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When he comes to, his whole body feels sore, like he’s just spent six hours in the pit at a show.
There’s not a single mark on him from the fuckin demo-bat things, but he’s pretty fucking sure that he’d had the most epic death scene because of them … Hadn’t he? Maybe he’d dreamed it all? Which, would make sense, some sort of fucked up fear-induced dream, except he’s still in the Upside Down and … Yeah he needs to get the fuck out of there right now.
There’s no sign of Henderson, but when he goes back into the trailer, there’s a new blanket rope dangling from the gate, so the others must have come back through this way.
Why would they leave him?
Maybe the Upside Down had some sort of fucked up death laws? Who the fuck knew at this point. Regardless, he’s glad for the weird ass Upside Down/Right Side Up gravitational fuckery because it makes climbing out of the gate an easy one-Eddie job.
As soon as he’s back in his trailer proper, he frowns. It doesn’t feel … right. The place feels too fucked up for him to spend any longer here and he sure as hell isn’t waiting around to see if anything else wants to climb through the fucking gate. So, he washes the blood off his face and hands, grabs a duffle, shoves everything he’d need into it, then sneaks out of the trailer under the cover of night.
It’s been nearly a fucking week since they’d defeated Vecna. An entire week and Steve can’t shake the feeling he’s going to come back.
Rationally, he knows it’s some sort of post-traumatic response; it’s not his first rodeo in that regard. But maybe it’s because this time … They’d lost one of them in their arms. Fuck, they’d almost lost two. Max was still in the hospital but she’d just woke up the day before and she had a long road ahead of her. She hadn’t died, so, thankfully the fourth gate hadn’t opened, but with all her limbs broken and her newfound blindness …
Steve runs a hand through his hair. It was too fucking much. They were all just kids! Too many fucking sacrifices and … Yeah, he doesn’t think anyone can fault him for feeling like things are going to go to shit any minute. Even at this weird ass memorial for Eddie at Skull Rock, he just … There’s this buzzing under his skin he can’t shake. Like a chill that won’t go away. Part of it he knows is just the after effects of the Upside Down, but still.
They’ve built a small bonfire and he brought apple juice to be the kid’s counterpart to the beer he, Robin, Nancy, and Jonathan drank (much to the dismay of the kids). They sit around, telling stories about Eddie and his campaigns and Steve, loathe as he is to admit it, almost wishes he’d been there to witness it first hand.
He can just picture Eddie getting far too into the story, bringing it to life for the players involved.
He regrets not getting to know him better; for being even the slightest bit jealous that Henderson had found someone else to look up to, especially after hearing the way that Eddie had gone out. Steve had wanted to shout at Eddie’s body, when they’d arrived back and found Henderson crying over it; wanted to tell him off for picking then of all fucking times to be a hero. It hadn’t been part of the plan! What was the point of plans if they didn’t stick to it?! He regrets not being able to bring Eddie’s body back from the Upside Down and thinks about how fucked up it is that they’d left one of their own behind.
Sometimes, late at night, it haunts him and keeps him up (not that he could sleep either way) and, despite thinking that the real Eddie would have yelled at him for not taking care of himself because he would never have put the blame on Steve ‘cause Steve had told him to fucking run, he can’t stop the internal voice that mimics Eddie and puts the blame solely on himself for not being in three different places at once.
There’s just … A lot of things he regrets when it comes to Eddie and he doesn’t understand why for half of them.
“Uh … Pretty sure that’s not how that campaign went, Henderson,” is what Steve registers before their group explodes in screams, cries, and more curse words than he thinks he owns bars of soap for.
When he looks up, Eddie is standing there, clearly confused as to what everyone is doing out at Skull Rock, screaming at him like he was Michael Myers in the flesh coming to kill them, duffle bag slung over his shoulder as if he’d planned to camp in the woods again.
Dustin moves first, grabbing the biggest stick he can find, wielding it like a sword.
“WHO ARE YOU?!”
“Whoa there!” Eddie says, holding his hands up. “Chill out, Henderson. It’s me. It’s Eddie.”
“No way– … There’s no way! You died! I saw it!” Dustin yells.
“Dude, seriously. It’s me!” The maybe not-Eddie says. “Look, I have … No clue what the hell is going on … I remember fighting off the fucking bat things … Then they got me and … Then you were there and—” He pauses. “Wait a damn minute … Why’d you come back?!”
“For you, dumbass!”
Eddie gives him his best ‘we’re totally going over this later’ look. “I told you I didn’t run away again and … Said that it was my year and … I don’t remember much after that.” He grows silent before scrunching his face. “Then I woke up in the Upside Down, no injuries, not even a little chomp … Climbed the rope and … Here I am. Can’t stay in that trailer, so I figured I’d just camp out here …”
The group looks at Dustin, waiting to confirm if that was what had happened. Dustin has tears in his eyes as he chokes out, “What song did you play … To get the demo-bats to us?”
Eddie looks confused at the question before the corner of his lips quirk up. “Master of Puppets … Metallica. Just came out not that long ago. Pretty fuckin’ metal, huh?”
“Eddie!” Henderson drops the stick, running at him to tackle him in a hug, sobbing into his dirt and blood-covered shirt.
As the rest of the group rushes over, Steve stands, staring. There’s just no fucking way. Even he still had marks around his neck from the demo-bats. Eddie … Eddie looks good as new. There’s no visible marks around his neck to match Steve’s. There’s no marks that Steve can see in the dim light on Eddie’s arms, like he’d seen in the Upside Down …
With the exception of the state of the clothes he wore, it’s as if Eddie had never set foot in the Upside Down and had never met his demise there.
Everyone makes their rounds to hug Eddie, greet him, welcome him back, tell him that they were in the middle of a memorial for him, tell him how he’d been gone almost a week, tell him they’d defeated Vecna and how lucky he was that El hadn’t closed the trailer gate yet, ask him how he was feeling and … Steve just stands there. When the group finally disperses to give the man some room, as Robin had announced, Eddie wanders over to Steve.
“Swear I’m not a ghost, Stevie,” Eddie says, holding his hands up.
“You were dead, Munson,” Steve hisses out. “I saw you … Felt for your pulse …”
Eddie sighs, shoving his hands into his pockets as he looks at the group who is now excitedly talking over the fire.
“I don’t know what happened, Harrington,” Eddie admits. “Seriously, man … One minute, I’m in the worst pain of my life … Bleeding out … Next thing I know, I’m waking up alone in that shitty place perfectly fine. Doesn’t make any sense but I’m not gonna complain about getting a second chance, y’know?”
