"What? Come on." Lucas groaned.
"No can do, mighty Sinclair." Eddie ruffled his hair, much to Lucas's chagrin. "This is an adults only conversation."
"You guys are only like four years older than us." Will grumbled.
"Exactly, four years your senior. Now go. Off with you. Watch a scary movie or something." He ushered for them to go back inside. "That means you too, Henderson."
Dustin looked at Eddie, gutted. "What?"
"Sorry pal, them's the breaks."
With a huff, Dustin went inside with the others. Eddie shut the door behind them and joined the rest of the group by the pool just as Argyle pulled out a Tupperware container filled with pre-rolled blunts.
"Alright my dudes and Judes," Argyle started, slowly, "I've got a special strain of Purple Palm Tree Delight for this very occasion. An occasion I'd like to officially christen as: 'Eddie Munson Returns: Vampire Edition: The Sequel: 2'."
Steve scoffed lightly. "Really?"
"Argyle." Eddie cupped Argyle's face. "Truly a man after my own heart." He planted a big, comical kiss on his forehead and took a blunt from the container. Nancy blinked at them.
"We're not... We're not going to smoke those are we?" She muttered.
Robin gave her a soft nudge and smirked. "You nervous, Wheeler?"
Nancy blushed. "Wh- No. I just... I've..." She cleared her throat. "I've never really... done this before."
"Oh, don't worry about that. Neither has Steve."
Steve rolled his eyes. "Thanks, Robin."
"What? It's true." She shrugged.
A mischievous gleam entered Eddie's eye. "Is that so?" He craned to look at Steve, who just flicked the side of his head. Eddie cackled and swatted his hand away. "Hey! Don't worry, big boy, I'll show you how to do it."
"Wow, what would I do without you?" Steve replied sarcastically.
They sat around the pool, feet in the water, as Argyle lit the first blunt. He took a deep hit, before passing it to Jonathan, then to Robin, and so on. Robin showed Nancy how to properly inhale, which of course ended in her coughing up a storm from getting too much.
"There it is!" Jonathan chuckled. "Congrats on your first hit."
Nancy could barely reply over her burning throat. She raised a weak thumbs up and passed the blunt to Steve.
"So I just... inhale?" He muttered as he examined it.
"That's the idea." Jonathan said, lying back as the high fogged his brain. Eddie took the blunt from him.
"Here, watch me." He demonstrated for Steve by inhaling, once more, pausing, and then letting the smoke out with a deep breath. "Make sense? Don't forget to breath it in a second time."
Steve nodded and went to take it from him, but Eddie held it up to Steve's lips instead, to his surprise. "Ready?" Steve paused, but nodded a bit and placed his mouth on the blunt, his lips just grazing Eddie's fingers. He inhaled as much as he could, deciding he wanted to show off a little. Eddie's eyebrows raised in amusement as Steve went to inhale a second time, only to start violently coughing, spilling thick smoke from his mouth and nose.
Jonathan and Argyle barked out a laugh, and Robin bit her lip with a grin. "Oh Steve, you're fucked."
Eddie pat his back and chuckled as Steve doubled over, coughing. He handed him a bottle of water. "Here, drink this."
Steve snatched it and nearly chugged the entire thing on the spot. His throat felt like it was on fire. Eddie raised his arms dramatically and grinned. "And thus! The weed virgins are no more!"
The group descended into loopy giggles and tried to shush Eddie, but he stood up and stepped onto the diving board like a king claiming a new land. "Do you hear that, Hawkins?" He shouted. "That's the sound of two doe-eyed young adults descending into teenage delinquency! Oh, the horror!"
They laughed as he hammed up the performance, even Steve couldn't help but smile at the curly haired metalhead gleaming under the moon. Eddie howled at the stars then jumped off the diving board with a cannonball into the pool. The girls shrieked with giggles as water splashed all over them.
"Eddie!" Nancy laughed. She splashed back at him and then yelped when he yanked her down into the water.
Steve nudged Robin with a smirk. "Might want to go save your girlfriend." Robin glared daggers at him, before splashing him and then jumping in the pool to safety.
He shielded his face and laughed in shock. "Oh, you asked for it, Buckley." Steve peeled off his shirt and jumped in after her. Jonathan and Argyle stayed in the chairs, perfectly content to stay dry, but they couldn't help laughing at the spectacle.
Chaos and shenanigans ensued. Water flew all around as Robin peeled Nancy away from Eddie, only to be scooped up by Steve. She squealed as he tossed her back into the deep end. When she resurfaced, she gasped and smoothed back her wet hair. "Okay, I deserved that!"
Nancy giggled and swam towards her, leaving Eddie and Steve by the shallows. Eddie waded over to lean against the wall beside Steve.
"Damn, you've got some mean throwin' arms." He laughed. "She flew."
Steve smiled at him as the world suddenly felt far away and... slow. All of the sounds around him seemed like they came from another planet.
"Feeling okay?" Eddie chuckled. Steve hummed in response. His head was swimming, and water felt nice and warm against his skin. "Oh, buddy." Eddie grinned at him sympathetically. "You're nuked, aren't you?"
Steve chuckled, his eyes completely red. "I think so." He muttered.
"I should have told you to take a smaller hit. My fault."
"No, no. It's not." Steve said, dazed. "I was trying to impress you."
Eddie raised an eyebrow at him and grinned. "Impress me? Why the hell would you do that?"
He watched as the gears turned in Steve's head. As if he were also working out that same problem. Why was Steve trying to impress Eddie? It's not like he had anything to prove. Something about Eddie made Steve want him to think he was... cool. As lame as that sounded.
He honestly thought Eddie was endlessly cool. It was something he'd only just now realized. Steve had passed Eddie's bravado off as 'annoying' or 'attention-seeking' in the past, but now he saw it for what it was. He was fascinated by him. He wanted to ask about his music tastes and his clothes and why liked what he liked, what he wanted to do with his life, everything. He wanted Eddie to like him. He'd never really cared that much about being liked before. Why was it so important to him now?
Eddie tilted his head curiously. "Steve? Where do you keep going?" Steve swallowed a bit and shook his head, not exactly sure of that himself.
"Sorry."
Eddie shook his head and chuckled. He moved some of Steve's hair out of his eyes before he could stop himself. He just looked too much like a puppy dog with all those strands all out of sorts. Steve couldn't help but think that he'd let Eddie fix his hair any way he wanted.
Jonathan glanced at Argyle, stunned. "Are you seeing this?" He mumbled. Argyle nodded, jaw on the floor.
Steve and Eddie sat like that for a moment, both lost in their own little worlds. Nancy waded over, arm in arm with Robin, giggling madly. They both snapped out of their daze, realizing just how close in proximity they'd gotten. They awkwardly moved apart, coughing a bit.
"Are you guys also, like... starving?" Nancy giggled, eyes glassy.
Robin burst into a fit of giggles. "You are so high." She wheezed.
Nancy squeezed her sides and laughed. "So are you!"
"I think we can agree we're all gone with the wind." Eddie chuckled. He'd been high plenty of times in his life, so even though he was blitzed, he could still think straight. "Let's get some food in you."
"Oh my god, we have pizza." Robin stopped to praise whatever deity was out there that granted them this greasy meal and climbed out of the pool with Nancy. Steve and Eddie followed suit, with Argyle and Jonathan close behind.
Argyle whispered to Jonathan when they had enough distance away from the others. "Okay... I'm confused. Is Steve straight?"
Jonathan glanced at him. "I think Steve thinks Steve is straight."