Chapter Text
It had been a couple of days since they brought Eddie back to Hawkins, a lot of the families had started planning to move out and get some distance from the town, but in the meantime, they tried to stay low and out of trouble. Eddie was staying at the Harringtons, he wasn’t ready to confront his uncle yet and Steve’s parents were rarely home, so it was his best option. He mainly just stayed in the house for a few days, trying to get used to normal life again. It wasn’t easy, when the bats said he would forever be theirs, forever tainted by the Upside-Down, it didn’t take long to find out what they meant. Eddie had been seeing hallucinations ever since he went back through the gate, the line between the Upside-Down and his hometown blurred, making him frequently see, hear, or even smell the creatures of the upside down in his everyday life.
The first time it happened, Eddie found he was quite embarrassed. He kept whipping his head around while he and Steve sat in the Harrington’s living room.
“Do you hear that?” Eddie was twisting about the couch, trying to find the source of the sound.
“Hear what?” Steve asked, looking around with him.
“The like screeching sound? You seriously can’t hear it?” Eddie scrunched his face up at him.
“No,” Steve shook his head, his face displaying true innocence.
Eddie looked back around, then flinched so hard he fell off the couch. “Shit, bat! Bat!” He pulled Steve down with him as if trying to protect him from said bat, but Steve couldn’t see anything.
“Eddie, what are you talking about?” Steve asked as the vampire held him against the floor and started swatting at the air.
“There’s a fucking bat, dipshit!” Eddie yelled, finally throwing a punch against the air and shaking off his fist as if he actually hit something. “What- you don’t see that either?”
“No!” Steve defended himself. “I don’t see anything, I don’t know what you’re talking about!”
Eddie held out his hand as if he was showing Steve something, “This bat? In my hand?” Steve just shook his head, and Eddie guffawed. “Are you kidding me?”
Steve held onto Eddie’s hand, able to be palm to palm with the man despite whatever bat he thought he was holding. “I think you’re seeing things, baby.” Steve rubbed circles into the man’s palm, trying to calm him down.
Eddie shook his head in guilt, trying to avoid eye contact with him. “I’m sorry. I’m going fucking crazy, man.” He started biting the nails on his free hand. “You really can’t see it? Couldn’t hear it?” His gaze wandered to where he must’ve dropped the bat on the ground.
“Not at all. I think this is a vampire thing, Eds.”
“Yeah,” Eddie frowned. “Guess it is. Another fucking vampire thing.” He sighed, he went to his pockets to grab out a cigarette, old habits. Being a vampire meant he no longer relied on normal human substances like nicotine, all he wanted was blood instead. Eddie would honestly just prefer lung cancer at this point.
That was on his first day of being a vampire, and the hallucinations definitely haven’t stopped since then, but with Steve’s help, he was able to figure out what was real and what wasn’t. He found himself frequently pointing at random areas in the house and asking Steve what he saw, the answer was always something mundane like a wall or a picture frame, so Eddie just had to admit he was going crazy and take the loss.
The hallucinations were quite the hurdle to get over, it was the main reason Eddie stayed in Steve’s house for a couple of days, even when his now boyfriend wasn’t there. He couldn’t imagine how terrifying it would be to roam the entire town seeing what he saw, it was better to start small. And it worked, Eddie was getting used to it. He found himself squinting at the bats and stubbornly yelling at them that they weren’t real.
That was actually going on right now. Eddie was spreading some jam on toast for him and Steve in the early morning, he glanced over and saw a bat fumbling about on the kitchen counter. “Fuck off,” Eddie murmured, keeping his voice low to not wake up Steve. The bat decided to just start flapping about Eddie’s head. “I said fuck offfffff.” Eddie swatted at the fly with his free hand. “You’re not realllll,” He sang as a reminder to himself. “None of this is realllllll.”
“Eds?” The man turned around to see a sleepy Steve making his way into the kitchen. “What’s going on?” Steve yawned.
“Sorry, stupid bat.” Eddie handed Steve a plate with a couple of pieces of toast on it. Steve just nodded, resting his head against Eddie’s shoulder. Steve took a while to wake up in the morning, something Eddie found painfully adorable. “You okay, darling?”
Steve nodded into his shoulder. “Dustin wants to hang out today, says he has something to show you.”
“Oh really?” Eddie quirked an eyebrow, raking his fingers through Steve’s locks.
“Some dnd thing,” Steve murmured. “He said he’ll be coming over, but I have no idea when.”
Eddie laughed, “That kid needs to learn that we don’t revolve around him.”
“Eh, we kinda do.” Steve pulled back a little to shoot a hazy smile up at Eddie. His boyfriend just nodded in bemused agreement.
The couple ate their breakfast with mild chit-chat until they heard a knock at the door. Eddie cocked an eyebrow at Steve, the man’s expression told him that he was thinking the same thing. Dustin had arrived.
Steve got up to open the door, Eddie dragging himself a bit behind him. Sure enough, the boy was on their doorstep, a large book in hand that seemed to be fully annotated.
“Where’s Eddie?” Dustin asked, only being able to see Steve who was blocking entry to the house.
“What’s the occasion?” Eddie rested his chin on Steve’s shoulder so the boy could see him.
“I think I figured your whole ‘thing’ out!” Dustin was giddy as he opened up his book to a specific page, flipping it around to present it to the couple. It was a Dungeons and Dragons entry on Vampires and their logistics. Including things like flaws, speed, and actions.