Steve gives a huff that’s more out of relief than anything else. He thinks it should be weird, right? Feeling relief that Eddie fucking Munson is alive and here to give him all sorts of shit for this or that thing with the occasional compliment about how something he’d done was metal.
“Hopper cleared your name.”
“What?”
“Yeah … Cleared your name and now the town is convinced it was Jason deflecting attention from himself and onto you.”
Eddie snorts. “Can’t say the guy didn’t kinda deserve it.”
“He was a real, real douchebag.”
“The douchiest.”
“King of Douchebags.”
“Emperor is more like it.”
The two laugh between them before Steve glances over, “You’re really okay, man?”
Eddie pats his torso before nodding. “Yeah … Weirdly. Just kinda fuckin’ hungry, to be honest. Post battle munchies, I guess.”
“Well, you were kinda dead for a week …” Steve says. “I assume … Considering the messed up timeline that the Upside Down apparently has.”
“You’re telling me …” He responds with a sigh.
There’s a long moment of silence as they watch the group before Steve finally speaks up again.
“Come stay at my place.”
“Huh?” Eddie asks, confusion clear on his face.
“You said you were going to camp out here … My parents are on some European vacation or whatever bullshit excuse they came up with. We’ve got a guest room … Come stay at my place. It’s got running water and heat … It’s not the Ritz, but y’know …”
“It’s pretty close to the Ritz, actually,” Robin chimes in, leaning back from her seat on a log close by them, grinning.
“Oh shut it.”
Eddie grins before turning his attention to Steve, batting his eyes. “Well, well … Usually guys take me out to dinner before getting me back to their place, Harrington.”
Steve merely rolls his eyes, “We can stop at a drive thru.”
“What a gentleman~” Eddie swoons and Steve punches him in the arm for good measure. “Hey now! I just came back from the dead! Easy on the merchandise!”
That’s how Eddie winds up on his couch, inhaling a greasy burger against Steve’s protests that he was going to make himself sick eating that fast. True to form, Eddie barely had time to make it to the kitchen trash can before the burger came right back up. Steve held his hair back before patting his back.
“Told you.”
“Ugh … It’s hard, man! I’m starving!”
“Yeah, well, you’re gonna be more hungry if you keep puking up the food you get down …” Steve says simply.
Eddie wanders away from the trash can, wiping his face. “Fuck …”
“Go shower and if your stomach settles down, I’ll make you some soup.”
“Is this the Mama Harrington treatment?”
Steve snorts. “Yeah, you don’t want that.”
Eddie’s brow quirks up curiously at that statement but amends his own, “The Mama Stevie treatment.”
“There’s no such thing.”
“You do know that Henderson told me all about you, right?” He asks. “Uh, also … Did you not just invite me back to your place to take care of me, hold my hair back and everything?” Once again Eddie bats his eyes, “Unless this is your way of asking me on a date, pretty boy?”
“Yeah, right.” Steve scoffs, shoving Eddie towards the bathroom. “This is me making sure you don’t die again … Because if you do, Henderson will be so pissed and I’ll never hear the end of it.”
Steve doesn’t need to mention the fact that if Eddie is under his roof, he can keep an eye on him. He can make sure that Eddie really is Eddie and not some Vecna trick. If he isn’t a Vecna trick … Even better. Maybe Steve will finally get some sleep at night if Eddie’s ghost isn’t blaming him for leaving him behind or reminding Steve of all the ways he hadn’t taken the time to know him.
There’s a pause from Eddie before he gives Steve a serious look, “Did uh … Did he do that? Give you shit about me dying?”
He’s really too tired to deal with all this, the adrenaline from Eddie returning from the dead like some movie scene having already run its course through his system.
“I think he was coping with it the best we all can. He didn’t give me shit,” Steve clarifies. No, Dustin hadn’t done anything, that was all Steve and his fucked up babysitter complex. “It hit him hard though … You died in his arms …”
Eddie ran a hand through his hair, messing it up more. “Wasn’t part of the plan … The little shit came back through the gate …”
“You staying in the Upside Down wasn’t part of the plan, Munson,” Steve snaps, leaving Eddie a little shocked as Steve can’t hold back any longer. “You were supposed to leave! Henderson and you.” Steve starts to pace back and forth. “You were supposed to leave! You weren’t supposed to play hero! Out of all the times for you to choose not to run away you pick then?! That wasn’t part of the plan! What’s the point of a plan if you’re not going to stick to it?! And then you go off and die! And–”
“Whoa, whoa,” Eddie says, interrupting Steve as he grabs him by the upper arms to stop him. Eddie’s eyes roam over Steve’s face, a mixture of concern, confusion, and … Maybe a flicker of fear. “Breathe, man … Look … There’s a lot of would’a, could’a, should’a’s here … But are you gonna tell me you would have gone through that damn gate? Knowing what was at stake?”
“We’re not the same!”
Eddie snorts, “Yeah, I know. You’re way cooler. Definitely the hero type with that hair.”
“That’s not– …” Steve’s shoulders slump. “That’s not what I meant.”
“Either way … What’s done is done. I don’t regret it one bit,” Eddie says. “I mean … Kinda sucks that I died but … For whatever reason that I’m definitely not looking too close at, I’m back. That’s what matters, right?” When Steve doesn’t answer, he squeezes his arms gently. “Right?”
“Right.”
“So … We’re good … Yeah?”
“Yeah … Yeah we’re good,” Steve says. “Now, go shower … You smell.”
Eddie pauses, finally taking his hands off Steve to lift up an arm and sniff, wrinkling his nose. “Shit, man … Shoulda told me I reeked before I sat on your couch …”
“It’ll air out,” Steve responds as Eddie grabs his duffle bag and heads off towards the bathroom.
By the time Eddie’s showered, midnight is creeping up and Steve feels no closer to getting a real night’s rest as he had any other night for the past week. Eddie wanders down the hall in a worn band t-shirt and pajama pants, looking more comfortable than he’s sure Eddie has looked in the entire time Steve’s somewhat known him, and dumps his duffle bag on a chair.
“Soup?” Steve offers.
“Nah … I’m still hungry but the thought of food’s making me queasy.”
“That sucks,” Steve responds, ‘cause it does. He hates that limbo of both hunger and nausea, with no real way to quell either without tipping the scale.
“I’m gonna … Uh … Step outside and smoke,” Eddie says, testing the waters to see if that was alright. When Steve makes no motion to bitch at him about it, he holds up a small tin. “Wanna join?”
There’s a moment of hesitation before Steve gets up from the couch, feeling like he weighs a thousand pounds; like coming out of the pool after spending hours in it.
“Sure, why not?”
Eddie’s brow quirks up teasingly. “Look at that … Mama Stevie joining in on smoking a bit of the devil’s grass.”
