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Eddie shouldn't even be surprised at this point. Strange things ALWAYS happen in Hawkins, Indiana.
It's laughable that he even found himself aghast at the sight of white petals in his toilet when he threw up this morning.
He's vomiting flowers. It's the most poetic and metal thing ever. There was a rose bush growing inside him. That was it, right? You swallow a watermelon seed, it grows inside you. You swallow bubblegum and it just sticks to your organs, right?
Maybe he is a freak.
God, you're a fool, Eddie Munson, he thinks as he kneels next to the toilet, unshed tears stinging his eyes.
--
He doesn't know how it happened, but one day while they were in the Upside Down and Steve Harrington looked at him. Not through him, no -- at him. King Steve ("I hate it when people call me that," Steve says, a grimace gracing his features) looked at him and he smiled. Eddie made a dumb joke about Steve already having his brood of Harringtons in the back of the stolen RV and Steve smiled at him, the tips of his ears turning red. They were in a forest and Eddie just witnessed Steve blush at something he said.
Eddie stopped in his tracks and the butterflies in his stomach rose (pun intended) to his throat. He coughed violently, falling to the ground as he struggled to breathe, and he felt something flit out of his mouth and into his cupped hands. Steve ran to his side, eyes wide, spluttering a nervous "You okay, Eds?" as he rubbed circles onto Eddie's back.
Eds.
Maybe Vecna was inside his head because how else would he hear his name come out of Steve's sweet mouth?
But Eddie knew otherwise because he still felt the soft, paper-like flutter in his throat and Steve felt very real beside him, the rubbing having escalated to soft thwacks as he tried to force the coughs out of Eddie.
"You with me, Munson?" Steve said, pulling Eddie to stand beside him.
Eddie took a deep breath and nodded. Before he stood (and when Steve finally gave him space and started walking ahead of him), he held out his palm and sure enough, several white petals sat there mixed with his spit.
Funny how white petals meant innocence when whatever he felt about Steve Harrington was nothing but, he thought as he pocketed the wet petals.
Besides, something so pure didn't belong in the Upside Down.