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Eddie stood a little shorter than he did. That wasn’t unusual. Most guys did. It was the only vaguely normal thing about this one. Dustin had dragged in some real weirdos in over the years, people who were into things he couldn’t even begin to understand on a level he’d never be able to touch. He’d been feeling that a lot recently. Like he’d never be alive the same way he had been. Not because of any supernatural means, not by any way of the alien germs filling his lungs or the Russians on the radio or the inter-dimensional gut punch that the last few years had become. He was just drifting, tethered only by the feeble strings of a few kids - and Robin, of course. He glanced ahead at her now, striding through the mulch of the Upside Down as if it were just a particularly overgrown bit of grass. He glanced ahead at Eddie, fidgeting and careening along like a leather-clad rocking horse.
Eddie’s jacket hung heavy on Steve’s shoulders. It had been washed a few too many times - the denim was fraying and faded. It was covered in pins he didn’t understand - the names of bands and singers stitched into the fabric, little pins and badges with screaming faces and skulls, doodles of bats and monsters at the seams. There were safety pins along the length of one hem, a huge patch sewn on the back of what looked like a thunderstorm. And patches, sewn on with what looked like dental floss. Some held slogans, some held symbols, one was just one of those weird-ass dice Dustin was always carrying. A few caught his eye, displayed as they were on the pocket flap at the front. A pink triangle, a rainbow, and a little badge showing a planet on fire.
He glanced ahead at Eddie again. His hair had lost its usual volume, lying in straight ratty streaks down his back and shoulders. Steve had found himself wondering what conditioner he used - he was doing something right, it curled in a way Steve’s never could. The guy would have been torn to shreds by the Hawkins High team, by Bleeker and Josh and Patrick and all the other gym rats Steve could barely remember the names of now. Eddie was scared, anyone could see that.
‘Hey, Ed, what’s the deal with these, man?’ he asked, tapping the planet badge.
Eddie glanced at him. There was always an intensity to him that Steve didn’t understand, like he was permanently on fire and doing his best to hide it. His eyes always betrayed him - small and stoat-like, alive with a kind of wicked thrill. He grinned. His face folded itself up when he did, cheeks stretched sharp like a guitar bracing itself for a solo. He had teeth like tombstones.
‘Ha … Steve Harrington’s curious about my deal?’
He kept narrating like that - third person, like there was another one listening in, like they weren’t alone. Steve didn’t like it.
‘Yeah, man. What if you’re secretly toting some confederate bullshit I’m not getting?’
Eddie tapped the badges, one at a time. Steve got a hint of the fire when he stepped close, felt the intensity of Eddie’s presence as he entered orbit and dashed over boundaries as if being chased by the hounds of hell. He could see one of his tattoos clearly - an angel with an electric guitar.
‘Black Sabbath. Motorhead. Megadeath. Dio. KISS,’ he glanced up at Steve, briefly, as if to see if he was following. ‘AC/DC,’
‘AC/DC?’
‘Yuh-huh. You know ‘em?’
‘Kinda? My, uh … friend, I guess. My friend Jonathan loves ‘em,’
‘Huh,’ Eddie nodded to the girls up ahead. ‘Nancy’s boytoy?’
‘… sure,’
‘Do you know what AC/DC means?’ Eddie asked.
‘Huh? Uh … no, why?’
‘’s a current that flows both ways,’ he said, with a new gunmetal glint to his eyes.
Steve nodded, pretending to follow. ‘Right,’
Eddie stumbled on a loop of what could have been an intestine. The trees seemed to shift around them a little, and Steve took a sharp breath. He grabbed Eddie’s arm, hauled him back up.
‘Man, you’d bomb a field sobriety test right about now,’ he said. ‘What’s goin’ on with your legs?’
‘Uh …I think one of those bats took a bite,’ Eddie said, chewing on a strand of hair. His hands were shaking at his sides, going through sharp, flighty motions just as Max had. The memory sent a bolt of panic through Steve’s stomach, the sight of her little face so torn up and terrified after falling out of the sky.
He cleared his throat. ‘Well, keep going, dude, I wanna know all the bullshit I’m hawking,’
Eddie glanced at him, cracked a nervous smile. His features were so tangled up in themselves, so caught up in the thrall of a cold cynical blaze. ‘Um … Iron Maiden … that’s a 20-sided die, that’s the X-men symbol, surely you gotta know that?’
‘Yup, totally,’ Steve formed claws with his fingers. ‘Wolverine,’
Eddie laughed. ‘I see Henderson’s doing his due diligence in chipping away at your ignorance,’
‘Sure,’
‘That’s an axe. Those guys are all goblins, drew ‘em on to try out a tattoo design. That one’s a big old middle-finger to the heroes in blue. That’s a quote from Ozzy himself, that’s all Sindarin, and …,’ Eddie’s finger hovered over the badges on the pocket. ‘That’s some heavy-handed queer certification,’
Steve blinked. ‘Huh?’
Eddie’s smile was guarded. He ambled away half a step. ‘I’m gay, Harrington. Surprised someone like you couldn’t tell,’
‘Hey, hey … “someone like me”?’
Eddie’s smile faded. ‘Forget it,’
‘No, hey, what do you mean?’