“I’m not some goodie two shoes, Munson.”
“You surprise me every day, Harrington.”
They go out and Eddie lets out a low whistle at the state of the back yard.
“Buckley was right, this place is like the Ritz,” Eddie says before collapsing in a lounge chair.
Snagging a lighter, he lights one of the joints, taking a deep inhale before letting it out with a content sigh. As soon as Steve joins him in the neighboring chair, he holds the joint out for him. With interest, he watches Steve take a hit before chuckling as if he couldn’t believe that Steve actually did it.
Eddie takes another hit before passing it, “Hopefully this’ll help you sleep.”
The comment is so off-handed that it genuinely takes a minute for Steve to process it.
“What?”
“You got serious bags under your eyes, man,” Eddie says, pointing to his own as if Steve didn’t know where his eyes were. “Look like you haven’t slept this entire time.”
Bringing the joint to his lips, he hesitates a moment before finally inhaling. As he exhales, he hands the joint back.
“Probably because I haven’t.”
“Wanna talk about it?” Eddie offers. “Probably not the best guy to talk to about it, but I can make an exception for a pretty boy like you.”
Steve rolls his eyes, glancing over at Eddie, “You always flirt with everyone? Or am I a special exception?”
Eddie looks mock offended, pressing his hand to his chest in an exaggeratedly hurt way. “Steven. You wound me. I would only flirt with those who deserve it. You’re at the top of the list with your fancy hair.”
He can’t help but chuckle at that and he feels a little lighter. He’s not sure if it’s because of Eddie or the drugs but he won’t complain either way.
“Not right now,” Steve says simply in response to Eddie’s earlier question about sharing his nightmares. He doesn’t want to ruin the light feeling, sitting here, passing a joint back and forth with Eddie fucking Munson.
The two sit in silence until the joint is burnt out and Eddie is on the verge of falling asleep right then and there. Steve gets up, slapping his leg none too gently, jolting Eddie awake.
“C’mon … I’ll show you to the guest room. It’s across from mine.”
Eddie gets up, slow and sluggish. He stands, stretches, and a few joints pop and he lets out a sigh of relief. When they pass by the living room, he snags his duffle again, and lets Steve point out rooms. Finally, they come to the guest room and Steve points to his room.
“If you need anything, I’ll be in there.”
“Try and get some actual sleep, Harrington … Might start having to call you a raccoon if not.”
“Ha ha, very clever.”
“Why thank you,” Eddie says proudly, giving a half bow, ignoring Steve’s obvious sarcasm.
They part with a simple ‘goodnight’ and Steve retreats to his room. He changes into his pajamas and collapses into his bed face first. He’s drained. A bone-deep exhaustion from days of sleepless nights, the adrenaline from earlier, and his anxiety over what Eddie’s un-death meant for them. Even with everything weighing on his mind, his body gives out and he gets dragged into the depths of sleep.
Eddie wakes with a gasp.
The clock at his bedside reads 4:12 AM and for the life of him he can’t figure out what woke him. It was as if something had grabbed him by the shirt and yanked him out of sleep. Other than the hunger in his gut, he doesn’t feel anything weird; doesn’t remember any fucked up nightmares … But as he comes fully awake, he realizes it’s not what he felt that must have woke him, but what he hears.
There’s a loud thumping in his ears, like when he ran for too long and could hear his heartbeat in his ears; and in between the thumps, is the distinct sound of someone thrashing in a bed.
Eddie is on his feet before he even registers moving. He throws open his door and rushes across the hall, bursting into Steve’s room. Steve, whose hands are tangled in the sheets. Steve, who looks as though he’d gone swimming from the amount of sweat on his face. Steve, who is clearly trapped in a nightmare he can’t wake up from.
Steve, whose rapid heartbeat is ringing loudly in Eddie’s ears.
Eddie dives for the bed, shaking Steve. “Steve! Hey Steve! Wake up!”
There’s a moment of pure dread that sinks through him as he remembers the way he’d tried to get Crissy to wake up and he has to swallow it down and remind himself that Steve wasn’t Crissy. Vecna was gone. This was an entirely different situation.
It’s abundantly clear how different the situation is when Steve finally does wake, terror on his face as he jumps back from Eddie. The panic is nearly palpable and all Eddie can hear is thumpthumpthumpthump resonating from Steve.
“Whoa, whoa,” Eddie says, holding his hands up. “You’re okay. You’re okay, Stevie. It’s just me.”
Steve’s eyes dart around the room until Eddie grabs one of Steve’s hands and presses it against his own chest, drawing Steve’s attention.
“Steve? Breathe. Match my breaths okay?” He asks, purposely taking noticeable breaths in order to get Steve to follow suit.
After far too long for Eddie’s liking, Steve finally gets control over his breathing and the heartbeat ringing in Eddie’s ears slows to a steady thrum, like a metronome keeping time. He doesn’t know what the fuck that’s all about, but he’ll come to it once Steve is situated.
“You okay, man?”
Running his free hand over his sweaty face, Steve takes his other hand back from Eddie, trying to relax. His hands shake and Eddie’s twitch, resisting the urge to take Steve’s hand back in order to try and provide some form of comfort.
“Y-Yeah …” Steve finally manages to croak out after another few moments.
“Wanna talk about it?”
Steve huffs out a laugh, “Really trying this whole therapist thing, huh?”
“I dunno, I think I could pull it off,” Eddie says with a shrug. “Who better to counsel a bunch of freaks than a freak?”
“You’re not a freak … You know that, right?” Steve responds quietly.
Eddie snorts. “Yeah, there’s a whole lot of people who’d disagree with you … But I appreciate the sentiment. ‘Sides … Being a ‘freak’ is way more fun than trying to fit a square peg in a round hole.”
Steve cracks a smile at that, remembering how Dustin had made the comment when they found him crying over Eddie’s body that Eddie had been so frustratingly Eddie, even in the end.
“Alright … So … Spill, Stevie. Tell me what’s going on in that pretty little head of yours.”
Running a hand through his sweat-matted hair once again, he drags his knees up to his chest, wrapping his free arm around them with a sigh.
“A nightmare … Just … All the shit we went through. Hell, the shit you don’t even know about yet … How things could have gone so much worse if things had been just a second later. How Max almost died. How you did die–”
Eddie reaches out again, placing his hand on Steve’s forearm so he can feel the weight.
“Can’t get rid of me that easily,” Eddie says simply, throwing him a wink for good measure. “I’m right here.”
“Are you though?” Steve asks. “What if this is all some sort of fucked up Vecna dream that I can’t wake up from? That none of us realize?”
