Work Text:
It had been a long day. It had been several long days, actually, and Steve felt like he hadn’t slept since they’d set the plan in motion to kill Vecna.
And it didn't even work. They were lucky to have escaped with their lives – Max and Eddie in particular. If Lucas hadn’t got Max’s headphones on in time, if Steve, Nancy and Robin hadn’t gotten back to the trailer in time to drag Eddie back before the Demobats finished him off… Steve didn’t want to think about what might have happened.
They had been so sure they’d done it, too, but when the others had returned from California Steve could see in Will’s eyes he was still out there.
“Hawkins isn’t safe.” Nancy had been the one to say what they’d all been thinking. If Vecna was still out there, he would still be looking for a fourth victim, he could come for them, for Max and for Will and anyone else he wanted to. They needed to leave, to recuperate and formulate a plan.
They piled into the pizza truck and Steve’s car as soon as they could. Steve wasn’t surprised when Munson slid into the passenger seat (Despite Robin’s protests that she’d called shotgun).
“You don’t have to come, you know,” Steve pointed out.
“Well, considering everyone in this town still thinks I’m a fucking satanic murderer, I think I’ll take my chances with you monster-fighting weirdos.” He made a face out the window at Henderson, who climbed into the back seat beside Robin.
“Fine, let’s just go.”
They drove for hours, down highways and winding lanes until Steve honestly had no idea where they were anymore. All he could see for miles around were trees and fields and one little cottage, which is where the pizza truck seemed to be headed.
They pulled up outside it, and Steve watched as Jonathan’s friend with the long hair – he couldn’t remember his name, but to be fair they’d hardly been introduced – walked up and knocked on the door confidently.
“What the fuck is he–” Steve started to say, but Robin shushed him and they watched as he knocked again, then called out.
“Nobody’s home!” he yelled, and everyone started piling out of the truck, so Steve followed suit.
They fanned out, looking for a way in, and Nancy popped up before long with a key she found under a rock in the garden. Inside, the house was small but comfortable looking, not very well lived in. It was probably a second home or vacation place for some rich person – why someone would choose to vacation in the middle of nowhere, Steve wasn’t sure, but he wasn’t one to look a gift horse in the mouth.
For now, he was tired, and he just wanted to make sure everyone was alright and then get some sleep. The girls claimed the biggest bedroom right away, Eleven leading Max in with Nancy not far behind. Robin hesitated at the door, casting a nervous look back at Steve, but Nancy called her name and told her to hurry up before he had a chance to reassure her.
Steve had learned at some point in the chaos of getting inside that Jonathan’s friend was called Argyle (“Like the sweater?” He’d asked, but everyone just stared at him, so he didn’t say anything more). As soon as the girls’ door closed, Jonathan and Argyle were back out in the pizza van, and Steve could see the windows already growing foggy with smoke. At least that would be two fewer people to find sleeping arrangements for.
Mike stretched out across the couch in the living room, and Dustin flopped into an armchair. Lucas took the floor, reassuring Steve that the rug was plenty comfortable – he let Steve put an extra blanket under him for added warmth, at least. Will sat by the window, looking at the first page of some book he’d picked up off a shelf by the door. Steve wasn’t sure if he was actually reading, his eyes were fixed blankly on the page.
“Try to get some sleep, alright? There’s more blankets if you wanna set up on the floor, or I’m sure Mike can clear some space for you on the couch.” Steve didn’t really know how to address what Will must be feeling, or how to interpret his reaction to Steve’s suggestion. His eyes widened, and he stared even more intently at the page.
“”Have you read it before?”
Steve didn’t realize Eddie was standing behind him till he heard the question. Will looked up at him and Eddie walked into the room properly, nodding at the book.
“Yeah. A while ago. It’s my favorite.” Will’s voice was quiet.
“Hey, mine too!” Munson gushed, in a quiet voice so as not to disturb the others who were already snoring away.
Will smiled a little at the approval, and Steve suddenly felt like he was interrupting something. He was glad to see Will looking happy though, god knows the kid deserved it – Steve didn’t know much about what went down in California, but things never seemed to go well for the poor kid.
