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“Here you go, Harrington!”
As Eddie slid onto the hood of Steve’s car right next to Steve — their shoulders bumped because of how dramatically large Eddie had made his slide — he handed a beer over to Steve.
“Thanks, man,” Steve nodded.
“Don’t thank me, thank alcohol for existing,” Eddie grinned. He pulled a bottle opener out of his pocket and popped the cap off of Steve’s beer, plus the other one Eddie had in his own hand for himself. “And weed. Always be thankful for weed.”
“I’ll be sure to remember that,” Steve deadpanned as he raised the drink to his lips, taking a sip.
It was well past midnight, and the two of them were sitting on the hood of Steve’s parked car. They had spent the day hanging out with the kids at the arcade, so Eddie had offered to go and buy some beer for the two of them to relax with after babysitting. Steve had happily agreed to hang out. What he hadn’t agreed to was doing it out in the middle of the woods.
Instead of just simply drinking together at Eddie’s trailer, Eddie had directed Steve to drive into the woods. Steve had strongly declined at first, but Eddie had put on that goofy, stupid charm of his, and now here Steve was, hanging out with the guy who led the D&D club in the woods at a god-forsaken hour of the night.
At least the view was nice. They were parked near a small cliff, which meant that they got a wonderful view of Hawkins, all small and dimly lit for the night.
Steve couldn’t help but stare off at the little town, entranced by the view and the sounds of the woods behind him — crickets, owls, leaves rustling in the night breeze.
As the breeze kicked up, however, Steve couldn’t repress a small shiver.
Eddie noticed this, turning to look at Steve with his big brown eyes.
“You cold?” he asked, blinking at Steve.
“It’s just chilly out, I’m fine,” Steve shrugged.
All Steve had on was a green sweater and jeans. The only thing he could do to fight the cold was hug himself with the arm that wasn’t holding his beer.
Eddie just watched him carefully for a moment before placing his beer down onto the hood delicately. He then began to shuffle off his denim vest, then his leather jacket.
As he realized what Eddie was doing, Steve held up a hand to try and stop him.
“No, no way. I’m not taking your jacket from you.”
“C’mon, Stevie. You’re going to turn into a popsicle,” Eddie chuckled as he held the jacket out to Steve. “You won’t exactly make fun company if all you can do is chatter your teeth.”
“I’m fine. Really, Munson,” Steve sighed.
Eddie didn’t give up, however, and continued to blink up at Steve with those big, dumb, cute brown eyes.
“Fine,” Steve eventually snapped before grabbing the jacket and throwing it on, hugging it close around himself. He could smell Eddie’s scent on it; his cologne, his soap. It was a wonderful scent. Musky and masculine, but with a faint hint of vanilla.
Eddie watched Steve with a hint of smugness in his eyes.
“There we go. And might I say, the jacket really suits you,” Eddie hummed, throwing back on his battle jacket and grabbing his beer again.
Steve couldn’t help but blush a little. He blamed it on the beer — even though he had only had a few sips.
Steve and Eddie had bonded a lot during the final battle with Vecna before his defeat.
After distracting the demo-bats long enough for them all to drop dead — Eddie had managed to fight them off, but sustained multiple wounds and scars that won’t ever fade — Eddie and Dustin had made their way into the home of Vecna, where Steve, Eddie, Dustin, Robin, and Nancy fought him.
During the flame-filled battle, one of Vecna’s vines had gripped Eddie hard and lifted him into the air. Steve still had nightmares about the look of sheer terror on Eddie’s face in that moment.
But Steve had snapped himself into action by loading up an alcohol-filled bottle and rag and lighting it to throw at the vine. It had pained the thing enough that it dropped Eddie — but not without a sickening thud to the floor.
Steve had rushed over to Eddie, being met with a gruesome sight.
Eddie’s entire torso, arms, legs, neck and face had been marred with bites and scratches; his skin had been red and inflamed and sticky, his shredded clothes glued to his wounds. He had clearly been in a horrible amount of pain, but he had tried to hide it, because he knew how much it made others sad to see him in pain.
“I look pretty bad, don’t I, Stevie?” Eddie had laughed, blood leaking from his lips as he had spoken.
Instead of answering, Steve had just desperately pressed his forehead to Eddie’s and begged him to hang in there, to cling onto life. Steve had no idea how he had become so attached to the goofy guy, but he had found himself crying over Eddie.
