Chapter Text
Steve didn’t think Eddie would make it home in one piece after escaping the Upside Down with them, let alone graduate.
He didn’t think that the man, the reckless man that he was, whom he helped haul hurriedly back up through the portal to the sound of a tearful Dustin’s pleading, stood a fighting chance.
But, as the present would tell, he’d defied both odds. He’d pulled through.
The road to recovery had been long for him. For all of them, as matter of fact. After returning from the Upside Down, Steve and Eddie had been admitted to the Hawkins Infirmary at the same time, both men bearing strikingly similar injuries in different states of condition. Despite this, Steve’s visit had been short and somewhat easily paid off—much to his surprise—while Eddie’s had been long, full of injury rehabilitation, and had proven to be far more costly than any of them could have anticipated. That was less surprising, given his state.
Despite Wayne's and Eddie’s pleas to reconsider, Steve had helped to pay off those costs, too. This had been achieved by convincing his father that it would be good for his image - and in his best interest - to pay off the recently cleared convict's medical bills, obviously.
Before and after Eddie had been discharged, Steve had been his regular visitor. It usually involved a lot of sneaking around after hours, avoiding detection from staff, but the two spent several nights in Eddie’s bed just… talking. Lying side by side and talking in the darkness of the room. They became close in the process, really close, and when the day of Eddie’s discharge finally arrived, it had reached a point where the two trusted one another with their lives. Steve especially, whom Eddie relied on to keep him safe upon his release.
But it wasn’t just Steve, not by a mile. The party visited every day of every week that they could, especially weekends, each sharing long winded stories of what was happening at school, how their campaigns were going, and how they couldn’t wait for him to come back and run one of his. Will had been particularly excited at the prospect.
The group also kept him posted on Max’s recovery, which had hit him hard upon finding out when he was awake enough to notice she was absent from his gaggle of visitors. It brought him some relief to hear that she was conscious, but less so that she’d lost her sight and a fair amount of her mobility. The main person to keep him in that loop had been Lucas, and Eddie was eternally grateful for it.
Despite the rocky few months their friendship endured while Lucas was hanging around Jason - much to Eddie’s frustration - the two found it in themselves to share heartfelt apologies and a few hours of talking every week (which ended in Eddie promising to set time aside for the party to attend Lucas’ games), and Lucas promising to play D&D with them again whenever he could make it. They had fully welcomed one another into their interests, and that seemed to be enough for them.
It had taken a long time for Eddie to be released. Not only due to the severity of his injuries, but due to everyone’s fear for his safety. As it turns out, even after the respected former police chief clears your name with substantial evidence and proof of the supernatural, there would still be… sceptics. Mostly parents, but regardless, it still wasn’t entirely safe for Eddie to re-enter society yet. At least, not in Hawkins.
When he had done so, there were predictably large rows of reporters lining either side of the front entrance at the time of his exit, spectators crowding the sidewalks, and it took everything in Steve not to lose it on Eddie’s behalf. It was overwhelming. Scary, even. The guy was temporarily bound to a wheelchair, for christ’s sake.
But Eddie, ever being the man of charisma that he was, handled the consistent flashing of camera lights, the yelling, the hundreds of scathing eyes locked on him at once and the bombardment of questions from reporters—and their shoving of microphones—with the same grace and humour he had displayed the entire time Steve knew him. It was… nice.
It was nice to see Eddie hadn’t let his recovery dampen his personality.
I don’t know what I’d do if he lost himself.
Several months had passed since then, and by that point, things had returned to a rocky sense of normalcy. Despite needing assistance from Robin to get onto the stage, clinging tightly to the arm in which her hand held it, Eddie had gotten his high school diploma and, defying the odds, graduated right alongside her. He hadn’t done the things he’d bragged he’d do on countless occasions, but he didn’t seem to care. He confirmed those suspicions one night on a drive home with Steve, slouched back in the passenger side of his BMW.
“I have a family, man. My own family,” Eddie had said. “That means more to me than a goddamn piece of paper telling me I don’t suck in every aspect of life.”