“Gonna say that’s pretty unlikely but … If it is, we’ll figure a way out of it, yeah? That’s what you guys do, right?” Eddie asks, a reassuring smile on his face, before Steve nods.
“I guess …” Steve concedes.
“You know, as much as I want to give you shit for implying that you dream about me, because that’s kinda cute, Harrington,” Eddie says, “I’m here. I’m tangible …”
“Who knew you knew such big words,” Steve teases.
“Whole lot about me you don’t know.”
Steve thinks that he’d really like to get to know the things that he doesn’t already know; it's quickly becoming a common theme. “We still don’t know how you’re back … What if you suddenly disappear or … You turn into some sort of demo-bat? Maybe that’s how they’re created.”
“Okay, first, if that happens … I give you guys full permission to off with my head at the first sign of webbing,” Eddie says. “But uh … Not to freak you out … And y’know … For full disclosure …”
Steve suddenly doesn’t like the way this conversation is going. Eddie takes his hand back away from Steve’s arm and he’s waiting for the other shoe to drop because it was always going to drop, wasn’t it? There were no actions without consequences and he was sick and fucking tired of it.
Eddie scrunches his face as he tries to think of a way to explain it all. “Man,” He finally just blurts out. “I can hear your heartbeat.”
It’s not at all what Steve expects, so he sits in confusion for far too long; long enough for Eddie to start squirming, before he asks, “... What?”
“Yeah man, I– Look, I got no clue … One minute, I’m fast asleep … Next minute, it’s like someone yanked me awake … And all I can hear is you. I could hear you thrashing about and, your heart … It was like a jackhammer … You know when you can hear it in your ears? That’s what it was like … Freaky.”
Steve’s brows pinch at the commentary and he tries to wrap his head around it. “You could hear my heartbeat?”
“That’s what I just said!”
“Can you still hear it?”
The two grow silent and Eddie finally nods. Steve watches Eddie’s Adam's apple bob up and down in a nervous swallow.
“Bullshit.”
“I’m telling you I can!” Eddie says and finally, he nods towards Steve’s wrist. “Take your wrist … Find your heartbeat …”
Steve looks at him a little incredulously, but does it. When he finds it and feels the steady rhythm under his fingers, he nods. Eddie closes his eyes, concentrating on the thump thump thump metronome, he raises his hands and claps in time with the beat. He opens his eyes again and Steve is staring at him wide-eyed like he can’t believe he just witnessed that.
“Holy shit.”
Eddie gives a nervous laugh, running a hand through his hair once again, “Holy shit is right … I feel fine otherwise, just hungry. Little sore … But other than that? No murderous rampage or y’know … The urge to fly out the window or some shit.”
“Yeah, well … If you think I’m going to sleep after that information, you’re wrong …”
“Aw c’mon, man … I was trying to be upfront with you, not keep you up for the rest of the night!”
Steve waves off his concerns. “I can’t get back to sleep after that nightmare anyways … Early breakfast?”
Eddie rubs at his stomach before nodding, “Alright …”
Getting up, Steve leads Eddie to the kitchen before gathering pans to cook a large breakfast for the two of them. It settles something in him, to keep busy and he can’t help but roll his eyes as he hears Eddie laugh behind him once he gets into the zone.
“What? Gonna make another babysitting joke?”
“Nah, too easy,” Eddie says, leaning on his hand from his spot at the table, watching Steve. “I was just going to say that you’re relaxed. Like … Weird, freaky power aside, your heart rate is so calm right now. Wouldn’t have pegged you for being a stay-at-home mom. Guess I should’a though.”
“That’s kind of creeping me out … Listening to my heartbeat.”
“Yeah, not much I can do about it, buddy,” Eddie says. “If I could turn it off, I’d gladly do it but I don’t even know how I turned it on.”
“And you didn’t hear anyone’s heartbeat last night? At the bonfire?”
“Nope,” he says, popping the ‘p’. “Didn’t notice anything different …”
Steve hums in thought, dishing out a plate of eggs, bacon, sausage, and hashbrowns for each of them. As he sits at the table, placing a plate in front of Eddie, he frowns. “You didn’t have a flashlight last night.”
“Huh?” Eddie asks, looking up from the plate to Steve. “Nah … I stole the only one we had when I first ran … Besides, it was pretty bright last night.”
Steve furrows his brow, “Eddie. It was a new moon last night … It was dark.”
“No it wasn’t,” Eddie says simply. “Maybe your eyes just aren’t that good.”
Picking up his fork as Steve continues to look confused, Eddie pushes the food around on his plate. It looks good … Better than he could ever cook … But the smell causes his stomach to turn and he pushes the plate away before it gets to be too much.
“What’s wrong?”
“Urg …” Eddie groans. “I think it’s the grease … The smell’s making me nauseous …” He sighs, “Fuck … It looks good too.” Shuffling his hand through his hair in frustration, he looks back at Steve. “Do you have fruit or some shit? Maybe that’s light enough not to make me sick …”
“Hm? Oh yeah … I’m pretty sure I got a cantaloupe?”
“Shit, yeah, that’ll work …”
Steve nods as he gets up. Grabbing the cutting board and a knife, he glances toward Eddie to see him gnawing on his thumbnail nervously, concentrating on trying not to puke no doubt. Looking around, he spots the cantaloupe he’d just snagged the other day and set it on the cutting board. Slicing it in half, he gives it a few sniffs to make sure it was okay before deciding it was good enough to continue cutting up.
He’s mid-slice when the neighbor’s car backfires and causes him to jolt. He slices into his finger and curses his damn neighbor for having to work too fucking early and for having a piece of shit car that puttered up and down the streets at ungodly hours. Steve holds his finger up, trying to avoid bleeding on the cantaloupe as he digs around in the cabinets.
“Shit, sorry, man … Just give me two–”
Except Eddie is right there.
It nearly gives Steve a heart attack because when he turns with the intention of heading to the bathroom to check the medicine cabinet, Eddie is standing next to him, staring at his finger.
“Munson?” A spike of adrenaline goes through him and all he can see is Nancy standing deathly still and his cries for her. “Fuck, Eddie … EDDIE!”
Steve’s shout causes Eddie to blink a few times before he gives a shaky breath and then an equally shaky laugh.
“Oh fuck … Harrington …” Eddie says before sweeping his curly hair back in a nervous gesture. “I think I figured it out, man.”
“Figured what out?” Steve asks cautiously.
“Everything,” Eddie breathes and, honestly, Steve really isn’t liking where this is going. Part of him is terrified he still hasn’t woken up from his nightmare. Eddie looks at him, licking his lips. “Do you trust me?”