Everybody, including Eddie, thought he was a goner. But he had fought. And he had lived.
Eddie had mostly recovered from all of his wounds. He had many scars — he and Steve now had matching demo-bat scars, which Eddie found wildly entertaining — and limited use of one of his legs, which had been especially mauled by the damn creatures. Eddie walked with a slight limp a lot due to the nerve damage, but it sure didn’t slow him down. Steve had no idea how Eddie had so much energy all of the time.
Eddie also had large scars etched into his chest, neck, and face. There was a large scar that slashed through his left eye and went over the bridge of his nose. It was actually pretty badass.
Since that moment in Vecna’s home, Steve had been filled with a weird sort of protectiveness over Eddie. And maybe some other feeling that Steve didn’t want to analyze right now.
“Earth to Stevie. You look like you’re on a whole other planet,” Eddie suddenly said, waving a hand in front of Steve’s face.
Steve blinked himself out of his thoughts and turned to see Eddie staring at him in concern.
“Just thinking about some things,” Steve said quietly as he took a sip of beer.
“What kind of things?” Eddie asked curiously, nudging one of Steve’s feet with his own. The little gesture was cute, Steve had to admit.
“Vecna things, I guess,” Steve shrugged.
“Oh,” Eddie said softly. “Not, like… sad things, I hope.”
“Eh. They’re kind of just… things.”
“You sure like the word ‘things’,” Eddie teased, grinning a little.
Steve couldn’t help but snort.
“I guess I was just thinking about… uh, how’s your leg doing? I’m just worried about it, is all,” Steve said awkwardly, trying to hide how concerned he really was for Eddie.
Eddie kicked his bad leg — his right one — up and down a little.
“Not too bad,” he hummed. “It just doesn’t walk like it used to. Damn bats shredded it,” he chuckled, a flash of sadness visible in his eyes for only a second. “But hey, our scars match!” Eddie laughed. He pulled up his jacket and t-shirt a little to show off the bite and scratch marks permanently visible on his hips, waist, and ribs.
Steve took in the scars dappling Eddie’s body, then pulled his own shirt up a little.
Sure enough, their demo-bat scars mirrored each other.
“It’s like friendship bracelets, but cooler,” Eddie grinned goofily.
Steve laughed.
“You’re one messed-up dude, Munson.”
“And yet you still choose to hang out with me, Steeeevie,” Eddie sing-songed sweetly, leaning close to Steve so their faces were only inches apart. Steve blamed the heat rising in his face on… well, something else. But not the weird feelings rising in his stomach and chest. Certainly not.
“Hey, we were kind of forced to bond after the whole town accused you of satanic murders, and we had to fight and kill a monster from another dimension,” Steve laughed.
“But you could have ditched my ass after Vecna died and chosen to forget I exist. But here you are now, Steve ‘The Hair’ Harrington, willingly hanging out with Eddie ‘The Freak’ Munson. We’re a match made in heaven!” Eddie hummed.
“You’re a nice guy, okay?” Steve defended. “I like your company.”
Eddie put on a show by widening his eyes and gaping his mouth.
“Harrington!” Eddie gasped dramatically. “You just admitted to liking my company!” Eddie grinned widely, face still hovering an inch away from Steve’s.
Steve turned his head some to properly look Eddie in the eyes. Their noses brushed a little.
“Hey, I’m just saying that you’re kind of funny and nice. You’re still weird, though,” Steve grumbled.
“Yeah, but is that weirdness bad, Harrington?” Eddie asked, still grinning.
Their close proximity was currently making Steve’s head practically spin, so he turned away a little.
“It’s- no, it’s not,” Steve admitted, shaking his head.
“Ooh, Steve Harrington likes my weirdness!” Eddie sing-songed.
Steve couldn’t come up with a clever comeback in time, so all he responded with was, “Shut up,” which didn’t even come off as a warning considering that he was chuckling.
“The big threatening Steve Harrington is telling me to shut up, I can’t help but shake in my boots!” Eddie said in a faux terrified tone.
Steve gave Eddie a little playful shove on the shoulder, causing both of them to laugh.
After their chuckling died down a little and they drank more of their beer, Eddie turned to Steve.
“How have you been handling everything after… all of that?” Eddie asked, making a vague hand gesture.
Steve thought about that for a second.
After killing Vecna, everybody in their group seemed haunted by the memories — and injuries.