Steve turned and left them to talk about the book – something about dragons and wizards or some nerdy shit like that, he figured. There was a faint giggling coming from the girls’ room as he walked by, but he tried not to think too much about what that might be about for his own sanity. He went to examine the rest of the house – the kitchen was essentially empty, nothing at all in the cupboards with an expiry date within the last year, so he made a mental note that they should go find food somewhere in the morning. The bathroom was clean, though, and it even had a dusty old first aid kit wedged in under the sink. Knowing their luck, it would come in useful.
There was only one other room, with a bed that could barely be classed as a double against one wall. Steve made his way in, not even bothering to turn on the light. He sat on the mattress and dropped his head into his hands, finally letting the bone deep exhaustion show on the surface.
He didn’t know how long he stayed in that position before he heard the door creak open and the sound of Eddie clearing his throat.
“You doing okay, Harrington?” he asked.
“Yeah,” Steve lied. He meant for it to come out sounding genuine, but it landed somewhere around bitter. “Never better.”
He looked up to see Eddie with an eyebrow raised, looking just as unconvinced as Steve felt. “Sure.” he took a step into the room, looking around. “I guess this is us, then?”
Steve’s spine straightened suddenly. “Us?” he asked, sounding as stupid as people often accused him of being.
Eddie grinned. “Well, yeah. The girls have the big room, the kids are all gangly teenage limbs all over the living room.” He gestured vaguely. “I guess one of us could sleep in the bathtub, or join the others out in the van, but–”
“No,” Steve backtracked. “It’s cool. I’ll grab more blankets, sleep on the floor, and you can take the bed.” Steve stood, trying not to flinch as every muscle in his body protested.
“Hey, no! You were here first,” Eddie argued.
Steve opened his mouth to retort – Eddieneeded the bed more, he almost died a few days ago and he was still recovering – but apparently Eddie wasn’t finished talking because he spoke again before Steve could get the words out. “We can just share the bed.”
And Steve– he couldn’t think of a good enough reason to say no to that.
Eddie grinned, kicking his shoes off and flopping down onto the bed. He patted the mattress next to him. Steve rolled his eyes and swallowed before joining him, laying down carefully on his back so no part of them was touching.
He tried to make sure his breathing was even, unsure why that was requiring effort in the first place. This is fine, he reminded himself, perfectly normal.
“So, um,” he spoke quietly, pretending they’re anywhere else but in bed. “What’s the deal with that book?”
Eddie propped himself up on one elbow, putting himself in Steve’s line of sight. “You don’t know Lord of the Rings?” he asked in disbelief.
Steve swallowed. “The name rings a bell, I guess. I think Henderson might’ve mentioned it, but all that nerd shit goes over my head.”
“Oh, you wound me, Harrington. We absolutely need to fix this. I’m heartbroken, honestly. It’s a masterpiece of fantasy storytelling!” he gestured widely with the arm that wasn’t holding him up, and Steve saw him wince. He tried to play it off, but Steve was already on alert.
“Hey, what’s up?” he asked, sitting up to give himself a better vantage point, careful not to jostle either of their injuries.
“Nothing, Harrington, don’t get your panties in a twist. Turns out being mauled by a dozen demonic bats takes a while to heal, is all.”
Steve hissed in sympathy. His own bite still hurt, and it only just got the chance to scab over in the last day or so. Eddie’s injuries had been far more severe. “Can I take a look? Have you got bandages and stuff?”
Munson shrugged and pulled off the band shirt he was wearing. Steve tried to look reassuring, but the expression faded as soon as he saw the extent of the damage. Eddie’s torso was littered with bites, most of them bandaged, but the bandages were badly in need of being changed.
“Jesus Christ, Munson,” he swears. “One was painful enough, how–”
Eddie grit his teeth. “‘Least I’m alive, right? Lucky me.” His voice was bitter, and Steve found himself extending a hand, resting it on one of the few undamaged parts of Munson’s arm.