“Depends on–”
“Fuck, Harrington. Just– … Do. You. Trust. Me?”
“Yes. Okay? Yes, I trust you, Munson.”
“Alright. Okay … Cool … Yeah …” Eddie responds.
Steve is about to ask Eddie to move out of his way because he needs to bandage his finger that’s bleeding and remind Eddie that he has eyes and he can see this fact, so please move, thank you. Except, Eddie takes his forearm in his hand and Steve grows confused. Is Eddie going to bandage it for him?
Very quickly, Steve realizes just how wrong he is.
Because Eddie leans forward, and licks Steve’s wrist, where the lowest bead of blood was, and follows the trail to the finger.
Steve chokes on air and he can feel his heart jackrabbiting in his chest and he can only imagine what it must sound like if Eddie can hear it. He opens his mouth to question just what the fuck was going on, but Eddie reaches the actual cut and once it’s securely in his mouth, his eyes flutter and he moans and that does something to Steve that he’s really not prepared for, if he’s completely honest.
Eddie sucks and nibbles at his finger and the entire time, Steve just stands there.
It's becoming a common theme around Eddie, but he’s not really sure what else he can do other than have a little bit of a crisis at the moment. He wants to call Robin and ask her some questions, but he’s glued to the spot.
Eventually, Eddie pulls away, licking his lips, eyeing the cut that had finally stopped bleeding. When he’s sure the blood has stopped, he finally chances to look up at Steve and his heart stutters. He gives a weak laugh.
“Well … I don’t think I’m turning into a demo-bat exactly.”
Steve takes his hand back, holding it in front of him as he eyes Eddie cautiously. “Yeah uh … Not exactly comforted by whatever thought you got going on in your head.”
“Stevie,” Eddie says, breaking out into a laugh as if he can’t believe this is happening to him. “I’m going full vamp, man.”
As if to emphasize his point, he hooks a finger in his lip and tugs it upwards to show off a small pair of fangs.
Steve just stares.
“Seriously, man! I feel so much better now … Stomach’s not cramping … It’s weird …”
“You’re not gonna like … Rip my throat open, are you?” Steve asks cautiously. Eddie actually looks like he’s contemplating it. “Dude.”
“No, no!” Eddie says, waving his hands. “Seriously, I’m not going to. I am still hungry but not like … Ugh … Not like some bad movie. Nosferatu wishes he had as much control as I’ve got.”
There’s a moment of silence before Steve speaks again.
“You seem … way too excited about this …”
“Okay, if you had a choice between turning into a demo-bat and a vampire … Which do you pick?”
Steve considers it before nodding, “Point taken … But … I was their chew toy too, but I haven’t had any cravings for red kool-aid?”
“You didn’t die, though.”
“Okay … I suppose that makes sense,” Steve says. “Shit … We’re gonna have to have another group meeting … Figure this out.”
Eddie glances outside at the rising sun and shuffles on his feet, “You uh … Think that I’m gonna turn to ash in the sun?”
“Honestly, no idea,” Steve answers. “Are there no vampires in D&D?”
“Oh no, there are,” Eddie says very matter-of-factly. “Question is … How much carries over …”
Looking back to the cantaloupe, Steve sighs. “Guess you’re not gonna want this either.”
Eddie looks a little sheepish at that. “Guess not.” He pauses before cracking a grin. “But uh … If you wanna show off that pretty neck of yours …”
Immediately, Steve’s hand slaps his neck, covering it. “Nope. Nu-uh. Absolutely not. I’ve had enough happen to my neck lately, thank you very much.”
“Just messing with you,” Eddie says, grinning. “Your blood was pretty tasty though.”
Steve wrinkles his nose before going to sit at the table. “I’m going to eat … Then I’m going to go shower … And we’re going to have to figure this–” He pauses to motion towards Eddie, “–Out.”
Eddie shrugs but concedes to Steve’s plan. Busying himself, he chops the rest of the cantaloupe for Steve, putting it away so he could enjoy later, then hesitating with his plate of food. Finally, Steve simply scrapes the food onto his own plate and Eddie takes the empty plate to the sink to wash with the rest of the dishes.
When Steve goes off to shower, Eddie decides to take his chances before Steve can stop him from being a dumbass. He finds a piece of garlic in the fridge and rubs it on him—nothing. Sweet. He isn’t allergic to garlic. He highly doubts there’s some holy water around, but he does manage to find a cross. Touching it does nothing, so he can check that off his list. He’d washed the dishes earlier, so, running water didn’t count either (unless he had to find a river or something dumb like that). He’d also seen himself in the mirror when he’d showered the previous night; another thing off his list.
Before the sun really comes up, Eddie makes sure to close all the curtains just in case. He’d rather Steve be there to help put him out if he bursts into flames. By the time Steve joins him, the sun is properly up and Eddie feels restless.
If he can’t go out in the sun … Well that’s gonna fuckin’ suck.
As soon as he sees Steve, he sighs, “Oh good, finally. How long does your hair take?!”
“Probably as long as yours,” Steve says. “Don’t think I don’t know you spend time on it too.”
Eddie gives a scoff, but doesn’t argue. “Look … I wanna test the whole sun thing. I’ve already tried garlic, crosses, and running water—”
“You what?” Steve asks. “When the hell did you do that?”
“When you were showering, duh.”
“Why?!”
Eddie pauses, “Why did I do it while you were showering or why did I do it at all?”
“BOTH!”
“Well, I did it while you were in the shower so you wouldn’t stop me, obviously. And I did it because I have to know my limits, man!”
“Great. Great!” Steve says, throwing his hands up in defeat. “I’m dealing with a suicidal possible Upside Down vampire.”
“You gonna help me with the whole sun thing or just stand there looking pretty?”
“Let me guess, you want me to put you out if you catch on fire?”
“See?” Eddie says, grinning. “There’s still some brain cells that haven’t been killed off by all that product seeping through.”
Steve rolls his eyes, but grabs a blanket from the couch. Wandering over near the window, he holds the blanket up. “Okay … You open the window … And if I see smoke, I’ll smother it.”
“Knew I could count on you for a plan,” Eddie says before taking a deep breath. Grabbing the curtains, he looks over at Steve. “Ready?” As soon as Steve nods, he turns his attention back to the window. “3 … 2 … 1!”
Flinging the curtains open, he prepares for the onslaught of heat and smell of cooking meat … Except there’s nothing. Just the uncomfortable sensation of heat from wearing black in direct sunlight.
Steve glances from the sunlight streaming in through the window to Eddie and hesitates, “... Well?”
“Nothing,” Eddie responds. “Seriously, it’s like … Normal levels of heat? Not burning-at-the-stake hot.”
