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After finally defeating Vecna, the Party returned to Steve’s house to patch their wounds and finally get the first good night's sleep, in what seemed like ages.
Eddie had taken a seat in the Harrington's ridiculously lavish living room and watched from afar as the rest of the group went about their business fixing each other up.
He wasn’t too hurt from their trip to the upside-down. He only had a few bruises and scratches, lovingly given to him by the demobats. Even thinking about that made him shudder, a week ago interdimensional bats and evil fear wizards were something he’d read about in a book or see in movies.
But these things weren’t fictional, and this wasn’t a one-time occurrence, this group of mostly kids had defeated interdimensional horrors to save the world multiple times. He couldn’t wrap his head around that, how could these people walk through hell numerous times and still continue living a normal life?
This was his first time in the ring and yet Eddie knew that he would dream of cracking bones and fleshy vines for the rest of his life.
Well, that’s if he still had a life after all of this. He was still a wanted murderer and if his very own angry mob found him…well he’d rather not know what they’d do to him.
Lost in his own head as Eddie was, he did not register someone walking up behind him and putting their hand on his shoulder.
He jumped from his seat and looked over at the over person with wild eyes, before realizing that it was Harrington.
The other man looked much better than only a few hours ago, he was bandaged up and had traded Eddie's vest for a comfy-looking dark blue sweater. Eddie almost mourned the sight of Harrington in his vest. The man sure looked good dishevelled, half-naked and in denim for someone who usually dressed so preppy. Before his thoughts could cause some kind of scene, Eddie turned his attention back to present-day Steve.
“I know my vest was like, covered in monster goo and shit but I hope you didn’t throw it out Harrington, it was only borrowed after all.” Steve rolled his eyes at that “Your vest is fine man, I put it in the washer. You better hope bat guts are removable,” he replied. Harrington then put his hands on his hips and continued ”I was actually there to check on you.” at that he held up a first aid kit.
Eddie took in a deep breath and went to take the first aid kit but was stopped by Steve “It’s easier if someone does it for you.” “Look dude just because we had some weird trauma bonding session doesn’t mean you need to do this, I can manage on my own.”
” Jesus Munson, stop being difficult and let me help.” Eddie was about to counter, as a wave of tiredness seemed to roll over him.
“Fine but only because you’re asking so nicely.” he retorted with an over-exaggerated smile. Steve shook his head before getting to work. While letting himself be moved around by the other, he noticed how knowledgeable Harrington seemed to be in this. This only made sense he guessed, you can’t exactly go to the hospital after getting messed up by monsters, that nobody is supposed to know about. These guys had to learn how to help themselves if they wanted to survive.
That thought made Eddie sick, having to think about any of the kids getting mauled was enough to turn his stomach upside down.
A thought rushed to the front of his mind and before he could stop himself Eddie asked “How are you able to do any of this?” Steve stopped cleaning a cut on his arm and looked at him confused “How am I able to do what?”
He turned to look Harrington in the eyes before he went on “How are you able to keep living after going through hell? I've only had a few days of this shit and I feel myself going crazy but for you people, it’s like a regular Thursday night.” Eddie felt himself getting worked up the longer he went on, if he listened closely, he could almost hear the snapping of Chrissy's bones.
Harrington had seemed to notice his distress and put both of his hands on his shoulders to ground the other in the present. “Eddie, nobody expects you to be okay after any of this, “Steve tried to comfort the other, “sure this isn’t our first time but what happened just now is different from whatever happened previously. We’re usually more people and if things got heated we had El to save our asses, but now we were on our own against something we couldn’t even hit!”
Steve drew his hands back and scratched the back of his head before he went on “What I’m trying to get at here is that all of us are messed up about what happened, so you don’t need to act all tough. We are here for you.” Harrington looked back at him with a smile and Eddie couldn’t help smiling in return. Damn, Steve sure looked good when he smiled.
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After Steve was finished patching him up, the two of them returned to the others who had made themselves home in the kitchen. Robin was at the stove cooking while talking to Nancy, the two of them seemed to only have eyes for each other. Eddie hopped the food wasn't going to catch on fire.
Speaking of food, the meal for tonight was going to be bacon and eggs because despite having a fancy kitchen, the Harrington fridge looked almost as empty as his.
Meanwhile, the kids were gathered at the kitchen table and discussing something Eddie was too tired to understand.
From looking at them he noticed that he wasn’t the only one, Max had her head on Lucas's shoulder and the two of them held hands under the table. Erica seemed to lack her typical spirit and attitude, only half-heartedly engaging in the conversation. The only one seemingly not affected was Dustin who was passionately ranting about something, Eddie could only guess where he got all his energy from.
