Chapter Text
Vecna was dead. He was finally dead. Most of them weren’t hurt too bad. Steve still got his nasty stomach wound and Eddie got a bit roughed up during the bat attack. But apart from that most of them were feeling fine and just the knowledge of defeating their enemy made up for any injuries. They decided to spend the night at Hopper’s cabin, no one was really ready to be alone just yet.
As it started to get dark, they decided on sleeping arrangements. Jonathan and Argyle drove to the Wheeler's house to get some bedding for everyone to sleep on. The girls took Els's room for some privacy, El and Max shared the bed while Robin and Nancy crashed on an air mattress on the floor. Will and Dustin, as well as, Jonathan and Argyle slept on air mattresses in the living room. Mike and Lucas decided to share the couch and Hopper and Joyce laid out some sleeping mats on the floor to sleep on. The others agreed that Eddie and Steve would take Hopper’s bed since they were the most injured and needed the rest.
Over the Vecna incident, Steve and Eddie got to know each other and kind of became friends. Once you save the world and fight for your lives together, you want to keep the people close that know what you went through. Steve tried to make an effort to keep the friendship going because he still remembered how isolating their experience can be. He was lucky enough to have such great friends that supported him and he wanted to be that kind of friend for Eddie.
At the same time, he wanted to keep a distance from him, not because of the cult rumours or anything. He just felt weird around him sometimes, it was not necessarily a bad feeling, just something he cannot place, and he didn't like that at all. Maybe it’ll pass once they spend some time together without any world-threatening dangers lingering around the corner.
Right now, Steve couldn’t care less though. Sleeping on a real bed was something he had been looking forward to for days and he was just so exhausted. With the adrenalin wearing off, the wound started to hurt. Depending on how he moves there was sometimes stabbing pain, other times it was just a slight pinching, but he did feel it pulsating constantly.
In Hopper's room, he sat down on the bed and just took a second to relax. The exhaustion sat deep in his bones to the point where even the thought of moving a finger seemed unbearable. Steve sat up a bit straighter and tried to put the tiredness a bit away as Eddie entered the room. The other boy looked like Steve felt. He looked aged, but that's what happens after something like they went through, it matured you. Eddie looked at him silently for a few moments before he announced, “I’ll take a quick shower.” The only response he got was an agreeing hum.
Eddie headed to the adjoined bathroom and took a quick shower, too tired to take a longer one and he figured that Steve wanted to shower as well. Washing his hair took a bit longer than anticipated and getting blood and the goo out of it was a pain in the ass. But it was nice to feel clean again, he could smell himself and the blood and other liquids that soaked his clothes and hair, for the past few days.
Eddie headed back to the room with Steve still sitting on the bed, but shirtless this time, examining his wound. It seemed like he wanted to apply a new gauze, so Eddie walked towards him and interrupted him, “Don’t you wanna shower first, that way you can clean the wound properly, and also you kinda reek.” Steve looked up to meet Eddies eyes, an amused grin on his lips. “Sorry that I don’t smell like flowers after all we went through, but I don’t have clothes to change into, either way, so you just have to accept my manly musk.”
“You can’t call that musk anymore dude, you smell like a deer that’s been lying dead in the sun for the past three days.”, Eddie wanted to keep things light so he teased him a bit, “anyway, I bribed Jonathan and Argyle with some weed so that they would grab some things from my trailer, so you can lend some clothes if you want to.” Steve let out a small laugh, of course, Eddie could bribe these idiots with weed. “Thanks, man, I appreciate it, I mean wouldn’t be the first time that I wear your clothes.” He gestured towards the chair in the corner, where he put his shirt and Eddie’s jeans vest.
Eddie gave him a small smile before making his way over to his backpack to grab something for Steve to wear. While handing the clothes over, he said, “Now go take that shower and I’ll help you with applying a new gauze afterwards.” Steve only nodded and made his way over to the bathroom.
Eddie left the room, remembering the first aid kit he saw Joyce use earlier. Luckily the others were still awake and could point him to the first aid kit, which was placed on top of the kitchen counter. Back in their room, he took his shirt off, to take care of the wound on his chest that had been bothering him all day. Eddie was so focused on tending his injury, that he didn’t realise, when Steve came back into their room.
“Sit down, I fetched some supplies for your injury,” Eddie gestured to the bed while getting up. He patted a final time over his now bandaged wound, proud of his work. Steve looked blankly at him for a few moments, his attention was focused on Eddies Chest. Some small tattoos decorated his chest, sprawled out in seemingly random places.
Usually, had seen tattoos as one big coherent thing, but Eddie's seemed to be placed wherever, yet they looked like they belonged right there. He felt particularly drawn to the one on his hip. Steve had always been pretty indifferent about tattoos; he simply did not care about them. But there was just something about that tattoo. He could not make out the design, but the way the tattoo was half hidden by Eddie's pants and the slight hair growing on his stomach was enticing. It was actually kind of attractive.
