To Heal All Wounds

Lunch Date

Okay, so... Eddie had lied.

Sue him.

He'd do it again if it got him into a booth at the diner on Main Street with King Steve on one side of the table and Billy Hargrove crammed in next to him. He'd do it again, even if the blond's body was coiled tight and tense and his jaw was set hard enough to grind his teeth to dust. He'd do it again, and he was certain no one would blame him. How could they? Anyone else with red blood coursing through their veins and a dick to be filled with said red blood would have done the same when he saw what he did. Anyone else would have lied and worse when they woke up, glanced out their window, and saw Billy Hargrove sprawled and deck chair in nothing but shorts that were criminally small on him. They would have lied when Steve Harrington joined him, beers in hand, and flashed the other boy that award-winning, knee-weakening smile over something spoken only between the two of them.

And they would have felt justified in that lie, just as Eddie did, had they heard Steve bring up Billy's flirting once they were in earshot (which... Eddie would unpack Steve's awareness and apparent acceptance of Billy's flirting later) and had they seen the fear on Billy's face as he reacted in base survival instinct. They would have felt justified as Steve scrambled and Billy deflected.

And Eddie was also certain that his second crime of creeping from his trailer window was also justified because, once again and he could not stress this enough, criminally small shorts and just... all of both of them. Anyone else would have watched from their windows, weed clasped in one sweaty palm with the other pressed into a half chub, while he watched them lean into each other, sharing air and secrets and smiles.

So no. Chrissy didn't have to ditch him because of sudden plans with her family. In fact, he hadn't had plans with Chrissy at all . His plans for that day consisted of smoking the pot in his hands by himself and writing some music for Corroded's first practice in two years. Which, you know, still bugged him out a little, but he was trying to ignore that. They would understand, he was certain, and he could always claim that he was out of practice in the art of poetry and pray that no one called him on the fact that he hadn't felt a single breath of the last two years that he'd been dead.

"Uhh, Peggy?" Steve's voice broke through Eddie's musings, and he had to crane his neck around Billy, still curled tight around himself and hiding behind the physical barrier of the menu in his hands, to see the woman that Steve was talking to. A redhead in her middle ages with a smile too big for her face. "Can we get three waters, two coffees, and... what do you want, Billy?"

"For you to leave me alone," the blond snarked from behind his menu. Steve glanced at Eddie with a look that spoke more of confusion and exasperation than offense. Eddie could only shrug, equally as uncertain when and how Billy's good-natured resignation to lunch plans had morphed into something that looked suspiciously like fear. Steve only nodded back, heaved a sigh, and finished with a small, "That's it, Peggy, thanks."

Billy curled in tighter on himself and began working his teeth into the dry skin of his lower lip and Eddie had to fight himself to not pluck the lip form between his teeth and soothe the skin with his thumb and the lip balm in his pocket. As though sensing the thought inside of Eddie skull, Billy shifted the menu to block his contempaltive study of Billy's profile.

Tense, complicated silence fell over the trio in the booth after that. And honestly, fine. It wasn't like Eddie thought that they would all be holding hands and sharing a milkshake with three straws right off the bat. Even if that image did absolutely rot his molars and make him grin like an idiot. But he hadn't really expected Billy to spend the drive over brooding in the passenger seat, snipping at them both whenever they tried to include him in their conversation. Nor did he really expect him to hide behind his menu once they were seated.