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Published:
2022-06-20
Updated:
2022-06-22
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3,058
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2/?
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Batsitting the Babysitter

Summary:

Steve might not have gotten rabies from the demobats, but he certainly caught something. Eddie volunteers to look after him while he’s sick and gets more than he bargained for.

- Or the one where the demobats turn Steve into a vampire and Eddie is in charge of looking after him. Steve is freaking out, and Eddie thinks it’s kind of metal.

Chapter 1: Chapter One

Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text

Eddie’s shoes made a wet squelch with every step through the field. The mud was made even worse by the kids walking in front of them, tearing up the water-logged grass with their sneakers. He and Robin chatted idly as they supported Steves’s weight on either side, trying to burn off some anxious energy left over from killing Vecna.

His left shoe sunk into a puddle, and the cold dirty water seeped into his soles and pooled at his toes. Great. Now he was going to be cold, as well as caked in mud and what he refused to admit was demobat guts.

All the fantasy books he had read throughout the years had done nothing to prepare him for the reality of fighting monsters. Turns out being a hero wasn’t fearlessly killing the monster and coming home to a parade thrown in your honor.

It was being scared shitless and coming home broken, beaten, and absolutely fucking filthy.

Finally, they reached the edge of the field where a stretch of the dense forest stood between them and the road. In front of them lay a massive felled tree that came up to his hips. It stretched along the edge of the forest, like castle walls. A mess of moss and lichen covered the trunk so thoroughly that he could hardly see the bark underneath.

Getting across that slippery mess was going to take more energy than he had at this point.

He leant against the tree near Robin, not caring about the moss staining his pants. They were being burned either way. Exhaustion settled into his bones the second he stopped. As if gravity had finally caught him, throwing the weight of the day onto his shoulders. Or maybe Steve was heavy.

Steve flopped down between them and groaned, clutching his side. Eddie quickly wrapped his arm back around him, in case he lost his balance. When Steve didn’t protest, he edged a bit closer, Steve’s body heat starving off the chill.

The party followed their lead, and sat down too, all deciding to take a much-needed break.

The familiar whirl of Max's walkman rewinding broke through the sound of the wind.

“You don’t look so good there, buddy,” Dustin said.

Dustin was right, Steve looked like shit. His skin was dull and pale, with dark rings bruising his under eyes and his hair clung to his forehead with sweat. The makeshift bandages around his waist had already soaked through with blood. Eddie thought he might have collapsed already if it weren’t for Robin and him taking turns holding him up.

Robin shot him a panicked look, her hair a matted mess around her blood-smeared face. She held onto Steve’s arm tighter in shaking hands. He wished he could say it was because of the cold.

“Should we take him to the hospital? I think we should take him to the hospital. Steve? Look at him, he looks like he could kneel over and die right now,” Robin rambled. “What if it’s rabies? Oh my god, you don't think I’ll jinx it right? I take it back!”

Steve shook his head. “No hospital remember, too many questions.”

“But what about the rabies-“

“He doesn’t have rabies, he’s just a little beat up. Plus, he doesn’t have any of the symptoms, right, Steve? No fever, hydrophobia, no delirium, no aggression.” Dustin checked off the symptoms with his fingers.

Robin looked at Steve closely, as if searching for signs of disease.

“Kid, I will be angry in a second if you don’t stop talking. You’re not helping,” Steve warned, his words slurred with exhaustion.

“I was-“

“Yeah no. That’s a no. I’m fine,” Steve said as he swatted away Robins’s hand that was checking his temperature. “Or I will be fine. I need a hot shower and some sleep and I’ll be good as new.”

Dustin shot Steve an unimpressed look. “Good as new.”

“Someone is going to look after him right?” Eddie asked.

Eddie hadn’t known Steve for that long, but he knew that he was too stubborn to ask for help. That or he didn't even think of it as an option. Too used to protecting others or fending for himself. Which was stupid.

No one ever gets very far by themselves.

“Yep, one thousand percent,” Lucas said and Max was quick to nod beside him.