Steve just rolled his eyes, “Dude, I know you’re trying to help out and all but what’s your nerd game gonna teach us about Eddie’s situation.”
“Nah, I think he has a point.” Eddie put a hand on Steve’s waist, making the man turn to look at him. “Vecna is a dnd character, pretty similar to the real thing actually. Maybe the kid’s onto something.”
“I know I’m onto something!” Dustin flipped the book back towards him. “Eddie- have you tried standing out in the sun yet?”
“Isn’t that supposed to burn my skin? Kill me or some shit?”
Dustin nodded, weirdly excited at the comment. “Aligns with dnd logic! C’mon, let’s try it!” Dustin gestured for the vampire to walk outside into the sunlight, but Steve threw an arm out in front of Eddie.
“What the fuck, no? No, we’re not just trying that out. Did you not just say it could kill him?”
Dustin seemed annoyed, “Steve, we're not going to get anywhere without that attitude. Just let him reach his arm out or something and see how his skin reacts.”
Steve looked at Eddie, hoping for him to come to his defense, but the man just shrugged. “What’s the worst that can happen?”
“Um, you’re arm could burn off and leave you amputated??”
“I got this, baby.” Eddie gave Steve a kiss on the forehead, leaning past him to expose his bare arm to the sunlight. It didn’t take long for his skin to start steaming, the skin cells turning red and blistering.
“Okay, that’s enough!” Steve yelled, tugging Eddie excessively farther into the house. “We get it, daylight’s bad, big woop!”
Dustin followed them into the house, closing the door behind him. “You know what that means? We may have a concocted list of your own abilities, Eddie!” Dustin cheered, completely unphased by Eddie roasting in the sun.
“Sick,” Eddie growled. His arm clutched to his chest as he tried to rapidly heal the wounds, Steve was huddled over him as if trying to block out any artificial lighting in the room. “But I don’t think vampires burning in the sun is exclusive to dnd lore, dude.”
“Okay then how about this,” Dustin opened the book again, skimming the pages. “Says here you should be able to summon a pack of wolves in the daytime, and bats in the nighttime.”
“We’re not trying that,” Eddie responded.
“Oh, so you won’t summon a pack of dogs but you’ll burn your arm off, fucking great!” Steve threw himself down on the couch, permanently annoyed for the day. He had a feeling he was going to be playing mom until Dustin left.
“How about turning into a bat?” Dustin questioned, making notes in the book. “Or a black mist?”
Eddie pondered the idea, “Sounds safe. How do I do that?”
Dustin hummed, squinting at the book. “Doesn’t say. Just says that you can.”
“Great,” Eddie rolled his eyes, joining Steve on the couch. He closed his eyes, trying to think about what it would be like to turn into an itty bitty bat. It’d be pretty cute, he thought to himself.
“Oh, shit!” He heard Steve yell from beside him, he turned, realizing he didn’t turn only his torso but his whole body. He was flapping in the air, he was a fucking bat.
“Yes!” Dustin raised his arms in victory, running over to bat Eddie and grabbing him in his hands. “Can you talk?” Eddie let out raging squeaks in response, fighting against the boy’s grip. “I’ll take that as a no.”
Dustin let go, Eddie sought haven in Steve’s lap who could only gawk at his bat-ified boyfriend. Eddie tried to give a cute pose for him, looking up at Steve with his beady little bat eyes. Steve just shook his head, eyebrows permanently raised on his face. Eddie figured this wasn’t working, so he flew back over to his spot on the couch and thought about having a human body again.
“Oh, thank God.” Steve sighed when Eddie poofed back onto the couch. He reached over, gripping the man tightly. “Never get stuck as a bat, please. I don’t think I could ever kiss you again.”
Eddie laughed, returning the hug. “Nice to know your limits, Stevie.”
“Stop being gross,” Dustin threw a pillow at the two, but it did little to make them pull apart. Dustin laid the book down on the coffee table, presenting it to the two gentlemen. “How crazy would it be to say this is accurate? Because I’d argue it’s the best we got.”
Eddie pulled away from Harrington to skim over the pages, all the statistics and moves already in the depths of his head from when he previously used vampires in campaigns. Steve moved against him, trying to make out the book but not quite understanding all the lingo.
“Charm? Does that say charm?” Steve pointed to one of the moves, it did in fact say charm. Eddie had a feeling Steve was dyslexic but he wasn’t going to ask about that in front of Dustin.
“Yep,” Dustin answered. “Eddie should be able to persuade nearly everyone into doing what he suggests. As long as their figurative wisdom is low enough.”
“Dustin- go lick that wall,” Eddie commanded.
The boy looked almost offended, “You really think I’m going to do that. I know you’re trying to charm me, man.”
Steve watched as Eddie’s face seemed to shift, a smile going across his face and his eyes brightening. “Ahhh, you got me, bud. I just thought the wall would taste good, but what do I know?” Eddie rolled his eyes, the words rolling out of his mouth in such a soothing and charismatic manner that Steve almost went up and licked the wall himself.
Dustin squinted his eyes, pondering the thought. “Maybe it does. I think I will go lick the wall.” The boy turned around and went up to the creme walls, he gave a solid lick to the plaster, only to blink himself back into reality the second his tongue returned. “Oh, come on!” Dustin gave a light kick to the wall, careful not to actually hurt anything. “Seriously, dude?”
Eddie threw his head back, his cackle echoing throughout the room. Steve tried to hide his own giggle by keeping his head down. “Twas your idea, Henderson! A victim of your own wrath!”