“Hey, Hello?” Steve snapped out of his thoughts by Eddies snipping his fingers in front of his face. He focused his attention back on Eddie who looked distressed. “Man, don’t freak me out like that, you weren’t reacting at all and I thought that-,” Eddie paused for a second before continuing. “Anyway, are you ready for Nurse Eddie?” Steve let out a small laugh and said with an overly flirty voice, “Of course, please take good care of me.” Eddie rolled his eyes before putting his hand on Steve’s chest to push him onto the bed and laughed at the startled noise escaping the other's mouth.
Eddie gathered disinfectant, ointment, dressing as well as a new gauze and made his way back to the bed. He put down the things on the bed and stepped in front of the other boy. With his hands on Steve's knees, Eddie pulled them apart, so he had more space to work with. He then decided to kneel between Steve's legs for the best access to the wound.
When he leaned over to grab the disinfectant, Eddie could’ve sworn that he saw Steve slightly blushing. “Ok, this is probably going to hurt a bit, but I don’t want to risk an infection.” He saw Steve nod in his peripheric vision and then put the disinfectant on a cotton pad to clean the wound.
Steve hissed and unconsciously contracted his stomach muscles, which made it hurt even more. His hand unwillingly grabbed Eddie's wrist, trying to stop the other boy from continuing.
“I thought you were a big boy Steve,” Eddie chuckled a bit, “but don’t worry, I am almost done, just once more. Can you do that for me?” Steve again felt really weird. This is exactly what he couldn't figure out, why did a seemingly normal sentence like that made him feel this way? He did feel really safe and supported, which was not really normal in his messed-up life, so maybe that explained his feelings. “Do your worst,” he said, deciding that he would just stop thinking about that today.
Eddie true to his word, soon finished disinfecting the wound and moved on to applying some ointment on the dressing. “That should prevent the dressing from getting stuck on the wound and irritating it when you remove it.” Eddie directed Steve’s hand to hold onto the dressing, so he had both hands free to put the gauze on.
Eddie started to put the gauze around him, which caused them to be really close. Steve’s breath hitched; every time Eddie reached around him to circle the gauze across his back it felt like Eddie was about to hug him. A warm, fuzzy feeling spread in his stomach, making him feel lightheaded. Maybe it was just the stress of the past week, but he wouldn’t be opposed to the idea of Eddie hugging him.
Eddie looked pretty huggable, and he also smelt really nice. Sometimes Steve felt very alone, even if he is with people. Robin isn’t too keen on physical contact and even though he hated admitting it, the rest of his friends were kids. Whenever he hugged one of them, he felt more like he was taking care of them and not the other way around, which was fine. Just sometimes he wished there was someone to completely rely on, someone who would just hold him. He did feel this way about Eddie, he is someone he trusted, and maybe he should initiate physical contact with him.
Before Steve could decide whether to hug his friend or not, Eddie was already done, tucking the end of the gauze in between the others. “There you go, you did well.” Eddie sent him a smile. “Now be a darling and put on a shirt so we can go to sleep, I’m exhausted.” Steve grabbed the shirt, which he put on the bed earlier and slipped into it. Eddie, still shirtless, did the same and then made his way over to the other side of the bed and slid into it.
While lying next to each other their sides were touching, since the bed was not necessarily made for two people. But this made Steve feel warm inside, and it was really comforting. “You’re really good with taking care of wounds Munson, I didn’t expect that,” Steve wasn’t quite ready to sleep just yet, so he wanted to take some time to get the other boy a bit better.
“Well, I always wanted to become a doctor and help people when I was younger, so I practised on my friends.” Steve tilted his head to look at Eddie. “Do you still want to be a doctor?”
“Yes and no,” Eddie was looking at him too. “I don’t know if you realised but this is not my first year trying to graduate. Also, I'm a drug dealer and people still think that I murdered Chrissy. They don’t care that Henry was declared the murderer and that I'm innocent. And you know why, it's because no one wants me here and I’m sure that people would want me even less working with sick people. I just cannot escape my reputation.”
“Why don’t you leave?” Steve wasn’t sure if that question came off rude, but why would anyone want to stay in a town where they are hated. “This is my home, I know it's crazy, but I just love this town and I don’t want to run away.” Steve looked at him intensely. “I’m glad that you’re staying here, Eddie.” Eddie took his hand under the blanket and gave it a squeeze. “I could never leave, if I would you would have no age-appropriate male friend again.” Steve chuckled before admitting, “Can’t argue with that.”
Silence filled the room and soon Steve heard Eddie's breath slowing, indicating that the other fell asleep. He noticed that even if Eddie made him feel weird, it was kind of pleasant. Nothing he has felt before regarding a friend, but there is a first time for anything, isn’t it? Feeling Eddie's presence next to him calmed Steve down and eased him into a sleep without any nightmares.