Chapter Text
On a normal week, Steve takes Sunday nights for himself. Monday through Friday, he spends a lot of his time playing it up for his audience. That gets more intense on Friday and Saturday nights when he goes to parties—not every weekend, but often enough. So the only day he normally has entirely to himself, to go without the accoutrements of his popular facade, is Sunday. Only Robin can break the barrier of his Sunday cocoon.
But now he sits in his car—the keys in the ignition, but the engine off—outside the rec center gathering himself before heading in.
When he woke up this morning, he had to search for his phone. It seemed that sometime in the night, he’d flung it off the bed onto the floor. There was only one notification—not uncommon as he mutes most notifications unless they come from a select few people.
Eddie: On Sundays we play games at the rec center. This week it’s Apples to Apples. I’d love for you to come if you can make time.
Steve hadn’t responded, well into the warmth of his Sunday cocoon, but he decided to go. For the sake of the bet. And maybe, just the tiniest little piece of him, wanted to laugh with Eddie again.
It has been awhile since Steve has played a game. Tommy would never do it, and while Robin and Nancy would, they usually have too many other obligations to take care of. His parents are never around long enough to stoop to play a game. He’s sure he’s played games before, but for the life of him, Steve can’t find a clear memory of it.
The parking lot is empty except for Eddie’s van, which Steve parked next to. Though at the front door is a gaggle of bikes haplessly thrown to the ground in a pile. At the door, Steve mentally flips the switch to turn his charm on.
Inside the center, the lights are on but it seems deserted. There are no screaming children in the multi-purpose room and no front desk staff to greet him. He heads back toward the stairs up to the teen room. Because of the sound dampening, he can’t hear their noise until he opens the door. They aren’t nearly as loud as normal, though Dustin and Lucas are arguing about how many cards one should hold in their hands. All of the kids are in a circle around the table so it isn’t until he makes it into the room that he sees Eddie.
He looks up at the kids with a face that screams annoyance, but something in the lack of tension around his eyes says it’s nothing but fondness. It brings a smile to Steve’s face, how different Eddie has turned out to be from his own assumptions about him.
Lucas notices him first. “Hey, Steve!”
Dustin responds. “Don’t try to distract me from my accurate argument by saying Steve is behind me. I know he’s not behind me.”
Mike rolls his eyes. “Dufus,” he tugs at Dustin’s arm to turn him around. “He isn’t lying.”
Dustin’s face opens wide. “Steve!” he cries. Then he holds out a hand for their handshake. It was a little thing for Steve to make up a silly handshake with Dustin. He had gotten to school early and Dustin was there. They go through the motions, skin slapping skin, until they take our their imaginary lightsabers and battle, before Dustin runs it through Steve’s stomach. In response, Steve gasps and gestures with his hands all his organs slipping out from the wound in his torso. El and Will both look a little horrified, while Lucas and Max look offended they don’t have special handshakes. Mike, like always, is uneffected by Steve’s charm.
And Eddie. Eddie looks gleefully shocked. Steve walks around the table and slides in next to him. Then, to really throw everyone off, he says, “I’m with Lucas. Everyone gets seven cards. Gives you more options.”
That gets the kids going, their voices one-upping each other in volume. Eddie leans into Steve’s shoulder. “What was that?”
“What?”
“Your handshake with Dustin.” He says it with a scoff like it should be obvious.
“Oh,” Steve gives him a sly grin. “Just a little something between bros.”
Eddie shakes his head and moves away from Steve, but the exasperation is all for show. Then he jumps up onto the chair, crouches like a goblin, and slams his palms on the table. “As your game master, I get the final say, and I side with Steve. Seven cards per hand.”
Lucas shouts yes and pumps his fists in the air, while Dustin looks betrayed.
“You heard the man,” Steve adds.
The all grab a seat around the circular table as Eddie deals out seven cards to everyone. “The rules of the game are simple. The person whose turn it is, pulls a card from this pile.” He points to the pile of green cards. “They read it out loud and flip the timer.”
It’s been a minute since Steve has played this game, but he doesn’t remember a timer. “Timer?” he asks for clarification.
Max jumps in. “Dustin here used to take too long each turn, regardless of the game. So we had to implement a timer to stop each round taking forever.” She smiles at Steve and then turns to Dustin and sticks her tongue out. Dustin returns that in kind.