The tension drains from Steve’s body and he tosses the blanket back onto the couch before flopping on top of it.
“Alright, so … Sunlight doesn’t hurt you, neither do crosses, garlic, and … Running water?” Steve looks a bit confused as he repeats that one and Eddie just shrugs.
“I mean, I did the dishes … Could find a river to try and cross to try it out …”
“What else?”
“Got any holy water lying around?”
Steve scrunches his face. “What do I look like? A church?”
“Hope not. Considering we definitely smoked a blunt out back.” Eddie says grinning. “Then again, didn’t God send a burning bush or some shit?”
Steve groans as he listens to Eddie ramble on. “Okay … What about … Oh! Vampires can turn into bats right? What about that? Think you can do that?”
Eddie snaps his fingers before pointing at Steve, “Good point!” He’s quiet for a moment. “How do I do that?”
“How do you– I DON'T KNOW! You’re the possible vampire!”
“Fine, fine!” Eddie says, throwing his hands up. “Ugh … Okay lets …”
Scrunching his eyes closed, he squeezes his fists together. Steve watches as a series of increasingly constipated looks crosses over Eddie's face. He raises a brow and snorts.
“You look like you’re trying to take a shit, not turn into a bat.”
“It’s not as easy as you think!” Eddie snaps back. Finally giving up with a whoosh of air, he grumbles, “Okay … No bat or mist powers …”
Eddie plops down on the couch next to Steve and groans, leaning his head back. He was quickly running out of excitement for being an undead creature of the … Well, fuck, he couldn’t even say “of the night” because here he was, sitting in a stream of sunlight.
“What now?”
“Now,” Steve says. “Now we call an emergency meeting and go over to Nance’s house.”
Eddie perks up, “We can test whether or not I have to be invited in! Tell her not to invite me.”
Steve stares at Eddie as if he’s grown a third head. “Okay, yeah … Let me make the call.”
With that, Steve gets up and goes to the house phone, dialing Nancy, asking her to get the word out to the kids via Mike and his radio while he got ahold of Robin. Two hours later, the group stands outside the Wheeler residence, waiting eagerly to see if Eddie can cross the threshold. Nancy stands just inside, arms crossed over her chest.
“Eddie Munson, you are not invited in this house.”
“Alright, cool,” He says. Taking a deep breath, he steps forward … And crosses over the threshold. “You’ve got to be kidding me!”
Erica, arms crossed similar to Nancy, eyes him. “Are we sure he’s a vampire?”
Steve shrugs. “He’s got fangs and he can hear our heartbeats.” He doesn’t exactly want to bring up the whole finger munching incident. “Oh, and he had no problem seeing in the dark last night.”
“And after I drank some of Harrington’s blood, I felt way better.”
Without even seeing it, Steve can feel all eyes on him. Out of the corner of his eye, Robin is leaning up on her tip-toes to get a better look at his neck until he slaps his hand over it.
“MY FINGER,” Steve clarifies. “I cut my finger.”
Eddie nods, “And then it was like … A cartoon! Stevie’s sweet, sweet blood was a pie on a windowsill and I just floated right on over.”
“But not … For real, right?” Will asks, furrowing his brow.
“No,” Eddie says dejectedly.
Nancy clears her throat, giving the group a pointed look. “Maybe we go downstairs for this?”
Once they’ve all crowded into the basement, Eddie sitting on the floor in front of the couch, he recounts everything they’d tried that morning. He gracefully leaves out the story about Steve’s nightmare, but puts more emphasis on the fact that drinking blood had finally got rid of the gut-wrenching hunger, plus he had tiny fangs now! As the group runs through various ideas, Eddie jumps up, looking at Steve.
“Harrington! Stake me!”
“I’m sorry, what?”
“You heard me! Stake me!” Eddie mimics being staked through the heart. “Right in the heart.”
“You’ve lost it. Like, you’ve actually lost it, now.”
Rolling his eyes, he turns to Dustin, “Henderson? C’mon, don’t let me down.”
“Eddie … None of us are going to stake you. We just got you back, we’re not going to turn around and kill you.”
“Ugh!” Eddie groans in annoyance. “Think about it! Vampires in D&D, right? They’re paralyzed until the stake gets removed!”
“That’s only if the weapon is made of wood and it’s while a vampire is incapacitated in its resting place,” Will chimes in.
“Do you even have a resting place?” Mike asks, which allows the conversation to devolve into a discussion about what exactly constitutes a resting place.
Robin scrunches her face, before finally chiming in to break up the conversation. “I don’t think it’ll matter anyways … You said that you tried other things that were true in D&D, right? So if those things weren’t true, why would staking you in the heart work?”
Eddie huffs, plopping down on the couch next to Steve. There’s more conversation among the group before Dustin pipes up again.
“Have you tried using charm against someone yet?” He asks, eyes flicking between Eddie and Steve as if trying to determine whether that was the real way Eddie had gotten blood earlier.
“No … At least not on purpose, if I did?” Eddie says, thinking it over. Immediately, he turns to Steve next to him, who protests.
“Why am I the guinea pig?! Robin’s right there!”
“Stevie,” Eddie says, pitching his voice lower and calmer. Steve feels like a deer in headlights as Eddie looks at him like … He’s really not sure. It’s like Steve hung the stars and holy shit all he can think about is what Eddie looked like with his finger in his mouth earlier and the sounds he’d made and okay, he might be having another crisis right now. He doesn’t even register the other people in the room. “Give me your wrist so I can drink again.”
Eddie’s voice is … It’s something else. It’s sweet , similar to when he’d comforted Steve, but more. There’s no other way for Steve to describe it. His Adam’s apple bobs as he swallows the lump forming in his throat before clearing his throat.
“Uh … Sorry,” Steve says a little dazed, but still wholly Steve . “Kinda need my blood to y’know … Live.”
It’s like a switch. Eddie groans, throwing his head back, and Steve genuinely wonders if maybe Eddie had charmed him in some sort of weird way. Dustin, Will, Lucas, and Mike are on him in an instant, asking him a million questions to make sure he was still him, until Robin finally steps in.
“Alright, alright! Give him some breathing room, guys!” She says. Grabbing Steve’s wrist, she smiles, “C’mon.”
Steve is eternally grateful for the reprieve as she leads him out of the basement while a new argument breaks out over various forms of vampire and whether Eddie could do anything. They go out to the Wheeler’s backyard and she turns to Steve.
“Alright spill.”
“Spill what?”
“Did that whole charm thing actually work or were you just making goo-goo eyes at him for fun and games?”
Steve groans, running a hand through his hair, tugging at the strands absentmindedly. “I don’t know,” he responds honestly.
