To Heal All Wounds

Eddie Does What He Does

"Evening, my loves," Eddie cooed upon entry, greeting Robin with a kiss on her cheek as was his new custom. Robin grinned into it, cupping his cheek to make him linger for a moment longer than necessary, a gesture that always made him feel horribly treasured. Made him feel warm and soft, and not just because of the warmth of her palm pressed into his cheek. Once released, he finished the kiss with a smack and greeted Steve with a slightly too-hard pat on the back that made Steve cough a little and caused his hair to flop into his face.

Behind him, Chrissy floated in, greeting the two in the kitchen with a small smile and a nervous little wave that Robin mirrored. A beat of awkward standing before Robin said she'd need help with the salad that she was making. The only thing she could make, Steve said dryly before getting nailed in the face by a chopped tomato. It was all the opening Chrissy needed to charm her way into a conversation with Robin, smiling with her whole face and nodding emphatically to whatever Robin was saying. At some point, she'd reached for a beer, but Robin slapped her hand away playfully, snorting something about "underaged drinking" and "what kind of house do you think I'm keeping?" before passing her a can of soda instead as though most of the people in the apartment at that moment hadn't killed off the majority of their brain cells drinking at parties through the majority of high school. Eddie seemed to recall Steve setting keg stand records at fifteen and defending them fiercely. If anyone even got close he would climb back up and set a new one. But he said nothing on the subject and continued to hold his silence when Chrissy reached around Robin's back and swiped a bottle for herself. That was when she caught Eddie's gaze and nodded pointedly toward Steve, who was currently a little too busy fussing with a bag of paper plates.

Eddie took the hint and wandered over to the counter where Steve was working and put his itching hands to good use, opening the package of paper napkins that the other man shoved at him.

"Breaking out the good china, I see," Eddie quipped softly, standing close enough that their shoulders brushed as he swayed into the other man. Steve only offered a dry laugh and a glib, "only the best for the Hero of Hawkins."

Eddie winced at the moniker, still so unused to the idea even a month after resurrecting. Maybe he'd never get used to it, and it'd just end up being a new reason for him to get the hell out of town as soon as he was able. He'd never been a fan of hero worship, and it was only worse when he was the focus of it.

There were several beats of silence working in awkward tension before Steve broke it, his voice too high and too fast.

"How come Robin gets a kiss but I get beat up?"

The suddenness of the statement seemed to shock Steve as much as it shocked Eddie, who looked up to see catch the other man's surprised expression and the way his hand drifted to his lips for a moment before he realized how futile the gesture was. Somewhere around the middle of his sentence, Eddie could tell that Steve had tried to pull the words back into his mouth but it was too late. They forced themselves out of his mouth faster and faster and as more poured out, they dragged the pitch of his voice up. The momentum had gotten away from him and stolen his voice, betraying poor Steve with the question.

Of course, Eddie knew it was an off-handed question, something meant to fill the silence that hovered between them. But then again... no it wasn't just something said for the sake of a joke. It wasn't because how could it be in the light of that morning? How could it be with the way Steve's eyes widened in shock and the way he bit his lips closed a second too late.

Eddie shifted his focus bodily towards Steve, who was suddenly very focused on shuffling the pack of paper plates in his hand, as though searching for the "right" one like they weren't all just stark white with the same scalloped edging to make them seem fancier than they were. The counter dug into Eddie's bony hip, and the ache served to ground him while he worked to tamp down the slow curl of something warm and purring in his guts. Steve's hands were shaking and all Eddie wanted to do was grab them and press them into his own until they stilled. He wanted to gather Steve up in his arms and push the loudest, wettest, most obnoxious kiss into his cheek with such ferocity that it pursed Steve's lips with the force of it. He wanted to cling to Steve as they both laughed at the absurdity and shared a real kiss, one that was softer and quieter and sweeter.