“As I was saying,” Eddie says. “Everyone else will look at their cards and select one to match the green card. Once all cards are in or the timer goes off, the green card reader will read each red card out loud to select the winner. How they select the winner is up to them and the rest of us don’t get to argue.” He points at Mike with emphasis. “Got it?”
Mike makes an annoyed face, sighing and rolling his eyes into his fringe. Eddie ignores it. “Since Steve is new, he gets to start us off.”
No one argues with this and Steve reaches out and grabs a green card. “Cranky.” He flips the timer and everyone turns to their cards to find their selection.
After no more than fifteen seconds, everyone slides him a card. He picks them up and shuffles them, really drawing it out. “First up, we have Sunday drivers.” He smirks, but it’s too accurate to truly be funny.
Following that one he reads ‘family reunions’, ‘a high school bathroom’, ‘bad haircut’, ‘babies’, and ‘local police’ (which gets a genuine laugh out of him).
He places the local police card to the side, thinking that it was in the running to be the winner, when he sees the word on the last card. A laugh bursts from his mouth causing his lips to vibrate. Soon all the kids are joining in, unsure why he is laughing but knowing it’s infectious anyway. He can’t pull himself together to read the card.
Eddie sits next to him, watching Steve double over in laughter with a smug look on his face. Will, across from him, notices and says, “Why do you look so smug?”
“No reason.”
Steve’s giggles finally subside enough to pick the card back up and read it. “Batman.” He flips it to the group. “This one wins.”
Eddie reaches over and plucks the card from between Steve’s fingers. “Thank you.”
The game goes much the same, with some cards that cause everyone to laugh and some being duds. Eddie teases the kids like an older brother, one that is way older than the younger brother thus not prone to fighting. Though Dustin does end up in a head lock at one point.
Steve finds himself watching Eddie more than paying attention to the game. He hasn’t won a single green card, but he’s having more fun than he’s had in a long time on a Sunday night. It’s like watching him play the guitar. Eddie goes somewhere else when he plays, just him and the music. His fingers glide over the strings, his face is at peace. It’s the competence that he is drawn to, Steve thinks. Just like here with the kids, Eddie is so good at it.
Steve’s known for a long time that he wants kids when he is older but he doesn’t hang around them often. Watching Eddie interact with the freshman shows him how stupid that is. Steve likes kids, why wait to understand them. Maybe that’s his parents problem, they had him as a thing to check off the list, not as something they wanted to spend time with. Eddie wants to spend time with these kids: he wonders absently if he is getting paid to hold this game night or if they are just using the space.
“Unnatural,” Eddie reads after picking up a green card.
Steve looks at his cards, hoping there is something there. He wants to make Eddie laugh, he wants to win at least one green card. There is one card that he thinks will do the trick. He slides it over, just as the timer ends.
The thing about a game like this is you need to know the other people playing, know their humor. Steve was at a disadvantage from the start. He is taking a risk by playing the card he does, unsure where the other kids sit on the subject. He isn’t even sure where Eddie sits but there is no reward without risk.
Eddie reads two cards that don’t make him laugh before he gets to Steve’s. He looks at Eddie’s face, wanting some sort of reaction. Eddie’s lips open and slide into a smirk, revealing his canine before his tongue peaks out and rubs against it.
A low chuckle emits from Eddie before he reads the card, “Going to church is unnatural.” He ticks with his tongue before looking everyone in the eyes. “One of you is a very naughty heretic.”
The kids all shake their heads and look at each other to see who played the card. Steve feels his face heat up and then Eddie looks at him, that wicked grin on his face. “I like it.” Steve swears he stares at him a second longer than the others. It leaves his belly warm and his heart racing.
“This is the winner,” Eddie declares. Steve can’t reach for it as the kids burst out in arguments. “Hey, what are the rules, the green card reader gets to pick the winner and there is no arguing.”
“You didn’t even read the other cards,” El says evenly, though her eyebrows are scrunched.
“This is the winner.” Eddie says each word firmly. “Who played it?”
Steve lifts his palm beside Eddie and whispers in a shaky voice. “I did.”
Eddie turns to him and places the card in Steve’s hand, pressing into his palm. “Good job. First win.”
Mike and Lucas both make loud noises of disagreement and frustration, but Eddie ignores them like always. The round goes on, but Eddie’s head is stuck in that moment, his heart not really in the game anymore.
