Darling [Steve x Eddie]

Chapter 2

"Steve again?" A voice came from above Eddie.

He lifted his head and saw that Dustin was sitting beside him.

"How'd you guess?" he asked sarcastically.

"Just a hunch," Dustin grinned. "You never melt into the table like this unless he's done something to you."

Eddie sighed.

"When did I become such a predictable soul?"

Dustin looked over his shoulder at Steve's table and then back at him.

"Ever since that asshole over there forgot that he owed you half his life."

"That's hardly true, Henderson," Eddie scoffed, but he blushed in spite of himself.

"You saved his ass so many times in the Upside Down!" Dustin clenched his fists. "Sometimes I wish I could just shake that shithead and ask him why he had to be such a disappointment." He looked put out already. "I can't believe that I actually looked up to him."

He rubbed Eddie's arm comfortingly.

"You know I'd never hesitate to slap him if he even lay a finger on you in front of me."

Eddie nodded, amused by his serious tone.

"So you've told me."

He watched Steve laugh at one of his crony's lame jokes.

"How much d'you wanna bet that Kevin just made a tasteless comment about Tracy's neckline?" he leaned in to Dustin.

Dustin smiled, a new gap between his upper teeth.

"Oh, he one hundred percent just said something about her."

Eddie pretended to gag and wrapped his arm around Dustin.

"Boy, am I glad to have you around, Henderson."

In the Upside Down, he and Dustin had grown closer than ever, almost like brothers by the end, and Eddie took a twisted type joy from seeing Steve jealous about that. It was the only true win that he had against him.

Dustin was pretty much inseparable from Steve when they first started out, but thanks to Hellfire, Eddie realized halfway through their adventures that Dustin was looking to him a lot more for advice.

While he wasn't particularly equipped to offer anything in the realm of Susies and the like, Eddie could guide Dustin in other areas, and he slowly became, as Robin so nicely put it, Dustin's life sensei.

It was a title that he was embarrassingly proud of and he considered it his crowning achievement.

No Hellfire campaign could ever compare to the feeling that he got when Dustin took his word like gold or imitated him.

"D'you wanna stay here or can we smoke a cigarette out back?" Dustin asked him.

That was one of the only bad things about their friendship and the amount of influence that Eddie had.

Dustin had taken to smoking ever since Eddie shared a spliff with him at a Hellfire party. He only ever smoked with Eddie, but it still bugged Eddie that he'd caused the boy to pick up such a bad habit.

"Fine, Dustin," he sighed. "But we really shouldn't do this again. Your going to ruin your lungs."

"But what about your lungs?" Dustin exclaimed.

"I don't give a fuck about my lungs, they only have to last me until I graduate."

Dustin looked like he was storing this away in his mind, so Eddie swatted him on the back of his head.

"Don't get any ideas, Henderson. That's only a me thing."

He stood up abruptly from the table and waited for Dustin to do the same.

Steve was looking their way and it unsettled him.

"Looks like Smaug's awakened," he whispered in Dustin's ear and the boy quickly looked over at their observer's table.

"I'm going to give him shit if he keeps doing that," he said hotly.

"Yeah, you do that, but not while I'm drawing breath," Eddie chuckled lightly. "Now let's get out of here, Pippin."

"Right behind you."

The two of them trudged out of the cafeteria and left Steve to his lackeys.