“For the record, I did warn you not to play the hero,” he joked. Eddie laughed, not the loudest or the happiest Steve ever heard, but it was a start. “Still, I’m glad you did. And I’m glad we got there in time to get you out.”
Eddie shrugged, looking uncomfortable, and Steve decided to drop the sincerity. It was clearly not what Eddie needed or wanted to hear right now. Steve hoped they’d get there eventually, but for now he reverted to their usual gentle ribbing. “Right. Let’s get these patched up a little so I can go the fuck to sleep without you bleeding all over the bed, okay?”
Between the sparse contents of the first aid kit which Steve retrieved, and some wadded up toilet paper to fill in the gaps, Steve managed to change the wrappings on the worst of the bites. It wasn’t the tidiest of jobs, but it should do the trick for the night.
In the end, they wound up sitting side by side on the edge of the bed, Steve with one knee up so he could face Eddie. He set the last bandage in place, right atop the bat tattoo on his forearm. He let his hand rest there for a moment.
If they hadn’t been sitting so close together, if the room and the world outside wasn’t so quiet, Steve probably might have missed the small “Thank you” that escaped from Eddie’s lips. As it was, he squeezed his arm gently in response, careful not to hurt him.
Some instinct inside of Steve didn’t want to break the contact between them. It wanted to hold on, to reach out with his other hand and turn Eddie’s face to his, and – he didn’t know what it wanted, then. Whatever it was, it scared the shit out of him. Something about Eddie this close by fucking terrified Steve, but it also intrigued him. He wanted to know more, see more of him. His very presence prodded at the parts of Steve’s mind he’d always dodged from, and it was getting harder and harder to ignore the longer they spent together.
Steve was drawn to him and he had no fucking clue why, but he wanted to know.
Eddie looked up to face him then, as if he knew exactly what Steve was thinking. Steve felt his breath catch. That secret, hidden part of his brain was yelling at him, but he couldn’t make out what it was saying with Eddie’s eyes on him like that.
Eddie’s gaze flickered for just a moment, eyes darting down to Steve’s mouth, and something clicked. Steve knew that expression. He’d seen it so many times, but never on a man, never on Eddie , and oh, that’s what his brain was trying to tell him.
Fuck.
Steve was frozen in shock, sitting there with his hand still resting on Eddie’s arm. He didn’t know what to do. He knew what he wanted to do, what he would do if this were some girl he’d just been out with. He wanted to grab Eddie and kiss his stupid fucking face. He wanted to pull him down onto the bed, but this wasn’t some girl, this was Eddie fucking Munson , and so part of him also wanted to run screaming to the girls’ room and beg Robin to explain what the fuck was going on with him right now.
He did none of those things, because while he was still sitting there in shock, Munson stood up and stepped away. Only a few feet, but it was still enough to snap Steve out of it.
“We should probably, um, sleep,” he suggested, voice slightly higher than usual.
He could hear the laughter in Eddie’s voice when he replied, “Sure thing, Buddy.”
Steve laughed too, but it was a nervous thing. He climbed back into bed, this time taking the side by the wall and turning so he was facing away from Eddie altogether. “You take the outside, wouldn’t want you to pull your bandages off climbing in or out.”
“Ooh, how chivalrous!” Eddie chuckled, and Steve felt the mattress shift and dip as he climbed in behind him. “You better not be a blanket hogger, Harrington.”
“Fuck you,” Steve replied, automatically.
Steve lay there awake for a long time, his earlier exhaustion hiding away somewhere in favor of letting Steve really listen to the sound of Munson’s breathing as it evened out into sleep. He was so close, Steve could feel the warmth of his body against his back even though they weren’t actually touching. He squeezed his eyes shut and tried to think of something, anything else to get himself to sleep.
It must have worked, because the next thing he knew he was being woken up by something heavy landing on top of his chest. He jolted and looked down blearily, but it was just an arm, roughly bandaged with a tattoo peeking out from underneath. A weak beam of pre-dawn light was creeping its way into the room, so Steve figured it was still early. Eddie was sprawled out in the bed, and must have moved his arm onto Steve in his sleep. Steve debated whether he should move him, but he didn’t want to wake him up.