For the last few days a realization has been building in him. Gareth and Jeff teasing him about Steve hasn’t helped because he forces it down more around them, but when he gets home and is alone, it comes out of hiding.
The thing is, Steve is nothing like Eddie thought he was. It’s made him re-evaluate the memories of his freshman year and what role Steve played on that fateful day.
It was after school and Eddie was leaving band after most other people had left school for the day. It was his last class of the day and he didn’t really need to rush into the hall with his tormentors out there. But they had waited for him. Or maybe he’d been a convenient victim.
Tommy and Steve were standing near Eddie’s locker. Not right in front of it, but close enough that he couldn’t get to it without them noticing. For years after, he wished he had just turned around and walked home instead of going to his locker.
He went to his locker and Tommy walked over to him, Steve close behind him. “What’s the queer doing at school so late?” Tommy asked.
Eddie put his combo in, trying to ignore Tommy like Uncle Wayne and the school counselor told him to.
“Can you hear me gay boy?” Tommy slammed his palm into the locker causing Eddie to jump and drop his textbook. Tommy chuckled. “So eager to get down on your knees.”
It’s at this moment that Eddie remembers Steve saying something, but with his blood pounding in his ears, he doesn’t know what it was. He did hear Tommy respond as he stood up. “He’s just the gay kid, it doesn’t matter.”
The rest is hazy because Eddie was shoving things in his locker and his backpack to get out of there as fast as possible. What is clear is how it ended. Eddie finally grumbled under his breath for Tommy to, “Shut the fuck up.” Something came over him and before Eddie could explain away the mistake, Tommy had grabbed his hand and held it against the locker and slammed the door seven times.
Eddie had screamed, he remembers that. He didn’t hold back the tears: he needed his hand for music, the only thing that kept him going. He doesn’t remember where Steve is, the sound of the locker slamming and his bones breaking blocks out everything else.
When Tommy was done, Eddie slid to the hallway floor, gripping his right hand with his left. Tommy stood over him glowering, and Steve pulled him away shouting, “We’ve gotta go. Come on.”
Eddie had always blamed him for that, the way he had run, the way he hadn’t stopped Tommy, the way he had just stood there and watched.
But the Steve he’s gotten to know doesn’t line up with that Steve. The Steve he’s seen this year has taken risks for him. He set up the whole prank, asking friends of his to help. He allowed the band to practice for hours at his house and he fed them without expecting anything in return. He is allowing all of these freshman to tease him and he just laughs along. He has a special handshake with Dustin.
The worst part is that Eddie likes this Steve. Not just that, he has a crush on him.
Game club ends on time as almost all of the freshman’s parents want them home on time. And even though they complain and ask for one more round, Eddie knows that the parents only tolerate him so much looking the way he does. He isn’t going to jeopardize his job.
Steve stays after all the kids have left to help him clean up. “That was fun,” he says as he pulls the discarded red cards toward him. “Thanks for inviting me.”
Eddie demurs. “I’m sure it’s nothing compared to your normal Sunday night.”
Steve laughs. “Do you think I throw ragers at my house or something? On a Sunday?”
“I don’t know things about your popular life.” Eddie frowns.
Steve pointedly avoids Eddie’s gaze as he says, “I usually spend Sunday nights alone, watching something or doing homework.” He laughs like that will make Eddie unhear the truth of his words. “Self care Sunday, it’s all the rage.”
After they place the lid on the box and Eddie slides it into place in the closet, he turns to Steve. “Would you like to get coffee with me? Or a warm beverage of your choosing, of course. I’m not gonna force you—”
“Yes,” Steve says interrupting Eddie’s nervous babbling.
Eddie nods and holds his keys up. “Follow me?”
They drive toward downtown Hawkins to the one shop that Eddie knows will be open late. After the incident with Tommy, Uncle Wayne had successfully argued for Eddie to get out of school one period early. Since his hand was broken, he couldn’t play in band. Eddie had come to this coffee shop to wait for Wayne to pick him up. He’d argued that he could walk home just fine, but Wayne had insisted.
During those few weeks, when Eddie couldn’t play and his brain was eating himself alive, he’d learned to write music and lyrics. He couldn’t use his right hand to write, so he typed mostly with his left and lightly tapped the keys with his thumb. The ladies behind the counter felt bad for him so they gave him free refills or his pick of the treats arguing that they would go bad otherwise. The shop holds a special place in his heart.