“Oof … Okay. Alright,” Robin starts. “We can figure this out … So,” her hands move in front of her, tumbling over and over one another. “How does he make you feel?”
“Infuriated.”
She rolls her eyes, “Okay, maybe think about when he’s not teasing you about your hair. What about just now? How did he make you feel?”
“I–” Steve starts before shutting his mouth. He glances back at the back door before turning his attention to Robin. “It’s … I don’t know, Rob. It was like … He actually gave a shit about me. Like I was special. You know how, in those cheesy ass romance movies, there’s that moment where time stops and they just know?”
“Oh Steve …” Robin says as he begins to pace back and forth.
“Maybe it was just the charm thing!”
“But you turned him down.”
“Yeah, but, Rob … I would give him my blood … I did. He asked me earlier to trust him and I did … No questions asked! None! And all I can think about is at some point, he’s going to need to eat and okay, yeah, he’s not biting my neck but I could spare a wrist …”
“That might be a bit of your babysitter complex …”
“I don’t have a babysitter complex!” Steve says. He collapses in a lawn chair. “... I like girls …”
Robin gives a hum, spinning as she turns to sit in the chair next to him. “Well … Maybe you also like guys?”
Steve hesitates before glancing at her out of the corner of his eyes. “... You can like both?”
“I– …” Robin starts before stopping, taking a deep breath to stop herself from going on a rant. “Yes. Yes, you can, you beautiful idiot. It’s called being bisexual.”
“Huh,” Steve says, thinking it over. He opens his mouth before closing it again then reopening it simply to give another, “Huh.”
Robin laughs warmly, patting him on the arm. “I think … You got some things to think through, Stevie.”
“Oh shuddup,” He says, running a hand over his face. “Alright … I guess we should go check on them to make sure they haven’t actually staked Munson.”
Robin grimaces, “They would, wouldn’t they?”
“Yep.”
The rest of the day passes by relatively smoothly. There’s an entire conversation on what Eddie’s new attire will be, now that he’s a member of the undead. Several members of the group insist that Eddie’s appearance is just fine the way it is. A couple (mostly Erica, with a smirk) insist that he needs an entire Victorian makeover. Eddie, on the other hand, insists he at least needs a cape. This leads to a discussion on Vampire Law, with Robin and Nancy siding with Eddie that there was indeed a law that vampires needed to follow (which included capes), as Steve steadfastly argues that Vampire Law was a bunch of bullshit and there was no such thing.
In the end, he was the only one who denied the existence of a “Vampire Law”.
They test out a few new ideas throughout the day, including finding naturally running water and having Eddie hop over it. By late afternoon, Eddie finally starts to grow itchy where the sun had beaten down on him all day and he starts complaining that the only vampire traits he gets are a thirst for blood, night vision, and eczema. When they return back to Steve’s home, Eddie dejectedly falls face first on the Harrington couch.
“I can’t believe I turn into one of the coolest creatures and all I get is these shit powers …” Eddie grumbles into the cushions.
“At least you’re not turning into a demo-bat,” Steve calls from the kitchen as he grabs a soda. “Then we’d have to kill you.”
“I might die anyways. How the hell am I supposed to get blood? It’s not like I can just walk into a hospital all la-dee-da! And I don’t even have charm, so I’m just going to starve to death.”
Steve clears his throat after taking a sip of his soda before knocking Eddie’s feet off the couch so he could sit.
“You uh … Can have my wrist?” Steve offers. “Until we figure this whole thing out! You know … Don’t exactly want you to starve to death or go on a murder rampage or something.”
Eddie remains still on the couch before cautiously getting up, like Steve would run away. Eyeing him suspiciously he got a little closer to him. “Why the sudden change of heart, Stevie? Did my charm actually work on you earlier?”
“Pfft. As if. Plus you tried it on three other people to get you stuff and it didn’t work,” Steve says. “And … Earlier I said not my neck. My wrist isn’t my neck.”
“Is this your babysitter—”
“Do not finish that sentence.”
Eddie’s lips quirk up into a smirk. Robin must have said something when they’d gone outside.
“Okay, what the hell. Sure. Your blood was tasty earlier,” Eddie says. “How do you wanna do this?”
Steve thinks it over. “It’ll be sort of like giving blood, I guess … When I feel dizzy, I’ll tell you to stop … If you don’t, then I’ll pinch your nose til you come up for air.”
“Alright,” Eddie says. “C’mere, pretty boy.”
Steve tries not to think about how much those two words were really growing on him. He scoots closer to Eddie before holding his arm out. Eddie carefully takes it, cradling it as if it was a precious gift. He closes his eyes and shudders, grip tightening on Steve’s arm just slightly.
“I can hear your heartbeat so loud right now … It’s wild.”
“Just … Let’s get this over with …” He says, trying to calm himself by looking away.
“Hey,” Eddie says, drawing Steve’s attention back. Eddie looks genuinely concerned about him, as he did before, and it causes the lump in Steve’s throat to return. “You don’t have to do this if you don’t want to … I can find another way … See if—”
“Munson. It’s fine. Just do it before I chicken out.”
Eddie’s lips take a moment before they quirk up into a lazy grin again. “Stevie? The hero? Chicken out? Never.”
Steve watches as Eddie turns his focus back to his wrist. There’s a moment of clear hesitation on Eddie’s end before he brings the wrist up and leans in to meet it. He expects the sudden sharpness of fangs, but instead, there’s the soft roughness of chapped lips. There’s gentle kisses pressed over his pulse point. He sucks in a breath and Eddie laughs, low and quiet, against his wrist as he feels his heart skip. The moment is … A bit too intimate and he feels like his head is spinning already.
It’s enough of a distraction that the puncture of fangs into his wrist doesn’t hurt nearly as much as he thought it would. Eddie keeps a firm grip on his arm as he drinks. Steve can feel the rumble of moans against his wrist and okay, yeah … He might really be into this. Whether this is being fed from, Eddie Munson, or guys in general, he’s really not sure but yeah, there’s a certain part of him that’s definitely into watching Eddie drink from his arm like it was the only nourishment in a desert.
After what feels like forever, Steve feels a slight swimming in his head. “Alright, Munson … Stop.” When Eddie doesn’t stop, he reaches out to move Eddie’s hair over his shoulder to expose his ear. “Eddie. Stop.”
Finally, Eddie pulls away with a gasp. There’s blood coating his mouth like some bad horror movie and Steve can’t look away. Eddie dips back down and he thinks that he’s going to have to actually pinch the guy’s nose, but, instead, Eddie takes the time to lick over the puncture marks, cleaning the blood he’d missed and the fresh drops oozing out.