Sleep reclaimed him before he could make up his mind.
Next time he woke, the sun was fully risen in the sky, and he found himself with a face full of wild, curly hair. At some point since he’d last woken up, they had both moved so they were now tangled together – feet and arms and blankets tying them together. Steve held his breath, trying not to break the spell. He was warm and comfortable, and as different as Eddie’s sharp edges were from what he was used to, Steve liked waking up next to him.
There was noise coming from the rest of the house; a toilet flushing, a door closing, someone laughing. Steve felt Eddie tense up in his arms and watched carefully as his eyes opened slowly.
“Morning,” Steve whispered.
“You’re awake already,” Eddie looked confused.
“Yeah?” Steve answered.
“You’re awake, and we’re still cuddling.”
Steve’s brain switched back on, then. “Oh, I– Sorry. I should–”
Eddie’s arms tightened around Steve’s back as he began to pull away, effectively stilling him.
“You never struck me as a guy who likes cuddling, Munson,” he said, trying to act like this was normal, almost daring Eddie to pull away but hoping against hope he wouldn’t.
“You never struck me as someone who likes cuddling with guys , so I guess that makes us even.”
And there it was, Eddie calling Steve’s bluff. Steve said nothing, but he knew it was all the answer Eddie needed. Steve felt him move, but he didn’t pull away. If anything, he moved closer, shifting so he was half on top of Steve, and their faces were so close now, Eddie’s intentions plain to see.
Some part of Steve wondered if this was the best position, if maybe Eddie’s injuries would be aggravated like this, but then Eddie kissed him and all rational thought flew out the window. He brought his hands up to tangle them in Eddie’s hair, and it wasn’t like it was with Nancy or any of the other girls, because Eddie was Eddie, and he had chapped lips and a hint of stubble which scratched against Steve’s chin, and large, guitar-calloused fingers which played against Steve’s rib cage.
There was absolutely no pretending he was kissing anyone other than Eddie Munson, and Steve didn’t even want to try. He surged up, swallowing Eddie’s gasp with delight. He tried to be mindful of the bandages, navigating his way around them from memory as he moved his hands down, skimming over the flat chest, strong, broad shoulders and around to his back.
Fuck, but Steve loved this. He never wanted to stop, wanted to touch Eddie everywhere, to drown in him and then do it all again.
“Hey, so Nancy’s heading out to try and find a grocery store or something for food, is there anything – oh!”
Steve jumped about a foot off the bed as Robin barged in, talking a mile a minute as usual. He accidentally headbutted Eddie’s face in the process, sending him reeling and holding his nose.
Robin just stood there in the doorway, frozen in place but with an absolutely gleeful expression on her face. Steve glared at her.
“Oh, I fucking knew it!” she cried, then all but skipped out of the room, laughing. At least she closed the door behind her. Steve could hear her voice down the hall.
“Yeah, they’re both definitely hungry. I’d say double the number of waffles you’ve got down…” her voice trailed off, and Steve turned his attention back to Eddie, who was still staring at the spot where she had appeared.
His skin was flushed all the way down his chest, eyes wide and hair even messier than usual. The sight of him like that, sitting in bed, sleepy and kiss-rumpled, sent a thrill of both satisfaction and relief down Steve’s spine.
His skills were transferable, he noted with pride.
Eddie looked concerned, all the same, so Steve shook his pride aside and reached out for him. “You okay?” he asked.
Eddie looked back at him, brows furrowed. “I don’t give a fuck what people think of me, but she’s you’re friend, right? Are you okay with…?”
Steve smiled then. He couldn’t believe he was thinking this, but Eddie could be pretty sweet when he wanted to be.
“Robin’s cool, Eddie. Believe me when I say she’s the first person I was gonna tell about this anyway. That just saved me a conversation.”
Eddie relaxed at Steve’s words, then grinned. “Aww, you called me Eddie!” he said.
Steve rolled his eyes and took the opportunity of his momentary distraction to move Eddie’s hand away from his nose and assess the damage.