They park in front of the shop. There are few people there, just some college aged kids and an older couple. Steve orders a hot chocolate and Eddie a latte—coffee never does much for him so there is no harm in a late night caffeine boost. He never thought they’d get this far and the idea of sitting in this almost empty coffee shop with Steve feels like being naked on stage. “Hey, you wanna walk around,” Eddie asks Steve—who agrees—so he asks to change their order to to-go.
With their drinks in hand, Eddie holds the door for Steve and they head out into the dusk. They walk in silence for a block, sipping at their too hot drinks, unsure what to say. Eddie doesn’t want to be the first to speak because it feels like he’d be giving away his crush and the last thing Steve needs to know is that he has a crush on him. Being friendly is one thing, but you don’t go from gay bashing to be accepting that easily.
Steve breaks the silence, thankfully. “You know, you seem different when you are around the kids than when we’re at school.”
Eddie huffs. “Yeah, the freshman actually like me. Where as at school, everyone hates me because they think I’m some sort of demon worshipper.”
Steve shakes his head. “Actually, the current rumor is you’re a drug dealer.”
“A broken clock is right twice a day.” That makes Steve’s mouth drop open. “It was a joke, Steve.”
He goes quite at that. Eddie chews his lip, knowing that they are dancing dangerously close to speaking about things he doesn’t want to talk about. He decides to steer them elsewhere. “Besides, with those kids you know what you’re getting. They are real and untainted by the pressures of high school. Plus, they are natural bullshit detectors.”
“Yeah, there is something true about them. Except for Mike.”
“What?” Eddie laughs, holding his cup out from him so it doesn’t spill as he shakes. “Why?”
“He’s never gotten over me dating, Nancy, his sister. Seems to like Robin just fine, but could never stand the idea of me.” Steve takes a sip of his drink without gasping at the heat, it finally having cooled down.
“Still though, he’s honest in his hate. You know he doesn’t like you.”
“True.”
“That’s one of the nice things about this position. I can help them make their high school experience easier and better. To not give into the pressures like I did. To continue to be themselves despite the ways high school changes you.”
Steve hums, then tilts his head to look at Eddie. It’s an evaluating look that makes Eddie squirm in it’s honesty. It feels like Steve is rearranging things in his mind, taking out parts that no longer make sense in his image of Eddie. And it’s not how the kids look at him; their exuberance comes from a place of inexperience. Steve’s glance is something else all together.
He turns away. “Have you not always been yourself? It’s hard for me to imagine you being dimmed.”
Eddie reaches up and untucks his hair from behind his ear letting is cascade in front of his face, hiding the shame he feels over going back into the closet after the incident. He knows there is no reason to feel shame for that, but it’s not like he lives at the height of the AIDs crisis, people should be more understanding, even in Indiana. Munson doctrine rule 19, be who you are and scare away the people who will judge you for it isn’t something he’s been able to follow fully. “Not in all the ways I want,” he says, looking down at his feet. “It’s hard to unlearn what people think of you when they don’t give you an opportunity to try again.”
“I think things have changed a little bit. At least since your playing during the announcements.”
“Yeah, but old dogs don’t learn new tricks.” Eddie feels himself spiraling. The feelings of self-hatred and guilt consuming him as he tries to avoid thinking about his history with Steve but the man being right next to him doesn’t help.
Steve stops walking and stares. Eddie takes two more steps before turning around to face him. There is surprise and hurt on Steve’s face, but Eddie isn’t sure what to attribute them to.
“I did,” Steve says. “At least,” he looks away, “I’m trying to.”
Eddie walks back toward him, torn between his crush and his fear. In his mind, these two things are not able to be reconciled and yet they cohabitate in his head. It feels like the moment to say something, to ask Steve what happened from his perspective, to ask for an apology, to demand one.
But then Steve smiles and looks up at Eddie through his eyelashes. “So if the freshman are bullshit detectors, does that mean I passed their inspection?”
Eddie is shocked into laughing at the quick change in topic and tone. But he is grateful; asking Steve about that moment would be foolish. They keep walking, turning a corner to avoid exiting the quaint downtown area. “I wouldn’t be here if you didn’t.”