Eddie had his slight limp and nasty scars, Steve had scars matching Eddie’s and really bad sight in his left eye from all the injuries he had sustained there, Dustin had a slight limp just like Eddie’s, and Max was now blind. She had been devastated at first, but the whole group was always there to help her — especially Lucas and El. Hell, Lucas was practically living in Max’s trailer. Max was going to be okay; even she knew that.
But the worst thing that everybody lived with were the nightmares.
Every night, Steve woke up in a sweat from another horrifying dream. Sometimes he simply relived the whole final battle, sometimes he envisioned Vecna destroying the whole world and everyone Steve loved in it, and sometimes Steve had to watch Vecna kill one of his kids, or one of his friends. Sometimes he would wake up and throw up out of disgust and terror. Sometimes he would wake up and cry.
There were a lot of sometimes, but the nightmares were always.
“I’ve been handling things just fine,” Steve shrugged.
“‘Just fine’?” Eddie repeated, raising an eyebrow.
“Okay, maybe less than fine,” Steve sighed. “I’ve been having a lot of nightmares.”
Eddie was silent for a moment before quietly saying, “Me too. I can’t sleep without having one.”
“Really?” Steve asked gently, turning to look at Eddie. He looked uncharacteristically small right now for somebody who always acted like he was bigger than the whole world.
“Yeah, man. I close my eyes and I can still see… him — Vecna, I mean. I can still remember the bats all over me. Those stupid bats,” Eddie laughed humorlessly.
Steve couldn’t find the right words yet, so he chose to set his beer down behind him and place his hand on Eddie’s shoulder.
“Hey, it’s alright, man. I still dream about the bats sometimes, too.”
“You do?” Eddie asked, blinking at Steve.
“Yeah. I mean, one nearly choked me to death. I thought I was a goner.”
“Hey, at least you looked pretty damn awesome ripping that bat apart with your bare hands,” Eddie smirked at Steve.
That flirtatious little glint in Eddie’s eyes caused Steve to stare into them for a little longer than he meant.
“Yeah, at least that worked out for me,” Steve laughed after snapping out of his little trance. “And hey, your bat attack led to a cool scar across your eye. Nobody has the balls to mess with you now.”
Eddie grinned.
“You think it’s cool?”
“Yeah, totally, man,” Steve said genuinely.
If Steve was correct, he thought he saw a little blush cross Eddie’s cheeks. There was no avoiding it: Eddie looked adorable like that.
Suddenly, Eddie set his beer down on the hood before leaping off of the car with an impressive amount of energy.
“Hang on, we need some music to really make this night,” he grinned. He limped over to the car door before throwing it open and reaching inside.
Steve watched the other boy carefully before he heard him click on the car radio. The channels switched around for a bit before the sounds of heavy metal filled the air. Steve had no idea what the band or the song even was.
Exiting the car and leaving the windows down, Eddie walked back up to Steve with his arms stretched up in the air dramatically, his eyes half-lidded, a smirk on his face.
“True music,” he said simply before hopping back up onto the car right next to Steve.
“It sounds like a couple of guys screaming their heads off to really fast guitar riffs,” Steve said, scrunching his face up.
Eddie elbowed Steve sharply, almost causing Steve to spill what little beer he had left in his bottle.
“It’s music! The screaming has meaning — it’s an expression of emotions! Plus, the guitar riffs are beautiful. The Metallica guys have some lightning fast fingers,” Eddie explained.
Steve watched him with an amused stare.
“You sure are passionate about this stuff.”
“I have to be! This music is art!” Eddie said matter-of-factly. “A lot of people don’t appreciate it. And those people are looooserrrrrs,” Eddie said, stretching the word to a dramatic extent, sticking his tongue out at the end.
“They sure are,” Steve laughed, enjoying Eddie’s little show.
“See? You get me,” Eddie grinned, putting his hand over his heart. “A man after my own heart.”
“Thaaaat’s me,” Steve said, setting down his beer to focus all of his attention on Eddie.
“I’m glad you don’t make fun of the music I like,” Eddie chuckled. “Like, seriously. A lot of people mock me for it. But you don’t. You’re a cool dude, Stevie,” he smiled, putting a hand on Steve’s shoulder.
“Thanks, Munson,” Steve smiled softly.