As soon as the wrist is as clean as he can get it, he runs his thumb around his lips to gather what had accumulated there. Steve’s eyes lock onto the way his thumb slides over his bottom lip and he clears his throat, bringing Eddie’s attention back to him. His pupils are blown wide and Steve genuinely is a little worried for a moment before Eddie cracks a grin and laughs like he was high off Steve’s blood. Before Steve can say anything, Eddie jumps up, throwing his arms up.
“WHEW! What a RUSH!” He looks more energized than earlier, similar to before they went into the Upside Down. “Stevie, Stevie, Stevie …” Eddie chants, clutching his fists together. “Seriously … I don’t know what’s in your blood but it’s like being on the best high I’ve had …”
Steve can’t help but snort. “Yeah, it looks like it.”
“Shit … Shit, let me get you some bandages and some– Sugar! Yeah! And juice? Maybe juice!”
There’s no time for Steve to even protest before Eddie is bouncing off. The first thing he brings back is the first aid kit from the bathroom, dropping it onto the couch as he flits into the kitchen. When he returns, he’s got an arm full of sweets and a couple bottles of Sunny D.
“I don’t think Sunny D counts as juice.”
“It works,” Eddie says simply, opening one for Steve before shoving it at him. “You work on snacking, I’ll work on bandaging.”
Eddie opens the first aid kit and, with extreme care, he cleans the puncture wounds before bandaging them. As the two sit there, Eddie bandaging and Steve snacking, Steve can’t stop thinking about the way Eddie had kissed his wrist so reverently.
“Why’re you so okay with chomping on another guy’s wrist?” Steve asks before he can stop himself.
Eddie’s fingers falter for a moment as he finishes tying the gauze on Steve’s wrist. Once he’s done, he pulls away, fidgeting with his rings.
“Because it doesn’t bother me.”
“Not a lot of guys would do that.”
“They would if it was the only thing they could eat.”
“You could’ve asked me to bleed into a cup or something,” Steve says.
“You could’ve told me to drink out of a cup,” Eddie counters.
Steve’s silent for a moment. “Not a lot of guys would have done what you did before you bit down.”
“Yeah, well,” Eddie starts. “Not sure if you noticed, but I’m not like a lot of guys.”
Silence stretches between the two of them, interrupted only by Steve grabbing another cookie. Thinking over how to phrase it, Steve finally clears his throat.
“When you flirt … You aren’t joking are you?”
Eddie gives a huff of a laugh, lips quirked up as he focuses on his rings. “Nah. What’s the fun in that?”
Once again, silence bubbles between the two and Steve can practically see the way the excited energy that had once thrummed through Eddie gives way to nervous energy. His fingers drum on his thighs to some song Steve feels a longing to know before Eddie stands up.
“Okay, I’m just gonna go put—” Eddie makes a lazy motion towards the first aid kit.
As he goes to grab it, Steve reaches out, catching Eddie’s wrist in his hand. The two freeze in the moment until Steve finally speaks.
“I think I might be bisexual.”
Eddie hesitates, before carefully settling down next to Steve on the couch once again. “I’m guessing … That’s a pretty new revelation.”
Steve snorts, refusing to let go of Eddie’s wrist. “Yeah, like a twelve-hours ago revelation.”
“You sure it’s not my vampire charm?” Steve fixes Eddie with a flat stare and he laughs. “Okay, okay. I don’t have vampire charm powers. Just regular ol’ Eddie charm.”
Sitting quietly, Steve fixates on Eddie’s wrist in his hand, his thumb brushing over his pulse to ground him before he speaks again.
“When you died … All I could think about was how I didn’t get to know you. I was so pissed that you’d died … Didn’t even know why. For a guy I’ve only just met a couple days before … I shouldn’t have been that pissed, right? I just thought maybe I was pissed that you put Henderson through that …” Steve confesses. “But then I just kept thinking about it … And all I had of yours was the stories that Henderson told me and barely any stories about us hanging out … Because contrary to what a lot of these dumbasses in Hawkins think … You’re … Actually pretty cool. Pretty metal.”
Eddie laughs and it sounds a little wet, like he was on the verge of crying. “Don’t ever call something ‘metal’ again, Harrington.”
Steve ignores him as he continues, “But that was it … I kept thinking about how I didn’t get to know you … And then my dreams … Nightmares … So many of them were about you. About you being pissed because I wasn’t there to protect you. That maybe, if I’d been there, you would have been alive. Maybe if I’d been there, and you’d lived, I would have gotten to know you and fuck, I didn’t know why …”
He can’t help but laugh, shaking his head a little incredulously, “And then you show up after almost a week like you’d never been gone and it was like I could breathe again. I– … I didn’t even know why. I just chalked it up to our little group being whole again.”
“What changed?” Eddie whispers, as if he’s afraid to ruin the moment.
“You reassured me that you were here after my nightmare,” Steve answers honestly. “And then … With my finger in the kitchen …” He pauses, not really wanting to explain that train of thought any further. “And when you tried your vampire charm on me … You gave me this look like I’d hung the stars and I felt like I was seeing Eddie; getting to know you …” He gives another half laugh. “Robin uh … Kinda saw right through it all … Had a little heart to heart with me.”
Eddie is quiet until he’s sure that Steve is done speaking. He gives it an extra few moments before reaching up with his free hand, cupping the back of Steve’s head to pull him in for a tentative kiss that quickly deepens.
It’s a weird feeling. Steve can taste his own blood in Eddie’s mouth and he feels like he should be grossed out, but all he can think about is the way Eddie’s tongue slides over his; the way his long fingers play with his hair; the way he can feel Eddie’s rings against his scalp. He tries not to think about how, out of all the girls he’d kissed this year, no one compares to kissing Eddie fucking Munson.
When Eddie pulls away, Steve feels like it’s too soon, but he relents, instead, pressing their foreheads together.
“For the record, pretty boy,” Eddie starts. “I’m gay.”
The comment is so ludicrous in the moment after making out, Steve bursts into laughter, sitting back on the couch. Eddie follows quickly behind and the two are soon holding their guts and wiping tears from their eyes. When their laughter finally dies down, Eddie is the first to speak.
“So uh … You want to get to know me, huh?” Eddie asks. “How about a date? You. Me. Picnic at Skull Rock.”
Steve snorts, “Is it really a picnic if only one of us can eat?”
“That’s why I suggested Skull Rock,” Eddie responds with a lazy grin, arm chucked over the back of the chair. “Pretty sure Enzo’s wouldn’t like it if I nibbled on your arm over some chicken parm.”
“Yeah … Alright …” Steve says, grinning happily. “It’s a date.”