Eddie glances at Steve through the corner of his eye and sees a pleased smirk on his lips.
They walk a block more before either of them speaks, all the while, Eddie battles the spiral that is pulling him down. One moment, he is thinking about Steve’s smirk and the next it’s his fist. Though, if he were pressed, he’d admit that he can’t remember a time when Steve hit him. Eddie saw him get in a fight or two freshman year; he specifically remembers a hallway fight with Jonathan Byers that ended badly for Steve. It might have been over Mike’s sister, Nancy, but Eddie tries not to remember school gossip. And there were stories about his fighting on the basketball court, though most people downplayed those because he had some skill.
No, if Steve was involved in Eddie’s torture, at most it was through words or lack of action.
He comes out of his thinking when Steve asks, “So you mentioned the other day that you live with your Uncle?”
Eddie sees it for what it is meant to be, an opening. “Yeah. He’s my dad’s brother so when my dad went to prison, and my mom wanted to be free of responsibility, he took me in.”
“And he’s better than your parents were?”
“Oh yeah,” Eddie beams. “Uncle Wayne is the best. He’s the one that bought me my first guitar and he’s been to my shows. He sacrifices so much for me. And he’s constantly telling me that that is the bare minimum a caregiver should do for a child. Then he does more.”
“He sounds amazing. Maybe I’ll meet him someday,” Steve says, though his voice ticks up at the end like he doesn’t want to presume.
“Not if I want to keep my place as his favorite. I imagine that you know how to play parents.” As soon as it leaves his lips, Eddie regrets saying it, thinking it is too close to something he would say to a potential date.
“How did you know?” Steve hands Eddie his cup and takes a deep breath. “Hello, Mr. Munson. It’s so nice to meet you,” he says in a cheery tone that only sounds like Steve if you squint. “Eddie has told me so much about you.”
Steve turns to him, breaking the fourth wall of this scenario. “What does he like? Hobbies?”
Eddie laughs. “He likes baseball, tried for the longest time to get me into it.”
Steve winks, then resumes his acting. The wink sends Eddie for a spin. “I hear you’re a baseball man. I’ve watched a few games in my time. Please, tell me who you think the best team is in the league right now? Spring training is about to start soon, no?”
“Stop, stop.” Eddie is laughing so hard, the words hardly make it from his lips. “You’ve sold me. You’re never meeting Wayne. I’ll never hear the end of it.”
Steve smiles at him, his head tilted, as he takes back his drink. “Guess I’ll have to settle for Robin’s parents adopting me. Nancy’s mom and sister liked me, but her dad was hesitant. And you know Mike’s opinion.”
“I know Robin from band, but where did you meet her? Seems an unlikely friend for you to have.”
Steve shrugs with his lips. “I’ll give you that it seems unusual on the surface, but she’s my best friend. Truly. We’ve been through so much together.”
“Anything you want to share?”
Steve glances over at him and raises his eyebrows. “Well, there was this once time where we took down a Russian conspiracy and saved the whole town of Hawkins from destruction all because Robin learned to speak Russian in a weekend.”
Eddie’s eyebrows pinch together. Steve said that with so much nonchalance that Eddie isn’t sure what to make of it.
Then, he breaks. “I’m just kidding. If that were true, do you think I’d be able to tell you that? The government would come swooping down from up high to stop me.” He gestures at the buildings around them like he half expects them to show themselves. “We worked together at a shitty job, bonded us for life.”
“That sounds more realistic,” Eddie says with a laugh. “Me and Suzette are the same way.” When Steve looks at him, confused, Eddie adds. “The woman you met that first day, at the front desk.”
Steve hums with understanding. They make their way into a little park on the outskirts of the downtown area. Neither one is leading, they are following the path set ahead of them. Having dumped their empty cups, their excuse for meandering is gone, but they can’t turn back to their cars just yet.
“It’s strange that the people you meet at a random job can be so life changing. Robin shows me that all of my worst thoughts about myself might not be true.” Steve shakes his head. “I hope I do half as much for her.”
Steve’s words echo through Eddie’s head: worst thoughts about himself. He wants to know more, not because he hopes that Steve hates himself, that his part in Eddie’s humiliation has eaten away at him over the years. But because it’s not something he ever considered Steve would be dealing with, but he isn’t sure how to ask.
