she was offering to lick the underside of a diner table. “I mean, would that make you feel better?”
A strangled sort of laugh burst out of Steve and, quick as a flash, he turned his head and planted a sloppy, open-mouthed kiss on an unsuspecting Robin’s cheek. He made an exaggerated “mwah” noise as he did so, and Robin leapt to her feet, rubbing the side of her face and gagging.
“Oh, yuck!” She hollered, dancing on the spot like her feet were on fire. “Gross! Why did you slobber so much? Are you an animal?”
“For all you know, that was expert-level,” Steve said impishly, hands on his hips and a crooked smile on his face.
Grinning, Eddie walked up to Robin, arms spread wide as if to console her, and when her guard was down he smacked an equally wet kiss to her other cheek. Steve let out a surprised guffaw, and Robin screamed bloody murder.
“I hate you both!” She shook her head like she could fling their cooties off her.
“You love us,” Eddie reminded her sternly, pointing.
“Say you love us,” Steve ordered, taking a faux-threatening step towards her. When she raised her chin in the air defiantly, Steve managed to make puckering up look menacing, and then he was chasing her around the edge of water, both of them shrieking, and Eddie was complaining about running in the heat, and somehow they all three ended up back in the water, limbs flailing.
Later, when they all toweled off and Eddie watched Steve shake, doglike, the droplets of water off the ends of his hair, Robin shot Eddie a warning look. He jerked his chin at her in acknowledgment, and she nodded. He wasn’t going to say anything. But for the first time in his life, Eddie Munson felt a kinship to Tommy Hagan.
