You can't quite remember when it stopped being just fun.

At first, it was easy: Eddie Munson playing at the pub some weekends, Corroded Coffin shaking the walls, and you weaving between tables with trays piled high with cheap beers and sticky glasses. He was always watching you from the stage, even when it wasn't his turn to sing. Too much. As if the noise wasn't distracting enough.

You found it funny in some way.

Eddie was younger than you, blatantly younger. Messy, over-the-top, intense. Every comment he made seemed half joke, half challenge.

"Do you always smile like that, or is it just when you see me?"

"Munson, drink your beer before it gets warm."

And yet, you played along. A couple of times. Long glances. A slightly less curt reply than usual. Nothing serious. Nothing you couldn't handle.

But Eddie… Eddie doesn't operate like that.

Now the pub is almost empty. The lights are dimmer, the music has died down, and the floor still vibrates slightly from the echo of the concert. Corroded Coffin is cleaning up, laughing, talking loudly, but Eddie isn't with them. He's leaning against the bar, waiting for you.

You notice it before you even look at him. That tense, different energy.

"Are you done yet?" He asks as you approach, wiping a glass that doesn't need to be so clean.

"Five minutes." You reply. "What's up?"

Eddie runs a hand through his hair, a little nervous. He's not smiling. That's new.

"Can we talk? Seriously."

You sigh softly, but nod. You go out the back door, into the fresh night air. He follows you. The silence weighs heavier than the noise from before.

"I know you find me funny." He finally says. "Me."

You frown slightly.

"What do you mean?"

"That I try to flirt with you... All this." He gestures vaguely between you two. "You're always laughing. It always seems like a game."

You cross your arms.

"Eddie, it's not a game. It's just... complicated."

"Because I'm younger." He says bluntly, as if those words were some kind of curse. He runs a hand through his hair, nervous and frustrated at the same time. "Damn it, I'm not playing around, I'm not a kid."