Chapter Text
Steve heard the fight before he saw it. He’d been parked outside the high school waiting on Dustin. He heard the scuffle and was all prepared to leave it alone until he heard a familiar voice shouting. Not some random kid egging on the fight. No, it was his Dustin. Crying out. In pain. Steve’s out of the car and to the group surrounding the fight in under thirty seconds. People were packed in close and he can’t see Dustin at first so he pushes into the crowd until he could see the epicenter of the fight.
But then he sees Dustin. The kid’s on the ground, lip bloodied, his eyes shining as he holds back tears. But he isn’t the one fighting. Steve pushes himself through the rest of the gawkers. There is kid in a letterman jacket straddling another student with longer curly hair, a leather jacket, and a hellfire t-shirt.
Hell, it was one of Dustin’s friends. And he is currently getting his face punched in by one Jason Carver. Steve races in and grabs Carver by his jacket and pushes him off of the other kid. Jason trips over his own feet and hits the ground. Steve looks back to see that the one getting whaled on wasn’t exactly a kid.
It’s Eddie Munson. His face is a bloodied mess but he’s smiling, blood bright red across his teeth.
“Now, Carver, I don’t think I said my safe word yet,” Eddie says, his eyes not really focusing, but his smile never wavering.
Yeah, he was concussed.
“What the hell, Harrington,” Jason shouts as he gets to his feet and moves toward Eddie again.
Steve whirls around and grabs Jason again and pushes him into the gawkers who have started dispersing now that the fight seems over.
“Fuck off Carver,” Steve says as forcefully as he can.
Jason wipes his own bloodied nose, looks like Eddie had gotten a few good hits in, “Oh how the mighty have fallen, huh, Harrington? The freak isn’t even worth it.” He turns and walks away.
Steve quickly turns around to find Dustin trying to help Eddie to his feet with little success but he’s got him into a sitting position. Even though the man’s face is covered in blood and his eye already swelling shut, Steve finds himself surprised to see Eddie taking his handkerchief out of his back pocket and trying to dab at Dustin’s still bleeding lip.
“Stand still, Henderson,” Eddie says, hand moving erratically. Dustin hasn’t moved.
Dustin looks up at him, his eyes pleading. Steve sighs and hooks his arms under Eddie’s armpits and pulls the man to his feet. He immediately begins to sway and Steve instinctively wraps his arm around the other man’s rather tiny waist.
“My hero,” Eddie slurs as he lays his head on Steve’s shoulder for a moment.
“C’mon, Munson, we gotta get you cleaned up,” Steve says as he basically drags the other to his car with Dustin, hanky to his lip, trailing behind them.
He gets Eddie laying down in the back seat and gets back into the driver’s seat. He turns to look at Dustin, “Let me see,” he says as he reaches to gently take Dustin’s chin in his hand.
“I’m okay, Steve,” Eddie says. Steve doesn’t let go of Dustin’s face until he’s satisfied that it’s just a split lip.
He starts the car and turns to back out, “Hey, Munson, stay awake. Tell me what happened,” he says as he smacks Eddie’s knee, startling him as he was beginning to zone out.
“What’s it look like, Harrington, I got my ass kicked,” he says, a little more less slurred as he pushes himself up a little.
“No, that’s not what happened. Jason was being a dick to me and hit me in the mouth with his damn basketball. I cut my lip on these damn braces. Eddie was on him in seconds. He had the upper hand for a bit-” Dustin starts.
“Yeah, well that was until his damn friend sucker punched me,” Eddie says, now fully sitting up in the middle of the back seat, “Once I was on the ground, it was hard to get a hit in, but,” he pats Steve on the shoulder, “Harrington here came in like a knight in shining armor, didn’t ya sweetheart?”
Steve shifts a bit in his seat. Why did Eddie calling him “sweetheart” make his cheeks flush suddenly. He clears his throat, “Well, if I hadn’t heard Dustin, you’d still be getting your face bashed in. Speaking of, how did you recover so quick. I’m pretty sure you have a concussion,” Steve asks looking up at the rearview mirror. He locks eyes with Eddie and sees a sadness wash over him before he changes the subject.
“Henderson, turn around, lemme see your lip,” he asks as he scoots forward. Like Steve, he takes Dustin’s chin into his hand. Eddie was still bleeding but his focus was entirely on Dustin’s well-being. He looks over Dustin’s lip and Steve can’t help but notice how it mirrors his own actions. There is actual concern in Munson’s eyes, the kind of concerned look that Steve is always called “mom” for having. He doesn’t lean back until he’s satisfied, “Yeah, you won’t need a stitch. It’ll hurt like a son of a bitch, and will swell a little, but you’ll be good to go. Put ice on it when you get home, it’ll reduce the swelling.”
