A Way Out - How to play when one person is using a Steamdeck and the other a PC?

Hey

My friend and I tried to play A Way Out, with my friend using a Steamdeck and I using my laptop. We both own full copies of the game in case that makes a difference.

If he booted the game on his steam deck, I could not see him on my EA origin account as being online so I could not invite him to play. We tried having him log into EA origins on his laptop so he was showing as online so I could invite him but the invite on his steam deck never showed.

He tried to invite me but wasn't showing a 'online' on his steamdeck and you can't be signed in on two devices at once, which is why he would sign in on his laptop, then I would invite him and he would click accept, then EA origins would transfer to him being online on his steam deck. We did use this method when we were playing It Takes Two, before they allowed you to invite through steam and it was always a little hit and miss but eventually worked. However, this was not working at all with A Way Out.

There has to be a easier way. How does my friend get EA to work on his steamdeck? How can I send a invite to him? Should he try and invite me instead? It's extremely frustrating to buy a game and then have all these issues, especially when you buy the game through Steam, who have a perfectly working system for playing multiplayer. As soon as It Takes Two went to allowing Steam invites, we never had any issues. 

Please help. I am not a computer wizz, I will need step by step instructions for either my laptop or his steam deck to pass onwards. 

Thanks