At the ceremony he had bowed, even shook Principal Higgins’ hand respectfully, and received applause from peers, friends and teachers alike - much to his surprise. Partaking in said applause, beaming from the front row, was Wayne Munson, and Steve didn’t think he’d seen a man so proud—so tearful—his entire life.
–
“My boy thinks he ain’t worth nothin’,” Wayne had told him during one of his visits, while Steve sat adjacent to him over Eddie’s sleeping form, listening with every intent to memorise his next words. “Tells me all the time, even when he ain’t sayin’ it. I hope he knows he’s worth… everythin’. To everybody that loves him.”
Wayne took a breath before meeting the other’s eyes, tears swimming in the time of his eyes.
So, this is what a heart to heart feels like.
"You and that group of yours, Steve, you-… you make him feel worth somethin’. Like he ain’t… stuck. Shit… makes sense to him, around y’all. And I’m grateful for that. Beyond grateful. I need my boy…” Another breath, “I need him to feel part of somethin’. To feel… normal. Wanted. Like he ain’t an outsider no more.”
Wayne sniffed, attempting to blink away the tears to no avail. “He’s… He’s been through enough shit for a lifetime, that kid. My brother… he made sure of that. … a lot of folks did.”
Steve, who had been chewing on his words for quite some time, leaned forward so as go exaggerate the ones he had selected. “He is part of something, Mr Munson,” he assured, eyes unwavering in the stare Wayne brought his own. “He’s… he’s part of our family. And I swear to you- I swear, he always will be.”
“…Thank you, son.”
–
It was that same night Eddie had suggested a get-together with friends, and when the choice of venue hung in the air, Steve offered to hold said get-together at his house, repeatedly insisting on the matter. It wasn’t as if they’d have to worry about being interrupted, he reasoned. Perks of being your parent’s second priority!
It was around 11:30 PM when Eddie’s van roared up Steve’s front driveway, and in a chorus of festive shouts and the unsynchronised slamming of sliding doors, the group barged their way into the house.
“Steve!” had been the sound to take him off guard, however, practically jumping as the accompanied weight of Eddie threw itself into him with a particularly tight hug to follow.
“Hey, man-“ Steve offered in response, chuckling and lightly patting the other man’s back just as he began to pull away. Eddie’s hands immediately sunk into his pockets.
“Thanks for letting us crash here. I totally would’ve offered up my humble abode, but uh-...You know. I’m sure my pops would’ve wanted the place cleared when he got home, so-“
“Don’t worry about it." Steve cut in, shrugging dismissively. "It’s the least I can do for my two favourite graduates. You’re my friends.”
Eddie gave a toothy smile in response.
He’s so pretty when he smiles. “You got drinks to kick off tonight’s festivities?” was the question to draw Steve out of his unbeknownst trance, though he hadn’t caught exactly what it was that had been said.
After receiving nothing more than a clueless blink from Steve in reply, the other man snorted and repeated himself.
“Drinks, man. Alcohol. Like, you know-, beer?”
Steve visibly floundered after the question was finally processed the second time around. “Oh! Right,” he laughed airily. “Yeah, I’ve-, yeah.”
Before he gave himself any space to feel stupid, Steve quickly began to make his way towards the kitchen with Eddie in close tow, immediately swinging open and digging around in the fridge until two cans were retrieved.
Steve cracked his open just as Eddie’s hand found the other, whose brow rose as his eyes as he began to inspect the label on the side.
“Bud?” Eddie snorted.
Steve blinked. “Wh-, uh… What’s wrong with bud?”
“Nothing, nothing. Just…” Eddie breathed out a laugh, “I figured you’d have some unheard of fancy-schmancy bullshit from overseas that sounded like an incantation or something. But this?“ he exaggerated with a grin, cracking open his can and tilting it towards Steve. “This is just impeccable taste.”
Steve scoffed at that, leaning back against the door of the fridge to close it and taking a slow sip from his can. As Eddie mirrored his motion, he took the opportunity to study the man.
Eddie wasn’t clad in his usual leather jacket and baseball shirt getup that night, Steve noted, but had instead opted for a more laid-back dual layer of a Metallica tour t-shirt and a worn flannel rolled at the sleeves which—upon further inspection—had belonged to Wayne at some point.
