The sound of several arcade machines beeping and chirping filled the air, momentarily drowned out by the kid's excited cheers before they rushed off to several different consoles. Steve glanced at Eddie and smiled. "I hope you bought some cash because they're gonna bleed me dry."

"Sorry rich boy I'm not made of cash. You're funding me too."

"What am I, your sugar daddy?"

"If you wanna be, sure." Eddie leaned in closer and batted his eyes.

Steve had to look away and cleared his throat as Eddie laughed. "You're older than me, asshole."

"I'll give you the best blow job of your life later." Eddie held out a hand and wriggled his fingers. "Please?"

And who was Steve to say no to such a request? With an exaggerated sigh, he pulled out his wallet and handed over a ten-dollar bill. "Go wild."

"I love you."

"Go." Steve knew he was blushing as Eddie cackled and ran off. He hated how easily he got flustered when the word love was mentioned. Eddie was very open with his affection which, although new, was very welcome. Steve had never felt so accepted in a relationship before.

He tore his eyes away from his boyfriend hunching over a dig dug machine and wandered over to Max and Lucas sharing the joust game. "Having fun?" He got distracted replies and left them to it. He couldn't watch the games for too long or he'd start feeling nauseous. Still, he liked watching the others enjoy themselves, even at his own expense.

Dustin was hovering by a coin slot machine but Steve carefully steered him away. "Why? It looks cool."

"Go have fun, no gambling." He replied firmly, pushing him towards Mike and Will on Pac-Man.

"Fine."

Steve had circled the arcade now and meandered back towards Eddie. He was entirely focused on the game and didn't seem to notice Steve next to him. He waited until a break between rounds to touch Eddie's side, laughing when he jumped and banged his elbow on the cabinet.

"Sorry, baby."

Eddie huffed and leaned over again. "Not cool, Stevie."

"I'll make it up to you later." He murmured back before looking around to make sure they were alone. "Your ass looks amazing in those jeans."

"My ass always looks amazing."

"You're not wrong." He risked twirling a lock of Eddie's hair around his finger, watching the curl bounce back into shape a couple of times as he played.

Eddie's game carried on for another ten minutes before he finally died. "Man," He sighed and stepped back. "I almost beat Max's score. I swear, one day I will and I'll rub it in her smug face."

"Not today," Max replied, elbowing him out of the way. "My turn, loser. You guys go flirt somewhere else."

"We're not-" She sent Steve a withering look so he shrugged and let it go. "Whatever."

Eddie grabbed his hand and tugged him outside into the alley. "We got maybe five minutes before one of the twerps realise we're missing."

Steve huffed softly and brought him into a kiss. Eddie hummed against his mouth happily. He could do this forever, wrapped up in Eddie's arms and mouth. "Eds, we gotta get back in there. They'll open a gate or something."

"Two more minutes. God, I love your mouth."

"I love your hair."

"I love your laugh."

"I love your everything."

"And I'd love our ride to stop making out and take us home." They sprang apart at the sound of Max's voice to find her standing at the entrance of the alleyway, hands on hips with an unimpressed look. "You guys have been out here for ages, Dustin's starting to think you got kidnapped."

"As you can see, we're fine." Eddie squeezed Steve around the waist and pulled him closer with a smug grin. "Alright, Red, you go round up the others and we'll meet you at the car in two minutes. Sound good?"

She rolled her eyes and disappeared.

"See? Easy."

Steve looked at him in amusement, stealing one last kiss before stepping back to sort out his hair. "They're gonna find out."

"I know. Do you care?"

"No, I don't want to hide our relationship from our friends."

"Good, neither do I." Eddie squeezed his hand and kissed his cheek. "Let's go. The sooner we drop the kids off, the sooner I can thank you for that ten dollars."

"Get in the car, Munson."

He laughed but slid into the passenger seat before Dustin could get there to object. The kids all got in with a lot of noise and bouncing. Steve gave up pretty quickly trying to get them to wipe their feet and sighed, he'd just have to clean the car. Finally, it was just him, Eddie and Dustin in the car.

Dustin leaned forward over the centre console. "You two are as thick as thieves." There was a beat of silence but as soon as Steve caught Eddie's eye they both burst out laughing. "What?" Dustin asked defensively. "It's what my mom would say! You guys are like, inseparable!"

Eddie looked at Steve again and raised his eyebrow. Knowing what he was asking he gave a slight nod. Eddie turned in his seat to face Dustin. "We're not as thick as thieves or whatever, we're dating."

"Oh?" Dustin looked to Steve who nodded and his eyes widened. "Oh!" They waited as he sat back and processed and then beamed. "That's cool, you two are great together."

"Glad you think so."

"So can I call you mom and dad now?"

"Absolutely not."

Steve tried but Eddie cut over him with, "Only if Steve is the mom."