“Shit, you’re bleeding! Here, let me–” Steve grabbed the last of the toilet tissue from where he’d left it, wadding it up and holding it to Eddie’s face. He had to lean over Eddie’s lap to grab it, and he could feel the eyes on him as he stretched.
Eddie took the tissue and leaned back against the headboard. “You know,” he said, voice nasal, “I always did think I’d wind up with a bloody nose if I ever tried to kiss you, but this wasn’t exactly how I expected it to happen.”
Steve felt a twinge of guilt at the words. He never liked coming across as the kind of guy who would do that. He wanted to say something, but knew Eddie well enough by then not to get too sincere. He opted for a joke, instead. “You’ve thought about kissing me a lot, then?” he waggled his eyebrows and watched as Eddie rolled his eyes.
“You’ve got an ego, Harrington, damn. I regret kissing you already.”
Steve narrowed his eyes, and with a confidence he didn’t really feel, teased back. “That’s a damn lie, you’re already thinking about how long we’ve got until someone else barges in on us.”
Eddie hummed, licked his lips. “How long d’you reckon?” he asked.
Steve glanced at the door. “Not long enough,” he sighed. Eddie, the menace, pouted at that, then winced as it aggravated his nose.
Steve pulled the tissue away. “It’s stopped bleeding, at least, '' he said, then placed a gentle kiss right on the spot he’d headbutted without even thinking about it. He was instantly embarrassed, but Eddie’s delighted expression made it worth it.
“You’re a softie, Harrington, oh my god! I can’t believe you just–”
Steve kissed him properly then, just to shut him up, and it was a pretty effective strategy.
He pulled away after a moment, and saw a brief flash of disappointment on Eddie's face. “Still ‘Harrington’, though? Damn, what’s a guy gotta do to get a first name?”
Eddie’s eyes glinted, back on his game. “Oh, I’m sure I can think of something, Harrington,” his gaze flickered down Steve’s chest, and Steve felt his heart beat faster, something stirring in the pit of his stomach.
“God, I wish we weren’t in a house full of intrusive teenagers right now,” he pouted. He couldn’t help but lean in to kiss Eddie again, savoring it this time, and he could feel Eddie do the same.
“We really do need to go out there, don’t we?” Eddie asked, once they’d come up for air. Steve nodded.
“Don’t think this means I’m done with you, though,” he let his eyes drift down Eddie’s chest, to the trail of hair which disappeared down into his pants, then had to look away, biting his lip.
“Oh, I’m counting on it,” Eddie grinned.
Steve had to kiss him once more before he found the willpower to get up. He picked up Eddie’s shirt and threw it to him. “Better make yourself decent.”
Eddie winked and pulled it over his head gingerly. Steve felt his chest flutter again.
They left the room together after double checking there were no obvious signs of what they’d been doing in there. Just as he was leaving, Steve felt Eddie slap him on the ass, making him jump and make a sound which wasn’t quite a squeal, but also wasn’t far off. Eddie’s face was the picture of innocence when Steve turned to glare at him, and when he turned back around, everyone else was peering out of various doorways at the pair of them.
“Morning, guys,” Steve said, trying to sound casual. Robin gave him a double thumbs up, Max rolled her eyes, and everyone gradually went back to whatever they’d been doing before.
Nancy was on her way out the front door, but before she went, she took a moment to look Steve up and down. He could see the cogs turning in her head, but she just smiled at him and left without a word, Jonathan close behind her. Robin still looked like she was about to explode, and Steve figured he should probably pull her aside and tell her everything before she actually did combust.
He nodded back towards the room, and she jumped up to run inside. Steve followed her back in, picking up Henderson’s voice as he walked away.
“Whoa, Eddie! What happened to your face?”
Steve had to bite back a laugh, wondering what excuse Eddie would give.
Robin asked about a million questions about what happened and barely let Steve get a word in edgewise, and he found himself all but gushing to her.
The world was probably about to end, and they’d all have to go back to face the music in Hawkins sooner or later, before anyone else got hurt. Steve was under no illusions that they’ll all make it out in one piece, but for now, for once, Steve couldn’t help but smile.