The path leads them over a little bridge over water. They stop and Steve leans against the railing. Moonlight shines through the branches of the trees making it bright. Eddie is standing behind Steve, marveling at the way the luminescent light hits his face, gleams in his hair. And he knows he is in deep, deep shit. He can deal with that tomorrow, tonight he can enjoy himself.
Steve is chewing on his lip and it makes Eddie’s knees weak. He takes his phone out of his jeans, hoping to take a picture. Nothing creepy, but if Steve could see himself like Eddie sees him now—but his fat thumb slips and turns it to video just as Steve starts talking again.
“You said you haven’t always been yourself during high school. I’m afraid that I have been. That the me I’ve been in the halls of Hawkins High is the true me. How sad is that?”
“Having fears isn’t sad,” Eddie says, his hand still up and filming, though he isn’t aware of that as he listens intently to Steve.
“And having regrets? I know that when we are adults, people won’t care about our high school personas, but what if all I ever am is an asshole jock?”
Steve turns around then and sees Eddie holding the camera up. Eddie panics, seeing it from Steve’s perspective, filming him as he says something vulnerable is an asshole move. He stops filming and puts his arm down. “I just…I wasn’t trying to…”
Steve’s eyes are wide and then he cracks, laughing. “Got tired of being the person in front of the camera?” he asks Eddie, jostling his shoulder playfully.
Eddie is so relieved. “Yeah, I guess.” He can’t give him the actual reason for the mishap, that’s just as bad, if not worse. “I can delete it,” he offers.
“I’m not worried about it,” Steve says, smiling at him with trust. “We should probably make our way back to the cars though. It’s getting late.”
Eddie follows him as they head out of the park. The walk back is much faster since they take a more direct route. They discuss the freshman kids, funny moments from earlier in the night, nothing so deep as what had happened on the bridge.
As they turn a corner and see their cars up ahead, Eddie realizes that this video could be collateral that he could use against Steve. For the first time, it doesn’t sit right with him. Steve showed him a different side of himself and Munson Doctrine rule 11 is to believe someone when they show you who they are. He stops Steve a block away from the coffee shop, needing to tell him something. Or needing to say something that Steve probably won’t understand, not for what it truly is.
His hand rests on Steve’s shoulder and Eddie realizes they are the same height, or close to. Steve’s hair might give him a few inches. “You can’t worry so much about what our classmates think. They are also in high school and just as stupid as we are.”
Steve tries to say something, but Eddie shakes his head. “But even if they want to believe that you’ll always be a popular jock that maybe was an asshole, know this.” He squeezes Steve’s shoulder, wanting his words to sink in, wanting Steve to understand. “I know you aren’t just popular, you aren’t just a jock, and you aren’t an asshole. Mistakes don’t make the person, Munson Doctrine rule 13.”
Steve gives Eddie a half smile that seems to shine brighter than the moon. It’s a smile that says ‘this is all I can give you’, it says ‘I can’t believe you right now’, it says ‘but maybe someday I will’. “Munson Doctrine?” Steve asks, though it sounds like he’s saying ‘are you serious?’
“Yeah, it’s my philosophy about life,” Eddie responds, but what he wants to say, what he wants to push through Steve’s skin to his heart, is ‘I forgive you’. “Hasn’t ever led me astray.”
They laugh and turn back to walk across the street. The moment passes, though Steve tries to hold on to it. “If you ever publish that, let me know. I’ll be the first one to buy a copy.”
“I will.” Eddie pulls his keys out of his pocket and walks between the cars heading for his car door.
Steve makes it to his and opens it, before turning back to Eddie. “I think I’m almost done with the video for your submission, but I have an idea for one more thing.’
“What’s that?”
Steve frowns. “I don’t want to tell you just yet. How about you, Jeff, and Gareth and the kids come by my house after school one day. Tomorrow?”
“Yeah,” Eddie says, wondering what Steve has in mind. A small part of him worries that this is a trap—he can’t shake the instinct that kept him safe for so long—but most of him knows that he has nothing to worry about. Steve isn’t an asshole jock: he was a freshman, he made a mistake. “We’ll be there.”
Steve shoots him one more smile with teeth that catches the moonlight. “Great.”
Eddie climbs into his van and stares at his dashboard. Steve pulls away before he is able to move. But when he does, he opens his group chat with the band and sends a message.
Eddie: I am in deep shit