Robin opened her mouth.“I’ll do-“

Steve cut her off. “Robin, I love you, but I would rather die.”

“I would be a totally good nurse, you’re missing out,” Robin joked, but her voice was brittle.

Eddie raised his free hand. He didn’t want to intrude, but they were running out of options. “Ah, I could? I mean, Steve said I could crash at his place until my trailer gets fixed, anyway. So win-win.”

“You’re going to look after him?” Nancy asked, her eyes now focused on them and not the dark nothingness of the forest.

“Hey! No need to say it like that." He pouted. "I look after people all the time.”

She blanched. “Selling people drugs is not looking after them.”

Only someone who’s never smoked weed before would say that. Maybe he could convince them to party with him one time, call it a bonding session or something. Not the kids though. He so didn’t want to look after paranoid kids. Or even worse, if they got all sappy. Nope. Just the four of them.

“Um yeah, it is. It’s medicine. I’m practically a pharmacist.”

Nancy’s brows furrowed. “Didn’t you fail chem twice?”

He wiggled his eyebrows. “You been looking at my grades, Wheeler?”

A burst of laughter left him when she gagged.

“I was in your class.”

Oh right. He had forgotten about that. That happens when you only show up every now and then.

“Back to Steve over here,” he said, changing the subject. “Don’t worry, I’ll be a good little nurse. ”

She looked at Steve for permission. “Steve?”

Steve nodded, and he looked even more sickly than he did a few minutes ago. “Yeah, whatever. Can we just go now?”

Notes:

Thank you so much for reading!! I really appreciate it 🥰 I had so much fun writing my last steddie fic that i just had to write this!

There will be more vampire content in the next chapters, i swear haha

Please let me know what you thought in the comments! Or feel free to just scream about ST with me ✌️

Hope everyone has a good day 🌸

Chapter 2

Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text

The fabric seats of the taxi were powdery with dust and smelled like stale cigarettes and cloyingly sweet perfume. It was interesting to watch Steve's rich side come out in the way he spoke to the man. All 'yes, sir', and 'thank you very much, sir'. It wasn't just manners, it was the ease that he spoke with. So confident and sure of himself, even when he was bleeding in the backseat.

Eddie sat there, hoping the driver didn't recognise him from the news. That he didn't expect him to have gone on a camping trip with a Harrington.

Steve shoved a hand full of cash into the Taxi driver’s hand as they pulled up to Steve’s house. The driver had a thick grey moustache that did little to hide his suspicious frown. But at least he wasn't calling the cops.

They thanked him profusely and continued to chat away about their ‘camping trip’. It was all they could think of that would even start to explain their appearances.

The front door opened with a click and inside it was dark and eerily quiet. Nobody home.

Steve fumbled for the light switch, his weight heavy on Eddie's shoulder. “This is it. Home sweet home.”

When his eyes adjusted to the bright fluorescent lights he glanced around.

Steve’s house wasn’t exactly what he had expected. Sure, it was excessively big and fancy looking.

But it was also empty and impersonal. Too clean. No knick knacks or clutter, only tasteful decor that was obviously picked out by an interior designer. The walls held no baby pictures or graduation photos. In their place were boring abstract paintings that perfectly matched the color scheme.

“Nice place.”

Steve hummed in response as he kicked off his ruined white Nikes. Or at least Eddie was pretty sure they were white before.

Eddie had been mentally preparing for this moment the entire taxi ride home. When he offered to look after Steve he had kind of forgotten what that involved. And what it involved was helping him shower.

He wished it didn’t, he really did. But Steve couldn’t make it more than a few steps by himself and showers were death traps. One wrong move and you’re wiped out on the floor, taken out by a soap sud.

He might be a coward, but he wasn’t going to let his new friend die in the shower. Especially after surviving a homicidal monster straight out of interdimensional hell. Nope, he was going to embrace his inner jock and be totally casual and cool about showering with another man. A very pretty man that he had seen kill a demobats with his teeth.

He clicked his fingers together, trying to rid his brain of that image.

