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That Time He Got Naked
Steve had always been a good performer. Eddie watched him in school, putting on the face of a disaffected cool guy who was above everything around him. And he watched him put on a face of bravery for the kids when the end of the world was at their fingertips. When Steve got his first role, Eddie figured it made sense. He hadn't exactly been trained in acting, but he had a pretty face and the ability to do what he was told on a set.
When he got his second role, Eddie didn't pay much attention. Local art movies by Robin's college friends weren't that interesting to watch, in his opinion. But the third role was when it became a thing. That's when it started turning into a big deal. And before they knew it, a year later, Steve was in a real movie. A movie they could see in theaters and rent at family video. A movie people had actually heard of. The kind of movie everyone sat down to watch in support of their famous friend. Even if it was a just small role.
So, at the first available showing where the entire party could get together, Eddie found himself squished between Dustin and Nancy, watching Steve gasp and moan like it was his first time.
And Eddie's face was on fire.
Dustin had pulled his hoodie over his eyes.
Nancy was sitting straight as a telephone pole.
Jonathan leaned over and asked her, “Was he really like that?” Which made her smack him on the arm and tell him to shut up.
Eddie could barely pay attention. He was too busy wondering, as he stared at Steve's bare ass taking up half the screen, if Steve had been hitting the gym to tone up just for this scene because-
He needed to stop thinking about it before he made it even more awkward for everyone.
When Steve called him a week later, he could barely talk without stuttering like a fool.
“So, what did you think? Maria said I was really convincing but she was in the scene with me. She kind of has to say that,” Steve said.
Eddie thought that the sight of Steve's ass had been imprinted on the back of his eyelids, because it was all he saw when he closed his eyes to sleep at night.
“It was good,” Eddie said awkwardly.
“That sex scene was so embarrassing. People keep asking me if it was hot. There is nothing hot about standing around your coworkers in a flesh colored jockstrap.”
“Mm-hmm,” Eddie said, trying not to imagine a scenario where Steve was his coworker, and that was his uniform.
That Time He Died
The next time they met up to watch a Steve movie, nobody had warned Eddie about its contents. Or, maybe they did and he'd ignored it because he didn't want to think about the little mole on the small of Steve's back that he'd discovered last time they watched a Steve movie.
Either way, Eddie was completely unprepared to watch Steve gasping for air while being beaten to death in an alley.
“Ugh, I can't watch this,” Robin muttered when it became clear what was happening. She ran out of the theater a few moments later when the scene didn't end quickly enough.
Lucas was on Eddie's other side, cringing with each brutal punch. Steve was letting out pathetic, wet whimpers, his face literally crunching under the main actor's fists.
Eddie knew it was fake. The blood was kind of excessive and there was just no way you could rearrange someone's face like that with your bare hands. But watching Steve's eyes go glassy made Eddie feel sick.
He got up too.
He found Robin standing next to a water fountain, just staring at it.
“Thirsty, Buckley?”
She jumped.
“Oh. No,” she said, stuffing her hands in the pickets of her jacket. “I just dream about that kind of stuff a lot.”
Eddie nodded. “I get it. It's different when we've seen him hurt before.”
Behind them, the theater door swung open. Dustin paused when he saw them, and then propped it open with his foot. The rest of the party followed.
“I guess we're leaving early, huh?” Nancy asked.
Everyone nodded.
“Nobody tells Steve,” Robin warned.
When Steve called him the next day, he kept his mouth shut.
“You were terrifying,” Eddie said.
“You sure? I think I was supposed to be more pathetic than anything else.”
“I mean, that too. But it was super gory, so I think the whole theater was freaked out.”
“Neat,” Steve said. “You know, I'm going to be in Chicago this weekend. We should hang out!”
“I'd love that!” Eddie said too quickly.
Steve laughed and asked, “Maybe you can show me around?”
“Yeah, you can stay at my place!” Eddie said.
And then he looked around his apartment and cringed. “On second thought, you can get a hotel if you don't want to deal with the mess.”
“I love the mess. It's you,” Steve said.
Eddie wasn't sure if he was supposed to be offended or not.
That Time He Cried
The next movie wasn't much better. This time, Eddie came prepared. This time, Steve didn't get naked or die. What he hadn't anticipated was that there were other terrible things that could happen, like watching the man he'd held a crush on for years now scream and sob because he lost the will to live after his wife died.
Eddie honestly didn't know that Steve could sound like that. The anguish in his voice at the funeral scene, the pain in his expression. It was raw, and difficult to face.
There wasn't a dry eye in their row.
“I do not like this one,” El whispered to Eddie.
“Why is he always miserable in these movies?” Max muttered. She had her shoulders up to her ears and her arms crossed, like she could hold the tears back if she wound herself up tight enough.
“Well. He seemed pretty happy in the first one,” Eddie said.
Max punched him in the shoulder.
Steve's phone call came that evening.
“Dude, I think you broke everyone's hearts. I didn't even know you could cry like that,” Eddie said.
