joyce throwing a dinner party and eddie having texture problems with some of the food!!
Joyce watches happily as everyone eats the food she had spent all day preparing. The younger ones were deep in a conversation about the arcade’s new game, while the older ones were focused more on the food than conversation…
Well, all except one.
Joyce frowns. Eddie is staring at his plate, eyebrows knit together in worry. Joyce had fixed everybody’s plate the same- pork chops, mashed potatoes, green beans, and dinner rolls. She’d asked beforehand about dietary restrictions, hadn’t she?
“Eddie, honey, could you help me with something in the kitchen?”
Eddie looks worriedly at her, then at Steve, then back at her. “Oh- um, sure.”
Eddie follows Joyce into the kitchen. She looks at him, her face worried. “Is everything okay? Why aren’t you eating?”
His face goes bright red. God, why couldn’t he have just choked down a dinner roll? “I-I’m sure the food’s great, I just can’t eat any of it.” Joyce goes to speak, but Eddie beats her there. “Will told you I have autism, didn’t he?”
“What? No, he never even mentioned it.”
“Oh… I have problems with most foods. The textures of them, the tastes, the smells. I can’t eat much of anything.” Eddie sighs sadly, “I’m sorry, Joyce. I know you worked so hard.”
“Honey,” Joyce says, “It’s okay. Hopper will eat your plate- we need to fatten him back up anyway. What do you eat, hun? Is there anything here that would work?”
Sheepishly, Eddie shakes his head. “No… don’t- don’t cook something extra for me.”
“I’m not sitting back down until you tell me what you want to eat.”
A few moments later, Eddie and Joyce come back into the dining room- Eddie with a plate in hand. He returns to his seat next to Steve before he passes his old plate over to Hopper. Steve smiles a little, noticing Eddie’s new dinner. “Peanut butter sandwich?”
“With the crusts cut off,” Eddie says.
From then on, there is always a crust-free peanut butter sandwich waiting for Eddie at his spot at the dinner table.