“Alright, man. Time for a shower. I know a bath would be easier, but I think you would just be swimming in your own bloody soup. So pretty useless. Reckon you can stand in there long enough?”

Steve rolled his eyes. “As long as you stop me from slipping and dying, I think I’ll be fine.”

Once Eddie had helped Steve into the shower, he turned around and stared at the wall in front of him. He counted the tiles and looked for any shapes hidden in the splotches of the marble, listening for any signs that Steve needed help. He wasn’t sure what the protocol was for helping your new friend shower after a harrowing life or death situation.

Moving foot to food he strained his ears over the roar of the, frankly fantastic, water pressure. Eddie was sure he was fine, but a deep-seated need to make sure took over him.

“You alright in there?” he called out. “You’re not going to pass out on me or anything, right, dude? Because I’ll be honest, you’re kind of heavy.”

“You know, I would love to tell you that you’re being ridiculous, as usual. But I kinda feel like I’ve been run over by a semi, so I think I’m going to say no, I probably won’t pass out. But…” Steve trailed off, his voice losing its snark. “Umm, I don’t think I can raise my arms.”

“Want me to wash your hair?” he offered, trying to keep his voice level.

“If you don’t mind.”

“Nah, it would be my honor Steve ‘the hair’ Harrington.” He bowed lowly, still facing the wall.

Eddie took his clothes off slowly, piling them in the corner. He left his boxers on because while he had psyched himself up, he was not about to do this naked.

The steam hit him as soon as he opened the glass shower door, the warmth soothing him. It sunk through his skin and chased away the bone-deep coldness that still lingered from the upside down.

The cold that still clung to him, digging its way into him and leaching away his warmth.

Vecna might be dead, but his presence lingered in their memories, their bodies.

“That one right there,” Steve said, drawing him from his thoughts. He pointed at the bright purple shampoo bottle that sat nestled between about 20 other bottles. No wonder the dude always looked so good, he had a whole store’s worth of products to help.

The shampoo bottle opened with a soft pop, the smell of vanilla melting into the steam. He hesitated for a moment, unsure of how to go about this.

His decision was made for him when the shampoo in his hand started to drip between his fingers. Not wanting to waste any, he quickly reached for Steve’s hair. He kept his eyes up and got to work getting all the unmentionable grime out of Steve’s thick hair.

Steve leant into his fingers as he scrubbed his scalp with circular motions, moving his head this way and that to get the right spot. He was like a pushy cat that demanded to be pet just so. If Eddie spent more time than was strictly necessary massaging Steve’s scalp, no one had to know.

Rinsing the shampoo Eddie watched, entranced as the soapy water glided down the broad planes of Steve’s shoulders. The muscles of his back flexed as he moved, showing off the well-earned strength he had gained from swimming and basketball.

In his oversized sweaters and dorky polos, he didn’t look any different than the other preppy dudes. With their too-long limbs and knobbly knees from their growth spurts over the summer.

But without clothes, Eddie could see that while he wasn’t exactly the most muscular, he had a litheness to him. A functional kind of strength that made his every move seem confident and powerful. Like he could do damage if he needed to.

And he could. Eddie had seen more than enough proof of that.

Once he was done shampooing Steve’s hair twice and conditioning the ends -under Steve’s specific guidance, of course- he grabbed his face wash. If they were going full day at the spa, he may as well do it right.

Steve’s shoulders were solid under his hands as he moved him till they were face to face. “Here let me just.”

His breath hitched when their eyes locked. Light honey brown, heavy-lidded with relaxation. He had never realized how close in height they were, but now it was impossible not to. They were only a breath apart, nose to nose.

This close, Eddie could see every little mole that dotted Steve’s face, stark against his pale skin. He could see the tiny freckles on his nose, and how his eyelashes fanned against his cheeks when he blinked. He could even see the almost invisible scar at his hairline. Most likely from a bad case of chickenpox when he was younger.