The two of them smiled fondly at each other for a good long time. Steve had gotten completely lost in Eddie’s chocolate brown eyes, lost in the way they reflected the stars in the night sky.
“Hey, Harrington?” Eddie asked softly.
“Yeah?”
“Thanks for saving my ass when Vecna almost had me. I thought I was dead. But you- you were amazing. You saved my life,” Eddie breathed, staring at Steve like he was a Greek god.
Steve leaned a little closer to Eddie, their breaths mingling.
“I wouldn’t let you die like that. Not ever.”
“You’re, like, my hero. My knight in shining armor,” Eddie smirked, their noses brushing now.
“Guess that makes you the prince who needed rescuing,” Steve said softly, breathing in the scent of Eddie’s cologne.
“Guess it does, Stevie.”
They stayed there for a moment, breathing each other in, before Steve couldn’t handle it anymore and pressed his lips to Eddie’s.
Eddie began to reciprocate immediately.
Their lips fit together perfectly, like they were designed to kiss. Eddie’s lips were soft and gentle, but he put just enough roughness into his kiss that it made Steve groan a little from the back of his throat.
Steve moved his hands up to rest one on the back of Eddie’s neck, the other planted on Eddie’s waist, fingers toying with the edges of his shirt.
Eddie sighed happily through his nose, tickling Steve’s upper lip. Eddie moved both of his hands to Steve’s hips, gripping them, his fingers tightening their grasp on Steve’s — or, actually, Eddie’s — jacket every time Steve intensified the kiss a little.
Eddie kept humming contentedly, which just made Steve even more eager to kiss him.
Steve began to move his hand up beneath Eddie’s t-shirt, his fingers rubbing little patterns into the sensitive skin of Eddie’s stomach. He could feel Eddie suck in a breath through his nostrils.
Before long, they began to grow more passionate, and Steve found himself being lowered down onto his back, stretched out across the hood of his car for Eddie.
Panting heavily, Eddie stared down at Steve as he pinned him there to the car.
“You’re quite the good kisser, Stevie,” he panted.
“So are you, Munson,” Steve replied, equally out of breath.
“I’ve had a little bit of practice — all on guys,” Eddie smirked.
That made sense. Eddie never did seem like to kind of guy to like girls.
Steve smiled up at Eddie before gripping him by the back of his head and pulling him down into another kiss, this one more heated, more passionate.
Steve opened his mouth a little to let Eddie bite at his lower lip, drawing out a low moan from Steve that he could feel Eddie smirk at.
Steve ran both hands up under Eddie’s t-shirt, moving all the way up to his chest.
Eddie hummed happily before moving his head back a little to begin giving Steve little kisses all over his face — down his nose, his cheeks, then to his throat.
“You’re pretty, Harrington,” Eddie breathed.
Steve had to let out a little whine from the back of his throat; he didn’t know he liked being called pretty so much. What made it better was that the compliment was from Eddie.
“And you’re handsome. Like, really handsome. I didn’t know I liked guys until I saw you,” Steve whispered, moving a hand up to stroke Eddie’s cheek with a thumb.
Eddie smiled tenderly before rolling off of Steve to rest beside him, both of them on their backs and facing each other.
“Guess I’m just powerful like that,” Eddie teased.
“Eddie Munson, changer of sexualities.”
“Steve Harrington, the jock who got a gay metal head to hardcore crush on him.”
Steve laughed and inched closer to Eddie to kiss his cheek, their bodies pressed close together. Eddie moved an arm so that it rested beneath Steve’s head, then moved his other arm over Steve’s waist, hugging him close.
Steve smiled and cuddled into Eddie, wrapping his own arms around the other boy.
He could get used to this.
“Hey, the stars look awesome,” Eddie breathed, his eyes stretched wide in wonder.
Steve turned away from Eddie to look up at the stars, and wow, Eddie was right.
From their place up high in the dark woods, each and every star was practically visible to them, dappling the entire night sky with twinkling lights. The moon shone down on them, too, half of it lit up in a soft glow.
“Pretty,” Steve whispered, amazed.
“Not as pretty as you, Stevie,” Eddie smirked.
“That was cheesy,” Steve laughed.
“Yeah, but it got you to laugh, so I say it worked,” Eddie smiled.
“Fair enough, Munson. Fair enough.”
Maybe things after Vecna didn’t have to be so dark anymore. Maybe now, things would be just as bright as they looked in that moment.