It suited him, Steve wasn’t above admitting that. What he was above admitting, however (at least out loud), was how attractive Eddie was. Especially standing the way he was, where he was, wearing what he was, in that present moment. The fact that Eddie always had that effect on him didn’t help.
Before he had half a mind to stop himself, his eyes began to trail, and his brain became occupied with how the shirts showed off his arms - most notably, his tattoos. How, trailing further, his jeans hugged him nicely. Very nicely. But again, he’d never admit to that. Why would he say something like that about his friend? Is that something friends do?
“Something on your mind, Stevie?” Eddie’s amused tone crept into his ear, promptly breaking the spell and urging him to jolt upright in a hurry.
“Huh?”
“You totally zoned just then. Like-, other worldly zoning. You okay?”
“Oh! Oh, yeah, I’m fine. Just… thinking.”
Eddie smirked, shrugged, and took another swig in quick succession, easing Steve into a relaxed state for the time being.
“Sooo…“ Steve began, hoping to chisel at some of the ice, if not break it. “Graduation, huh?”
“That’s putting it mildly,” Eddie chuckled in response, sinking himself back into the counter behind him. “I just-, I didn’t think I’d get this far, you know..? I dunno where I’m gonna wind up in the next five years, but, fuck, man, I wanna be doing something that's-, that's important. That's worth something, you know? Like… Something worth a shit for Wayne.”
Eddie trailed momentarily, and in that instance, suppressed a smile which threatened to be much bigger than it was revealed. “He’s… He’s my dad, man. My Pops. He’s been there for me my whole goddamn life. I just… I wanna make him proud, for once. I wanna help.”
Steve unwillingly noted how the other man’s voice broke and attempted to swallow the lump in his throat that it caused with another sip of beer. It didn't help.
“We’re all proud of you, man. Wayne especially," Steve was quick to assure. "I swear. I saw him today at the ceremony and let me tell you, the second you walked on that stage? He started crying.”
Eddie squinted in disbelief at the other, absentmindedly rolling a strand of his hair between his free thumb and index fingers.
“I’m serious, man! He cried the whole time you were up there. Like, the whole time,” he cast Eddie a look of sincerity before continuing. “He’s already proud of you. You don’t have shit to prove to him. He’s already there. So am I.”
Eddie gave a meek nod in response, and with no further words being shared, silence filled the space between them. For the next few minutes, the only sounds within the house were coming from the group in the living room.
Seemingly acknowledging this, Eddie downed the rest of his beer with a deflated sigh, overhead tossing the can towards the trash can.
He missed completely, with the sad thunk of said can hitting a near metre from it.
“I’m gonna go get baked,” Eddie announced through a sigh, launching himself from the surface of the counter with both hands. “You coming?”
Yes. Yes, please.
“Nah, man-, I-... I better stay here. Crowd control, y’know? I trust them as far as I can throw them. That’s- that’s not a whole lot, in here.” He felt like punching himself. Why was he making excuses? They were friends. Friends could hang out alone, couldn’t they?
Eddie nodded, eyes casting down to the floor. At that moment, he almost looked… disappointed? Shit.
Way to go, Steve.
“Well… you know where to find me.” And with that, before Steve could say anything further, Eddie began to shift his way out of the kitchen, hands once again buried entirely in his pockets.
Steve remained in place for a few moments, gaze lingering heavily on the other man’s form as it disappeared through the slide doors and into the garden.
When Eddie was no longer in sight, only then did Steve turn his attention to the group on the couch.
He figured he’d better get to hosting. To distract himself from that interaction, if anything.
“Drinks anyone?”
The chorus of cheers spoke for itself.
An hour could pass quicker with a drink in your hand, it turns out. During that time, Steve had found himself sandwiched between Robin and Jonathan, who were also respectively seated beside Nancy and Argyle. Each of them had a drink of varying emptiness in their hands, but all were, at the very least, half full and tipsy.
They were having a good time, the atmosphere and volume within the room could confirm that much. It was miles better than Steve’s graduation party had been, in which his house had been totally destroyed and he'd subsequently had a breakdown over, that much was clear.
If tonight kept its course and continued being of the quality that it was, then he could confidently chalk it up as one of the best nights of his life.
That was, of course, before the drama ensued.