Steve huffed a laugh into the receiver. “My agent told me to think of something sad.”
“What did you think of?” Eddie asked. He instantly wanted to smack himself in the forehead. Why would Steve share that with him? To his shock, Steve hummed, like he was thinking.
“I thought about how I felt when we thought Max was dead,” he said quietly. “Obviously, it's not like that between us. She's basically my sister at this point. But…it was the first time I'd ever lost someone but cared about. Someone I was supposed to protect.”
Eddie's heart melted into a million pieces.
“Steve. I think you should invite her to visit you. She loves you too,” he said softly.
“Yeah,” Steve said slowly, “the only thing is that Dustin would lose his shit if she visited first.”
“Oh, don't worry, I'll keep him distracted for you,” Eddie said.
“With Dragons and Dickwads?” Steve asked.
“You know it.”
That Time He Proposed
Eventually, Steve broke his curse of misery and managed to get a lead role in a rom com. Eddie hated it more than anything else. Watching him fall in love with the human equivalent of a shallow puddle pissed Eddie off more than anything else had in a long time. Steve's pretty eyes, staring at her. Steve, so visibly in love with someone who didn't deserve him. Steve, doing stupid shit to make her take him back when he hadn't done anything wrong in Eddie’s completely unbiased opinion.
It made Eddie want to tear his hair out.
The real cherry on top was Steve proposing to her at the end, because of-fucking-course the movie ended that way. That kind of heteronormative love at first sight, get married and have kids bullshit the media always pandered to, drove him up the wall. Steve did all the work. He set up a cheesy outdoor surprise at the beach and dropped to one knee while everyone in the background of the scene clapped like a bunch of lemmings.
“This is so fucking stupid,” Eddie said.
“Tell me about it,” Mike said.
“God, I hate romance movies," Eddie said.
“They always suck,” Mike agreed.
“Steve would never do that! He doesn't like big grand gestures!” Eddie said.
“What?” Mike asked.
“He's a very private person!”
“Eddie…that's not Steve. That's Chris. Steve’s character,” Erica said.
“I- I know that. I'm just saying,” Eddie sputtered.
“Can you all shut the fuck up?” Max hissed.
Steve called him a week later, and by then, Eddie had forgotten all about it up until Steve started waxing poetic about how romantic it all was. Ugh.
“Wait, I thought you didn't like that kind of stuff,” Eddie interrupted.
“Oh. No, I don't. But in the context of the movie, it was supposed to be.”
“So…what kind of romance do you like?” Eddie asked casually.
“Gonna surprise me with something, Munson?” Steve asked.
“Wha- no, I just-” Eddie stuttered.
Steve interrupted him with a laugh. Then, he suddenly asked, in a sinfully soft voice, “when are you going to visit me?”
Eddie's heart skipped a beat.
“Uh, I don't know. Tattooing doesn't pay for a California vacation yet,” he said nervously.
“You could move out here,” Steve said. “There's a ton of people wanting tattoos in LA.”
“I don't know if all that sun would agree with me,” Eddie joked.
“Youcouldmoveinwithme,” Steve blurted out.
“Hmm?” Eddie asked, twisting the phone cord around his thumb.
“You could move in with me,” Steve said.
Eddie nearly dropped the phone. He sat up straight and looked at his hands like they couldn't tell him what he'd really heard, because there was no way Steve was being serious.
“Eddie?” Steve asked.
“I'm here. Good one, Steve,” he said with a forced laugh, “like you'd want me messing up your place. Anyway, got anything else going on?”
Steve didn't reply for a moment. When he did, he told him about some party he'd gone to. And Eddie forgot about the offer completely.
That Time He Was a Villain
Thankfully, Steve's next film was wildly different from the others. This time he was the bad guy. Eddie found it kind of thrilling to watch him parade around with the confidence of an unapologetic piece of shit. The way he led the main characters around like he had them on a leash, the way he looked when he was in charge. It made Eddie's pathetic little heart shiver.
Steve made a sexy villain.
Unfortunately for Eddie, nobody else seemed to agree. As they left the theater, all the kids were grumbling under their breath.
“I thought he was cool in that role,” Eddie said.
“He was such an asshole!” Dustin said.
“I can't believe he was so mean to Miranda! He didn't have to be such a bad husband!” Max said.
“It was the look in his eyes. Like he thought it was all fun,” Erica said with disgust.
“Once a douche, always a douche,” Mike muttered.
Nancy lifted an eyebrow. “You guys know that it was just a character, right? Steve didn't actually endorse any of that stuff.”
“He chose the role,” Dustin muttered. “I hope Hollywood isn't ruining him.”
Eddie was pretty sure they just missed him.
Steve called him three days later.
“Do you think I'm turning into an asshole?” he asked without saying hello.
“Dustin’s just being stupid,” Eddie said.
“He says I'm regressing back into my high school days!”