The rest of the drive to Dustin’s house is filled with Dustin talking about the goings on at Hawkins. How Nancy is running the paper and Lucas had gotten onto the basketball team which he wasn’t fan of seeing how they were all pretty much bullying assholes. Eddie stays quiet the entire time. Steve looks in on him from time to time through the rear-view mirror. Most times he’s looking at Dustin, but every so often, he’d lock eyes with Steve and gives him a sad and still slightly bloody smile.
“Dustin, do you need me to go in with you and explain to your mom what happened,” Steve says as he puts the car in park outside of Dustin’s home.
“Jesus, Steve, I’m not a baby, I’ll be fine,” Dustin says offended.
Steve raises his hands up, “Okay, okay, sheesh. Pick you up tomorrow after my shift, alright?”
“Yep,” Dustin says as he waves to Eddie and races out of the car.
“I think he’s got a radio date with that “girlfriend” of his,” Eddie says, leaning in close to Steve’s ear. A shiver runs down his spine.
“Get up here Munson, you’ll have to show me where you live. Also, Suzie is real, believe it or not,” Steve says as Eddie gets into the passenger seat.
“No shit,” he says surprised.
“No shit. Now, where am I heading,” Steve asks.
Eddie flips down the passenger mirror and inspects his face, hissing as he touches his swelling eye and split eyebrow, “Forest Hills trailer park. You know where that is?”
“Yeah, I know someone there. You’re probably going to need stitches,” Steve says.
Eddie slaps the mirror closed and pushes up the visor, “Nah, I’ve had worse, I’m just going to super glue it when I get home. It’s cheaper. So, you asked earlier, how I recovered so quickly? I, uh, didn’t really wanna talk about it with the kid in earshot, but my old man had a pretty mean back hand or right hook depending on how drunk he was.”
Steve freezes. He hadn’t expected that blunt of a confession, “Shit, Eddie. I had no idea.”
Eddie sadly chuckles, “Truly, Harrington, how would you know? I wasn’t even in the school system until I moved in with my Uncle Wayne. See, my mom couldn’t handle the abuse she got too. Only, instead of getting us both out of it, she just didn’t pick me up from school one day. She never came back, guess I was too much of a hassle to take with her to wherever she went. Well, dear old dad, he didn’t like the fact that she had left him to care for her ‘good for nothing little shit.’ You’d think I wasn’t even his kid. I guess I looked too much like my mom. Anyway, he moved from the occasional beatings if I wasn’t fast enough to avoid his grab, to making sure I didn’t leave the house at all. He didn’t want CPS seeing the bruises.”
“Fuck. Eddie. You don’t have to talk about it if you don’t want to,” Steve said. He knew what it was like to have parents who either didn’t want you around or made you wish you didn’t exist. For as bad as his dad was, he’d never hit him at least.
“Nah, it’s okay, it’s nice to have someone to talk to who isn’t 14.” he says.
Steve nods. He knows what it’s like to finally have someone you can be honest with. He had Robin and he thanked God every day that he got that job at Scoops last Summer.
“But, yeah, that’s how I learned to take a punch. But one night, he came home really drunk, there was an eviction notice on the apartment door. Somehow, it was my fault and he made sure I knew it was by beating me within an inch of my life. He broke my arm, I even had a few stitches in my head. Ever wonder why I had a shaved head in middle school? Yeah, I was still trying to grow it back after leaving the hospital. No one ever tells you how long it takes your hair to grow back from a buzz,” he pauses and pulls his hair back into a low pony, “Thankfully, he knocked me out pretty quickly but someone had heard me scream when he broke my arm. I woke up in the hospital a week later. Wayne was sitting by my bedside and took me home with him, enrolling me into Hawkins Middle that fall. My dad’s been in prison ever since. So yeah, the freak knows how to take a punch when needed.”
They get to Eddie’s trailer and he goes to leave but Steve grabs his arm, “Eddie, thank you for taking care of Dustin. He’s a good kid, but they’ll eat him alive if someone doesn’t look after him.”
Eddie smiles, his eyes crinkling at the edges, laugh lines deepening. Steve’s stomach does an odd flip flop at it. He pushes it down.
“No problem, Harrington, he’s one of my flock now. I’ll make sure he’s okay. Thanks for the ride,” he says as he gets out of the car. Steve watches him until he goes into his trailer. Eddie “The Freak” Munson really was an enigma now.