Steve loses his hearing, tells no one, and has been ‘faking it until he makes it’ ever since.
He’s kinda hoping that he’ll wake up a lip reading expert one day but it hasn’t happened yet, but it’s fine.
Most of his friends talk at him instead of with him, so it’s okay if he misses some of the finer details. He doesn’t think he’s missing much until -
“Dating?” He asks. “You’re dating someone? Who?”
Eddie pauses and looks at him. His mouth moves to say, “You.”
“Me?”
“I asked you out a month ago,” Eddie says. “You said ‘sounds great.’”
“Oh,” Steve says, realization dawning slowly. “Yeahh, that’s what I say when I can’t figure out what you said.”
Eddie gives him a look like he’s bugging out, “What do you mean? I said it to your face.”
“Well, yeah,” Steve nods. “Lip-reading isn’t like, a science. It’s hard sometimes.”
“Why are you reading my lips?!”
“Because I’m deaf!”
“You’re deaf???” Eddie asks. He looks exasperated. “Since when.”
“Since before I had a boyfriend,” Steve replies, nudging him. “Sorry. I didn’t really tell anyone about it. I still have a boyfriend, right?”
“Yeah. Of course,” Eddie says and then curls his hand into a mimic of a telephone. He holds it to his ear before bringing his hands together into a gesture of a bird.
Steve frowns, “Don’t call Robin.”
Eddie looks directly at him and mouths, “I’m calling Robin.”