‘Folks like you always know,’ he said with a chuckle. ‘Reckon sometimes you know before I do. Got called a queer before I’d even grown a pube. Dunno how they knew, but they did,’
‘I’m … sorry, man,’
‘It’s nothin’. Not anymore,’ Eddie muttered. ‘But that’s what those are,’
Silence, just for a moment. Steve could almost feel the raw energy flowing off of Eddie, rocketing up to a boiling point.
’What’s the planet about?’ He asked.
‘Mars, dude. God of war, red planet. Redneck’s wet dream. Manly man’s everyman,’ Eddie mumbled. ‘Burning to the ground,’
Steve was doing his best to follow. ‘You’re … you don’t wanna be a dude? What?’
Eddie looked up at the trees above. ‘Not fully. Dunno. I love men. Love ‘em enough it might kill me. But they’re … they’re a fucked bunch, to say the least. And I’m just … me,’
‘Oh. Huh,’
Eddie glanced at him. ‘You’re listening a far sight longer than I thought you would,’
Steve shrugged. ‘You’re interesting, man,’
Eddie blinked, and his face seemed very strange for a moment. Soft, almost.
‘You really shouldn’t chew your hair, man,’ Steve said, hurriedly. ‘Splits like a bitch. And you’re probably ingesting all kinda germs from the lake,’
Eddie brushed his hair back. He had much narrower shoulders than Steve realised, and pierced ears.
‘Need anything for your leg?’ Steve asked. ‘A … stick or something?’
‘I’m good, dude,’ Eddie chuckled. ‘I’ll keep you posted, though,’
Robin and Nancy had carved a decent path through the twisted landscape, but there were still patches where the Upside Down clustered itself tightly back in. Eddie held a gnarled branch out of the way for Steve, executing a clumsy, gentlemanly bow. He was so erratic with his movement Steve thought he was falling again, and he suddenly saw a body in the air, plummeting down as his limbs refused to move. Max had fallen so fast, he’d almost tripped over Billy’s headstone to try and catch her. He’d been convinced for a wild moment that she was dead before she hit the ground, he’d been convinced he would have to see a child die - he’d have to see his friend die - the same way he’d been convinced years ago that he would have to see Henderson torn apart in the tunnels underground, or see Robin shot by the men in uniform. The fear had taken up long-term residence. His stomach still hurt from it.
Eddie looked up at him, frowning. ‘You good, Harrington?’
Steve hurried past him. ‘Yeah. Thanks,’
Eddie’s face was pinched back up in anxiety. ‘D’you think Henderson’s good?’
‘Huh?’
‘Henderson. D’you think he’s … worried about us?’
’Nah. Reckon that kid could talk down a hurricane. He’s fine,’
’You sure?’
‘Dude, unlike some, I think the pint-sized shit can deal with bs like this,’
‘You reckon?’
Steve almost laughed. Eddie’s face caught him, though. A fraction of pure fear in his eyes. This was all new ground to him, and he was worried about the kids.
‘This ain’t his first rodeo. Ain’t mine either,’ Steve offered his best lady-killer smile. ‘We’re gonna be fine,’
Eddie gave him another odd stare, this one of a different variety, and looked away very quickly.
Steve wondered, suddenly, what it would be like to kiss him. Weird, probably. Eddie would probably bite. He might not. He might kiss him back. He might even put his hands on Steve’s waist, like Nancy had, so long ago, when they’d slow danced to Billy Joel. He hadn’t danced with anyone since, not like that. Eddie would probably tear his eyes out over Billy Joel, but Steve could probably learn to dance to AC/DC.
’Hey, Ed … I’m sorry if you ever felt like I was one of those guys,’ he mumbled. ‘Y’know. The guys … the guys on the team,’
Eddie shot him another sharp look. His intensity was lessening the longer they talked, each look loosening the tension around his eyes. An old, old feeling seemed to creep its way into Steve. The thrill of a challenge.
‘I don’t screw with that crowd anymore,’ Steve said. ‘For the record,’
Something shuffled in the bushes nearby, and Eddie froze, clutching his arms close to himself. Steve grabbed the nearest branch, a yell ready in his throat. Something that looked like the lovechild of a newt and a rat toppled out of the bush, dashed away into the dark.
Eddie sighed. ‘Gotta say … I fuckin’ hate this place,’
‘Me too, dude. C’mon,’ Steve stepped forward. ‘Let’s get home,’
‘Man,’ Eddie sighed, suddenly. ‘My trailer’s gonna be totalled,’
‘Aw, no …,’
‘Yeah. With … Chrissy and the cops and whatever doohickey Henderson’s gonna rig up … man, my uncle’s gonna be so pissed,’ Eddie sighed, ran a hand through his fringe.
‘You can stay at mine,’ Steve said.
Eddie flinched. ‘Huh?’
‘Yeah. Stay at mine,’
‘Won’t your … parents mind?’
‘Nah. They’re barely around anymore, and it’s not like you’d be the weirdest thing I’ve brought home,’
Eddie’s smile slipped into a new phase. ‘… ok. Sure,’
Steve risked what he could be willing to risk. He put a hand around Eddie’s narrow shoulders, more conspiratorial than intimate, certainly more in the realm of a teammate hugging a buddy than anything else. Risked crossing a boundary that Eddie didn’t seem to see or care about, risked losing an arm if Eddie reacted like the weasel he was, risked Robin looking back and him hearing no end of questions from her.
‘No problem, Ed,’