“That's dramatic,” Eddie said with a laugh, “he didn't even know you in high school.”
“Exactly!”
“I thought you were cool in your latest movie,” Eddie said.
“What?”
“I mean, you are a bit of an ass, but it shows your skill.”
“Wait, is that what this is about? I thought I missed his birthday or something!”
“Oh, no. They just don't like seeing you play the bad guy.”
“Oh my God, that is so fucking-”
That Time He Fell In Love With A Man
Eddie didn't know what was coming next. Steve had been in a wide variety of roles at this point, so when he sat down in the theater with a bucket of popcorn, he did not expect to witness the crush of his life, holder of his soul, dream of all dreams, to be making out with another man.
Eddie nearly threw his popcorn at the screen out of sheer shock.
“Buckley, did you know about this!?” he hissed to Robin.
“Yeah, I thought it was really brave,” she said softly.
“What do you mean? Because he's straight?”
Robin slowly turned to look at Eddie with an eyebrow lifted.
“...What?” she asked.
Eddie wasn't paying attention. He turned back to watch. It was beautiful. It was nothing like what he'd expected. Explicit love between two men, on screen for the world to see. He didn't even have it in himself to get jealous. For the first time, Eddie couldn't see Steve. He saw the story. He could see himself in the way Steve's character looked at his lover. The way they hid their feelings for each other in public. The film ended with Steve's character passing away in a car accident. It made Eddie cry. Eddie hadn't cried in a theater in years.
He left the building feeling raw.
The others were raving about the film, talking about how it would push Steve's career to the next level. No comments about it being weird or gross.
“Robin, why would he choose that role?” Eddie asked quietly.
“What do you mean?” she asked.
“I mean, did he do it for Will or something?”
Robin turned to Eddie with her hands on her hips, looking very much like Steve with the level of judgement in her eyes.
“Eddie…when you said Steve was straight. Were you being serious?”
Eddie just blinked at her. “Of course I was. He is straight.”
“Are you stupid?” she asked. Eddie opened his mouth to reply, but she didn't let him. “Where have you been the last few years? Has that apartment of yours been lined with lead?”
“What-”
“Eddie, he calls you almost every week!”
“He calls everyone-”
“He stays at your place when he's in town!”
“It's cheaper-”
“He is a successful actor! He has no reason to stay in your apartment, which is always covered in dirty clothes!”
“Hey, I try to keep it-”
“Last time I was there, your underwear was hanging on the bathroom doorknob!”
“Listen, I told you I can explain that-”
“Eddie, he asked if you wanted to move in with him!”
Eddie opened and closed his mouth a couple of times. Now that he thought about it, he did recall Steve joking about that. But it had just been a joke. Right?
“I thought he was being nice?” Eddie offered.
“Oh my god, you are so stupid,” Robin said.
“Wait, so let me get this right. Steve isn't straight. And he's interested in me!?”
Robin punched him in the shoulder. “Go call him, you dumbass.”
Eddie turned and ran all the way home without even saying goodbye. By the time he made it to his phone, he was gasping for air after running up three flights of stairs. And for the first time in years, he called Steve after watching his movie.
“Hello?”
Eddie could only gasp for air.
“...Listen if this is some kind of prank-”
“No! Wait! It's me!” Eddie gasped.
“Eddie?” Steve asked.
“I saw your new movie,” Eddie said, brushing his hands out of his face with a shaking hand. "Why didn't you ever tell me?”
Steve was silent for a moment.
“Tell you what?” he finally asked.
“That you like men!”
“I'm sorry?” Steve asked, sounding shocked.
Eddie's face was on fire. Had he somehow completely misunderstood Robin's point? Should he have stayed beyond to make sure?
“Eddie, did you not know that?” Steve asked.
“What! Of course, I didn't! If I had known that I would have-” Eddie cut himself off, too embarrassed to even say it.
“You would have what?” Steve goaded.
“It doesn't matter,” Eddie mumbled.
“No, I think it does,” Steve said.
“It's not a big deal,” Eddie said.
“I think it is,” Steve said.
Eddie bit his bottom lip, letting his feelings fester inside him until they finally exploded in the form of him shouting, “I would have asked you out!”
“And I would have said yes,” Steve said instantly.
“Really?” Eddie asked softly.
“I mean…I've been crazy about you for years,” Steve said.
“Why didn't you say anything!? Do you know how crazy you drove me last time you stayed here? You can't hold a man in bed like that and not expect him to fall in love!”
“I- uh, thought you didn't feel the same,” Steve said, sounding embarrassed. Eddie closed his eyes and sighed. Robin was right. He was so stupid.
“Steve, I feel the same and I want to ask you to be with me for the foreseeable future,” Eddie said boldly.
“The foreseeable future? Not just a date?” Steve asked.
“I am well past wanting a single date, to be honest.”
“Oh wow. Well, I've been looking for a boyfriend,” Steve said.
“I might even surprise you with something romantic,” Eddie said with a smile.