When Robin was done cooking, they decked the table and dug in. Eddie was slinging the food down as if it were the last thing he’d ever get to eat. After a week of only eating canned goods and cereal while living in hiding, afraid of getting burnt at the stake, this felt like the best meal of his life.
After everybody ate their fill, they began talking about room arrangements. If they were being honest with themselves, nobody wanted to be alone right now, the fear of Vecna somehow surviving and getting them in their sleep was far too present in each of their minds.
Max and Lucas immediately jumped at the chance to share the guest bedroom, they were however disappointed when Dustin joined them on an air mattress. Eddie chuckled at that, the pair's “Thank God we're alive” moment was going to have to wait until later. The next to find themselves together were Robin and Nancy, who managed to score themselves the lavish master bedroom. They took Erica with them so that she could get a full eight hours of sleep, the poor girl looked like she would need it. That left him and Harrington to room together.
The man's humble abode looked just like he had imagined and also not. The trophies on the shelves were expected, Harrington was far too proud of them not to highlight them. The Bowie poster on the door was a nice surprise though “I didn’t take you for a Bowie fan Harrington.” “He makes good music, what did you think I was listening to?” Steve countered. Eddie smiled before he spoke “Whatever is popular with the ladies right now, maybe it gives you extra points on dates if you can serenade them with their favourite tune.”
Steve looked at that, he was currently pumping up an air mattress for Eddie right next to his own bed. “Na man I don’t do that. I only listen to what I like, I've got like layers and shit.” Steve tried to explain. “You think one of these layers would give Black Sabbath a chance?” he asked with a raised eyebrow. The other man gave him a simple “Nope” and went back to work.
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After they finished up Eddie's mattress and got changed, awkwardly with their back turned on the other, they were finally ready to hit the bed.
Harrington seemed to drift off easily if the snoring was any indication, but the long-haired man himself was not having such a great time sleeping.
His dreams were filled with twisted versions of familiar places, of an innocent girl getting murdered in his own home, of the town declaring him a murderer and calling him every bad name under the sun. He tried to run from these images but Vecna's pulsing and fleshy tendrils seemed to hunt for him, to drag him back deeper. Once they caught up to him, he felt the slimy veins wrapping themselves around his neck to chock him.
In the distance, he heard something being called.
“…die”
“Eddie”
“EDDIE!”
With a silent scream, Eddie woke up from his nightmare.
To his relief, the face that stared back at him wasn't Vecna's horrifying visage but rather the almost familiar face of Hawkins's former king.
Steve looked at him in concern and began rubbing comforting circles into Eddies back to calm him down. All of this was too much for him and he began sobbing while pressing his hands tightly to his face. Steve stopped his hand and joined Eddie on the air mattress before he pulled the distressed man into a tight hug.
When Eddies sobbing started to cease, he realized that Harrington was talking to him. He kept muttering sweet nothings into Eddie's long hair like how everything was going to be okay and how Steve was there for him, slowly he found himself relaxing to the sound of the man's voice.
Once Steve noticed that the dungeon master had calmed down, he tried to talk to him directly “How about we both try to sleep in my bed tonight?” Eddie glanced up at Steve with wide eyes, did ex-king Steve really ask wanted “criminal” Eddie Munson if they should sleep together.
Harrington noticed his brain running on overdrive and said “Don’t make a big deal out of this dude, both of us don’t wanna be alone right now and being close might help with the nightmares.” Huh, well Eddie couldn’t argue with that logic, not that he wanted to anyway. His desire for a few hours of sleep outweight any apprehension he might have had, so he got up from the uncomfortable mattress and into Harrington's warm bed.
It took a few seconds to arrange themselves on the bed but when they were finished, Steve laid on his back while Eddie laid on his side next to Steve but staring in the other direction. He had to admit that this made him feel much better already, with Harrington's warm presence next to him he could almost forget the traumatic events of the last few days. What surprised him though was that Steve didn’t go to sleep, rather he kept on trying to comfort their newest member.
The other was gently running his fingers through Eddies long locks while trying to bring them closer. Touched by Harrington's care, Eddie turned to face him, and their dark eyes locked on each other. A warm, fuzzy feeling made itself home in Eddie's chest and he smiled as he looked at Steve.
The man smiled back and both of them pulled each other closer. When they were finished, they were laying in Steve's bed hugging each other with their limbs intertwined. He nestled his head into Harrington's neck before taking a big breath. While this didn’t erase the horrors they experienced, it sure made everything more bearable.
Knowing that Eddie wasn’t alone in this mess that was now his life reassured him that everything will work out in the end, no matter what happens.
Before he could drift off a second time, he leaned closer to Steve's ear “You know what Harrington? You’re a pretty great guy,” he let the other know. As he returned to the land of dreams, he could feel Steve pulling him even closer and pressing a light kiss to his forehead.
86’ baby, this could still be his year after all.