He cleared his throat and started to wash Steve’s face without making eye contact. Steve’s skin was warm and soft under his fingertips, his jaw scratchy with a 5 o’clock shadow. He didn’t think he could handle shaving Steve right now. In his mind, it was somehow more intimate than what they were doing now. Not that this was intimate, he was just helping out an injured friend. Either way, Steve would have to put up the stubble for the night.

After Eddie had gotten Steve safely out of the shower so that he could shower himself, he went to grab the first aid kit. With how often Steve got himself wrapped in trouble, Eddie thought the kit should have been ten times the size.

Coming back to the bathroom he allowed himself to properly look at Steve’s wounds. Now that they were both wearing pants.

He winced. Steve’s wound somehow looked even worse now that it was clean. The demobat bites were deep, and the skin surrounding the punctures was torn and shredded from razor-sharp teeth. It didn’t look like it needed stitches though, thankfully.

Eddie might have some experience with sewing up holes in his jeans, but sewing up a human was a whole other thing. Especially since all Steve’s first aid kit had to offer was some Tylenol for the pain.

Steve was pliant as he guided him into sitting on the side of the bath. His exhaustion was clear in the way he slumped forward, his wet hair creating tiny puddles below him. Eddie slung a fluffy blue towel around his shoulder so he wouldn’t get cold.

The plastic clattered as Eddie rooted around the kit, reading labels and looking for anything familiar. He tried to remember everything he had learnt from his uncle patching him back up throughout the years. From scraped knees to bloody nose, the man had always sat him down and talked away in that slow, calm voice of his. Distracting him from the pain as he methodically cleaned and wrapped him up.

Fuck it, he was neither calm nor methodical, but he couldn’t make the situation worse. Probably.

He grabbed some packets of saline and squirted them on the punctures. Hopefully, that would flush out any of the gross shit the demobats had left behind. It usually worked on road rash, at least.

Fuck, he was out of his depth here.

He dug around some more and found a white tube that said something about being antibacterial. That couldn’t hurt. He smeared some on, his nose burning with the sharp smell. The bacteria was definitely not going to survive that. Neither were his nostril hairs, apparently.

“Shit,” Steve swore. Eddie murmured a quick sorry and kept going.

Once Steve’s torso was all wrapped up he grabbed the towel off his shoulders and got to work drying Steve’s hair. Gently, he squeezed the last drops of water from his hair. Steve looked up at him through his lashes.

With a sigh, Eddie looked over the bandages. “If I’m totally straight with you, man. I don’t know if I did that right.”

Eddie watched closely as Steve ran his hands over the bandages, his hands feather-light as if he was too scared to touch them. Eddie quickly popped him two Tylenol, his eyes never leaving Steve.

“I don’t have a clue either. It’s looking good though.”

“You think?”

Steve smiled up at him, tired eyes soft. “Yeah, man. Thanks.”

“Anytime,” Eddie said before he thought it over. “Well actually, I’m going to have to do this like, every day. So yeah, anytime.”

He was actually looking forward to it, strangely enough. Even if it was kind of gross.

Steve chuckled and then winced when the movement tugged at his wounds. “I’ll owe you one.”

Eddie curled his fingers into his palms, as he tried to override the instinct to grab onto Steve. As if he could hold him tight enough to stop him from breaking.

He cleared his throat. “Nah, you saved me ten times over against that slimy arsehole. You’re a total hero, Harrington,” he finished, batting his lashes like a damsel in distress straight out of the movies.

Steve didn’t laugh like he had expected him to. Instead, he looked at Eddie seriously. “I don't think I could have done it without you.”

A lump formed in his throat at the words.

Even though he had wanted to run at every point. Had wanted to hide away until everything was better again. Normal again. He didn’t.

And maybe that was enough.

Notes:

Thank you SO MUCH for all your sweet comments on the last chapter, I had so much fun talking with you guys!! They literally made my entire day 🥰

Also quick question! I will be adding Steve's pov in the next chapters along with Eddies's. Does writing 'Eddie's pov' and 'Steve's pov' help? Or will y'all just pick it up from the context? Let me know what you prefer!!

Hope everyone has a super good day 🌸